Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 159 Prelude to the Attack on Skyfrost City
When a new weapon is introduced and it shows some promise, it is often immediately regarded by the public as a "panacea" for solving all problems.

Warships can defeat everything, tanks can defeat everything, airplanes can defeat everything, aircraft carriers can defeat everything... and so on, almost without exception, they all exhibit this characteristic.

Yes, and of course, there's the nuclear bomb, which can take down everything.

This thing can truly handle everything, including itself.

In recent years, various self-taught civilian military experts have regarded drones as a super solution for the battlefield, as if as long as drones are available, other weapons of war can be retired from the stage of history.

Of course, the General Staff of Dongxia would not have such thoughts. In the plan they provided to Chen Mo, the role of the drone was very clear: an attack auxiliary weapon to be used when the battlefield advantage is gained.

Now, even when the weak are fighting against the strong, this thing can't even beat orcs.

The reason why drones have become so popular, besides their frequent use in recent local conflicts on Earth, is that their strike effects can be clearly recorded, edited, and preserved.

Drones equipped with cameras are like internet celebrities with built-in beauty filters; every frame is full of technology and impact.

Well, the disadvantage of shells and bullets is that they are difficult to work with and leave any traces.

It's like a player being featured in a ten-minute highlight reel; just watching that video, you'd think he was a football legend reincarnated. But in reality, behind those ten minutes of highlights might lie a thousand minutes of failure and ten thousand minutes of mediocrity.

In specific battlefields, even if the Starry Continent has not yet developed the option of electromagnetic interference, the attack effect of drones is far inferior to that of conventional weapons.

The main reason for this is the orcs' high mobility and counterattack capabilities.

Due to weight limitations, Lord Chen Mo currently issues his troops with miniature and lightweight bomb-laden drones, whose traditional attack modes are reconnaissance, hovering, aiming, and bombing!

This is a significant tactic for hitting stationary and slow-moving targets, such as fixed fortifications, slow-moving tanks, and infantry formations.

But once the target is a high-speed moving unit, it's a completely different story.

To put it bluntly, even if the other party is riding a motorcycle, it would be extremely difficult for you to accurately drop a bomb on their head.

Furthermore, drones are extremely vulnerable to attack.

For drones of this level, the bombing position definitely cannot be too high. If you drop bombs from mid-to-high altitude, even without considering wind, a landing deviation of ten or twenty meters is normal.

Once the target is lowered, the bullets can be thrown more accurately, but it also makes it easier for the enemy to hit them.

On Earth, it's not uncommon to see drones shot down with firearms, not to mention the wide variety of anti-drone weapons available.

As for the orcs, the spearmen killed them one by one with each spear thrust, never missing their mark.

On the contrary, when encountering orcish flying net wolf riders on the battlefield, they can initially gain an advantage.

These orc ground anti-air cavalrymen are skilled at using nets to suppress air attacks.

Their javelins are specially made, with expensive wind runes attached to the shafts, far exceeding ordinary javelins in both flight altitude and speed.

Even more ingenious was the large net woven from the silk of cave spiders attached to the back of the spear.

This net is extremely tough, with embedded barbs and spikes. Once a target is caught in the net, the wolf riders can forcibly drag the air unit to the ground.

But what if the net catches a drone carrying bombs? Then they're asking for trouble.

The moment the wolf riders closed the net, it was as if they had personally pulled a bomb to their side. After a loud "boom," all that remained was a cloud of smoke and a few howling wounded.

Of course, this tactic only worked once or twice. The orcs quickly learned their lesson and, when they saw the drones flying in with missiles, they would immediately switch to regular flying spears instead of nets.

In conclusion, battlefield experience shows that drones have limited effectiveness. To truly make them effective, specialized drones must be used, essentially as high-speed loitering munitions.

We might as well just use loitering munitions!

While Lord Chen Mo was testing weapons and tactics through various small-team ambushes, battlefield intelligence was continuously being transmitted to the Orcs' central command tent. Sargeras Bloodhowl pondered for a moment and immediately made tactical adjustments.

The response was simple and direct.

Accelerate, accelerate dramatically.

They completely abandoned the old ways of leisurely looting fortresses and showing off their power. The entire army avoided the outer and peripheral mountainous and forested areas, and only took the central route through the plains, leaving no room for the enemy to ambush them in the bushes.

Meanwhile, the central army began a continuous forced march, heading straight for the newly built city of Liushuang.

Skyfrost City.

Well, the name was chosen by Chen Mo, and it's still not very meaningful. If it weren't for the fact that the name Liu Shuang has some connotation, it might just be another common name.

