Chapter 123: Luke’s Five-Second Trap!
All 24 thousand archers released their arrows, and for a moment the sun hid behind them.
Everyone held their breath and waited. If the fortress could survive the arrows or not.
"My Lord, incoming attacks possess no serious threat to the fortress." One knight from the side said to Luke and also told him, that they don’t need to deploy stationary mode or Aether Shield for this.
Luke nodded, even though some of the arrows were released by Bronze Knights, but they were not their Aether attacks, so the fortress should be fine.
As the rain of arrows descended, the mechanical fortresses reacted instantly.
Rumble...!
Each fortress tilted backward in perfect synchronization, raising its massive frontal wall to face the incoming barrage. Forged from reinforced, enchanted steel, the thick armor became an impenetrable shield standing between the arrows and those behind it.
The next instant—
CLANG! CLINK! TING! KLANG!
A deafening storm of metallic impacts erupted across the battlefield.
Tens of thousands of arrows slammed into the enchanted steel, only to shatter, ricochet away, or fall harmlessly to the ground. Sparks burst with every collision, while the relentless barrage echoed like a thousand blacksmiths hammering their anvils at once.
Yet despite enduring the overwhelming volley, the colossal fortresses didn’t budge even an inch. They stood like immovable mountains, their enchanted walls effortlessly weathering the rain of arrows.
Seeing this everyone became astonished, but Alastair’s face fell, because they had failed the first attack completely and now the enemy’s attack would come.
And Luke did the same thing, "Ready the cannon." though this time only the people inside the fortress heard this.
"Yes, my Lord!" Every operator acknowledged in unison.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The next instant, hidden compartments on each fortress opened with a series of metallic clicks.
Ten dark-gray Aether Cannons, each fitted with a 2.5-meter-long barrel, slowly emerged from every fortress. Their muzzles gleamed with engraved runes as gears locked them into firing position.
In total...
One hundred Aether Cannons turned in perfect synchronization. Their barrels slowly rose before locking onto a single target.
The Ashenford archers.
An eerie silence settled over the battlefield as the black muzzles stared directly at the enemy ranks, their glowing runes humming with restrained destructive power. Even before a single shot was fired, the archers felt an instinctive chill crawl down their spines, as though those unfamiliar weapons were far deadlier than any ballista or siege engine they had ever faced.
The moment Alastair saw the rows of unfamiliar cannons locking onto his archers, his expression hardened.
Raising his sword, he bellowed,
"Shields up! Protect the archers!"
"Yes, Commander!"
Without a moment’s hesitation, thousands of shield-bearing soldiers rushed forward, forming layer upon layer of defensive lines in front of the archers.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Tower shields slammed into the ground one after another, creating a solid wall of steel.
Bronze Knights and seasoned veterans positioned themselves at the front, while the remaining guards reinforced the formation from behind, overlapping their shields until almost no gaps remained.
In just a few breaths, a massive defensive barrier stood between the mysterious cannons and the Ashenford archers.
Yet despite the seemingly impregnable formation, an unsettling silence lingered across the battlefield.
No one knew what those strange Aether Cannons were capable of. And that uncertainty alone made even the most battle-hardened soldiers tighten their grip on their shields.
Although the Small Aether Cannons had an effective range of five hundred meters, their maximum range reached one kilometer.
The enemy was well within range. So Luke gave a slight nod.
Instantly, the barrels of all one hundred Aether Cannons emitted a faint azure glow.
One after another, the engraved runes ignited, bathing the weapons in runic light.
Hummm...
A low, ominous hum spread across the battlefield as streams of Aether gathered at each muzzle, condensing into brilliant spheres of blue-white energy. The unstable orbs pulsed violently, causing the surrounding air to ripple and distort.
The shield knights standing at the front felt an overwhelming sense of dread from those cannons.
Every instinct screamed at them to run. Yet not one of them retreated.
Instead, they planted their feet firmly into the ground and tightened their grip on their shields, preparing to withstand whatever was coming.
Then Luke’s calm but commanding voice rang out.
"Fire."
BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOOOM!!!
A hundred Aether Cannons discharged at once.
Thunderous explosions shook the battlefield as hundreds of streaks of blue-white light tore through the air like blazing comets, hurtling toward the enemy formations.
A split second later—
BOOOOM!!
The condensed spheres of Aether crashed into the shield wall, erupting into blinding explosions that swallowed the front line in dazzling flashes of light.
Every direct hit unleashed terrifying destructive force.
Five Iron Knights were violently thrown backward with each impact, while the knight standing at the very center of the blast was instantly blown apart, his armor and shield shattered into countless fragments before his body vanished within the explosion.
And the ground where they stood only a scorched crater remained.
The same scene happened everywhere, which was followed by hundreds of pained and dying screams.
The onlookers faces became pale seeing this and they remembered, why the Machine Empire was known as the real beast in warfare.
Alastair’s expression was no better. From the previous impact, only the Bronze Knights had managed to remain unharmed, and that was solely because of their Aether.
Without it, even they would have suffered injuries from the force of the collision.
