บท 34: Chapter thirty-four: are you brave or stupid?

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~~~Third person, sixth-seventh moon, 276 AC~~~

~~~Xandar, Elevated Bridge, fjord~~~

"Messages came in from the Sunset Gates; the second legion stopped the siege; we may see an attack on the Bridge as well, so be on the lookout."

Francis, the unsullied general in charge of protecting the raised Fjord Bridge, told his unsullied commanders, who nodded.

Something that had been put into operation months ago was the good administration in the city, in the military, commercial, civil, agricultural, academic, and even transit sectors. Everything worked under strict control and order, which meant that there was no corruption, bribery, or any other method of tax evasion or similar things.

In the military case, there were Corporals, Commander, Lieutenant, and General. In the case of Corporal, this branch was divided into three levels; besides, each branch of command in the army had improvements in both the level of men they had under their command and the funds that the Crown offered. In addition, these positions were highly prized by anyone who had a military career.

Both for the power the position offered and for the pay, as the single position of Lance Corporal offered a monthly payment of twenty gold coins.

"Looks like we don't have long to wait, General," suddenly spoke a Corporal, gaining the attention of the General, who looked out over the bay.

The previous ships blocking the passage, which had not moved from their place since the sea blockade began, were now hoisting their sails, with many already advancing until they were a decent distance from the Elevated Bridge.

"Ready, the jets; I want everyone's attention. Fire up the chains and ready the catapults."

"Done."

"It's ready."

Every order was done to the letter, with the hundreds of men on the sea walls, working like a well-oiled mechanism.

"And let the drums beat!" shouted the General, causing the women in charge of drumming to start doing their work.

On the ships of the three free cities, the men were running like ants from one side to the other, preparing the ships' catapults and readying the scorpions, at the same time that they had the boats ready to disembark.

"Fire!" shouted one of the men in command of one of the boats, to which the men in charge of the ship's catapult placed a large round rock in the catapult's scoop. Once they had sprayed it with oil and lit it, another man disengaged the safety catch, and the swinging arm of the catapult rose, hurling the large rock into the air.

At the same time, another fifteen or twenty large rocks were launched by the other catapults of the other ships, which were leaving a trail of black smoke wherever they passed.

However; at a distance of at least fifty meters from the ramparts or the Elevated Bridge, the men on the ramparts activated their guns and turrets, which launched a large disk, which, after two seconds in the air, opened.

A steel net spread out from the disc, which cut through the air and intercepted one of the flaming rocks and, thanks to the counterweights on the ends of the net, managed to make the large rock lose strength and fall from the sky long before it reached the walls, falling into the sea.

Not only that one, but the others also fell into the sea, splashing water and becoming unusable.

"Pyromancer, on my command, you ignite the explosive." The General spoke to a man, dressed in red robes and carrying a strange glowing bow.

The General looked back at the enemy ships in the bay and, when he observed that many passed the established mark, he gave the order, "Now."

Immediately, the pyromancer raised his bow and, launching an arrow with its flaming tip, shot toward a distant part of the wall.

The arrow reached an absurd distance while at the same time moving with terrifying speed, reaching its destination in no time.

The arrow landed directly on a buoy floating in the sea, which, upon igniting, exploded.

"BOOM!"

Many deafening explosions were heard as the first buoy exploded, creating a chain reaction that caused the other buoys floating nearby to start exploding as well, creating a complete line of fire in front of the Elevated Bridge.

Many ships were destroyed, with their sails and wood flying everywhere, along with hundreds of human parts scattered all over the bay, calling out marine predators, who began to eat everything they could.

~~~Azrael Jaesyrian~~~

~~~Meereen~~~

"Valka, how long until everything is ready?" I asked the enigmatic woman standing next to me, who was dressed completely in black, not caring about the scorching heat it was getting.

Valka kept looking at the walled city in front of us, and with a sweet smile on her face, she looked at me and said, "It won't last long, that I assure you."

