Chapter 127 - Fort Raid (Patreon)

<---Chapter 126 - Stall| Table of Contents |Chapter 128 - First Assault--->

"That has to be a joke." Masir's face paled as soon as he heard that Fort 4 had fallen. The fort was right next to them on the perimeter, and he immediately tried to peek out of his window to see if the flag flying above the fort had changed yet.

"Where is the fort commander? Where did he run to?" Culo rummaged through the drawers of the office table, finding nothing of value.

"MASIR!" One of Masir's squad members called out from the courtyard of the fort, a voice of despair. "The rations are gone! The ammunition is gone!"

"WHAT?!" Masir exclaimed, sprinting out of the fort commander's office and hastily descending down to see for himself. Sure enough, countless crates were missing, them having been stocked fully just hours ago before his sortie. The fort commander took everything?! "Where's the artillery crew? Where are the officers? Where's the quartermaster?" He questioned the squad member further.

"I don't see any of them, but maybe we should ask the fort commander-"

"The fort commander isn't here." Masir interrupted, the squad member's expression worsening as realization dawned upon him and those around who were listening in.

Save for the sergeants and Masir left behind, almost all of the higher ranker officers and commanders were missing, as if they had disappeared into thin air. Masir was stunned beyond belief, the ecstasy from surviving the second day having dwindled down into nothing. A firm hand grabbed him by the shoulder, shaking him out of his stupor violently.

"Masir, this is our chance! We can take the entire fort for ourselves!" Culo whispered into his ears urgently, but Masir shrugged off his hand with an incredulous face.

"Take the fort? Are you insane?! I'm not a Ghost! I'm a human being, and I'm going to survive - staying in a fort with no artillery, no ammunition, and no food is tantamount to suicide!" Masir turned around, only for Culo to grab him and shake him aggressively once more.

"ARE YOU A MAN OF OCRA, OR NOT?!" Culo roared right into his face. "When the enemy comes knocking at the gates, do you turn tail or run, or until death do you rest?!"

"Lyrics won't keep you alive!" Masir retorted.

"But they sure as hell will help you win!"

"I DON'T WANT TO WIN! I WANT TO LIVE!" Masir jabbed a heavy finger back at Culo.

"Then I guess the big gang leader of Ocra was just a coward after all."

"At least I'll live to fight another day. Now, I think our deal is over - there's no Army to infiltrate here any longer." Masir reached out to his other squadmates, all of them from Ocra, until he realized something strange was happening in the fort. All of the soldiers and workers left behind... all of them are from Ocra!

"I SEE THEM!" A Versian conscript shouted, peering out from a window facing towards the main city. "OVER THERE, IN A CONVOY!"

Sure enough, the fleeing officers and fort commander, along with the artillery crew, were hightailing it back to Ocra, drawing multiple carts of supplies and wagons. The sight of their own officers abandoning them incensed the soldiers left behind at the fort, while some panicked and began to chase them, wanting to escape to safety as well.

Unfortunately, those who ran out into the open field of the buffer zone suddenly saw the glint of scopes and iron sights flashing at them before a barrage of pellets mowed them down, perforating their weak bodies easily into a bloody mess. Masir clenched his fist in anger, knowing there was no chance of him returning to the city when his own fellow soldiers were gunned down mercilessly.

"Those bastards, they are trapping us here! What the hell are we going to do?!" Another soldier wailed, dropping down onto the ground in hopelessness. Masir didn't know the answer himself, but he suddenly noticed a sneaky officer trying to slink through the fort's exit, about to break into a sprint.

"You fucking twat!" Masir bellowed with all his force as he charged at the officer, tackling him head-on with his entire body and slamming him into the doorway. The sneaky officer had no chance of prying apart Masir's grip, the attention of the betrayed soldiers all now focused on him.

Instantly, multiple grimy, bloody hands grabbed the officer, threatening to tear him limb from limb while he was dragged into the center of the courtyard, furious punches and kicks raining down upon him. "STOP!" Masir raised his voice, but the beating did not cease. It wasn't until Masir fired a single shot of his arctech repeater into the air that the soldiers finally backed off, the officer beaten black and blue, whimpering on the ground.

"Why the fuck are you running?" Masir hauled the officer up by the collar, shouting with a burning rage untamed. "We won the damn defense today, and here you are running like a hulias fox from a sliver carant! Explain yourself!"

