Magic_Smithing
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Ch: 90
🕑 Added 2021-03-20 04:42:23 +0000 UTCLord Rayes of Blaiton’s Point of View:
I stand on the remains of Blaiton’s walls, staring out at a burning city.
Looking down, there's a large gash across my chest. The blood dripping down my front becomes warmer to the touch as my body goes cold.
I failed.
Blaiton has fallen, countless corpses litter my beautiful city's streets. How did it turn out like this? I can't even remember how Pacore took the city.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter now,” I wheeze through my blood-filled lungs and drop to my knees.
A horn sounds in the distance as my world starts to darken.
More horns start roaring around me as I slip into Goddess Ebeon’s embrace.
Watching my city burn, my eyes close for the last time.
“Ahhhh!” I let out a scream as I jerk awake in my cot. I don’t have time to think about the nightmare I just awoke from before I hear a blast of a horn from outside my tent.
My armor fights me as I try to throw it on quickly. Stumbling around my tent like a newborn, I almost forget my sword in my haste. When I finally fling my tent flap aside, a chilling morning breeze hits me directly in the face, sending a shiver down my spine. At least the cold helps me to wake up quicker, though my adrenaline is doing quite a good job by itself.
The sun has only started to rise in the distance, and it's yet to push back the chilly morning spring breeze.
Everyone is shouting and running about. “Soldier,” I shout at the closest person running past me. The young man almost drops the crate he’s carrying when he hears me call out to him.
"There's no time; I need to-!" The young man starts to yell at me before he realizes who I am. "Lord Rayes, I'm deeply sorry. I didn't mean to-," he tries to apologize to me.
“Enough,” I cut him off. “It’s fine. Tell me, what’s happening?”
“It’s Scholl, my lord. They’ve started their attack!”
“To your station then,” I let the young man get back to his task.
"Right away, sir!" He takes off, running towards the nearby rampart stairs.
I stand in front of my tent for a minute, frowning. This isn't good. We've been making our preparations on reports from Fort North Ridge and Drey. I'm no military expert, but I've never heard of Scholl starting their attack without first showing off their might. If they've changed all their tactics… gods help us all.
I expected Pacore to use psychological warfare, much like he used at the fort and when he took Drey. What does Scholl's finest have up his sleeve for us?
Making my way up the ramparts, I'm relieved not to hear the siege weapons firing yet. If we were already firing our ballistas and catapults, then that would mean Scholl's forces are already within range.
No sooner does that thought cross my mind, than I hear a nearby catapult being fired. You can feel the vibrations through the wall's stones as the siege weapon fires its first volley.
I pick up my pace, rushing up the stone stairs as I hear more of our siege weapons being fired.
When I finally make it to the top of the wall, I scan the plains around Blaiton. My heart drops when I see Scholl’s army slowly closing the distance between us.
The three completed siege towers are being pushed towards the western gate in a triangle formation. The middle tower, which is flanked on either side by the other two, is shorter but looks bulkier, while the other two are as tall as our walls. The way they're advancing, it looks like the two outer towers are meant to guard the centermost one.
What's surprising is that instead of using their pack animals, it's Scholl's heavy infantry pushing the large towers forward. The towers themselves are teeming with soldiers wielding bows alongside entire mage battalions.
There are units spread around the three towers, but the man walking in front of the army draws my attention. An old man with feathers in his beard; that has to be Pacore. Just watching him confidently escort the towers closer to us makes my knees wobble.
Even though he’s still far away, I can’t take my eyes off Pacore in fear that he’ll morph into some unstoppable monster should I look away. Stories have spread from the survivors of the Fort North Ridge attack. Tales of Pacore defeating General Pitz after single-handedly withstanding everything the fort could throw at him have been spreading throughout our ranks since Scholl first set up camp outside the city.
We tried to silence talk of the battle by issuing a gag order, but word had spread too quickly for it to make any sort of difference.
“Release!” A nearby shout pulls my attention away from Pacore. The closest catapult has just finished reloading, and with the unit commander's order, a soldier pulls the siege weapons lever, releasing a five-hundred-pound stone in Scholl's direction.
Along with a few other soldiers, I watch the stone sail through the air at breakneck speeds.
500 feet.
750 feet.
1,100 feet.
It's incredible how far a well-tuned siege engine can throw a boulder of that size. However, I would be more Impressed if the stone landed anywhere near Scholl's forces. I'd estimate Scholl needs to advance another 100 feet or so before they even enter our catapults range.
“Reload!” The unit commander bellows at his men. What the hell are they doing!?
“Who gave you orders to start firing!?” I angrily storm up the unit commander.
Unlike the young soldier earlier, the unit commander immediately recognizes me. Snapping to attention, he salutes me. “Sir, I was ordered to start firing twenty minutes ago and told not to let up.”
“By who?!” I growl. Though it’s hard to gauge how far away Scholl is, any fool could see after the first volley that they’re not close enough yet.
“Commander Heleos, sir," the unit commander quickly replies. Judging by the awkward look on his face, he's aware of how asinine the orders are.
“Heleos?" I bark in anger. He's one of the bigwigs from Yleles that thinks he should've been placed in charge. "Don't waste any more ammunition," I order the unit commander.
“Yes, sir,” he salutes me once more before moving back to ordering around his catapult unit.
While the unit commander looks happy now that he has new orders, I'm still steaming mad. Our chances of winning are already slim, and we can't afford mistakes like this. "Communications mage," I shout.
“Here!” a woman wearing a robe over some light armor rushes over to me.
"Send word immediately to all the siege units; they are not to attack until Scholl is in range. And I want them to focus solely on the towers, is that clear?!"
“Sir!” The mage starts mumbling her spell.
It takes twenty or so minutes before my orders are conveyed, and I hear the rest of our catapults stop firing.
“Lord Rayes, Sir Heleos is demanding to know why you’ve stopped our bombardment?”
I turn on the communications mage with fire in my eyes, and she steps back. "Where is Heleos right now?" I demand.
"One moment, please?" The mage bows her head and mumbles another spell. She eventually looks back up at me with an awkward look, obviously uncomfortable answering my question.
"Spit it out," I command.
“Sir Heleos said he’s reinforcing the southern gate,” the mage squeaks out.
That bastard! You can't even see Scholl's main forces from the southern gate. How is he in any position to give out orders? "Tell him he can order the men around the western gate if he joins us here!"
"Are you sure that's exactly what you want me to say?" The communication mage hesitantly asks me. I narrow my eyes, and she takes the hint and sends Heleos my offer.
Heleos reply comes so quickly it’s almost comical. “Sir Heleos offers his apologies, but he’s tied up with the Scholl unit outside his gate,” the communication mage conveys his reply.
I snort, hearing his excuse. The Scholl unit he's referring to is a scouting party meant to keep supplies from entering the city. Similar units could be found around the northern and eastern gates, but they aren't equipped to attack the walls.
Now that that’s taken care of, I can turn my attention back to Scholl.
The war towers have only moved a few dozen feet forward. If they stay at this speed, they’ll reach the walls by sundown. We can’t let that happen.
I have to raise my hand to shield the morning sun as it crests over the horizon. Today is going to be a long day.
