City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Chapter 458: Enemy Attacks

Cardin

"There is a clear order from the Lord Silver. Teach the enemy such a lesson, that they would never dare to attack us again," I said to the army of thirty thousand in front of me.

Twenty thousand were our own forces, while fifteen thousand were the volunteers.

We have no plan to use them. It is just for the intimidation.

We have an army of around fifty-five thousand. We had used the fifty-thousands of them in the yesterday's battle.

Five thousand were hidden. It is the most we can hide without letting our enemies know about them.

It's very hard to hide the actual army, especially the places like the cities.

Which are filled with the spies.

Why did we hide it? It is always good to hide our strength. Even if it is a little.

Still, we could have used them yesterday. If we needed them, but didn't, given the type of strategy we were using; fifty thousand was a perfect number.

"Lord Silver had achieved the victory in the Panar, and we will do the same here," I shouted.

I didn't have to with a Loud Voice, but sometimes, you can only express emotions through loudness.

Thud Thud Thud!

The army begins to hit their legs hard on the ground.

The enemy is only ten minutes away, and we will be ready for them.

We were ready now; the only thing had remained was shaman spells.

The shamans are casting them around the army right now.

These spells are quite useful. Their effects are not as pronounced as skills and spells, but they are terrifying with enough preparation.

Lord Silver had paid a lot of prices for those resources they were using for the spells. I know it because I am responsible for the acquisition and logistics.

It's why I know we are going to win this battle. Those bastards will regret coming here to attack us.

Minutes passed, and the shamans finished with spells.

"On your places," I ordered, and the army moved toward their assigned place. In a minute, the entire area becomes empty.

I turned and looked out of the city. I could enemy with Far Eyes.

I could even see them with the naked eye.

Every second they got closer and closer till they were only a mile away from us.

It is when they stopped.

A few seconds later, a young man in his early twenties came forward with a milk-white horse. Behind him were Ronda and his son, with the protection of twelve mages and warriors behind.

They stopped two hundred meters distance from their army and turned to me.

"Commander Cardin, surrender. It will save your men from needless death and the city from unnecessary damage,"

"If you surrender, I promise you, I will not harm any of your men or citizens. We would peacefully occupy the city without a drop of blood."

"But if you resist us, I promise you, I will make trollmouth turn red with the blood of your men," said the young man.

Hearing it smile couldn't help, but appear on my face. It's not just me, Colonel Hiren and Mage Valentina beside me had also smiled.

Her laugh wasn't quiet. She is quite loud; it has made the young man angry.

"Greenhorn, who never seen a war, talking about blood?" I asked with a chuckle. 

They got angry but turned alert the next moment as I raised my hand. Immediately, the mages reacted, and the shields appeared around them, covering them from all sides.

"Attack!" I ordered.

Boom Boom Boom

The mouths of cannons burst out with the fire as the cannonballs released from them. At the same time, catapults released the massive exploding ammunition.

I have no interest in talking to them. I want to beat them and do it quickly.

It's the lord's order.

He wants to send the injured back to the city. He also wants quite a lot of stuff, which I won't be able to send him to the enemies attacking the city.

They may have conquered the city, but their work is far from over.

They need supplies, men, and many other things. To be ready in case the undead launch an attack on the city.

Bang Bang Bang!

The shields appeared across the battlefield. Defending against our attacks.

Most they defended, but some hit creating powerful blasts.

I watched as volley after volley landed on the enemy, while they defended with their shields.

Boom Boom Boom

It took the enemy nearly two and a half minutes to respond to the attack and launch their own cannons.

I thought, given Ronda's experience. He would respond within a minute, but he took his sweet time.

They brought a good number of cannons, but still less than ours.

Lord Silver had brought a lot of cannons and ammunition, which I thought was excessive, but he wasn't planning for one city.

The cannonballs reached close to us, and our mages acted.

Not our top mages; the mages of early-level twenty. Many of them are inexperienced, but this is the easiest task for them. They just need to use their shield spells.

If they missed and the cannonballs got closer, the mages of mid-twenties with better experience would.

If they passed, even that. Then it would be mage Valentina, Zela and other High-mages would defend against them, but that is likely to happen.

