Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 243 - 236: Conflict Erupts

Chapter 243: Chapter 236: Conflict Erupts

"What’s up?" Seeing his tense expression, Baiyue couldn’t help but stop in her tracks.

"Under the bridge!" Cheng Ziang simply said.

"Under the bridge?" Baiyue looked confused, immediately aimed towards the stone bridge.

"The third stone bridge, look underneath," Cheng Ziang directed.

Following his instructions, Baiyue adjusted her sight, and immediately froze. She could see something lurking under the third stone bridge, causing atypical ripples on the water surface.

She glanced towards Cheng Ziang with a puzzled expression, to which he replied, "If someone wanted to use an Earth weapon brought by the Aud people to destroy the bridge, what do you think they’d use?"

Baiyue pondered for a moment, then hesitantly guessed, "Explosives?"

"Exactly. They can’t escape if they blow up these few stone bridges with Arya’s Blade and the three Judgement Legion leaders. They can then gather a superior force and entirely eliminate them, while the main body of troops on the opposite shore won’t be able to provide reinforcements," Cheng Ziang analyzed.

Since the Otherworld cannot utilize electronic detonators, they can only use fuse detonators. That would require someone to stand guard under the bridge and wait for the signal to set off the explosives, hence severing the bridge and connection between two shores.

"The soldiers who were supposed to be guarding the Aud people are gone. I suspect they may have already been eliminated. Those Aud people seem to be preparing to take action," Cheng Ziang continued.

"What should we do?" Baiyue asked him.

"Let’s just wait and see. Maybe we can take advantage of the chaos," Cheng Ziang confidently answered.

After the king and the three leaders of the Heresy Tribunal Army, along with their followers, arrived at the palace in the lower city, their presence disappeared. After about three hours, they finally emerged from the palace in the mid-afternoon. Among them, Dina, the legion commander, carried a long box on her back presumably holding Arya’s Blade.

"Get ready for some action!" Cheng Ziang enjoyed their plight as he saw them slowly approach the stone bridge.

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

Cheng Ziang calculated his countdown to the Aud team’s offensive according to these people’s pace. However, his countdown and the Aud people’s maneuver time didn’t match. As he counted two, a red signal flare suddenly rose in the sky, emitting a sharp whistle.

As everyone’s attention was drawn to the flare, there were sudden, loud noises from the stone bridge. Under severe tremors, the bridge seemed lifted and shattered by some mysterious force, sending rubble scattering. Huge stones plunged into the water, causing great splashes.

Five consecutive thunderous noises indicated that in an instant, all five stone bridges were blown in half. The ensuing mist felt like a light rain shower to those near the shore.

Before anyone could react, windows of buildings in the lower city area suddenly swung open, and numerous dark gun barrels protruded, sending out intense flames.

A barrage of bullets quickly took down several Saint Bava Guards who didn’t wear Rune Armor. The senior Rune Armor Knights hastily used their shields to protect the king. Dina shielded Hillna beside her. The bullets hitting her armor merely sparked and didn’t bother her.

Suddenly, a missile with trailing flames shot towards a soldier in motion. Dazzling metallic flames penetrating the shield and drilling into the Soldier’s armor made him convulse and scream.

Obviously, the soldiers of Saint Bava had more experience dealing with such attacks than the Heresy Tribunal Army did. They knew that open areas should be vacated. They kicked open the nearest house’s door and took the king and several ministers inside.

The members of the Heresy Tribunal Army had no experience dealing with this type of assault. With firepower coming from all directions, their only recourse was to hold up their shields to protect those in the center. However, they weren’t helpless. Picking up a fallen Magic Wand, Hillna recited spells, summoning numerous flames out of thin air that gathered into a ball. Under her control, it shot towards the building not far away spewing fire.

With a loud bang, the fireball exploded instantaneously, completely engulfing the building, the flames roaring. Desperate cries of agony came from within, but they soon died away.

Hillna most likely used third-tier magic. Given the way she cast the spell, it was clear that her magical affinity wasn’t any less than Tangmo’s; they could both release third-tier magic in an instant.

Then, Hillna continued to chant her spells. Subsequently, a stone building suddenly blew up for no apparent reason. Huge pieces of stone splintered in the air, even flying all the way to the northern shore.