**********
“Signal the next volley!” I command.
A soldier with a horn blows twice, and the wall trembles under my feet. Nearly twenty large stones along with ten ballista bolts are launched at Scholl's right tower.
In the distance, all three of Scholl's war towers light up with magic. Dozens of mana shields overlap with one another, covering most of the towers. A few of the shields break, but most of our attacks are simply brushed off. The soldiers stationed around the towers dodge the falling projectiles with ease and quickly reform their formation.
So, this is what a trained army can do; I'm both awed and terrified by the spectacle.
None of my men have seen war; I haven't seen war. Are we making a difference? It's so hard to tell. I can only reference the books my parents made me study.
Blaiton hasn't seen war in years. I think the last time the city was attacked was during my great grandfather's rule, and that was merely a large bandit brigade that grew too confident in their abilities.
Sure, every so often, a large goblin horde might try to attack the city but killing them is never any trouble, not like this.
Once Scholl entered the range of our siege weapons, we started pelting them with rocks and ballista bolts, and thankfully we've managed to slow them down a bit. But no matter how hard we hit them, they don't retreat an inch. The towers have been inching closer to us all day, and soon they'll be in range to start counter-attacking us.
“They’re switching again,” a nearby scout with Perception skills informs me.
"Quick! Reload and send another volley before they can finish!" I shout. My commands are signaled by horn and conveyed again through magic. As one, the various siege teams hustle to follow orders.
Scholl has managed to continue as they have because they have multiple squads switching out with one another. My mages informed me that the towers should hold enough mages that none of our attacks should break their shields, and yet every thirty minutes or so, we score a decent hit, and part of their shields fall. But just as quickly as we destroy them, a new shield forms and takes its place.
After the first two hours of this, we quickly deduced what was happening. Scholl is using the fewest mages possible to defend their siege towers. As soon as a mage’s shield breaks, they’re swapped with a new mage and given time to rest.
They’re doing the same thing with their men pushing the towers forward. And then we have Pacore.
I was skeptical when I heard the stories about Pacore surviving an entire volley by himself but not any longer. Pacore acts like a magnet and regularly draws in our attacks to give his mages a slight reprieve. Though most of what we've done could be considered a failure, we've learned a bit about our opponents.
Like right now, in these rare moments when Scholl switches around their people, we have a small window to do extra damage.
I pray for a miracle as another volley is launched at Scholl's right tower. Again, their shields flare to life, and most of our projectiles are deflected. That is, all but one boulder was deflected. I grin when one of our boulders punches a hole into the siege tower. It didn't do much other than rip a three-foot hole in the tower’s siding, but it’s progress.
The real takeaway from that volley is much more critical, however. Even though the tower's shields failed, Pacore didn't use his skill to defend his men; or rather, he couldn't.
I've been tracking the intervals between Pacore activating his magnet skill, and I've noticed he can't use his skill more than once an hour. Pacore changes the frequency at which he activates his skill, but there's always been at least a 55-minute interval before he uses his skill again. I can't be sure, but I'm guessing his skill has a 55-minute cooldown. Let's make it 45 minutes just to be on the safe side. It might be a small detail in the grand scheme of things, but we can use one more opening to exploit.
And that isn't the only thing I've observed about Pacore. Knowing the cooldown time for his skill is a good bit of information to have, but his skill limits have also started to become apparent.
Pacore's skill draws in all attacks, a frighteningly powerful skill in war, but not omnipotent. Pacore can only draw in attacks for about six minutes before his skill stops working. I wish I could take credit for this discovery, but it was actually thanks to those pesky nobles trying to subvert my orders that led to this discovery.
Volleys are much more effective when synchronized. Punching through magic shields is already hard, but if the projectiles are spaced out, it gives the mages time to recover and reinforce their shields.
During one of our initial volleys, the lord of Drey crawled out of his hole and tried to take command of one of the farther trebuchets. The fool ordered them to fire as fast as possible despite my orders to synchronize our attacks. But thanks to his insubordination, we were able to see that Pacore's skill only lasted a few minutes.
If we stagger our shots, Pacore's skill would effectively become useless, but our overall damage would drop. It's quite the conundrum, indeed. Do I change our plan of attack, or do I continue to-?
Suddenly, while I'm debating over my strategy, bright light erupts from the tops of Scholl's two leading towers. That's not defensive magic!
“Mages, shields up!” I scream.
The nearby mages follow my orders, while the communication mage frantically sends my commands to the rest of the wall. Our shielding spells activate just as two massive siege fireball spells are launched from Scholl’s towers.
One ball of flame soars directly to my section of the wall, while another is sent flying at one of the other lesser-guarded catapults. The mages around me brace for the spell's impact, and for a moment, I see what the inside of a fireball looks like.
The air itself burns the inside of my throat as the siege fireball spell collides with our defenses. The force of the spell hitting our shields creates a small shockwave that pushes a few unprepared people off their feet. The spell immediately starts to dissipate after striking our shields but not before heating all the moisture in the nearby air. The moist spring air becomes humid and clings to our skin.
When the flames around us finally dissipate, I look over to the other section of the wall that was targeted. "Shit!" I swear, seeing the burning siege weapon. It looks like most of the catapult's operating team survived, but two smoldering husks weren’t so lucky.
Now the real battle begins.
“Mages! Form units of two! One protects the siege engines, while the other returns fire! We mustn't lose our catapults!” I bellow before turning to my communication mage. “Inform the other commanders that I want them to switch targets.”
"Sir?" The mage gives me a questioning look, but I don't have time to explain myself.
“Spread word that I want our men to target the groups of Scholl’s soldiers stationed around the towers. Now,” I demand.
Leaving my frantic mage to convey my demands, I turn my attention back to Scholl. It looks like they aren't moving to launch another barrage like that one immediately. Scholl needs to keep its defenses up, or our siege weapons will pick them apart, so they need to ration their magic. At least that's some good news. I don't think we would be able to hold out for long if they could continuously launch magic like that.
I've heard people talk about siege magic, but this is the first time I've seen it for myself. I bring my hand up to my chest; I can feel my heart beating through my armor. To be the target of such magic, I feel like I've aged a few years in that split second the spell hit our shields.
And I'm not the only person shaken up by the spell. Looking at the soldiers around me, many look more terrified than I after that first spell. Most of my mages are conscripts from all the nearby cities; few have actually experienced a life-or-death situation; in that, we are the same. I'm just happy none of my men fled after the attack.
But if Scholl is close enough to hit us with magic, we can do the same thing.
A group of five mages to my left start chanting under their breath together. All five of them are standing in a semicircle around a large rock, like what we use in the catapults. I watch, amazed, as the stone starts to hover and glow.
I might not have been born with any magic talent myself, but I still had to study the subject before the title of Lord was passed down to me from my father. If I'm not mistaken, they're casting stone missile. The spell is not usually considered a siege spell, but siege magic has many common misconceptions.
Few spells are genuine siege spells. Most people think that just because a group of mages can cast a colossal fireball together, it's a siege spell. In truth, in a group of mages, at least one will have a linking skill that connects the group's spells. They're all just casting the same spell using the skill to magnify the outcome.
