"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."
Countless soldiers rushed to the base of the castle walls and began throwing grappling hooks to climb the battlements.
However, they horrifically discovered that the entire wall had been smeared with something that made it completely slippery, making it impossible to climb or gain any foothold.
Trying to set it on fire, the slippery substance simply wouldn’t burn.
Thereby, more than ten thousand soldiers were helplessly trapped at the base of the castle, completely unable to climb up.
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..." At that moment, the defenders on the castle unleashed a barrage of arrows and small explosive packs down upon them.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
The densely packed siege army fell like stalks of wheat, toppled to the ground en masse.
Casualties rapidly increased.
Gui Xingfu’s scalp tingled at once, not knowing what the explosive devices were.
"Retreat, retreat, retreat..."
As Gui Xingfu issued the order, the retreat bell sounded from the rear camp.
The ten thousand soldiers who had managed to reach the wall now desperately scrambled back.
Then, another torrential downpour of arrows hit them, along with a volley from the Scorpion Stone Projector.
Hundreds of explosive packs violently detonated once again.
When they completely retreated back to the ranks of the army and checked the headcount from each camp, Gui Xingfu realized that of the initial twenty thousand men in the first wave of attack, only fifteen thousand remained—a loss of over five thousand.
All around the empty ground on both sides of the castle were cratered holes, and bodies lay haphazardly across the terrain.
Gui Xingfu couldn’t help but feel waves of nausea. He had thought this small castle would be easy to take, but the first wave of attack had already cost him five thousand men.
Especially the Suos’ terrifying thunderous boom (gunpowder) secret weapon, it had caused massive casualties.
Out of the more than five thousand casualties, over seventy percent were caused by the dreadful thunderous booms.
The entire outer wall of the castle had been coated with that slippery substance. With no siege ladders and grappling hooks rendered useless for climbing, it was an impossible task.
The strategy of attacking from three sides also failed. They had to concentrate their forces on the front to breakthrough the castle gate.
Two hours later, Gui Xingfu’s army changed formation, and all troops were positioned in front of the castle.
Queen Yan Chuo immediately redirected the majority of the forces to the front of the castle as well.
"Suppress with giant crossbows..."
At Gui Xingfu’s command!
Hundreds of giant crossbows switched to volley fire, each shooting over ten arrows at once.
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."
With successive rounds of volley fire.
Each barrage sent thousands of crossbow bolts raining down like a storm onto the ramparts.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
The deluge of giant crossbow bolts poured down, immediately suppressing the front of the castle so none could raise their heads.
Thousands of soldiers charged frantically, protecting a Battering Ram in their midst, as they rushed toward the castle gates.
Above on the ramparts.
"Fire the Super Heavy Catapults," ordered Queen Yan Chuo.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
A series of thunderous vibrations sounded as about a dozen Super-Giant Stone Projectors hurled oil drums weighing over five hundred pounds more than three to four hundred meters.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss..." Each oil drum was ignited at the fuse.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang..."
Over a dozen large oil drums brutally smashed onto the ground over three hundred meters away, hitting right in the midst of Gui Xingfu’s army and Giant Crossbow Battleground.
The accuracy was dismal, with only three giant crossbows directly hit.
But... as each of the oil drums crashed to the ground and the fire oil splattered out, they encountered the lit fuses.
Instantly, all the oil blazed up fiercely.
Hundreds of giant crossbows were destroyed in an instant, with dozens lost, and in the effort to extinguish the flames, the suppression by giant crossbows had to temporarily cease.
At this moment, medium-sized Scorpion Stone Projectors on the ramparts began to turn around, moving up onto the ramparts and starting to hurl those terrifying explosive packs.
Thousands of soldiers hid behind the third layer of crenels, bending their bows and sending wave after wave of arrows and projectiles.
After nearing half casualties, they finally made it to the gate.
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."
Countless explosive packs, boulders, and oil drums were thrown down.
And the Super Heavy Catapults had been reloaded and prepared for a second volley.
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."
As the heart-shaking roars followed, about a dozen giant explosive heads were hurled hundreds of meters to crash vehemently upon Gui Xingfu’s army at the Giant Crossbow Battleground.
Countless fires blazed once more, and dozens more giant crossbows were obliterated!
"Charge, charge, charge..."
Gui Xingfu clenched his teeth and sent wave after wave of soldiers charging forward.
Then, countless soldiers fell one after another, dying within this short stretch of three hundred meters.
Chaos Stone Island had been embattled for twelve hours straight.
The small Chaos Stone Castle still stood unconquered.
Across the battlefield, bodies piled up like mountains.
"Father, today’s casualties total nine thousand: three thousand dead, two thousand seriously wounded, and four thousand lightly wounded," reported Gui Qinzhong. "The crossbows stripped from the warships also suffered heavy losses."
Gui Xingfu painfully closed his eyes. Forty thousand troops had suffered over a twenty percent loss. Had it been an open battle, the entire army may well have disintegrated by now.
"How many fell to the enemy’s thunderous booms?" asked Gui Xingfu.
Gui Qinzhong replied, "Over seventy percent!"
Gui Xingfu’s heart lurched fiercely. Had it not been for the dreadful thunderous booms and the fire oil bombs, perhaps they could have breached Chaos Stone Castle by now.
He knew in his heart that both the thunderous booms (gunpowder) and the fire oil bombs were game-changers for war, a revolution in military affairs.
Fortunately, Suo Lun was dead. Had he held these two super weapons, it was likely he could have turned the tide. If so, the Gui Clan would have been left with no place to bury their dead.