Return to Jorgaldur Volume V: Reunion (2)

Fortress (IV)

Cahldor watched the relatively orderly march of the ranged corrupted that were approaching the fortress. He had taken the precaution of adding specialized beings that could protect them from the predictable spells that would be launched against them.

The appearance of the shield in the rear had been a surprise and a setback, but not a particularly serious one. He only needed a little more time to make it fall. They were trapped, at his mercy.

It was then that some points of light came out of the fortress. At first, they seemed too far away to worry about. At most, they would cause some casualties among the fortress besieging forces. However, they were still flying a few seconds later, and had traveled a distance that seemed impossible.

Cahldor was sure that no spell of his enemies could reach that far. Even if they had managed to move a catapult, these didn't have such a range, not even half as much.

Of course, he didn't know that special ones had been built for such a task. It had been necessary to limit the type and weight of the projectiles, in addition to using very valuable materials. Not to mention the rune inscriptions and magic circles all over its structure. It had been the joint work of several races.

He began to worry when it became clear that those bright points were some kind of projectile. Their height and speed made any attempt to stop them impossible, and there was no protection on the corrupted beings firing at the gate of the city. It was totally unnecessary to protect them when the entire area was infested with losts. At least, that was what he had believed until then.

It was soon obvious that they were going to fall in the middle of his army. He cursed inwardly. He couldn't have imagined that they had the means to attack the forces there, at such a distance. Especially, when they had enemies knocking their doors.

Although even less could he have imagined the devastation that those projectiles were going to cause. It wasn't until they exploded, and he felt the purifying power, that he understood the magnitude of the threat.

"Damn idiots! Can't they just die!? You, send the winged ones! We have to destroy them before they shoot again!" he ordered the shadow.

Nonetheless, he couldn't avoid the next burst. The catapults had to be charged with mana, so they were slow to fire. Despite this, when the first impact arrived, the second was already prepared.

They tried to send some winged ones to intercept the projectiles, but the purifying power destroyed them as they approached. The best they could do was to scatter their troops to reduce the density, so the damage would be smaller. However, there were too many to achieve this quickly.

Soon, he could see the extent of the destruction. Within a hundred meters around each impact, there were no losts. The worst thing was that the area was completely purified, and some corrupted beings were beginning to awaken.

"Shit! Fill the area with miasma! Eliminate the purified ones!" Cahldor was exasperated.

However, he could only watch, and wait for the shadow to carry out his orders, while he was seeing the army attacking the gate plunge into chaos and casualties. The biggest problem was that, as they were forced to disperse to reduce losses, it meant that the offensive against the gate would be noticeably reduced.

"No!" the traitor of the Guardians of the North despaired when he realized the result, a few minutes later.

The break in the offensive hadn't only halted progress, but was giving the gate time to regenerate. The energy of the defenses had managed to outweigh the damage taken for the first time in years, which allowed it to be repaired. They were losing years of effort, and it was still too early to resume the offensive.

"I'll kill you all! You'll not stand in my way again!" he threatened the fortress's defenders.

After the first impact, the Guardians of the North celebrated their success. They were in a critical situation, close to being overwhelmed by their enemies, but at least they were fulfilling their mission. Even in the distance, the glow of purification was evident.

They couldn't aim accurately, but the density of enemies was so high that it was almost impossible to fail. After the first shot, they moved the catapult slightly before launching the purification projectiles again. They had no more than a few dozen, but it was enough to wreak havoc among the corrupted beings.

"I wish one would hit that dirty traitor on the head," Menxolor muttered.

"That'd be great. I'd like to see it," a guardian laughed, as she watched the second batch of projectiles fly off.

They might be in grave danger, but that was even more reason to laugh. They probably wouldn't be able to do it anymore.

"Ballista one ready! Let's try it!" one then reported.

Several of the guardians had been bringing the huge arrows. Once filled with mana, they exploded on impact. Although, the first one they fired was empty. They couldn't waste any mana, and they didn't know if it would work.

They stared at the trajectory, and the ballista itself.

"It shakes a little, and it's hard to aim well, but there're too many enemies. It's impossible to not hit them," the same one from before assessed.

"Let's load the arrows then. The ranged ones have priority. Let's see if we can hit them," Menxolor ordered. "How's the second one going?"

"There're a couple of pieces missing. If they find them, we can finish assembling it in no time. They've gone to get them from the ballistas on the other side. I don't think the commander will be angry if we break them," another guard explained, joking.

"I've heard you," the commander voice was heard, joking as well.

They all knew each other well, and that could be the last chance to joke with their friends. If they had brought alcohol, perhaps they would be toasting, taking a last drink.

Meanwhile, some mages were attacking the enemies at the foot of the wall. Although it was impossible to kill them all, they at least wanted to do as much damage as possible.

It was then that they discovered a black cloud heading towards them.

"Aerial enemies!" the lookout warned.

He was controlling the fortress's facilities to observe from a distance. They were similar to telescopes, worked with mana, and could be controlled from the command room.

"The anti-air defenses are oriented to the other side, but they can be turned. They don't have much range, but they can at least give them a good welcome. I need all archers in the air defense room," the commander ordered.

It took skill to control those weapons, and the archers already had it. It wasn't much different from aiming with bows and arrows. Besides, she had already given them all the explanations during the trip.

There were about ten of them. They needed more than three times that number to exploit the full performance of the defenses, but they didn't have more. Including unskilled operators would be a waste of energy, and they didn't have any to spare.

Activating, replacing, and manipulating the energy cores was a specialized task. It was difficult to carry out in the middle of combat without interrupting the flow of energy. They couldn't afford a failure in the shield.