World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 874 - 413: Frenzied Slaughter! No Way Out!

Chapter 874: 413: Frenzied Slaughter! No Way Out!

When constructing the Fenglei Fort Defense Line, the placement of cannons and catapults was considered, which led to a design unlike any other wall.

First of all, the wall was unusually wide, more than twenty meters at the top.

Secondly, there were many small firing holes inside the wall, just big enough for one cannon to retract and elevate.

Moreover, once on top of the wall, it would be discovered that there was another tier, on which both the cannons and catapults were positioned.

In other words, even after Zhi Li’s forces stormed the wall, they still couldn’t halt the firing of the cannons and catapults. They had to eliminate the outermost layer of Rock Thieves Corps first before they could charge onto the artillery platforms of the second layer.

But defeating the Rock Thieves Corps...

At Tianlang Pass, the two thousand-strong Rock Thieves Corps directly repelled an enemy force nearly three times their size!

Around a few thousand Zhi Li soldiers were the first wave to reach the top of the wall.

Just as they climbed over, they encountered these dark-skinned Rock Thief Warriors!

Very ordinary looking, not particularly tall, and rather slim. Most significantly, they hardly wore armor, only carrying two curved blades.

Furthermore, when they saw Zhi Li’s troops scaling the wall, it was as if they had seen their own kin, their eyes burning with fervor, and strange smiles spreading across their faces.

The Zhi Li soldiers thought to themselves, "Such an opponent, not tall, without armor, I could take on three at once!"

Then...

"Whoosh!" A shadow flashed before their eyes, and suddenly they felt a chill; they knew no more—as their throats had been slit open.

These Rock Thief Warriors, like demons, were lean but their muscles were like cast steel, brimming with immense power, and their moves were incredibly swift and precise.

Moreover, when they fought, groups of four worked together with smooth coordination, their combat seemingly instinctual.

They didn’t wear armor because they chose not to. Suo Lun had spent a great deal of money to equip each of them with armor, but when it came time to fight, they cast it aside onto the ground, opting instead to fight bare-chested.

The insanity of the Rock Thieves Corps meant that even at two to one, they overwhelmed their opponents, let alone one on one.

Within their bizarre shrieks, the soldiers who charged up were basically killed on arrival.

The Fenglei Fort Defense Line was entirely different from Tianlang Pass. The walls of Tianlang Pass were narrow, and the space on the walls was very cramped. Plus, the cannons were placed directly at the forefront of the ramparts. Thus, a large portion of the soldiers on the walls were tasked with operating the cannons, lacking troops for true melee combat.

Therefore, when Jian Ze’s forces charged onto the walls, they immediately engaged in close-quarters combat with the artillerymen, causing all the cannons to fall silent in an instant. The artillerymen, having trained long-term in cannon operation, had regressed in hand-to-hand combat. In addition, there was not much room for troops on the congested walls of Tianlang Pass, which led to its breach.

The walls of the Fenglei Fort Defense Line were completely redesigned and entirely different.

The walls were long and wide, divided into two tiers at the top.

The front tier was six meters wide, defended by ten thousand Rock Thief Warriors. The rear tier was three and a half meters higher, a full fifteen meters wide, with artillery platforms and catapults placed there.

Most crucially, there were no steps connecting the two levels. To reach the upper platforms and sabotage the artillery, one had to go through the fortress, which housed countless soldiers on guard.

The walls stood over a dozen meters tall, while the fortress was nearly thirty meters high.

Atop the fortress were placed numerous archers who could freely shoot any enemy troops attempting to storm the upper artillery platforms.

Hence, in terms of advanced design, the brand new Fenglei Fort Defense Line far surpassed the outdated Tianlang Pass.

...

At this moment, the entire battlefield fell into a very eerie rhythm.

All of Suo Lun’s firepower was fully engaged, all of his war machines were running at full capacity!

Every six minutes, hundreds of cannons fired a salvo, striking Zhi Li’s forces stationed eight hundred meters away. Since the forces were stuck outside the obstacles, they were extremely condensed, leading to thousands of casualties with each barrage.

The bombardment acted as the first filtration, thinning out thousands with each pass.

Then came the six hundred and fifty-meter expanse of giant rock obstacles, which slowed down the advance of Zhi Li’s Forces. Over a hundred huge catapults hurled Primitive Cluster Bombs every six or seven minutes, each weighing hundreds of pounds.

With each launch, tens of thousands of projectiles, like a metal storm, claimed the lives of thousands.

This was the second filtration.

After two filtrations, Zhi Li’s forces charged through the giant rock obstacles, reaching within a hundred and fifty meters of the wall.

Here, several hundred of Suo Lun’s Scorpion Catapults launched Primitive Cluster Bombs every two or three minutes.

Although each fireball was less than a hundred pounds, the sheer number, several hundred with each volley and fired every two or three minutes, was overwhelming.

In such a tight space, each explosion sent out hundreds of thousands of projectiles in a deadly spray, easily resulting in thousands of casualties.

This was the third filtration.

When they reached the base of the walls, endlessly rolling fire oil barrels tumbled out of the holes above, splashing onto the ground below the walls. The fires beneath the ramparts were never fully extinguished.

Zhi Li’s troops desperately tried to smother the flames with mud and fire-extinguishing powder.

However, the continuous bombardment of fire oil barrels from within the walls meant that as soon as one fire was put out, or before it could be extinguished, it would reignite.

Therefore, in this sea of fire, perhaps a third of the troops were filtered out, all burned to death or injured.

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