Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 154 - 149 The Demon Is Playing Dirty

Chapter 154: Chapter 149 The Demon Is Playing Dirty

On the city walls, Beichen remained ever vigilant of the battlefield’s situation.

Victory reports kept coming in from players in all directions.

On the southern and northern fronts, due to the treacherously steep terrain complemented by rivers, demons had only sent small troops to probe the defenses, which the players easily repelled.

To the east, where enemy raiders had crossed the hills to attack, they were not only met with a fierce counterattack from the players on the walls but also encircled and decimated by the standby forces and the Ranger’s thousand-man team; caught in a pincer attack, they were quickly wiped out.

As for the West Gate, where the tension was highest, the demon-controlled barbarian soldiers had managed to scale the walls a few times but were resolutely driven back by the players each time.

Although the barbarian soldiers and raiders had left a considerable number of corpses below the walls and mounted many assaults, the Return Order Expedition’s fortress remained as unyielding as metal, rock-solid.

The players had a rather staggering casualty ratio of tens to one. After successfully annihilating twenty to thirty thousand barbarian soldiers and raiders, only a few hundred players had died.

Many players couldn’t help but become somewhat overconfident.

With another round of attacks over and the barbarian soldiers temporarily retreating to regroup, the players were immersed in a sea of jubilation.

"What the heck, I thought this nation war was definitely going to be harder than the last one, but it turned out to be much easier!"

"Yeah, last time at least the city gates were breached, and we won by conducting a defensive battle within the city. Now these barbarians can’t even get through the gates."

"The East Gate side has already launched proactive strikes. General Deng’s Arrays are seriously impressive. Those raiders were essentially routed, rendered utterly useless even with demonic powers. With the righteous energy driving them back, they were then easily stabbed to death amidst the chaos."

"Should we consider a proactive strike by now? At this rate, who knows when it’ll end. Better to charge out and quickly bring things to a conclusion."

Once again, a blindly optimistic sentiment emerged among the group of players.

Beichen reiterated sternly, "Everyone, hold your defense zones, especially the West Gate; absolutely no rash strikes!"

While there was some overly optimistic sentiment, the clear-headed players all knew that a sortie would have no chance of success.

Cavalry was the absolute sovereign in the age of cold weapons, and the Northern Barbarians’ cavalry was the peak of such forces.

Without the strategically advantageous position of the Return Order Expedition’s fortress, the players would have been utterly crushed in the first charge of the Northern Barbarians’ cavalry.

Now, the siege battle was about to escalate to its most intense phase.

The players’ will to fight soared, preparing to battle to the last man; on the flip side, weren’t the demons equally determined?

The demons would not consider a retreat until every single barbarian soldier from the Northern Barbarians had been expended.

Thus, this war was inevitably one of life and death without any chance of good fortune.

Now entering a war of attrition, the outcome depended solely on whether the barbarian soldiers of the demons would be spent first, or whether the players’ city defense items, like rolling logs and stones, Sky Shattering Bombs, and such, would be exhausted.

Once all these mass destructive defense weapons were used up, it would only be a matter of time before the barbarian soldiers climbed the walls or even breached the gates.

"Boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

The sound of battle drums rang out once more, and the barbarian soldiers launched yet another attack without much respite.

Immediately, the players’ spirits were roused, bracing for the confrontation.

Once again, a battering ram, pushed forward by the barbarian soldiers, advanced slowly towards the West City Gate. Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and ladder-carrying infantry were covering it from every side.

Li Hongyun’s eyes lit up, "Let me handle this!"

He had waited so long, and finally, it was time to demonstrate his might. He hurriedly took a clay jar filled with fierce fire oil from a player nearby, ready in anticipation.

The fight remained similar to before; players unleashed a volley of arrows and matchlock gun fire, then used rolling logs and stones to target barbarians ascending the ladders. When the battering ram neared the gates, Li Hongyun hurled the fire oil jar, followed by other players firing flaming arrows to ignite it.

But this time, something was different.

A Northern Barbarians’ heavy cavalryman led the charge, and several players immediately raised their matchlock guns and handguns to fire at him. Though he was clearly hit, he did not fall from his horse. Instead, he continued charging forward until he reached the gate!

Judging by his attire and bearing, this appeared to be a barbarian Chiliarch.

With a "crash," the fire oil jar shattered on the roof of the ram, followed by several flaming arrows that landed and set fierce flames ablaze.

As in previous instances, the ram should have been quickly consumed by fire, and the barbarians inside pushing the ram would have soon burned to death.

However, the Chiliarch let out a furious roar, and immediately, streams of black Demonic Qi instantly stripped away from the surrounding barbarian soldiers, converging towards him!

After their demonic power was stripped away, the surrounding thousand or so barbarian soldiers fell to the ground. It was as if all their life force had been drained, their bodies shriveling up quickly until only skins remained and their armors clattered onto the ground.

It didn’t end there; many barbarian soldiers in the rear were also instantly drained of life, falling down in rows.