However, whether the name is good or bad doesn't matter; what matters is whether it can be played.

The sudden acceleration of the orc army put the human alliance on high alert.

Fortunately, the communication equipment of the Han Hai Territory has now been deployed down to the company level. After a tense troop deployment, most of the main force retreated into Tian Shuang City, while a highly mobile company of the field army was left on the outskirts as support.

With the orcs at the city gates, the long-awaited showdown between the two sides finally began.

Tens of thousands of troops may not sound like much, but when concentrated together, they appear as an overwhelming and boundless force in the field of vision.

The dense array of banners, the earth-shaking war drums, the high-pitched and far-reaching horns, and the slight tremors of tens of thousands of large feet simultaneously stomping on the ground—this kind of large-scale battlefield always gets people's blood pumping and makes them unable to control their emotions.

On the human side, the total number of defensive forces is as follows.

The semi-professional soldiers reorganized in Cloud Mist Territory numbered approximately 4,700.
The militia, selected from the civilian population, numbered approximately nine thousand.

Excluding the elderly, women, and children, it was practically a nationwide mobilization.

As for the troops Chen Mo sent to support, there were only two hundred men... Don't underestimate the small number; it was already half of his elite troops. The foundation of the Han Hai Territory was still too weak.

Then there's this city.

Although it was a hasty reconstruction, the original ruins of the old city served as a foundation, and the large amount of scattered old city building materials saved a lot of mining and transportation work.

With the cement and some adhesive provided by Chen Mo, the city of Tianshuang was finally built, nestled against a branch of Yuheng Mountain. Its structure was staggered, with the lowest point reaching a height of twelve meters and a thickness of four meters. It also featured a watchtower, arrow tower, and a medium-sized magic array.

Liu Shuang was still wearing that familiar Windwalker Feather Armor, standing on the watchtower of the main city tower on the north side, her pointed ears twitching slightly as she caught the messages in the wind.

Everyone assumed that Liushuang's pointed ears came from her elven bloodline, but in reality, her hearing was also excellent, and perhaps her beastman bloodline was the more significant factor.

Beside the young lord, the veteran Charles, fully armed, held up a telescope, his brow furrowed into a deep frown as he peered through the two lenses.

"My lord, the orcs' deployment this time is very well-organized. With so many tribes mixed together, they haven't gotten into chaos. It seems their general is quite capable!"

Liu Shuang nodded indifferently.

"Who cares about their skill level? We're all going to have to fight."

"Do you really expect to encounter a stupid opponent in every battle?"

Charles was silent.

This young princess seems naive, but she always manages to strangely bypass all appearances and get straight to the point. If the enemy is numerous, then kill them one by one; if the enemy attacks, then fight them battle by battle.

This reminded Charles of his Earl of the Clouds, who was once hailed as the Emerald God of War.

The count enjoyed using tactics and strategies on the battlefield to gain an advantage over the enemy.

Then, after winning his whole life, he lost everything in one go.

If the Earl hadn't used any surprise tactics and had simply stayed in his camp or the city, the war situation might not have deteriorated to that extent.

Although this young lord also enjoys reckless actions...

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

On May 16th, the siege officially began.

The orc army slowly unfolded on the open field north of Skyfrost City, with all kinds of tribal war banners and feathered ceremonial pillars fluttering in the dry, hot wind; the grotesque carvings on the totem poles standing at the front of the army reflected a primitive and rough light.

The burly orc warriors, clad in various leather and iron armor, soothed their restless mounts. Their deep roars and heavy breathing created a muffled wave of sound that constantly washed over the battlefield.

Sargeras Bloodhowl did not rush to launch a full-scale attack. He first sent out a mixed infantry phalanx from several small tribes to probe the defenders' firepower and defensive weaknesses.

Let's also take a look at the strength of the magical attacks within the city.

"Archers—ready—!"

On the city wall, the defending generals shouted at the top of their lungs, their long voices stretching out until, at the very last moment, as if they were about to run out of breath, a single word suddenly burst out.

"put!"

A dense rain of arrows, whistling through the air, poured down, instantly felling swathes of the orc light infantry at the forefront, their screams echoing across the battlefield. But the orcs were long accustomed to such casualties; those following stepped over the corpses of their fallen comrades and continued their relentless charge.

A simple wooden shield and a wielding spear were used to desperately defend against the barrage of crossbow bolts flying through the air.

Although orcs continued to fall to the ground after being hit by arrows, the overall charge did not stop.