"I can't, I can't, this is a secret order from General Verian! I had nothing to do with it, I'm just following orders!" The officer pleaded, his eyes already stricken with fear from the glares of the surrounding soldiers, all of whom wanted to know why they had been betrayed.

"Then, if I let all of them beat you up, I'll have nothing to do with it either. You got ten seconds!" Masir threatened. "TEN!"

"Sergeant Masir, please, you must understand-"

"NINE!"

The surrounding soldiers began to step forward intimidatingly, their fists clenched and repeaters ready to inflict horrors.

"EIGHT!"

"Alright! We're retreating because there won't be enough food to feed everyone! There are still civilians in the city, and at the rate the Yual forces are advancing, our rations may be captured by the enemy! Look, Fort 4 has already fallen, and all the supplies and our fortifications are being transferred to the enemy! Please don't hurt me; I'm just a cog in the machine like you guys!"

"Then why are we not part of the retreat? Shouldn't the General have all soldiers regroup at the city to mount a proper defense?!" Masir questioned.

"We need to whittle down the Yual Forces, and since we've already built the forts, the idea was to use them to stall for as long as possible with minimal resources. As Ocra warriors are known to be valiant-"

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!" A Versian conscript interjected, stepping forward to grab the officer. "YOU'RE ONLY RETREATING WITH THE OTHER VERSIANS AND LEAVING ALL THOSE FROM OCRA BEHIND! YOU THINK WE'RE DUMB?!"

"No, no! But it's true that you will fight harder than other Versians, because this is your city and -"

"THEN WHY AREN'T YOU GIVING US THE RESOURCES WE NEED? YOU WANT TO STARVE US AND EXPECT US TO FIGHT AT THE SAME TIME!" The Versian conscript continued shouting, but Masir had two others drag him away. If the officer had not been captured by Masir, they would have never learned about this plan in the first place, forced to fight the Yual forces to death, all while starving and running low on ammunition. Even the arcite fuel packs needed to support the point defense engraving turrets have been removed.

Masir shoved the officer into the center of the courtyard, leaving his fate to the other soldiers while he clutched his own head in frustration and despair, wondering what to do next. It was only then that he saw Culo standing behind him, still waiting for Masir to make up his mind. "You... you have supplies, don't you? Rations, food, water."

"Only for Ghosts willing to fight for a free Versia. Are you?" Culo remarked."You told me you were going to run - I won't be wasting my precious supplies on someone who isn't fighting for his hometown."

Masir took a deep breath, pondering over his options. He couldn't go backwards, nor could he go forwards. Surrendering to the Yual forces would be far worse as a prisoner of war, and returning to Ocra would have him shot. Already pelletfire from the city walls were deterring soldiers from returning, the other forts slowly figuring out what was about to happen.

"We should make a deal with the Yual forces - give them this fort in exchange for safe passage out!" The soldiers began to discuss among themselves. "This way, we can stay alive at least for a little longer."

"Are you crazy? Have you forgotten how the Yual Dominion treated prisoners of war fifteen years ago? They won't bat an eye if you starve to death - those dogs don't even see us as humans!"

"We'll die regardless, whether by their hands or by our own Army. I much rather stick it to the fucking Tenar cunts and give up our city!"

"A man of Ocra never surrenders until death!" Masir suddenly shouted over the din of discussion over the dying officer, the soldiers had beaten him thoroughly till he was bleeding from all orifices. "We are all of Ocra here, born here, raised here. And like most of you, I didn't have much of a choice when signing up for the army, captured and forced into conscription."

He stepped out into the center, the soldiers gathering around him. Many listened, having either heard of his heroics the previous day or been saved by him and the Ghosts today. His former air of a leader was beginning to show as he continued to rally the troops. "But I told myself, I will survive. I will survive to see tomorrow, and I will survive to see my loved ones - my family, my friends, my relatives. All of them reside now in Ocra, safe behind the walls that we guard. "

"Along with those cunts from Tenar!"

"Yes, but are we willing to sacrifice our own family members just so we can live ourselves? We of Ocra do not forsake one another - not now, not before, not ever! Our ancestors fought for generations to keep our homeland, but now, the Versian Army treats us like dogs, and the Yual forces treat us like shit! If we were to run with our tails between our legs now, then who would treat us as humans when we don't even treat ourselves like one?! What would our ancestors say?" Masir retorted. "I do not want to live like a prisoner, I do not want to live like a conscript. I want to have the right to choose, the right to decide who I fight for and what I fight for. I do not fight because I believe in General Verian's plan. I fight because I have a home to protect, a city far greater than just me alone! And I'll be damned if I let those scheming motherfuckers at the top do what they want with me!"

