I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1195 The Final Moment

Boom! Boom boom boom——!!!
The deafening roar of cannons shattered the tranquility of dawn, and shells rained down on the Roman walls like meteorites!
The sturdy Servius stone walls trembled violently before the firepower that was ahead of its time. Stone fragments and dust shot into the sky, and the defenders on the city walls were unable to raise their heads due to the sudden and fierce bombardment.

"Hold your ground! Everyone, take cover behind the battlements!"

Captain Lucius of the Royal Guard ran along the city walls, shouting, "Their cannons need time to reload! We'll launch a counterattack when the shelling stops!"

Generally speaking, that's certainly true.

However, the Han army's artillery bombardment did not end with a single salvo.

Su Yao adopted a meticulously designed tiered firing method, dividing the artillery into three teams to bombard the city walls in turn, ensuring that the firepower was poured on the walls of Rome almost continuously. This was a strategy that could only be adopted when a large number of artillery pieces were available.

Wars of annihilation are just that cruel.

Boom! Boom boom boom——!!!
Wave after wave of artillery fire rained down on the heavily fortified walls of Rome. This time, the target of the attack was the cannons positioned on the city walls.

Although those fixed artillery positions had been reinforced to a certain extent, they were quickly destroyed one by one under the heavy pressure of the repeated concentrated fire.

The solid iron ball whistled as it crashed into the city wall fortifications, instantly shattering the wooden cannon carriages. The heavy bronze cannon barrels were overturned and twisted by the immense force, and the ammunition of one cannon was even detonated directly, triggering a violent secondary explosion that sent the defenders on that section of the city wall, along with the battlements, flying into the sky.

"Our cannons! Bring up the spare cannons!" A Roman officer had barely shouted when the next volley of shells struck his bunker, smashing him and his shield into a bloody pulp.

The city walls trembled, and the rain of death continued for an entire morning. When the Han army's artillery bombardment finally found a longer respite, the Roman city walls were riddled with holes.

Their city defense weapons, such as cannons and catapults, were almost gone. The defending soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and even the sturdy city walls collapsed in large sections and had several shocking breaches.

Given such a devastating situation, generally speaking, the attacking side wouldn't even need to exert any further effort; the defending troops should have already obediently raised the white flag, come out to beg for mercy, and kowtowed.

However, these Romans seemed to have been injected with adrenaline, and they huddled behind the city walls, looking as if they were determined to fight to the bitter end.

"Do they really want to die?"

Out of humanitarian spirit, Su Yao sent an envoy to persuade Su Yao to surrender one last time.

As a result, the Romans were completely unmoved, and the envoy was shot back by a volley of arrows before he could even get close.

"Romans will never be slaves!"

"Eastern barbarians will never win!"

"Jupiter will protect us!"

The defenders roared wildly from the city walls, even pushing the bodies of their fallen comrades through the breach to show their determination never to surrender.

They were certainly not fearless.

However, the recent series of miracles have convinced them that they will ultimately win.

Before the battle, Augustus Albinus personally declared that as long as the fighting continued in Rome until the very last moment, the souls of all the fallen warriors would ascend to the Kingdom of God, and the survivors would witness miracles and win eternal glory!

"Stubborn fools!" Su Yao sneered, waving his hand to order, "Infantry, attack the city! The elite troops, charge!"

"Our resolve is to charge into battle, even unto death!" Gao Shun roared, personally raising his shield and leading the heavily armored Trapped Camp soldiers like a black torrent of steel, charging towards the largest breach in the city wall. A fierce battle for the wall erupted instantly. The Trapped Camp soldiers, braving a hail of arrows and javelins, fearlessly charged into the breach, engaging the defenders in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Ring-pommel swords clashed violently with Roman short swords; the dull thud of shields striking each other, the tearing sound of blades piercing flesh, and the cries of the dying filled the air. Every inch of the ground was stained crimson with blood.

The Roman defenders displayed astonishing resilience, utilizing their familiarity with the terrain to launch wave after wave of fierce counterattacks from the streets, rooftops, and ruins. The battle quickly spread from the breach in the city wall to the nearby streets, with fighting taking place house by house and alley by alley, the ferocity of which was beyond imagination.

Su Yao stood on the command platform, calmly observing the battle. He noticed that the Roman defenders' will to resist was unusually strong, even irrational. Many soldiers, despite being seriously wounded, continued to roar and fight to the last moment, as if driven by some force.

"Your Majesty, something is amiss." Guo Jia pointed towards Mount Capitol within the city. "Look there."

Su Yao gazed intently and saw a faint, dark red aura, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, swirling above the Temple of Jupiter atop Mount Capitol. Like an invisible vortex, it was slowly absorbing the blood and killing intent permeating the city. Meanwhile, the solidification progress of the "Anchor of Time and Space" had quietly climbed to [96/100] amidst the fierce battle.

"As expected, they are using blood and souls to power their forces." A cold glint flashed in Su Yao's eyes. "Order Zhao Yun and Ma Chao to lead the cavalry to break through the gap opened on the flank, strike straight into the city center, disrupt the enemy's deployment, and relieve the pressure on the front!"

"promise!"

Zhao Yun, clad in white robes and wielding a silver spear, and Ma Chao, in brocade robes and a lion-headed helmet, each led elite cavalry, like two sharp knives, swiftly penetrating the city through the flank breach opened by the main Han army. Their iron hooves trampled the broken streets, their spears and lances unstoppable, scattering the Roman infantry attempting to outflank them.

However, the closer they got to the city center, the more ferocious the resistance became. The Romans seemed to have lost their minds; commoners and slaves also took up makeshift weapons, howling as they joined the battle, using their lives to delay the Han army's advance. Numerous roadblocks and traps were set up in the streets, and stray arrows were constantly shot from the buildings on both sides.

"Zilong, the situation is dire!" Ma Chao swung his spear, sending a Roman soldier leaping from a rooftop flying. Looking around at the ever-growing number of enemies, he exclaimed, "Have these Romans gone mad?!"

Zhao Yun's silver spear moved like a dragon, felling several enemy soldiers. He said in a deep voice, "They've been bewitched by something! Mengqi, you go left, I'll go right, we'll take turns providing cover, we must tear open a path!"

While the fierce battle raged within the city, no one noticed that the Temple of Jupiter atop Mount Capitol was already stained with blood.

The once solemn temple has now become a bloody altar, where all its former masters perished.

The colossus of Jupiter, which they fought so desperately to protect, was finally toppled and shattered on the ground. In its place stood a black, rhomboid crystal that had grown to half a person's height and was now suspended in mid-air.

"The time is coming."

Surrounding the rhombus-shaped crystal, the three black-robed, masked apostles seemed to see the bloody battle in the city reflected in the pitch-black depths.

"How sweet is the taste of struggle?"

"Come, come, let's fight and slaughter to our hearts' content, let this grand blood sacrifice become the perfect stepping stone for our Lord's descent!"

Despite the heavy resistance from the Romans, every step of the Han army's advance was accompanied by endless bloodshed, which rapidly fueled the "anchor point." In particular, the participation of Roman civilians accelerated their sprint towards the final critical point.

97.

98.

99!

The three masked apostles revealed a smug sneer, as if they could see this enormous energy finally condensing into a physical form, with a dark barrier enveloping the sky above Rome.

However, at that moment, the temple's tightly closed doors suddenly collapsed, and Augustus, who was supposed to be guarding outside, was sent flying through the doors and crashed heavily onto the stone floor inside the temple.

At the main gate, Su Yao, clad in golden armor, descended like a god, accompanied by generals such as Lü Bu, Guan Yu, and Dian Wei!

(End of this chapter)