Inside the Central Command!
"Byron Chariots, advance." Yin Shuang held the Dragon Mark in her hand, pointing straight ahead.
As the Great Chieftain of the Byron tribe, Yin Shuang possessed vast experience in utilizing every type of troop under the Byron banner.
In the past, the Byron tribe’s reputation as the continent’s foremost legion was certainly not for naught.
Beyond their terrifying capabilities in open-field shock tactics, their siege warfare prowess was renowned throughout the world!
The Byron Chariots were significantly larger than the standard Tortoise Shell Bridges, Battering Rams, and other siege vehicles commonly used by other legions. This was entirely because these immense war machines were not propelled by manpower but were hauled by Saber-toothed Dragons.
The colossal chariots boasted a highly unique construction. Their exterior was cast from solid Ebony Steel Armor, granting them formidable physical and magical defenses, while also effectively resisting incineration by fire.
The interior contained a massive space capable of housing over three hundred personnel. Within this space were twenty parallel transmission devices, akin to “treadmills.” Strapped to these were twenty incredibly powerful Saber-toothed Dragons, running frantically as if driven mad. Their exertion powered the treadmills, generating immense force to rotate the ten tightly packed tracked wheels beneath the Tortoise Shell Chariot.
It was practically comparable to a modern internal combustion engine. Furthermore, the external profile of these gigantic chariots bore a startling resemblance to modern armored vehicles, though their sheer size was vastly greater: twenty meters wide! Fifty meters long! Fifteen meters high! They were veritable mobile fortresses, like walking houses.
The tracked wheel system at the base allowed them to disregard nearly all magical traps or deep pits! They simply drove right over them!
It was hard to imagine that in the world of Mafa, devoid of high-output power sources like engines, such terrifying mechanical monsters could exist.
Perhaps only the terrifying strength of the Saber-toothed Dragons could pull such specialized war machines! This was the Byron Chariot, globally renowned as the ultimate siege weapon!
It was a super behemoth integrating the functions of Tortoise Shell Chariots, Heavy Crossbow Chariots, Catapults, Bridge Vehicles, and Battering Rams—all standard continent siege equipment combined into one!
If I hadn't witnessed it firsthand, I never would have conceived that the technologically backward world of Mafa could construct such terrifyingly massive engines!
Their colossal size, astonishing defensive capabilities, and unmatched mobility made them veritable mobile fortresses on the ground in the Mafa world.
This was the fundamental reason the Byron tribe earned the epithet of the foremost siege legion.
Within the Byron tribe, various models of war chariots existed, and rumor had it that these weren't even the largest!
An old saying circulated among the Byron people: How high can the wall be, so high can the Byron Chariot be! How wide the moat, so long can the Byron Chariot be! The artisans of the Byron tribe were the most outstanding craftsmen on the continent; there was nothing they couldn't conceive, and nothing they couldn't build!
Of course, the casting technology for these specialized Byron Chariots was held exclusively by the Byron tribe. The most critical components were the enormous bearings capable of supporting the entire chassis.
These bearings were forged from a strange metal called 'Gangna,' and the method for refining this peculiar metal was known only to the Byron artisans. Only they could manufacture this incredibly hard metal and fit it extensively onto their military hardware.
Artisans from other nations could fashion chariots superficially resembling the Byron Chariot, but they lacked the necessary bearings strong enough to support such immense volume and weight. Consequently, they could never move with the same sweeping freedom as the Byron Chariots.
Technology is power; this truth holds regardless of whether it is in the modern era or the world of Mafa.
It could be said that the Byron tribe was the most mechanically advanced race on the Mafa Continent. This was the root cause of the Byron tribe being heralded as the strongest tribe fifty years prior.
Though the Byron tribe had waned significantly by today, that advanced forging artistry had been passed down.
Yin Shuang held absolute confidence in her tribe’s war chariots!
Even a magical trap set by a Heaven Rainbow Archmage level practitioner could not breach the defense of the specialized Byron Chariot! Utilizing these chariots against the five-hundred-meter-long "Death Zone" within the Man City defense perimeter was undoubtedly the most ideal strategy!
In the past, had it not been for the lack of an absolute core offensive force—the Heavy Armored Generals—Man City would long ago have been leveled by the mighty Byron tribe!
Beside her stood the standard-bearer, who abruptly waved two small blue flags!
Whoop whoop whoop! The clear sound of horns immediately rang out!
The boundless black tide suddenly parted left and right, opening a passage twenty meters wide!
Dozens of massive Byron Chariots rapidly surged out of the main formation, driving towards the forward line.
