Chapter 9: The Siege of Fort Kron

***The First Attack***

General Lionel gave his rousing speech and the Seventh Army prepared themselves for the battle ahead. Lined up in front of their encampment were a good number of siege towers. All of them manned and ready to push towards the fort. The Succours took to the skies and the Saboteurs tunnel through the ground. The Warriors and the Cunnings manned each tower and made an assault line.

The Analysts, on the other hand, were at the far back, charged with bombardment duties. Klauna was on the top of a watchtower, overseeing the battlefield— getting ready to direct her battalion on where to strike.

Klauna had originally wanted to soften up the enemies by launching several long-range strikes against the fort via ordinance. The plan, of course, was rejected by the other captains who think the plan was just a waste of time. They had no patience for it and wanted to hunt for glory in battle as soon as possible. Klauna only agreed and got her battalion to speed up construction of the siege towers.

She did tell her men to construct them as sturdy and as best they could in the time given, but she could not guarantee such a hastily made work would be able to last that long in the battlefield.

The loud sound of a horn rang out across the area and everyone started to move forward. Klauna gave the signal to Harbin and Yuupiecca and they started to prep up the magic circles.

In the past few months, when the war started, the Ak’hims had invaded the humans without warning. Relationships were never good among the two races, but there had been quite a long period of peace between the two, causing border defence to slack. When the Ak’hims attacked, the humans were caught completely off guard and scrambled to get whatever troops they could get to hold off the invasion. Militias and often times inexperienced armies and mercenaries.

It was easier then, for a powerful race like the Ak’hims, to destroy an enemy that outnumbered them ten to one. Pit any soldiers against farmers and that one soldier can easily kill up to fifty. 

But this was no longer the case. Their momentum into the human country slowed down to a crawl for a reason. The demons have long lost their chance to win this war. They were simply too slow. The humans have managed to rally up their troops, their elites, their trained soldiers, their great generals and tacticians. Six months was also enough time to train a peasant to a well-armed soldier.

The demons always had superior physical capabilities over a human. But this does not mean that humans are weak. They are a short-lived race that had an uncanny ability to adapt to their surroundings. What can take other races years to learn, a human can do in months. Given enough time, training, luck and maybe talent, a human can match against a demon lord, although such an occurrence is rare.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the average human soldier can match up with an average Ak’him soldier right now. However, Klauna does not believe that humans can fully mimic years of experience in such a short span of time. 

What’s more likely to happen is that the humans made good enough soldiers for the war. With teamwork and a little bit of ingenuity, they would gang up on a single opponent to defeat him. And such, this is indeed what was happening right now. The humans have good enough soldiers and generals to match the Ak’hims.

It was what Klauna was afraid of. The reason why she deduced the Ak’hims will lose is simply that the enemy's skill ceiling has gone up. Normally, that wouldn’t be much of a problem. The real scary part was, despite their heavy casualties, the humans managed to maintain superior numbers. 

The enemies had both quality and quantity.

Then there was also the fact that they are trying to conquer a fort with numbers eight times below what is needed for a smooth capture. It was nothing short of suicide.

The other demons would soon learn that taking this fort would not be as easy as they originally presumed. Roaring screeching sounds could be heard from above. Several dozen streaking balls of multiple colours flew through the air were seen flying towards the Seventh Army.

“Interception missiles now! Intercept those strikes!” Klauna yelled out to her men before pointing out certain targets that she wanted to be taken down first.

Klauna had predicted that the humans will try to strike down the Ak’hims before they come too close to the walls. Streaks of flying red coloured light came from behind Klauna and intercepted the enemy’s artillery strike. 

The red lights from Klauna's battalion flew in straight lines towards their intended targets. The interception bolts clashed with the enemy's barrage and exploded mid-air, completely annihilating the threat it posed to the soldiers below.

However, despite the bombardment being intercepted, multitudes of ordinance still landed on the Seventh Army. The magic shell smashed through the siege towers and the people inside.

The enemy has more numbers than them. It was obvious as day that they will have a much bigger bombardment size than the Ak’hims. There were simply not enough Analysts and magic circles in the Seventh Army to intercept all of the bombardment. Klauna had to make a choice on which strikes to neutralize. 

And choose she did. 

She told her men to prioritize protecting Lionel’s, Cera’s, Kazakiel’s and Medica’s group. Lionel and Cera were obvious, they are the leaders and the backbone of the army— they mustn’t be allowed to die here. Kazakiel was one of the few captains in the army that actually has a brain. His group was one of the more well-rounded battalions in the army. Klauna needed his scouts to stay alive. Last but not least, Medica. Although her battalion took to the skies, her small division of medics and support staff were not. The Seventh Army will need her medical division alive if they are to heal the wounded.

The rest of them will have to fend for themselves.

After several hard beatings from enemy bombardment, Lionel sounded his horn and ordered for a retreat. The Ak’hims immediately ran back to their encampment to escape the magic explosions. 

“Captain Klauna! Coordinates of the enemy mages have been deduced!” Poi came out of nowhere and handed Klauna a piece of paper before running off into the distance again.

