Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 151 - 146: Defending the City, Pure Enjoyment Battle

Chapter 151: Chapter 146: Defending the City, Pure Enjoyment Battle

"Boom!"

With a loud crash, a catapult amidst the Northern Barbarians hurled a massive rock towards them, but it was not well-aimed and missed the city walls, falling on a hillside instead, creating a large pit and sending dust flying.

The players were somewhat panicked.

"What? The demons actually have catapults? That’s not fair!"

"Yeah, we haven’t even unlocked that technology yet!"

"We can’t even retaliate from this distance..."

The players felt a sense of helplessness.

At this moment, they could only watch helplessly as the demons controlled the Northern Barbarians, throwing stones into the city with catapults without any means to counter, since they lacked devices that could reach such distances.

However, it wasn’t long before the players were reassured, praising the foresight of the construction players led by Li Weiyi.

Thanks to the altered terrain, the threat of the catapults to the city had greatly decreased!

The first rock did not hit the city walls and only landed on the hillside, which was not accidental.

Soon, several more catapults from the barbarians hurled rocks continuously, but apart from a small stone hitting the city wall, all other stones fell onto the hillside, posing no threat to the players.

As for the rock that had hit the city wall, it only caused stone chips to fly everywhere after a muffled sound.

Some players quickly peered out over the city walls to inspect the impacted area and found only a shallow trace, which was not a serious issue.

As for the oil barrels that were hurled over, most of them missed critical targets, and rather, many barrels ended up burning fiercely at the base of the walls, blocking the barbarians who were preparing to lay siege.

This was clearly due to the terrain.

Under the suggestion of architectural experts like Li Weiyi, the players, albeit reluctantly, agreed to spend a significant amount of Construction Value to alter the landscape of the entire Return Order Fortress.

Because the barbarians were attacking uphill, launching stones from below reduced their impact.

Those heavy rocks couldn’t fly high enough, so they fell to the ground before reaching the walls, having no effect whatsoever; even slightly smaller stones, even if they luckily hit the city walls, could not cause serious destruction.

After all, this city wall was built using a large amount of Construction Value by the players without any compromises, making it incredibly sturdy.

What if they had not spent so much Construction Value to alter the terrain of the entire Return Order Fortress earlier?

Even if the city walls were built twice as thick as they are now, even if a second perimeter wall had been constructed, the defensive effect could not have been as good.

Without the advantage of terrain, the catapults could easily shoot over the city walls to attack inside the city, and the large falling rocks could potentially damage the city walls, presenting great difficulty to the players’ defenses.

On flat ground, those oil barrels would have been more likely to land inside the city and on the city walls, and, once ignited, could set the buildings inside the city or rolling wood prepared for defense on fire, leading to unimaginable consequences.

In any case, the professionals made the right choice!

The players felt a surge of morale; the battle hadn’t even officially started, but they were already psychologically dominating.

The barbarians’ army was rapidly approaching, with heavy cavalry at the forefront, light cavalry following, and then infantrymen carrying ladders and pushing siege hammers.

As they got close to the city walls, these light cavalrymen of the Northern Barbarians took down their heavy bows, readying their arrows to shoot at the city.

The demons adopted an extravagant tactic, using the most valuable part of their forces, the heavy cavalry as mere meat shields and cannon fodder to create opportunities for the infantry behind to scale the walls.

The players on the city walls certainly would not indulge these demons.

Since they were meant to be cannon fodder, they might as well embrace their fate!

Two Chiliarchs each took responsibility for the defense of one side of the western gate. When the barbarians entered range, they coordinated silently and waved their hands, jointly commanding the players to launch a counterattack.

"Fire arrows!

"Prepare the rolling wood!"

The militia players hidden behind the battlements on the city walls drew their bows and released them uniformly, shooting arrows downward at the barbarians.

In an instant, arrows rained down!

This included primarily standard arrows, but also mixed with powerful special arrows such as armor-piercing arrows, fire arrows, etc.

Players, unlike historical archers, could infinitely acquire basic weapons.

Items like basic sabers, long spears, shields, and bows and arrows were available for unrestricted use.

So, the players didn’t need to be economical with their arrows; standard arrows could be used freely, with an endless supply.

Of course, these weapons did slightly consume a bit of the Return Order’s power, but to Meng Yuan, this consumption was negligible, so he simply opened the supply wide and did not impose any restrictions on the players.

However, upgraded weapons were not unlimitedly supplied.

Many players had already switched to advanced weapons, like more refined long spears, armor, bows, etc., which could not be used without limit.

Among the arrows, there were also special types like armor-piercing arrows, fire arrows, which were bought with real money from the forge, available in limited numbers and at a steep price.

