Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Andre's face turned from green to red, and with gritted teeth, he made up his mind and shouted, "Do it! Kill those Tanilian bastards! Slaughter them all!"

"After we charge in, we need to make a lot of noise, make our voices heard," Bard added. "Even though there are only a dozen or so of us, we must appear like a squad of a hundred men."

"Old man, your Herder people have kept their promise, you don't have to follow us," Winters earnestly said to Hestas. "But I hope you can help us this one time, we will be forever grateful, as will Vineta."

Including three officers, the Venetians only had eight men left, and they needed the strength of the Herders no matter what.

"Our pact was that we entrust our lives to you for the safety of our women and children back home," Hestas laughed heartily, also picking up a scimitar. "To get our women and children safely to our homeland. As for our lives, you can use them however you like."

"Thank you," Winters said, nodding in gratitude, then he looked towards the Venetian soldiers, "How about you? Are you willing to fight one more battle with me?"

"Sir! Wherever you lead us, we will follow!" Gold was the first to cry out, and the other Venetian soldiers also agreed in unison.

"After this battle, I'll find you a good place. You won't need to fight any more battles in this war."

...

With the roaring of the cannons as cover, Winters and his dozen men stealthily approached the battery.

With the exception of Hestas, all were lightly wounded. There were no severely injured men; those who were severely injured had died in the battery.

"Old man, you don't have to risk your life with us," Winters whispered to the lean old Shaman.

"What? You doubt my capabilities?" Hestas coughed twice and mumbled, "I was fighting in battles before you were even born!"

The group crawled to the nearest cover from which they could approach without being seen; any further crawling would expose them on the cleared land around the battery, with no place to hide.

Hestas grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground, lifted it to the height of his forehead, and, in a special guttural tone, he began chanting like he was using "Healing Arts," slowly opening his hand.

As the dirt from Hestas's hand gradually fell back to the ground, Winters felt his fatigue and fear fade away. He felt fearless and was filled with a furious excitement.

He glanced at Hestas in amazement; could the Divine Arts work even on a non-believer?

Under the influence of Hestas's shamanic magic, even the most cowardly among the group radiated boundless courage. Your next journey awaits at empire

Winters realized that the time was now. He let out a great shout, raising his sailor's cutlass and leading the charge towards the battery.

The two doors of the battery opposite each other and their connection to the wall had been destroyed, laying haphazardly on the ground. Three Tanilian soldiers were busy trying to repair the gate with tools.

One of the Tanilian soldiers moving the wooden door heard footsteps and turned his head to see a line of figures dashing out from the bushes.

The Tanilian soldier was first stunned, then frantically screamed a warning.

But within the short distance of a dozen meters, Winters had nearly reached them in the blink of an eye.

The three Tanilians trying to repair the gate turned to flee inside the battery; in his urgency, Winters hurled his cutlass like a throwing ax at them.

The spinning cutlass pierced through the back of one of the Tanilians, pinning him to the ground.

The other two Tanilians screamed as they ran into the battery.

Winters strode to the door, pulling the cutlass out of the Tanilian lying on the ground.

The Tanilian impaled by the cutlass was not yet dead, moaning in pain, clutching the dirt with his hands and spitting blood bubbles from his mouth.

Winters bit his lip and delivered a mercy stroke to the Tanilian.

"Don't scatter! First, find the powder magazine! Let the enemy run if they want to, but kill anyone who resists!" After speaking, Winters was the first to charge into the battery, "Kill!"

The Venetians and Herders, yelling their battle cries, followed Winters into the battery.

The corridor, which had just seen bloody combat, was strewn with bodies from both Venetians and Tanilians, all unremoved.

The tens of meters long corridor was horrific, filled with corpses from both sides, leaving no room for foot placement, only allowing passage by stepping on the bodies.

Winters remembered what Colonel Field had said, "The powder magazine is always as far from the cannons as possible."

He led everyone in the opposite direction from the gun positions, attacking fiercely.

The Tanilians inside the battery were caught off guard; they had never imagined such a small group of enemies could be so fiercely aggressive, daring to launch a counterattack.

In their panic, the battery's garrison was unable to organize an effective resistance and were overrun by Winters' assault into the eastern building.

"Find the powder magazine!" Winters ordered loudly, searching each storeroom.

However, at that moment, a disciplined group of guards collided with the attackers head-on.

When the battery commander learned the enemy had broken into the eastern building, he immediately realized their target was the powder magazine. He swiftly organized the nearby garrison to intercept them.

"Don't let them near the powder magazine!" the battery commander drew his command saber, "Exterminate them!"

This group of guards was armed with two and a half meter-long spears. Though spears were cumbersome in the narrow corridor, the walls protected the flanks of the spear formation, making it an unstoppable force from the front.