A genuine siege spell is cast by a single person, using vast amounts of control and mana. Merging five spells into one will create a seemingly massive spell, but forcing those five magics together, no matter how similar they are, will not equal a genuine siege spell. When magic is used in tandem with multiple people, there's a degree of resistance between each of the spells. Skills mitigate this resistance, but not completely.
It's a good thing my father demanded I learned to differentiate the two, along with those boring books on military strategy, of course. One is a standard method taught to those who study magic; the other is a sign of a truly powerful mage. I can only hope Scholl didn't bring anyone like that with them because I'm not sure my conscripted mages could defend against such a spell. Only a two-star mage could perform such a feat, and the earl employs the only one in the area. It would've helped immensely if he came to our aid, but after what Giovanni told me, I highly doubt the earl would let him leave his estate.
The mages finish their spell, and with a loud boom, the boulder is launched at Scholl. Like I ordered, the magic projectile is aimed at the units trailing behind Scholl's towers. A shield forms to stop the magic-propelled rock, but Scholl obviously wasn't prepared for us to target their units in the back.
The units trailing behind the towers are those waiting for their turn to push. Some must be tired from just switching out, and now is the best time to strike. If we can kill a significant amount of their forces, they won't be able to push the towers any further.
After the magic stone crashes into Scholl's men, a dozen other spells are launched from our walls. Our targets are physical fighters, so I'm not expecting many fatalities, but Scholl is the one who decided to make this a war of attrition. It's only fitting I show them what that looks like.
**********
“Light the torches!”
“Light the torches!”
“Light the torches!”
My soldiers’ voices echo across the wall as they scramble to light the evening torches. In the distance, Scholl's war towers light up with magical light. It must be nice to have so many well-trained mages at your disposal, I complain to myself.
“Incoming!” Someone shouts.
I run forward and take shelter behind a mage unit that just erected its shield. Grinding my teeth, I wait for the fireball spell to dissipate. I've grown numb from all the times I've had to take shelter like this.
“Report!?” I shout as soon as the spell dissipates.
"Another catapult lost, sir," I'm informed by my new communications mage. The previous girl was running low on mana and was injured by one of Scholl's spells a few hours ago. My new communication mage looks too old to be on a battlefield, but surprisingly he's been able to keep up with my orders.
“How many left?” I ask, not sure if I want to hear the answer.
“We have three catapults and five ballistas left, Lord Rayes.”
Damn. “And the ones from the other sections of the walls?”
“I’m being told the nobles guarding the other gates are reluctant to give up their siege weapons,” the mage tells me with a frown.
"Gods damn them!" I can't help but shout. "Do they not realize if they don't send reinforcements, we won't hold through the night?" No, of course, they do; it's just that they don't care. As soon as Scholl breaches our walls, the nobles guarding the other gates will flee to Yleles. They only care about how long I can stall Scholl here and how much damage I can do.
If the lives of my family weren't on the line, I would probably cede the city to Pacore just to spite them.
But the lives of my loved ones are on the line, so I won’t lose!
“My lord!” My communications mage reaches out and pulls me behind a mage casting a shield spell. An arrow strikes the ramparts stone floor and ricochets to the side. “Are you okay, Lord Rayes?”
"I'm fine, thanks-," it suddenly occurs to me I don't even know this man's name, and he just saved my life. For that matter, I never did get the name of that female mage who assisted me most of the day.
“Jargen, my lord. My name is Jargen,” he tells me.
I nod in appreciation. “Thank you, Jargen.”
"That's my job, my lord." Jargen bows his head in a way that looks respectful while keeping one eye directed towards the battle.
I look through the mage's shield at the approaching towers. They're close enough now that they've switched from using mages to archers to attack us.
My teeth hurt from gritting them so hard. How are they still advancing on us? Both of their leading war towers are filled with holes, and we've killed or injured enough of their foot soldiers that many were rushed from the battlefield. We’ve done all that, and yet Scholl hasn't stopped pushing forward for even a minute.
The towers are only 300 feet from our walls, and they've shown no signs of stopping for the night. "How much more must we make them bleed before they retreat?" I curse under my breath.
"Scholl doesn't retreat, my lord." Jargen must have heard me. "Just because they changed tactics doesn't mean they've lost the ferocity they're known for," he tells me.
“You know how Scholl fights?” I ask the older mage.
Jargen nods, "I do. I've lived a decent life, and I've heard about how Scholl wins its wars. They fight to the last man standing and never retreat. If you're hoping to break them emotionally, I'm sorry to say that's a fool's gambit."
“We’ll have to meet them with the same ferocity then,” I proclaim.
“That would be wise, my lord. Scholl and Pacore would see anything less as a sign of weakness.”
"Send word to all the units to keep firing," I order.
"And thank you again, Jargen. Blaiton is lucky to have a citizen like yourself to volunteer despite the risk."
"It's my job to help my country," Jargen smiles at me. "I'll convey your orders right away, sir," Jargen moves to cast his magic as the sun finally disappears and night overtakes the battlefield.
With all the magic being tossed around, visibility isn't impaired by much, so I notice when Scholl's two leading siege towers stop moving. Scholl doesn't stop pelting us with arrows or drop its shields, but they do finally stop advancing. Are they about to retreat? Poor Jargen would feel like a fool if that happened.
Sadly, Jargen was right; Scholl isn't retreating.
Scholl's forward two war towers have stopped moving, but their men have moved behind the trailing tower and are pushing that one forward at a much faster rate.
Shit, I can see that it's heading for the gate. "Jorgan, all units fire on the middle tower!”
Every one of our remaining siege weapons turns and targets the fast-approaching tower. We throw everything we have at the tower, and-
Pacore activates his skill. "But it's only been 39 minutes since he last used it!" I yell. Does that mean he's been holding himself back? Six minutes, that's how long we have to wait before we can attack again; six minutes for the war tower to get closer to the gate.
“Detonate the bridge!” I command.
A vial is dropped over the ramparts, and when it crashes against the temporary bridge we built, the whole thing ignites in flames. The wood was doused in a highly flammable alchemical solution as soon as Scholl showed up. The vial that was dropped contained an agent that created sparks as soon as it was exposed to air.
Five, four, three, two; “Jargen, resume the attack on the tower!”
Jargen conveys my orders, but it’s too late. Like people possessed by demons, Scholl’s soldiers push the war tower forward at incredible speeds, covering dozens of feet in mere minutes.
We still have time! I turn to Jargen, "Send word for all available soldiers to converge on the western gate, hurry." Scholl still needs to get past the ditch we've dug.
As if to spite me, two flaps on the front of the third war tower open, one on each side of the structure. In each opening stands a single person, both of which have feathers adorning their hair.
“Oh, no!”
The two individuals start to glow as they channel large amounts of mana.
“Kill the mages!” I shout, but it’s too late. The two mages move their hands like they’re trying to lift something invisible.
Blaiton's walls start to tremble as a large stone ramp rises out of the muddy ground, creating a seamless path to our gate. The two mages are close enough I can see their pale faces as they finish casting their magic. How much mana did they just use? To move that much earth the both of them have to be over level 70. The two of them waited this long to show themselves!?
