Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1269 - 1262: Heavy Losses

Chapter 1269: Chapter 1262: Heavy Losses

Several minutes of bombardment had shocked the Dongsheng troops, but it did not shake their morale, as they continued to approach the trench slowly under the protection of their shields, then started setting up trench bridges.

It was at this moment that the Demon Clan troops atop the city finally opened fire. The first noise to erupt was a round of rifle shots, producing clouds of blue smoke over the walls, followed closely by direct crossbow fire.

Under the attack of the Demon Clan’s defending forces, casualties began to appear among the Dongsheng troops below. Although the rifles and crossbows struggled to penetrate the thick shields used for cover, not everyone had the protection of a shield. Those who were exposed became the first round’s victims.

As the city’s defenders began to retaliate, cannons also started thundering, solid cannonballs striking a Cloud Ladder Assault Vehicle, shattering it with a volley, and soldiers on it were either hit by the shells or fell from it, meeting a ghastly fate.

In addition to this, some cannons were loaded with grapeshot, aimed at the troops below the city. The projectiles, mainly consisting of jagged stones, created a dense barrage that pounded against shields with a clang and instantly brought down those without shield protection, who screamed in agony.

At this time, most of the Dongsheng soldiers were blocked outside the moat, with many who fell rolling into the river, where, because of their heavy armor and inability to swim, they disappeared beneath the surface with a splash.

Because of the moat, the main siege machines, the Cloud Ladder Assault Vehicles, were blocked outside, forcing the soldiers to set up trench bridges to take turns crossing over the moat.

They had prepared more rudimentary ladders, which were essentially long ladders set at the base of the walls for direct assault. However, the defending Demon Clan troops were fiercely resistant, making each step taken by the Dongsheng soldiers costly.

The narrow trench bridges became ideal targets for the Demon Clan defenders, dense grapeshot and bullets from rifles and crossbows directed at this area hit the Dongsheng soldiers on the bridges like moving targets, constantly knocking them into the water.

The combat lasted just over ten minutes, and the moat was soon filled with bodies; the flowing water was dyed red with blood, turning it into a river of blood.

Because the moat prevented the Dongsheng army’s Cloud Ladder Assault Vehicles from moving to the foot of the city walls, and with intense artillery fire from the ramparts, the Dongsheng troops temporarily abandoned their attempt to storm the walls using the assault vehicles and began to reinforce their ranks to redirect the moat, creating several paths that would allow the heavy siege machinery to pass.

Thirty minutes into the battle, the casualties had already exceeded a thousand, with the vast majority being losses from the attacking Dongsheng troops. The defending troops of the Demon Clan on the city walls, facing insufficient counter-fire, did not suffer heavily, recording less than a hundred casualties.

During this period, the Advance Team and the air fleet remained inactive, besides using mortars to destroy the enemy’s catapult positions before the battle began, barely making a move, leaving it entirely to the Demon Clan’s troops to counter the Dongsheng army’s attack.

But it also proved that with conventional warfare alone, the Demon Clan troops were entirely capable of defending Lingyuan City and did not need additional assistance.

The battle, filled with deafening war cries, continued until about five o’clock in the afternoon. After several unsuccessful attacks, the Dongsheng troops decided to sound the retreat and ended the day’s fighting.

By then, the scene outside the city had turned into a hellish landscape, with both sides of the moat piled high with dense bodies, and the moat itself was also filled with floating corpses, at some point even clogging the moat.

The river water had turned red from the blood, and even though it was flowing, there were no signs of it clearing up, with a long trail of red visible downstream.

After more than six hours of assault, the Dongsheng troops, incurring over seven thousand casualties, had failed to achieve their tactical objective of completely cutting off the moat. Ironically, it was almost blocked by the bodies of their soldiers.

The air was filled with the stench of blood, an odious smell that could be sensed everywhere, making the entire Advance Team very uncomfortable physically.

By about dusk, the Demon Clan’s army dispatched small detachments to clear the bodies from the moat. Since the moat was connected to the river system and the water was flowing, they only needed to disturb the bodies a bit to let the river carry them away.

Meanwhile, the Dongsheng army also sent a small detachment to begin clearing the bodies of their own soldiers from the riverbank. The Demon Clan army on the city walls tacitly refrained from firing, allowing them to clean up the battlefield.

Thus, soldiers from both sides, separated by the moat, faced each other, each side clearing the bodies from the battlefield. Even though there was a bridge connecting the two banks nearby, neither side showed any intention of crossing it to attack.

After a bloody day, such a tacit understanding between the soldiers of both sides felt strangely dissonant.

The original plan of the Advance Team was to rush to assist as soon as they spotted the opposing General and block his attack. However, in reality, throughout the entire day’s battle, the Dongsheng General had almost never shown himself; the main force in combat had been ordinary soldiers.

Therefore, throughout the day, both the Advance Team and the air fleet hardly took action and instead watched the entire brutal siege battle as bystanders.

It must be said that large-scale line-of-sight warfare is always the most shocking and also has the highest spectacle.

On the command of the General, soldiers from both sides collided like tides. The battlefield resounded with shouts and even the sky was cloaked in a bloody red.

Compared to modern warfare, where smoke billows and the air is filled with the smell of gunpowder, line-of-sight warfare lacks some smoke but adds a touch of sheer bloodiness.

At night, the leaders of the Demon Clan gathered to discuss the day’s battle. According to their statistics, the Demon Clan’s casualties were around one thousand today.

The majority were injuries, with just over two hundred soldiers killed. Compared to the Dongsheng army, which suffered over seven thousand casualties, the Demon Clan had won a significant victory.

Consider that the Dongsheng army totals one hundred thousand main troops; losing seven thousand a day, they could fight for about fourteen days. However, in reality, if there were no external variables, it was estimated that the Dongsheng army would retreat on about the fifth day.

The outcome of the battle also confirmed what the leaders of the Demon Clan had been telling Luo’er: Dongsheng’s one hundred thousand troops could not take Lingyuan City without a General’s involvement.

Therefore, the Demon Clan leaders had reason to not take the one hundred thousand troops seriously—the military technologies of the two sides were not on the same level. Without the General’s involvement, the Demon Clan could completely defeat the Dongsheng army in a frontal battle, not to mention a siege where they had a huge advantage.

However, despite their joy, the leaders of the Demon Clan were also worried about today’s battle situation because they had barely seen a General in action.

It is known that Generals are usually a very active group within the Dongsheng army, and the absence of any in this large-scale siege battle was an unusual phenomenon that could not help worrying the leaders of the Demon Clan, fearing that the Dongsheng army might be plotting something.

Not only were they worried, Luo’er also felt uneasy based on their previous combat experiences. Dongsheng Generals have very strong individual combat abilities and might launch a night attack to seize the city towers opportunistically.

This tactic is the most common on Earth and is habitually employed by major countries for special infiltration operations. If the Dongsheng Generals can use their strengths to launch a night attack, it would indicate that these men are not all conservative, as they still innovate in some tactical aspects.

Thinking this, Luo’er took the initiative to suggest raising the level of city defense alertness, while ensuring the city’s lighting to prevent the Dongsheng General from launching a night attack.

Considering that the Dongsheng army has more than a thousand Generals, if a few hundred of them launched a night attack, it would almost be no different from another siege; and because neither side is adept at night fighting, facing such an event would almost certainly result in heavy losses for the Demon Clan’s defenders.

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