Chapter 1272: Beneath the Flames
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
As soon as he heard the first explosion, Jodel and his unit filed out of their hiding place according to the instruction.
However, no sooner had they trooped out than an ear-splitting boom came from the north. Dust was stirred up, and they almost fell as the ground shook violently.
Jodel managed to steady himself and looked toward the Tusk City in surprise. As he was standing on the lower land, he could only spy an orange fireball punch the air as thick smoke spiraled up. The Red Mist around the fireball was lit up, and the sky was aflame.
The Sand Nationals looked horrified.
They could only think of one phrase at this moment: the wrath of the Three G.o.ds!
“Don’t be afraid,” Jodel yelled through clenched teeth and waved his arm. “This is a weapon created by the chief to fight the demons! It’s the demons that should be scared not us!”
His words jerked everyone out of the trance.
“That’s right. This is Heaven’s fire summoned by the chief!”
“Don’t just stop there. Move!”
The unit resumed to run. People came out from behind the wall, the windows and the collapsed houses. They soon joined the advance team and swarmed toward the Tusk City like a tidal wave.
Jodel was running at the very front of the unit.
Although he had completely submitted to the chief’s ruling, he still believed that Sand Nationals were more suitable to fight than northerners, especially for warriors from small clans like him who had grown up in a barren oasis and been used to struggling to live. He could use not only bows and swords but also flintlocks. After receiving further training from Brian, he could now shoot fixed targets accurately and also fire on the go.
This was a perfect time for him to demonstrate his power.
He not only wanted to be the first one that entered the city but also the first person to gain the victory.
He wanted his name to be remembered by the entire army!
However, when the troops ascended and gained the city wall of the Tusk City, a smothering heat wave greeted them. For a second, Jodel thought he had returned to the desert blazed in the summer sunlight in the Southernmost Region.
His skin was basking in the burning air, and he could hardly open his eyes.
Neither could the soldiers following him.
The whole unit was thwarted by an invisible wall and slowed down. Some northerners at the front even retreated in embarra.s.sment and crouched down below the slope, in an attempt to protect themselves from the heat.
Jodel forced himself to march forward, but he immediately realized that something had gone wrong.
The fireball in the air was extinguished. A thin strand of smoke was still coiling. The thick veil of the Red Mist was now missing one corner, as though a giant beast had bitten it off. There was thus one blank area in the sky free of the Red Mist.
Through the wide open city gates, Jodel saw heat waves rolling at the end of the horizon, and the buildings on the ground looked distorted after the impact. The wooden houses all collapsed during the explosion, their blackened pillars sprouting out like the devil’s claws. The demons, however, did not come up to stop them or disperse in various directions. In fact, there was not a single demon in his view.
Jodel suddenly felt it hard to breathe in the scorching heat, and his body started to protest. His step became increasingly heavy.
“Darn. Why do I suddenly get so weak?”
The city wall was within his reach, but in a second, he lost all his power, and his vision blurred.
Jodel stumbled and then fell to the ground.
That last thing he saw was the contemptuous look on Farry’s face as the latter dragged him out of the way.
This battle exceeded Iron Axe and the General Staff’s expectation.
They had expected that the north of the king’s city of the Kingdom of Wolfheartwould be ablaze. The flames would have not only burned all the houses but also the Red Mist outside the city. Then the Tusk City would have been isolated temporarily, and the demons without the breathing device would have been in a panic.
After that, the ambush unit should have raided the demons and finished the rest of the enemies off. Although Iron Axe did not know how many demons there would be, based on the past intelligence, the demons would normally a.s.sign troops according to the population of the city. The demons definitely knew that the Tusk City had been evacuated. Therefore, during the first few days after the appearance of the Red Mist, the number of the demons should have been no more than500. In other words, the First Army should have gained a very advantageous position in terms of number and strength.
Nevertheless, they were not relying on this battle to eliminate the demons, for the soldiers had to hide themselves in the underground pa.s.sages and ruins to avoid the scrutiny of the Devilbeasts. As such, they could not use any heavy weapons. It was not hard to suppress the demons with the rifles and the anti-demon grenades, but it was difficult to pursue them with only light weapons.
The main goal of this battle was to lower the demons’ morale and make them realize that human beings could fight back even while they were retreating. In this way, the army would be able to alleviate the stress of the retreating unit.
Nevertheless, the battle simply ended after the explosion.
The fire wall did not appear as planned. Instead, the heat waves as a result of the earth-shaking explosion barred the ambush unit from entering the king’s city. Many soldiers were burned and had even pa.s.sed out. As such, it was impossible for them to continue with the operation.
Of course, it did not necessarily mean that they had failed. They could easily imagine what the inner city looked like judging from the heated air outside.
No written records had shown that demons had a higher tolerance to heat than men.
The only thing that Iron Axe felt regretted about was that he could not see the outcome of the battle at the front in person. As he had no idea when the temperature in the city would drop, he had to leave to avoid getting burned.
“Sir, all the troops except us have withdrawn from the Broken Tooth Castle,” Brian said as he walked out of the headquarters in excitement. He had not partic.i.p.ated in the test of the new weapon, but he would remember what it had done in this battle for the rest of his life.
“Very well. Let’s retreat,” Iron Axe said while nodding. “I think it won’t be long before the demons notice us. It won’t be so easy to escape when they come after us.”
Just as Iron Axe had predicted, the next day, a demon unit arrived at the Tusk City on the Devilbeasts, the leader of which was none other than the Sky Lord, Hackzord.