Still, a significant number of players used these special arrowheads right from the start, for a simple reason: killing enemies came with rewards.

After the battle, one could not only collect bounties in the game based on one’s decapitation tally but, once the new movie made money and the box office was divided, Contribution Value would also influence how much money one received.

So, if they weren’t going to use these special arrows now, then when?

Though expensive, as long as they could kill enemies, they could earn the money back.

A relentless barrage of arrows descended upon the bandits, with the heavily armored cavalry in the front line bearing the brunt.

These cavalrymen were clad in full armor from head to toe, even their horses were wrapped tightly; although arrows kept falling on them, they could not penetrate the heavy armor.

A few unlucky ones just happened to have arrows pierce the gaps in their armor, or were hit by armor-piercing arrows or fire arrows, becoming the first wave of cannon fodder to be eliminated.

But since the special arrows were scarce, other heavy cavalrymen continued their advance without any hesitation.

But the light cavalry following behind these heavy cavalrymen were not so comfortable.

The light cavalrymen wore only helmets, without any body armor, and many were unluckily turned into pincushions, both man and horse, and fell to the ground, never to rise again.

These light cavalrymen had also promptly drawn their bows to retaliate, but after shooting their arrows, they found it futile.

Because they were attacking from a lower to a higher position, their arrows had significantly less range, and since the players on the tower were shooting concealed behind merlons, well-hidden, the light cavalry’s retaliation had little effect.

However, the charge by the heavy and light cavalry indeed drew fire away from the infantry, some of whom, carrying ladders and braving the rain of arrows, followed behind the cavalry, ready to place their ladders against the walls at the earliest opportunity.

"Roll the wood!"

The players on the city wall worked together, pushing the rolling wood down from the wall.

"Thump thump!"

The thick rolling wood tumbled from the wall, landing heavily on the ground, but that wasn’t all, because even though the terrain at the west gate was comparatively less steep than the other three sides, it was still noticeably sloped.

Once the rolling wood hit the ground, it rolled down the slope.

The Barbarian heavy cavalry were in the midst of a charge, and it was too late for them to dodge; they, along with their horses, collided directly with it!

Men flew through the air, and so did horses.

Though these cavalrymen were in heavy armor, these could hardly fend off the impact of the rolling wood. They resembled well-sealed cans, which when chopped by a blade would barely be dented, but when struck by a blunt instrument could cause internal injuries.

From atop the city walls, looking down on the carnage the rolling wood left in its path was like watching a barber’s clippers pass over the top of a customer’s head, immensely satisfying.

But these Barbarians were ultimately controlled by demons, completely ignorant of fear or retreat.

With their numerical advantage, they still stubbornly reached the base of the city walls.

With a "snap," a ladder had been situated against the wall.

On the east, south, and north sides of the Return Order Expedition fortress, due to the terrain, the walls were too high for ladders to reach, making the west the only side vulnerable to ladder attacks.

Quite a few Barbarians immediately climbed up the ladders, attempting to scale the wall.

Yet, arrows continued to rain down like droplets, but many barbarians held up shields as they climbed the ladders, blocking the arrows.

However, just when some Barbarians thought they were about to successfully climb over the wall, they saw the defense troops handling something new.

A barrage of stones viciously smashed down!

Being on the ladders, these Barbarians had no way to dodge and could only instinctively raise their shields in defense, but to no avail; they were struck by the stones, and those below attempting to climb the ladder fell as well, resembling candied haws.

Not only that, but as the stones hit the ground, they continued their momentum, even striking the bandits preparing to attack below.

In a flash, blood flew everywhere, and the sound of breaking bones was incessant.

Some Barbarians fell to the ground with their shield-holding arms completely bent and deformed due to the enhancement by demonic powers; they were extraordinarily tenacious in life, thus did not die.

Soon, these stone-struck Barbarians realized they were somewhat lucky.

Because other Barbarians had it worse; just as they climbed halfway, the garrisoned troops had already dropped a round, fuse-burning iron ball!

With a thunderous explosion, the Sky Shattering Bomb detonated amongst the dense Barbarians!

In the opaque smoke, the tremendous force from the gunpowder explosion sent iron shards flying in all directions, the bandits unable to react before being horribly mutilated by the debris.

Any Barbarian near the Sky Shattering Bomb was blasted beyond recognition!

With geographic advantages, the players, despite facing numerically superior Barbarians, didn’t feel pressured at all; instead, they felt an indescribable relief and ease, thoroughly derestrессing.

Many players who had newly acquired the internal beta qualification were participating in the Return Order Expedition for the first time.

They were initially a bit nervous, but at this moment, their nervousness had vanished entirely, replaced by excitement.

Is this what a siege battle is like?

Such a thrilling ride!