Chapter 602 (1/2)

Book 5, Chapter 107 Attacking the Enemy's Rear

Desert stretched to the horizon Yellow sand danced on the breeze Sandbar Station was gradually sed in darkness

Two large forces met in the air above in a tense standoff The Northern Barrens and the Southern Wilds faced one another, but really it was a dance between Arcturus Cloude and Cloudhawk Their first forht would determent would retain a foothold in the south As such, it was integral to Arcturus' plans

The scale of these two armies was nowhere close to even

The Conclave of Judge number of troops Not only did it boast twice the nuround forces were also vastly superior in nuies packed with soldiers, in addition to over two thousand lizard and wolf riders

These forces were bolstered only recently, taken froround force itself wasn't the main part of the Conclave's army, it was a formidable threat In contrast, the Southern Confederation had no ground force to speak of It relied on the superior airshi+ps provided by Nox

The best co established by the Conclave; spy shi+ps, expedition shi+ps, battleshi+ps, carriers and destroyers The Conclave had over two thousand shi+ps, five hundred being battleshi+ps The reely mid-sized expeditionary shi+ps

In total numbers the southern wilds were in an inferior position, with an arht hundred vessels However its aerial forces were unifor, ancient warwith particle cannons By the Conclave's evaluation standards it was considered carrier class, with enough firepower alone to match ten battleshi+ps Its presence on the battlefield was a serious threat to the enemy armada

All told, the capabilities of both armies were about equal

The Conclave had the advantage in terms of scale, but the south met that deficit with more powerful equip war pro

Daatched the slowly encroaching eneelica was already in hand and she thrust it forward to punctuate her orders “All forces forward! Meet them head-on!”

The two armies rolled toward each other like fatal storms

Picking up speed, they closed the distance in short order Fro while sparks danced in their midst But what from afar looked like sparks were the roars of cannons, rockets and launchers as they spat death toward one another The two armies immediately broke into fierce conflict

The clouds split open as a strea havoc in a storm The roar of a cannon sounded like thunder

Cloudhawk felt the whole shi+p rattling beneath his feet Debris filled the air as guard shi+ps on either side detonated in ments of shi+p and crew pelted the deck of his shi+p like a grisly rain The exchange of fire claimed lives on both sides The first volley revealed no clear winner

The Conclave's arround forces had spread across the desert and was closing on the city

Lines of armored vehicles kicked up sand in their wake as they sped toward their objective Wasteland soldiers tore across the dunes on giant lizards with rocket launchers on their shoulders They didn't bother to ai their payloads loose toward the shi+ps above ild abandon The ground forces were lie they could deal to the armada, but they did add pressure and served to harass their foes from below

Deadly winds churned, thunder roared Soon, the ground was littered with broken shi+ps and dead bodies

Daatched with a grim expression “They're better equipped than I expected”

While the Conclave's shi+ps themselves were not powerful, nearly all of them had been outfitted with destructive missile launchers and other ordinance They could blow one of Dawn's shi+ps to pieces froher quality overall, they still were having trouble overcoe If this continued then winning victory would be costly, if even possible The death toll would be staggering for both sides whatever the outcome

It was for precisely such a circumstance that Cloudhawk chose to come

The Conclave's efforts to conquer the south ca it happen Without question, they would be bringing their best to bear Even borrowing strength fro to win this one easily

Cloudhawk broke in “We have fewer people, and the Conclave has enough to come back even if we rout the even if in We have to change our tactics, we can't go blow for blow”

That here they found the Six thousand vessels – even if they lost two shi+ps for each of Dawn's one they would still win The salt in that wound was that these warriors came froh and gobbled up all the south's cities

If they didn't find a way to reverse this they ht force the Conclave to lose interest in the south for a time, but Cloudhawk's forces would also be deci the fight to them

Cloudhawk knew that his true enemy didn't reside in the wasteland, but was the lofty and unreachable Arcturus Cloude If he wanted to tear the Master Demonhunter from his ivory tower in the heart of Skycloud, Cloudhaould need to first unite the wasteland All obstacles toward that end had to be rement

Not only did it have to dismantled, but he would need to do it quickly

In the twenty-some days since Cloudhawk's return he'd been careful to keep it quiet Skycloud didn't realize the threat growing to the south, but once they did they would have no choice but to react If it took Cloudhawk three years to overco his defenses At that point there would be no way for wastelanders to break through and conquer the Elysian land