Chapter 128 - First Assault (Patreon)

<---Chapter 127 - Fort Raid| Table of Contents |Chapter 129 - Siege Economy--->

"Fort 3, come in. Fort 3, come in!" Masir flinched as another shell from the armored wagon crashed against the fort walls, pounding stone into dust and fortifications into trembling piles of rubble. The battle was far from over, Culo's men now faced with the approaching armored wagons escorted by a battalion of Yual soldiers that advanced while using the wagons as a shield, pushing up to the trenches.

"GET THOSE CANNONS UP AND RUNNING!" Culo roared, himself hauling ammunition to the silent cannons aimed right down at the trench lines, where the wagon was about to approach. The Ghost-led squads that were originally raiding the camp were forced to retreat, the flamethrower already claiming lives as it shot fiery flames, engulfing anything unfortunate in its path. The liquid spread easily through the ditches of the trenches, none of Culo's men daring to hold their ground.

Masir desperately dialed the radio to an open general Versian military channel, his arctech speakers immediately filled with multiple reports that overwhelmed him. He ignored them, clicking the button and shouting as hard as he could. "WE HAVE RETAKEN FORT 4, BUT WE REQUIRE REINFORCEMENTS TO HOLD! REQUESTING AID FROM ANY FORT!"

Outside the fort, Wez gritted his teeth while firing his repeater at the flanks of the encroaching wagon, forcing the advancing battalion of Yual soldiers to duck as pellets whizzed over them. Both sides clawed into the slurry of mud, blood, and sweat in the dark forest marred by burning flames and trees splintered apart by cannon fire, soldiers fighting as hard as they could as they returned fire either way.

Culo loaded yet another round of his railgun, checking how many he had left. Only two more rounds left, including this one. He cocked the chamber, aiming down the sights to see the armored wagon. It was a monstrous beast, presenting a plow-like exterior that easily deflected any head-on attacks. A small slit was all the driver within could see through, but it also prevented stray pellets from killing the occupants. Two mounted arctech repeaters swiveled freely through horizontal gaps in the side armor, though Culo noticed one of the barrels had been melted by his prior attack. They aren't invincible, not yet!

Right on the top of the armored wagon was a siege cannon, similar to what they had in the forts, except it could swivel an entire circle around itself, giving it freedom of aiming. Culo squinted his eyes, noticing that some of the flamethrower nozzles that jutted out from the sharp front armor had been destroyed as well, only one being usable. While it was still spitting out flames, it was far less effective than the one Culo had seen on Day One.

"WEZ! GET THAT NOZZLE!" Culo ordered, Wez and his squad looking for an angle to attack from. They scampered through the trenches under the threat of pellet fire, approaching the wagon from the angle where the repeater had been destroyed. While they made their advance, Culo turned his attention to the second one, this time aiming his railgun right at the flamethrower nozzles, squeezing the trigger quickly.

The resulting explosion easily blew off the three nozzles, preventing the second wagon from spurting flames with close to minimal damage to the rest of its frontal armor, merely a black spot marking the burnt surface. Culo didn't have access to Hayden's improved bunker-buster ammo just yet, so he had to make do with what he had now.

Within a minute, the first armored wagon hit the trenches, its wheeled tracks easily rolling over the gap as it came to a halt, the underside of its belly opening up to reveal a Yual knight dropping out. The rear of the armored wagon opened, allowing the Yual soldiers to easily enter the trenches through the wagon. Intense fighting broke out as both sides began to fight for control over the first trench.

Conversely, the second wagon pushed forward, intending to charge straight to the collapsed fort gate, all the while firing its siege cannon into the exposed courtyard. Its mounted repeaters annihilated any of Culo's men who bravely tried to flank it from the side.

Wez found his attack plan against the first wagon stymied by the sudden influx of Yual soldiers charging through the trench lines. He gunned down nine Yual soldiers in a single row, his Aspis MK2 Repeater churning away at the multiple canisters while his armor deflected incoming pellets easily. His squad pushed forward, but only inch by inch, each step wracked with pain and non-stop fighting that seemed to envelop their entire being, as though their entire life had been warfare.