From the sky, a torrent of Demonic Qi poured directly into this Chiliarch.

Moments later, the size of the Chiliarch’s body had swollen by several folds, transforming into a four to five-meter-tall giant.

Of course, the warhorse beneath him could not bear the weight and was squashed to the ground as he expanded.

The Chiliarch’s body had already been ignited by the fierce fire oil, but as if not caring at all, he charged directly to the front of the ram, held the burning siege hammer with both hands, and slammed fiercely against the city wall!

"Boom!"

A muffled thud, so powerful that even the players on the city wall felt as though an earthquake was happening.

The previously sturdy wooden gate was immediately battered into flying splinters, with several thick bolts twisted out of shape, and a noticeable gap appeared in the center of the gate.

The raging fire oil was still burning fiercely, and this Chiliarch, alongside the battering ram, seemed like a demon that had crawled out of hell, engulfed in flames, yet its attack did not cease for a moment.

"Boom!"

Another loud noise saw one of the bolts snap off entirely, widening the gap in the gate.

Looking on from the city wall, Li Hongyun was dumbfounded, "Damn! Are these demons cheating? Can they even do that?"

He had originally thought that if they just kept fighting like this, even if more barbarian soldiers came, it would be useless. After all, there was only so much space outside the West City Gate, and the barbarian troops couldn’t spread out. Wave after wave of attackers was just wave after wave of fodder.

However, now it seemed the demons had also come to understand this.

So they used thousands of barbarian soldiers as the price, in addition to their own demonic power, injecting this Demonic Qi forcibly into the body of this Centurion, unleashing an extremely terrifying force!

Under the impact of this gigantic barbarian soldier, the western gate soon became unsteady.

Chuge had a very serious expression, but unlike Li Hongyun, who was participating in the Return Order Expedition for the first time, he obviously anticipated this possibility.

After all, during the last battle, the demons had used a similar method to cause great trouble to the players. It had only been resolved because Beichen, an NPC, stepped in with a plot-driven kill.

But now, it was clearly not the time for Beichen to intervene.

The demons had not shown their true form, nor concentrated all their strength. They had only channeled a portion of their power into this barbarian soldier.

In other words, this enlarged Chiliarch needed to be dealt with by the players themselves.

"Reserve troops, immediately rush to the West City Gate, form an Array, and hold it at all costs!"

Soon after, a large number of players waiting inside the city hurried towards the West City Gate.

"Boom!"

A loud explosion, and the still fiercely burning battering ram finally smashed an opening through the West City Gate.

The Chiliarch, engulfed in flames, forcefully squeezed through the opening of the gate.

The players had been awaiting the assault in full readiness.

But upon seeing this colossus, many of the newly arrived reserve team players were somewhat at a loss.

"How do we fight this? Go for the feet?"

They had just arrived, so they were not familiar with the situation at the Western Gate.

The leading soldier player shook his head, "Don’t rush, wait for it to move forward."

The barbarian Chiliarch took heavy steps forward, but the next second, a series of chain explosions erupted!

Gunpowder smoke filled the air, shrapnel flew in all directions, and many players quickly realized what had happened.

"Sky Shattering Bombs! They buried Sky Shattering Bombs by the West Gate in advance?"

The Sky Shattering Bombs, improved by General Deng, could be used as booby traps, so the players in charge of defending the West City Gate had also tried them out.

Discussions within the thousand-man team had arisen as to where these bombs should be buried, but after consulting Chuge, they decided to bury them just behind the gate of the West City Gate.

War was about to start at that time; it was too late to bury them outside the gate, but placing them just behind the gate of the West City would ensure that the first wave of the enemy would step right on them.

To impede the enemy attack to the greatest extent, buying time for reinforcements to arrive.

Now, these Sky Shattering Bombs naturally came in handy against this enlarged demon.

As the pre-laid Sky Shattering Bombs exploded in a chain, many players showed pained expressions on their faces.

"We thought we could blow up a few hundred barbarian soldiers at once, and it’s all wasted on that thing!"

But immediately, another player said, "Killing this thing is more useful than killing a few hundred barbarian soldiers."

This enlarged Chiliarch was a monster created by demons after depleting the Demonic Qi of thousands of barbarian soldiers.

The smoldering smoke cleared, and the enlarged Chiliarch was a ghastly sight. Its body was covered in fragments from the Sky Shattering Bombs and the burning fire oil flames were still raging, but under the control of demonic power, it continued to struggle forward.

"Bang!"

"Bang! Bang!"

The players fired their guns, shot arrows, and threw spears in a frantic offensive.

After a barrage of attacks, the colossal figure finally collapsed to the ground.

The players breathed a sigh of relief, unable to deny the intense oppression they had felt from the huge creature.

But then they realized the crisis had only just begun.

As tremors passed through the ground, the distant sound of hoof beats grew closer like waves of the sea.

The Northern Barbarians’ Cavalry, had arrived!

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