This was a concentrated explosion which triggered an effect similar to a blast by gathering magical power at one point and then releasing it. However, unlike normal explosions that cause physical damage, this type inflicted magical harm. The blast could not only create shockwaves but also intense magical fluctuations. This wasn’t much of an issue for those with low magic resistance, but for those with high resistance, especially the Earth people, it was the deadliest.

Although the people of the Heresy Tribunal Army were inexperienced in dealing with this kind of firearms encounter, they were already well-acquainted with such attacks. Their tactics were clear—knights would protect the mages in the center, who were responsible for firepower output.

Hillna herself had a high aptitude for magic, being a magic prodigy like Tangmo. Moreover, she studied magic systematically and participated in many actual battles, so her magical abilities had long reached their peak.

Despite the attacking party pushing, Hillna held them back easily with her casting. The buildings nearby were all wrecked, turned to rubble. This greatly surprised Baiyue and Cheng Ziang, who were observing the fight.

In their previous combat experiences, mages were usually used to provide auxiliary support to gunmen, controlling firepower and providing protection. They had never considered using mages as the main source of firepower. Previous battles had proven that it was difficult to use mages in such a way.

But witnessing Hillna’s performance today, they gained a new perspective. It turned out mages could be this powerful. It seemed that Tangmo’s lack of participation in the team wasn’t because she was incapable, but because she hadn’t learned much about support magic, making it difficult for her to play her real role in the team.

According to the Judgement Legion’s response method, knights protected mages who used magic to counter-attack. Hillna could flatten everything nearby; she was so powerful it was as if they were carrying a 155mm howitzer with them.

"Damn, this mage is so powerful, she’s forced all the attackers to retreat," Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but exclaim at the sight of the disastrous scene below.

Hillna suppressed the area so no one dared to retaliate. Soldiers from both the Saint Bava Guard and the Judgement Legion on the northern shore began looking for boats to cross the river, to join forces with those on the southern shore. The situation was developing in a favorable direction.

"Is this all the Aud people capable of?" Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but shake his head upon seeing the unending flood of soldiers converging on the southern shore.

Suddenly, he seemed to hear a strange, rumbling noise. Baiyue tugged at his sleeve, pointing him towards the northwest.

Cheng Ziang looked up and saw a long streak of fire in the distant sky, which unknown when, began to whizz towards the city, letting out a deafening screech.

Immediately, the fiery streak plunged into the water not far from them. Then, a flash of light appeared from the depths like thunder, followed by a muffled noise. The water began to churn violently, scattering the wooden boats nearby. Several knights fell into the water and sank without a chance to cry for help.

"Rocket!" Cheng Ziang gasped at the sight of it.

"They’re calibrating, and then initiating the shot!" Baiyue calmly said, staring at the shattered boat underneath the tower.

This was a standard tactic of Earth’s artillery, to test fire for calibration first to ensure precise coverage of subsequent firepower.

Just as suspected, not long after the rocket’s explosion, the sky was filled with piercing whistles. Cheng Ziang looked towards the direction of the sound and saw countless streaks of fire coming from the northwest, heading towards the city.

He stared at the incoming rockets, his face turning grim. Gritting his teeth, he spat out, "107 rockets!"

Clearly, these Aud people weren’t fighting alone; they set up artillery positions outside the city. Guided by their teammates inside, they directed the external firepower to strike the enemies, supporting the internal operations.

The rocket hit not far from the stone tower, directly hitting a wooden merchant ship nearby. The ship couldn’t withstand the explosion; a gaping hole was blown into it, and flames roared within.

"Something’s not right, Yue’er, prepare to retreat!" Cheng Ziang noticed that the rocket’s landing point was near them. If they were not careful, they might get caught in the blast. At the moment, they were still atop the tower. If they were hit, there would be no place to escape.

Hearing his words, Baiyue nodded and then retracted her sight. She then followed him down the spiraling stone steps. Through the windows on the tower wall, they could clearly see the rockets heavily hitting both banks, causing violent explosions. The fully armored soldiers were thrown high up in the air, then tossed onto the ground or into the water.

It was said that the firepower of a twelve-round 107 rocket launcher was comparable to that of an artillery battalion. Faced with such powerful firepower, even Hillna and the others didn’t dare to stay still. Instead, they chose to move away from the shore and sought cover behind buildings to avoid being affected by the rockets.