From Skaven to God of War

Chapter 382: Blockade, Induction, Encirclement

The rats were very serious about this battle, and there was almost no delay, conspiracy, or lip service.

As soon as the watchtower was cleared, the other three rat warlords on the battlefield rushed over together.

However, it will take some preparation and time for the absolute main force to arrive.

One by one, the Big Claw Priests began to work on the ruins, repairing roads and building bridges to allow the huge steam tanks to pass quickly.

During this period, the vanguard troops began to move forward first.

The vanguard was almost entirely composed of ratmen warriors. Driven by ratmen priests or war priests, they gathered together and advanced towards the center of the battle, the extremely solid fortress city.

On the human side, the defenders stationed in the Fire City did not sit idly by and watch all this happen. Many reconnaissance teams and various sophisticated creations suspended in the sky appeared on the battlefield and began to try to lock onto any valuable or threatening ratmen movements.

Soon, the movements of the rat people were determined.

There is almost no doubt that this is definitely a comprehensive and large-scale mobilization. In all directions and all corners, no matter where they are, the rat people are moving forward.

A rat priest who was mixed in with the rat warriors was dissatisfied with the magic reconnaissance plane hovering in the sky and the buzzing little thing. As he waved his staff, the sharp flying stones successfully hit the small ball floating in the sky. The human reconnaissance plane fell to the ground while spinning, and a large ball of sparks exploded the moment it landed.

There was some panic among the ratmen warriors and a few unlucky ones were affected by the explosion, but the ratmen priest didn't think there was anything wrong and was very proud of the accuracy of his spells.

Soon, the riot was quelled.

The ratmen group began to advance again.

After Black Hair and his team of Storm Rat cleared out the watchtowers one by one, there were no more obstacles to their march.

The rat army that came from all directions belonged to three different rat warlords. After abandoning their war equipment and various heavy weapons, they gathered at their respective locations in just two or three days.

This huge industrial city of humans, a sturdy fortress, a city that was as hard to eat as a hedgehog, was served on the dinner plate in advance under the joint blockade of the three rat warlords.

The rats did not launch the attack in a hurry as many things were not prepared.

Tall lightning towers were built around this human city.

Various fortifications, underground tunnels, and transportation networks have entered the laying stage.

There are two most important things in this stage of the Rat Man.

First are the lightning towers that have entered the construction phase. These diffuse magical lightning can greatly disrupt the operation of various magical equipment and are made by Graystone.

Humans have tried to crack these lightning towers, and have achieved certain results, but they are still unable to prevent these lightning towers from infecting and destroying various small magic machines.

When these lightning towers fall completely and are connected together, the Flame City will completely lose its ability to detect the outside world, and various magical devices used for reconnaissance will no longer be able to function. They will be completely in the dark about the arrangements and mobilizations of the ratmen's army.

This is a very dangerous state.

The second is the railway that was slowly built from the rear. A surface railway connecting to the ratman's underground railway network began to be constructed.

The purpose of this railway's existence is naturally to ensure logistics. As for why it was built on the surface, it is to deal with attacks from various weapons developed by humans that are specifically designed to destroy underground tunnels. It is also to better transport various overly large war machines.

The first one is easy to understand. After all, with the Big Claw Priest, a group of highly qualified professional engineers, even if a large area of ​​railways on the surface is completely destroyed, the repair and reconstruction can be completed in a short time.

If the subway was attacked, the restoration work would be much more complicated.

Moreover, the various war machines of the rat people are becoming more and more large and complex due to the love of the Big Claw Priests. These strange-shaped machines are inconvenient to transport underground. It is better to lift them directly to the surface for transportation. After arriving at the battlefield, they can be directly unloaded and put into war.

These two items are the top priorities for the Skaven in this war.

One is logistics, the other is information.

But to be honest, the rats now are indeed less anxious than before. Perhaps they have been taught a lesson by the overly solid defensive measures, the overly dense magic barrage, the various magic machines with all kinds of tricks, and the various golems that are lying in ambush in the positions and just waiting for the rats to approach and suddenly jump out.

It must be admitted that compared to the fanatical charges in the barbaric era, wars today are becoming more and more complicated and slow.

Even those ratmen warriors who were not taken seriously by them and were used to fill the battle line could bring about unacceptable consequences if they suffered excessive losses in repeated reckless charges.

The previous leader of the war priests pushed too many of his ratmen warriors to the defense line of the Ghost Eye People to die. Finally, when the front line was empty, the Ghost Eye People seized the opportunity, tore open the section of the front line he led, and completed a counter-encirclement of him.

That time, a grand rout occurred, and the former leader of the war priests was beaten to death in front of the flag by a team of sudden iron golems.

Fortunately, this defeat did not cause any tragic chain reaction, but the imbalance of the regional battlefield also brought huge trouble to the rats. The battle lasted for an extra year. After the war, even the rats took a full year to replenish the various equipment and personnel lost in the war.

Of course, the reason why it took so long to replenish was actually related to the completion of the steam train. In the flood, too many rat workshops and breeding houses disappeared, while the three super industrial zones, namely the Desolate Mountains Industrial Zone, the Waste Slag City Industrial Zone, and the Furnace City Smelting Center, entered the process of updating and iteration.

The supply of weapons, the maintenance and replenishment of steam tanks, and the equipping of ratmen warriors were all greatly affected at one point.

