Chapter 1339: Furious Flames of Counterattack

“Everybody out of the trucks — now! Move as we practiced! Quick, quick!”

The shouting from the cargo hold snapped Farrina out of her stillness. She shoved the door open and jumped down from the cab.

“Let’s help!” she said to Joe.

Within a few breaths the passengers were at work — sketching calculations in their notebooks, erecting equipment she did not recognize, consulting each other in rapid technical shorthand. She caught enough words to understand.

They were going to shell the enemy from kilometres away.

She had known, in an abstract sense, that Graycastle’s artillery was without equal. Everyone knew it. But knowing was vastly different from watching. Something like awe moved through her as she studied the preparations — precise and unhurried, as if the men setting up those instruments did not find the distance remarkable at all. Every projectile was subject to gravity and wind; across long distances, even small variations compounded into wild inaccuracy. So how could anyone guarantee that shells fired from here would land where they needed to land?

Can that simple-looking equipment actually predict where a shell will fall?

If so, then the Church’s catastrophic defeat at Coldwind Ridge was not mysterious at all.

She could not contribute to this work. She circled toward the rear of the convoy instead, hoping to be useful with unloading.

The drivers had not been told in advance who or what the trucks were carrying — operational secrecy — but the weight of the loads had been obvious. Even an extra pair of hands could shorten the preparation time, and strength was one quality Farrina had never lacked.

What she found at the rear stopped her.

A group of powerfully built figures moved through the cargo work with startling efficiency. The heavy trailer-mounted firearms that would have required machinery to shift seemed to cost them nothing. They surrounded each long steel barrel and hauled it from the hardened road bare-handed, uncoupling the trailers with practiced ease. Their movements were familiar to her in a way that her mind assembled slowly into recognition.

Wait — is that the God’s Punishment Army?

No armor, but the power in them was unmistakable. The deliberate economy of movement, the particular set of their shoulders, the faces that time seemed to have passed over differently than it passed over ordinary people.

“Hey. We meet again.”

A hand landed on her shoulder.

Farrina spun. The voice — “Zo— Zooey?”

“I didn’t think you’d still remember my name.” Zooey laughed. “I thought you’d lead with Army Commander Enova.”

Farrina let out a long breath. “Then these people are all—”

“Taquila witches. Every one of them.” Zooey spread her hands. “See, I didn’t lie to you.”

There are several hundreds like me in Neverwinter. We use the bodies donated by the Church, so don’t be too flustered if you see someone you know.

Zooey’s earlier words came back to her exactly as they had been spoken. For a moment, Farrina had nothing to say.

Joe stepped forward and inclined his head toward Zooey. “Miss Zooey — I’ve always felt regret that I never had the chance to properly thank you. That we meet again now is fortunate. Thank you for rescuing Miss Farrina.”

“Miss Zooey.” Zooey considered this, then shrugged. “You have better manners than most, mortal. I’ll accept the thanks.” She glanced between them. “We can talk later. Right now there are demons to deal with.”

“Um—” Farrina couldn’t quite stop herself.

Zooey paused.

“Thank you. And—” Farrina steadied herself. “I am deeply sorry. For what the Church did.”

“You were not at fault. You were deceived. That’s all.”

She turned and walked toward the equipment setup without looking back.

Farrina opened her mouth, then closed it, and let out a quiet breath instead.

What she did not see: the corner of Zooey’s mouth, turned up slightly as she walked away.

The result was exactly as Iron Axe had described. As a driver, there was nothing Farrina could do to help.

In under fifteen minutes, the First Army had completed its firing preparations.

“Reporting — Cannons One, Two, and Three are loaded and ready!”

“Fire!” The command came without hesitation.

The cannons spoke. A curtain of snow-fog billowed upward from the base of each barrel. The sound crashed through the mountains like rolling thunder, repeating off every ridge and valley, fading only slowly into the cold air.

The ejected shell casings lay glowing in the snow, hissing quietly as they cooled. Fresh rounds went in while the casings were still settling. The Artillery Squad moved with the smooth efficiency of a single organism — not fast because they were hurrying, but fast because they never wasted a motion. The training was visible in every gesture.

Farrina began to understand that the First Army’s advantage over other forces was not only a question of weapons.

About thirty seconds later, she saw it — a column of snow and debris erupted on the distant mountainside.

Sylvie had a clear view from aboard Seagull.

Three rounds of artillery fire, traced through their full trajectories. All three had landed near the Fortress-like Monstrous Beast — the closest within three hundred metres. The sudden detonations threw the demons stationed around the structure into disorder. Several Devilbeasts threw open their wings and beat their way skyward.

She transmitted the trajectory adjustment data to the cannon commander below, then returned her full attention to the enemy’s movements.

“How are the demons responding?” Tilly asked.

“No sign of the main target moving. A small number of Devilbeasts have taken flight so far — but they should locate the convoy before long.”

“Our luck isn’t bad.” Andrea whistled.

Sylvie nodded, once, barely perceptibly.

