The Battle Before Sharp Gorge City
Finally, on the blurred outline of the horizon, Xiuya could vaguely make out the iconic spire of the tallest building in the Sharp Gorge City.
The goblin commander's tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
The stronghold of Sharp Gorge City is fortified with a rigorous three-dimensional defense system. In particular, both inside and outside the city walls, there are a large number of incredibly powerful anti-aircraft crossbows and alchemical cannons powerful enough to slay dragons.
With their help, it is entirely possible to effectively intercept or even severely damage the kind of dragon swarm attacks encountered on the battlefield previously!
However, there is a prerequisite: these weapons require gunners to operate them, require the cooperation of elite troops, and require excellent commanders like him to direct operations in battle.
But now, the second-line troops are replacing them in Sharp Gorge City —can they handle it?
Xiuya's anxiety surged. He no longer cared about complaining about how foolish the command's high-ranking officers were in devising the so-called "Desecration" operation codenamed "Blasphemy," which they claimed could "achieve victory in one battle"!
He didn't trust those eerie, deathly "toys" brought by the charlatans of the Church of Light!
Ah! The God of Light?
How many legions does he have?!
If the God of Light is truly so great, why doesn't he personally descend to the mortal realm and wield his holy light to punish these wicked dragons?!
Xiuya's mind was in turmoil. Before he knew it, he was riding his armored giant lizard right under Katharine's nose.
"General! Urgent news from Sharp Gorge City!" The adjutant came running up, panting, his face filled with panic. "Half an hour ago, their lookouts spotted a group of giant dragons hovering over the area where we are now!"
Due to the chaos of the battlefield and poor communication, this message has only arrived now.
"Half an hour ago?!" Xiuya's heart sank to the bottom, a chill instantly running down his spine. He couldn't help but curse, "Half an hour! Enough time for those winged demons to fly around Sharp Gorge City three times! Who knows which ravine they're hiding in now!"
****
On the hillside, a cold glint flashed in Katharine's eyes, and she decisively swung her arm down.
The order to attack was relayed to the dragon array waiting in the rear. A dozen Azure Dragon quickly formed a combined spellcasting formation, raising their heads and roaring, as a surge of powerful azure Magic Power converged. Soon, on one side of the makeshift landing pad, a thick updraft was created by their combined efforts, swirling up leaves and shooting straight into the sky!
The dragons, who had been poised to pounce, took a few running steps, spread their wings, and rushed into the air currents. Then, lifted by the powerful air currents, they rapidly ascended in a near-vertical posture!
Soon, their massive bodies leaped over the mountain ridge that was almost within reach. Peeking out slightly, they saw the dense swarm of goblins gathered on the road below.
The fleeing soldiers had barely heard the dragon's roar and had no time to react when the light suddenly dimmed, and the sound of something tearing through the air, carrying the aura of death, enveloped them!
But from the dragon's perspective, they were just playing around, jumping one by one into the fishpond made of goblins and starting to frolic.
The dull thuds and the cracking of bones echoed incessantly. In an instant, green "waves" surged up—the shattered corpses and severed limbs of the goblins.
Panic screams, desperate howls, and the roars of dragons mingled on the battlefield in an instant.
On the hillside, even Katharine could hardly bear to watch the scene unfold. She waved her hand, and the necromancer squad beside her, who had been itching to get going, immediately flew out joyfully to begin "reclaiming" battlefield resources.
They cast summoning spells, transforming freshly slain goblin corpses into devoted undead servants.
Katharine's fingertips brushed against the "Green Bamboo Slips and Rue Book Wrappers" at her waist. Perhaps, she could add fuel to the fire?
A cold smile curved her lips as she unfurled her spellbook. Soon, over a dozen lifelike dragon phantoms materialized in the sky above the battlefield. With deafening roars, they charged towards the densest concentration of goblin soldiers!
The already chaotic battlefield erupted into chaos!
****
At the rear of the column, an officer desperately organized a squad of elite goblin soldiers. Amid the chaos, the soldiers set up the Dragon-Breaking Cone, activating the messy runes and various machines on it.
Without any guiding magic array, the archers forced their way into the air, and more than a dozen Dragon-Breaking Cone soared into the sky, heading straight for the several giant dragons that were diving down.
But when the Dragon-Breaking Cone, those enormous figures shattered and scattered like a mirror, turning into countless flying fragments of light.
The officers' eyes were bloodshot with rage. Their desperate counterattack, launched against their fleeing compatriots, had been wasted on a decoy!
In the air, the observers had already locked onto the flame of resistance. With the order given, two real dragons charged forward. Their scorching breath turned the spot where the officer stood into a living hell. The stench of burning filled the air, leaving ashes everywhere, and the remaining soldiers cried out and scattered in the flames.
