Damon was now on one of the collosal battle ships with the envoys and the twins headed for the city of Abegnog.
The knights were filled with a mixture of thrill and fear as it was a novel idea and only great warriors of legend were capable of achieving flight.
This particular airship was fitted with three propellers and a 4.5 liter V6 engine making it faster than all the airships currently produced. It had a maximum speed of three hundred and eighty kilometers per hour and a cruising speed of two hundred and fifty kilometers per hour.
Seven hours later at about three o'clock in the afternoon, they arrived in the city of Abegnog and began their decent. Soon the ship landed in the middle of a field inside the castle and was immediately surrounded by the Duke's knights who immediately braced their selves for conflict. It was only when the envoys stepped off the ship that they lowered their guard.
Damon and the twins then stepped off from the ship and were led to the great hall of the Duke. Damon and the twins were dressed three piece suits and polished black dress shoes . The twins welded a straight blade sword bearing resemblance to the Japanese chokuto. In the holster hidden inside their jackets was a sig Sauer pistol.
Damon also had a pistol on him and his sword was carried in a wooden box held by Maggog.
Inside the great hall , Damon saw that there were people there already inside the great hall surrounding a table that had a large map sprawled over it. Their discussion stopped abruptly as Damon entered showing that his presence was unexpected.
" Greetings your Majesty and your grace , I have come to answer your call to the war effort" Damon said as he bowed.
" How did you get here so fast Lord Damon." The Duke asked with a tinge of bitterness in his voice as he noticed the looks that Damon was getting from the people in the room, it was more a look of acknowledgement rather than admiration .
Before Damon could reply Jor interrupted,
" My lords , our scouts have reported that over two hundred thousand soldiers have crossed over the border and with the way they are marching we expect them to reach us within a week ".
" And how many of our forces can we muster by that time" Tiberius asked .
" About seventy five thousand".
" Maybe Damon the conqueror can provide us with insight on how to combat this situation ". One of the nobles spoke sarcastically. But all eyes turned to Damon in anticipation, these nobles knew that if this war was lost they would lose their way of living that they believed made them superior.
" In three days , one thousand men from my army will arrive, with this one thousand men , I will hope to deal a decisive blow on Marcellus forces, a blow that would make them rethink their movement in the eastern regions and solidify emperor Tiberius claim on the empire. All you need to do is to give the order your Majesty."
During his speech, Damon purposely used the word emperor to address Tiberius as a way of ingratiating himself to the Prince. After much thought the Prince agreed to the place, Damon was to try out his methods to reduce the enemies momentum. The truth was that each and everyone in that hall wished they were as effective as Damon and they secretly wished that he failed this campaign just to prove that he wasn't invincible.
Three days later twenty ships carrying one thousand men and their equipments which which included one hundred 105 mm cannons , fifty 125mm howitzers, heavy machine guns, general purpose machine guns and their respective ammunitions.
But they didn't land in city, they just hovered above it . It was a scouting air ship that landed and captains Jonas, Meadger, Raskos and Johan.
When they met Damon in the great hall of the dukes castle, the saluted before reporting on their situation of the army.
" The men are ready to take action, a communication line has been established" said Jonas handing him a bracelet. This seemed to be the communication devices created by the rune mages. It was more or less an open channel radio. The leaders of several teams and airships were equipped with these devices to allow for smooth communication and implementation of orders.
" And also my Lord , three HB-1s has been prepared as per your order" . The HB-1 was a steel tank filled with two hundred and fifty liters of liquid hydrogen which had a
" Good let us go and win a war". Damon said and they departed.
Within thirty minutes a place had been selected for the army to make their stand, trenches were dug, machine gun nests were quickly constructed and cannons were kept at least two kilometers away from the main line .
Then the waiting began and soon three days later word came from the recon ship, enemies were approaching, about fifty thousand. It seemed like they were a probing force but it didn't matter, they were about to be given a wake up call
Soon they entered into the range of the canons and then one hundred and fifty cannons roared to life, firing high explosive shells into enemy lines .
For each volley one hundred and fifty high explosive shells were fired when multiplied by the rate of fire which was about 2-4 rounds per minute was about 300 to 600 rounds per minute.
With the guidance from the airships which gave real time correspondence, the cannons were able to aim and fire in quick succession.
The enemy on the other hand with no knowledge of trench warfare were immediately decimated by the high explosive shells raining fire , death and sharpnells all over the area. Panic had struck them as they did not know where their attackers were.
All through the battlefield, limbs were littered about, eardrums were ruptured and people trampled on each other just to escape.
Fifty thousand men ready for battle, men who were prepared to claim glory for themselves had their lives reaped from them by an enemy they couldn't see.