Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

The artillery emplacement at the entrance of Red Sulfur Bay was situated on the west coast of the bay, with a small fortification located across the water on the East Bank.

The two ends of the sea chain that blocked the entrance to Red Sulfur Bay were anchored at the emplacement and the fortification, respectively.

The structure of the fortification was very simple; it was essentially a square shape roughly enclosed by walls packed with earth on all four sides. The base of the square fortification was over a dozen meters wide, and the walls stood just over six meters tall, roughly the height of a two-story building.

In the defense systems of the old era, this fortification wouldn't even be considered significant, being nothing more than walls of earth. It wasn't steep enough, nor tall enough, and didn't even have loopholes for shooting on the parapet.

In the new era's defense systems, such structures with blind spots, lacking artillery, and purely relying on height for defense, had become obsolete.

However, for Winters's group of light infantry who lacked siege equipment, this fortification was still a hard bone to chew on.

Atop the fortification, the Tanilian sentries were also dozing off. To prevent the enemy from approaching stealthily through the forest, trees within thirty meters of the fortification had been cleared long ago. Under the bright moonlight, nothing could hide.

For the Tanilians defending the fortification, the excitement and tension from the day's ambush of the Venetians had long since dissipated, leaving them with nothing but the wearying duties of standing guard, standing guard, and standing guard.

Suddenly, a few dull sounds rang out, waking the half-asleep sentry with a start. He shivered, held his breath, and listened, then heard a few more thumps.

This time, he was sure it wasn't his imagination—the noises were coming from right beneath his feet, neither too close nor too far.

The sentry drew his sword and tread lightly to the edge of the parapet, carefully peering down below.

No sooner had he stuck his head out than a pitch-black hand suddenly reached over from outside the wall, grabbed his collar, and in the next moment, the sentry felt a great force at his neck, dragging him over the wall.

The sentry screamed as he was thrown from the high wall, head over heels, breaking his neck upon impact, and died.

Immediately after, two Herders, with shaved heads, stripped bare, and smeared from head to toe in ash and black mud appeared atop the parapet. To conceal themselves in the darkness, they carried nothing reflective on their bodies, even their only short knives were blackened to a dull finish.

Winters, with the remainder of his men, lay in wait at the edge of the forest, watching the movements of the two Herders. These two were brave warriors handpicked by Hestas from all the Herders for their exceptional climbing skills.

No Venetian could climb a six-meter wall with bare hands, not even one of packed earth. But the only way for the remaining crippled soldiers and slaves to breach the fortification without siege weapons was to send someone in to open the fort gates.

Winters silently watched as the two ghostly Herders approached the fortification unnoticed and began to climb. At that moment, even Winters, the atheist, suddenly felt an urge to pray.

But he still heard the sound he least wanted to—hear a scream followed by a thud. He didn't know whether it was a Herder or a Tanilian who had made the noise, as the two Herders had already vanished from Winters's sight.

"We've been spotted, switch to the backup plan!" The scream in the silent night, clearly audible even from over thirty meters away to Winters, was surely even clearer to the garrison inside the fort. Seeing that the stealth attack had failed, Winters immediately ordered, "Follow me, even if we die here, we must destroy this chain!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Winters burst out of the crowd, with the Spellcasters carrying tools, and strode towards the shore. The others, after a moment of hesitation, also rushed out of the woods.

Everyone started running at full speed, turning the night attack into a frontal assault, foregoing the need for stealth. Explore new worlds at empire

The fortification was located on elevated ground by the shore, with the end of the chain secured inside the fortification, extending from holes in the wall all the way to the surface of the water.

Unlike the artillery emplacement in the middle of the bay, this fortification was less than ten meters from the sea; the shore-end of the chain was entirely within range of the fort's projectile weapons. Attempting to sabotage the chain under the eyes of the garrison and go undetected was an impossible task.

But since the plan to seize the fortification had failed, they had no choice but to press on hard.

Then, against all expectations, a sliver of light appeared at the fort's gate, growing wider as the gate slowly began to open.

When Winters saw a gap form in the gate, he didn't have time to think; he waved his hand and shouted, "Take the gate!"

The gate creaked open less than a meter, those inside shouting in alarm as they tried to close it again, but it seemed to be stuck on something.

The distance of thirty meters was covered in strides, and with his battle sword drawn, Winters roared and leaped through the gap between the two wooden doors of the fort.

Inside were six or seven Tanilian soldiers who were startled by the shadow that darted in. But Winters, experienced with numerous life-and-death fights, viciously cut down the enemies around him without giving them a moment to react.

It was only when Winters nearly cleaved a Tanilian in two that the soldiers realized what was happening.

They yelled and lunged at Winters with their knives and spears. Winters was about to parry with his sword, but his scimitar had become lodged in the bones of a corpse, and he couldn't pull it free.

The Winters of now was no longer the naive young man fresh out of military academy; he had been forged in iron and blood.

Realizing his scimitar was stuck, Winters didn't hesitate to drop the sword and back away. He also discarded any distracting thoughts and entered a spellcasting state.