The deafening explosion thundered across the valley, instantly pinning the attention of every snake-man on and below Naxi Fortress's walls to the front.
Towering flames and billowing smoke swallowed the snake-men's view from the walls. The searing blast distorted the air itself, and snake-men near the gateway were so terrified by the explosion that they fell from the ramparts.
Now.
Almost before the shock wave had dissipated, the flood of players waiting at the entrance to Grayrock Pass burst its banks.
They became a raging tide of destruction, bearing steel and the will to kill as they roared toward the fortress. Their earthshaking battle cries merged into a wave of sound that tore through the air, drowning out the echoes of the explosion.
The Mountain Tiger Warband's players rapidly advanced on Naxi Fortress at a run. Meanwhile, snake-men began appearing on the walls, one after another, moving faster than the players.
That had been predictable.
And the players were ready.
"Fire..."
Knife-in-the-Butt roared hoarsely. The players at the front quickly answered his command, spreading out from their run as fast as possible. Once they had formed a rough firing line, they swiftly raised their guns. Shots crackled, and a wall of smoke appeared.
Dense lead bullets swept across the walls like a deadly swarm of bees, unleashing a storm of steel that sent ice chips, flint, and snake-man blood flying.
An even more terrifying roar followed close behind.
More than a dozen Crouching Tiger Cannons, brutally slammed onto the ground by the players, were quickly lit. Their muzzles spat dazzling tongues of flame at staggered intervals, spraying deadly grapeshot across a stretch of wall near the gateway.
A rain of death made of iron shot, lead fragments, and broken stones battered everything head-on. Stone chips flew from the battlements as