A large portion of the Xadian army just disappeared, the human officers were confused and asked for confirmation of what they just saw.
Meanwhile, in the command bunker, Henry was thrown into a panic trying to figure out what was going on, he quickly began to hypothesize "Maybe those troops never existed, no thats mere wishful fantasy, they must be hidden elsewhere but where exactly?" He was trying to think what would be the best response to this situation should have the men pullback or something else.
General Cornelius sighed as he saw his protege agonizing over this "Henry, calm down, this is not that difficult to figure out."
"Sir, how can I calm down at all in this situation?"
"Let me ask you a question, why did they erect such a massive barrier and show us their troops at the back were mere illusions?" the general was playing with a pen in his hand.
"To make us divert our attention elsewhere while they..."
"Hardly, its more beneficial to not let us see through that barrier, they wanted us to focus our attention on them... now why would they go through the trouble of showing us anything?"
"Sir?"
General Cornelius sighed in exasperation, "Here's another question, of the Xadian army, which races disappeared from view?" The general hoped he wouldn't have to spell it out for him.
"Let's see.." he tried to remember the enemy formations "... the Moonshadow elves, earthblood elves, skywing elves, and winged dragons and airborne cavalry."
"Good, now how will they move?"
"hmmm.." his brow furrowed with thought, "Moonshadow elves can stay invisible to they'll likely try to flank us from our south, as for the earthblood elves the best use for their skills would be for earth walls... tunnels! they are underneath us! damn bastards!"
General Cornelius offered a smile, "Good, good, which is why I ordered the mines to be buried deep under the ground."
"But that doesn't mean we know where they'll come fro..." Then suddenly several massive explosions could be seen close to their southern flank near where the trenches ended.
"But how?
"Trenches filled with enemy troops, it was obvious how they would try to deal with them since there was only one location where they could expect reinforcements."
"perhaps obvious for you to figure out!" Henry retorted in his mind
General Cornelius decided to explain further "The moonshadow elves are indeed invisible and slowly approaching our southern flank... and our light and medium tanks are equipped with thermal scopes, wasn't it nice of the enemy to lower the ambient temperature by causing this storm." He broke out into a smile.
"So we're completely safe them" Henry let out a sigh of relief.
"Oi!, aren't you forgetting the winged ones?" Cornelius cocked an eyebrow.
Henry fell into a panic, realizing what he meant. "The large anti-air guns won't be enough to deal with them diving straight at us."
Cornelius nodded and pointed his finger upwards, "Yes, as we speak they are flying above and probably diving towards us as we speak," he was being unusually cheerful. "So how would YOU respond to this dilemma, do you send the tanks to deal with the moonshadow elves then come back to deal with the winged enemy, OR, do you keep them here to deal with the winged ones first before going after the enemy hiding in our flanks?"
Henry tried to think of the best solution, "the anti-air guns won't be enough, if I moved the tanks to deal with one then the other could be able to deliver a crippling strike, if I split them up it might not work at all."
He kept wracking his brain trying to think, then his eyes widened as he remembered one of the secret orders he had to deliver on the general's behalf.
Cornelius watched with a wry smile on his face as he saw his protege suddenly stop panicking "Good, he understands."
Henry turned around, "I don't have to make a decision, do I?" a thin smile forming on his face, "You knew this would happen which I why you gave special orders to the flight mages, I assume they're hiding around here somewhere, and I take it you've managed to con the entire staff here to put me through this haven't you" He turned to look outside.
"Indeed, you are correct on both counts" he gestured to the radio "Now if you would be so kind as ..."
Before he could finish Henry went to the radio operator who was smiling like his superior. "Order all three companies of flight mages to take off and intercept the airborne cavalry that will be close behind the dragons, have all anti-air guns shoot the dragons to keep them from noticing the flight mages."
"Good now all that's left is our flanks,"
Henry turned to the radio operator, "Would you care to do the honors?"
The operator nodded "With pleasure" and then gave out the orders.
Through the barrier everyone saw massive explosions coming from their western flank, they were clearly visible and audible despite the enormous distance as an unimaginable amount of dirt and rock were blown into the air. They feared what would happen to anyone caught in it.
"What were those explosions?" someone cried out
"Wasn't that where the tunneling teams were heading?"
Panic spread throughout the Xadian forces, no one knew what they were fighting anymore, the war was quickly turning into a one-sided massacre.
"Damn, what kind of weapons or magic are we facing here?" Vaeril couldn't make sense of this battle and no one else seem to have an idea, even the long-lived startouched elves were clueless for once.
They all looked above as explosions erupted on the ice barrier, they would've considered it an amazing sight if it wasn't something so deadly. The ice barrier had several large cracks, they all hoped it would manage to withstand this ever increasing struggled to repair it but several shots managed to penetrate it, their casualties were mounting. they hoped the bombardment would ease up if they undid the illusion but it seemed to have just made them more serious about taking them out.
-
Avizandum along with 109 other dragons began their descent as soon as they saw the massive explosions after the ice barrier, far above them were the airborne cavalry and skywing elves waiting for them to land first before they could descend. He didn't understand what could create such explosions he kept seeing from afar but he felt relieved that the enemy would be too preoccupied to nice their surprise attack.