Klauna quickly opened the paper and analysed the coordinates. She only has one strike against the humans. She needed to make it count. Having decided on her location, she yelled the coordinates towards Yuupiecca. “Counter Artillery at these coordinates!”

Yuupiecca alongside his soldiers revved up the large magic circle underneath them. Within the circle was Yuupiecca himself, along with Yuuka and Yuuki. The outside of the circle was surrounded by Analysts providing mana and magic power to the circuit. After several moments of casting, a large roaring sound was heard and a large ball of magic flew up into the skies.

This strike was much larger than any other ordinance in the air and was moving at extreme speeds towards the fort. The humans tried to intercept it, but the ball only became bigger at every intercepting strike towards it. It is a special spell made by Harbin’s hard work and Yuupiecca’s Ingenuity. The ordinance then landed onto a specific area within the fort and a large explosion occurred at the point of impact.

The sound of the explosion reverberated across the battlefield. Clouds of dust could soon be seen coming out of the fort.

First attack results:
Seventh Army               : 120 deaths, several injured. Meathead captain missing in action.
Human defenders        : 600 mages and several dozens supporting personnels.

Due to the significant amount of injured troops, Medica’s support division was repositioned to the camp rather than offence.

***The Second Attack***

The Ak’hims quickly rebuilt their siege towers and prepared themselves for a second attack on the enemies. Due to the significant damage that the Analysts dealt to the enemies, there were noticeably fewer artillery strikes coming towards the Seventh Army. This allowed the Analysts to intercept most if not all of the incoming strikes towards the siege towers.

Once the Seventh Army got near the walls, several hundreds of human archers started raining down arrows towards them. Most of the Ak’hims were prepared for this and raised their shields to block the arrows. Some erected barriers and some hid behind the safety of the siege towers.

In order to deal more damage to the enemies, Captain Laigon instructed his Saboteurs to climb the walls so that they may assault the enemy archers via a flank attack. They used their sharp claws and tails as some sort of climbing device and arrived at the top of the walls.

With their numbers swiftly cutting down the human archers above, the Warriors below managed to secure an opportunity to attach one of the siege towers to the wall. They soon come pouring out of the siege tower and onto the walls, killing more humans.

At first, the demons seemed successful, but their efforts were soon met with resistance as the humans started to flock the walls. Some humans were holding torches. They were led by a gaudy general with a crown on his head. He gathered his elite retainers and led a reckless charge towards the siege tower, beating and sending every Ak’him in his way flying off the walls. Once the humans reached the towers, they started to throw torches at it.

It wasn’t enough to burn the Siege towers, but the towers were not their aim. Their aim was the ground beneath the towers. One of the torches fell down and the ground soon erupted into fire. It was a fire so fierce that it engulfed the siege towers. Having their only method of entering the fort in flames, the Ak’him had no other choice but to retreat from the battle.

Most of the Ak’him managed to escape before the fire consumed them. But the ones on the walls were beyond hope. They no longer had any means of escape and was soon cut down one by one by the humans. 

Klauna noticed that the humans might shoot their arrows towards the retreating demons and ordered her men to bombard the walls so that they may buy time for the other Ak’hims to retreat. This meant bombarding her own allies that were stuck on the wall alongside the enemies. The Analyst was hesitant, but Klauna mentioned that she will take the blame for the fall. That if they don’t do it, more of the Seventh Army will die.

With heavy hearts, Yuupiecca’s division launched a decisive artillery strike on the walls of Fort Kron.

Second attack results:
Seventh Army             : 200 deaths, several injured. Captain Laigon and an Unknown Warrior captain killed in action.
Human defenders      : 900 dead men. Mostly archers.

***The Third Attack***

The Ak'hims were relentless and opted for a third Assault on Fort Kron. This time it was a two-pronged attack. Due to the massive damage dealt to the enemy's mage corp and archers, the Succours felt confident that they could launch an attack from the air. Using their mobility in the air, they can easily whittle down the humans below.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't Klauna who objected to the idea but rather Cera who mentioned that archers can be made easy, that they were also not safe from anti-air magic. Not to mention that the Succours will not have any ground support. The Vice General decided that they may have a better chance to break the gates as they have a battering ram available. And that their air support could prove to be helpful against enemy strikes.

The Succours, led by Captain Lina however, refuse to assist as she thinks that her idea was better and didn't need any help from the other battalions. She was fully looking to claim the glory of taking the fort down. Unable to strike a mutual ground, General Lionel ordered that they both strike and thus the two-pronged attack proceeded.

Klauna thought that the plan was half-baked and useless. What good does splitting their already small forces further?

Still, Klauna had to choose to support one of the two attacks. She decided to support Cera's battalion and ordered the Analysts to erect a barrier around the battering ram. It was a portable one that can only last a short while, but enough to last till the ram reaches the gate. Klauna then ordered her battalion to prepare for large scale bombardments— to cover for Cera where the Succours wouldn’t.

The sound of the horn rang out in the area and the Ak’hims charged forth once again. Cera’s battalion moved in a single column, pushing the ram that was covered by a large barrier. The other Ak’hims attacked again using more siege towers, this time supported by Succours who roam freely in the air.