Finally, the fort cannons came online, firing a barrage at the second wagon. It took three direct hits onto the siege cannon to dent it just as it tried to fire. The explosive cannonball only caused the cannon to rupture even more, the damaged arctech engraving causing the cannon to suddenly turn into brown flowers that melted like ice on a summer's day. With the siege cannon destroyed, the second wagon chugged arcite fuel at maximum speed, charging right into the courtyard while the Yual soldiers escorting it rushed bravely into the surroundings, engaging every Ghost squad in the area.

The wheeled tracks cracked apart the half-damaged tiles of the fort's courtyard, its mounted repeaters decimating anything within range as it turned on the spot, sweeping the entire first floor. Unfortunately, the operator of the second wagon made a grave mistake, Culo's men now able to shoot at it from the upper floors. "EAT THIS!" A conscript roared as he tossed a handheld arcia explosive, the spherical-like object falling right into the exposed gap of the destroyed siege cannon on top.

Screams erupted from within the armored wagon as sparks and a sharp plume of smoke shot up from within, the entire body vibrating violently for a brief instant before resting, arctech engravings running along the side dying down. The rear of the wagon opened, revealing a hatch-like rear door where a badly injured Yual wagon crew member stumbled out, his face shredded by the arcia explosive, cheeks burnt off to reveal his gum and teeth while his eyeballs drooped.

His staggering only bought him a brief respite, as he looked up to see three Versian conscripts aiming their repeaters right at him, showering him in pellets that soon had him turn into a perforated corpse. Inside the exploded wagon, the rest of the crew members and the driver were turned into quivering, smoldering husks of meat, blood splattered onto the internal walls and controls, the explosive having triggered the internal ammunition magazine as well.

"ONE DOWN! ONE DOWN!" Culo roared, trying to raise the morale of the troops. Unfortunately, another rumbling tremor followed by another collapse of yet another section of the fort reminded the surviving conscripts of a remaining armored wagon, still allowing Yual soldiers to push into the trenches. Wez's squad unfortunately had been pushed back, taking heavy losses as Wez himself suffered multiple pellet wounds, falling into critical condition.

Culo clenched his fist, only having one round left in the railgun. It's now or never! He rushed up to the top of the fort, aiming his railgun right at the barrel of the siege cannon on the top of the arctech wagon, firing straight in. The explosive round found its mark, sliding into the barrel easily and blowing up the internal mechanisms. A ball of flame that expanded rapidly had the armored wagon blow up in a dazzling fire, its flamethrower liquid igniting and killing the Yual soldiers within range, their screams adding to the cacophony of the battle.

"PUSH OUT! NOW!" Culo swapped out his railgun for an Aspis MK2 repeater, leading the charge as the surviving conscripts rallied behind him, buoyed by the destruction of the wagons. The attacking Yual soldiers were taken aback by the sudden outburst, the barrage of withering fire too hard to bear as they staggered in retreat, trying to hold onto to the trenches.

As Culo rushed headlong, he found himself in close combat with a squad of Yual soldiers, their eyes widening in fear at the sight of his fearsome charge. He ducked as pellet fire shot past him, one nicking him in the shoulder pauldrons and splintering the ceramic composite armor, his legs striding forward as he closed the gap rapidly, still firing. With a single squeeze, the poor arcia crystal on the repeater churned and allowed Culo to unleash hell on his enemies, decimating the squad like they were strawman targets.

The Yual soldiers could not do anything against the overbearing firepower that Culo's Ghosts presented, their augmented repeaters far stronger. The following battle was trivial, with many Yual soldiers dying to the conscripts or fleeing from the battle, running back. However, more reinforcements were coming from the forward camp of the Yual forces, alerted to the battle happening at Fort 4. Culo could see more than two hundred Yual soldiers coming in from a distance, their lanterns and bright lights far through the foliage. They are coming!