The only thing that keeps me from freezing up upon seeing their overwhelming power is the thought of needing to protect the city. "All earth mages to the front gates! Don't let them in!"
All the nearby mages rush to the stairs leading down the ramparts. "How far out are our reinforcements?" I ask Jargen in a panic.
Jargen shakes his head. “I don’t know what’s happening. I sent the other gates our emergency message, but none of them are responding,” he tells me with a panicked look.
Those traitors didn’t already flee, did they?!
Loud thundering comes from the western gate as my mages try to fortify it with earth magic.
As my men work to reinforce the gate, Scholl's war tower stops on the other side. Large panels on the front of the tower fall away to reveal a large battering ram hidden inside. I want to order an all-out attack on the tower, but at this exact moment, the two war towers close by light up with their own magic.
Forgoing all manner of defense, the two towers that we've been attacking all-day launch countless spells towards our walls. Fireballs, bolts of lightning, rocks, all manner of spells are launched at us with reckless abandon.
My mages have no choice but to erect shields in defense.
They're pinning us down!
*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*
You can feel Scholl's battering ram strike the western gate.
"It won't hold! Run!" I hear a mage down by the gate scream and take off.
“Everyone down there! We can’t let them enter the city!” I draw my sword and raise it into the air. I’ve only ever used it during practice, but that hardly matters at this moment. We can’t let Scholl into the city!
“They’re breaking through!” I hear more shouting from the gate.
“To the gate!” I valiantly shout.
"To the gate!" A few others roar, following my lead. That inspires just enough people to give hope to those about to run away.
“On me!” I move to gather everyone and rush down the walls. “We’ll fight them street by street if we have to!”
"I'm sorry, Lord Rayes, but I can't let that happen," I hear Jargen say directly behind me.
I can’t even turn around before Jargen knocks my sword from my hand. He then forces my head back with his left hand and holds a knife to my throat with his right. Everything happens so quickly all the surrounding soldiers are stunned in place.
"What- what are you doing," I choke out.
"My job, Lord Rayes," Jargen answers loud enough so everyone can hear him over the sounds of Scholl breaching our gate. "Fighting in the streets would go against Master Pacore's wishes."
The hair on my arms stands on end. “You’re a spy from Scholl?”
"That's right," he calmly tells me. "I had already infiltrated your communication corps a long time ago and was watching the battle. After your previous mage was injured, I took the opening to get close to you. I hope there aren't any hard feelings."
"Then why didn't you kill me earlier or let me die; it would've been easy for you?" I growl in frustration.
“For now, Master Pacore wants to capture as many nobles as possible,” Jargen or whoever he is chuckles in my ear.
“Then your master is going to be disappointed,” I bite back. “The other nobles are probably halfway to Yleles by now.”
The Scholl spy just laughs harder. "Master Pacore is well aware of your nobility's tendency to flee. Not all those who left the battlefield were injured. We have ambushes set up to catch all the fleeing rats. Now, tell your men to stand down," he pokes his dagger into my skin, and I can feel a drop of blood crawl down my neck.
All the soldiers around us are wearily looking to one another, unsure of what they should do. Fools, didn't I say we can't let Scholl into the city. I nervously swallow a lump in my throat. "Men!" I shout, and everyone looks at me, some instinctively raising their weapons. "Scholl is not to enter this city! Kill this man and defend the gate; that is my final order for all of you!"
Jorgan laughs, “I wasn’t expecting that.”
A nearby soldier understands my orders and rushes at us with his spear raised, prepared to skewer us both. I close my eyes, expecting Jargen to kill me or feel a spear pierce me, but instead, he throws me to the ground before stepping forward and opening up the soldier's throat with a well-placed swing of his dagger.
I scramble to get to my feet, but Jargen kicks me in the side of the head, and everything becomes fuzzy. The only thing I register before passing out is Jargen killing a few more soldiers and the rumblings of the western gate crumbling.
I failed.
**********
5,400 words.
Ok, we were all pretty sure how this battle would end, but that made writing this even trickier.
It was pointed out to me I was falling into Hollywood’s idea of siege warfare, so I tried to make this battle more realistic. And that means Scholl spending longer periods readying themselves before trying to take the city.
Do you prefer more realism like this, or should I stick to more cinematic battles?
Either way, we're going back to Aaliyah for a while. Quite a few people said they're tired of Pacore and wanted more on Aaliyah, which is one of the reasons I decided to write this battle from a single person's perspective instead of jumping around like I tend to do in Pacore's battles.
Did it work?
Let me know what you think below, and as always, stay safe.
Comments
lenkite
[The Great Pacore] continues his take of world-conquest smiting all enemies into dust! Read ahead for world-shattering tales of The Deathless!
I do not think this is a widely held opinion.
Blacktide
Sadly, this chapter is a skipper. It would have been much better if it simply said. The city fell. Boom, chapter over.
DraconianGreed
Now that’s a Nobleman!
aantonides .
Yep with out them we would have known only what she knows.
Sheeprat
Personally i dont get way some people are so but hurt about POV chapters i think they are fun and add good world building to the story
Bookman
Personally i like him quit a bit. I Gues his personality is not everyones cub of cake but that makes good writing. People loved Danny from Game of Thrones while i hated her from the begining to the end
Steven Palmer
Reread from beginning and flow is pretty good. Totally recommend the reread. Truly reminds you how good story is.
Bunny Waffles
Some people seem to dislike different POV which seems to be the primary complaint by those in opposition. I'm the category of people who enjoy the POV swaps, particularly when they are from the perspective of people who will be a major part of the upcoming story, like Pacore or I would assume the lord of this city being seiged. It provides a larger view of the world than our MC's far more narrow one as she has lived in a village all her life and only left it for the wider world all of a few times, and that was just to a nearby city. It helps to flesh out things and I for one enjoy them. Also, as others have said, how this reads week to week differs from binge reading, so at some point I am going to have to just reread from the beginning to see just how things flow when you aren't getting it chapter by chapter, however for the most part as long as they aren't done poorly POV changes help to break things up when reading all at once and provide a needed/welcome respite and fresh set of eyes on a story that you enjoy!
Mihai Popescu
This was a really good portrayal of the siege, I really enjoyed it!
Kelan
This just reinforces my viewpoint of not wanting Aaliyah to fight in any war and that she tells anyone who wants her to do so to fuck off including pacore if not especially so. Other than that these types of chapters (and generally fight scenes in any story) i tend to skim through so i dont think it would be fair if i were to talk about what went well or poorly since you obviously put a lot of time into it and I’d rather not come across like i am not enjoying the story because i love it! I am not a writer just an enjoyer whos along for the ride :) And i think it is fair to say that everyone who has opinions on this story is expressing the same feelings in their own way, how they are invested in Aaliyah and want the best (in their opinion) for her. As well as how much importance they put on side stories and characters such as this chapter.
olyver
It was a very good chapter, I enjoyed the details you put in describing the commanders attempt to find flaws in Scholl's tactics.
Tom Henman
Good chapter but felt like a side story to me. Perhaps it will blend more in the future story.
shitfug
Been marathoning through for the last few days start to finish. Good stuff.. my only criticism is that the story seems to try to make pacore a sympathetic character? And he just isn't at all imo, he just seems incredibly wretched to me.