"Roar Byron! Byron! Byron!" The moment the Byron Chariots deployed, every warrior of the Byron Legion shouted in unison: "Byron! Byron!"
Fifty years ago, these two words alone were enough to strike fear into the hearts of every defending soldier. Now, the Byron Chariots, once invincible across the continent, were finally reappearing on the battlefield!
The older generation of Byron warriors cried tears of excitement, shouting wildly.
Yes, it had been a full fifty years. The once overwhelmingly powerful Byron tribe was almost forgotten by the entire continent, nearly annihilated by the Demon Sealing Empire and the Moluo Alliance. The proud Byron warriors were forced to huddle in the Byron Grasslands, barely clinging to life.
Such profound humiliation was unacceptable to the proud warriors of Byron.
They had waited too long for this day!
"Rumble, rumble, rumble." Amidst the rolling drums, the colossal Byron Tortoise Shell Chariots advanced into the defense line like moving mountains!
Crash! Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Soon, within the defense line, huge, dazzling flashes of fire erupted, accompanied by an unending series of dull, heavy thuds!
Following behind were plumes of smoke soaring into the sky, and fragments scattering in all directions like shrapnel. These were the explosions triggered as the Byron Chariots stepped on the magical traps within the perimeter zone, but these blasts could not shake the immensely large bodies of the chariots in the slightest!
Upon the City Wall!
"It's the Byron Chariots." Although the Byron tribe deploying these chariots had been anticipated, seeing the most terrifying siege engines firsthand caused Gonggong Zhenqin and the others' complexions to drastically change!
"........." Only Moluo Yinfeng remained grim-faced, staring intently at the dozens of Byron Chariots advancing abreast!
"Catapults, Heavy Crossbows, Magical Assault." Deputy General Yinkong brandished his saber and pointed forward.
"Yes, sir."
Thump, thump, thump, whizz!
Countless massive stones, thick heavy arrows, and dazzling lightning fireballs rained down like a fierce storm upon the rapidly approaching Byron Chariots!
The dull roars, scorching air waves, and suffocating magical currents transformed the five-hundred-meter stretch between the defense line and the city wall into a zone of lethal horror!
Yet, amidst this deluge of flying stones, heavy arrows, and magic, the dozens of Byron Chariots remained utterly unfazed, continuing their steady advance toward the city wall!
Giant stones, burning heavy arrows, and spells of astonishing power hammered the Byron Chariots wave after wave!
But without exception, everything bounced off the chariots' freakishly durable armor!
They could not stop the advance of the Byron Chariots!
And from the various openings on the Byron Chariots, bursts of powerful heavy arrows occasionally shot out, skewering many mages and archers on the city wall.
"Byron Roar! Byron Invincible! The Black Flag shall prevail!" The attacks from the city wall proved entirely incapable of harming the Byron Chariots.
Seeing this, the countless Byron warriors were further invigorated, shouting wildly!
The earth-shattering cheers erupted in wave after wave, seemingly threatening to overturn the entire world!
"Sword Dragon Knights, follow up immediately." Yin Shuang was also intensely excited. Despite being the Great Chieftain of the Byron tribe, this was the first time Yin Shuang had commanded such a large number of Byron Knights in actual combat, deploying the tribe's last fifty Byron Chariots. It was impossible for Yin Shuang not to be nervous!
This was a high-stakes gamble; they could only win, never lose, or the Byron tribe would never recover! This battle gambled everything the Byron tribe possessed.
Both Yin Shuang and the other Byron warriors understood they had no retreat. The barren Byron Grasslands could no longer support the Byron tribe's resurgence. Without strength, they were destined for ruin and final annihilation by the Demon Sealing Army.
Therefore, every man fought bravely, scorning death! Moreover, the powerful, almost omnipotent Marshal Jiuyue Shenzhen was present among the troops.
All Byron warriors firmly believed that victory was destined to be theirs.
Swish, swish, swish! The standard-bearer waved the two small blue flags again!
"Keep up!" the various Knight Captains roared simultaneously.
"Yes!" Countless Sword Dragon Cavalry, bearing large shields, followed closely behind the Byron Chariots, rapidly advancing into the defense line.
Though I had heard tales of the Byron Legion's peerless siege capabilities, witnessing it now still left me utterly stunned!
Heavens, they were attacking the city using cavalry! Had I not seen their strategy during the tribe's practical combat drills beforehand, I could never have imagined it.
The Byron tribe’s method of siege warfare was outrageously exaggerated!
After crossing the defense line, the dozens of giant Tortoise Shell Chariots formed an incredibly solid, mobile defensive barrier. Under their cover, the Byron siege cavalry approached the defense line area sustaining almost no casualties.
