Green Monster Epic

Five thousand dwarven warriors arrayed themselves in formation, slowly advancing towards the magnificent castle atop the mountain range several hundred meters ahead.

Behind them were massive steel constructs, each topped with a huge chimney, belching thick, acrid black smoke. Propelled by dozens of rollers, they moved forward with a deafening roar, keeping pace with the dwarven warriors.

"Ready!!"

"Fire!!!"

Boom! Boom boom boom!!

Any civilization that has developed to the point of becoming a major player in the world of Feyman naturally possesses unique strengths.

Humans have their cavalry formations, alchemically enhanced siege chariots modified with magic, Elves have war-trees crafted from natural materials, and the Orc Empire has the Behemoth, a monstrous beast comparable to dragons and giants…

The Dwarves, however, have taken their exceptional forging skills to the extreme, combining them with readily available alchemical materials to create these cannons capable of firing hundreds of pounds of refined iron projectiles with a range of thousands of meters.

Black powder has been around for many years, and while it's frequently used in alchemy, it rarely sees other applications. Even though its flammable and explosive properties are well known, and gunpowder weapons usable by ordinary people have been developed, their power and range pose little threat to the average warrior.

In this magical world, where even low-level warriors can hurl standard javelins over a hundred meters with just their physical strength, gunpowder weapons, even after numerous improvements, were ultimately deemed useless due to their inferior power and range, and were quickly abandoned.

Lacking subsequent technological improvements and breakthroughs, gunpowder weapons in this era stagnated at the flintlock stage, with no foreseeable future prospects, barring unforeseen circumstances.

However, the master craftsmen of the Dwarven Kingdom took a different approach. If handheld gunpowder weapons lacked power, they would simply use more black powder and create larger, heavier projectiles, engraving them with numerous runes. While this naturally meant that one or ten people could not operate such heavy devices, they were perfectly suited as siege weapons for the Dwarven Kingdom's army.

The runic system invented by the Dwarven civilization also had its own peculiarities, such as low requirements for the materials to be attached to and a relatively high success rate. A skilled craftsman could engrave and melt dozens of runes onto a several-hundred-pound refined iron projectile. When launched remotely using black powder, the power of a single cannonball was almost equivalent to a strike from a Legendary powerhouse.

Of course, like the siege chariots invented by humans, cannons were slow-moving. Even the speed of the projectile leaving the barrel was only equivalent to an arrow fired from a hundred-pound bow, making it easy for mid-to-high-level combatants to dodge.

However, immobile structures like castles and fortresses were the perfect targets for cannons. Just imagine dozens, even hundreds, of cannonballs with the power of Legendary experts continuously exploding upon a city or fortress. Even if the fortress was entirely made of refined iron, it would be reduced to rubble.

Grisbeard had brought all the cannons from his frontline legion, a total of twenty-five. Just transporting these weapons had cost him a great deal of effort and resources, and he was constantly worried that something might happen during the battle, putting his strategic assets in danger.

But the leader to the south, who had revealed the aura of a Saint, was so stubborn. Since he couldn't persuade the other party, and the other party demanded that his warriors lead the attack, he had no choice but to risk transporting the cannons from a city hundreds of miles away.

With a series of deafening roars, plumes of greyish-white dust billowed from the distant high walls, mingled with faint wails and roars.

The Elven powerhouses hidden within the city leaped onto the city walls. Before they could approach the dwarven army's artillery formation, Allen led a group of Wilderness and Dwarven powerhouses to intercept them.

Swish swish swish!!

A barrage of rapid-fire arrows came straight at them. Allen raised his heavy sword to block, and with a series of clangs, the heavy force of the arrows failed to move Allen in the slightest.

Although some arrows bypassed the wide blade and attacked Allen from the side, Allen simultaneously used his Ripple Steps, accelerating suddenly, causing the arrows to graze his afterimage and fly past.

"Kill!!"

The dozens of tall and short powerhouses following closely behind Allen had a flash of brilliance in their eyes and roared with high spirits. At the same time, they revealed their abilities and went straight for their Elven opponents, not at all afraid of the fact that their side was slightly outnumbered.

In an instant, the powerhouses on both sides stirred up torrents of energy in the air. The fierce gusts of wind swept around, causing considerable interference even to the dwarven army charging forward on the ground and the Wilderness army supporting them from the flanks.

Albad was originally a great help to the Wilderness powerhouses, but now, in order to take care of the hundreds of thousands of Wilderness soldiers below and take this opportunity to hone them, he did not press forward. Instead, he covered himself with various protective spells and flew into the sky, chanting incantations and throwing out several powerful electric-type spells, while constantly surveying the ground and using amplification magic to command the officers below to change formations and move.

Although the Wilderness army soldiers were currently only providing support and were not the main force attacking the city, many of the new soldiers had never seen such a large formation before. Various emotions were written on their faces, and they could be considered to have experienced what a real battlefield was like in advance.

"Archery Legion, Javelin Legion!!"

"Advance one thousand meters!!"

"…"

Orders were issued from the mouth of a short goblin with white hair on his head. Although he did not seem very imposing, he was able to make the officers and soldiers below obey him.

The closer they got to the front line of the battlefield, the more dangerous it became. Although the Elven army on the city was suppressed by the dozens of dwarven cannons, it was impossible to completely suppress the city walls that were more than ten miles wide with just those twenty-odd cannons.

Therefore, the Elven warriors, who were skilled in archery, gradually began to take advantage of the gaps between the cannon fire, poking their heads out to counterattack the dwarves and Wilderness soldiers who were gradually approaching.

The cracks that Allen had previously cut out of the city wall with a single sword had long been repaired by the Elves, but the natural color difference between the old and new city walls was still very large.

Even if Grisbeard was not good at commanding, he still had basic strategic tactics. Under his command, all twenty-five cannons were aimed at this area to fire. When a cannonball landed and exploded, it created a crater several meters wide on the city wall.

If it landed on the newly repaired area, the crater would be even deeper. If this continued, it was only a matter of time before another breach was blasted open in the city.

Moreover, judging from the trend, the time to break through the city defenses would not be too long.