Manga braced himself for impact. His ship was falling from the sky following a wyvern attack. Luckily, despite the ship being diagonally inclined at an angle, no much damage was sustained by the hull.
The massive hole on the capsule was leaking molten plastic, and he had to do his best to avoid the flames and the molten liquid. What he didn't know was that some of the molten liquid was tossed into one of the gas canisters which had sustained some damage.
The intense heat on the canister where it had been weakened caused the damage to deeper. Just as hope was returning to Manga as he drew closer to the ground, an explosion threw him clear of the ship.
Manga's ears were ringing. He was disoriented and confused. He was aching all over his body. Even his nose was bleeding. Worse still, he landed 800 meters from the gate, there was no way the enemy did not see him.
As a warrior, Manga knew this was no time to slack. He was in a battle, and any moment spent lying on the ground was a moment spent at death's doors, so he attempted getting up. As he did, he felt 3 sharp pains hit his back, which sent him to the ground again.
Looking behind him, Manga was shocked to see that three arrows had hit him, but none had penetrated his armor. Before he could get a moment of reprieve, he saw 3 men rushing at him from about 100 meters.
Even after falling from the sky, he still had all his weapons with him. Somehow, the arrows hitting him had helped bring him back, so he acted on reflex. In one fell swoop, Manga reached for his rifle and pulled the trigger at the enemy.
Nothing. At first, he was shocked, but then it hit him. The instructor's voice when he said it, "If you find yourself having done everything right and nothing is happening, pull this lever!"
Manga, despite wearing their sigil that day, was not a Tristanite. He was an elite King's guard under the city of Retoa. However, as part of the agreement, the new city-state allies would provide 500 warriors in addition to the resources. He was one of those 500.
Laying on the battlefield, he did as the memory of the instructor had said, he pulled the lever and offloaded on the attackers.
Previously, Manga had only used the gun on trees and targets, never a live one, even if it was livestock. Now he got to witness firsthand the effectiveness of the weapon, especially the stopping power.
By the time he had pulled the lever to cock the rifle, the assailants were practically on top of him. His shots had been at point-blank range. Several .7.62 caliber bullets tore throw the assailants. He couldn't miss even if he wanted to, they were right in front of him. The bullets not only brought the charge to a halt but it also threw the enemies back.
Seeing this brought new life to Manga. He was energized as he got back to his feet. Drunk with the sheer violence of the weapon, he started shelling away at any Guminite he could find. As he did, he was running towards the gate, screaming at the top of his voice.
All around him, other soldiers were doing the same, charging at the city gates as they unleashed hate over anyone they found. They had 10 magazines for the rifles and another 10 for the handguns.
Occasionally, some fell from the onslaught of arrows, but they did nothing more than just toss them to the ground with a heavy punch. From that range, the impact of the arrow couldn't even break a rib. Hence all those that were shot down would soon get up and resume their charge.
Several ships had been burnt down by the wyverns, which meant that this ground force was considerable. From up top, Barda's subroutines counted 3,124 soldiers charging at the gates. However, Manga's ship had landed quite close to the gates.
Unfortunately, many had not made it due to the canister explosion. The sniper in Manga's ship had been trying to take out the mage when the canister exploded. He wasn't dead but he had been knocked out.
Just as Manga was around 500 meters from the gates, they exploded. While the impact was powerful, it was not enough to slow him down, and right now he was in the zone. Nothing could stop him other than death, of course.
It would go down in history that Manga, son of Abe of the city of Retoa was the first enemy soldier to breach Tristan city gates in over a millennium. Even the Prince of Gumina had to be invited in.
In those days, it was customary to honor the first soldier to breach a city. Many kings even knighted the soldier to embolden the men to strike fast. However, that was not Manga's concern at the moment, for he found himself outnumbered by a thousand. At that moment, an entire legion was rushing at him.
As he watched the coming horde, Manga was not the least bit panicked. He even seemed to take his time and reach for his backpack, a new invention. He took out a metallic ball, pulled a pin and tossed it at the enemy.
Barda had made improvements on his grenade designs, modernizing it. I don't need to paint a picture of what happened when the grenade went off. Manga had thrown it to the group coming at him, essentially making a hole in their approach.
Manga didn't hold back and threw 5 of the grenades he had. As he did, many of his comrades had caught up and started shooting their rifles at the enemies, while others were tossing their grenade, following Manga's rule. In the chaos of battle, Manga became the de facto commander of the grounded forces.
Next, Manga led his people into charging at the enemy. Despite being outnumbered one to a hundred, their superior weapons made quick work of the enemy's shields, and the kevlar armor protected them from the enemy's attacks. Some unlucky ones got him on the face, but the army moved on.
***
Up top. After finally getting rid of the mage, Tristan ships finally stabilized themselves and made their approach. The storm was clearing. Without Lord Hantil to maintain the pressure cell, the tornado had dissipated, and the winds worked to the ships' favor for once.
Despite the win, Barda now only had 13 ships flying overhead. The Queen's ship had survived. There was a lot of damage and many had died. Several hulls were bent or broken, and many siege engines were rendered unusable.
As they drew near the wall, Barda ordered the ballistae to get the work. Being careful not to hit their own, they shot at any cluster of the enemy they could find. The Ordinance-Tips acted like Rocket-propelled Grenades (RPGs).
Once the drew close enough for the crossbows to join the fray, the loss among the enemy ranks was disastrous, but not as it was going to be when the ships were within the range of the Kalashnikovs.
***
This was the moment many had been waiting for. To Custer, this was like an answer to all his prayers. It had been a big gamble. For more than a week he had had to live underground since it was known that he was Tristan's spymaster. He was not complaining since he had tons of support.
When he received the package from Barda earlier that week, he hadn't known what its purpose was for. However, he had his men follow the instructions on how to handle it and where to place it.
Barda had rightly guessed that on the day of the attack, no Tristanite would be around the gate since the Guminites didn't know who to trust. In that case, they were to man the important resources, and the gate was the most important at this point.
Barda had several patents on how to make C-4 and detonating cords, so he was spoilt for choice. In his message, he had explained with crystal clarity what would happen, and he insisted that the men read the instructions over and over again.
Now, watching as the gate came down, Custer had complicated emotions. He had vandalized his city to allow an invading force in, all in the name of patriotism. He cocked his gun as instructed and ran out into the battlefield, followed by thousands of his men. The city of Tristan was not laying down any longer!
Suddenly, Gumina soldiers found themselves surrounded by Tristanites, and not just in the outer city, but in every part of Tristan. Some civilians were taking to the streets armed with whatever weapons they had in a bid to retake their city.
By the time the Queen's ship made it into Tristan, the outer city was under her rule again.