Chapter 18: War of Attrition! [Request for Monthly Ticket]
2016-12-06
Author: Floating Tower
Soren, although possessing a vast empire, has relatively few troops he can mobilize within the confines of Modo City.
Even combined, the entire population of Modo Island is only about 400,000 to 500,000 people. The army in Modo City is roughly one-tenth of that, with around 30,000 regular troops in the inner city, 5,000 defenders in the port area, while the rest are mainly from fleets that occasionally rest on Modo Island, along with a large number of militia forces in various towns. This number is substantial, estimated to reach around 60,000 to 70,000, but the combat power of the militia is too low; a militiaman can at most deal with one or two skeletons and can basically be ignored in the face of a true Abyss Legion. Sending them to battle is tantamount to sending them to be slaughtered.
So considering this, Soren has very few forces he can concentrate in a short time.
The city’s defense army can muster about 20,000, and there are approximately 2,000 to 3,000 from the Church, witches, and professionists, with the core forces still being the Arcane Tower and Golem Legion.
Soren cannot afford to abandon the peripheral towns to fortify Modo City, as the twelve towns outside have a population of at least 100,000. If he allows them to be slaughtered by the Undead Army, his strength will diminish significantly, and his prestige and faith will be shaken immediately.
Thus, under these circumstances, Soren has only the option of a direct confrontation.
And there is no option to avoid battle!
When Orcus’s Undead Army gathers and launches its attack, all the troops Soren can muster in a short time are gathered in the plains.
Modo City has around 36,000 troops.
Orcus’s army numbers between 200,000 and 300,000.
This significant disparity of nearly ten times in troop strength puts immense pressure on them; however, the warriors of Modo City show no signs of fear or retreat, nor does their morale waver in the slightest.
Because the True God is with them.
The top combat power of Modo City gathers in unison, and above them hovers an Arcane Tower; the Maze’s domain has been activated, and the massive Golem Puppets form a defensive line. These powerful Construct Lives hold no disadvantage even when facing demons. Especially the scaled Iron Golem Legion, which possesses enough frontline combat power to withstand all bl**d War legions.
Whoosh!
A heavy horn sounds.
Countless Coward Demons are driven forward, as Orcus employs the familiar strategy of the Bottomless Abyss—using vast amounts of cannon fodder to wear down the enemy’s main force.
Within the nearly 300,000 Abyss Legion, the number of low-level demons reaches about 50,000, followed by approximately 100,000 low-level undead; these can all be freely consumed as cannon fodder, allowing them to overwhelm enemies with sheer numbers. Elite Demon Legions have been surrounded and exhausted alive by overwhelming low-level demons more than once.
“Shield formation!”
The deep roar of a Drow officer rings out, and soon in the defenses of Modo City, lines of fully armored warriors wielding massive metal shields step forward.
Among them are quite a few Grey Dwarves, who hold shields larger and heavier than themselves as if unconcerned. These Grey Dwarves are specially trained shield warriors, equipped in full armor, enchanted shields, and wielding one-handed warhammers, serving as the strongest defensive force of the legion to withstand the frontline attacks.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The heavy sounds of artillery fire erupt.
A batch of cannons is urgently brought in through the portal from the rear, while also receiving long-range artillery support from warships in the inland rivers.
However, none of this is the key to determining the battle. Under Gloria’s command, the witches collaboratively cast spells, and concentrated fireballs rain down, directly creating a blossoming effect in a radius of one hundred meters, with each casting taking away thousands of demon cannon fodder.
Nearly 100,000 cannon fodder draw closer, swiftly collapsing as they advance.
After just five or six rounds of attacks, 30,000 to 50,000 low-level demons and low-level undead have been eliminated, and Orcus at the rear can’t help but frown.
The organizational capability and discipline of Modo City’s army completely exceed Its expectations, giving It a feeling of confronting the Demon Legion. During the bl**d War, elite demons have also disregarded such massive numbers, efficiently cleaning out wave upon wave of demon cannon fodder.
Soren’s trials of the battle standard have begun to bear fruit.
The main objective of these trials is to combat demons, and most of the officer ranks in Modo City have participated in them, so when truly facing the Undead Army, they remain calm and composed.
When officers are unflustered, the soldiers beneath them won’t panic, and all commands are executed in an orderly fashion, resulting in a rapid decrease in enemy numbers under the onslaught.
“Clay Golems, enter combat status!”
The clay golems, making up the majority of Modo City’s forces, begin to step forward, nearly 6,000 clay golems mixed with stone golems form the first line of defense.
As the massive waves of 70,000 to 80,000 undead cannon fodder approach, the clay golems remain unchanged; their strength value of 25 crushes the enemies directly. In an instant upon contact, 7,000 to 8,000 skeletons and Coward Demons are ruthlessly smashed, and the specialization [Defend and Counter] is primarily designed for defense, resulting in incredible effects against cannon fodder.
Moreover!
The most crucial point is that while clay golems have some of the lowest combat power among golems, they possess a very powerful ability.
They have roughly 10 points of damage resistance and perform well against bladed weapons, allowing them to gradually recover their injuries during battle. Modo City has not created large or giant clay golems, preventing them from contending with high-level entities, but their numbers alone are sufficient to crush these cannon fodder.
Batch after batch of demon cannon fodder falls.
The Coward Demons are the first to break under the pressure and begin to scatter swiftly, even the Demon Overseers cannot intervene.
The frontlines leave behind 30,000 to 50,000 demon corpses, while the destroyed clay golems amount to only around 100 or 200. Skeletons and zombies hardly provide any significant utility, especially when facing stone golems, making it difficult for them to breach defenses.
—“Earthquake Spell!”
The ground begins to shake violently.
A small group of necromancer wizards, led by a lich, stealthily approach and then unleash a massive earthquake spell, causing many clay golems to begin to crack. This spell causes significant damage to clay golems. However, they only had this one opportunity; as soon as they cast the spell near the battlefield, they were completely exposed, and the blessed assassins of Soren quickly took them out.
The battlefield has entered a war of attrition.
The army of Modo City stands by in the rear, while the clay golems begin to wear down the cannon fodder in front of them; for nearly every destroyed clay golem, the undead must pay a hundredfold cost.
The basic cost of a single clay golem exceeds 3,600 gold coins.
If sold on the market, they would be around 15,000 gold coins (requiring a spell to activate).
At this moment, Soren shows no signs of being troubled; he watches without blinking as the clay golems engage in a war of attrition against the demon cannon fodder before him, the main force has essentially ceased attacking as Soren brute-forced the enemy by expending nearly 1,800 clay golems to wipe out close to 100,000 undead cannon fodder.
He has long been prepared to use Gind to hammer away in this war of attrition against demons.
……………(To be continued ~^~)