"DAMN RIGHT!" The conscripts shouted back.

"If I am to die, I will die with dignity! I will die with pride, knowing that what I fought for was right! Even for all the mistakes I made in life, how I choose to fight will not be a mistake! We are of Ocra, and until death do we rest! WHO'S WITH ME!?"

"YEA!"

"WHO'S WITH ME?!"

"YEAH!"

"As of today, I now proclaim myself fort commander, and I will do everything it takes to make sure you will survive and fight against the tyranny on both sides. FOR OCRA!"

"FOR OCRA!" The conscripts roared back, cheering for Masir while Masir returned back to Culo with a grin.

"Good enough?" Masir motioned with his chin towards Culo.

"Good enough. Lisa!" Culo spoke to a disguised conscript next to him. "Get all the supplies out. We got ourselves the armed force that we need."

The Ghosts began to bring out the supplies from the underground shelter, shocking the other Ocra conscripts at the existence of a secret base right beneath the fort. "What the hell... these are the rebels!"

"Damn right we are, and we'll stand right next to you to fight for Ocra." Lisa grinned, handing out water flasks and dried jerkies to famished soldiers. The sudden appearance of the supplies had the conscripts open up immediately to the Ghosts of Versia, despite their prior military propaganda having painted them as terrorists.

"They are the furthest thing from terrorists - these Ghosts are more patriotic than that fucking General Verian!" A conscript complained as he chewed on a jerky. "If I ever get back to Ocra, I'll beat her up the moment I see her."

Masir and Culo began to work together openly, the entire fort now under their control as daylight began to wane, the streaks of orange disappearing over the horizon. "Most of the cannons are still intact, but we're lacking entirely in ammunition. Pellets are fine for now, but we will run out soon enough." Masir remarked as they inspected what was left in the fort.

"Our Ghost supplies won't last long either. It would only be good enough for three days at best, assuming we have the same headcount of three hundred soldiers." Culo replied. "We might be able to get resupplies from the city, but assuming General Verian's plan is in force, she must have heavily restricted any food or water throughout Ocra."

"Can't we sneak around the restrictions? You're a fucking rebel group!"

"Not when we haven't established a proper supply line to our main base in Desham yet. We'll need to find some sort of route that would allow us to hold against the siege. For now, we should get soldiers to scavenge through the trenches for armor and pellets, as well as any other tools."

The rallied Ocra conscripts were reorganized into groups, some squads now being led by a well-trained veteran Ghost as they began to filter out into the trenches, the word of the fort commander's betrayal spreading to those soldiers who had still been stationed outside. Scavenger squads searched through the piles of bodies, their uniform a sickly goo of blood and mud mixed together as conscripts gingerly pried apart repeaters and filled canisters from dead hands, collecting scrap metal and any scraps of rations dropped by the Yual forces.

The scrap metal was bolted to gaps in the fort walls, reinforcing any openings and shoring up the defenses. Armor from the Yual knights was quickly washed and passed to the conscripts, giving them a far better chance at survival than the plain uniform issued to them by the Versian Army. Stolen Yual repeaters were used indiscriminately, while crafty soldiers used any extra parts to fix up smashed or bent repeaters. Makeshift melee weapons were also sharpened on fallen rocks, some made out of glass and wooden stocks of guns.

"There's a lot of movement in the treeline, moving towards Fort 4. Looks like the Yual forces are trying to get in quickly to set up camp." Lisa pointed to the myriad of arctech lanterns dotting the landscape to the side of their own fort.

"We can't let them get a foothold on the fort!" Masir exclaimed. "If they do, then they would be able to flank the rest of the forts and isolate Ocra entirely."

"No, we wait. From what I understand, Count Leon's main force has yet to arrive just yet. This should be the forward strike force shifting their supplies towards Fort 4." Culo cautioned. "And since we're suffering from a supply shortage..."

"The best thing to do would be to wait till they have it all hauled in, then we strike while they are unprepared." Masir completed it for him.

"Correct. The moment they stop moving, they are going to rest for a brief period. It is this period that we strike." Culo nodded.

Masir didn't continue, instead picking up the military arctech radio and tuning the frequency. "Fort 3, Fort 3, repeat, this is Fort 5. Come in, come in."

[... Fort 3, loud and clear. Our commander isn't here, so you'll have to do with me. Is this Fort 5's commander?]