As he closed in he was met with an onslaught of strange metal pieces flying towards him, they easily bounced off his scales, but the larger ones exploded on impact, he noticed he was bleeding and should avoid any further hits, "Cover you eyes quickly!" he moved to cover his eyes with his claws while he began to heal his wounds. But this meant he didn't notice the 750 mages flying towards the airborne units behind him.
He and the other dragons accelerated and once they were close enough to the ground, they opened with fiery breaths before pulling up creating trails of fire in their wake. They landed and began to destroy everything in sight.
The arch dragons switched to their elemental breaths to increase their damage which was unique to them, a normal dragon could only spew regular flames.
The storm dragons began to spew lightning which were far more powerful than a lightning strike, it rendered all the electrical equipment that were connected to each other worthless, they were wrapped in an electrical storm that would strike anything that was within 100 meters of them.
The sun dragon's breath became so hot that it easily melted steel. Their bodies became wreathed in flames that would melt anything that maintained contact for long enough. A group of humans found themselves pinned under an arch sun dragon, they looked up in terrors at its gaping maw, it bellowed a roar that incinerated them easily leaving nothing but fine ash behind.
Star dragons were similar but their firey breath was nearly impossible to guard against, the area hit by it had its air pressure decreased to almost zero in an instant, any human caught in its radius died as their lungs exploded from the difference in air pressure. Even casting Ventus Spiralus wouldn't save them. Gravity itself was stronger around them, anything they hit directly would be on the receiving end of forces that were considered extreme.
The moon dragon's breath while not as deadly causes massive sensory overload to anyone near its flaming breath, anyone standing 70 meters near them would experience hallucinations and finding themselves incapable of telling friends from foe and are overcome with sudden rage and desire to attack anything.
The light tank commander put down the radio. "Alright, we're to head to the south to find some Moonshadow elves hiding among the trees. Remember only use the napalm if you have to"
"Roger," the gunner and driver said in unison. To their sides, they saw other tanks moving in the same direction.
As the trees and vegetation became denser the further they went which along with the rain limited their vision, the elves used illusions to disguise themselves as part of the forest. The sound of tracks moving through the forest and snapping branches could be heard. The tanks switched over to their thermal scopes to find their elusive targets.
"found one, 36 meters ahead, a few more behind, their disguised as trees." the gunner said before he opened fire. The machine guns quickly dispatched them, their bodies fell limp within seconds.
Other light tanks had found similar success, the medium tanks fired High-Explosive shells at any large groups they found while the light tanks went for smaller groups. the death toll quickly began to climb.
The radio suddenly rang, all medium tanks were ordered to return immediately to defend the base while light tanks were to continue.
"just perfect" the commander groaned, "we're gonna have to use napalm after all, now that our firepower just left" He knew this wouldn't end well for them or the enemy.
As he predicted the elves gave up all pretense of hiding and charged at them after noticing the medium tanks fall back, they shot arrows that bounced off their armor, and their cavalry charges were mowed down like cattle.
The machine guns were often enough but when a large number of them got too close they had to switch to the flame throwers. The elves found themselves caught in a wall of liquid fire and died screaming as the flames spread and clung to their clothes and armor. The flames wouldn't go out no matter how much they tried rolling around in the wet mud, which only made it more terrifying.
The elves tried hiding atop the trees waiting in ambush but all that happened was that the entire tree was set aflame.
The Moonshadow elves became increasingly demoralized as the enemy always seem to know where they hiding, their stealth and the illusions which their people were renowned for and made them so feared were rendered completely worthless. The forests which had been their ally since time immemorial that they had used to achieve great comebacks were being burnt away.
The stench of cauterized flesh soon began to fill the air, the humans stopped using napalm because they had lost the stomach for it, many struggling with the urge to vomit. Flamethrowers were intended for clearing foliage and not other living beings due to the demoralizing effect it had on their users. The Moonshadow elves retreated as they knew they could do nothing but run away in the face of those things, to them it was like facing a small dragon.
The two groups that together we're more than 12,000 strong were defeated, though they suffered the least casualties of the entire battle, the manner in which they died was too much for them to handle.
Above the clouds, the commander of the entire airborne elven unit looked on "Alright, looks like the dragons can devastate the enemy on their own, we'll go after the trenches then join them."
Suddenly the commander and several soldiers were taken out by several spontaneous explosions. Everyone looked around and saw several humans flying towards them,
"What the?!" They all saw it but couldn't believe it, hundred of humans flying towards them with two pairs of wings on their backs, the second pair was small and remained folded. They wore a combination of plate and padded armor, their rifles were affixed with much longer bayonets.
The Xadians had 8800 troops compared to the humans who numbered 750, but only 2300 were winged skywing elves, the rest were using flying mounts which were slower, the elves were armed with words, spears ad bows. In contrast, each human was already an elite on their own, so the numerical advantage of the Xadians and existed only on paper.
