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Chapter 7: Outstanding Physics Engine
“Khitans!”
“It’s the Khitans!”
Guttural screams from the city walls spurred panic in Sochia.
The Ink Sea Chief Inspector wanted to keep this matter a secret, but confidentiality wasn’t a thing in this era. Gossiping was commonplace, and often, these gossips tended to blow out of proportion after going through a couple of people.
The surviving soldier claimed that there were 200 Khitans, but by the time word made its way out of the chief inspector manor, the number had already hiked up to 30,000.
And the total population of Sochia didn’t even number 30,000.
Thus, the entire city fell into a state of panic.
On the city wall, the Ink Sea Chief Inspector, who had donned his armor, asked the captain of his personal army, “How many people are there?”
“Around 70 to 80 cavalrymen,” the captain reported. “They are probably just the scouts. Chief inspector, why don’t I take our men…”
The captain meant to bring a few hundred soldiers down to probe the enemy. If they could eradicate these seventy cavalrymen, it would greatly boost their soldiers’ morale.
“That won’t do.” The chief inspector shook his head. “What if they have prepared an ambush? We only have so few people to guard the city. We mustn’t make a reckless move till we get to the bottom of the Khitans’ forces.”
“You’re right, chief inspector.” The captain nodded in agreement.
The heavy casualties they had suffered thus far, by logical deduction, suggested that there was a sizable army camping in the vicinity.
It can’t be that a platoon of seventy had crept around like specters to ambush our people, slaughtering almost everyone in every encounter. That would be ridiculous.
“Besides, those Khitan scouts will only break their heads if they try to fight the sentries we have stationed outside—Wait, what are those Khitans trying to do?!”
To the chief inspector’s incredulity, the Khitans, who appeared to be scouting the area, suddenly began charging at their sentries like utter fools.
Even the Ottomain guards on duty were dumbstruck.
While the sentry posts scattered outside the city were only made of wood and dirt, their resilience was not to be made light of. On top of that, there were also other defensive features like ditches, battlements, and barbicans.
Sochia’s defensive prowess was comparable to a small fortress.
Just the dozens of Ottomain soldiers stationed in their posts were enough to push back thousands of refugees.
Yet, the Khitans were charging at their sentry posts without preparing any tools?
Are they out of their minds?
In contrast, Shu Yichao saw a completely different picture. He nearly went silly from sheer joy by the time he was done scouting Sochia.
“I thought I’d have to spend some time stifling their resources to weaken them, but this city’s defense is trashier than I could have imagined.
“Who do they think they are stopping with those short wooden poles of theirs? Their sentry posts are far from one another, and their soldiers don’t move quickly either. They won’t be able to reinforce one another right away if something happens. I can easily take them down three times over before their allies arrive.
“I must say they sure are kind to station dozens of soldiers in each sentry post.
“Let’s go!” Shu Yichao raised his sword. “Brothers, it’s time to claim this freebie!”
“Woo woo woo!” the nomads roared in agreement.
Shu Yichao charged at the forefront, leading the nomads toward one of the sentry posts like a released arrow. He drew his bow and shot at one of the Ottomain soldiers in the sentry post.
“No one can escape from my arrows!”
The Ottomain soldier collapsed before he could even let out a cry.
His comrades’ eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. They couldn’t believe that someone could shoot with such accuracy on horseback from a hundred feet away. Is that fellow a human?
However, there was no one to answer their questions as the death god had already descended upon them.
“Tok tok tok!” Shu Yichao shot his arrows without rest. Within moments, he had already emptied out the arrows in his quiver.
By then, there were no more than a handful of soldiers still standing on the sentry post. Their heads had been emptied out by the absurdity they were witnessing, and they could only scream in despair in their minds.
How is this possible? How is this possible?!
“Ja!” Shu Yichao and his nomads arrived before the sentry post.
Shu Yichao pushed against his horse’s back and leaped upward. At the same time, two nomads next to him raised their arms.
Before everyone’s shocked gaze, Shu Yichao stepped on the two nomads’ hands and used them as stepping boards.
“Ha!”
It was like a humble fish rising to become a majestic dragon!
There was a cold flash of light.
Even till their heads were lopped off, the Ottomain soldiers on the sentry post couldn’t believe what had just happened. How did the Khitan get onto our sentry post? Are they capable of flying too?!
“Huu! It’s as I expected. No matter how well done the mod is, it’s still built on the same base code. All hail our Beacons of the Otherworld’s outstanding physics engine!”
Shu Yichao gleefully cleared the sentry post like a natural disaster.
The other nomads didn’t slack off either. They tossed out their ropes, hooked it on the battlement, and climbed up the structure. Once they reached the top, they didn’t hesitate to brandish their swords to decapitate the enemy.
Cries, screams, and pleas for mercy echoed, but they ended as soon as they started.
A seemingly impregnable sentry post was taken down in less than five minutes.
An air of desolation floated on Sochia’s city walls.
“Bam!”
The soldiers stationed on the other sentry posts anxiously descended and fled like madmen toward Sochi, fearing the same fate would befall them.
Run, run! We need to escape no matter what it takes! The sentry posts will only become our coffin if we dawdle here.
However, Shu Yichao keenly noticed their attempt to escape.
“Trying to get away?” Shi Yuchao sneered as he looked at the red units moving on his minimap. He turned to the nomads around him and berated, “Stop fighting among yourselves. Slaughter those people first before deciding how to split the loot.”
“Open the city gates! Open the city gates!”
The Ottomain soldiers could already imagine their outcome when they saw Shu Yichao and the nomads charging at them. They desperately shouted toward their comrades in Sochia, hoping that they would dispatch reinforcements to save them.
However, there was no response from the city walls.
“We surrender!”
Faced with a terrifying storm, the soldiers, who had lost their fighting will, dropped their swords and raised both their hands up high.
However…
“What use do I have for prisoners who can’t be sold? Hack them up.”
The swift death that descended upon the soldiers sent despair rippling in the city.
“If even a single Khitan platoon is already this powerful,” the chief inspector spoke with a hoarse voice that sounded like he had aged ten years, “how long can we fend them off when their main army arrives?”
The captain felt light-headed. He barely kept his balance by placing his hand on the battlement.
There were a million words he wanted to say, but he couldn’t bring himself to voice them aloud.
“Have a few people disguise themselves and sneak out.” The chief supervisor finally made his decision. “We’ll request reinforcements from the sultana. No matter what, we have to hold on for a month—no, half a month.”
…
“Troops can be upgraded?”
Meanwhile, Shu Yichao tapped into his personal profile.