Alien world

Chapter 1868, Section 501: The Eve
Out of pride or dignity, the empire refused to allow civilians to go to the battlefield, believing that war was none of their business.

Annan didn't care about this, and even felt that the Empire's actions were a violation of its own teachings—the "barbarians" of the past had a total population of soldiers.

Therefore, he had Fermi accept all these volunteers who voluntarily protected their homeland, and even had Evelyn write an article titled "The Skaven Army is Pressing In, and the Imperials Show Their Loyalty in Their Own Way" to praise them.

The result was that the news caused a sensation throughout the empire, with newspapers selling out and more civilians wanting to serve the empire heading to the Great Wall in the north.

Given the attack on Montreal Hills two weeks ago, waging war against the forces of Chaos is absolutely a matter of procedural justice in the Empire. No nobleman dares to accuse Annan Reeves of instigating the situation. At most, there are some criticisms: Annan Reeves' influence in the Empire is almost comparable to that of the government. So who is the outsider?
Annam ignored them, letting them discuss it if they wanted, since the more imperial people came to the northern Great Wall, the stronger the imperial border would be.

Standing before Fermi was a large group of people, including a bard dressed as a knight-errant carrying a bow and arrow, a berserker with bare chest and double axes, a swordsman in fine armor wielding a noble rapier, and a knight on horseback holding a four-meter-long lance.

They're elite mercenaries when divided into small squads, and each individual is also highly capable. But standing together in such a chaotic mess, they look like a rice paddy ravaged by a dragon—not a single inch of them is orderly. They resemble a disorganized rabble even more of a rout than scattered soldiers.
But standing beside Fermi, Kirian never doubted the fighting spirit of these warriors who had brought their own weapons, armor, and food to the Wall in the north. Compared to true warriors, all they lacked was an opportunity.

"You are heroes of Middle-earth, and the world and the stars will remember you."

The lead berserker, shirtless, tried to be as gentle as possible, but his voice still sounded like a roar: "If you can do this for the Empire, so can we!"

Fermi's plan for the more than 700 Imperials who had arrived earlier and were still arriving in droves was to have them keep a close watch on both sides of the main battlefield to prevent any rat hordes from sneaking over the northern Great Wall.

The Imperial soldiers who received the order were not entirely convinced. Although they were a disorganized, untrained, disobedient, and of varying strengths, they believed they could fight the Ratmen to the death.

"Freemen, I admit your muskets are powerful, but if the ratmen climb the walls, axes are more effective than guns!"

Political Commissar Frank smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern. We are prepared for this."

"Who is it?" the berserker roared defiantly.

Frank glanced in the direction of the portal: "If nothing unexpected happens, they've already been delivered."

The Imperials wouldn't have let it go unless they saw it with their own eyes.

Frank simply led them to the portal to see for themselves the pinnacle of Free City technology: the Knight Golem Improved Type 1.

boom--

boom--

boom--

A sound like hundreds of hammers striking an iron felt suddenly echoed from the city wall.

The Imperial soldiers standing nearby looked up and around: "What was that sound?"

The ranger identified the source of the sound and stared intently behind the portal, saying, "Footsteps?"

Then, to everyone's astonishment, the knight golem stepped out.

Tall, imposing steel bodies, serrated and sharp like a serrated sword capable of cutting through anything, and almost identical footsteps.

They'd seen golems before. Three-meter-tall golems were nothing special, but the ones marching out in formation weren't just a few dozen, or even a few hundred, but a full thirteen hundred.

The Imperials present, who had never even seen a thousand golems before, let alone a thousand pigs, were immediately awestruck by the knight golems. Even the deputy legion commander, Kirian, couldn't help but sigh, "This is the true achievement of Free City's development."

The cost of a Knight Golem is 70 gold nars, which is too expensive for a minor lord and less costly than training knights for a major lord. But for Annan, it's just right, even incredibly cheap.

For just 700,000 gold, you can have 10,000 killing machines made entirely of refined iron, each 3.3 meters tall, to fight for your people. Is there anything more worthwhile than this?

At least for now, no one who has seen the Knight Golem line can say it's not worth it.

The towering knight golems formed a procession stretching for kilometers, and then, like knight flags in a game of acrobatics, raised their serrated swords and transformed into statues standing along the edge of the city wall.

The ratmen climbed the Great Wall, and they will form the first line of defense.

These golems were not equipped with self-destruct runes. After all, the ratmen couldn't chew metal, and even if they lost their magic or were damaged, they could be dragged back for repairs and replacement of parts and then reappear on the battlefield at a very low cost.

I know you ratmen are fearless in the face of sacrifice, and your rat hordes are endless, but my golems are not even living beings.

The berserker yelled, "Damn it... if you had something like this... why did you call us here?"

Let alone 30 million ratmen, even another 30 million wouldn't be able to budge these killing machines...!
Frank frankly stated, "The Knight Golems currently have some flaws; each charge only sustains them for 10 minutes of combat, so they can only be activated at crucial moments."

Although it can be further improved, the manufacturing cost cannot be controlled.

Seventy gold nars, which can sustain ten minutes of combat or thirty minutes of activity after two hours of charging, is just within the acceptable range for lords.

Having learned from the experience of the Three Mountains, the Hellfire Legion also stockpiled a large number of cannonballs on the city walls.

When the rat swarm was less than 20 li (approximately 10 kilometers) from the Great Wall in the north, all the resistance troops and militia outside the wall retreated.

They built a series of traps outside the city walls, such as barbed wood and spikes, which were hundreds of meters long and resembled a breakwater. In addition to slowing down the movement of the rat horde, allowing the defenders to inflict more casualties, these traps could also be set on fire to create a wall of fire when necessary.

Small reconnaissance airships delivered by the portal patrolled along the Great Wall. Equipped with a rapid-fire musket, the reconnaissance knights could handle any swarms of mice on their own without needing to call for backup.

Meanwhile, reconnaissance airships, which are over five meters in size, can carry more cargo, and serve more than just reconnaissance purposes, are on their way.

In addition, “the Ranger Legion is speeding towards this side and is expected to arrive at the Northern Wall by tomorrow afternoon,” Lieutenant Lordaeron reported.

This was already the fastest the Rangers could travel without rest.

Tomorrow... the Hellfire won't be able to finish the battle in a day, and the rat horde won't be able to breach the Wall in a day.

The real battle probably won't begin until tomorrow.

Fermi looked into the distance; the approaching swarm of rats was so large that he could see the gray line rising on the horizon without even needing a telescope.

At this point, they only had one last thing left to do—guide the rat horde to successfully crash into the main area, which was protected by traps and the Hellfire Legion.

(End of this chapter)