"No, this is Sergeant Masir. Our commander left us as well. I assume he took all of your supplies as well?"

[That fucking bastard was just praising us two hours ago! The moment Fort 4 fell, he ran like a dog with his assistant!]

"Forget about the Versian Army - both your fort and mine have no supplies. However, with Fort 4 falling, the Yual forces are about to converge there and use it as a staging ground. Do you understand?"

[... you're asking for a pincer attack.]

"Yes. We will strike from the right, you will strike from the rear."

[... Understood. I will have this radio on hand.] The voice from Fort 3 cut short.

"Are we sure they are going to come?" Lisa pondered. "They might be hoping for us to take the brunt of the attack. Right now, with no hierarchy left among the forts, no fort has to 'work' with another fort. We're like islands in a sea."

"It doesn't matter. We need those supplies, even if we have to do it ourselves." Culo urged. "Get the men to gear up, it's time to raid a fort. Masir, you and Wez are going to come with me."

Within an hour, Culo, Wez, and Masir led a force of a hundred soldiers along with Ghosts, while Lisa remained behind to oversee the rest of the fort in case they were attacked by Yual forces again. They were still on the frontlines, and their attempts to attack Fort 4 might be spotted and seen as a weak point to exploit.

They trudged through a battlefield of nightmares: still smoldering bodies belching plumes of smoke, shafts of fire erupting in the horizon, while screams regularly pierced the darkness of the barren forest, the trunks reduced to ash while wood splinters were found everywhere. Culo ducked low as he navigated an interval trench, part of the perimeter that protected Ocra in its entirety from all directions, even from Tenar.

It was tough for the conscripts to even look at what they were stepping over, the listless eyes of other dead Versians forever etched into their memories while insects crawled and feasted on the buffet, breaking apart meat and flesh. Some of the newer ones who had just been recently ripped away from their civilian life a fortnight ago couldn't help throwing up at the sight, their bodies and minds not fit for the rigors of war.

Culo too had to avert his gaze, taking care not to pay too much attention to the carnage left around him lest he was mentally affected. The goal of defending Ocra still remained fresh in his mind, him using it to distract himself from everything else.

Masir, on the other hand, was perfectly fine with the blood flowing through the trench like a river. He had long been desensitized over his days as a gang leader, and the last two days of intense fighting only gave him more certainty that he could handle it. Still, as they approached the perimeter of Fort 4's trenches, the bright arctech lanterns and conversations of Yual soldiers could be heard clearly.

"Get the repeater up to the top, quickly! We need this base ready to strike in five hours while it's dark!" A Yual knight waved with his hand, prompting supply workers to haul crates of ammunition up into the fort, along with food, tools, and other necessities to utilize the fort properly. Culo did an estimation of the forces, seeing that there were almost two hundred of them, including the logistic workers.

Thankfully, many of the soldiers were resting in tents just outside the fort, many injured from the frontal assault and raiding of the fortress. A few dozen Versian prisoners were held in mass cages, countless Yual soldiers shouting and cursing at them, taking out their pent-up anger on the hapless prisoners. "You idiots think you can attack us first and get away with it? Looks like you never deserved to have your own country!"

"Culo, what do we do?" Wez whispered as quietly as he could to Culo, the hundred following behind, all hiding low in the trenches out of sight and away from the arctech lanterns being shone around.

"Every Ocra fort has secret entrances from the back to aid in resupply from the city, just like the one you were guarding," Culo explained. "One squad stays behind to make sure our retreat is secure; two squads stay here to stall the enemy if they find out we're here, and three squads wait for my signal to attack. Our objectives are two-fold: recapture the fort and rescue the Versian prisoners if we can. Burn everything that isn't useful to us down to the ground; otherwise, kill whichever Yual soldier is holding onto it. Clear?"

The Ghosts nodded, but the conscripts were still unsteady, their hands shivering at the sight of so many Yual soldiers just meters away from them beyond the trench. Culo didn't have the time to soothe them or give any speeches, only hoping that he had enough strength to win this battle. This isn't anything to what I faced in the Culdao Peaks!

With that as reassurance, Culo, Wez, and Masir moved forward quickly, circling the fort towards the supposed location of the secret entrance. Unfortunately, there were already two Yual soldiers guarding the entrance and inspecting it. At the drop of a hat, Culo and Wez lunged forward in synchronization, not firing a single shot as they got close, using a knife drawn from their belts to stab the necks of the ambushed soldiers.

