City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

"Halt,"

Ordered Stone as we reached the mile away from the wall.

I could see everything clearly. Thanks to the spell Shaun had cast on me. Even without it, one could see what was in front of us.

The cracked walls, burned vegetation and people standing on the wall.

Everything is clear.

If they wanted to, they would have stopped us from seeing everything so clearly, but they didn't.

They seemed confident in their ability to ward us off.

"Forces of Vris'alud, surrender and I pro"

Boom Boom Boom

They didn't even let me finish before launching the volley cannonball toward us

I didn't move and instead turned to the woman, who had given the order of attack.

The woman is clad in black armor, with a sigil skeletal blade covered in a shroud.

The woman is Rynra Throne from the knight order of Sable Shroud.

The most powerful of the knight order in Vris'alud.

She looked to be a woman from early to mid-thirties, with bronze skin. She had dark raven hair on her shoulders and pale blue eyes.

Her ears are faintly pointed because of her elven heritage. She is said to be a one-sixth elf.

Feeling my gaze, she smiled, and the smile was full of confidence. I couldn't even see, the slightest worry on her face.

The women had been in charge of Almin, but now she had been sent here.

We have information about her, and I didn't like what it said. The woman is an experienced commander and a powerful fighter.

She had fought an elder-blood before and killed her.

If the information on her strength is to be believed. Then there is no one besides Stone who could fight with her.

"Well, there goes our chance to make, the undead leave the city peacefully," I replied, making my army smile.

Bang Bang Bang

The cannonballs reached us and shields appeared below them. Stopping them from reaching us, but another volley shot out, right after.

These aren't the cannons undead brought; they are from the city.

The forty-seven cannons kept shooting the volleys of cannonballs while we defended.

Nearly a minute passed when the army parted in several places and our cannons came out.

Of course, we brought cannons and not only cannons but some other stuff too that our enemies would experience soon enough.

"Cannons ready, fire!"

Stone commanded, and immediately, a hundred and seven cannons roared in unison, sending a large volley toward the enemies.

The volley is spread out.

If the enemy wants to defend, then they would need to use a lot of spells to defend against them.

If they didn't. Then these cannonballs would fall on their walls. These are no common cannonballs, we are using, special types that help break the walls.

Over 50% of the supply of the cannonballs comes from the Prince's catch, just like the cannons.

Prince Grelt had brought a lot of things from the merchants for his efforts to gain the throne. Unfortunately, he was vaporized by his brother, before he could use them.

Now, I have brought them here, to use them for the purpose they had been brought.

I do not plan to use only his stuff. I had brought some of my own, it won't be long before we started to use it.

"Any progress?" asked Stone to Shaun, who shook his head.

"They are keeping it tight with any scrying spells and skills. We would be lucky if we were able to get even a glimpse of it," replied Shaun, shaking his head.

"Eli?" he asked, turning to the young scout.

"Mishka was barely able to dodge dark missiles a moment ago, but I will continue to try," he replied.

"Keep trying. We need to know, if they have any nasty surprises hidden inside," said Stone.

Minutes passed and a shower of cannonballs continued. We didn't move from our spot, nor did they.

We didn't even use the spells, aside from defending against the cannonballs.

The enemy did the same, but seeing our barrage and the power of our cannonballs, they were using three times more spells than us.

"hey have no intention of coming out and fighting," I said. "They are likely not," said Stone with his expression bad.

This means, they are planning something, and we are not happy about it. Direct conflict is easier to manage; complex things create complexities.

For a few seconds, nobody said anything, when suddenly Stone's eyes lit up.

I didn't have to ask, what happened.

"Fire!"

Stone commanded and a second later, nine huge balls shot into the air.

The balls are big, with each one being around a meter in diameter in diameter, weighing hundreds of kilograms. I would not say much about their power, but if they hit the wall, they will break it.

If one looked back at our army; they would see nine, big contraption machines in the back.

The catapults.

On the earth, catapults become obsolete with the advent of gunpowder by the fifteenth century.