The human flight mages had found themselves on a battlefield that was perfectly suited for them. They formed into squads of five and began their attack and a high-speed aerial battle had begun, only the skywing elves could keep up with them but every time one of them managed to get near to land a strike with their sword or spears they were shot from another direction, their bows were of no use here. The moment a mage began to cast a spell, they immediately found themselves being shot at by humans in the vicinity.
The Xadian army looked on, for the first time since this battle began, they saw the enemy taking massive damage, this lifted their morale, they only needed for the enemy to stop attacking them so they could join in and possible win.
Vaeril was about to cheer when he suddenly slapped himself "Don't get full of yourself" He wracked his brain trying to guess what new weapon they might be targeted by next, all the while hoping he was just being paranoid.
The others turned to him wondering what he was doing, "whats going on?",
"I think the humans have more up their tunics."
"But tha.."
"No buts, every time we thought we were about to get a breakthrough, it was destroyed easily, so stop fantasizing and start thinking!" he barked, "Or have you not noticed that the airborne units still haven't arrived yet?"
Naturally, they had no way of knowing what was happening above the clouds nor in the southern flanks.
"Wha..!" General Cornelius was unable to process what he was seeing,
"How are these dragons this powerful?"
His staff was similarly astonished, none could form a coherent sentence while witnessing the sheer destructive power on full display before them. they watched as regular infantry and combat mages tried to attack them while witnessing others going berserk and attacking their own for no apparent reason. Many had left their stations to see for themselves.
Cornelius quickly managed to regain his sense and walked to the radio operator taking his mic and bellowed his orders "All anti-air cannons are to switch to AP and are to aim for the heads. All units are to maintain at least 150 meters distance at all times, use the floodlights to blind them."
His outburst caused his staff returned to reality and they quickly scrambled back to their posts.
"What's the status of the flight mages and tanks?"
"Expected ETA 6 minutes and 4 minutes respectively sir."
"good, instruct the mages to switch to concussion shots" The General glared menacingly at the battlefield. "Enjoy your little rampage while you can"
Avizandum and the other dragons continued their rampage leaving behind trails of death and destruction. Suddenly their visions were stolen by an intense light, they moved their heads in all directions trying to escape it but the humans persisted in trying to at the very least slow them down. He could make out the silhouette of humans moving about but his visions was useless to rely on.
Soon they felt the sensation of thousands of projectiles hitting and bouncing off their scales, despite the lack of damage they could tell the humans were beginning to reorganize and regain their morale and within time they would bring more pwoerful weapons to bear against them. They began to shoot their breaths in random directions hoping to destroy the source of this infernal light. As minutes wore on the lights were destroyed but by then, the humans are managed to regain their will to fight.
Avizandum prepared to strike at the enemy but was struck from above, his vision now blurry and experiencing intense disorientation, but no pain which he understood to mean that the attack was problematic even if it couldn't penetrate his scales. As he looked above he strained to see what was attacking him, he managed to make out the forms of winged beings, at first, he thought it might have been the airborne units but their attacks easily disproved that possibility. The fact that the airborne units weren't here yet and its implications weren't lost on him.
The medium and heavy tanks arrived and began shelling the dragons as the infantry quickly fell back to a more safe position. The artillery continued to pin down the enemy within the barrier while the infantry that remained in the trenches now abandoned their positions to help the tanks and rescue those pined by the dragons.
Soon they found their regenerative abilities were unable to heal them fast enough as they were being overwhelmed by this continuous onslaught. One of the arch dragons had opened its jaws to unleash its breath but suddenly its head was blown off as its body fell limp on the ground. Soon other dragons began to meet similar fates as roars filled with agony were all that could be heard over the unending shelling and gunfire. Avizandum looked desperately for his mate hoping she was alive, to his relief she had only minor injuries but he knew the longer they stayed the less likely they were to survive. "at this rate... we can't stay here." He bellowed in ancient Draconis, ordering all dragons to retreat. they all complied and began to fly off as they tried to avoid being hit midair.
Within the barrier, their morale had been shattered. Everyone knew that they had lost as they witnessed the dragon's, the most powerful beings in xadia were being killed or driven away. Orders to retreat were given as staying any longer meant death, but any attempts at an organized retreat quickly devolved into a rout as men and women ran without regard to save themselves, many fell and were trampled to death by their own side.
The humans did not even try to pursue them and saw no reason to give chase to what was now a disorganized mob that posed no real threat.
By nightfall the remnants of the army had made camp, they would wait for reinforcements to help them return to the city then decide their future course of action. Only by the next day would the extent of the damage they suffered become apparent.
"How bad are our losses," Cornelius asked as he walked through the devastation.
Henry pursued his lips "We're still not sure but we've lost around 700 people with close 3,000 injured or traumatized. As for our equipment, I trust I don't need to explain" he gestured to around them.
"Send word to the capital, we'll need more troops and tanks by yesterday, we also need airships and attack crafts otherwise we'll have trouble claiming territory let alone holding it."
"What of the prisoners?"
"We had all 8451 of them coined, sir."
"Were any of their leaders among them?"
"No, sir"
Cornelius pursed his lips "A pity,"