Imspinnennetz
Looks like Pacore is intentionally left a opening for the nobles to bolt and then laid traps for them on the route back to Yelles. Subedai would be proud of him.
Bookman
Good point. Scholl can still sell them to olbert. That way Olbert can use the public executions to give the public someone to Blame for the lose of Land. If i was the King of Olbert, i would use this chance to kill more nobles then just these that fucked up. Its a great opportunity to purge the unruly in you own nation.
Dikfor
Author is good at writing characters. Should skip the warfare. Maybe add a scene where it starts, do another chapter, then add an end of warfare scene. You know, Pacore counting the dead or something.
Bookman
while true in our world. This changes with skills , levels and Magic. Also Scholl is known to just charge the enemy until they are dead. Not mutch of a stategy but brute force has its uses... even more so when the avrage level of your soilders is much higher (Thanks to the constant attack warfare) then your oponents.
Bookman
then the enemy will lower the earth afterwards. I could see this working if you have more mages and more high level mages. Scholl got enough of both while olbers is lacking in everything.
Failedspark
Is there a time limit on the discord link?
Space Cadet
If they have earth mates, then they should have made several metres of earth pile up behind the gate. Then it doesn't really matter if the battering ram breaks it, there is no path forward.
Dikfor
Don't forget the boiling oil. Wonderful defensive measure, especially if it is flamable. First it gives second and third degree burns, then if it is ignited....
Dikfor
Siege weapons used in defense are more about harassing and torture than causing damage. Was waiting for the catapult to launch a bucket of human waste or burning pitch. Pacore covered in poo and soldiers showered in flames and sparks.
ZaA
I wrote something similar but your wording of it is great. I agree with everything you've said. Found the chapter boring because I already knew the outcome, I didn't care about the characters in it, and there wasn't really any big twist. Ended up skipping around half of the chapter and just reading the last paragraph, honestly.
Baba Vader
When you had the chapter start with the battle being over I was happy. I don't really care about a forgone conclusion. The outcome of this battle was obvious. If you had a plottwist there it would have been good but like this it was just something to go through. The new perspective also doesn't make much sense if Lord Rayes wont take a bigger role in the story later on. One time reaction chapters are most satisfying if they are about a character the readers care about and Pacore just isn't Aaliyah. That said the chapter was well written and an enjoyable read. Just not what I want to read about when I get a "Magic Smithing" chapter. Don't let my critique get to you. Write the story you want to write. These battles are clearly an important part of the world, I personally just don't feel the need to see them in more than maybe 500 words. The scarcity of the chapters with the 2 per week is also an issue, since not getting Aaliyah content always feels a little disappointing but how this story reads in a binge can be totally different.
David
Agreed. I care absolutely nothing for that Lord or his internal monologue. When he was blathering on about the boring books his father made him read, I was thinking I would rather be reading those old war books than this chapter!
Dave_S
Great chapter! Just enough and not too much of the battle. Nice insights into the strategy etc
Sondadir
The bluff with the cooldown of his skill was pretty brilliant.
tibbish
Remember that the whole battle takes place over a day. Pacore essentially bum rushed them and didn't give them time to prepare or learn much so there really wasn't much they could do strategy wise. The forces also weren't even either. Not in terms of men, magic, or organization. Pacore had large advantages in all those categories. And on top of that he had spies who'd infiltrated the defenders quite thoroughly too!! What we saw was the castle siege version of a pub-stomp essentially. Spending a whole chapter just on something like a siege tower would either result in a very short chapter or a tedious and over wordy explanation of what is a fairly simple structure in principal. Much of the defender's surprise regarding their use was mainly that they weren't expecting Pacore to change his tactics + their general inexperience at warfare.
jiecut
Interesting, it could've went in a different direction where he decided to surrender when it was more hopeless.
Bulwark
A great read :D Looks like this campaign will be over before winter.
CyclopsSlayer
Often, siege warfare was not a fast thing... Surround a city, while you let starvation slowly work. Flinging rotting corpses and animals over the walls. Siege towers only work if the defender hasn't dug a moat or even a ditch around the walls. Glen Cook's 'Black Company' books detail a siege that persists for an entire year of starvation and disease.
Thaco4
Lord Rayes' fall is important. It shows how he is one of the only nobles acting properly. I imagine that Pacore will take him as a political prisoner. The nobles that flee are the ones that are going to be killed publicly...
Sheeprat
Personally i like the POV chapters
Loyal Patreon follower
i think the plan for the towers was to defend the battering ram? It wasnt that clear to me either
Dopplerdee
I'm here for Aaliyah but changing things up every once in a while is good for the story. Nice to see this country has at least one not shit noble.
Loyal Patreon follower
This is true. But i think you are underestimating how much magic switches the balance. With magic you can change terrain, shield atackers, bombard them and mana is very limited, which means if you have double the amount of mages you could easily have moments where the defending mages either have to save recources or stop casting all together.
Chemnerd263
I really liked this chapter. Seeing that Pacore isn't just steamrolling everything, but still winning is rather satisfying.
Straven
I honestly quite enjoyed the battle, especially adding magic into the over all theme but still clearly being affected by physics and reality. And of course the spy sneaking in was excellent, I hadn't even truly thought P would get one in in such a way but it clearly did an excellent strike, now the cities lost the only lord actually trying to defend it. Thank you for the chapter, as always I can't wait to continue reading more.
Pyrefiend
The siege towers seemed to be pointless. The defense all came from the mages and Pacore. The battering ram could have been carried to the gate far faster than the towers were pushed. They never even used the towers to get on top of the wall. In a world of stats and skills, those towers don't make sense to me.
Alteron
Good interesting battle with nice twists, thanks for the chapter
Loyal Patreon follower
agree, in most stories its the execution that is important
Vyktor
Darn, loved the chapter. I agree that I prefer to have Aaliyah POV, because she's the MC and it's fun to read her through process, but it's equally interesting to have other POV and know what's happening in the world around her village. I more of a "Mainly MC with differents POV sometimes", but the way you write your story is good, don't stop that if it's good for you.
Alonzo garcia
Most people complaining about how they already know the ending of the battle so it’s pointless . But I think the real reason is just people don’t like POV shifts no matter how important they are . People will complain. Granted some stories give god awful POV shifts so I can understand. I believe yours are done well though, keep it up.
Nobody
Hollywood, and fiction in general tend to make sieges way too much of a fair fight. One castle in the UK was held for months by a dozen men against over 200 attackers and only fell because they were betrayed (its actually a cool story I wish I could remember it's name) . If it was as easy to take a walled city or castle as most writers show no one would have bothered to build them. Magic makes it a bit more complicated, especially when it's the attackers that have the better stuff but it still wouldn't be easy, the closest IRL would be the brief period where they had cannons but hadn't figured out the bombard. Good job showing that.
It'sATap
never like alternate pov chapters like this. We knew that this was going to happen, why dedicate a chapter detailing it?
Matthew Murphy
Loved it! Worth the wait!