The moment they had secured the fort's immediate surroundings, Culo had all the men quickly bring in the supplies from the forward camp. "Get that damn gate back up! Quick! Reload all the cannons and prepare the mounted repeaters! Find cover in the fort, give up the trenches!" The conscripts rushed to prepare the fort, knowing that another assault was imminent. To deny the use of the trenches to the enemy, Masir had men quickly lay out barbed wire all along the main intersection of the trenches, creating something akin to a moat.

While the fort saw a flurry of action, Culo and Masir took stock of what they had now. They had not come out from the battle unscathed, the sudden appearance of the wagon having claimed forty lives out of his original hundred men, leaving them with a mere sixty to hold the fort against an unknown approaching Yual force. "We may not have enough ammo to support the cannons if this turns into a siege," Masir remarked as he counted the number of cannonballs. "How the hell are we going to hold the fort?"

"I don't know, but we must. If this fort falls, it will spell doom for the rest of Ocra." Culo clutched Masir's shoulder. "Get the men to scavenge anything from the fallen, we need every bit of firepower we can." He moved over to the medical bay, where impromptu conscripts acting as intermediate medics helped to treat wounds. Health potions were available, but some of the wounds were far too serious for a single potion to heal in an instant without repercussions. He spotted Wez groaning, lying flat on a thatched mat on the ground with nothing to support his head. W

Wez spotted Culo, a pained smile appearing on his face while Culo knelt down next to him. His pellet wounds were already healing up, but still unable to move or get up, the damage too severe. "Looks like this is it, huh?"

"I swear we'll get out of here, we'll get out of here, and you and I will both go back to the village safe and sound, just like old times." Culo reached out and clutched Wez's hand.

"Hah... Raktor really changed you, huh? I knew you were always a go-getter, but seeing you like this... I guess people can really change."

"So did you." Culo smiled back.

"Only after I fucked up. Got myself enslaved like the dumb ass I am. Thank the Goddess I didn't listen to my ma and go to Tenar to study, would've been dead on the first day." Wez chortled before his laugh devolved into pained coughing. "Did you ever think it would be like this? I remember just months ago when the only thing I was worried about was whether I would be able to chop that damn tree down myself. Dragged into this war for no reason."

"Four months ago, my biggest agony of life was which bedding to buy for my dorm in Raktor. It's the same for almost all of us." Culo purposefully avoided talking about the war, as he knew the reason for the war starting, having heard it from Kyle directly. Naturally, he wasn't about to tell Wez that this war was to last for a long time, long enough for the Seven Snakes to gain a bigger influence overall. In turn, he was assured a high, well-paid position. Im doing this for Ocra and my friends. However, deep down, Culo knew it was all just an excuse he used to mask his own subconscious desires, lies built upon lies, too far for him to turn back now. A taste of the good life under Kyle had already twisted his mind to things far beyond morals and the greater good. I fought for the greater good once, look how that turned out. It was this promise of greater status and wealth that drove Culo primarily, though he was also focused on making sure his village friends were not harmed.

"Four months ago? Wondering whether Lisa was going to chase you to Raktor or not, hah!" Wez laughed painfully, Culo's thoughts being interrupted.

"What the hell are you talking about? Lisa isn't into me at all."

"You used to call me the village idiot, but it seems like I'm not as stupid as you after all. Now, go, the others need you. Don't worry about little old me. Save the others." Wez pushed Culo aside, closing his eyes as he took deep breaths, fighting the pain coming from the wounds. Culo nodded, rising up to prepare to fight a valiant defense.

As he entered the courtyard, he noticed the eyes of the conscripts around, a sense of dread imminent. Nobody wanted to die here to defend an impossible battle, but Culo knew the fort was far too critical to Kyle's war effort and plans. Failing to hold this position would result in Ocra being easily pressed by Count Leon, which in turn may expose the innards of Versia to further attack and result in a rapid end to the war. The objective is to stall, and stall we must.

