Brick

Harald gave the Carnford defenders absolutely no time to regroup or redeploy.

On the very afternoon that the remaining defenders, braving arrows, retreated in disarray to the inner city, leaving their fortifications undefended, the horns of a full-scale attack sounded in the Sauron camp!

Thousands of Sauron elite infantry, well-fed and rested, along with slave soldiers whose eyes were bloodshot with the promise that "those who make it first will be free from slavery," surged like a flood towards the tunnel that had swallowed countless lives in the past twenty days, yet they had never been able to cross it!

This time, the situation is completely different.

With the deadly crossfire from the mountainside on both sides gone, the narrow passage could no longer be a death trap for the Sauron.

The attackers rushed through the once-deeply blood-soaked passage with almost no resistance, easily stepped onto the fortifications that the defenders had been forced to abandon, and then charged madly upwards along the boulder that had been transformed into fixed steps by Shield-carts!

The distance that could not be crossed after twenty days of bloody fighting has now been traversed in just a few dozen steps!

The slave soldiers at the forefront, raising their makeshift Wooden Shield, leaped out of the tunnel exit with howls, and what came into view was the last obstacle beneath the inner walls of Carnford: the moat.

Carnford's moat was not an insurmountable barrier; it was only about two meters wide and waist-deep, and could not completely prevent the army from crossing. Its main function was to slow down the advance of the attackers and provide the defenders on the city walls with valuable time to fire.

"Fire!"

With the officer's roar, the defenders, who had been waiting in ambush behind the inner city wall, opened fire! The roar of muskets and the whistling of arrows rang out once more!

The slave soldiers and Sauron infantry, who had just rushed out of the tunnel and were exposed on the open ground, were instantly covered by a hail of hot bullets and arrows. They fell in droves with screams, their bodies rolling into the shallow moat, where blood quickly stained the water red.

However, the Sauron attacks were relentless! Those behind ignored the deaths of their companions, stepping over the warm corpses and slippery riverbed, frantically wading forward! The moat was instantly churned into a murky mess, with water splashing everywhere.

At the same time, Sauron archers also came up from the tunnel and lined up behind the attacking force, calmly and accurately firing at the inner city wall!

Heavy arrows whistled down, and the defending Musketeers and archers were constantly hit while peeking out to fire, falling from the city walls with screams.

The defenders on the city wall were suppressed by fire from both the front and overhead, and their casualties began to increase sharply while the density of firepower decreased significantly.

Taking advantage of the precious lull in the defenders' advance, more and more Sauron infantry and slave soldiers successfully crossed the moat and reached the base of the inner city walls! The real nightmare had begun!

The slave soldiers howled like wild beasts at the base of the waterlogged wall. They pulled out the chisels, iron bars, and hammers they carried with them and began frantically chiseling at the gaps between the bricks and stones at the base of the city wall!

Even worse, some people began to try to carry makeshift Cloud Ladder on their shoulders to climb up the city walls!

"Roll the stones! Use the logs! Gold Juice! Pour it down!" the garrison officer shouted hoarsely.

Heavy stones and logs were pushed down the city wall, crushing the slaves who were chiseling at the wall below into a bloody pulp; scalding hot, foul-smelling "Gold Juice" mixed with excrement and poison poured down, and a series of inhuman screams immediately rang out at the base of the wall, those hit were torn apart and suffered unbearable pain.

However, the Sauron seemed endless!

The archers' suppressive fire continued relentlessly, and those below the city, stepping over the corpses and slick blood of their comrades, continued their frenzied assault on the city walls.

More and more Cloud Ladder were brought up to the top of the city wall, and the fierce Sauron infantrymen began to climb upwards, brandishing their Ladder Knife!

The defending soldiers used spears to stab downwards through the crenellations, cut the hooks of the Cloud Ladder with knives and axes, and threw lit Fire oil down at the enemy below.

Each time the Cloud Ladder was knocked down, it was accompanied by the climbers' desperate screams and the dull thud of their falls.

The battle instantly shifted from long-range firefights to the most primal, brutal, and bloody melee combat phase of the city wall siege!

Every inch of the city wall became a line between life and death, filled with deafening shouts, screams, the clash of weapons, and the groans of the dying.

Carnford, the fortress that had held out for more than twenty days, finally saw a bloody battle for control of the city walls!

Driven by the swords of the overseer Sauron and tempted by the promise of "first come, first served," the slaves, like driven livestock, frantically climbed the Cloud Ladder leading to the city walls.

The Sauron infantrymen below the city wall desperately held down the ladders, even forming human stakes with their bodies to prevent the defenders from pushing Cloud Ladder down.

Although almost every slave who dared to peek out was instantly pierced by the defenders' spears or crushed by rolling stones, this relentless, suicidal assault greatly strained and depleted the defenders' precious manpower and energy.

Meanwhile, in a relatively safe, blind spot at the base of the city wall, another group of slaves were taking advantage of the defenders being bogged down in the fierce fighting on the city walls to frantically chisel and hammer away at the ancient and sturdy bricks.

The clanging and banging sounds, mixed with the deafening shouts of battle, were particularly jarring. Brick fragments kept falling, and intact wall bricks were pried loose and then held in the arms of the slaves as if they were precious treasures.

"I have a brick! I have a brick!" A slave who had just pried off a brick had a look of ecstatic joy on his face. He hugged the mud-covered brick tightly as if it were a lifeline, and turned around and ran back the way he came, tumbling and crawling.

According to the custom of the Sauron, if you can bring back a brick that you pried off the enemy's city wall to your camp, you will be spared from being driven into battle again that day.

The hope of life, at this moment, was embodied in a cold brick.