Camelopardalis
Just like with crafting, your realism and eye for detail in battle are impressive. I do prefer to read about Aaliyah, but we need to see the larger world to understand what she’s up against. Also, this is your story.
Scyfe
I'll be honest I skimmed/skipped most of this chapter. It seemed well written enough but I'm just not very interested in reading about a new character in a battle where we already know what the conclusion is going to be as the significance of the event is that it's just slowing one of the MC's down from interacting with another MC. Don't really feel like much would be lost if this was described briefly in like 3-4 paragraphs in a future chapter
Infinate Fail
I like this chapter quite a bit actually. the tension doesnt slow, and the pace of the story is perfect for this. The tactics and updates on what is going through the defending noble's head makes it all that better. The lack of pov changing is very much appreciated here. We got one viewpoint, one focal character, and one massive advancing army, very simple without having to play the pov lottery of whether the new pov is useful, or just a distraction eating up the chapter word count to make room for a cliff hanger.
Red Viking
Nice! I enjoy Pacore, but he has been getting a lot of limelight lately. Good siege! It's true that normal sieges would take months and years, but magic. That's all there is to it, really.
andrew
Great chapter. Most seige towers have a draw bridge on top so maybe you could have a scene that after the city is taken that scholl solders in the tower come out directly onto the what so that the pair of towers that didnt have a battering ram dont just sound like mobile mage towers
Jonathan Timm
I enjoyed it, I also enjoyed the one pov as well theres a couple of errors. Seed should be cede i think.
Giperman
First impression wasn't really good from this chapter. But after calming down in few hours I changed my mind. Yes it was mediocre chapter from standpoint of any other Aaliyah's chapter, but your execution of this chapter is really good. How you implemented litRPG in medieval sieges was top notch. It could be better, but I'm sure you heard thousands ideas already in comments. The only problem I'm having is how spy spilled the beans instantly, it's generelly the problem of your book. But that's it's charm tho. All in all solid chapter, although it could count as filler episode.
White Neko Knight
I enjoyed the battle. It worked and flowed well and didn't seem silly. The combat worked realistically within your setting. I'm curious about this new character and wonder if they're going to be important in the future. A lot of people aren't going to like this chapter because it doesn't fit into what they want from the story, but it's your story and so long as you don't switch the narrative focus you'll do fine.
Fraxx
Blaiton has fallen, countess corpses litter my beautiful city's streets ( countess => countless)
Imspinnennetz
I think a chapter on the siege from Pacore's point of view and his musing about how Aaliyah could be used in future conflict would be more effective way to convey the same information. Furthermore, that would allow the reader to understand how Pacore intends to use Aaliyah. This siege from Rayes of Blaiton's point of view is not useful unless he becomes a significant side character in the story.
GuyWhoReadsALot
No one cares about this battle or Pacore, better to have someone escape and spend a paragraph describing the battle to Camden or something, get back to why we read this story: Aliyah.
Aclys
I'll echo this sentiment, I mean its pretty obvious that either Pitz or Pacore was going to wind up being very important characters in the MC's life, its important that we get a feel for what they are like, as it can contrast with how she percieves them and her actions that flow from this. I mean if you wanted this story to be exlusively from her perspective so that we only ever learn things when she does... that ship has kind of sailed, I for one enjoyed the battle chapter telling us a bit more of what actual siege warfare looks like between armies in this world, something that the MC herself is not likely to get to see for a long time yet. Pacore using spy infiltrators and such was a pro gamer move and it really does help cement the fact that the MC's teacher is really quite good at what he does, not just an overpowered stat build.
Lommel
Just because "magic" does NOT mean you can write whatever some overly wild imagination cooks up. "Magic" does not mean /dev/random rules.
Max Scherer
So what exactly was the point of this chapter? Because I dont see any. We know how Scholl fights. We know that they would win. We know by now how Pacore does things. So the only thing that this chapter is worh, is that maybe the introduction of the siege warfare. Other than that this chapter was utterly pointless and a waste of time. But that is just my opinion, because I dont really see the reason for that chapter.
Neric
we all know the ending, and the chapter is still interesting.
Dash Marley
I’m a bit different from the some others here. I really enjoyed all the previous chapters about the war. A lot of people are saying that they want to focus on the main character. I see Pacore and General Pitz as main characters at this point, and I’ve enjoyed the chapters from their perspective. I think this chapter would’ve been better from Pacore’s perspective as it just moved the war further here but in a way that didn’t develop Pacore or move the main story along.
Rukshan
attraction > attrition; Sores > soars
Phoenix_dreams
I prefer more realism in stories. While interesting, I do not think this chapter added too much to the story unless the lord of Blaiton is going to be a more important/reocurring character. That kinda leads into the concern of the cast getting bloated and not spending more time with our MC. Another thing this chapter could be pointing out is how weak/corrupt the nobles of this country are. The problem with that is that problem was already brought to the forefront with how General Pitz did not get reinforcements for the longest time or even decent supplies. It was like someone wanted her dead. This country shows all the signs of incompetency and being weak from all the events so far. I would probably seed the city => I would probably cede the city soldiers to convey => soldiers to convene
Riordan Pawley
stager > stagger
Mist of Shadows
The chapter was fine but honestly could have been skipped and we could have had crafting goodness, and had the babysitter explain the siege stuff... or she could have picked it up later. I would have been happy with yeah... that city fell to hearing about bits of it from the merchant's point of view. Yeah, deals worked... things went down. On the other side of the coin, it shows up incompetent the nobles are.
Håvard
I do not agree with encountering the general at the same time as mc. The reason is simple tension and anticipation. I and a lot of others where excited for the meeting because we know the parties from before. Yes you could not tell us about those characters. However the encounter chapters would be a lot weaker for it.
Jack Trowell
hoard => horde bolder => boulder war of attraction => attrition Jorgan => Jargen
rasmus1070
Nice chapter
marids
It may indeed be the author's world, and if this were free then it's also completely up to the author to write whatever they want. But it's not, and being paid for writing means they have an obligation to write what people paid for, namely about Magic Smithing.
Docnox
Really what is this story about? When she steps on a battle field, thats when you write this chapter. So we learn alongside the protagonist. Your narrative is all over the place.
MadGod
One of the better chapters so far. And yes, not jumping from POV to POV all the time is the better choice.
conkerer
The main issue with this short Blaiton arc is its lack of focus. Clearly you want to introduce us to how siege warfare works in this world and how our main character might interact with it, but the exploration of siege magic is also somewhat shallow. All we really got is that there's two kinds, and that they're scary. Showing that Pacore's skills are not omnipotent is great, along with counterstrategy, but in the end, this chapter feels like it's 60% about the dude's feelings, 20% about politics, 10% strategy, and 10% world building. It's also somewhat problematic that this guy feels less like a military commander with ego and authority than some puppet figurehead like Jason. If, for example, you made the whole chapter focusing on the siege towers and how and why they are effective, and what drawbacks they have, and what resources are required to use them, it might serve the story better...
