Seventh Chapter Fourty-Six The Burning Night

The light of the explosion was fleeting, like a firefly appearing in the night.

Fanna raised his binoculars, looking towards the distant oasis.

The scattered torches were the best markers for the target, and the closer they were to Iron Sand City, the denser the number of torches. Hundreds of flickering lights outlined the Sand Folk camp, which was also the main target of the artillery battalion.

After a while, a rumbling sound came from the depths of the oasis.

“The landing point seems a bit off,” Cat's Claw muttered, also observing.

“No way, it's hard to set up cannons in the sandy ground itself, so we can only use the first few shells as trial shots.” Yupi loaded the next shell into the barrel while speaking.

“Anyway, shoot further away, if it lands on Lord Iron Axe's head, we're all done.”

“Don't worry, the tavern is far from the camp, if we could hit that, the shooting manual compiled by those sages would have to be rewritten.” Rodney pulled the firing rope, "Ready!"

“Fire!” Fanna nodded.

The two fortress cannons roared again deafeningly, the flames spewing from the muzzles briefly illuminating the ground in front, and the rising sand and dust slapped against their faces, causing everyone to squint involuntarily.

The small oasis in the Sand Folk's mouth cannot be regarded as a real town. It is just a camp formed by clans gathering outside Iron Sand City. None of the houses are built of bricks and stones. Except for a few short buildings and watchtowers built of wood, the vast majority are tents supported by leather and cloth.

Therefore, the damage caused by the fortress cannons was surprisingly good.

Fanna noticed that no matter where the shells landed, the surrounding area would instantly darken, but would quickly brighten again—the former was because the blast wave caused by the explosion overturned the tents and torches, while the latter was because the torch oil mixed with flammable building materials, forming a more dazzling pillar of fire.

This was the first time that the First Army's artillery battalion had used pre-ranging to deploy artillery positions according to firing tables. The result was not very ideal, but fortunately the fragile and flammable targets made up for this defect to some extent. After several rounds of shelling, a fire had already started in the Sand Folk camp, and several bright lights were spreading outwards, and with the help of the howling evening wind, it looked like it would ignite the entire oasis. Although he couldn't experience the deterrence brought by the shelling at close range, Fanna could fully imagine what kind of predicament these so-called watchdogs were currently in.

Unstoppable, unavoidable, this is the God of War in His Majesty's mouth.

Praise the cannons!

Praise the large-caliber cannons!

He glanced triumphantly at the rifle battalion ambushing in front of the position and the jiqiang groups on both sides, once again rejoicing that he had made the right choice.

Future wars will be dominated by artillery, as for rifles... they are just supporting roles for patching up leaks and cleaning up the battlefield.

…

Tulam took a long time to recover from the earth-shattering explosion. Even at this moment, his ears were still ringing, as if he had been slapped hard.

Was that the thunder that Iron Axe spoke of?

After the low rumble of thunder and the sharp whistling sound, a watchtower not far from the tavern was suddenly engulfed by a ball of fire, and the entire tower body shattered in an instant! At the same time, the violent roar that exploded in his ears caused him to lose his hearing for a short time.

Through the hole smashed out of the wall, he could see that many tents were ignited by the splashed bonfire debris, and soon turned into piles of larger bonfires. People screamed and ran out of the fire, rolling on the ground and struggling, trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies, but only a few lucky ones could do this.

There were also some Sand Folk who were close to the watchtower who collapsed softly to the ground—obviously they did not seem to have suffered any serious injuries, but they could never stand up again.

Damn it, this is not some thunder, it is simply heavenly fire falling into the world!

Only the Sky Father possesses such terrible means.

Tulam originally thought that such a fierce attack would not last long, but he soon found that he was wrong.

The thunder sounded about every quarter of an hour, and what followed was inevitably a ball of fire and an explosion, and he also noticed that the location where the ball of fire first appeared was a bit scattered, but it soon gradually converged on the center of the oasis—that was where the watchdogs gathered, and compared to these vassal clans, the watchdogs naturally occupied the most fertile piece of land in the oasis.

However, at this moment, it had become a hell.

Pillars of fire rose up, as if the sky was burning.

His gaze towards Iron Axe completely changed.

“The Three Gods are here… this is definitely not a power you can possess!” Tulam opened his hoarse voice and said in a trembling voice, “Who… did you turn to? Those northerners?”

“A benevolent king,” Iron Axe replied, “He will bring oasis and order to the Mojin Sand Folk.”

“This is impossible——” He subconsciously wanted to say the word impossible, but when he saw the sea of fire spreading in the oasis, the last syllable seemed to be stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter it no matter what.

“It’s a pity that not everyone is willing to accept such order. The oasis breeds the Sand Folk, and also imprisons their thoughts. The killings and betrayals are all caused by the competition for a place to survive. The oasis that breeds life is instead soaked in blood, which has to be said to be an ironic thing. As for the methods of the watchdogs, which are obviously used to maintain the power of the big clans and make the clansmen suffer in the yellow sand and drought, are even more stupid and short-sighted.”

“If these words were spoken by a northerner, I wouldn’t blame you at all, but Iron Axe…” Tulam shook his head with difficulty, “You are clearly a mixed-blood born in the desert, why do you have such naive thoughts? You can't not know that if there is no killing and looting, the limited oasis cannot accommodate our ever-growing population. Unless the Mojin people can possess the power to overwhelm Greycastle, it is impossible to rush out of this desert! Cooperation and allegiance are all dead ends. The northerners will never truly trust us. The Black Bone Clan and the Sandstone Clan are the best proof!”

For the sake of a fertile territory, these two clans who had the opportunity to enter Iron Sand City turned around and pledged allegiance to Queen Garcia of Clear Water. What was the result? It is said that everyone was fed a strange pill and eventually turned into rotten flesh and blood, and the territory promised as a reward turned out to be empty words in the end.

“There won’t be true… trust?” Iron Axe showed a trace of emotion, “I used to think so too. But the facts tell me that there are always some people who are born to break the rules.”

Suddenly, a burst of rapid hoofbeats sounded outside the tavern, and it became more and more dense. Tulam didn't need to look to know that this was the counterattack team of the watchdogs gathering.

They may have lost the courage to be aggressive, but their skills and horsemanship have not been lost. As long as the enemy appears near the oasis, they will pounce on the target like bloodthirsty sand worms. He was about to remind Iron Axe when he was grabbed by the collar and pulled to the window.

Not far away, he saw that there were more flickering torches, running towards the desert outside the oasis.

It seemed that these watchdogs had smelled the aura of their opponent.

However, neither Iron Axe nor the black-haired goddess looked particularly relaxed, as if they didn't take this cavalry team seriously at all.

“What did I say before, not everyone will be happy to accept the new order… like the watchdogs, who think they can stop the thunder.” The mixed-blood whispered in his ear, his tone like a declaration of his fate, “But whether you accept it or not—the new order will eventually arrive.”