Even though the rat warlords and those adults who promoted the war wanted very much to press on and pursue the victory, in such a situation they could only hold their noses and wait for reinforcements and repairs.

The war is indeed different from before. Of course, for these rat warlords, the most intuitive point is that even if they no longer take the rat warriors in their hands seriously, they can no longer push these lowly guys onto the battlefield as they did in the past.

Firstly, this does not bring any advantages, and secondly, the training and replenishment of the army has become troublesome in various aspects.

Death is still the absolute theme of war for the ratmen warriors.

The massive increase in intensity has made the war even more brutal and cruel, but their lives are still of little value, the lives of these lowly guys.

Although the situation is better than before.

Now, these rat warlords, these high and mighty figures, before pushing them to death, should at least think about whether doing so can bring some value, whether it can contribute to the achievement of victory.

The war entered a brief period of silence as both sides prepared for the impending war.

Of course, such a period of silence will not last long, and the city’s Ghost Eye human defenders will not allow the rats to make preparations smoothly.

Even if the ratmen have basically surrounded the Flame City, under this premise, such harassment will ultimately not change the ratmen's preparations for war.

Even if it would be delayed for some time, those lightning towers that had not yet completely fallen would eventually be successfully rebuilt even if they collapsed again and again.

The rats had been preparing for this war for a long time. After all, in the last battle, they were not able to fully enjoy the sweet fruits of victory.

However, those precious warriors and various expensive magical equipment would still be pushed out of the city again and again to fight with the ratmen.

This is also for victory.

This is a rehearsal before the official war. In any case, making the rats pay a higher price and delaying more time in the preparation stage is just to add a chip to the outcome of the final war.

Of course, there is actually another option, which is to break out before the ratmen's encirclement is completely completed.

Mobilize all the troops, break the blockade, and push to the rear of the empire. But not to mention that this will abandon the city and a large number of civilians in it. From a strategic perspective alone, this is very likely to be a trap.

The ratman army that arrived first to clear out the watchtowers has now completely disappeared.

It's not that there are no activated sentry towers giving information about that army.

But this also represents a kind of misleading.

If you don't know the full picture of this rat army and what the flag represents, then you may make some irrational choices in a panic.

After all, the other three industrial cities were burned into ruins. So, can the Flame City, which is alone and unable to support itself, really survive by relying on just one city?

However, a young nurse who escaped back exposed the hidden danger.

Of course, as a fellow rat warlord, the power in Heimao's hands is really not enough compared to the other guys.

It seems that he is just a powerful ratman captain, but no, this is just an appearance. The scale of the ratman army under his command is indeed not as large and complete as those of the other three guys. However, in the evaluation of the four ratman warlords in this area by the Youyan people, he can be ranked second.

Higher than Qi and the head of the private guard.

Black Hair has a full-strength Storm Army of 100,000 people, all composed of storm rats. They almost never carry any war equipment or use steam tanks, but they are dangerous enough.

He and his army are a sharp enough blade.

At this time, except for the tip of the knife slightly exposed when cleaning the outposts in Flame City, the rest of the knife was almost hidden.

If the defenders in the Fire City had any strange thoughts after witnessing the loosely built encirclement by the ratmen.

Then this sharp blade that almost hides itself completely will give them an unforgettable surprise.

A sinister enough arrangement.

But unfortunately, it was completely exposed. The cleaning of those watchtowers should have been done by the vanguard storm rat squad under Black Hair.

But this guy Heimao seemed to be a little impatient.

But even if it is exposed, it is no big deal, the blade hanging high is still a deterrent.

War will always come.

………….

In a crudely dug trench, several ratmen warriors gathered together. The brief calm before the war made them too relaxed.

The trenches they dug were really substandard, but considering that they were only incorporated into the army last month and had never met their official commander, this was not surprising.

Apparently, they were sent here after a hasty period of training in the Rat School.

However, this cruel war will not let them off just because of their inexperience, and these young ratmen have not realized how close they are to danger.

Not far away, a tall steel tower was half built.

The big-clawed priest was whipping many slave rats and working intensively on the construction. He looked so anxious, as if he was being chased by some terrifying monster.

In a trench not far from the tall tower, several ratmen warriors gathered together and chatted idly.

The content of the chat is not complicated, mostly some very practical things.

Food, blood mushrooms, merits, and gods.

One of the ratmen warriors was kicking the soil out of boredom when he suddenly felt a strange, slippery feeling.

When he lowered his head, he saw a fat worm. He stepped on it quickly and bent his waist as if nothing had happened.

I'm lucky today. I can have a meal before eating the extremely unpalatable mushroom soup.

Thinking so happily.

The ratman warrior bent down and quickly grabbed the fat worm in his hand.

But just when he was about to stuff the worm into the leather armor and raise his head, an accident happened.

The guy next to him, who was waving his arms excitedly and muttering about achievements and gods over and over again, suddenly disappeared, fell down and crashed in front of the rat warrior.

The rat warrior saw the charred hole in the fallen guy's head.

The trench they dug was too shallow. When standing in it, one could even show half of one's head. It could not cover anything at all.

It was obvious that this was a long-planned attack and the enemy seemed to have been observing this place for a long time.

With a cry of fear, the lucky ratman warrior tightly grasped the magic gun in his hand.

(End of this chapter)