Chapter 183 The Great Counterattack
Despair lingered, as persistently as the thick smoke that filled the streets.
A colossal machine, resembling a giant steel ship with a forest of cannons beneath it, hovered in the city center; Dorok soldiers, their faces covered in strange masks and clad in animal skins and bronze armor, roamed the city with impunity.
They shouted in incomprehensible languages as they smashed open the door; gunshots and screams have been the main sounds for the past two days.
People huddled in their homes, crammed into dark, damp cellars, or hid in the crisscrossing ancient mine tunnels, shivering.
However, some people refused to sit idly by and wait for their fate.
Pejite Land of Weapons Factories. Almost every man there has personally polished parts, assembled firearms, and even kept a few good guns hidden under his bed.
When people witnessed their family members being dragged away and their possessions being looted, their courage overcame their fear.
The workers retrieved well-maintained rifles from their hiding places and took out grenades from their backpacks to offset their wages. Knowing the terrain well, they moved through the alleyways, and sparks of resistance began to flicker in the city.
This did cause some trouble for the Dorok soldiers and the merchant guild rebels, but the cost of resistance was a hundred times greater.
Once any resistance stronghold of even moderate size is exposed, what awaits them is not an evenly matched street battle, but only a precise artillery barrage from the sky.
After the deafening explosion, the entire building, along with everyone inside, will be completely wiped out, leaving only rubble and black smoke with lingering warmth.
No one could defeat that Endure Battleship; it was the Grim Reaper hanging over Pejite's head.
Especially when the ancient gunboat representing the royal family bravely took to the air, only to be blown up like flies in minutes, many Pejite were completely devastated.
Even the bravest men gradually fell silent, huddled together with their families, numbly awaiting the end.
Until tonight, the sound of artillery fire suddenly intensified.
The people hiding were drawn to this unusual sight and peeked out through the gaps in the ventilation shafts and through the holes in the wooden-boarded windows.
They saw it.
They saw five gunboats rushing headlong into the steel reaper like moths to a flame!
They saw five small gunboats daring to circle the giant warship, dancing and firing amidst a dense barrage of bullets—a glimmer of hope rekindled in countless eyes. Perhaps—perhaps there was still a chance?
But reality quickly poured cold water on the situation: one gunboat was grazed by a chain of ammunition and plummeted toward the city trailing black smoke; another was hit directly by a shell and exploded in mid-air into a dazzling fireball.
Hope had just begun to rise when it was instantly swallowed up by deeper despair. The ancient gunboats that Torumekian Empire feared could not even penetrate the behemoth's thick armor.
But gradually, some observant people noticed something amiss: the warships seemed to be firing at a slower rate.
The sounds of anti-aircraft shells exploding were no longer continuous, gaps appeared in the machine gun ammunition belts, and even the massive cannons on the broadsides began to fall silent one by one.
As if the enraged steel behemoth had grown weary, it slowly retracted its claws and entered a state of "hibernation."
Sudden-
All sound ceased.
Silence enveloped the ravaged city.
The silence didn't last long; a new sound came from the eastern horizon—the sound of an engine.
People looked up and saw many bulky cargo ships Accio in loose formation toward Pejite!
What are these ships doing? Sending themselves to their deaths?
That was the first thought that came to everyone who saw this scene: a single salvo from the giant warships would be enough to shred these slow-moving cargo ships into pieces.
However, something incredible happened: the giant warships did nothing in the face of these cargo ships that were clearly easy targets.
It remained silent, allowing the cargo ships to descend and force their way to open areas outside the city, or even crash directly into the relatively wide, ruined streets inside the city, stirring up clouds of dust.
The hatches opened, and soldiers dressed in various outfits and carrying all sorts of weapons poured out of the cargo ships.
They waved flags of different colors and patterns, yet shouted to the city in the same impassioned voices, "Brothers of Pejite! We are the warriors of the Valley of Wazi! Reinforcements have arrived!"
" Melting Mountain City has not forgotten its alliance! Take up arms and fight alongside us!"