Here they are not.

In this world, they are more powerful. Thanks to material and enchantments. They complement cannons and create massive destruction.

I had brought them, and I was going to use them in the last battle, but those damned alchfire orbs worked too well.

So, Cardin decided to keep them hidden, which was a wise choice.

The nine massive catapult balls went toward the enemy, with cannonballs as the cover. We have to make it hard for them to defend against it, the cannonballs will help with it.

The first volley reached the walls, and shields appeared, defending against the cannonballs.

Bang Bang Bang

Finally, the catapult balls reached the walls, and they were defended, but the blast had covered a large part of the sky.

They needed to use extra shields to cover the blast and protect themselves from nasty things, the blast releases.

They are defending well that not a single blast was able to hit the wall. This is a little disappointing, but not totally useless, seeing they are using mana to defend against the cannons.

The necromancers have the advantage over other mages. They could pull mana from the undead.

This will help reduce that advantage.

We are paying a massive price for it, but that war is for you. It is not cheap and I wouldn't have done it, if not for the security of my city.

A few minutes passed, and we continued with the barrage when a change occurred.

They have begun to let some of the cannonballs pass. Those that wouldn't hit the walls; some did start to hit the walls, not in numbers that we would like.

"Division ready!" Stone Commanded and immediately soldiers moved around.

Within seconds, the lines of soldiers formed. With soldiers in the front holding the shields, while those behind holding the weapons.

"Charge!" he ordered, and the force of twenty thousand moved forward.

Our purpose is to capture the city, and it wouldn't be possible to just fire the cannons.

We actually would need to attack, and we are doing that now.

I didn't march with twenty-thousand. I followed behind with the twelve thousand. We won't fight till ordered but remain close to support Stone.

He is leading it; there is no one better than him. He had experience of these kinds of things.

Most importantly, he will need to be there to deal with that knight. Without him, stopping her, she would slaughter my officers.

As they marched, siege towers began to rise up. For over eight months, they were soaking dust in the warehouse.

Now, we are using them.

I watched with my heart beating. It will be a bloody battle and I wish, I could be there, but I cannot.

I will be a distraction.

Soon, there were less than three hundred meters remaining between them when the enemy acted.

They started attacking with spells and aimed the cannons at them. In response, shields moved forward, and defensive spells appeared in front of them.

The most guarded are the siege towers and ladders. They need to be protected.

While there are spells, that could create ladders and skill, that could make one jump into the wall. They are still useful and stronger than most spells.

Most importantly, the physical thing brings more confidence than the thing made of magic.

Seeing the enemy had started using spells, we also intensified our support. Sending the volleys at greater intensity toward the enemy.

I looked toward the wall and saw it filled with the undead. Their numbers seemed to have increased. I couldn't tell properly.

They have started using skills and spells to ward off investigative skills.

It is all blurry when we try to look at them. We are doing the same Shaun and others activated skills, that make the enemy hard to see us.

Skills are really terrifying things.

There are skills in the world that make the armies blind. Some make them fight each other.

Though for such massive effects, the commander needs to be really powerful, and the world has such people.

Compared to them, we are nothing.

Vris'alud is one of the forces, which had such people. If they sent even a single one of them; they would destroy us.

There are some of those people in the region itself. In Ashton Harbor and Dustorn Fortress.

The man in the fortress is really powerful. Even the two in the harbor won't be his match.

He had been completely silent since the death of the emperor. He didn't make any move other than dealing with small attacks from Tabes.

There is also a thing about him sending some reinforcement to Deerpond and Riverbell, but not to me.

I didn't dare to make any noise about it, but it displeased me greatly. A little bit of reinforcement would have helped my city tremendously.

He is a factor that worried me as much as the undead, even more so sometimes.

I tried to find out what his plans were. There are plans. I do not for a moment believe, that he doesn't have plans.

I only hope, that whatever his plans are, doesn't intersect with mine. He is not someone, I could deal with in a few months to years.

I sighed and focused on the army. It had reached the wall.

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