Alien world

Chapter 1866, Page 499: Three Mountains
"We'd better notify the other legions and have them move towards the Great Wall in the north as soon as possible to support us," the political commissar said decisively.

If the nearest musketeer legion arrives in time, the number will be reduced to "only" 5000 per soldier, turning "impossible" into "not impossible".

"Do as you say."

Fermi did not seek help from the kingdom or the empire. This is war, and everyone has their own mission.

The Skaven were frantically trying to stop the Empire. But apart from the Empire, no one knew the current situation in the North; even reconnaissance airships couldn't keep up with the speed of the Nationalist army.

The Kingdom of Dimon is also facing a rat swarm several times, or even dozens of times, larger than this one, in the wild where there is no terrain to rely on.

Fermi touched the summoning crystal in his arms through his breastplate.

This was given to him by His Majesty Annam before he set off; if used at a crucial moment, it could turn the tide of the battle.

However, Fermi didn't want to use it easily, nor did he want the soldiers, or even the political commissar, to know. If they knew, the war would turn from a perilous affair into a harmless trial.

Only he and Kirian knew about it—in case either he or Kirian were to sacrifice themselves and no one knew about Lord Annan's trump card.

……

Three hours later, the foremost "First Mountain" could already see the black line stretching towards the end of the mountains.

Fermi led one-third of his troops to garrison the First Mountain, Kirlian led one-third to garrison the Second Mountain, and Commissar Frank, after mobilizing the thousand Imperial soldiers and conscripted militiamen remaining on the city walls, led the remaining one-third to garrison the Third Mountain.

The mobilization process went smoothly. The Imperials were full of martial spirit and had little resistance to their little brother, Free City. They easily gathered nearly a thousand private soldiers, militia, and mercenaries from nearby territories to assist in the defense.

They couldn't help with the Three Mountains battle. Frank only brought more than two hundred rangers and mages to the front line for propaganda purposes, while the others stayed at the Great Wall in the north to dig trenches.

The three mountains made a striking noise, and the swarm of rats that were splashing in the valley surged toward the mountaintop without hesitation.

At 5 p.m. on June 18, the first shot to defend the Great Wall in the north was fired.

No matter how many times guns and cannons have been used—it's the first time for these short and ignorant rats.

When the continuous gunfire erupted, they cowered at the foot of the mountain as if stunned, mistaking it for some kind of thunderous magic. Only after circling around a few times did they launch an attack at the command of the gray rat.

The lieutenant Lordaeron personally took charge, picked up a rolling stone, and pushed it out of the trench.

The Skaven has no ranged units, so he can just stick his head out and watch his rolling stone crush a trail of rats, clearing a path a few dozen centimeters long, before bouncing and crashing into the swarm of rats, which is incredibly stress-relieving.

He could throw stones all day long!

After the first mountain where Fermi was located was gradually covered, the second and third mountains followed closely behind.

Gunfire thundered, shaking the clouds and sending up plumes of smoke that obscured the blood-red sunset. An endless black tide surged toward the mountaintop, transforming into a slippery carpet of flesh covering the rocks amidst bullets, shells, and rolling stones.

Logically, the first mountain, which was attacked by the ratmen first, should have been the first to succumb, while the second and third mountains, which were attacked several tens of minutes later, should have held out longer. But in fact, the rat swarm on the third mountain was already close to 100 meters from the summit.

Commissar Frank was located on the third mountain, which had a gentler slope and was backlit on the west side, affecting visibility. The rat swarm was rushing very fast, so the only option was to keep throwing rolling stones to slow down the ratmen.

"Die, move!" Some artillerymen had already fired, but seeing the rat horde advancing against the light, they became desperate and tried to level the muzzle like they had when they were fighting the ratmen in the far north. As a result, the shells rolled out of the muzzle before the fuse was lit, exploding before reaching the rat swarm and leaving a scorched mark.

Some brilliant mind was inspired and picked up a shell, lit it, and threw it down. He stared wide-eyed as the shell rolled into the swarm of rats, knocked down two or three ratmen, and then exploded, clearing a fan-shaped area with a radius of three meters.

The clever soldier's eyes lit up instantly. He called to his teammates to do the same, and then the word spread, with more and more soldiers following suit. Although hand-thrown shells were much weaker in power and range than artillery shells, they had the advantage of not requiring a complicated loading process.

Political Commissar Frank estimated the casualty ratio and immediately ordered the soldiers to put down their guns and manually throw shells out.

The shells, which could have lasted for an hour, were quickly depleted, and the Franks sent someone to urge the Northern Wall to move.

The soldiers who had just delivered the shells ran over shouting that the fighting was over, leaving the logistics personnel bewildered, but they still carried the shells into the portal.

After the crude yet unconventional shells repeatedly plowed the ground, the rat swarm that was originally close to the top of the mountain was actually pushed back down.

Frank instructed his adjutant to inform Fermi and Kirlian, then raised his binoculars.

Before long, the roar of artillery fire from the other two mountain peaks also became more frequent.

Not long after, Fermi sent someone to warn them to be careful of advanced units.

Just like all previous large-scale battles with the Skaven, the Skaven will first send out cheap slave rats and mixed rat hordes to wear them down. If they can't take them down in a short time, they will send out high-level units for a surprise attack.

They suffered many losses at Hell Mountain, so they always kept a hundred-man squad on standby in the trenches.

As expected, the prolonged siege of the mountain peak prompted the gray-haired rat, who was directing the attack from behind the scenes, to send out a squad of high-ranking ratmen. The moment the blinking rat appeared, it was met with concentrated fire from the waiting sharpshooter squad. It was left exposed, like Jerry turned into a showerhead.

The assassin-type blinking mouse couldn't withstand the attack and couldn't react in time.

After several waves of probing yielded no results, the Rat Swarm Commander abandoned the idea of ​​taking the hilltop quickly and instead opted for a strategy of attrition warfare—playing right into the Hellfire's hands.

Gunfire continued from dusk until nightfall, when the last rays of the setting sun disappeared into the depths of the mountains, leaving only a fiery red haze on the horizon, as if struck by a god.

The first wave of attacks has now exceeded their target of annihilating 300 million enemy troops, and by no means less.

The Hellfire Legion was unwilling to leave. For every ratman they killed here, one less ratman would arrive at the Great Wall in the north three days later.

But casualties began to appear.

It wasn't that the ratmen rushed up the mountain, but rather that the prolonged battle had exhausted the soldiers. The professionals were alright, but the unranked soldiers, under the intense pressure of the war and lacking rest, found it difficult to concentrate and mistakenly ignited the shells, forgetting to throw them.

Although his captain arrived in time to kick the shell away, the shrapnel that exploded five meters away still injured some soldiers and blinded one unlucky soldier in the eye.

Fermi realized that the soldiers were nearing their limit.

After all, it is still a legion mainly composed of ordinary people. Their energy and physical fitness are far inferior to those of professionals. This is not something that can be achieved by willpower alone.

(End of this chapter)