He gave him a soft gaze. One of the quiet and smaller departments that had risen from Erik and Rugrat were the therapists. Healers of the mind. They were a quiet group, but if one was having issues, they were always there for a talk.
“Okay.”
“Good, then hop on in and let’s get started!”
39
Meeting Vuzgal’s Defenses
Acosta looked through the periscope. Adjusting the formation on the side didn’t make it any clearer before taking out a cloth to wipe it. “Dammit, Brines, are you sweating out of your eyeballs? Looks like I walked into a damn sauna.”
“Stand-to! Stand to!” Colonel Domonos’ voice carried through the defenses as Acosta turned her periscope, watching the enemy camp's gates open.
Fighters marched out twenty abreast. Banners fluttered in the wind, declaring their sect and familial connections.
The United Sect Alliance formations raised a dust cloud as they marched toward Vuzgal.
It stalled her heart and stole her breath.
Shit. Well, that’s a lot of them, huh? She quickly joked with herself before the fear could take hold.
“Damn, wish they’d let us go weapons-free, like fish in a fuckin’ barrel!” Master Sergeant Sirel sighed as he stepped away to let someone else use his periscope.
“Hell, yeah,” Acosta drawled, moving the periscope from side to side.
There had to be thousands of them. Not their full force. A probe to test their defenses. And my patience. Knowing they would be fighting thousands and actually seeing them...
Clans packed into tight squares, grouping together with their sects. They spread out in the open flat ground between camps that jutted out of the forest.
Or what used to be the forest. They had cut down a ton of it and pulled it into their camps. They only had dirt and grass to work with otherwise. She smirked. Ha! You’re on Vuzgal rock now.
She pulled back and glanced at the top of the periscope where a degree circle had been placed and bracketed any enemy formation. The handy and simple invention meant that merely by pointing their periscope on target they could give the mortar crews pinpoint accurate targeting.
A line had been carved into the side of the periscope’s glass, creating a runway of numbers. As one zoomed in on a point, the bracket would get bigger, showing the range.
Acosta mentally recorded the degrees and range.
“Staff Sergeant Neumann and Staff Sergeant Pok, please sight me some targets, degrees, and bearings. Since we have the opportunity to do some practice, let’s try it out! Gives the crews something to do other than sit in their bunkers and take turns playing with the periscope. Go blind doing that all day.”
The platoon command staff laughed as Pok and Neumann stepped up to the periscopes.
“All right, Fourth Artillery platoon, we’re going to do some practice. No live rounds, but you will be getting real coordinates. Stand by on your guns!” Acosta said.
She waited as green lights appeared on her command boards.
Her mortar crews stood by, ready and waiting in the bunkers around her own.
“Ready and waiting, Staff Sergeants.”
They started rattling off degrees and ranges, passing them to their respective squads. They waited, counting out the time it would take to target before picking out new targets and engaging them.
Sirel walked over to Acosta. She lowered her voice so only he could hear her. “Keep their minds from turning in circles and show them that they can do something. Better than just playing with their thumbs.”
“More periscope training? Haven’t tested them out thoroughly enough for my liking,” Sirel said.
“Add it in. We don’t know if this will be a long or short engagement.”
“The mana cannons are getting the first shot at them,” Sirel said in dark tones.
“And you wish it was us?”
“Damn right. Mana cannons? Shit, just a big damn rifle with a scope.”
“Wouldn’t want to be looking down that scope when the cannon went off.” Acosta smiled.
“Hell, fucking no.” Sirel shared a grin.
“When are they going to hit them?”
“Six kay range. They’re holding the soup and thunderstorm.”
“Nice clear day for the mana cannons.”
“Should be an interesting show. Wonder if they upgraded their mana barriers.” Sirel crossed his arms contemplatively.
They went back to watching the staff sergeants, Acosta with her thumbs in her belt and Sirel’s face dimming, although there was still a glint in his eyes. “You think they’ll break at Deadman’s?”
“I think they’ve got a way across, though once they reach Scarecrow, they’re fucked. Mana barriers won’t know what’s open sky, spikes, post, or concertina wire. They cut the wire or the metal, the formations will lose containment. Thirty seconds later it’ll go up.”
“Nasty. They could cut it, move forward and then it blows up.”
“Or it blows up in their faces,” Acosta agreed.
“How does it work?”
“Uses the same stuff as our light flares: phosphorous. Lights into flame when in contact with air and keeps going when it is underwater. It has explosive powders added in, so if the phosphorous or the mana goes off, the whole thing will go off.”
Rugrat looked at Han Wu and the rest of the special team. They had sighted-in their mounted mana cannons along Vuzgal’s bunker lines waiting for the United Sect Army to come into range.
“Prepare to fire,” ordered Domonos.
Everyone’s hands rested on the formation pad next to the cannon.
“Fire.”
The latter half of the word was drowned out as the cannons recoiled at nearly the same moment. Wind and mana recoiled, pulling at their clothes as the area suddenly increased in mana.
The flash of spells and mana was gone, faster than the eye could track.