This tactic was strikingly similar to modern ground advancement involving infantry supported by main battle tanks and armored vehicles. If there were any bombers in the sky, wouldn't this be a direct copy of the German Blitzkrieg during World War II!
In siege warfare on the Mafa Continent, the defender’s advantage derived from terrain superiority was far greater than most people could imagine.
I witnessed the severity of the struggle for the city walls during the Battle of Yung City.
The price paid by the Aotian Legion to seize control of the walls back then was absolutely devastating. The casualty rate traveling from the defense line to the base of the wall was astonishingly high.
But the Byron Chariots completely shattered this balance!
How high the wall, so high the Byron Chariot could reach—this statement was by no means an exaggeration! The artisans of the Byron tribe, with their divinely crafted hands and unparalleled imagination and creativity, realized their bold declaration!
On the city wall, the Man City defenders could scarcely believe their eyes!
"These are monsters; we can't even scratch them." The catapult operators looked on in horror.
Indeed, if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed that giant stones weighing a hundred pounds would fail to even scratch the Byron Chariots' hide.
Moreover, neither magic nor fire could cause these terrifying Byron Chariots to budge even slightly.
The horror spread like a plague!
Facing these freakishly strong Byron Chariots, conventional troop attacks were nothing more than scratching an itch—utterly ineffective!
Moluo Yinfeng’s expression grew even darker!
"Cease conventional attacks," Moluo Yinfeng commanded. "We can only inflict damage when they deploy their siege cavalry."
"Lei Yan Generals, deploy." Moluo Yinfeng stated in a deep voice.
Yes, facing these behemoths that far exceeded normal imagination, perhaps only the Heavy Armored Generals could destroy them.
This was precisely why the Byron tribe had been hesitant to attack Man City for so long: outside of the Heavy Armored Generals, the Byron Chariots were virtually invincible in clashes between conventional forces.
But now, the Byron tribe had merged into the Black Flag Army, possessing Black Flag Generals capable of matching the Lei Yan Generals.
It could be said that the Lei Yan Legion held no advantage against the current Byron formation; the only true contest lay in which side’s Heavy Armored Generals were stronger!
The final outcome would ultimately hinge on the combat strength of the Heavy Armored Generals!
Indeed, once they closed in on the city wall and erected those terrifyingly large scaling ladders, the entire engagement would devolve into a direct confrontation on open ground!
This was the true terror of the Byron Chariot—not just its freakish defense and mobility, but the more horrifying fact that they could erect colossal scaling ladders, ones capable of neutralizing the advantage of even the tallest walls.
And along these ladders, the fearsome Byron Knights could even charge onto the ramparts, rider and mount together.
This was absolutely not what Moluo Yinfeng wished to see!
"Yes!" The Eight Great Generals simultaneously lunged towards the Byron Chariots at the base of the wall!
"Go to hell!" Yin Nu Qulei, leaping down from the air, moved like a sea swallow darting through a storm, weaving through the hail of arrows to reach the foremost Byron Chariot!
Then, he unleashed a dazzling crescent sword arc!
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The thick Ebony Steel Armor immediately burst open, revealing a large hole!
"Ah! It's a Sky Demon Warrior!" The Byron warriors hiding inside the chariot cried out in shock!
"Minions, time to meet hell," a strange cold glint flashed in Yin Nu Qulei’s icy eyes.
With a flash, he charged toward the gash sliced open by the blade!
Swish, swish!
However, just then! A sharp, piercing gust of wind suddenly sounded!
Relying on the Sky Demon Warrior’s superior intuition and the Eye of Death Desire, Yin Nu Qulei immediately distinguished two massive fireballs streaking toward his lower back at incredible speed!
Fireballs of this destructive power could only be unleashed by a Heaven Rainbow Archmage!
Forced into a retreat, Yin Nu Qulei could only pivot and sweep out a crescent arc!
Bang! Boom!
In the dazzling burst of light, a dull, heavy explosion immediately followed!
The arc he swept out had perfectly struck the two large fireballs flying towards him.
It was only then that Yin Nu Qulei clearly saw that the attackers were two Heaven Rainbow Archmages wearing Archmage Cloaks.
"Chi Ming and Chi Hao of the Blood Wolf tribe," Yin Nu Qulei stated grimly.
"Yin Nu Qulei," Chi Hao declared proudly, "We are your opponents."
Bang, boom! Simultaneously, several dull impacts were heard from another area, accompanied by strong magical fluctuations and the shockwave of a Dou Qi explosion!
