Chapter 1002: Zhuge Repeating Ballista (1/2)
I gazed to the west as the sound of drum beats trembled across the ground. Less than ten kilometers away, Candle Dragon and a dozen or so China guilds were engaging Red Maple’s troops in an all-out war. The effects of that battle could be heard and felt even from here. The battle could very well decide the outcome of this war, so it was a shame that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was stuck here having to defend the fortress. It would’ve been the perfect ”training” for our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers as well.
I wasn’t complaining of course. Now that God’s Domain was no longer attacking our west wall, we could focus all our energy on the east. This made things a lot easier.
Pa pa…
While running across the edges of the wall, I stared at a black projectile flying my way and made a snap decision. I was going to block it with my body. The damn thing was just too deadly against fortifications, and if I succeeded, that would be one way to reduce the damage the fortress would take.
Buzz!
I activated Great Earth Transformation and surrounded myself with three cyan draconic blades. Then, I activated Ghost Deity Shield and pointed the Dragon God Shield toward the flying rock. Finally, I planted my sword between the bricks, hung myself beyond the wall—effectively suspending myself in midair—and used Guard.
BANG!
I felt like someone had shot me in the heart the second the rock hit my Dragon God Shield. It felt like my left arm should be detached from my body and lying somewhere on the ground. Despite having reduced the knockback effect of the impact by 90% or more, I still rolled across the rampart like a tumbleweed.
Pa pa pa...
The rock was still pushing against my shield, by the way. I rolled for a very long time—knocking over a couple Dragonlight Archers in the process—before I finally came to a full stop. In the end, a terrifying damage number rose above my head, and it stated—219288!
”Holy f.u.c.k!”
Xu Yang stared at me with eyes as wide as saucers. ”Have you gone insane, Lu Chen!? What kind of madman could be crazy enough to block a catapult payload with their own body??? You’re lucky it didn’t crit, you crazy f.u.c.k!”
I shot him a grin while wiping the blood stains around my lips and drinking Saint Spirit Potion. ”It’s fine, siege weapons can’t crit.”
Eyes Like Water was just as stunned. ”Priests, heal Lu Chen now! You beautiful sonuvabitch, I can’t believe you actually blocked that with your flesh and blood. You’re probably the only one in the entire world who can pull off this madness…”
Purple Wind Chime nodded. ”Yes, not only does he have Great Earth Transformation, his equipment is… overpowered, to say the least…”
……
”Look, their siege towers are coming toward us! There’s so many…” Chaos Moon pointed with her sword.
Just as she said, the enemy was pushing black siege towers toward us. They were at least three to five times bigger than Black Marsh Catapults, and as tall as the walls themselves. If we allowed these humongous structures to approach the fortress near enough to plant their steel planks against the walls, the riders and foot soldiers would be able to engage us en masse. It would be a far more equal fight than if they used cloud ladders.
”What should we do?” Eyes Like Water asked worriedly. ”If only Momo was here. Ice Blast is perfect against siege towers!”
I ordered grimly, ”All Black Tortoise Catapults, continue targeting the Black Marsh Catapults! The rest of you, move all the White Marsh Catapults to the walls and fire at the siege towers! We will crush their assault via brute force!”
The Dragonlight Cavalry and many other players nodded and rushed down to the ground to push the White Marsh Catapults up the walls. At this point, the battle had turned into a battle of siege weapons—or to expound on the idea a bit more, it was a battle of wealth.. Lucky for White Rose Fortress, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was probably one of the very few guilds who could afford a war like this. Dark Moon City, our money tree in virtual reality, and Raincube Corporation, an important partner of Eternal Moon Corporation, was our money tree in real life. Therefore, money wasn’t a problem!
A dozen or so White Marsh Catapults payloads were launched at the enemy. The siege weapon’s hit rate was less than 30%, but it was still enough to make a difference because the payload caused a 40x40 yard wide explosion that one-shot everything upon impact. Moreover, the best experts of Japan were currently fighting at Floating Ice City, not here.
Boom boom boom!
As expected, the White Marsh Catapults were able to crush the siege towers in one hit. In fact, judging from the way the fortified towers’ bodies shattered, and wood splintered into countless pieces, it could probably one-shot two siege towers at once if they close enough to each other. All the magic knights packed inside the siege towers were killed by the resulting explosion before they even fell to the ground. Practically all of them suffered over 200k damage, an amount no ordinary player could withstand.
However, the enemy’s Black Marsh Catapults and basic Catapults landed hit after hit despite our best efforts. Soon, the entire eastern wall of White Rose Fortress was shaking unsteadily. There was no way we were going to hold out for much longer.
Bang!
My heart squeezed when one of our White Marsh Catapults was blown into smithereens by a Black Marsh Catapult projectile. Sure, it felt satisfying to blow the other guy’s gold into dust, but the opposite hurt just as much!
Giant rocks continued to slam into the walls. The pressure on our shoulders kept mounting without end.
Panic growing, Chaos Moon abruptly pointed at the players inside the fortress and shouted, ”What are you all waiting for? I want two thousand ballistae on the wall now! If we don’t have enough Dragonlight Cavalry, then we’ll make it up with ballistae!”
The players nodded and began assembling the ballistae. The missile weapons were pulled up to the arrow loops so they could fire at the enemy safely. It was also a super weapon of sorts that only a master-Level engineer player could assemble. Once the bolts were loaded, it could fire a dozen or so bolts in a row. Its strength lay in its concentrated fire, killing the enemy before they could heal the damage.
”Loose!”