Chapter 549: Tri-Party Cooperation
With this in mind, Jifan didn't rush to take action. His steadily growing command experience had made him more composed and comprehensive.
He carefully assessed the battlefield situation and confirmed that the enemy had no other means of scaling the walls.
He quickly calculated that just 520 Blade Corps soldiers would be enough to block the enemies descending from the siege tower.
Two teams alternating their suppression would be sufficient to relieve the pressure these enemies brought.
Without showing any outward sign of his intentions, Jifan immediately issued the order to continue firing and to target the siege tower with artillery.
He aimed to force the drow to reveal more of their trump cards.
Events unfolded just as Jifan anticipated.
To safeguard the lone remAnnieng siege tower.
When the drow commander saw the cannons on the walls targeting the tower, they decisively deployed an elite unit.
Boom!
The spinning cannonballs slammed into the side of the siege tower.
The iron-clad siege tower was riddled with large holes.
The slave soldiers hiding between floors suffered heavy casualties from the cannon fire.
Blood and gore flew everywhere amid anguished screams.
A unit of heavily armored gray dwarf slaves, bearing sturdy shields, charged onto the siege tower.
They quickly ascended to each level of the tower, positioning themselves with their shields along the exposed and damaged sides.
To Jifan's surprise, their flesh-and-blood defense against the artillery proved unexpectedly effective.
When the spinning solid shells hammered the black shields, they merely pushed them back and didn't even leave a mark.
The astonishing sight prompted Jifan to ask Grayash beside him:
"What unit is this? Their defensive capabilities are unbelievable!"
Grayash, observing the gray dwarf warriors holding firm against the shells and spitting blood as they were pushed back, displayed a trace of disbelief in his eyes as he muttered:
"They are the King's Shields, but that's impossible! They're supposed to be the king's royal guard!"
"They would never betray the king, much less follow the drow's orders!"
Grayash's tone carried an unmistakable certainty, which piqued Jifan's curiosity further.
He could clearly see that these gray dwarves were not in poor condition, unlike the other slave soldiers who appeared malnourished and weak.
While the other slaves behaved wildly, their physical state and displayed combat power were far from their peak.
The advanced King's Shield gray dwarves before him clearly seemed to be fighting willingly.
These gray dwarf shield-bearers, with their exceptional defensive skills and shield techniques, also showed notable familiarity in defending against artillery attacks.
Such elite defensive prowess certainly justified their King's Shield title.
What intrigued Jifan most, however, was that these gray dwarves showed no intention of storming the walls themselves.
They stubbornly protected the sides of the siege tower, escorting other slave soldiers onto the walls.
This peculiar and contradictory scene led Jifan to further speculation.
"So, it's either that the gray dwarves have struck a deal with the drow, or they're being coerced…"
"How fascinating…"
Jifan knew very well why the dwarven kingdom had suffered so greatly.
It was because they had faced both the gray dwarves and the drow as enemies, alone.
If only one enemy had been involved, the dwarves might have struggled but wouldn't face such dire defensive pressure.
The dwarven kingdom had not yet fallen, holding its defensive lines with remarkable resilience.
While the credit lay in part with the dwarven military's strong combat capabilities and their warriors' self-sacrificing defense of their homeland,
it also stemmed from the mutual animosity between the gray dwarves and the drow.
The drow considered all other sentient beings to be slaves, attacking anyone they encountered.
They would launch probing assaults first,
and if they found an opponent vulnerable, they would send numerous scouting and assassination teams to infiltrate the opponent's territory, freely pillaging and causing chaos.
Once the opponent's numbers and strength had dwindled,
the drow would have already captured enough slaves and trained them as slave soldiers.
Just as Jifan was witnessing, the drow used these slave armies for attritional warfare without pressure.
When their enemies lost all ability to resist,
the drow would overwhelm them.
This would secure victory in a single stroke.
As one of the major underground powers, the gray dwarves had long been a target for the drow's ambition to subjugate them.
The two sides had clashed countless times, and with their agile combat style and the backing of the spider goddess Lolth, the drow often gained the upper hand.
Yet the gray dwarves, with their powerful military forces and expansionist drive, had also scored their share of victories against the drow.
Whenever these two factions met, they would inevitably fight each other fiercely.
The peculiar circumstances now unfolding were enough to draw Jifan's and the dwarven kingdom's attention.
A shrewd thinker, Jifan had no intention of investigating the situation alone. He quickly reported the development to both the Bay Territory and the dwarven kingdom.
Then, without probing Grayash further, he turned his gaze toward the second wave of siege engines being transported in and scoffed coldly:
"Let's see if they even have a chance to deliver these."
Boom!
Roaring cannonballs soared toward the siege engines from afar.
Learning from past encounters, Manhammer decisively ordered all cannons to focus fire on a single siege engine.
More than ten cannonballs launched in rapid succession, devastating the wooden structure of the siege engine.
Boom!
The wooden support beams shattered, splintering into a storm of debris.
The massive siege engine toppled to one side, crushing dozens of slave soldiers who couldn't dodge in time.
They were done for!
This time, Jifan did not have Manhammer hold back.
While the beholders were too preoccupied to intervene, they dismantled one siege engine after another.
Against the drow army, the most effective strategy was to isolate and eliminate each threat.
Of all the armies Jifan had encountered, the drow's forces were the least cohesive.
They were perpetually disorganized.
Forget shielding their comrades—if they didn't stab each other in the back, it was considered a charitable gesture.
In about five minutes,
the second wave of siege engines was completely destroyed.
The drow commander frowned, puzzled by the seemingly endless flow of slave soldiers scaling the siege tower.
"The black dwarves' melee prowess is formidable, but their numbers have always been a problem. How could they have so quickly dispatched the climbing slave soldiers?"
