Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 315 Burning City and Rain of Fire: The Last Stand at Golden Hook Pass
Even the hindsight expert in charge of this operation could feel the lord's overwhelming rage through the airwaves when he received the order from the headquarters.

It was truly an overwhelming rage.

Although the order to attack came from the commander of the 1st Special Operations Brigade, Makaga, in hindsight, a weapon model that could not be used by anyone without the lord's permission was found in the serial number of the weapon list—0084L.

The hindsight expert, who was intimately familiar with the weapon models, was deeply moved by the unforgettable memories of this exercise.

That's napalm!
Having been trained from the beginning as a commander of the strategic support force of the Han Hai Territory, he participated in almost all the long-range weapon tests and live-fire exercises, and understood the significance of these terrifying behemoths in the Han Hai Territory's arsenal better than most other officers.

Incendiary bombs are completely different from aerial bombs.

Hanhai has tested a total of three types of incendiary bombs: thermite bombs, white phosphorus bombs, and napalm bombs.

In hindsight, these weapons have never appeared in a real war, except for small-scale closed exercises.

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, but the thermite, as a hand grenade, had already been used once before, also on the land of Xiyue.

The thermite bomb's extremely high temperature makes it an excellent weapon for dealing with high-level professionals.

However, napalm bombs and white phosphorus bombs are completely different concepts.

While their combustion temperatures may not be as extreme as thermite, they possess other chilling characteristics—they burn rapidly, are extremely sticky, and burn for an exceptionally long time, with flames that are virtually impossible to shake off, even if they come into contact with the flame. Once they adhere to the flame, they cannot be dispersed by swatting or rolling, and they can even remain burning underwater. As soon as they leave the water and come into contact with air, they will reignite immediately.

After one exercise, he was privately referred to by officers in the army as "the flame that clings to the bone".

The main difference between these weapons is that napalm bombs cause asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning, while white phosphorus bombs cause asphyxiation and phosphorus poisoning. If there are mages or healers among the victims, the required detoxification methods may be different, and the autopsy results may also be slightly different.

In hindsight, thermite bombs are "elite killers," while napalm and white phosphorus bombs target organized armies, large numbers of ordinary professionals, and even... groups of civilians.

On Earth, both thermite and thermobaric weapons are not explicitly prohibited due to the power struggles between major nations. However, napalm and white phosphorus bombs are different; they are clearly prohibited weapons.

High explosives, thermobaric weapons, and shotgun shells are all inferior to these in terms of their effectiveness in destroying cities.

The main reason for choosing napalm was simply that Hanhai has its own oil fields, so it has more materials to make napalm.

From this perspective, Lord Chen Mo was indeed very kind-hearted before, but not excessively so.

When it comes to Dongxia's core interests, goodwill can be abandoned at any time.

The city is engulfed in flames, right before our eyes.

Of course, this did not affect the lord's boundless loyalty after the fact. After confirming the order through a second channel, he took a deep breath and began to arrange its execution.

On the battlefield, if one less enemy dies, one more friendly soldier may die. From the perspective of dynamic balance, it is better for the enemy to die more.

The attack was launched shortly after nightfall.

The logic behind night raids by the elves differs slightly from that of the humans. Elves have a far superior advantage in night vision compared to humans. Therefore, when launching attacks at night, humans generally choose to do so in the early morning, just before daybreak. This breaks down the enemy's defenses, allowing them to launch a full-scale pursuit and expand their gains as dawn breaks.
Elves prefer to launch their attacks just as night falls. After a successful strike, they have a whole night to spare, a time when "I can see you clearly but you can't see me," which is enough for the elven race to continue to expand their advantage.

So, on this sweltering summer night, a swarm of drones from Jiutian dropped over two hundred half-ton napalm bombs on Jingouguan, emptying Hanhai's stockpile almost overnight.

Golden Hook Pass was unfortunate; as a purely military fortress with a single function, it had almost no civilians inside. Neither the Vast Ocean Territory nor the Elven race needed to consider issues like "accidental casualties" or "humanitarianism" when deciding on their attack plans.

Every living thing here is theoretically an enemy, which makes attack decisions exceptionally simple—to completely destroy them.

But in a sense, Jingou Pass is also fortunate. It has the privilege of being recorded in the Alliance's records in this way, and will become famous throughout the world and be forever recorded in the annals of both worlds after some information is declassified in the future.

When the first sharp whistling sound ripped through the evening's tranquility, the defenders of Golden Hook Pass did not immediately realize what they were about to face. Only a few seasoned generals of the kingdom vaguely knew that the enemy possessed a special attack method, which had once been used in a night raid on the "North Wind" Legion's camp.