Desurtfawks
I thought the chapter was ok. There wasn't a lot of actual character development other than the war continues. Realism is bad, mk? If we wanted realism I think we would all read battle reports from whatever wars we were interested in. Dry, dry dry battle reports, with numbers of casualities and who engaged whom. Pacore should have walked up to gate and punched it or something. Chapter talks about siege spells but boy wouldn't it have been cool if all that info was actually used? Nobles acting like a bunch of goofs is pretty lame as well. The question I think you should ask yourself when you write a chapter is... why am I writing this chapter? "Blaiton falls" Could be the reason; but that fails to capture WHY its important for the characters. If Pancor were writing the chapter it would probably be a foot note. "Captured another city, lmao" Lord Rayes already expects to lose, its important to him because his city is about to fall. Yet its not important by the same measure. He already knows the outcome. He has no tricks up his sleeve, nothing. He is also a newish character we don't care yet about his struggles, he isn't that important. An author chooses to write a story because there is something exceptional to be told about events around it. Which is the point about realism. Reality is unexceptional. Which is why we remember the battles that were exceptional. Battle of Thermopolis, Dunkirk, Gettysburg, etc. So who has actual agency in this chapter? So what makes something exceptional? Someone makes a critical decision, genius, or foolishness has agency. The goofy lords, and Jason are the only ones who make a decision this chapter. This chapter should have been told from their perspective. Pancore decided long ago to attack, in fact he didn't even choose that. Its his duty, same as Lord Rayes. Rayes only choice is to defend. But the goofy lords choose to betray! The city falls, and they could have had a chapter about being so smart, and then being captured as Jason reveals his deception. 100% more drama, with the city falling as the background stage. Just gotta ask yourself who is really turning this chapter in a direction and then tell their story instead. I think that's why the chapter is also ok, the pieces are there, they just need to be looked at differently.
Docnox
Again, it was .... interesting but just not worth your time. Its my opinion you devote FAR too much word count to characters other than your protagonist. Its a web fiction trend and not a good one. Its a knife to your pacing and character development. If the story is about a blacksmith girl, tell her story.
Narasan
I want a crafting slice of life. You dont have to write it that way, but thats what i personally want.
tibbish
The realism is best IMO. The truth and reality of siege warfare is actually far more harrowing, interesting, and plenty suspenseful anyways. Good job on the chapter and battle!
Zanthras
I think the chapter was quite well written and enjoyable. Contrary to some of the other opinions I think it helped fill out the world. Im assuming at some point the MC will be forced into a situation where war is on the line, no matter if they participate directly or not having some additional context on how it works is good world building imho. If the siege was a miniarc a bunch of chapters long that would be another story. But as written in a solid single chapter it works well.
mark lbc
It's your world. Tell the stories you want to tell in it. I personally like the little vignettes following various characters with different points of view and a differing setting. It further enriches the world and how your main characters fit in it. This was a doomed battle and everyone (mostly) knew it. I don't need to hear every skirmish, unless of course, it's adding to the story. So if you have a piece that you want to tell, Tell it! Thanks, I've enjoyed your writing.
Royce321
It's not a bad chapter, but I think it wasn't really that important to the main characters. I feel you could have instead used a short POV and the majority of the chapter going back to the main characters. Chapters like these aren't a bad thing but unless it's a lead up to a new really important character that will show up often then I'd personally prefer shot POVs that are maybe a paragraph or two if it's this kind of stuff. If it was related directly to the main character/characters then I think pretty much most content is ok. I don't see any issue if decided to spend almost a whole chapter on them sitting around drinking tea and talking about their daily lives. Though if it's a chapter about some heroic figure and a great battle, I'm not really that interested in the details unless its really important to the main character when something like a short post battle report could do the same job. (The stuff below is just my perspective on a few things as a reader and when it comes down to it, it's your story so you have every right to have it go in any direction. Just as readers have every right to stop reading a story too. Though make sure to keep in mind that I absolutely love this story. I'm just providing feedback since you request it, and I will play devil's advocate in the feedback too.) This is all just my personal opinion about how I see the story and what I want out of it. There are countless fighting litrpg stories out there. I found your story because I wanted and was looking for a crafting focused story, especially a litrpg one. I don't mind or expect there to be no fighting or conflict, but I don't want it to be a main focus that takes the main character and story away from crafting. Having conflicts that create more need for the crafting is really great and even her going out and fighting, though I think it needs to stay focused on building up the crafting more. There have been plenty of stories I've read where for example it was a litrpg story then 50+ chapters pass and there's no litrpg content when it what in all the previous chapters. There's one story I'm reading right now that I started reading because it was a system based story and focused on crafting.... but there's a gap of almost 400 chapters between any system use. The chapters aren't bad, but the main thing that got me interested in the story was thrown out for a really illogical reason story wise that isnt realistic at all with the previous world building of the story and system. Those chapters could have easily included the system and still introduced the struggles to push the story along. I have a little over 100 chapters to go and even though there are important things in those 400 chapters I've lost tons of interest and haven't been reading it for a little while now and I'm really tempted to jump ahead to where the system comes back into the story. If the system is thrown out like that again for purely the purpose of adding a tiny bit more struggle to the story in future chapters I'm really tempted to just drop it from disappoint and frustration because its completely different from what the author advertised and still does advertise the story as.
Faruel
I have to agree with a lot of others that this is a great chapter but in the wrong story. If this story was about the war between the two countries this would be a brilliant inclusion, but this story should be about a magical smith and the war should affect the story as much as it does the MC. At this point, we have had several chapters of war that have had almost zero effect on her and ruins the ability of us to see it from her point of view. How much stronger would the impact be if the first time we realized her country was being invaded was when she found out after the fact. or the first time we met the super OP general of legend was when he rocked up in her village with demands while acting like a cocky old man. The story is brilliant but I think the author needs to refocus on what the actual story is and avoid expanding the world outside of the scope of the MC's knowledge.
Mutabulis
I liked the chapter, was nice to see world building and the battle tactics and such. Surprised at how many people in the comments disliked having 1 chapter away from Aaliyah and crafting... Even if the novel's focus and general flow is about Aaliyah becoming a badass magical smith, the whole story shouldn't be her holed up in her smithy.... What's the importance of her crafting that arrow if you have no clue about the battle it was used in?
Szgreg
Hey. I usually don't comment, but this chapter surprised me. It is well-written, but the problem is, nobody cares. As you said we already knew how it would end, theres absolutely no need to waste an entire chapter on this. This is the first time I skipped most of the chapter.
Szgreg
Hey. I usually don't comment, but this chapter surprised me. It is well-written, but the problem is, nobody cares. As you said we already knew how it would end, theres absolutely no need to waste an entire chapter on this. This is the first time I skipped most of the chapter.
Kapelteta
Yeah, I'll second this. Well written, but seemingly superfluous to the main plot. It could be relevant down the line, but the only way I could see justifying the dedication of so much space to this lord rain guy was if he becomes a central character himself later on and honestly just introducing him as a captive taken in the battle would probably go over just as well. Just add a few lines then about him going down fighting as apposed to all the other nobles that tried to flee. There just wasn't much tension in this chapter, which was strange considering its setting was a pitched battle.