"Could their reinforcements have already arrived?"
With that thought, the drow commander discarded any lingering underestimation of the dwarves and ordered the Night Hunter Bats to conduct reconnaissance.
On the walls, Jifan noticed the enormous bats heading their way.
Having learned from Manhammer about the Night Hunter Bats' ferocity and threat, Jifan wasn't about to let them approach unchallenged.
"Sera, deploy the Thunder Warriors!"
Standing motionless nearby, Sera nodded calmly and replied:
"No problem, these bats won't make it over."
Sera moved toward a watchtower, followed by more than fifty Thunder Warriors, who split into five squads and headed to other watchtowers.
Watching the burly Thunder Warriors, Manhammer couldn't help but ask curiously:
"Is this the Thunder Armor developed by the Bay Territory? It looks different from ours."
Jifan smiled and nodded, offering no secrecy and directly explAnnieng:
"Yes, it uses a different method to generate lightning."
"Your Thunder Armor relies on rune power and can naturally replenish itself."
"Ours is more cumbersome and needs to be recharged with elemental energy crystals."
Is it really more cumbersome?
Manhammer chose to believe Jifan, knowing the Bay Territory had no reason to deceive him.
As they conversed,
Sera, now at the firing port, retrieved a large crossbow she had prepared in advance from her storage space.
The massive crossbow measured two meters wide and 1.5 meters long, weighing 25 kilograms.
For ordinary crossbowmen, such a weapon was far too heavy.
These crossbows were typically mounted on walls and loaded with specialized machinery.
But for the Thunder Warriors, these longer-range, more powerful crossbows were just right.
With one hand, Sera easily pulled back the bowstring—something most couldn't budge.
Instead of loading a more penetrating large bolt, she selected a specially made bolt as thick as a wrist.
She held the massive crossbow as if it were weightless.
Sera was well-accustomed to her "monstrous strength."
She simply pulled the trigger calmly.
The thick, specially crafted bolt shot out with a "whizz."
Just as the hefty bolt neared the approaching Night Hunter Bat, it suddenly "crackled" and shattered apart.
A hidden iron net unfurled instantly, enshrouding the Night Hunter Bat.
Dozens of specially made bolts that had been fired simultaneously also transformed into massive spreading iron nets.
The elven commander sneered; these Night Hunter Bats were far more resilient than ordinary bats.
They were not only extremely fast but also exceptionally tenacious.
"Heh, these useless little trinkets—no matter how many you send, it's just throwing them to their deaths."
As Sera spoke, her entire body surged with dazzling lightning.
With a simple upward gesture of her hand, a beam of electricity converged in her palm, forming a radiant spear that flew toward the spreading iron nets.
Scores of electric spears shot forth, carrying the now-expanded iron nets, which ensnared the incoming Night Hunter Bats in one sweeping strike.
Crackle! Snap!
Electric sparks burst forth, scattering into bright flashes.
Arcs of lightning struck the Night Hunter Bats, leaving them smoldering with wisps of charred smoke.
Despite their one-meter size and thicker health bars compared to regular bats,
the surging bolts of lightning quickly obliterated them.
In a single barrage, two-thirds of the Night Hunter Bats were gone.
The drow elves' faces turned pale, and they quickly blew sharp whistles, attempting to recall the remAnnieng bats.
Yet Sera, who had prepared extensively before venturing into the Underdark, wasn't about to let them escape.
A second wave of iron nets swept over them.
The previously shrieking Night Hunter Bats were wiped clean by the flying nets and electrical discharges, falling in droves and emitting a twisted stench.
For ordinary humans, these fallen Night Hunter Bats would be avoided at all costs.
But for the ravenous slave warriors, they were indeed a meal dropped from the sky.
They ravenously tore into the corpses, gnashing and devouring them with unmatched speed.
Fights broke out among the slave warriors over a bite of food, causing chaos to erupt.
Observing this scene keenly, Jifan immediately called out to John beside him:
"Our enemies are starving—prepare some soup and bones for them."
John scratched his head in confusion. He couldn't fathom the connection between waging war and cooking meals.
However, not one to overthink things, John proved to be an excellent executor of orders.
In just a few minutes, he had completed Jifan's instructions and promptly reported back:
"Three pots of bone soup are ready, and it smells wonderful—though it's not quite done yet."
Watching the drow warriors wielding whips in the distance, Jifan broke into a radiant smile:
"It doesn't need to be cooked. They might not be used to it anyway—just pour it around the siege tower."
Sploosh!
The massive pots of broth spilled out, scalding dozens of slave warriors.
Yet soon, they forgot their burns and feverishly scrambled for the bones still covered in bits of meat and froth.
Chaos erupted beneath the walls, even disrupting the slave warriors preparing to ascend the siege tower.
The drow soldiers emerged to restore order, brandishing whips and blades, but they failed to quell the spreading pandemonium.
The frenzied struggle over food quickly escalated into a bloodbath.
Some slaves, no longer able to endure their hunger, slaughtered nearby drow and feasted on their remains.
The drow commander, noticing the escalating riot, immediately turned pale.
She might not have excelled in combat strategy,
but she was a skilled slave handler.
She quickly issued orders to halt the attack and sent in more disciplined drow troops to divide the front line.
To the rioting slaves, she ordered a merciless purge.
Spells rained down in a storm, and arrows followed.
Within moments, hundreds of rebellious slave warriors were slaughtered.
The burgeoning revolt vanished as if it had never existed.
Jifan, who seemed to savor the chaos, watched the drow commander's swift response and then commanded the Blade Corps to launch a full-scale attack.
The semicircle of Blade Corps soldiers surged forward, their weapons slicing through the defenseless slave warriors.
Within just a few breaths,
no slaves remained standing on the walls.