Two days later, before dawn, darkness lay thick as ink, the stars hidden away. The deathly still wilderness outside Carnford City was suddenly torn apart!
"Woooo—wooo—wooo—!!!"
Three long, shrill horns signaling the general assault surged into the sky from deep within the Sauron camp, instantly carrying across the surrounding lands!
Then countless torches and bonfires were lit all at once, turning the Sauron positions bright as day and outlining innumerable shifting black silhouettes, surging forward like a tide.
"Fire the Cannons!!!"
Harald had pushed nearly every Cannon he possessed that could still fire to the foremost line. More than two hundred Cannons of every kind had long since entered their designated positions beneath camouflage and cover of night. At the officers' hysterical roars, the first thunderous barrage erupted!
"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!"
The earth shuddered violently, and countless orange-red muzzle flashes lit up the night sky in an instant! The Saurons' artillery preparation was fiercer and denser than ever before. Solid shot and crude explosive shells rained down like hail upon Carnford's first earthen-wall defensive line.
The shells screamed through the air and smashed savagely into the earthworks, throwing up towering clouds of dirt and dust. Some of the flimsier Suspended Shelters and breastworks shattered and collapsed amid the deafening blasts.
Carnford's response was swift and precise. Though caught by surprise, the artillery positions, maintained in a state of constant readiness, began returning fire within seconds. From the earthen walls, the bastions, and even the higher batteries farther back, flames of vengeance erupted one after another! Shells from both sides streaked through the air in crossing paths, their trails of death weaving a net of destruction through the darkness before dawn.
The Saurons' cannon-making techniques and shell accuracy were far inferior to Carnford's. Excessive clearance caused their shots to scatter