Chương 106: Tristan attacks
As the ships gradually approached the city, Manga found himself forgetting all the stuff that weighed heavily on him. A lot was lying on him, and the pressure was mounting.
The first massive mobilization of the Kingdom of Tristan. The first airborne attack in this world. To say that the pressure was mounting would be an understatement.
However, at that moment, Manga stripped off all those unnecessary thoughts. In his head, the only thing that was running was the tactics of the war, the size of the opposition and the weapons at his disposal.
He cradled the assault rifle he was holding in his hands tightly. The city was getting closer and closer.
Suddenly, massive boulders came at them in the air. Manga guessed they were within the range of the enemy's trebuchets.
Looking at the boulders, Manga smiled before giving the signal.
Mounted on the bow of the ship were 2 turrets of heavy machine guns. The turrets had an ammo box that could hold more than a thousand rounds. The Guns were placed on rotating mounts that could turn any direction for 360 degrees. This was part of Barda's new additions.
When the trebuchets were coming at them, Tristan forces unleashed the destructive power of the machine guns on the boulders, shredding them before they got close.
Watching this happen, everyone on the ships was inspired. Siege towers were always a dreaded part of any war. Evasion was largely based on luck, but seeing that there was a way to deal with them finally, they were overjoyed.
Manga smile as he watched the boulders disintegrate in the air. However, the smile quickly faded as he watched a boulder tear through the air, seemingly unaffected by the hot rounds.
The moment the boulder struck the ship's capsule, it exploded. With the explosion came the concussive soundwave which knocked everyone in the lead ship down, some even blown completely off the ship.
Manga tried to get up even though his ears were ringing and he was disoriented. Looking around, many of his men were also in similar condition.
Next came the onslaught of ballistae bolts. They were being fired at the ships and the capsules.
"The capsules will hold," Manga said as he finally got up. However, a bolt struck a wooden pole next to him. Looking closely, the bolt had a small trinket on top of it that looked like a chicken egg.
Before he could investigate, dark purple gas started coming off the little ticket. Suddenly, Manga found himself unable to breathe no matter how hard he coughed. His throat and nose were being corroded.
He backtracked as fast as he could trying to get some distance between him and the bolt. As he did, he raised his rifle and started firing at the bolt, he needed to get the thing off his ship.
It took him an entire clip to completely shatter the bolt and send the package off the ship, but he managed to. He was lucky the bolt had struck the edge of the ship, had it struck the inside, someone would have had to carry it off the ship.
However, Manga's breathing system was completely corroded, and every breath he took was a pain. He was wheezing and bloody form coming out of his mouth, gaping at death's door.
A delicate hand landed on his shoulder and started digging its way underneath his armor. Commander Manga was freaked by this, thinking that this was an assassin coming to finish the job. He neither had the strength nor the will to fight him off. Might as well make it quick.
After a long wait, Manga realized he was not dying. Matter of fact, his breath was back to normal. For a moment he wondered if he was hallucinating, but this could not be a hallucination, could it?
Waking up, he found that he was back on the battlefield. The man that had man-handled him was crouching over another soldier, holding his neck as well. Looking at where the gas had been, Manga was shocked to see 2 figures, each holding a staff, with their arms outstretched.
The gas that had landed on the ship was being blown away, and there were healers on the job. That must have been how he was back to full compliment.
Each city-state contributed a part of its elite warriors to this first deployment. They were going to be the best in Tristan. Lord Abu had contributed 10,000 mages. Of these, 2,000 were healers.
For his entire fleet, Manga had 400 ships under his command. As per the arrangement, each ship formed a unit of 250 warriors. Among these, there were 25 mages, 5 being healers.
For his attack, Manga had deployed 200 ships while the remaining 200 were left as reserves. He would be receiving more reinforcements soon, but for now, he was being cautious.
Leading up to the attack, Manga had organized his forces into 4 grounds of 50 ships. These ships would attack from the north, east, west, and south, surrounding the city with no way out.
Manga did not employ some fancy formation for the assault, opting to form a straight line. This was largely due to the shape of the airship. Formations would do more harm than good, causing the ships to obstruct each other.
There was also the fear factor. He wanted them to see the might of fifty ships coming at them, spread out and covering more ground.
Finally, Manga had had to consider the siege towers. Grouping together just gave the attackers a juicy opportunity to take out many people at a go. Spreading also gave the ships some form of maneuverability in case they needed to evade.
The mages that were on high demand, other than healers, were wind mages. Even on this ship, Manga had only gotten one, and he was doing his best to keep the corrosive gases out.
At the same time, the concussive sounds were still going off all around the ships. It seemed the siege weapons were enchanted with sound magic. There was little they could do about that now.
Manga realized that among the infected he was among the first to recover. This was no accident since the healer had run to him first as the commander. The bolt had landed around the bow of the ship, which meant the ship's forefront was incapacitated.
Realizing that he shouldn't be laying around, Manga shot up and ran for the machine guns. He had never used them before but he guessed they were the same as what he was used to. Looking at the crosshair, he guessed its purpose. Aiming, he fired.
Nothing happened. "D*mn it, why is there a safety switch for everything?" He shouted as he looked for a lever, experiencing Deja Vu.
Finally, the gun responded. Commander Manga was shocked by the power of the gun as it seemed to come alive. Once as a boy, he had jumped on a bull and tried to ride it. That was a bad mistake that almost cost him life.
This felt the same as it was back then. The machine transformed into a beast that would not be controlled. The commander was not distraught but thrilled. He unleashed hell as the sweet sound of the rifle drowned out the concussive sounds.
All this felt so unreal and off this world. To Manga, those people on the ground were no longer people but targets, blobs that he needed to hit. Seeing them explode did not disgust him as it should have but rather excited him, as it reported to him of his successful kill.
With his people coming to, and the ships making ground, they were finally on top of the walls. The machine guns laid waste of the walls and those people on it, totally suppressing anyone who dared lift a finger.
Once they were over the city walls, ropes were thrown over the hulls. With Manga at the lead and the ship's machine guns covering them, the warriors descended from the ships using the ropes and engaged the enemy.
Manga could remember this part well, not long ago he had been in a similar situation, only this time, he had gone off the ship willingly. It felt good to land willingly.
Looking ahead of him, Manga saw that the enemy's armies had amassed to receive them. Poor buggers, the ships had made quick work on their formations, and they were now in disarray.
Manga did not rush to charge but waited until everyone was off the ship. Now all that remained were the ship operators, the healers, and the ranged attackers. These included the bowmen, the crossbow, machine gun, and ballistae handlers, and mages.
With the ships leading the charge, The commander let out a loud shout as he charged at the enemy. The target was the marble building overlooking the city. The palace of Yuniah.
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