However, the information circulating was quite chaotic. Those who managed to escape only knew that the camp had been blown up, with flames rising like a magical attack. As for where the attack came from, its scale, and its level, they had no idea.

Only a few officers could vaguely discern that the attack came from the sky.

Therefore, in Xi Yue's mind, this was an elite enemy force similar to the "Griffin Magic Legion".

In terms of air defense and reconnaissance, Jingouguan has made extensive preparations, which are basically able to detect enemy air force as soon as they appear and strike them as soon as they get close.

Their tactical understanding and defensive measures were fine; the only minor issue was that they didn't know exactly how high the attacks were originating from.

It's not that it's beyond the air defense range, but rather that it's beyond the reconnaissance range.

As those massive, dark figures that made strange noises as they tore through the air plummeted rapidly into the sky, many soldiers simply stared blankly at the dark night.

The next second, hell descended.

The first napalm bomb landed in an undesirable location, on the outer plaza of the military camp area slightly west of the city center. After a muffled thud, like the cracking of a canister, a huge, viscous, and scorching flame, like a blooming crimson flower, began its deadly bouncing on the ground.

As it leaps and tumbles, it splashes countless viscous, burning droplets into the sky, which then fall like colorful petals.

This is a vibrant, flowing, ever-present, and inescapable rain of fire.

Then, a second, a third... incendiary bombs rained down one after another!
Looking down from the sky, the entire Jingou Pass, in just a few dozen seconds, resembled a series of shimmering rivers of lava. Some bright and colorful fireballs leaped high from the city walls, scattering thousands of orange-red sparks like iron fireworks before merging into the fire on the ground below.

The earth was illuminated as bright as day, and even the thick black smoke could not obscure its dazzling brilliance.

The flames were alive; they flowed and climbed freely along the city walls, through the streets, and along the surfaces of buildings, and everyone and everything in their path felt that intense emotion.

A single spark that lands on the guard will illuminate a terrified and desperate face.

The soldiers frantically slapped the flames, which then stuck firmly to their hands. The flames split into three, burning fiercely at the ignition point and on their hands, growing ever stronger.

The flames clung to flesh, armor, and even bones like a malignant tumor, and mournful howls echoed in every corner of the fortress.

The wooden buildings, tents, and stockpiled grain within the pass became giant torches, their flames rising high and mercilessly overlooking the poor souls fleeing in all directions below.

The massive water reservoir on the north side of the fortress was packed with warriors leaping into the water. However, it seemed to be of no use; the warriors who jumped into the water continued to burn, and once they sank underwater, as soon as they couldn't hold their breath and surfaced again, the flames would reignite like ghosts.

As more and more little fire figures were thrown into the water, it seemed as if the entire surface of the water was on fire.

Under the huge white veil of water vapor and thick smoke, the figures in the water slowly, slowly stopped struggling, either sinking to the bottom or floating on the surface, turning into charred remains.

The most magnificent sights were the air force within the fortress, with its griffins, dragon eagles, and some silver pegasus from the Misty Moon Divine Court.

These creatures, which were originally in sturdy huts, rushed out of the encirclement of flames in terror, but could not escape the fate of being contaminated.

The fire rain created by napalm bombs in the air, the heat waves rising from the ground, and the flying sparks easily captured these creatures with manes or feathers. Once they were touched by fragments of napalm bombs, flames would instantly engulf their prized feathers, and no matter how much they rolled and cried out, the flames continued to burn more fiercely.

These flying mounts, like fireworks, shot straight into the sky from the ground, drawing beautiful arcs like shooting stars in the air, and finally, with a mournful cry, they fell helplessly to the ground, crashing into the raging sea of ​​fire and exploding into even more sparks.

In this fiery feast, high-level professionals are less affected, as they can temporarily suppress the damage caused by the burning through their powerful personal strength or magic.

The elite troops of Jingou Pass acted on their fighting instincts and made the most timely response!
The high-ranking warriors tensed their muscles, channeling their psionic energy into their bodies. The flames, reaching a thousand degrees Celsius, sizzled and burned, capable of melting the armor plates but unable to scorch their skin.

Taking advantage of the lull in the fire, they used every means they could think of to put out the fire: stripping the outer armor off those around them, demolishing buildings to suppress the flames, and even mercilessly killing soldiers who were running around and had become sources of fire.

The mages used various ice, water, and earth magic to cover and suppress all the fire spots around their bodies, clearing a small safe zone for themselves.