No, it wasn’t. According to the General Staff’s plan, the counterattack unit had been prepared to continue firing even while defending against scouting demons, if necessary. The calculation was based on the accumulated experience of the engagement with the demon vanguard on the Fertile Plains — if the enemy commander had been Ursrook, anything inside twenty to fifteen kilometres was already deep inside the danger zone.

The Fortress-like Monstrous Beast was heavily guarded despite the battle that had just been fought — as a critical “moving obelisk,” it could not be left without protection, and a substantial number of soldiers and creatures remained stationed around it. But its security perimeter had proved porous. No Devilbeast had conducted a prolonged patrol of this region. That oversight was what had allowed Tilly to keep guiding the trucks forward all the way to eight kilometres from the target before ordering them into artillery position.

It meant only one thing: the enemy had grown careless after taking the four cities.

The second round of fire came.

With the adjustment applied, the aim was sharper. Two shells passed through the Fortress-like Monstrous Beast’s skeletal frame and detonated at its base one after another, killing several Mad Demons in the blasts. The third shot struck the beast’s enormous back directly, throwing a spray of snow and dark, wet ruin into the air.

The Monstrous Beast screamed — a sound that had no human equivalent — and lurched forward two steps.

Devilbeasts rose from all directions, converging in the sky.

But by the time they located the source of the attack, five minutes had passed. In prior battles, five minutes was not considered slow. Against a Longsong Cannon at eight kilometres, five minutes was enough to fire ten rounds — adjustment time included.

This was not the kind of engagement they had fought at Taquila, where a precisely placed “short-leg shot” ended the battle in a moment. What was happening here was slower and more methodical, and for that reason far worse. Round after round worked through the skeleton body, each shot finding something it had missed before. The upper frame was pocked and cracked; through the broken lattice of bone, the great beating heart of the thing was visible, and the blue blood running freely from the wounds. However desperately the beast tried to move, it could not outrun a trajectory calculated before it started moving.

When one more round punched through the body, the beast screamed again — and then, all at once, a streak of blue light pulsed across its vast frame, and the entire structure detonated.

Organs and blood rained down like a burst dam, painting the mountain snow in a color that had no name in any palette Farrina had ever considered. The emptied limbs lost their articulation and collapsed, telescoping downward onto the demons that had not cleared the radius in time, folding them flat under the weight.

“Careful — they’re coming!”

Sylvie’s warning reached the convoy at the same moment the Devilbeasts broke formation and turned toward the trucks.