It was Gonggong Zhenqin and Zhurong Mingyan, who were similarly intercepted by the enemy's Heavy Armored Generals. It was clear the enemy had been waiting for them, specifically to prevent any chance of destroying the Byron Chariots!
For a moment, the atmosphere on the field grew intensely heavy! The Heavy Armored Generals faced off against each other, neither daring to let down their guard.
"Roar! Go! Our Black Flag Generals!" The Byron warriors cheered with exhilaration.
The Byron Legion finally possessed its own Heavy Armored Generals, and these generals, upon whom great hope rested, were finally engaging in their first true battlefield deployment.
The appearance of their own Heavy Armored Generals dramatically boosted the morale of all Byron warriors!
Faced with the sudden appearance of Chi Ming, Chi Hao, and the others, Yin Nu Qulei and the other seven Lei Yan Generals had no choice but to abandon their mission to destroy the Byron Chariots.
Under the cover provided by Chi Ming and the others!
The colossal Byron Chariots finally pressed up to the moat, fifty meters from the city wall! Yet, the Byron Chariots showed no sign of stopping and drove directly into the moat!
The massive chassis perfectly filled the moat, seemingly bridging it as if a colossal floating pontoon bridge had materialized out of thin air.
Everything proceeded exactly as planned! Using the Byron Chariots to approach the Man City wall, then having the Heavy Armored Generals tie up the enemy's Heavy Armored Generals to shield the Byron conventional troops.
Even if Moluo Yinfeng possessed unsurpassed strategic genius, he had no clever countermeasure against this almost unscrupulous fighting style! This was the battle plan devised by the strategic division, integrated with the actual conditions of the Byron tribe.
Though simple, it was surprisingly effective!
Of course, all of this relied entirely on the terrifying defense and mobility of the Byron Chariots!
Although I already knew how monstrous the Byron Chariots were, and Yin He and the others had deliberately conducted a simulated combat exercise for us on the grasslands, the sheer power they displayed on the real battlefield still shocked me considerably.
The eight Lei Yan Generals were intercepted by Ji Du, Jian Qi, Jian Wu, Cang Yue Zhenxian, Cang Yue Qianyu, Yin Hu, Yin Tao, Chi Ming, and Chi Hao, thus failing to achieve the goal of destroying the Byron Chariots!
And I kept my attention fixed on Moluo Yinfeng on the city wall! He seemed to subtly govern the balance of the entire field!
"Now, even though Man City has the terrain advantage, with our Byron Chariots, their superiority is gone," Yin He said gravely. "What remains is the struggle for the city wall."
As he spoke, the tops of the dozens of Byron Chariots that had entered the river—near the front—slowly began to rise, like gigantic lifting platforms.
The tail ends of the chariots began to drop, and very quickly, each chariot formed a delta-shaped extension pointing toward the city wall—a colossal, flat ladder!
A super long ladder, twenty meters wide and fifty meters long, composed of the roofs of the Byron Chariots, reached directly to the top of the city wall!
On such a ladder, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that five Sword Dragon Knights could charge abreast simultaneously.
Central Command!
"Knights, charge!" Yin Shuang said in a low voice.
"Yes." The standard-bearer sharply waved the two small blue flags!
The Sword Dragon Knights, who had been following behind the Byron Chariots, were filled with killing intent, spurring their mounts into a wild gallop toward the city wall!
The surging black tide finally began its most ferocious charge!
Kill! Roar!
The earth-shattering shouts of battle, the roars of the Saber-toothed Dragons!
The heavy clatter of iron hooves on the steel plating!
Countless Saber-toothed Dragons, dragging the Byron warriors, ascended the city wall at astonishing speed along the gigantic scaling ladders!
Cavalry charging up a wall—only the Byron tribe could execute such an outrageously bizarre fighting style!
"Smash them to pieces!" Yinkong shouted, having spotted the opportune moment.
Almost simultaneously, countless logs, heavy stones, and heavy arrows rained down like a tempest upon the Sword Dragon Knights ascending the ladder.
Thud! Thwack, thwack, thwack!
The foremost few riders were instantly pierced through by heavy arrows. At such close range, even the Sword Dragon Knights' freakish armor defense could not withstand it!
Many more Sword Dragon Knights were smashed off the ladder, rider and mount, by the massive thrown stones!
Ah! Screams erupted everywhere!
Since the siege operations began, the Byron Legion had finally suffered a large number of casualties for the first time.
On the other side, the Heavy Armored Generals faced each other, seemingly unconnected to the surrounding events!
And the charging Sword Dragon Knights prudently skirted around the Byron Chariots where the Heavy Armored Generals stood!
Two battle arenas on one field!
Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals!
The true decisive battle had just begun!