However, I have enough experience to not discard that possibility.

Our cannons fired non-stop, while the enemy finally changed toward us.

With their siege towers rising.

"Battle Command: Target Siege Towers," I said, activating the skill.

Immediately, a third of the cannons began to target the siege towers, but not a single one hit them.

Which is also the purpose. It would be great if they hit and destroyed the siege towers, but we would be fine as long as they targeted them.

The purpose is to make their mages use the spells. The ones protecting the towers are good mages. Making them use the spend the mana now will help us further in the battle.

We are using common cannonballs to target the towers; only now and then, we would use special cannonballs that will create a blast powerful enough to crack the mages' shields.

So, they would always use powerful spells to defend.

The shamans' spell also helped with that, obstructing skills and spells that could accurately gauge the cannonball's power. Stopping them from employing effective measures.

This strategy is used by the orc kingdom or those who use tribal orcs and I have to say, it works well.

Bang Bang Bang

They came closer and closer to us. Protecting the siege towers, while at the same time defending from the mines.

"They have brought quite a number of earth mages," said Mage Valentina.

Mages are casting Earth Detect and Earth Wave to detect and remove the mines. Which again makes their mages use their precious mana

"Mage, Archer's attack!" I ordered.

A moment later, they begin to attack. From the lowest to the highest level, they begin to shower the spells and the arrows at the enemy.

This time, the enemy reacted fast. Though they were able to slow the army.

Which is good enough; it will give cannons more time against the enemy. Making them, use more of their mana in dealing against them.

Minutes passed, and soon the army had reached the wall.

"Cardin, you have made a grave mistake by resisting us. You will pay for this with your life!" raged Ronda from below, but I responded with a chuckle.

BANG!

Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out. The ground below one siege engine exploded.

Shattering it to pieces, while sending tens of soldiers and a few mages flying.

Most of them above the explosion died. Only the mages who reacted in time survived, but most went out of commission. They won't be fighting this battle anymore.

I looked at High Mage Valentina; she is really something. Her control over the spell is unmatched.

I have never seen a mage of her age with such control over her spells.

There had been enemy Earthmages scanning every inch of the ground, but they were still not able to able to detect the mine, she had been hiding with her spell.

Unfortunately, she could do this with only one mine. She had even said, the chances of success are less than 20%.

Enemy mages could have detected and dealt with it, but they didn't, and we succeeded in blowing one of their siege towers.

It didn't matter if she won't be able to do it again. The blast had to create a magnificent scene of destruction.

It will affect the morale of the enemy when the news of alchfire is still fresh.

It didn't stop the energy, and they continued moving toward us.

They may have decided to attack in a short time, but they have come prepared, and I could see a good number of powerhouses.

So, it is only wise, we would bring out our own powerhouses as well.

The biggest surprise that Lord Silver had prepared for the enemies, that might attack the city in his absence.

"Come out, you all," I ordered and immediately.

Immediately, nearly a hundred people wearing mercenary clothes stepped forward. There are all sorts of people here, warriors, mages, rogues, and others.

They are night seven people, made of eight mercenary teams.

In them are nineteen are Lv. 30+ powerhouses, while the rest are Lv. 20+.

All of them experience battles like this.

It costs a lot to hire them. I had opposed the decision to hire them. Especially when our purpose is to use them when the army leaves the city.

It's not a good idea to have so many foreign mercenaries without an effective force to control them, but now I am glad they are here.

Ronda seemed to have sensed them, and his eyes moved up. A shock is apparent in his eyes.

In the second, the balance of powerhouses becomes nearly equal in powerhouses and, since we are defending from the wall, we have the advantage.

As the mercenaries came out, they began the attacks. The mages fired the spells, while the archers released the arrows.

One was even able to snipe the mage. Piercing the arrow through the head, killing him in a single attack.

Thud Thud Thud!

A minute and a half passed, and the siege towers had finally crashed into the wall.

It's time for the actual battle to begin.

I am slightly disappointed that it is going to end quickly. I wish I could take part in it. I can't, I will have been satisfied with commanding.

It's good too; this way, the victory will be more enjoyable and painful to the enemy.

They are going to lose to a cripple and going to lose it in the most humiliating way.

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