Masir stared in awe at the speed at which Culo and Wez moved together as one, their movements barely making a sound while they clutched the dying Yual soldiers that slowly slumped to the floor, gurgling on their own blood that filled their lungs. "What are you staring at?" Culo hissed at Masir angrily. "Move in, now!"

The other conscripts rushed in through the secret entrance with haste and urgency, bursting through the doors only to come out into a smaller chamber where the logistic workers were alerted by the sudden rush of stomping feet. Before they could even move, the jittery nerves of the conscripts entering had pellets firing within seconds. The calm night suddenly devolved into an unexpected firefight breaking out right in the fort, the workers not standing a chance against the conscripts' captured Aspis MK1 repeaters.

"What was that? Who's shooting in the fort?!" The voices of Yual soldiers could be heard from beyond the door of the smaller chamber, Masir knowing the jig is up. With a battle cry, he led the conscripts to charge out from the doors, the double doors swinging outwards into the open courtyard where Yual soldiers were inspecting what was captured.

"CHARGEEEE!" Masir roared with defiance, raising his repeater and laying waste to anything dumb enough to still remain standing in front of him. The Yual soldiers' training kicked in: the better ones ducked behind crates of ammunition and food while the unfortunate ones bore the brunt of the barrage as their bodies flinched from the multiple pellets tearing through their bones. Both sides filtered between the rocky pillars and blood-stained floor of the courtyard, ignoring the pools of dried mud and flesh mixed together as they fought a gruesome firefight, shouts and screams filling the cracked fort.

A Yual soldier from the upper floors peeked down the manual platform elevator, aiming his repeater at Masir, and was about to rain hell until a pellet drove through the ridge of his eyebrows, killing him instantly while his body toppled over the edge, crashing into a cloth shelter and breaking apart a wooden crate.

"Watch out for the top! Clear the upper floors! Move! Move!" Culo roared, motioning and shoving conscripts still coming in through the secret entrance and pushing them towards the staircases on either side, flanking the courtyard. Culo was about to reach out towards a conscript, only to watch him get sundered apart by the withering fire of Yual soldiers who had wisened up, seeing the smaller chamber's door as the point of entry. Blood splattered across Culo's outstretched arms, painting a horrifying scene even across his face.

Culo hurriedly retracted his arms, checking himself for wounds while the upper floors were stormed by the conscripts, Yual soldiers being slaughtered. Despite the lower training of conscripts, the Aspis MK2 repeaters, as well as the Aspis MK1 Armour that had been claimed from the enemy, allowed the Versians to gain the upper hand. Many erroneous mistakes that would have cost a Versian conscript his life were mitigated by the Aspis MK1 armor, the honeycomb-like composite armor reducing the impact of each pellet.

Thankfully, none of the Yual soldiers in the fort were arctech knights, most still resting in their primary forward camp further away. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! VERSIANS ARE ATTACKING!" One of the surviving Yual soldiers hollered from the top of the fort as loud as he could.

"All squads, attack! All squads, attack!" Culo blurted out as he clutched the radio strapped to his shoulder while swiveling his head around to look for Masir, seeing him cowering behind a pillar pinned down by heavy suppression fire. Culo's eyes traced the origin of the suppressive fire, noticing a Yual soldier using a mounted repeater on a crate to pressure the conscripts into hiding, none of them daring to come under the intense fire.

Culo unsheathed his railgun, cocking it and loading a single explosive round. Taking a deep breath, he watched the swinging motion of the mounted repeater before leaping out in the opposite direction, firing the round before his own body skidded out along the floor. The round blasted right into the repeater, the explosion splaying the barrel apart and splintering it, one of the metal splinters driving right through the nose of the Yual soldier into his brain brutally, his body immediately keeling over with a face of shock.

"MASIR! CALL THE OTHER FORT!" Culo shouted over the din of pellet fire and close-combat fire while he motioned for other conscripts to begin hauling crates to cover the lower half of the secret chamber. Pellets rang true, splintering the wooden planks of the crate but failing to penetrate the food and metal inside them. The crates helped other conscripts trapped in the smaller chamber to crawl out into the courtyard, filtering out and flooding the upper floors.

Outside, the temporary Yual camp was in chaos as the other squads led by the Ghosts rushed the confused Yual soldiers; some of the soldiers were even caught in the middle of drinking or sleeping. A few were mercilessly shot in their sleep, not even having a chance to get out into their gear. The conscripts were amazed by the brutal, fast-paced efficiency of the Ghosts who led them, their actions guided for maximum damage and killing of the soldiers.