’Thousands of casualties, while the enemy has suffered none.’
As he counted the losses, Alastair’s mood sank even further. He turned his gaze toward Sorin, who stood there watching everything calmly, as if the deaths of thousands had not affected him in the slightest.
Sorin felt Alastair’s gaze and turned toward him, there he was gritting his teeth, but was not saying anything.
Witnessing the devastation, Sorin remained surprisingly composed and said "I will tak—" But before he could finish his sentence...
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
A second volley descended from the heavens.
But it contained hundreds of arrows which rained toward the battlefield, blotting out the sky.
’This is bad!’ Sorin’s expression changed instantly.
He hadn’t expected Luke to coordinate his archers with the cannon barrage.
So without hesitation, he roared, "Silver Knights, bring those arrows down! Bronze Knights, intercept the rest!"
"Yes, Commander!"
A ripple of panic spread through the Ashenford army.
Their formations had only just been shattered by the Aether Cannons, and before they could recover, another deadly attack was already upon them.
Fortunately, Sorin’s decisive command restored order.
The Silver Knights leaped into action, unleashing waves of sword energy and spear strikes to destroy the incoming arrows, while the Bronze Knights surged upward to intercept those that slipped through.
Within moments, discipline returned to the battlefield as every soldier resumed their position with practiced military precision.
Meanwhile...
Titan Luke watched everything unfold with a calm smile.
He quietly listened to the countdown coming from inside the mechanical fortresses.
"...Three."
"...Two."
"...One."
The volley of arrows had never been intended to inflict serious damage. It was merely a smokescreen.
A distraction to keep the enemy occupied.
Because Luke’s true attack had always been the Aether Cannons... And they required only five seconds to recharge.
"...Zero."
BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOOOM!!!
The battlefield shook as the Aether Cannons unleashed a second devastating volley.
This time, however, no one in the Ashenford army smiled. Instead their faces were drained of all color.
’Again...!’
In their haste to intercept the rain of arrows, the Silver and Bronze Knights had focused entirely on the sky.
None of them noticed the cannon barrels glowing once more.
By the time they realized what was happening... It was already too late.
Luke had deliberately ordered the cannons to target the sections of the battlefield left undefended by the high-ranking knights.
BOOOOOOM!!
Resulting explosions tore through the Ashenford ranks one after another.
"Aaaagh!! Save me!"
"I... I don’t want to die!!"
"M-Mom...!"
Desperate cries echoed across the battlefield as soldiers were engulfed by the blasts.
Thousands of Body Temper Realm soldiers and Iron Knights were caught in the bombardment. Some were even hurled through the air, others were buried beneath the shockwaves, while those at the center of the explosions vanished in an instant.
Order collapsed.
The already shaken formations fell into even greater disarray, and fear spread like wildfire through the Ashenford army.
With every explosion, their morale crumbled further.
In stark contrast, the Blackstone forces erupted into deafening cheers.
"Long live the Lord!"
"Victory to Blackstone!"
Their voices thundered across the battlefield as hope surged through every soldier’s heart. Watching the once-overwhelming Ashenford army falter under the relentless cannon fire, their confidence soared, and their fighting spirit blazed brighter than ever before.
Nyra and Sophia also felt relief after seeing Luke was doing fine.
Many people can say, this is cruel. But Luke didn’t care, for him only one thing mattered, ’Never touch what’s mine.’
The system saw everything yet remained silent, because this was part of Luke’s growth and he didn’t want to interfere.
While Nyx, Myrkhal and Caelith, who were inside the real Luke, couldn’t see anything regarding clone Luke.
During this time, Luke was controlling the clone. Just then, he heard his mage’s voice.
"Master, we will reach the Viscount’s territory in half an hour."
Hearing this, Luke simply nodded without breaking his concentration.
’He is smart and possesses high-level technology.’
Sorin analyzed the situation carefully before raising his hand.
The moment he did, all the onlookers—and even those on Luke’s side—turned their attention toward him.
Behind Sorin, five hundred Arcane-grade magic cannons suddenly appeared.
They were a full tier above Refined-grade, and their overwhelming presence instantly changed the atmosphere of the battlefield.
"THIS!"
A few onlookers gasped, not because of the Arcane-grade magic cannons, but instead because of the numbers.
"Doesn’t the Viscount have only 1,000 Arcane-grade of these in his territory?"
"And now he has brought half of them here already. Seems like Viscount Aldric is really serious this time."
All of them discussed, how he took loans and even reduced the cost of knights training to purchase those cannons.
But when they compared them to Luke’s Warwalker fortresses they shook their heads.
"Those Small Aether Cannons seem to contain the punch of a Peak Iron Knight."
"But those magical cannons, even after being Arcane-grade, can only fire Peak Iron Knight-level attacks."
"Which is why Machine Empire tech was flourishing so much."
They discussed with regret, because many among them wanted Blackstone to lose.
But what can they do, cannons wear down fast, which was why one tier higher was needed for lower-tier attacks or used same level attacks at the risk of getting scraped the cannons.