"Boom! Boom-boom! Boom-boom-boom! Boom-boom-boom-boom—!!!"
Behind the Sauron Army's formations, the war drums pounded like the heart of some savage wilderness, their rhythm growing faster, more urgent, more impassioned, as though desperately squeezing the last drops of courage and ferocity from every Sauron soldier who heard them.
Driven by those death-warrant drumbeats, the Sauron infantry formations that had been advancing steadily suddenly accelerated, changing from a brisk march to a jog, then into an all-out sprint!
"Waaaah—!! Kill—!!"
"For land! For grain! For the White Wolf Banner!"
"Break in! Kill them all!"
Mad, bloodthirsty howls mingled with boundless longing for reward burst from the depths of the throats of more than two thousand charging Sauron soldiers. Like the collective howl of a wounded wolf pack, they instantly drowned out the cannon fire and the wind, echoing across the entire snowy plain before Village No. 5.
The nomadic savagery passed down through their blood for generations was utterly ignited by life, death, and profit. Their bloodshot eyes wide, they carried crude cloud ladders and battering rams, even climbing with their bare hands. Accompanied by drumbeats so impassioned they nearly tore the eardrums apart, they launched a desperate mass assault against that line of ruined defenses that ceaselessly spewed flames of death. Figures surged like a tide, blades and spears bristled like a forest, their momentum terrifying.
"Artillery! Canister shot! Fire!"
Inside Village No. 5, the Franklin Army officer facing that muddy torrent of a charge remained steady and cold.
"Boom! Boom-boom-boom!"
Several cannons positioned behind the village entrance and the low walls along the flanks roared again. This time, they unleashed deadly canister shot! Great bursts of flame erupted from their muzzles as countless lead balls, iron nails, and jagged scraps of metal sprayed outward in a fan-shaped storm of steel at