Culo gathered the remaining veteran Ghosts, all of them having survived. "If the fort's defense is impossible, do not sacrifice your life for it. The purpose is to weaken the Yual forces as much as possible. Fort 4 is critical, but there are still ways to recover it if it falls to the Yual forces. Remember, there is no free Versia if Count Leon wins. Understood."

"Yes, sir!" The motivation for the Ghosts was different from Culo, them all being downtrodden Versian refugees who had been trained and uplifted into killing machines over the last few months. They held an undying belief in the cause of the rebel movement, and just like Wez, Culo wasn't about to tell them the true nature of the war either.

Thirty harrowing minutes passed as the Yual forces approached, their composition reported by a forward scout. [Five hundred soldiers, with five armored wagons and thirty artillery siege cannons!]

"Direction from the fort?"

[Three kilometers, 30 SE!]

"Get the cannons up now and aim in that direction. I want rolling barrages! One squad holds our secret entrance for a retreat!" Culo ordered, the conscripts kicking into action as they prepared the cannons. Their accuracy was near abysmal due to having no training in aiming the cannons, but Culo just needed to stall and hopefully land a few hits. "Fire at will!"

The fort cannons' thunderous boom resounded through the forest, cannonballs tearing through barren trees and slamming into the reported direction. Yual forces scattered the moment they came into heavy fire, the five hundred strong soldiers splitting up and presenting a far larger target to the cannons. "Focus on the enemy artillery!" Masir helped to aim the cannon, firing one to great effect. The cannonball slammed right into the Yual's artillery supplies, blowing up the shells and incinerating the crew to ashes.

In return, the Yual artillery began to hit back as well, shelling the fort and blasting it apart. For all the derisive words and contempt the Ghosts held for Harrison and his cronies, the Versian fort built by Harrison Industries was surprisingly extremely sturdy, requiring more than a few dozen hits to take out. Each collapsing section was isolated from the other, preventing a total collapse of the entire fort in a cascade. Culo had the Ghosts spread out along the fort, preventing anyone strike from taking all of them out. "One and a half kilometers out!"

Conscripts manning the mounted repeaters squinted through the scope, watching the rushing tide of armored wagons and Yual soldiers, their fingers resting on the trigger as they waited for Masir's command. "HOLD!" Masir roared as he moved along the various portholes of the fort, one porthole having a mounted repeater aimed downwards at the trenches.

"One kilometer out!"

Already pellet fire was beginning to hit the fort walls, some Yual soldiers trying their luck to snipe those through the portholes, the Versian conscripts ducking in response. "Sir, we should fire back, now!"

"Not yet! HOLD!"

"Seven hundred fifty meters!"

"HOLD!"

The armored wagon soon breached the first trench lines, the underside opening again to reveal a hole through which Yual soldiers dropped. However, instead of finding a trench to run through, the entire floor was covered in barbed wires, ensnaring everyone who jumped in. The rushing Yual soldiers leaped into the trench, hoping to use it as cover against the fort's cannon, but were also faced with the barbed wires impeding their movements.

"NOW! FIRE!"

In an electrifying surge of strength, the fort's multiple mounted repeaters opened fire on the immobilized Yual soldiers trapped in the trenches, shredding them apart. Even some of the advancing Yual knights found the barbed wire latching onto chinks in their Aspis MK1 armor, allowing the mounted repeaters to rip past their composite defenses with nowhere to hide.

Screams and wails erupted across the battleground as the fort made a desperate stand, unleashing hell onto anything that moved in the trench line. Crafty Yual engineers crawled beneath the corpses of their allies, using sharp steel wire cutters to snip away at the barbed wire, while other Yual soldiers simply forced their way through, ignoring the strips of flesh clawed off by hooks and sharp metal tips. They rushed up to the main gate of the fortress, suffering countless casualties in a brutal headlong charge.

