Launched out from behind the walls, the burning boulders were like small falling stars, especially when seen from the sides. Each of them point out at 5 directions, and streak across the sky, leaving a trail of fiery afterimages. In a way, they look more like burning ninja stars rather than burning boulders.It was obvious that these things were shot by catapults.
One burning boulder struck the ground, failing to hit any of the bandits. It then bounced several times, kicking up dust, before finally stopping in one place.
The bandits weren"t dumb enough, nor numerous enough, to bunch up together and make it easier for projectiles to hit them. Half of them had even circled around the city to try to break through from other 3 sides.
"Hahaha! Where are you aiming at, you dumb fools!!" Bandit C, who the first burning boulder pa.s.sed by the side of, shouted, mocking the catapult operators behind the walls.
However, the bandits that the burning boulder fell in front of, didn"t feel the same sense of rapture. Instead, they cursed. "D*mn them!!"
"What? Did someone get hit?" Bandit C thought. He didn"t turn around to check though. He just continued on running. Even if one of his fellow bandits die, that"s no reason to stop the charge. For bandits, whenever they attack a city, they know that at least some sacrifices must be made. So long as the sacrifice isn"t him, bandit C would not care.
"They"re f***ing firing our comrades at us!" An angry voice bellowed.
It was at that moment that Bandit C saw, another burning boulder hurling towards him from the sky. If one looks closely at this star, they would be able to see, that within the flames is a fried ma.s.s of flesh.
4 points of the star are long, while the last one is round and short. 3 dark holes seem to be spouting fire from that round "point". That "point", is a human face.
"Ugh!!" Bandit C felt a ma.s.s as heavy as a human and as hot as a branding iron strike his body. He had tried to dodge, but he didn"t make it in time.
He was practically hugging it as he tumbled and bounced. The sounds of cracking bones echoed, and fire spread to his front, causing him a last moment of excruciating pain. When he finally landed in one place, bandit C wasn"t moving at all. He was either knocked unconscious, or dead.
Thanks to the gathering of dust due to the rolling, the fire was put out little by little, allowing people to see what the "boulder" truly looks like.
It is humanoid. No, it is a human. Its skin is all fried, but the fragments of clothing on it clearly indicate that it used to be a bandit.
Once they realized the true ident.i.ty of the ammo used against them, these bandits felt a mixture of both fear and anger!
They fear that they themselves would end up like this, being killed, and then burned and tossed.
Or maybe even worse, being captured alive, burned alive, and then, shot through the sky alive...
These new enemies of theirs" are clearly unlike any they have ever fought before. The methods that these f***ers are using, are even more gruesome than theirs"!
They had thought themselves to be brutal before, but now, they"ve met people even more brutal than they are. Evil people don"t fear the good. They only fear people more evil than them!
They feel angered because it is their kind that is being treated this way. Each of these burning boulders have been fried to the point that their individual ident.i.ties are no longer recognizable, but the bandits partic.i.p.ating in this siege can still recognize them as their former allies.
It"s like with racism. When you see your own kind being treated like trash, you feel offended as well. This is what these bandits are feeling at this moment!
Their anger overwhelmed their fear of their enemies, coupled with the "encouragement" that is their officers, vice-chiefs, and chief, pointing their blades at their backs, these bandits charged forward fearing nothing!
They ignored the human meteors striking at them, and the arrows whizzing at them. They roared and screamed as they charged forward fearing absolutely nothing! Straight into the moat of red liquid!
...
Behind the city walls, the male slaves are hurriedly working the catapults.
They carry one bandit corpse after another up the stairs, to the elevated platform, where the catapults are. They dip the bandit corpse in a bucket of oil, and then put it in the metal bucket of the catapult.
Another slave would set the bandit corpse on fire, and then, yet another would do the launch!
The bandit corpse would be fired over the wall, in the direction that they were instructed to shoot them.
Then, the lever is pulled back, and another 2 minutes or so later, after the catapult has been reloaded, it shoots again!
The bandit corpses being used right now, came from the attack on the Bilin family a month back. Any metal armor was taken off these corpses, and their bodies were put in coffins for preservation. Now, they are being taken out to be used as ammunition...
This is desecrating the dead? This is a very light level of desecration as far as Seth is concerned. People with necrophilia do much worse... Besides, do bandits deserve any respect after death? Seth doesn"t think so.
Of course, to fire a ma.s.s as heavy as a human, these catapults had to be customized a little, causing them to lose some of their range. At most, they can only hit about 450 meters away.
As siege weapons meant for offense rather than defense, they aren"t very effective in killing the enemy. But Seth doesn"t care about that. All he cares about is breaking the minds of his foes...
As for the slaves being forced to directly do this desecration?
Certainly, they feel sick enough to hurl... But more than that, they feel extremely spirited!
They were given a promise earlier today, by the lord of the Zefer family himself, that as long as they perform well in this battle, by the end of it all, they will have their freedom! They won"t even have to be sent out to the front lines as cannon fodder, so long as the situation does not get desperate. They just have to work the catapults, and do other kinds of support work behind the 4 walls.
After the battle is over, they may even get hired by the Zefer family, as either farmers, or soldiers-in-training. They will get room and fair treatment, instead of being tossed onto the streets after being freed. For slaves like them, it is hard to find a better deal.
Thus, they are giving it their all!
...
Along with the burning bandit stars hurled by the catapults, ballista bolts were also fired from the ballistae that were mounted atop the city walls, at a rate of 3 per minute.
The closer the bandits got to the wall, the easier it is, to target them using the ballistae, although they would be useless if the bandits got too close, such that they literally go below the the ballistae"s shooting range. The range of the ballistae is approximately everything from 30 meters away from the wall, to 200 meters or so away. At a close enough range, it is even possible to skewer 2 or 3 bandits at a time.
Unfortunately, these ballistae that were mounted atop the walls, would soon be destroyed by grenades tossed by bandit officers.
...
Back atop the eastern wall...
"What should I say, when people start shooting grappling hooks at my city"s walls? Drop the rocks!" Seth yelled, at the same time as he dodged a bullet.
With a moat around the city walls, breaking through the gates with a battering ram would be impossible.
The bandits whom managed to swim all the way to the door, tried striking at it with their weapons and bodies, but were unable to make it budge a single inch. They didn"t know, that from the other side, the gate has already been sealed with cement, and blocked with some larger boulders.
Luckily, their chief had given them another method. Those fully armored bandits whom partic.i.p.ate in their front lines, carry with them guns that can fire grappling hooks. Those grappling hooks are able to pierce into stone walls, and will not be as easy to pry off, as those grappling hooks that are just tossed up to grab onto a ledge. Compared to using siege ladders, climbing ropes up a wall isn"t much worse. The only problem is... that it would make it easier to drop a rock on the climber.
A soldier atop the city wall picked up a rock the size of a kid"s head.
Then, as he was bringing it over the ledge, his helmet got hit by a bullet, causing him to flinch for a second. Luckily, he was cautious enough to face downwards while moving toward the ledge, preventing the bandits" gunners from getting a clear shot at his face.
Looking down, the soldier saw a bandit climbing up a rope.
The soldier dropped the rock.
The bandit got struck by the rock, receiving a blunt impact to the head.
The bandit was wearing a helmet, preventing his head from being smashed to pulp, but he was still forced to let go of the rope.
The bandit fell down screaming, falling into the red water in the moat.
Then, the bandit rose out of the red water, screaming some more. His neck was bent at a strange angle, and he was grabbing at his eyes.
The other bandits whom saw this, felt the fear in their hearts rising, but nevertheless, they bravely advanced.
They do not want to get shot at by their superiors after all.