Chapter 63: The City Falls!

From forming the alliance to the ultimate outbreak of the main quest, the Battle of the Five Armies, a total of 48 hours had been allocated.

What level of preparedness could be achieved within 48 hours?

Aside from creating spike pits and barricading the alleys within the city, the Apostles had devised various siege-defense equipment tailored to the local terrain.

Li Xia’s gaze suddenly sharpened as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Release!"

Several Apostles hoisted thick, heavy logs and hurled them down with all their might. The side of Dale facing the Lonely Mountain was a slope, and the logs rolled down the incline like steamrollers with a thunderous rumble, kicking up massive plumes of dust.

The Orcs in the path of the logs had only enough time to emit terrified shrieks before being crushed beneath them. The enemy forces currently assembling below were instantly thrown into chaos by the sudden assault, many of the greenskins being knocked over by the timber and filling the air with miserable screams.

Towering trolls roared and charged forward, attempting to stem the rolling logs, yet even these creatures, standing over three meters tall, let out high-pitched cries of agony.

However, ignoring this, Li Xia continued to direct the others to cast down more logs.

Log after log rumbled and tumbled down the steep slope, until the Orc assembly area was already littered with dozens of haphazardly strewn timbers.

Those Orcs frantically gestured for men to move the logs, while large groups of them gathered alongside the obstructions, preparing to disperse and assault other sections of the city wall.

Li Xia turned his head to look at another Apostle—a skinny, bespectacled man who went by the moniker "Baron of Destruction" in the chat channel.

"Your turn!"

The Baron of Destruction nodded nervously. Standing at the edge of the wall, he began to chant incantations under his breath as his face flushed bright red. After muttering for nearly a full minute, he pointed straight ahead toward the cluster of logs.

Suddenly, a magic circle flared with light above the timber, and a massive fireball materialized from within, hurtling downward with a piercing whistle.

This was a skill the Baron of Destruction had acquired in his solo trial, known as the Fireball of Destruction.

Although its destructive power was formidable, it was extremely difficult to cast, requiring the caster to stand completely still and chant for a full minute.

Furthermore, its range was limited—its current maximum limit was one hundred and fifty meters—and the caster had to maintain visual contact with the target throughout the entire incantation.

Crucially, the descent speed of the fireball was not particularly fast; anyone with all four limbs functional could easily run out of harm's way during its descent.

This practically doomed the technique to being useful solely against stationary objects.

True to form, the Orcs screamed and scattered as the fireball plummeted. Yet Li Xia's target was not the Orcs, but the logs.

"Boom!"

A muffled peal of thunder seemed to echo across the valley as several of the logs detonated violently. The remaining timbers were blasted airborne by the immense shockwave, emitting eerie, howling screeches and reaping through the area like a scythe through wheat.

Even more insidiously, the logs had been packed tight with stones, iron fragments, and other debris. Propelled by the explosive shockwave, these items transformed into deadly shrapnel, instantly sweeping the surrounding Orcs away.

The tremendous blast even caused a brief pause in the main battlefield within the valley. The various factions, who had been locked in fierce combat, halted their movements and looked around in bewilderment.

When they realized the explosion had been caused by their own allies, the morale of the Elves and Dwarves surged to even greater heights.

A mighty cheer erupted from the walls of Dale, and several Apostles cried out openly:

"Holy shit! 10% contribution share!"

"11%! Damn it, 11%!"

"I got 9%!"

Even Li Xia received his faction leader's commission of contribution points (10% of the contribution earned by his subordinate Apostles).

Those few logs packed with black powder had yielded a massive amount of contribution points. Gunpowder had long existed in Middle-earth; the Númenóreans, long since fallen, had even invented engines.

It was just that gunpowder was mostly used for fireworks, and only Saruman of the White had ever utilized it to breach a city wall.

The three cheering men were the creators of the black powder and the teammates of 'Test Tube'—the brave soul who had melted Smaug’s golden-diamond armor only to be hammered into dust.

Because of their former professions or hobbies, all of them had backgrounds related to chemistry, so they had formed a small team called "Breaking Bad."

Regrettably, Test Tube was dead, a fact Li Xia found somewhat regrettable. Otherwise, according to his teammates, Test Tube’s innate talent had been 'Solvent Sublimation,' specializing in chemical concoctions, and his personal spatial inventory had been crammed with various raw materials.

Even concocting nitroglycerin would not have been difficult, and combined with solvent sublimation... Art was an explosion!

The other Apostles were driven to red-eyed envy by these staggering gains. Prior to entering the Sanctum, these individuals each possessed their own specialized skills. With Tier 1 skills still scarce and equipment incomplete, they had naturally gravitated toward utilizing what they had learned in the real world.

"Quick, quick, push our baby up!"

Several Apostles pushed a ballista out into the open. The craftsmanship of the Dwarves and Elves in Middle-earth was astonishingly fine; by paying with a majority of the gold coins they could not take with them, they had easily found indigenous craftsmen willing to help forge the components.

This ballista, modeled after the Roman scorpion, was modest in size, relatively simple in structure, and boasted decent accuracy. More importantly, it could be operated by just two people.

With the long bolt set in place and aimed at a troll, a resonant twang rang out, and the bolt shot forth like lightning.

The troll, over a hundred meters away, immediately emitted a piercing shriek as the bolt sank deep into its chest, exceptionally striking a vital organ.

"5%! Hahahaha!"

Although a single troll provided far less contribution than that recent explosion, a ballista was sustainable.

Those Apostles lacking special skills could only hold bows and arrows with envy and jealousy, searching for targets while secretly regretting why they hadn't paid more attention in school.

The commotion here finally drew the attention of Azog atop the peak.

Soon, the shrill horns of the Orc legion sounded once more. The chaotic greenskins seemingly found their backbone and began to disperse.

The outcome Li Xia feared most had finally materialized: there were simply too few of them, with two hundred people tasked with defending a city wall hundreds of meters long.

Once the Orcs scattered, it would ultimately become impossible to hold the line. This was why they had tried their utmost to barricade the other small alleys right from the start.

A horde of trolls wearing conical iron helmets, their red eyes blazing with fury, roared as they charged forward, leaping desperately as they neared the wall.

"Boom!"

Staggering to their feet, the trolls swayed for a moment before collapsing to the ground, but a massive breach had been blown open in the city wall.

Yet as the Orcs flooded into the city, they found themselves facing sealed-off alleyways. With the rear guard continuing to pour in, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and climb upward over piles of bricks and rubble like scaling a mountain.

Li Xia took a deep breath, whipped around, and commanded:

"Black Gorilla, take your men to block this wave of Orcs! Ranged units keep up the suppression, and those specialized in melee, follow me!"

He hurried down the stairs with his men and took his stand before the city gate, the long spear Seojung slowly materializing in his grip.

"Open the gates!"

————————————————

1. Monthly Votes 2. Recommended Votes

The siege battle could be expanded further, but dwelling on it too much loses its appeal. I’ve fast-forwarded a bit to return to the protagonist's main scenes as soon as possible.

The Middle-earth crafted by Professor Tolkien is actually Earth. According to the Professor's settings, we are currently in the Seventh Age.

This instance world belongs to the Third Age.