Chapter 1339 - Furious Flames of

Counterattack Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations “Everybody get out of the trucks, now! Move as we practiced. Quick, quick!” The yelling from the cargo hold from truck snapped Farrina to her senses. “Let’s help too!” she said to Joe. She pushed open the door and jumped out of the driver’s seat. Within the span of a few breaths, the passengers started getting busy, writing and sketching in their books while erecting some strange equipment. From their conversations, the equipment seemed to be for helping the soldiers locate their target. At this point, even if Farrina was slow, she knew the First Army’s intention. They were planning on bombarding the enemy that was kilometers away! Although she knew that the people of Graycastle were the best at using artillery to attack enemies over long distances, knowing was vastly different to seeing. A shred of awe arose in her as she gazed at the scene before her eyes—all projectiles were affected by their own weight and wind. The further the distance, the bigger the influence. Even a small, tiny disturbance could dramatically affect the result, so how was it possible that they could guarantee that the projectiles fired by these weapons over such a long distances would land where they wanted it to? It couldn’t be that these simple looking equipment had the ability to predict the future? If that was really the case, the terrible defeat suffered by the church in the battle at Coldwind Ridge wasn’t strange at all. Farrina couldn’t help much at all with such technical work. She walked to the back of the convoy, hoping that she could lend a hand with the unloading. For the purposes of maintaining secrecy, drivers weren’t informed beforehand who or what would be carried by the trucks, but the convoy had definitely carried quite a lot of things. At times like this, an extra helping hand could at least speed up the preparation, Farrina may not be good at other things, but strength was something she was certainly not lacking in. But what she saw at the rear stunned her. At the rear, a group of brawny, strong men were carrying long wooden boxes with high efficiency. Those weighty trailer firearms didn’t seem heavy and awkward at all in their hands. After removing the couplers, they surrounded the long steel pipe and dragged it from the hardened road. What shocked Farrina even more was that among the group, she recognized some familiar faces. Wait… isn’t that the God’s Punishment Army? Even though they weren’t wearing armor, from their power, movements and appearances, she could tell that they were clearly the the once formidable warriors of Hermes. “Hey, we meet again.” Suddenly, someone patted Farrina’s shoulder. Farrina jerked around at the familiar voice. “Zo… Zooey?” “I didn’t think that you’d actually still remember my name,” Zooey laughed.” I thought that you’d still call me Army Commander Enova first.” Farrina exhaled deeply. “Then these people are all…” “Yes, they’re all Taquila witches.” Zooey spread out her hands. “See, I didn’t lie to you, right?” “There are several hundreds like me in Neverwinter. We use the bodies donated by the church, so don’t be too flustered if you see someone you know.” Zooey’s words resounded in her mind once again. For a moment, Farrina didn’t know how to reply. Joe lowered his head towards Zooey. “Miss Zooey, I’ve always felt extremely regretful that I didn’t get the chance to thank you last time, it’s great that we meet once again. Thank you for rescuing Miss Farrina.” “Miss Zooey? Mortal, you know your stuff, I’ll accept your thanks.” Zooey shrugged. “We’ll talk about the other things later, right now, we should focus on dealing with the demons.” “Um…” Farrina couldn’t help but utter as she watched the back of Zooey who was about to leave. “Hm?” Zooey stopped. “Thank you. And… I feel extremely sorry… for the mistakes that the church once made…” “You are not in the wrong. You’re only a person who got deceived, that’s all.” She waved her hand and walked toward the site where the equipment was being set up without looking back. Farrina opened her mouth, but could only release a soft sigh. But what she didn’t see was when Zooey left, the corner of her lips was curled slightly upwards. The result was as Iron Axe described—as a driver, Farrina didn’t manage to help out on anything. In less than fifteen minutes, the First Army had finished the shooting preparations. “Reporting No. 1, 2 and 3 cannons have finished loading!” “Fire!” The commander ordered without hesitation After a loud noise, a gauze of snowy fog flew up at the bottom of the cannon instantly. The sound of the explosion echoed continuously in the mountain, like thunder rolling across the horizon. The searing hot shell cases that were lined up in the snow made sizzling noises. New rounds were very quickly loaded in them, in preparation for the next firing round. The entire process went smoothly and the teamwork of the Artillery Squad was so good they seemed to move as one person. The extent of their training could be seen just from this detail. Farrina noticed that the difference between the First Army and other armies laid not only in their firearms. After about thirty seconds, she finally saw a column of snow rise in the mountain peak in the distance! … “The ground forces have begun firing!” Sylvie saw it everything from on top of ‘Seagull.’ After flying through a long projectile trajectory, the three rounds of artillery fire all landed near the Fortress-like Monstrous Beasts, with the closest one being less than three hundred meters away. The sudden explosion threw the stationed demons around them into a disarray. Some Devilbeasts flapped their wings and flew into the sky. After she informed the cannon commander of the trajectory adjustment information, Sylvie placed all of her attention onto the enemies’ movements. “How did the demons react?” Tilly asked. “There are no traces of the main target moving. Currently only a small number Devilbeasts have risen to the sky, it shouldn’t be too long before they discover the truck convoy.” “Our luck’s not bad.” Andrea whistled. Indeed, their luck was not bad. Sylvie nodded her head indiscernibly. According to the plan set by the General Staff, the counterattack unit had already prepared themselves to keep firing despite the scouting demons’ attempts to stop them if they were discovered before the approach of the Fortress-like Monstrous Beasts. The plan was based on the experiences accumulated during the battle with the demon vanguard army on the Fertile plains. If the enemy had been Ursrook, twenty to fifteen kilometres away would already be counted as a dangerous region. Although they just experienced a major battle, the majority of the forces were all sent to Sedimentation Bay. But as an extremely important ‘moving obselisk’, there were still many monsters and guarding soldiers stationed near the Fortress. But their security perimeter wasn’t completely impermeable—no Devilbeast had flown over this region for an extended period of time. Tilly got Sylvie to keep guiding the trucks forward precisely because the enemy hadn’t discovered the counterattack squad early on. Only until their distance was eight kilometres from the target did they change into the artillery firing position. This could only prove that the enemy had slackened after seizing the four cities! After a moment, the second round of artillery firing boomed. After adjustment, the second round of firing was a lot more accurate—two of them passed through the Fortress-like Monstrous Beasts’ skeleton and landed at its feet one after another, killing several Mad Demons in its explosion. The third shot directly shot into the Monstrous Beast’s enormous back, sending snow and bloody meat residue flying. The Monstrous Beast made an ear splitting scream, at the same time it took two steps forward. More Devilbeasts flew from all directions, and gathered into a group in the sky. But after they determined where the attack came from, five minutes had already passed—in past battles, it was not considered slow, but when facing the Longsong cannon eight kilometers away, five minutes was enough to fire ten rounds, and that was including the time taken to adjust the shots! The battle this time was not like the Taquila battle, ending the battle with the super accurate “short leg attack”. But to the enemy, their end would be far more terrible. Under the bombardment, the skeleton body was damaged. The top was peppered with holes due to the artillery rounds. Through the layers of cracked bones, the vibrating heart and the flowing blue blood could be seen. Even if it tried its best to escape, compared to the speed of the artillery fire, its attempt was not very effective. When another artillery round penetrated the body of the beast, it made a tragic roar. A streak of blue light flashed across its huge body before it exploded entirely! Organs and blood sprayed down like a waterfall, dyeing the snow on the mountain in an eerie color. The empty limbs seemed to lose their support and insipidly snapped apart, collapsing onto the demons who failed to escape in time, squashing them into a pile of twisted, battered skin. “Be careful, they’re coming!” At the same time, Sylvie warned the convoy that the demons were closing in.