Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

In an instant, hundreds of torches were lit in front of the city walls, as if an entire army was moving in the darkness. Accompanied by the swaying of the torches, the Venetian soldiers' shouts of killing rose and fell like waves, battering the defenders' morale.

In their panic, the defenders fumbled as they loaded their muskets and cannons, strung their crossbows, and searched senselessly for arrows.

The officers of the Confederation could no longer spare a thought for conserving gunpowder, urgently urging the artillerymen to fire as soon as they were loaded.

In that moment, the defenders fired countless bullets and arrows toward the distant torches and shadows, relentlessly repeating the process of loading and firing.

Fear is contagious, and the thunderous presence of the Venetians plunged the defenders into terror; only firing at the enemy gave them a semblance of security.

Under the cover of shouting, the glow of fire, and the sound of gunfire, a large number of Venetian soldiers were pouring out of the tunnel directly facing the city gate and the bastion, these soldiers neither shouted nor carried torches; in groups of three, carrying ladders and led by officers without night blindness, they rapidly advanced toward the bastion.

Field Colonel and a few other crossbowmen who had quietly approached near the bastion were waiting for them.

The defenders on top of the bastion immediately noticed something was amiss; the fire basins by their side blinded them from seeing the open space ahead, but the sound of footsteps was clear and getting closer.

While the noise from the east and west was deafening, from the perspective of the bastion, it was clear: the torches were not nearing the city walls, but moving back and forth.

Sanogaila, the captain in charge of defending the bastion, realized that the movements on the east and west sides were only feints. He shouted in desperation to warn those on the city walls, but the defenders had already succumbed to a frenzied state; even the few who noticed him were of no use.

Helpless, Sanogaila had no choice but to send runners back to seek reinforcements via the drawbridge between the bastion and the city walls.

But it was too late, a large number of Venetians surged out of the mist-like darkness, making Sanogaila take a sharp breath of cold air

The defenders shot and killed the front row of Venetians, but for each one that fell, more emerged from the night.

Like the city walls, the temporarily constructed bastion in front of the gate lacked the protection of a moat. Its main material was earth to resist cannon bombardment, with a height of only around five meters.

The triangular structure eliminated any blind spots for firepower, and the back wall could provide full-coverage fire support. The low and thick main structure not only absorbed the force of cannonballs but also allowed the city walls behind it to conduct enfilade fire.

This was a fortress of the new era, which Antonio aimed to breach tonight using the tactics of the old times.

Without the protection of a moat, the ladder-bearing Venetian soldiers carried their ladders to the base of the bastion in one fell swoop and began to climb.

The Venetians' reckless determination chilled Sanogaila to the bone. He shouted loudly, commanding the defenders to counterattack.

The defenders on the bastion dropped their muskets and hurled large stones down on the Venetians. Those hit by the stones were killed on the spot.

The pitch had not had time to boil before it was poured down the walls. The Venetians doused in the scalding pitch let out ghostly howls as torches were subsequently thrown down from the city walls, turning them into burning men.

The four-pound and eight-pound cannons, loaded with a dozen walnut-sized iron shots, fired at the Venetians, each shot stirring up a storm of flesh and blood.

The cannons and matchlock guns roared incessantly; the dying shrieked with chilling despair amid the thick smoke and raging flames, as if the whole world was on the verge of destruction.

But even with their stubborn resistance, the defenders could not stem the tide of the Venetian assault.

Tonight, Antonio and Layton deployed two large battalions to simultaneously attack both flanks of the bastion.

The two battalions tasked with the main assault were selected elites from two legions. The colonel leading the battalions was now stationed under the bastion's wall, commanding the troops, while the centurions, biting down on their daggers, were the first to climb.

After a considerable number of casualties, a small portion of Venetian forces quickly scaled the bastion and engaged in close combat with its defenders.

Field, seeing this unfold, was frantic with urgency. He had missed out on the main assault task tonight; his duty was to command the musketeers in providing covering fire for the assault battalions.

However, due to the limited speed of deploying troops through the tunnel, two hundred-man musketeer squads were lagging behind. By the time the Venetian soldiers had already climbed the bastion, the musketeer squads arrived unhurriedly.

"[Expletive]! What the hell took you so long! [Expletive]!" Field cursed furiously at the centurions of the musketeer squads with bulging eyes.

Lieutenant Leyman and Captain Philip, the centurions of the musketeer squads, did not dare to retort, nor did they have the time to do so.

Both centurions commanded their units to quickly deploy in front of the bastion and began using their matchlock guns to suppress the defenders atop the bastion.

The long-ranged weapons had an immediate effect; several Tanilian soldiers peeking out to throw stones or pour pitch were shot indiscriminately and fell screaming from the walls.

The remaining Tanilian soldiers were too frightened to show themselves, only reaching out their hands from behind the parapet. The momentum of the bastion's defenders was broken, their lethality began to decline, and the pressure on the climbing Venetian soldiers drastically reduced.

However, at this moment the defenders on the city walls of the Confederation finally came to their senses. Receiving the bastion defenders' call for assistance, William Kidd dispatched numerous signalmen to pass orders along the city walls.

Upon receiving the orders, the defenders immediately rushed to the city gate to support the bastion.