Because of their viewing angle, the Troll defenders stationed on the heights failed to notice the carnage unfolding on the slope.
Before they could discover what had happened, several High Elf legions swiftly occupied the slope.
The large-caliber 155 mm howitzers launched their attack from the entrance to the Magic Defense Barrier.
Herad had copied the design of these large-caliber howitzers straight from Earth's models.
They were very different from Azeroth's cannons.
Gnomes loved short-barreled Heavy Artillery.
Short barrels were easy to manufacture, and a large caliber ensured firepower, so why bother with long barrels that were harder to make?
The mortars Gnomes made for Dwarves were less than a meter long, yet their bores were wide enough to stuff a Gnome inside and fire them out for the thrill of being a human cannonball.
That caliber, which probably exceeded 300 mm, was utterly insane!
Though they looked rather pathetic, their effective range still exceeded a thousand meters, enough to crush Trolls who still used melee weapons.
Goblin designs in this field were even worse.
Perhaps because barrel explosions happened so often, they preferred dropping bombs from airships.
Since these were not purpose-built aerial bombs, they had to lower their altitude to hit anything reliably.
With an airship that big, getting shot down by a giant ballista was hardly surprising.
These death-seeking Goblins were second to none when it came to causing air disasters.
They were also the ones most opposed to long-barreled cannons.
But with Herad threatening to dock their bonuses, none dared pipe up.
Of course, inwardly, they remained unconvinced.
Herad curled his lip in disdain at the Gnomes and Goblins, who agreed aloud but refused to accept it in their hearts.
A bunch of ignorant bumpkins! What did they know about the importance of absolute range superiority?
The howitzers were operated by novice Rangers and Warriors with little combat ability.
All they needed to do was follow the plan they had rehearsed many times and bombard the heights to intimidate the enemy.
Some equally unremarkable Mages provided real-time feedback on the bombardment through Mage's Eyes floating in the sky.
With assistance from the Mage's Eyes, which were comparable to drones, over a hundred howitzers struck the Troll defenders scattered across the heights with precision.
The Troll defenders were happily eating when shells fell from the sky into their midst, unleashing terrifying heat and shock waves.
The Troll defenders closest to the blasts were reduced directly to dust.
Those a little farther away were torn into rag dolls by the shock waves and shrapnel.
Only the Troll defenders more than twenty meters away who also wore armor managed to escape with their lives.
Even so, the shock waves left them bleeding from every facial orifice, unable to move again anytime soon.
Seeing this, the other Troll defenders turned and fled toward Zul'Aman.
Yet the shells seemed to have eyes, falling around them again and again and claiming the unlucky ones.
The Troll defenders atop Zul'Aman's walls watched the scene, struggling to understand what was happening.
All they could see were explosions erupting beside their allies.
But they had no idea what was exploding.
The explosions on the ground were eye-catching enough!
Who would pay attention to lumps of iron falling from the sky?
Only when High Elves appeared on the slope did they realize the High Elves were behind it.
By the time they sounded the alarm, the mysterious explosions had stopped.
Finding that the inexplicable attack had ended, the Troll defenders finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But the howitzer unit, having achieved its goal of intimidation, had merely warmed up and readied itself.
Besides, if they did not stop, how would the Trolls obediently climb onto the walls to die?
This time, the Troll leaders inside the city wasted no time discussing countermeasures after hearing the cannon fire.
They all came up onto the walls to survey the situation.
Five Animal Loa transformed into figures with animal heads and Troll bodies, together with a disabled Troll, formed Zul'Aman's iconic lineup.
That one-armed, one-eyed Troll was Zul'jin, the renowned king of the Forest Trolls.
Zul'jin's strength was nothing impressive, though. A Ranger lord could beat him to death with ease.
He had lost his right eye after several High Elves captured him alive and stabbed it out with a dagger.
Fortunately, his followers drew the High Elves' attention, giving him the chance to sever his own left arm, escape his shackles, and slip away.
In individual combat, Trolls were simply no match for High Elves.
After all, these ancient bastards had lived for hundreds or even thousands of years.
With just a little effort, they were guaranteed to become supreme fighters!
The only thing the Trolls could really boast of was their Animal Loa, known as loa.
These Animal Loa, who had attained godhood through faith, had even helped the Trolls defeat the servants of the Old Gods.
The five animal-headed Trolls standing behind Zul'jin included the Bear god Nalorakk, the eagle god Akil'zon, the Lynx god Halazzi, and the Dragon Eagle God Jan'alai.
Since the Snake God had never appeared in the game, Herad had no name to assign to him.
The High Elves had studied the five Animal Loa extensively.
The Sunfury and Eclipse Burning Legion had devised reliable binding plans based on their relative strength.
This was a war whose outcome held no suspense.
The only question was how great a victory the High Elves could achieve.
When the five Animal Loa saw the High Elf army at the gates, they felt no fear at all.
The High Elf Mages had strength in numbers, but if the two sides actually fought, they would merely end up evenly matched.
Nalorakk leaped without hesitation from the wall, more than fifty meters high.
Before landing, he had already transformed into an enormous Bear.
The Lynx god Halazzi followed close behind, transforming into a gigantic Lynx and leaping down.
The Snake God turned into a giant cobra as thick as a water vat, stretching almost all the way from the top of the wall to the ground.
In terms of size, the Snake God was unquestionably the largest!
He could coil around a heavy truck and crush it to pieces.
But size did not equal strength.
His strength was actually the lowest of them all.
The eagle god Akil'zon, who transformed into a giant eagle, was the strongest Animal Loa.
The Dragon Eagle God Jan'alai was also relatively difficult to handle.
These two airborne units were both spellcasting types of Animal Loa.
But the eagle god's lightning energy was more powerful, and there were no particularly effective defensive spells against it.
If he were allowed to unleash it on the battlefield, thousands upon thousands of Chain Lightning spells would cause massive casualties.
So before he could display his might, a great net woven from pure fire energy bound him tightly.
Fire energy and lightning energy clashed and canceled each other out, turning the struggle into a mindless contest of attrition.
The other Animal Loa were bound by the same method.
The Dragon Eagle God, proficient in fire magic, was instead caught in a net of ice.
Until the Mages exhausted their mana, the deities could only remain bound like dead dogs.
Seeing that the five Animal Loa had been temporarily neutralized, Herad ordered the howitzer unit to fire.
"Open fire! Blast an entrance through the wall."
The artillery crews, long since ready, all put on their hearing protection and launched into a frenzied bombardment.
Over a hundred shells rained densely onto the gatehouse, instantly vaporizing it along with a large number of Troll defenders.
Before the thick smoke from the explosions could disperse, a second devastating bombardment descended.
The High Elves were very strong, and they loaded the shells quickly.
They firmly believed that once they blasted a passage through the wall, they could completely wipe out the fighting forces inside Zul'Aman.
With their ancient enemy of thousands of years on the verge of destruction, these artillery crews felt strength coursing through their entire bodies!
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