Katharine hovered in the center of the battlefield, the magic book "Green Bamboo Slips and Rue Book Wrappers" in her hand radiating light, her long hair dancing in the vortex of Magic Power.
Illusory dragons appeared one after another, flashing across the battlefield with the flick of her fingertips. Whenever a goblin dared to retaliate, lured into action by these illusions, real dragon breath would then pour down, melting these exposed firing points into a pool.
Soon, as the hundred dragons joined in and began to deploy, the force of 20,000 goblins finally collapsed completely.
But the goblins were numerous, and they were indeed very good at escaping. The goblins quickly discarded their armor, burrowed into the bushes, and scattered in all directions, using the complex terrain to their advantage, adding countless troubles to the dragon's cleanup.
Especially at the rear of the column, those goblins who hadn't entered the ambush range had already fled frantically along the way they came. Before long, they had rushed several kilometers away and were about to disappear into the mountain path.
"Should we organize a dragon pursuit and cut the dragon in half?" a mage asked.
"Just drive them away." Katharine shook her head, her gaze fixed on the dust rising on the horizon. "There's a force that's been on their way since the start of the battle. We need to leave some goblins behind to vent their frustrations."
****
The direction in which the fleeing goblin soldiers were heading was where the Final Bone Mad Machines ground swarm, mentioned by Katharine, was rapidly advancing.
As the first group of green-skinned figures came into view, the necromancers, piloting their "Bone Model" self-propelled combat platforms, immediately broke away from the ranks and advanced.
These three-meter-tall skeletal machines have the size of a mammoth, with eight thick bony limbs that allow them to crawl as nimbly as spiders, adapting to all terrains.
The number of "Bone Model has now reached fifty. This is partly due to the expanded production at the Ruby Base, which has provided more material support. On the other hand, it is also the result of the hard work of the necromancers of the Bone Machine Battalion over the past few days.
The last battle to stop the invading goblins, and the subsequent sweeping operations, resulted in tens of thousands of goblin corpses. The necromancer collected and purified their bones, and used them all in the construction of the Bone Model.
The necromancers who did this work were moved to tears. After so long, they finally remembered that they were still necromancers.
When the fleeing goblins saw this wall of White Bone, despair overwhelmed them. They mustered their exhausted strength and began to surge towards the hillsides on both sides.
Along the ridgeline, a massive, pale white shadow awaited a second wave of Bone Model weapons, which had already seized the high ground, their mechanical legs deeply embedded in the rock crevices, and the barrels of their machine guns gleaming coldly.
"Da da da da--!"
Under the necromancer's control, a barrage of bullets swept across the hillside. Most of the goblins were only Low Rank- level warriors, completely unable to withstand the attack of the 7.62×54mmR rimmed rounds. They were torn apart by the bullets, falling like stalks of wheat cut by a scythe, rolling down the hillside, their blood splattering large patches of red on the rocks.
A few Intermediate Rank combatants erected Battle Qi Shield, and the accompanying shamans also brandished their bone staffs, summoning earthen walls. The machine gun bullets were immediately blocked.
The operator on the "Bone Model" loosened his weapon grip, drew his staff, and prepared to have a fair and square duel between mages!
But before he could raise his hand, four thick, dense bullets swept past his side. The earthen wall the shaman had erected was instantly pierced, and the bullets, with their remaining force, pierced through the bodies of the elite goblins behind him, creating honeycomb-like craters in the rock wall behind him.
The operator turned his head and saw that it was an anti-aircraft weapon equipped with a quadruple 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine gun, so he climbed up as well.
"What are you air defense team doing getting involved!" He asked his ally, his hand holding the staff frozen in mid-air, annoyed.
The gunner, having secured the kill, clapped his hands and replied matter-of-factly, "If we take out the ground enemies, we won't need to target the air anymore!"
****
With the Dragon Claw Regiment First Battalion, led by Katharine, joining forces with the ground attack cluster of the Final Bone Mad Machines, the battlefield entered the cleanup phase.
Despite the fact that over ten thousand goblin soldiers escaped through various gaps in the complex terrain, like water seeping into sand, the allied forces did not launch a deep pursuit and abandoned the capture of prisoners.
The "Bone Model" self-propelled combat vehicles deployed in a perimeter alert formation, followed by the transport convoy that arrived at the battlefield. The hum of electric vehicle engines mingled with the braying of camel pack animals as everyone began unloading supplies and resupplying on the spot.
The First Battalion's hundred-plus dragons began to rest, most of them landing directly in the middle of the road. Their massive bodies lay down, and they eagerly tore open their ration bags, filling the air with the mixed smell of minced meat and grain.