Yual artillery immediately began to target the fort's mounted repeaters, the shells slamming right into the guns and blowing apart the conscript crew. Limbs flew, and blood splattered across the tiles and walls, the entire fortification shuddering under each hit. "Repeater three down! Repeater three down!" Conscripts called out fallen crews, reserves surging forward to pick up the slack. Some of the repeaters were unsalvagable, and the explosion or kinetic impact reduced the mounted repeaters to a mixture of molten slag and smoldering wood, pellets scattering across the floor.

With the mounted repeaters slowly being taken out one by one, the surviving Yual soldiers in the first trench line slowly broke through to the first trench line. There, they met with the second wave of defenders, all poking the barrel of their rifles out through small little notches and portholes on the ground floor, instantly killing any Yual soldiers who failed to hug the walls of the soggy trenches. Boots crushed against shattered bone and slapped against puddles of blood and groundwater, the attackers inching forward ever so slightly.

Handheld arcia explosives were hurled over the top of the fort, rolling down into the trenches and stalling the advance, Yual soldiers staggering back as their ears rang and their vision blurred from the concussion. Yet the bulk of them had yet to even arrive, still hugging behind armored wagons and defensive barriers automatically set up by Yual engineers. Culo spotted some combat engineer crews bringing out a point defense turret down, its flat plate swiveling and targeting projectiles incoming., his heart plummeting. "GET THAT POINT DEFENSE DOWN!" He roared, the conscripts all trying to fire at it.

The range was too far, rendering most pellets ineffective. However, the sheer focus had a few pellets nick the turret and its crew members, maiming them. One lucky pellet hit the arcite fuel pipe, causing the fuel to splutter all over before it was ignited by the sheer friction of the other glancing pellets, erupting in a blue flame that engulfed the crew into a screaming heap of burning bodies.

Still, taking down one was far from enough. The Yual soldiers advanced relentlessly, the first wave finally reaching the gates that had already been pummelled by artillery. All that held it from falling was countless crates and wooden palisades stacked upon each other, propping up the gate as each artillery strike against the gate caused wooden splinters and dust to shake off. A Yual squad rushed up to the gate itself, one of its members preparing to place its backpack near it when he looked up to see countless flanking portholes on either flank, the conscripts within shredding the Yual squad into a bloody mess.

Unfortunately, an ill-trained conscript accidentally shot the backpack, triggering the explosives contained within. A surging shockwave immediately blasted outwards, the vibrations shaking apart the barricade and gates, while the sheer energy of the blast vaporized the ground beneath it. Culo and Masir staggered as the blast rocked the entire fort, causing loose rubble to fall and expose even more gaps in the fort. The ground below the gate no longer supported it, becoming a ditch that caused the large gate to topple forward instead of collapsing.

"HOLD THAT FRONT! HOLD THAT FRONT!" Masir roared, himself taking up position in the courtyard, waving his hands through the resulting wave of wooden sawdust and soot that was kicked up by the explosion. Only ten conscripts were spared for the defense of the front, the rest far too preoccupied with stemming the wave of attackers coming in.

As the cloud of dust began to scatter, it revealed the horrific state of the front of the fort, its once sturdy archway and large gate now collapsed into a pile of rubble, already two Yual soldiers climbing over the top. Masir aimed with his rifle, firing rapidly into the Yual soldiers' chest and sending them toppling backward, crashing into their allies behind. "FLANK THEM! FLANK THEM!"

"Sir, the portholes flanking the front are blocked by the rubble! We're running out of pellets soon!" A conscript reported desperately as he controlled his own firing rate, taking potshots at the enemy who was still trying to climb over the rubble. A single artillery shell sailed through the exposed front, flying over the pile of rubble to smash right into two conscripts, the impact cracking apart their bodies into pieces that were sent tumbling everywhere.