Long before arriving in Meereen, I ordered Valka to transmit the next plan to finish Meereen. The idea was to use the thousands of slaves in the city, for them to rebel and open the gates themselves, giving my army the opportunity for my army to enter without the need for me to destroy the gates myself. Although I could use dynamite, such material was very volatile and could make the situation more risky.

Partly because there could be flammable materials near the gates, whether it was oil from the torches, straw, or even animal dung itself.

So I decided on a different path that would, at the same time, make the slaves feel 'free' if they murdered their slave masters.

We were at a safe distance from the range of the longbows. While that presented no danger thanks to the bolts with propellers, it did present danger to the slaves in the city or on the walls, as the bolts would end up falling into the walls or crowded streets of people. While in a war the death of innocents was hard to avoid, that would not make me seek the healthiest route for all.

From where he stood, he could see the thousands of slaves on the ramparts, whether they were wearing rags or wearing huge leather collars around their necks, men, women, and even children.

"My Khal, very soon those weak men will make their champion known; may I represent you?" Zirqo asked me, with a cruel look on his face, "No my friend; I already have my champions ready for that."

Zirqo nodded and did not resist, but I could see he was thinking about who might have been the person who beat him to it: "My Khal, these men have burned the food and hidden behind your walls; do you still agree to fight them? When a Khal meets a weak enemy, the Khal leaves him and seeks out bigger enemies."

"I know that Qrano, weak or not, will die; they are responsible for the siege on Xandar, and for that alone, they will die, I will not leave weeds germinating at my gates."

Suddenly, the loud sound of the city gates opening was heard, catching my attention and I managed to see that it was a single rider, their champion.

The man was riding a beautiful white horse and wearing ridiculous garments of different colors. He began to mock us, I did not come to understand the logic of these people, behind me, I had more than two hundred thousand warriors, all on horses and in full armor, and even the great masters designed to rub salt in the wound, knowing that their situation was not the best at the moment.

"Their pride does them wrong," I said it aloud as Valka laughed.

Looking at her with a raised eyebrow, she went on to explain, "Your Majesty, it's not pride, it's idiocy; they have had for many years complete and strict control over thousands of people for their entire lives; it stands to reason that that power would make them act stupid now, thinking that power will protect them."

"Well, whether it's pride or idiocy, that doesn't take away from the fact that their blood will run on the sandy ground today."

The crowd behind the walls jeered and cheered every time the champion taunted, from standing on his back and showing his ass, to even peeing in front of everyone. "I've had enough for today," I commented, then let a small hiss escape my lips.

The crowd, along with the champion, were too engrossed in their celebration to watch as six huge white wolves shot out from among the thousands of men on horses. By the time the man realized his fate, he had six huge jaws on his limbs, tearing off whole chunks of flesh and disfiguring his body.

Collectively, all the formerly celebrating men fell silent, watching the thick, red blood spray across the dry sand, with body parts strewn several meters away from the man, along with the former white horse, now stained with red specks.

"Who's laughing now?" I shouted as loud as I could, getting a massive cheer from the thousands of men behind me, at the same time, my wolves returned with fur close to their red-stained jaws.

'Now I'll have to send them out to be groomed; an animal's mouth tends to smell nasty' I thought, looking at the beautiful creatures that hadn't stopped growing. Sometimes I wondered if they had any growth limits. Well, another thing to add to my experiments.

"It's time," I said suddenly, watching as Valka nodded and vanished into thin air as if she had been a mirage the whole time she was next to me.

Sometimes I wondered what else they could do. In the game, the power they displayed was the quick brewing of potions, both attacking and strengthening potions for themselves, as well as being immune to magic, especially since in the game one could not kill another.

But here, whether it was because of whatever magic this world had to offer or for some other reason, they displayed far greater power than in Minecraft itself.

"Ahhh!"

"Boom!"

Suddenly, shouts and explosions rang through the city, the commotion and shouting reaching Azrael, giving him to understanding that the slaves had followed the impulses issued by the witches and rioted.