"Notify the Deputy Legion Commander and the Political Commissar. Prepare to withdraw."
His adjutant Valentan nodded gravely and ran toward the Portal.
Femi looked up. The Behemoth, the largest Reconnaissance Airship yet, floated high overhead like a dim, lightless star.
From aboard it, the entire battlefield was plain to see.
Upon receiving Femi's order, the Deputy Legion Commander and the Political Commissar sent messengers running through the trenches to inform everyone. Then, at the signal of rising Light Spells, they sent one last volley of cannonballs down together. The Professionals covered the others as they retreated through the Portal.
One after another, rings of light burst around the three peaks, as though each mountain had gained a halo. Then the lights vanished, leaving only the roar echoing through the valleys.
Dazed by the bombardment and unable to find their bearings without light or sound, the Rat Tide milled around for more than ten seconds before finding its way toward the summits again.
All that awaited them were the fading Portals.
The Ratfolk that charged onto the peaks felt a sudden emptiness—if they were capable of feeling such a thing.
They certainly looked bewildered, as though they had forgotten why they had charged up there.
Hunched over, the Rat Swarm crossed the trenches and reached the open ground where cannonballs and rolling stones had been piled.
The rolling stones held no interest for them, but the dark cannonballs intrigued the Ratfolk. They began fiddling with the ones left behind.
One Ratfolk, whether clever or foolish, picked up a torch a human Soldier had dropped and held it to a fuse. The resulting explosion set off the rest.
Dozens of cannonballs stored together detonated. The blast could be heard faintly even at the Northern Great Wall, and hundreds of nearby Ratfolk were