The next few nights Ben introduced the Lunia forces outside of their capital to hit-and-run tactics. Overnight at random times, he would bring out either his tanks or archers to attack the defenders.
Before they could react and send troops out Ben and his people would melt into the darkness. It was now to the point that the Lunia defenders were sending out squads to scout the surrounding area to locate Ben's army.
On the fourth day, scouts had entered the forest they had made camp. They were forced to eliminate the squad who would have stumbled upon their camp. The scouts who entered the woods never returned to report Ben's location, but Ben could assume they would soon guess he was in the forest when the scouts they sent here did not return to camp.
This was the night they would be forced to make a move. Ben was confident there were no incoming enemy reinforcements, or they would have already arrived. His troops were still outnumbered after the damage he had done to them.
The problem of them being outnumbered did not worry him though, His troops were better trained and more experienced. He also had the aid of his tanks and cannons to help thin out the enemy numbers.
Now that their location was compromised Ben led his troops out onto the plains west of the Lunia capital just before sunrise. His generals had been briefed earlier the camp and everyone knew where they were to line up at.
He had his frontline located between a forest to the north and south of them. Inside the forests, he hid his cavalry to the north and war elephants to the south.
Off on the far left flank, the cannons and tanks began preparing to wake the enemy up. Just as the sun began to peek over the horizon and cast its light across the land Ben sent the ten tanks forward close to the enemy camp.
The enemy camp now used to nightly attacks had increased their perimeter guards and patrols around their camp. They were on high alert and spotted the tanks driving toward them from a distance.
They had no idea what these tanks were but after the blistering attacks they had been subjected to over the past almost week they knew it wasn't going to be good. The camp was awake and preparing for battle as the tanks drove to within three hundred yards from the camp.
While the Lunia camp prepared to meet the enemy the tanks gunmen loaded canister grapeshot rounds without delay and opened fire. For the first time, the enemy finally got a glimpse of the hand of God which delivered devastating attacks to them every other night.
The three-inch steel balls created a wall of fire that cut through the enemy ranks. The enraged commander finally had spotted the enemy and had a target to direct his men towards.
If they did not drive off and defeat the attacking Avalon army it was possible their kingdom would be lost to them. By now they all knew they had invaded the Rodara region and attempted to pressure them into submitting to their food demands.
Rumors had spread from those who fought in the Caegon vs Rodara war of the strength of the Avalon army. They knew the Avalon army is strong, but they had limited numbers of troops. There were only a couple thousand troops who had helped defend Caegon and invade Rodara. The three kingdoms assumed with the large enemy they sent into Rodara it wouldn't matter how strong their forces where they could simply overwhelm them with numbers.
Now reports were coming from the west ahead of the Avalon Army that the Botodor and Aithereal Kingdoms had fallen. Just as the Avalon troops made their appearance in the Lunia Kingdom those soldiers who had fled and escaped capture in Rodara had reported the army sent had been defeated!
Over half of the three kingdoms army were dead and the other half most likely captured. All the Lunia King could do was levy as many citizen soldiers and hire as many mercenary armies as he could to stop the Avalon army.
Over the last five days, the Lunia King was given reports from the commander outside the city that they could not locate the Avalon army. Every single night they would materialize from who knows where to attack them. By the time the camp organized and sent out troops the Avalon troops would have long vanished.
Now as he entered his throne room after a long sleepless night a report came in that the Avalon army had finally shown themselves west of the capital. The commander was not confident after watching the opening salvo from the tanks, but he was preparing his men to march out and cause as many losses to the Avalon troops as possible.
The report ended with him wishing the king good luck and for him to pray to the gods they might somehow stop the enemy.
The Lunia commander did not know that there is only one god was looking over the inhabitants of this world, and he was on Ben's side. Even if this god could not reach out to help either side during the battle he would not extend a helping hand to the Lunia Kingdom.
As the Lunia forces assembled and were led out onto the field the tanks began a slow roll in reverse back to the frontline all the while sending hundreds of grapeshot rounds into the advancing enemy.
When the tanks were back on the frontline the long line of cannons joined in on the barrage. A deadly combination of explosive shells and grapeshot dropped lines of enemies one after another.
The Lunia forces had lost over a couple thousand men as they stepped into arrow range and the carnage only increased. It was a scene from someone's worst nightmares for the advancing enemy.
Smoke impeded their sight and the smell of blood was all around them. They had to step on and over the lines of mutilated bodies for them to continue forward. The only thing that kept them sane and gave them the will to press forward is if they failed their families behind them would be subjected to the anger of the attacking Avalon troops.
When the enemy was fifty yards from Ben's frontline the cultivator/magi began sending out a combination of spells. The cannons were hitched to the horses and pulled back far from the advancing enemy to prevent them from being attacked.
Just as his frontlines were about to be hit by the now charging enraged Lunia troops, Ben used his flare gun to launch a green flare high overhead. This signaled the hiding cavalry and war elephants to charge out of the forested and attack the enemy from the rear.
The front phalanx lines with their fifteen foot long spears kept the enemy back. When the cavalry and war elephants hit the rear enemy lines they drove them forward to push them into the phalanx.
Ben was hoping they would see they no longer had superior numbers, and they were now surrounded. It was a losing battle for the Lunia troops, but they showed no signs of wanting to surrender. They were determined men for not being true soldiers and were ready to fight to the last man.
Instead of sending in more troops or his cultivators to kill more men, Ben decided to use his new battle cheat code. He knew if he used this cheat it was an instant win.
He reloaded his flare gun and set up a red flare and a few minutes later to enormous black dragons flew in to give the determined enemy a taste of dragon fear.
Just as he predicted the men were frozen in fear at the sight of these creatures who exuded fear from their pores.