Both sides began to lob handheld explosives over the pile, neither willing to push up the pile. Masir ducked and cowered behind stone rubble, avoiding the tumbling explosives that sent deadly shrapnel flying everywhere. As he leaned against the cover, his sweat clung to his uniform, his forehead and hair dripping wet underneath the tight helmet that barely deflected glancing pellets. Each breath he took was filled with smoke and soot, the air feisty with the lingering explosions. He could barely hear the screams of the other Versian conscripts any longer, only the blood thumping in his ear as his veins drew in adrenaline, his heart beating faster than ever.

He peeked out from behind cover, seeing the Yual soldiers funneling through the tip of the pile of rubble, scrambling over before being blasted by withering fire. Artillery fire still shot into the exposed courtyard, blasting apart the ground and creating uneven ditches in which desperate conscripts hid. The overpowering advance of the Yual soldiers was starting to break their morale, and some of the surviving conscripts were starting to freeze up as they cowered behind pillars, their eyes wide with fear.

Culo too could see the harrowing situation on the ground floor, the upper floors not doing any better. Already more than a third of the crews had been taken out by either artillery or pellets. "Get off the guns! HOLD THE FRONT!" Culo waved his hands over his head animatedly, motioning for other conscripts to bolster the defense within the fort itself. The courtyard soon became an intense firefight, fought between multiple floors as Yual soldiers pushed in bit by bit.

Artillery fire shelled the fort relentlessly, finally collapsing the front of the fort entirely and opening multiple entrances. Yual soldiers began to flood the fort, their numbers undying as brawls and skirmishes broke out in the tight, narrow spaces of the fort. Both sides clashed against each other in a desperate bid for survival, each emboldened by a desire to live as blows were traded.

[Culo, what's the situation? I'm dispatching squads to you now!] Lisa called over the radio.

"No, have the squads hold Fort 5. This might not be the only advancing force! We will retreat safely once we kill a third of them!" Culo answered.

"A third of them?! That's crazy! Culo, we have to retreat! We can't win this!" Masir knew the fort's defense was impossible, with only a mere thirty conscripts left against what seemed like at least four hundred Yual soldiers more, along with armored wagons approaching the front.

"Not yet! Not yet!" Culo wasn't giving up yet, his body accelerating through the battlefield as he swapped to a close combat loadout, his rifle traded for a simple officer sword, hacking through the unarmored Yual soldiers like a Ghost through the tight, narrow corridors of the fort. His Aspis MK1 armor deflected most of the pellets as he swerved and ducked through the enemy, using their own allies as shields against firing arcs. With a single swing, he chopped deep into the neck of a Yual soldier, unable to cut all the way through. He let go of the sword, lunging at a nearby Yual soldier who fired a pellet at him. The pellet nicked him in the shoulder, the ceramic composite fragments lodging themselves into his flesh.

Ignoring the pain, he wrestled the rifle away from the Yual soldier, channeling his lessons in the Culdao Peaks. Culo threw an elbow at the face of the soldier, connecting with the soldier's jaw and dislocating it with a single hit. Successfully yanking the rifle out from the concussed soldier's hands, he rammed the butt of the rifle into the soldier's face, smashing it twice before flipping the rifle around to aim at another Yual soldier shooting him right in the head.

"COME ON!" Culo roared as he held down the trigger, forcing the advancing Yual soldiers to cower and hit the floor in the hallway. His barrage killed three Yual soldiers on the spot, and as soon as he ran out of pellets on the rifle, he flung it at another Yual soldier, the throw catching the soldier off-guard while Culo punched the soldier right in the gut.

Alarm bells rang in Culo's mind as he watched a surviving Yual soldier fire right at him, his body instinctively ducking into a roll. Unfortunately, a pellet tore through his thigh, though the adrenaline running through his blood made the pain barely registerable. He rolled towards a dead soldier's body, finding a small combat knife that he quickly picked up and hurled at the Yual soldier, who was now reloading. The knife twirled in the air before lodging right in the exposed neck of the soldier, slicing through his windpipe dead on as he clutched his neck, trying to stem the bleeding.