Only a few dragons remained hovering low in the sky, pouncing on any goblin squads attempting to regroup, scattering them completely with their dragon breath or claws.
Rupert jumped off a muddy electric cart. The transport caravan, consisting of a few mechanical vehicles and a large number of pack animals, was trudging along in pursuit of the attacking forces.
Although most roads were open, repairs and bridge construction still had to be carried out from time to time, leaving Rupert and his team exhausted.
However, the appetites of these dragons were terrifying. In just one round of feeding, hundreds of tons of supplies they had painstakingly transported vanished completely!
This was under the premise that they were consuming only half the normal weight of marching rations.
Rupert looked at the camel's pack, which was now half empty, and complained somewhat. He recalled how Su Ming had shown surprise when he learned the required supplies, but his comment was, "Their consumption is really low!"
Rupert then asked, puzzled.
Su Ming replied, "If a hundred air force sorties on Earth could be fueled by just four fuel tankers, then the army would basically be out of a job."
****
Three giant dragons were seriously injured in the recent battle. The medical team quickly deployed the medical vehicle to treat them.
Rupert walked over and glanced at them, judging that these dragons would not be able to return to the battlefield in the short term.
But the atmosphere at the scene was unusually cheerful. The dragons' conversations were deep and content, and even the wounded dragons lying on the medical platforms receiving treatment rarely groaned in pain; instead, they expressed more exhaustion after battle and relaxation after completing their mission.
Not all dragons are as powerful as the elders. The defenses of most dragons can be easily penetrated by fine swords or armor-piercing weapons specifically developed to target their weaknesses.
Their massive bodies grant them immense strength, but also become a heavy burden. For example, when attacking from the ground, if they are unlucky enough to lose their balance and fall due to a powerful attack, the impact from their own weight alone is enough to cause serious internal injuries.
In the past, organized goblin armies often used various traps and attrition tactics to first wound the dragons and then seize the opportunity to surround and kill them. While a single dragon could easily crush hundreds of ordinary goblins, when hundreds of dragons faced tens of thousands of well-prepared goblin troops, even if they won, there would be considerable casualties.
The results achieved today can be considered a negligible loss.
Katharine rode her dragon, circling the battlefield once to survey it. After confirming that there was no more large-scale resistance, she gracefully landed in front of Rupert.
"These goblins are no longer a threat; we can ignore them." Katharine leaped nimbly off the dragon's back. "We're now only fifteen kilometers from Sharp Gorge City. Once the troops are ready, we'll advance at full speed!"
"So we're just a delivery team!" Rupert couldn't help but complain. "That last couple of blows wasn't even a warm-up."
Katharine's lips curled into a slight smile, "When we get to Sharp Gorge City, I'll leave you plenty of meat!"
****
The surrounding area is crisscrossed by rivers, and the dragons take turns flying to the riverbanks to drink deeply. After resupplying the dragons, the members of the Final Bone Mad Machines also begin to eat in shifts.
Rupert strolled listlessly to a goblin corpse and nudged its green skin with the tip of his boot. "These... aren't inedible, are they?"
Under conditions of war, eating the corpses of the enemy is not a taboo topic.
Upon hearing this, Katharine brought up another matter, "Do you know why the goblin kingdom is called Gray Ridge?"
Rupert paused, realizing he had seen the landscape of Gray Ridge before. The mountains here were scattered, the rivers meandered, and the vegetation was lush, bearing no resemblance to the word "grey."
"That's because the goblins used to have gray skin, which is why this land is named after them," Katharine explained.
"Then why are they all green now?" Rupert asked curiously.
"The enmity between goblins and dragons has a long history. In the primitive times, being preyed upon by dragons was a common occurrence," Katharine continued to explain.
Every civilization goes through such a primitive stage. In this other world, not only goblins, but almost all intelligent races were once part of the dragon's diet. It wasn't until other races gradually rose to power that the dragons were forced to change their eating habits.
But this is not an exaggeration. The dragons were merely prey; countless other creatures were killed or wiped out in the struggles between them, and many groups were completely lost to the dust of history.
"The goblins have found a plant called the Dragon-Repelling Vine," Katharine continued. "It's highly poisonous to dragons, but harmless to goblins. Long-term consumption of large quantities of this plant gradually turns their skin this green color."
Rupert suddenly realized.
"What a pity," he said with a hint of regret, looking at the pile of "high-quality protein" on the ground.
"However, Stacy said that the toxicity of the Dragon-Repelling Vine isn't actually very strong against dragons," Katharine added. "Goblins who have eaten the Dragon-Repelling Vine Ivy will carry a stench that dragons cannot tolerate."