The Struggle for the City Walls

Behind the Sauron Army, Harald stood atop a newly erected arrow tower, coldly observing the battlefield through his binoculars.

He saw his troops surging against the city walls like a tidal wave, and he also saw a few scattered slaves, holding something aloft, running frantically back through the hail of bullets.

He recognized them; they were bricks from the city wall.

Just then, the terrifying Cannon atop Carnford City roared once more!

Boom!

A cannonball whistled down, not aiming at the dense siege force, but by sheer coincidence, it landed near a few slaves who were clinging to bricks, thinking they had escaped!

The terrifying shockwave and flying shrapnel instantly engulfed them! The slaves, who had just been ecstatic about surviving, along with the "get-out-of-jail-free cards" they held in their arms, were reduced to scattered flesh and dust in the explosion!

Hope was utterly crushed in an instant.

Harald witnessed this scene without any change in his expression, as if he had only seen a few ants being trampled to death.

He wasn't concerned with the lives of the slaves, but rather with the clear message he gleaned from the flying bricks and stones: the walls of Carnford had begun to crumble.

"Give the order," Harald's voice was as cold as iron, "Second wave of slaves, move out! Take the 'gifts' with you."

The order was relayed swiftly.

The new batch of slaves driven forward were different from those before.

In each of their hands, besides a simple chisel and hammer, there was also a square package, about the size of a book, tightly wrapped in oilcloth.

Keen observers might recognize that the shape and material of the package bear a striking resemblance to the Gunpowder pack used by the Carnford garrison during the previous night raid!

That's right, this is exactly the small explosive Gunpowder pack Harald ordered the craftsmen to urgently replicate based on captured fragments and battlefield observations!

While its power and stability may not be as good as the original, its destructive power is far greater than that of a chisel.

In addition, some slaves were carrying earthenware jars with oil-soaked Cloth Strip cloth plugging their mouths.

This was clearly a crude imitation of the "Molotov cocktail" that the Carnford garrison had used to create a sea of fire! The artisans of Sauron quickly deciphered its basic principles and replicated it by analyzing battlefield remnants.

It must be said that the Sauron' ability to learn and imitate in war, and their efficiency in quickly putting it into practice, is astonishing.

They are like a cold sponge, greedily absorbing all the strengths of their opponents and immediately turning them into sharp blades to stab them.

These slaves, clutching replicas of Gunpowder pack and Molotov cocktail, wore expressions of fear and despair even more profound than before.

They knew that what they held in their hands was a death warrant more "effective" than bricks and stones, but also a shortcut to death.

Under the relentless whipping of the overseers, they let out mournful howls and surged once more toward the life-devouring city wall.

The Carnford City has become a scene of carnage.

The moat was almost completely filled with layers upon layers of corpses, and the murky blood overflowed the banks. Those who came later practically stepped over the swollen, pale corpses of their companions to cross this already narrow obstacle.

The attack was no longer limited to the front of the city gate. Sauron soldier and slaves swarmed along the city walls like ants, spreading wildly to both sides, trying to find any possible breakthrough.

The battle for the city walls entered its most intense phase.

Despite the defenders' desperate resistance, some breaches were forcibly opened by the slave soldiers' relentless assault, which resulted in casualties.

Fully armed and clad in heavy armor, the Sauron Plate Armor Knight, like tin cans, climbed up the Cloud Ladder or the crenellations they had captured. Once they had a foothold on the city walls, they wielded heavy Battle Axe and maces, hacking and slashing wildly, trying their best to expand the landing area.

The Carnford defenders were now acutely aware of the pain of losing Master Andrei and Roland, two top-tier warriors. Lacking such sharp spearheads, they often had to pay several times the blood cost to barely repel the attacks of Sauron elite knights.

"Musketeer company! Fire a volley from the crenellations directly ahead!" an officer with a bloodied face roared hoarsely.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A squad of Musketeers risked peeking out from behind cover and unleashed a close-range volley at the few Sauron Plate Armor Knight who had just surged onto the city wall!

At such close range, even thick plate armor would be difficult to completely withstand the impact of lead bullets.

The hit knights burst into clouds of blood mist, staggered and fell, or were pushed off the city wall by the enormous impact.

This precise and fierce volley temporarily suppressed the attack through the gap, but the crisis was far from over.

Attacks from below the city walls were even more lethal. Without the fire support from the positions on both sides of the mountainside, the defenders' control over the base of the city walls was greatly reduced.

Driven by the overseers of Sauron, large numbers of slaves took advantage of the fierce fighting on the city walls to frantically destroy the bricks and stones at the base of the walls with chisels, hammers, and even their bare hands.

The dull, relentless pounding sounds, like a death knell, echoed continuously from beneath our feet.

The defending soldiers tried to peek out and attack the slaves who were "digging into the wall" with bows and arrows or rolling stones, but they were immediately suppressed by heavy arrows that were accurately shot from behind, and many of them died from arrow wounds.

The foundation stones of the city wall are being pried loose one by one, cracks are spreading, and the entire section of the wall seems to be groaning in pain.

At this critical moment!

A bundle tightly wrapped in thick canvas, irregularly shaped and looking unusually heavy, was suddenly hurled down from behind the crenellations of the city wall! It traced a brief arc, accompanied by a dull thud, and crashed heavily at the base of the city wall, in the area where the slaves were most concentrated.

Several slaves who were engrossed in chiseling at the wall were startled by the sudden appearance of the package. They looked up in bewilderment, and one of them was even injured when the package hit the ground.

They saw a fuse burning with a hiss, emitting sparks and white smoke in one corner of the canvas wrapping!

"It's an explosion..." The terrified scream was barely out of her mouth before it was drowned out by the devastating explosion that followed!

Boom!!!

A deafening explosion erupted! The package, weighing forty kilograms, was filled not only with Black Powder but also with all the barbed wire, scrap iron, iron beads, and other lethal materials that the defenders could gather!

At that moment, these dead objects were instantly hurled in all directions by the energy of the explosion!

Centered on the point of impact, a cloud of death, a mixture of flames, thick smoke, and bits of flesh, rose into the sky!

The violent shockwave instantly tore the slaves within a radius of several meters, and even some of the nearby Sauron soldier, to shreds!

Those who were a little further away were riddled with holes by the dense barrage of barbed wire and iron pellets, either dying or being maimed!

The base of the city wall was cleared away in an instant, with severed limbs and fragments of internal organs covering the walls and ground, and the strong smell of blood and gunpowder was nauseating.

This sudden and incredibly powerful explosion not only instantly killed or wounded a large number of slaves who were working, but also severely damaged the morale of the attacking troops.