Culo rushed forward, closing the gap in three strides and kicking the keeling soldier, his boots driving the knife even deeper into the neck and shredding the spine behind. Not enough! His head swiveled, locking onto the horrified Yual soldiers who saw the carnage and bodies left behind Culo, who was covered in blood. Terror locked them to their feet, revealing the amateur training that Culo was about to exploit.

The battle unfolded like a whirlwind, countless life-and-death battles erupting all over the fort. The veteran Ghosts fought their hearts out, killing countless Yual soldiers and slowly stemming the flow. Yet for all their efforts, it was hardly enough to save Fort 4 - hundreds of Yual soldiers were still pushing towards the fort.

[All cannons, aim at fort 4, maximum range!] Lisa ordered the remaining conscripts left behind at Fort 5.

"NO! Save that ammunition! You won't do anything!" Culo knew the range was beyond what the Versian cannons were capable of, and Lisa doing so would be a complete waste.

"CULO! WE HAVE TO RETREAT!" Masir yelled.

"NOT YET!" Culo knew that they had not done enough damage yet. Not even a third of the advancing Yual force had been eliminated yet. "A MAN OF OCRA NEVER SURRENDERS!" Though, from the corner of his vision, he could see his conscripts falling one by one, even a veteran Ghost dying as he wrestled amidst the rubble with Yual soldiers.

Masir gritted his teeth, still firing at the encroaching Yual soldiers, having already lost count of how many he had slaughtered. He knew the Yual forces were larger than the Versian Army, but to see it in person sent a wave of horror through his muscles, a sudden clarity falling over him as though he could see his imminent death. He stared as he watched an armored wagon roll over the pile of rubble, its heavy metallic plates intimidating.

Culo's face paled at the appearance of the armored wagon again, this time at least five pushing right up to the very border of the fort's walls, their wheeled tracks crushing the looser rubble beneath them. "RETREAT!" Culo called out, the conscripts immediately hightailing it back to the smaller chamber from where they had a secret entrance, planning to use it as their exit.

"Move, move! Let's get the fuck out of here!" A panicking conscript rushed through the secret entrance, only to earn five pellets to his body as Yual soldiers also stormed the secret entrance, cutting off their escape route. Culo's squad designated to hold the retreat died, their bodies shredded by the Yual soldiers who now surrounded them on all fronts, trapping more than twenty of them in the smaller chamber. The leftover wooden crates offered little respite as artillery shells widened the gap, breaking apart the door to allow Yual soldiers to fire in from a large front.

Culo's heart sank, knowing that he might have overstayed the defense, having overestimated his ability to retreat. With no clear way out, even the veteran Ghosts were beginning to falter, though they still fought hard, suppressing the Yual soldiers. Masir's spirit wavered, his hope of getting out alive shattered. Is this it?

[Culo! Where are you?! Yual forces are swarming your fort all around! I have squads halfway to you now!] Lisa's desperate voice called out over the radio, having ignored Culo's orders previously.

"Lisa! Is Kyle's reinforcements here yet from Desham?"

[No, even if they sent a squad, it will take them more than three days to reach us now, and the main Yual force will cut off their route of approach! Where are you?!]

"We're trapped in Fort 4. This might be it." Culo himself felt a sense of dread come over, but his cold logic and training in the Culdao Peaks kicked in, suppressing his emotions at his imminent death. He had already come close to death countless times in the training chambers, his mind having already mentally prepared for it. Guess I'll never get to see the wealth I deserve.

[... No! All cannons, mark Fort 4; I want maximum range!]

"Dammit, Lisa! Hold your ammo! Hold it for the next wave of attacks!" Culo urged, a pellet whizzing over his head before he poked out again, firing back at the surge of Yual soldiers trying to enter the smaller chamber. Handheld explosives were thrown in, the shrapnel maiming multiple conscripts and cracking apart empty crates.

Culo took a deep breath, summoning one last hurrah, fighting with every inch of hope pumping in his veins. There's still a chance, it's not over yet! I can make it out!"COME ON, MEN! UNTIL DEATH DO WE REST!" He roared, jumping out and firing recklessly, taking the Yual soldiers by surprise.