Safe to say, the attack was futile. The humans immediately gathered all their archers and took aim at the Succours. Normally arrows are not enough to shoot down a Succour as their reptilian wings were rather durable. 

However, these arrows were laced with a poison of sorts which muddled their reaction time, slowing down the Succours movement in the air. It wasn’t enough to take them completely out of the air, but it was enough to make them vulnerable enough to be hit by anti-air magic. Captain Lina who was the first one to reach the walls was hit by one such spell. Her body was now falling from the skies like a bird which got hit by lightning.

Cera, on the other hand, was much more successful, having managed to reach the gate almost unopposed. Thanks to the barrier, they were largely protected from the arrows and bombardments the humans could throw at them. 

Although, the enemy, isn’t just going to stay down and let the Ak’hims destroy the gate. The demons were shocked when the humans opened the gates and a few thousand humans charged forth at Cera’s division. In a gambit to protect their gates, the humans have launched themselves into a suicide attack to destroy the battering ram.

Klauna herself didn’t expect this to happen, that the humans would do such a reckless move, but her battalion was in a position to intercept the humans. The Analysts could kill thousands of humans right now and Cera would have the opportunity to storm the fort from the gate. Given enough luck, this event might even snowball into a victory. She called Yuupiecca to begin bombardment on the humans charging from the gates.

However, before she could call out, Poi’s voice rang out for all the Analysts to hear. “Ambush! The enemy is upon us!”

For the first time since the war began, Klauna’s heart raced and she was in shock. She quickly regained composure and yelled back at Poi. “How many? What is our status?!”

“About five hundred lightly equipped soldiers are running into our position. The traps we laid are slowing them down for now! Senior Balestra and the others are currently engaging them via hit and run tactics!”

‘Lightly equipped...’ Klauna thought to herself.

She then deduced that these might be the enemy’s scout group that was lying outside the fort in wait or snuck out of the fort during the night. If the Analysts stopped bombardment now, Cera’s battalion would be wide open to attacks. Klauna immediately began thinking up a way to split up her men so that they may still defend themselves and still give cover to Cera’s battalion.

The thing is, no matter what kind of ratio she comes up with, she just couldn’t see an outcome where her battalion could do both of the options without some casualties. Was the value of some of her soldiers worth saving a few hundred Ak’hims and possibly even a victory against the humans?

No. 

Klauna valued the few men she has more than the hundreds of Ak’hims out there in the battlefield. Her soldiers she knows she can trust. Cera’s soldiers she does not.

“Halt the bombardment! Everyone, get ready into defensive positions! Harbin, the spears!”

“Yes Ma’am!” Harbin yelled back and quickly gathered all the spears she could before climbing up the watchtower to join up with Klauna.

Everyone else immediately left their post and quickly equipped themselves with their weapons of choice. They then set up in various defensive positions around the encampment, waiting for the enemy to come to them.

Klauna picked one of the spears up and started to pour mana into it. The spear was specially made and has tons of magic inscriptions all over it. Throwing this spear at a target will cause it to explode proportionate to the mana supplied to it.

Outside the edge of their camp, Balestra and his division could be seen zig-zagging at high speeds, occasionally turning around to shoot arrows at the enemies. They were running away from a horde of humans who were charging recklessly through the woods into the Analyst's position.

“Mass Liberation!” Klauna yelled out the name of her skill and threw out the spear towards the enemy. The grade six skill ‘Mass Liberation’.

A large explosion soon engulfed the humans. It was followed by streaks of light and physical objects flying towards the woods, hitting more of the humans. The Analysts threw all they could at the incoming humans. This includes Klauna who continued to launch spears at the humans without impunity. 

No one was spared from her wrath. Anyone that looked even remotely like a threat was blown apart to pieces from her strong spell. Those that ran away had their escape path blocked with several big explosions launched from Klauna. She even threw spears at the dead ones, to make sure they were really dead.

She spared no expense in making sure her men were safe.

Third attack results:
Seventh Army                : Total 417 deaths, 137 Succours. Almost half of Cera’s battalion killed, 280 men. Captain Lina severely injured. Her wings are deemed too damaged for recovery. Now in a coma from head injuries.

Human Defenders        : Total 1412 deaths. 560 from scouting groups. 852 killed by Cera’s division.

Total remaining(estimated)
Seventh Army   : 2350
Humans             : 9393

Kotohood

Funny story during the editing of this chapter. I got a few beta readers and one of them loved these battle results(Helps him/her consolidate the situation and the results) while the other one didn't really like it(He/she said that the results could have been incorporated into the story/dialogue/interactions and make the read more emotional/interesting). The last guy I asked told me that he didn't really care.

So then with these kinds of feedback, I had to sit back and think about the things for a while. Then it suddenly hit me when I was watching someone play Starcraft(this was during the world championship). I always loved RTS games and usually, my favourite part of the game was the results where we get to see all the statistics. It is always exciting to know how many people die. It was then that I decided that, that feeling was not a lie and decided to just include the battle results.

 

TLDR: I have no idea what to write in the author notes, so I'm just rambling about random stuff. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!