The guns were at the rear of their firing tracks. Turning formations pulled on cables, dragging the cannons back into position. The formations glowed, recharging the cannon. The whole action took three seconds before the cannon was charged and ready to fire again.
“Hold ten seconds!” Rugrat yelled.
The cannons returned to their ready positions, gunners looking out of their thin slits over Vuzgal.
Rugrat watched the sand drain through the hourglass, marking time before their next shot.
He grabbed his periscope, watching their mana cannons’ spells arcing up and then returning to the ground. They hit within ten meters of one another, peppering their targeted barrier.
Rugrat turned his periscope to scan the area. Mana cannon fire rained down on the barriers. They flashed into existence with multiple impacts greeting the United Sect Army’s advanced units.
Damn. They hadn’t popped any of the barriers, but he didn’t think they could take another hit; he was sure he’d seen some brown patches.
He checked his aim and looked at the degrees; the hourglass was getting low.
“Get ready! Minus eight degrees.”
They turned their traversing gears. The rotating platforms the cannons were placed on turned, orientating onto their new target.
The last of the sand ran out on the hourglass.
“Fire!”
The cannons expelled their payloads again. Rugrat watched for the splash. The cannons reached their ready position as the spells hit the mana barrier.
The grouping was even tighter now, like a sledgehammer striking water.
“Good shit! Rang it like a bell.”
The barrier shimmered and shook; definite brown patches appeared. They didn’t have time to smooth as another cannon crew with the same target had fired right behind the first.
The barrier took three hits and two went inside. The barrier broke like melting plastic, folding toward the ground and disappearing.
“Change to AOE spells!” Rugrat reached down and turned the triggering formation plate. He felt the resistance as
he turned it, the click as it fell into a new fire setting. The formations within the panel altered and changed to the new attack spell.
He heard the other panels switch.
“Minus four degrees, drop two hundred!”
Gears turned the cannons on their new targets, their rotating barrels locking onto their new targets.
Rugrat checked his degrees and range one more time and glanced at the hourglass, waiting for the cannon to charge and cool before his next shot.
“You all dialed out?” Rugrat asked.
“Yup!”
“Dialed up and out!”
“Ain’t my first roh-deh-o.”
Rugrat pulled a bizarre expression, reeling from their ready call returns. “Mutha-fuckas, a ‘yes’ would suffice and when did you see a rod-eh-o?” He stared at Tyrone, who shrugged.
“Hourglass,” Han Wu said.
“Fire!”
The cannons recoiled, and Rugrat looked through his periscope again.
“Dialed in and out, the fuck does that even mean?” Han Wu asked.
“If you’re dialed in, then you’re right on target,” Rugrat said absently.
He watched the spells strike the ground. Light and smoke dotted the rock where United Sect Army units had been moments before.
“Good hit.” His voice was dull.
“Minus fifteen degrees. Add one hundred.”
The cannons shifted as Rugrat scanned. The second cannon crew shooting on the barrier went with area of effect spells as well. The AOE spells erupted into lightning above the ground. It arced through anything metal: armor, swords, spears, harnesses. Where the lightning hit the ground, it sent up dust and light, leaving burn marks.
Rugrat looked at the eight other mana barriers.
A second wavered as new rounds took out its last remaining strength.
Rugrat checked his targets. “Minus another degree.” As Rugrat looked at the hourglass, it emptied. “Fire!”
The AOE-spells dotted the forward edge of the oncoming formation to the rear. Blue appeared under the explosions.
“Barrier! BP rounds!”
Rugrat turned his fire selector back. “Drop fifty, minus one degree.”
He turned the gears. Come on hourglass!
Sand finished running. “Fire!” His voice was choked out with the cannons.
Rugrat grabbed his periscope. The rounds arched, taking their sweet time as he counted down silently.
“Splash.” His whispered word brought destruction with it, raking across the impact zone.
The first round was too far right. The second and third hit right after one another, the blue sky turning black. Round four broke the barrier; the remaining rounds swarmed the impact zone, obscuring his view.
Rugrat held his hand above the panel.
The smoke started to dissipate; a hole had been torn out of the fighters’ ranks.
“AOE, minus one degree,”
He switched the formation, turned his traversing gear a degree, and looked at the hourglass. “Fire!”
The cannons bellowed again. Rugrat looked through the periscope, watching the impacts.
“Good splash!” He swung his periscope, looking for new targets. Another barrier had fallen, bringing the number to three.
The United Sect Army was in Deadman’s Fields now. Mounted forces had been forced onto the ground for fear of laming their beasts. A few had run afoul of the obstacles. Rugrat grimaced. Poor beasts.
Those at the trenches pulled out bridges of different kinds and threw them out. Those without barriers rushed forward under the press of people. They pulled out more bridges as they reached ground of some kind to keep going.
The people running on a bridge ran to the end and throw another bridge down, but the stone they’d rested their first bridge on turned into a fulcrum and, as it tilted, they dropped into the trench.
The trenches weren’t all on the same level. The Sects charged across, their weight tilting the bridges like see-saws over the stone blades that stuck out of the ground. The fighters went screaming down into the poison-covered spikes inside the trenches.
