Zul'Aman's walls were built from massive blocks of granite.
A special coating prepared by Troll Witch Doctors also gave the walls a degree of magic resistance.
Even the insectoid servants of the Old Gods had never breached these walls.
But faced with pure physical destruction, the supposedly impregnable walls were gradually crumbling.
Worst of all, their great leader Zul'jin had probably already been reduced to dust scattered across the sky.
When the first volley of shells landed, Zul'jin had been striking a pose atop the gatehouse.
Then he successfully caught a shell with his face.
A Troll's fragile body of flesh and blood could not withstand an explosion of that magnitude.
Even replacing him with a genuine troll from The Lord of the Rings would only have made his death look a little better!
The bombardment continued.
Under the excited gazes of the High Elf artillery crews, more and more cracks spread across the walls until they finally collapsed.
The section of wall that came crashing down sent up billowing clouds of dust.
Zul'Aman's walls, hailed as an unbreakable bulwark, had lost their ability to hold back the enemy after taking only a thousand or so shells.
After ceasing fire, the High Elf artillery crews crowded around the enormous curtain of water to admire their handiwork up close.
As the airborne dust settled, a massive V-shaped breach appeared in Zul'Aman's tall, imposing walls.
The rangers and warriors, who had long been waiting, rode Arcane War Machines toward the breach.
The arcane golems were faster still.
These humanoid war machines scrambled forward on all fours, quickly climbing onto the breach and exchanging fire with the Troll defenders rushing to meet them.
Dazzling muzzle flashes and flying shell casings accompanied the gruesome sight of Troll defenders being blasted into fragments scattered across the ground.
Arcane golems were emotionless war machines.
The High Elves inside the Arcane War Machines, meanwhile, were avengers driven by hatred.
They were even more terrifying than the emotionless arcane golems!
Even the priests, whose calling was to heal the sick and save lives, wanted nothing more than to turn the Trolls into corpses.
These hatred-driven killing machines poured into Zul'Aman, and nothing in their path could stop them.
Even the aerial forces that were Zul'Aman's pride were merely a flock of pitiful live targets.
Fragments of warhawk and Dragonhawk corpses rained blood over Zul'Aman.
Chronormu, the bronze dragon who had come to watch the spectacle, seized an opportunity to place herself in the shells' flight path.
Several shells carrying tremendous kinetic energy struck her golden scales and bounced off without leaving so much as a scratch.
After feeling the impact of the shells, Chronormu found that they were not as powerful as they looked.
"They don't pack much of a punch!"
After that quip, she slipped back into the gap between time and space to keep watching the show.
The autocannons posed no threat to an adult dragon, but mowing down ordinary creatures was effortless.
Even Trolls hiding behind walls were killed or severely wounded by shells that punched straight through them.
Resistance was meaningless against such overwhelming war machines.
Unless they had antitank missiles.
Unfortunately, the Trolls had only swords, spears, and bows.
The arcane golems and Arcane War Machines advanced rapidly.
Their energy reserves were limited, so they had to inflict enough damage as quickly as possible.
They therefore usually did little more than rake an area with gunfire, eliminating as many enemies as possible before moving on to the next.
The warriors and rangers following behind were responsible for clearing out the remaining enemies.
The High Elves possessed formidable individual combat prowess and had no trouble mopping up Troll defenders who lacked a numerical advantage.
When they encountered Troll defenders hiding inside fortifications, they threw grenades in to blast them out.
Though the grenades were not powerful enough to guarantee a Troll's death, wounding them was no problem.
Throwing grenades and then charging in to finish off the survivors was the most common sight on the battlefield.
Apart from a few towering temples, the other buildings in Zul'Aman were little more than thatched huts.
A single grenade could blow a thatched hut apart, so they offered no protection whatsoever.
As the outskirts were cleared, the High Elf army quickly shifted its attacks toward those temples.
The temples were vital to the Animal Loa.
Once their temples were destroyed, they could no longer maintain a foothold in this world.
The Forest Trolls guarded the temples heavily.
But the defenders were pinned down by overwhelming firepower, unable to lift their heads, and could only watch in terror as the arcane golems and Arcane War Machines climbed the steps.
In truth, both types of war machines had nearly exhausted their energy by the time they reached this point.
If the Troll defenders had made another stand using the terrain, they could easily have drained the machines' remaining energy.
Yet most of these thoroughly terrified Troll defenders chose to flee the temples through secret passages.
They took advantage of the High Elves focusing all their attention on breaching the temples.
They escaped Zul'Aman without incident and disappeared into the vast mountains.
Meanwhile, the High Elf army destroyed the temple cores as quickly as possible.
Deprived of the power of faith supplied by the temple cores, the Animal Loa rapidly shrank and were soon utterly destroyed by the mages.
With no Animal Loa left to preside over it, and its native Troll inhabitants either dead or fled, Zul'Aman became a dead city.
The High Elf army plundered Zul'Aman, then demolished every building and wall with explosives before finally leaving in satisfaction.
No Forest Trolls would appear here for a long time to come.
With its many rivers, Zul'Aman was an ideal habitat for wild beasts!
Without Forest Trolls hunting them, all manner of beasts would soon occupy the place and turn it into their paradise.
When the Forest Trolls returned to Zul'Aman, they would surely be stunned by the sight before them.
But the Forest Trolls' anger would mean nothing.
Their homeland had been utterly destroyed and turned into a paradise for wild beasts.
Their hatred would go through the roof!
But furious cries without the strength to back them up were merely the howls of the powerless.
Without the Animal Loa's help, what could they do even if they returned?
As for replenishing the Animal Loa's energy and bringing them back into the physical world...
The energy required would be astronomical.
For instance, the Night Elves had never been willing to pay the price to resurrect the wild gods who fell during the War of the Ancients.
It was not that the Night Elves were too stingy.
The energy cost was simply too high!
With little external pressure, the resurrection process had been postponed again and again.
Even after ten thousand years, not one had made an appearance.
It was just as well that the wild gods' souls were enjoying themselves in the Emerald Dream.
Otherwise, they might have been angry enough to resurrect themselves and demand an explanation.
The report of the High Elf army's successful destruction of Zul'Aman soon reached the Silvermoon City council by magical courier.
The entire Silvermoon City council was stunned by the number of enemies killed and the outrageous claim of zero losses on their own side.
"They killed Zul'jin, killed every Animal Loa, and razed Zul'Aman to the ground. This is the stuff of legends!"
"Oh, by the Sunwell! This is unbelievable!"
"What's so unbelievable about it? After spending that much gold, results like these are perfectly normal."
"Fair point. That's what you call crushing the enemy with money."
The councilors discussed the news excitedly for quite some time before remembering that they needed to prepare a celebration for the army's triumphant return.
Victory ceremonies and banquets were certainly the High Elves' forte!
After all, their daily lives consisted of one celebration and banquet after another.
While Silvermoon City put up festive decorations and prepared its banquets, the High Elf army was taking a temporary rest at Farstriders Camp.
The battle had not taken much out of them, and the wounded had already recovered completely under the priests' care.
Still, they had to give Silvermoon City enough time to prepare.
Thanks to Mars's Great Sage of Dominion and Brother Zilong, You're So Handsome for their 100-point tips, and thanks to everyone for their recommendation votes and monthly votes. On a side note, those experts are all fucking idiots! How can COVID compare to a cold?
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