Despite the namesake, it was hard to mask their presence any longer, a general warning bell sounding throughout the camp. However, by the time it was sounded, more than fifty Yual soldiers had already lost their lives, along with thirty supply workers. With Culo and Masir now inside the fort, it was going to take a herculean effort for the remaining Yual soldiers to mount a challenge.

As Culo killed the last remaining Yual soldier in the fort, claiming complete control of the fort, the conscripts could see the success of the operation, their morale invigorated beyond belief. Even the Versian prisoners who watched Culo's men rush through the camp like a raging tide were shocked. "Is this the Versian Special Forces?! Are they finally dispatching the main army to save us?!" A prisoner asked a conscript, who broke apart the gate of the cage that held them in.

"No, we're Ghosts!" The conscript bragged a little, but he did indeed feel the pride to say that, his mind already thinking about wanting to be like the veteran Ghost that he saw.

"Get all the prisoners out and start hauling the supplies away. Once Fort 3 comes over, we can discuss how many men to leave here and who to assign as fort commander. We can't have this fort as a weak point." Culo explained to Masir inside the fort as the conscripts cheered.

Masir's expression was dark. "Fort 3 didn't reply. I don't think they are coming."

"What?" Culo was shocked. "Call them again; maybe our message didn't get through the second time. There's no way we can split our forces between two forts like this. Even with the prisoners, we would only have three hundred and fifty total!"

"I did call them again. Ten times." Masir shook his head in dismay.

"Shit... then I'll have to recall most of the Ghosts in other forts and Ocra to -" Culo's plan was interrupted by a sudden loud explosion, a cannonball launching right towards the fort. It hit the front gate arch straight out, cratering a large hole and causing the giant iron doors that face outwards to collapse with two loud crashes. Ahead in the distance, beyond the captured camp, were fleeing Yual soldiers, all of them scampering behind two lumbering armored arctech wagons, their black armor even visible in the night.

Instantly, the mounted repeaters on the roof opened fire, pelting the conscripts out in the open, who were still too stunned to move. Familiar nozzles at the front swiveled in their slots, spouting pressurized flames that engulfed hapless conscripts who couldn't run away fast enough.

"Shit! Get to the fort, get out! Split up!" Culo roared, the order passing through. Some of the more flighty conscripts did what they did best and started running back for their former fort, Fort 5, instead of staying to fight, while others began to panic, their minds still fresh from the first day's terror of the armored wagons. "Those... those warmachines! There's no way we'll be able to defeat them!" A shivering conscript couldn't even stand straight as he watched the two armored wagons push forward, seemingly indomitable.

"We can, and we will!" Culo grabbed the conscript by the collar, shaking him violently. "GET ALL THE AMMUNITION UP TO THE CANNONS AND USE THEM BEFORE THEY BLAST THE ENTIRE FORT!"

Another cannonball was fired by the armored wagon, the projectile, this time, sailing right through the collapsed gate straight into the courtyard, blasting apart one of the supporting pillars. A few conscripts screamed as one section of the fort began to collapse downwards, the upper floors tipping over and cascading into a pile of rubble while clouds of dust enveloped the survivors, no one able to see through.

Repeater fire from desperate conscripts only saw their pellets bounce off the engraved armor of the armored wagon, none of them even able to make a single dent. Culo gritted his teeth as he scaled the fort's staircase, sprinting up to the top while loading a fresh explosive round into his railgun. Taking aim through the nooks between the fort's walls, he fired a devastating shot, aiming right for the center of the wagon where a small slit for the driver was.

A blinding ball of flame erupted from the point of impact, enveloping the entire arctech wagon in a single flash that lit up the entire craggy front of the fort and everyone fighting on the ground, the strength of the blast sending conscripts nearby scrambling to the floor, their ears ringing. Culo was about to rejoice at the destruction of one wagon, only to balk when the resulting cloud of smoke finally dissipated, revealing the armored wagon to be perfectly fine, the wagon still pushing forward relentlessly.

Damn it, what do I do?! Culo watched on as the armored wagon began to approach the first line of trenches, his conscripts still trying everything they had in their arsenals, some even throwing handheld explosives to no effect. There has to be a weak spot!

<---Chapter 126 - Stall| Table of Contents |Chapter 128 - First Assault--->