"The warriors of the Valley of the Wind are attacking that warship! The time for a counterattack has come!"
The roar was like a spark thrown into dry tinder, instantly igniting the city!
Miners hiding underground crawled out of the mine tunnels, workers hiding in the factory ruins pushed aside the rubble that had crushed them, and citizens huddled in their homes trembled as they gripped the knives and guns hidden in the corners.
Roars erupted from all directions, and the fear and indignation that had been suppressed for two days transformed into courage once again.
With the help of the ever-increasing number of Pejite, the Allied forces began a steady advance from the southeastern part of the city, eliminating all enemies they encountered.
Although the warships stopped firing, it didn't mean they could successfully retake the streets.
Pejite is the most populous city-state among the nations of the Sea of Corruption, but thanks to its compact architectural layout and underground network, its actual urban area is only one-third the size of Pejite.
In this dark and complex industrial city, the side that occupies key intersections and high ground in advance, as well as is familiar with the entrances and exits of underground passages, has a huge advantage.
Therefore, the greatest enemy of the Allied Forces is not the foreign Dorok, but the private soldiers of the merchant guilds who betrayed Pejite and knew the city inside and out!
The heavy machine guns high above began to roar, rockets flew out of the windows with trails of flame, and sniper bullets shot out from the shadows, taking away one brave life after another.
The battle was fierce from the very beginning, with the Allied forces and the Pejite who volunteered to fight paying a bloody price for every step forward.
But the Pejite people weren't empty-handed either; to reiterate, this is the largest arsenal among the nations of the Sea of Corruption!
Steel tracks crushed paving stones, and accompanied by the roars of veterans and workers, several assault guns, which had just been urgently repaired from the production line, thundered onto the street!
The vehicle spun, and 200mm high-explosive rounds were fired at high speed, knocking out the bunkers and firing positions occupied by the rebels one by one.
Faced with these assault guns, the rebels naturally brought out weapons of the same level, and armored vehicles that had been dispersed throughout the city to quell the situation were now arriving from all directions.
The street gunfight instantly escalated into a massive firefight between armored behemoths.
The battle became stalemate, and even showed signs of developing in a direction unfavorable to the Allied forces—the enemy was far superior to the Allied forces, who had hastily joined the war, in both numbers and firepower.
Just then, two peculiar teams appeared out of nowhere.
The two teams consisted of only about sixty people in total, but their movement was astonishing. They were so fast that they left afterimages, and they could leap between rooftops and use vertical walls for leverage to run.
Their superhuman agility and strength left the Allied soldiers bewildered and uncertain.
Their surprise turned to terror when they crashed into the enemy's armored forces.
Amidst the hail of bullets from the vehicle-mounted machine gun, a golden figure charged forward, the bullets capable of tearing a human body apart seeming like a gentle breeze to him.
In the blink of an eye, the person had already rushed forward, and a golden longsword appeared out of thin air in his hand as he swung it with all his might!
The ear-piercing sound of metal tearing echoed through the street as the short, thick cannon barrel was cleanly severed at the root by the sword!
The assault gun hatch suddenly opened, and the crew inside tried to climb out in terror, but were easily killed by the other golden figures that arrived shortly after.
A brief silence fell over the battle zone.
Who exactly are they?
Before people could recover from the shock, one of the soldiers turned around to face the Allied forces.
It was a young face that had nothing special about it, and even seemed rather ordinary.
In the Name of the Erdtree
The young warrior raised his gleaming longsword, pointing it deep into the enemy's stronghold.
"Attack! Drive the Dorok out of our land!"
After a brief silence, a deafening roar erupted into the sky!
"Attack!!!"
"For freedom!"
"For Pejite!"
All obstacles were completely dispersed by the sword that severed the cannon barrel. The rebels fled in panic before the relentlessly pursuing golden warriors, while the Allied soldiers and Pejite followed behind the Blessed Warrior and launched a full-scale counterattack against the enemy!
The time has come to reclaim our homeland!