(I stayed up late to watch TI6, then slept until now, sorry.)
When the Boiling Water Elementals and the siege crew in the chariots pulled the three war chariots out of the thick fog, the Dwarf army finally erupted in cheers, their low morale lifted.
Under Rendaen's murderous gaze, the Thorium Brotherhood's Gnomes technicians and Dwarf blacksmiths immediately rushed to repair the damage, Orphest also ran over to personally inspect the fault.
"Thanks to Miss Angela's assistance," the Dwarf lord said humbly before the Archmage, "Please continue to maintain this spell; the siege can be launched again soon."
This was a piece of cake for Angela; she nodded, maintaining her casting posture.
Boyle, radiating intense heat, also came to express his gratitude. "The Duke mentioned you to me, Your Excellency Mage, thank you for your Fog Spell."
"You're welcome, Water Elemental Warrior. It's my honor to assist you in battle," Angela replied very politely.
Boyle rummaged inside his body and finally pulled out a palm-sized blue crystal. "This crystal is my gift of gratitude. You can use it to summon my clone to fight once."
Angela was temporarily unable to move, so Erigor quickly reached out and took her. She felt warm to the touch, still carrying the body temperature of Boiling Water Elemental.
Elemental beings are honest and straightforward; they don't mince words. Since he's so strong, his clones must be just as powerful. Angela has gained a very good magical item.
The three tanks were quickly restarted, and just in case, several technicians were assigned to each tank for immediate repairs.
In this relatively enclosed underground space, the enemy mages had difficulty dispelling the dense fog, and faced with the chariots rushing towards the gate again, they could only blindly throw stones downwards.
The booming sounds continued incessantly in front of us, and the cracks on the door kept widening. After nearly a hundred blows, with a crash, a large hole was finally punched through it.
The rubble clattered down, burying the chariots that barely had time to retreat, and a corner of the gate collapsed, allowing the Dwarves to pass through.
The chariot's roof was blown off, and the attacking soldiers quickly climbed out, firing signal flares into the air indicating that the palace gates had been breached.
"Prepare to attack!" Rendaen shouted the order excitedly, and the bugle sounded immediately.
The army was about to launch an attack, and visibility was crucial. Angela immediately changed her hand gestures and chanted a spell. The thick fog condensed into a light rain that extinguished the remaining flames on the battlefield.
The state of the palace gates was clearly visible. The siege team was braving various projectiles to squeeze into the collapsed breach, but they seemed to have encountered some obstacles, and the team stalled.
Rendaen's forwards immediately rushed to support, providing long-range fire support while various lassos and grappling hooks were thrown at the arrow slits. The Dwarves, skilled climbers, were eager to take advantage of the enemy's panic at the moment the goal was breached to seize the arrow slits.
But the Ironrage Army did not give in so easily. While unleashing a rain of arrows, they also sent men to cut the ropes one by one. The unlucky climbers could only rely on their own hands and feet to climb upwards.
Although the attempt to climb the arrow slits was not very successful, it drew most of the enemy's attention, allowing Rendaen's army to reach the gate and desperately put pressure on the inside.
On the other side of the gate, a large number of the Ironrage Army were deployed for defense. The gap in the gate was not large, and the enemy occupied a very advantageous position. This is why the elite siege team, which was carefully selected, could only advance at a snail's pace. This was undoubtedly a fierce battle.
The two sides engaged in a fierce struggle at the cave entrance, neither able to quickly repel the other, and the situation quickly reached a stalemate.
The battle lasted for more than an hour. The enemy's gate had fallen and all the arrow slits had been captured, but the Charge team had been almost decimated by the Ironrage Army's defensive formation. So far, they had only advanced about a hundred meters, which was unacceptable to Rendaen. The loss of troops was completely disproportionate to the results.
The breach in the gate had been widened several times over, and the three chariots had been cleared out of the rubble. They were originally powerful tools for advancing, but after only a few steps, they suffered major malfunctions and were almost reduced to three piles of scrap metal. This infuriated Rendaen, who nearly killed Orphest, who was standing next to him.
Previously, this incompetent foreman had boasted about how powerful the war machines were, which is why Rendaen spared no expense and had the Thorium Brotherhood use a lot of rare metals, with each machine costing over 100,000 Gold Coins. Unexpectedly, they started having frequent problems once they were put into use. That's just how Gnomes technology is; it's prone to malfunctions.
The new battle report saved Guild Master Thorium's life. The suicide squad, riding in Mole Machine, finally broke through the earth and entered the palace. Their mission was to kill, set fires, and cause chaos among the enemy.
The Mole Machine finally gave the blacksmiths a boost, and the enemy formation immediately showed signs of instability. The commotion coming from the palace behind them made the Ironrage Army soldiers very uneasy; everyone knew that something had happened behind them.
Whether the inside-outside coordinated attack tactic will succeed depends on now. We can't let the suicide squad actually die; we must apply maximum pressure on the main battlefield.
Rendaen personally oversaw the battle and deployed his most elite personal guard to the front lines, resulting in a sudden and explosive offensive that dramatically accelerated the advance of the battle lines.
Whether the Ironrage Army was truly unable to hold out or adhered to the principle of pacifying the internal situation before resisting external aggression, it began to retreat significantly.
An ordinary army retreating at this point would easily turn into a major collapse, but the Ironrage Army retreated in an orderly manner, maintaining its formation without any disorder, making it difficult to find a weakness to break through.
They pursued them all the way and soon reached the second gate of the palace. Suddenly, there were two loud "thumps" and the ground shook, as if something heavy had crashed to the ground.
A massive shadow appeared in the gate ahead. It was a Molten Giant, its body entirely composed of black and red Rock. It stood there, almost blocking the entire gate, and the retreating Ironrage Army stopped at its feet.
"This is impossible!" someone exclaimed, not so much surprised by the enemy's enormous size, but rather unable to comprehend how this giant had gotten into the palace.
The passageways outside are not as wide as those inside the Imperial Palace; such a massive body could not have arrived here through normal means.
The Molten Giant roared like a mountain splitting open, and fiery red light emanated from the gaps in its body, as if magma was flowing inside it.
"Thump!" It stepped forward again, an invincible feeling washing over everyone. Even Rendaen couldn't help but stop in his tracks. No one had expected that there would be a terrifying Molten Giant here.
Its powerful War Stomp makes it impossible for ordinary soldiers to get close to it. Its hard, scorching Rock is completely impervious to swords and blades. Its only weakness is its slow speed, but when used for guarding the goal, this weakness is minimized to the extreme.
After retreating to this point, the Ironrage Army confidently dispatched a small Centaur its forces to wipe out the suicide squad that had sneaked in. The enemy also knew that if they allowed the suicide squad to continue causing trouble, their morale would only become more unstable.