Subsequently, under the leader's command, various fire-extinguishing attempts were launched from the spellcasting safe zone of the wall. Some archmages even began to summon small-scale blizzards with the support of magic arrays, regardless of the losses, in an attempt to cut off the flowing rivers of fire.

But compared to the raging flames that engulfed the entire city, this was ultimately just a drop in the ocean.

The desperate mage team chose to launch a desperate counterattack against the sky. They dared not use fire, but could only futilely pour ice spikes or arcane missiles at the enemies whose whereabouts were completely unknown, trying to hit something.

In the end, they gained nothing.

Surrounding General Mondi Hein were the most elite guards of Golden Hook Pass. The moment they heard the bombs being thrown, the accompanying mages erected shields and then built multiple ice walls after the fire started. As a result, they became one of the few defenders who were completely untouched by the flames.

However, safety is relative. Just outside that translucent ice wall emanating a chilling aura, a true hell was unfolding. Wave after wave of soldiers, their bodies ablaze, saw this "pure land" untouched by the flames and charged madly towards it.

They cried out, slamming their burning bodies against the ice wall, the dull thuds like hammering at the hearts of those inside.

Each hand left charred marks on the ice, then stuck to it due to the extreme cold, tearing off pieces of skin and flesh.

A young soldier, half of his body charred and deformed, fell heavily just a step away from the ice wall. He struggled to lift his head, stretched out a hand that was still intact, and reached forward toward Mondie Hein, the old general he served, who was surrounded by his generals inside the ice wall.

"My lord... help! Help..."

His arm finally fell limply, swallowed by the spreading flames.

The old general stood there blankly, atop the burning fortress.

Above them, the flames of death fell relentlessly, igniting everything. All around them were the agonizing screams of their subordinates and colleagues. The ground was covered in flowing, viscous flames. Red light swirled and raced around them. Further away, they could see walls of ice and the white mist of vaporized water, and thick black smoke dancing in the air.

"Sir, let's retreat! Retreat quickly!"

"With Jingou Pass gone, the enemy could arrive at any moment, General, let's go!!"

Prince Mondi turned his head, his eyes reflecting the raging flames of the city, yet all that remained were those flames. The old general's eyes had completely lost focus; everything was a blur in his eyes, except for the flickering orange-red.

It was as if all his spirit and strength, along with the pass, had been burned away by the fire.

Mondy Hein, Prince of Creek Moon, a first-class general of the Federation, thus became a statue on the city wall of Golden Hook Pass.

At the appointed time, the Elven air cavalry and ground cavalry surged to the foot of the fortress.

They encountered no resistance; in fact, they encountered nothing that could move.

When the first group of elven warriors entered the pass from the air, the Golden Hook Pass they saw had been completely transformed into a living hell.

As far as the eye could see, there were no signs of life. The ground was covered with charred, unrecognizable corpses, each in a grotesque, struggling posture.

In the enormous water reservoir, dark, swollen, and indescribable objects floated. Several warehouses, still stockpiling supplies, had not yet burned completely, becoming the final torches, and billowing black smoke, like dragons, obscured the stars and moon in the sky.

The air was filled with a complex and pungent stench—a mixture of the stench of burnt flesh and hair, the acrid smoke of burning wood and cloth, and the irritating smell of some indescribable, unknown burning substance.

Occasionally, one can hear the crackling sounds of certain brittle stones or massive, completely carbonized beams and columns breaking under internal stress.

Suddenly, the base of a tower shattered like powder, and the upper floors crashed heavily to the ground, sending sparks and dust flying everywhere.

These sparks illuminated the main watchtower of the city wall, where the elven commander saw the remains of Prince Mondi Hein.

The old general committed suicide. A magnificent short sword lay at his feet, its blade still bearing dark red bloodstains that connected with the blood flowing from his neck, forming a long red line.

After confirming the general's death, his loyal chief bodyguard, following his last wishes, placed his still upright body properly on the command chair, facing the direction of the enemy beyond the pass.

Behind the general's chair, a River Moon Federation flag and a flag representing the Royal Arms were interspersed.

On either side of the old general's chair stood the generals and his personal guards who had been with him until the end. They, too, had chosen to commit suicide, using their spears or swords to support their bodies, barely maintaining their upright posture, like two rows of silent statues, guarding their commander.

These are the last guardians of Jingou Pass, or rather, the last watchers.

As the first light of dawn slowly pierced through the thick smoke, the elven army had already cleared a path. Countless elven warriors in gleaming armor marched through the city, heading in a mighty procession towards the vast plains beyond the pass.

The city of Xiyue is already in sight on the horizon!

(End of this chapter)