However, the Yual soldiers suddenly did not seem invincible any longer. In fact, the armored arctech wagons were beginning to retreat rapidly, and the Yual forces scrambled for cover as a distinctive whistle began to reverberate across the air. Culo looked up to the sky, watching a barrage of artillery rounds from a completely different direction slam into the reserve ranks of the attacking soldiers, pounding them apart as they scattered across the barren forest.

[Fort 2, responding to request for assistance!]

The radio's words washed over Culo's body, a wave of relief invigorating his brain in a single boost. However, there was no time to celebrate just yet. "PUSH OUT OF THE EXIT, NOW!" Culo bellowed a battle cry, leading the charge ahead and storming the tunnel that led out the back of the fort. The flustered Yual squads that were holding the exit were no match for the emboldened conscript, belief in their veins turning into action. With a victorious holler, the conscripts rushed out of the fort, catching the remaining Yual squads by surprise. Veteran Ghosts annihilated their enemies with ease, and the repeaters and swords found their marks.

[Fort 6, responding to request for assistance as well! For Ocra!]

Two other forts had sortied out their troops, flanking the attacking Yual force from all sides. They had dragged the artillery cannons out to the field, temporarily transforming the garrison into a field army that pummelled the Yual attacking force. Culo did not linger around any longer, immediately moving to the safety of Fort 2's forces. As he moved across the battlefield of carnage, he noticed the Yual soldiers in the distance desperately trying to bring back specially marked crates, pushing them out in carts and wagons that were retreating back into the forest beyond.

Culo quickly grabbed an artillery crew, shouting in their ear over the din of barrages. "AIM FOR THOSE CRATES! QUICKLY!"

The crew didn't ask any questions, immediately swiveling the cannon around to aim at the supplies being evacuated. They fired a single shot, but the cannonball sailed past a slow-moving wagon uselessly, slamming into the ground with no effect. Culo shoved the cannon gunner aside, aiming it once again while his veteran Ghosts immediately kicked into action, loading the cannon for him.

Come on, just at the tip of the range! Culo knew this would be his last shot, beyond which his cannon would not be able to hit the special crates. With a single squeeze, he triggered the cannon's engraving, the cannonball blasting forward in a hurling arc. As if guided by the wind, the cannonball blasted into the retreating supply wagon head-on, crashing the special crates apart.

Immediately pressurized flamethrower liquid spurted everywhere, fire erupting along its path as it streaked across the sky like a water fountain, flames dousing the trees in a large area, cutting off the retreat path for most of the Yual soldiers who were still retreating bit by bit. The fire began to take form as it greedily engulfed the trees beyond that still had thick foilage, eating up the wood and turning into a tornado of dazzling flames that was boosted by the wind even more.

The wind swept the flames forward, rushing ahead and catching half of the retreating supply wagons and their crews, screams intermixing with the roaring sound of heat and explosion as stored superheated water in the trees began to burst out from beyond the bark. With every wagon caught in the flames, the pressurized flamethrower liquid they held also exploded, causing a cascade that evolved into a swirling wildfire that no one could stop.

"FORWARD!" With the path of escape now cut off, the Versian conscripts rushed forward, both Fort 2 and Fort 6's troops capturing dozens of Yual soldiers. As the wildfire continued to sweep towards the east, away from Ocra, Masir slumped down to the ground, the exhilaration and fatigue overwhelming his body.

"We... we did it! We held Ocra! WE HELD OCRA!" A conscript cheered, the realization kicking in for the rest of the surviving conscripts, who all began to swarm toward Culo and Masir with wide smiles on their faces. "We're fucking heroes!"

Culo smiled as he hugged and patted the others around, but deep down, he knew this was just one part of the siege. Let's hope that wildfire stalls long enough for Kyle to be ready.

<---Chapter 127 - Fort Raid| Table of Contents |Chapter 129 - Siege Economy--->