ZaA
I mean, it seems to be well written, but stuff like this is just boring to me. I'd probably have preferred Pacore's POV if anything. This is just reading about a character I don't care about that's going to end up disappearing from the story. Seems more like a waste of time IMO. Ended up skipping the second half of the chapter cause I know there's little/no chance that there's actually anything important. This whole chapter is like when you're reading a manga or something and just skim over some of the in-between pictures. I appreciate the hard work, and I'm sure that some enjoyed it, but I personally am not reading this or any other stories to read what is basically filler. Not complaining--I'll just wait for next chapter--just trying to give my opinion. Seems like we could just follow Aaliyah, maybe a half chapter of Tabitha, etc, and then have Pacore come back/word of his victory come back without losing out on anything by having not personally read about it/been there. I will say though, maybe a change of title of the story is needed at this point lol. Seems like it's more of the stories' hobby rather that its' main focus/selling point. Especially with those terrible designs that her master didn't even comment on with those last few personal weapons lol
Carl Mason
True-to - concept. Match your realism to the world. That is best.
Carl Mason
The chapter was quite good, and the single POV did help. I enjoyed reading this and you don't have to worry about falling into Hollywood's trap of battle depiction, this isn't old Earth, this is another wotld. As long as the battle jibes with your world building all will be well. And this does. You have done an excellent job depicting this battle, so far. Now I can hardly wait for him to wake up and find the city fallen to Pacore and occupied by Scholl. But I will, because the time between is for Aaliyah, and worth spending.
Seth Richter
Personally, I think the chapter was well written, but I didn't care for it. Really wasn't any tension. Doesn't feel like it affects any main characters, and I've never particularly enjoyed long battle scenes. Id prefer to just hear in a later chapter "pacore took the city", and move back to aaliyah.
Giem
I like the character progression and growth most. :)
Andrew
Thank you!
marids
This entire chapter could've been summed up as 'Blaiton lost, Pacore won.' Honestly wtf is the point of PoVs from people we're not here to read about? Why can't we get the details for world events in Aaliyah's perspective instead? Or if she doesn't even bother asking or hearing about it, why should we? I miss the chapters where crafting or even skill training was done...
marids
Pretty much. I hoped that at least half of it was for the MC but ended up skimming until the end. It's basically like a Pitz chapter but worse since this has no connections at all to Aaliyah or magic smithing anymore.
Crackafilenight
It was a great chapter, but why do people care so much about realism if your reading a litrpg? I mean yeah elements that are realistic I get, but isn't it a bit antithetical to expect realism in a magic world
Charles Owens
Once they got close enough they dropped the two side siege towers and brought only the middle one with the battering ram to the wall.
Dantalia
I really liked the chapter. I would have loved to know Pacore's thoughts during the fight tho. I would like to know how Pacore takes the other city after this and then go back to Aaliyah's side of the story. Pacore's thoughts would be amazing addition to this chapter or you could even make another chapter from Pacore's perspective. I really am not good at putting my thought's out. The battle was Really nice, I liked how Scholl never stopped advancing and I was surprised the Pacore was in front of all the towers as they where going forward. the part at the end was the best. the bridge goes down, then the bottom of the 2 side towers open and the mages make a stone bridge for the last tower. That part was the best part in my mind, Lord Ryes reaction was really good he is fiercely loyal, Can't wait for the next time I can read about his reaction when he wakes up to the city most likely still functioning.
Erriballon
Thank you I like both
Albedo's Ahoge
Utterly boring chapter. Author has forgotten what this novel was meant to be. There is nothing much about magic smithing. No point reading this.
Bsoxmk2
I enjoyed the chapter. I suspected Jorgan when he said "it's my job to help my country." I wouldn't mind reading more from this perspective soon.
S. Nutter
This chapter was very good! It seemed as realistic as magical warfare can get. More please!
11037
I think this poor guy is trapped in a time loop. When you reach the end of the chapter just start at the beginning again for the continuation.
Kyle Polkinghorne
Good chapter 😌 and I like the realism as well as the info that any spell can be a siege spell if linked to more mages
bob barker
Hollywood needs to completely die
PloofDoodle
more like this is good
Jack Stiles
If Pacore is going to become a regular character in Aaliyah's life, this chapter is fine. As long as it only happens once, an entire chapter dedicated to a fight that main character or characters aren't apart of doesn't need more than this ya?
Black Unicorn
Thanks for a good chapter and yes realism is always better in my opinion.
crusaderstar
I think the chapter was well written, but not a good use of narrative space (which I feel about most of the non Aaliyah battle chapters). The outcome of the battle matters a little bit since it'll affect silver herd operating in Scholl and Pacore's conquest, but there are no characters that I care about in the battle (and Uber pacore was never at risk). You've done a great job showing Scholl as having a casus beli and being kind to those they conquer, which makes the battles matter even less because I don't care who wins this war and none of Aaliyah or her circle really care as long as the village is safe. Aaliyah could've learned about it with a tense communication from Giovanni or something, without spending so much time on details that don't affect the story or involve important characters (yes pacore was there but this didn't reveal or advance any part of his character for me). They were good details! It was a cool battle! But without risking any important characters I don't think it deserves this much space.
The other DB
Thanks for the chapter. Overall it was really good, only part I didn't like was Jorgan's monologue. I liked the spy part, but I think he gave out too much info when he talked about infiltration.
Stephen Pearson
Thanks for the chapter!
Steven Palmer
I liked the realism as well, maybe a few more time skips bit overall it was good. Thank you for the chapter!
TaylorTot
I like the realism
Runehkt
Ehh, scholl definitely seems like the cinematic type. Also in a world with magic realism can be safely put aside as long as your reasoning and consistency isn't shoddy. And so far havent really seen that fault.
Brad
Liked it staying on one perspective. About the realism, I am meh about it. I just don’t want you to feel like you need to go by what is real, this is a fantasy world. Things can happen faster or slower for many reasons.
1536539
Great chapter, thank you
Bobs
You did a good job, I think. Magic and superhuman capabilities could change things a lot for tactics/strategy. And there's a famous quote about the best way to take a city being with a bag of gold in a traitor's hands.
Jason kunsa
I loved the non Hollywood view of the battle. Fun chapter
Mike G.
I liked this a lot!! The slow inexorable grind of the siege towers fits Pacore very well. And I expected the skill timing deception, but it's a nice touch
RabidSquirrel69420
Gucci
Obsidianking
The chapter was good, the seige battle felt pretty realistic, with the timing of skills and trying to figure out patterns. But we all new the city was to fall, had to happen. I'm hoping to see what happens to silver hand and mr grey soon, but that's probably going to have to wait. Also what would happen if Mr grey failed to supply Aaliyah with her supplies according to the contract would that mess her up, by the sudden jump in levels and possibly crippling her growth?
Njordt
With the promise of more Aliyah, I'm pretty much cool with this chapter. Helps it was a good one at that :)
Set
Realism is way better
Alston Sleet
Vile -> vial
Set
“I would probably seed the city to Pacore” seed->cede
Will Iam
Nice chapter and good call on the realism. 2 questions, did any of the siege towers reached the wall? Did the city had a moat that they used a bridge or was it just height difference?
Jon
Great chapter. Thank you
Tyler Shepherd
Great chapter
Russel Yount
Thanks for the chapter!
Kosnik4
Corrections