It happened multiple times to the groups without barriers. They just wanted to get out of where they were as accurate fire rained down.
Another group under a barrier was taking their time. Part of the group was resting their weight on the bridge so others could run forward without it tilting.
They deployed multiple bridges.
“Load BP. Add seven degrees, drop three hundred.”
Rugrat did the changes and waited, the others watching through the bunker opening, ready.
“Fire!”
Rugrat looked through the periscope as the spells arrived. The smaller sect barrier shook and shuddered but stood firm.
Rugrat threw the canon’s lock back into place as the hourglass tilted. He glanced through the periscope again. The United Sect Army was rushing now, but they were packed in against Deadman’s Fields.
Rugrat looked at the hourglass. Come on, come on, dammit!
“Fire!”
The cannons recoiled, the wind rushing over Rugrat as he looked through his periscope. The rounds landed. He couldn’t tell which one broke the barrier as the rounds impacted lower, hitting those below.
AOE to clear the area? Wait, never mind. They’re running.
He searched for a new target as the dust plume from the impacts reached up into the heavens, dragged away by the wind.
“Come on! We can’t let Roska’s people beat us!” Han Wu yelled.
“New target!” Rugrat checked the top of the periscope, “Minus forty degrees, add four hundred.”
Domonos watched the live feed from Vuzgal’s main gate, mana cannons pounding on the barriers relentlessly.
“Well, they are the special teams,” Domonos muttered to Hall. “I don’t know what’s scarier: how damn tight their groupings are at five and a half kilometers out, or the fact they aren’t using an ounce of their actual power.”
Hall grunted in agreement. “Before I joined the Alva army, I had no idea about grid squares, about enfilade or defilade fire. Didn’t know about cover and movement, first aid. It doesn’t feel like much, but they just crammed information in our heads.”
“And then we started to act on it, think and exploit it. Takes a certain kind of power to not only build something, but pass it on to others and let them take the reins.”
The map updated.
“Damn. Sects going to need better barriers than that. It’s been what, three minutes? And they’ve lost four?” Hall checked his watch. “Look, they’re starting to crack.”
The Sect’s fighters broke and started running back toward their camps, turning from a few into a tide.
“He’ll come up with something else,” Domonos said.
“Still, not bad for what, sixty cannons?”
“Yeah. They have to be a Fourth Realm force. Don’t think they’re Fifth, and there is no way they’d waste a Sixth Realm group.”
“Where’s Zukal? In the front or the secondary command center?”
“Secondary.” In case I die in some bizarre accident. He’ll be able to take command immediately.
“You know, while it is one hell of a show of firepower, our enhanced and mounted cannons might be scarier. One person can control dozens through the dungeon core, or all of them.”
“Looks like they have more for us.” Hall pointed at the seer stones as the gates opened once again. A second force marched out, toward those who were retreating.
“We have a reading on how strong they are?” Domonos asked.
A few moments later, an aide turned to face them. “They appear to be all above level forty. They have formed their mana core with some among them reaching Body Like Stone.”
“Fifth Realm force. You think they’ll send a Sixth Realm group at us?” Hall asked.
“No, this is just a test. That second force was holding behind their gates. If the first force made any progress, they would have charged o
ut to assist, but they ran into a wall so now they need stronger people to take on the defenses to learn anything.”
“Have to say I’m not jealous of them. The mana focusing formations decreasing their mana regeneration has to cost them, while increasing ours, of course.” Hall clicked his tongue.
“The first force is turning and retreating,” another assistant reported.
“Good. Have the gun crews switch off. Clear any of the bridges and scaling gear in area two with the cannons. Make sure I get a report on the mana usage from the cannons after this is complete. I want a report on mana gains through mana gathering formations. Siege warfare is all about resources in the end.”
“Yes, sir.” Domonos’ head assistant nodded, jotting down notes as he remained a step away.
“You think they brought stronger barriers?” Domonos asked Hall, his eyes flicking from the different information inputs.
“Unless they’re brain dead.”
The first attack had been a failure.
Marco had expected as much. There hadn’t been any aerial attacks, which was a relief. Just mana cannons. A powerful weapon, but one he was familiar with.
He turned his viewing glasses, watching the battlefield directly. He grimaced at the Fourth Realm forces that were coming back. Only three barriers had survived. Another had slowly started to recover, a single barrage away from collapse.
Marco felt a warm thrill in his stomach. He held back the smile that threatened to appear on his face.
Eva Marino was the first to speak up. “Such coordinated fire. Their batteries must be hitting within ten meters of one another at six kilometers.”
“And take in the fact they are over a kilometer apart. They’ve been well trained,” Marco agreed.
“Well,” Onam grunted. The Willful Institute’s Master Teachers lifted their eyes from their glasses. Marco turned as well, interested to hear their thoughts.
“It is as we thought. Those odd box buildings hold their weapons. Their tactics are based on using strength other than their own.” Hae Woo Sung drew the corners of his mustache through his fingers.
Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8) Page 44