The remaining Lunia troops were down to about six thousand men. The odds were two to one and the dragons made them realize this was a lost cause. They were disarmed and led west a mile from the capital city to be placed inside of military camps under armed guard of Avalon troops.
The men on the capitol walls saw the end of the battle and the frightening tactics the Avalon king used to defeat their men in under a half hours time. They had watched thousands of their fellow countrymen die only a half mile from the city walls and knew it would soon be their turn.
They could only sit in despair on the walls and wait for the enemy to approach.
Ben brought out his siege towers and had the men who had trained with them to move them forward and take the city walls. They had practiced for months with these siege towers and could move and align them with ease.
A line of wooden towers slowly made their way toward the walls to drop their upper gangplanks onto the walls. Hundreds of men poured out in tight formations to secure the walls. The men on the lower level climbed the tower stairs to rush out onto the walls.
The already demoralized Lunia troops were in shock at how quickly they had lost the top of the city walls. They were expecting them to attempt to climb ladders and ropes one at a time and fight them back. When those tower drawbridges slammed down they were rushed by heavily armored men holding interlocked shields.
The Avalon troops showed no opening or weaknesses. They stormed out with confidence and overpowered any who attempted to stand in their way. Those who fought were run through with spears or knocked off the walls from the shield that continued to lash out at them with heavy blows.
When the Lunia king had heard a report from a messenger from the wall that the outer defending army was defeated he insisted on going out to the western wall to see what was going on.
He had only made it halfway to the walls when he saw the massive wooden towers stop at the walls and release thousands of men onto the walls. In under a minute the walls were lost. He stood frozen in place feeling like he was watching a magic spell as thousands of men continued to pour out the top of those wooden towers.
What he couldn't see was the long lines of Ben's men waiting for their turns below the walls to climb the siege stairs and join their comrades in the fight. When things were beginning to look hopeless for the Lunia capital a disturbance erupted at the head of Ben's troops on the walls.
He looked over to see his men suddenly launched in every direction off the walls. It looked like a small bomb had gone off and sent his men cartwheeling through the air. Ben ran over under the walls near the disturbance to see richly dressed men who looked like nobles attacking his men.
They were obviously not nobles. A noble would never place themselves on the frontlines and would not have the fighting prowess of these men. Ben knew they were the Lunia Kingdoms cultivators and had waited to the last minute before deciding to enter the battle to push back the Avalon troops.
Ben ran back to his men still outside the city and gathered up the cultivator/magi he had brought with him. There was no way for his regular troops to stand up against the enemy cultivators so they would need to make a move fast.
Those of higher cultivation jumped up onto the walls with Ben and those with weaker cultivation had to force their way up the siege tower stairs to join them. Ben led the attack through the lines of his men.
He pushed his way to the front and engaged a strong old man whom he assumed is the Lunia royal cultivator. The old man landed a series of solid blows on Ben that made him realize he was in for a fight.
If he continued to exchange blows with this royal cultivator he might be forced to wait for backup. Ben decided to draw his Hemic sword to keep the old man back while he began softening him up with attack spells.
A flurry of his attack spells began to damage the old man and slow him down. As Ben's cultivator began to make it up to where he fought they jumped in to distract the strong adversary and to attack the other Lunia cultivators who had followed this royal cultivator into battle.
When Ben first engaged the royal cultivator he expected it to be another quick fight he could end as fast as it started. He wasn't expecting to come across someone who was almost equal to him in cultivation. This old man must be only a level or two below him to fight as he did and throw such powerful kicks and punches.
It was another wakeup call for Ben that he was on a new continent which is home for a few crouching tigers hidden dragons.
He finally struck the old man in the upper right leg nearly severing it with his sword. The old man screamed and reached for his injured leg leaving his upper body open for Ben to pierce his sword through his heart.
Ben had no time to rest and contemplate over how close of a fight he was just in. He rejoined the battle to help his cultivators eliminate the remaining enemy cultivators. When the remaining enemy was clear of the walls Ben looked around to see not every dead body around them belonged to the enemy.
As he surveyed the gruesome sight the adrenaline from the fight with the old cultivator began to wear off. He noticed he did not come out as unscathed as he had thought from his life and death battle with him.
'Athena can you do an internal scan for injuries. I can feel a few pains begin to surface now.'
*Ding!* [You currently have two broken ribs, a fractured right tibia, displaced and damage internal organs. I recommend using your healing spell as soon as possible.]
'I can't believe my bones were fractured and broken! Just how strong was that old guy? If I hadn't of eaten the Indigo Iron fruit I would have been in serious trouble!'
Ben gathered his injured troops around him and began to cast his Heal Area spell. When everyone was back to normal he opened his notifications icon that had been flashing.
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[Notice] [Skill: Hand to Hand Combat has increased! Hand to Hand Combat Level 6!]
[Notice] [Skill: Sword Mastery has increased! Sword Mastery Level 18!]
[Notice] [Skill: Pain Reflection has increased! Pain Reflection Level 10!]
[Notice] [Skill: Acrobatics has increased! Acrobatics Level 6!]
[Notice] [Spell: Barkskin has increased! Barkskin: Adept: Level: 7!]
[Notice] [Spell: Firebolt has increased! Firebolt: Expert: Level: 6!]
[Notice] [Spell: Teleport has increased! Teleport: Apprentice: Level: 5!]
[Notice] [Spell: Heal Area has increased! Heal Area: Apprentice: Level: 5!]
______________________________
Ben closed out his notices and looked out across the city toward the royal palace with a vicious look on his face.
'This is one enemy king that I can't allow to continue living. All the problems this kingdom has caused us, I think I need to make an example out of him. The kingdoms of this continent need to learn not to come looking for trouble from us in the future!'