Upon reaching the city walls, the orcs began to directly scale and attack.

Without heavy siege weapons, the orc infantry climbed in two ways. One was the leopard and ape orcs, who were agile and had strong climbing abilities. These guys would leap up and stick to the city wall, inserting their broken blades, spikes, or even claws into the gaps between the bricks, using the leverage to lift themselves up and climb higher.

Another group consisted of relatively cumbersome orcs such as the Bear Clan and Badger Clan. Their method was to carry long tree trunks and, as they charged towards the city wall, the rear ranks would exert force to lift the warriors hanging from the tree trunks in front of them directly onto the city wall.

The overall engineering style emphasizes simplicity, roughness, but effectiveness.

Of course, the human race has far more experience in defending cities than the orc race in siege tactics.

The orc warriors surged forward in overwhelming numbers, then fell back down in a flurry of motion.

During this time, both sides were busy exchanging fire at long range.

The orcs deployed a thousand-man vassal, a porcupine-orc.

These behemoths, originally from Sunset Canyon, are also known as "Beast Archers." They can use jets on their sides to launch their 30-centimeter-long spikes up to two kilometers away.

This is a real blowpipe, and it blows quite far!
The drawback is that the accuracy is not very good; it can only be used for saturation shooting, and you have to accumulate a certain number of shots to achieve an effect.

Another issue is the relatively slow rate of fire; reloading after each shot takes more than ten seconds.

Watching these guys grimacing as they pulled out the spikes and stuffed them into the nozzles always gave Lord Chen Mo, who was closely observing, a touch of amusement in addition to the brutal battlefield atmosphere.

Despite its many drawbacks, the sheer number of porcupine orcs means that this overwhelming barrage can clear out a section of the city wall's defenses in an instant.

A single volley would inflict heavy damage on the defending troops. Except for a few soldiers with heavy shields who could withstand the attack, the rest could only pray that they wouldn't be hit in vital areas.

To prevent a human counterattack, the orcs equipped these porcupine-orcs with tough frontal armor. Combined with their inherited orcish thick hides, the defending forces' archers had little chance against them for the time being.

The human defenders deployed catapults.

The attacking side didn't bring catapults, but the defending side had prepared them well in advance and had repeatedly tested the attack range from different angles.

The instructions from the city walls were transmitted to the high watchtower, which then signaled with flags to the city.

The dozen or so medium-sized catapults set up inside the city emitted a dull thud, sending burning, grease-coated stones flying in arcs towards the outside of the city.

The first round was still in calibration mode. Only one boulder landed in the enemy's ranged unit formation, killing few but injuring and rolling many.

In the second round, the accuracy was significantly better, and several large holes were visibly torn open in the porcupine formation.

The orcs began to stir, and the orcs quickly raised their flags and withdrew these large creatures.

Without ranged suppression, the orc infantry charging towards the city walls were wiped out, and the burning materials below the city ignited into a raging fire. After leaving behind more than two hundred corpses, the orc attacking force retreated like a tide.

Scattered cheers rose from the city walls, but the generals' faces remained solemn.

Experienced veterans know that this is not even an appetizer.

The Orcs' elite forces remained unmoved, their air force remained unmoved, their shamans remained unmoved, and their special operations forces remained unmoved.

Of course, on the human side, the mages didn't move, the magic circles didn't move, and the firearms intended as a backup plan weren't used either.

This is just the beginning.

From a high point in the distant camp, Sagris watched the retreating troops with a blank expression, listening to the report from his adjutant beside him.

"The arrows are very densely packed, but they seem to lack power. The enemy probably doesn't lack arrows, but they lack well-trained archers."

"There were quite a few catapults, and they were probably located on the southeast side of the inner city wall."

"The frontal defense is the strongest; the children can hardly climb the city wall. The left side has the largest number of people going up the wall, but there are quite a few spearmen on the wall, led by professionals, so they can't break through."

Sagris nodded.

"it is good!"

"Don't let them have a moment's peace tonight. Divide the orcs into several groups and launch an attack at regular intervals, starting from nightfall. Shoot when necessary and charge when appropriate."

"Okay, remember to make sure the intervals between your attacks are irregular, stagger them!"

"Notify the Bloodclaw Tribe and the Stonetooth Tribe to rest and recuperate. Tomorrow, I will use the shaman to cooperate with them for a strong attack."

"The weather is getting hotter and hotter, we don't have much time to waste!"

"Break through this city as quickly as possible, then take a trip to the west, and then—"

"Go home and celebrate the Beast God Festival!"

(End of this chapter)