Road to the Crown

Chapter 246: Springing the trap

19th July 1574

As lethal and dangerous as word 'mine' sounded, in the current day and age, it was just a way for the sieging troops to undo the walls of the fortification, by detonating a huge explosion in the tunnel dug under the target.

On the other hand, what this soldier of mine was referring to right now, was nothing else but those small and funny packages that my soldiers dropped on the ground as soon as the retreat order was issued!

"Okay then, pass the news to everyone, when the first mine detonates, everyone is to aim for the other mines! Try to activate them with rifles, but if it's impossible, ask the reaper nests to do it for you!"

Not even bothering to look out from behind my cover, I just sat on the cold concrete roof of the building, allowing its roof wall to shield me from any potential harm. After all, I couldn't expect for commanding to be so draining!

BOOM!

Just a few moments later, an ear-shattering explosion shoot the air of the area, even going as far as making me feel as if the foundation of the building that I was sitting on somehow were shaken!

Yet just as planned, this first explosion was but a single occurrence of the incoming storm of death!

One by one, more and more mines of mine were set off, exploding into a majestic ball of violent flames that consumed anything that was in their direct sphere of influence, badly burning and repelling anyone unlucky to be close enough. 

From what was continuously reported to me, while the frontline troops of the attackers belonged to the absolute elite, their main force still consisted of conscripts, that made the bulk of their troops. After all, it didn't take a hero to ravage the lands or shoot at the enemies, so I could guess that Ostros planned to break my defences and formation with their elite troops recruited from the Cossack lands, and then just swarm the survivors with their regular troops!

"How is this looking right now?"

Since the explosions were already going off, it was only a matter of time before the fight would enter the most desperate stage for both of the sides. After all, those mines were only aimed at breaking the spirit of the bulk of Ostros troops, so that the later moves of mine could completely cage them away from the safety of the forest, forcing them to either enter the shower of the bullets or charge at the perfectly fortified border of the marketplace!

"We are running out of the bombs, sir. Reaper guns are covering the hole in the enemy formation with their fire, stopping enemies from escaping!"

This was the crux of this plan. Rather than just using the mines, created by stuffing a small, wooden box covered in cloth with as much gunpowder as it would fit inside, just to make them explode and kill enemies, they were placed haphazardly but still, more or less, lined up. Thanks to this fact, as soon as a single spot without any enemies inside would open, one of the reapers nest would focus its fire on it, preventing anyone from crossing this open but lethal and invisible border.

As the number of the holes in the enemy lines continued to grow, more and more machine guns of mine focused at cutting the already engaged troops from the reinforcements still coming from the forest, allowing the rest of my men manning the fortifications to just deal with the enemy in a calm and composed manner.

One by one, the rifles of my soldiers were singing their praise to the God Almighty, bringing more and more souls for his last trial. Yet I could see that this kind of carnage was taking a toll on my soldiers. While the troops from the first army, who experienced the onslaught of the enemy wrath on their own skin, often losing at least a single friend from their unit in the battle, clearly used this chance to take revenge for their fallen comrades, it wasn't the case for neither my second or third army. 

Despite their casualty rate at all times low, I could see how more and more of them simply put away their guns to vomit to the side, before picking the weapon back and getting back to this bloody work of theirs.

Yet as I finally cast a glance to the battlefield, I realised that something was really wrong. Even though this bloody plan of mine seemed to work wonders, with the curtain of the reaper guns constantly tightening and pushing the enemies closer and closer to the lines of fortification, I couldn't help but realise that even with all the dead bodies lying on the ground and piling up, even with both the troops that were enclosed in the fire and those that were lucky enough to escape from this invisible encirclement before it closed on them, there simply wasn't enough troops!

Recalling the images of what I saw back at Tarnow, even after the initial carnage caused by my first army there, there should be at least several thousand more enemies to go through, but looking at the field below the fortification line, I could guess that the total number of enemies that were still fighting or fallen to the ground already could reach only a half of what I saw back at Tarnow at most!

Realising what did that situation meant, I felt all my mercy and compassion for my enemies suddenly disappearing. With the new motivation entering my mind, I suddenly picked up my rifle that still hung from my side, before resting its barrel on top of the small wall that shielded me from the enemy fire and taking aim.

Pull.

As soon as my forefinger retracted the trigger far enough, this beautiful weapon of mine lighted up from the flashes of the fire, before a figure that I was aiming for on the ground, dropped dead.

"Retreat!"

It didn't take long for yet another officer to spring up and start attempting to reorganise the enemy forces before they would be simply massacred, yet in just a mere few seconds, the muzzle of my rifle moved a bit to the side, before laying that brave officer to the rest along with three more soldiers unlucky enough to stand by his side.

"Kill them all. Stop only if they surrender all."

Unwilling to let too many prisoners of war inside the marketplace, I made sure that this order could only be heard by some of the closest soldiers around me. Even though it would take only a few moments before it would circulate among the entire fortification line, I hoped that before it would be enforced, at least half of the enemies remaining below the fortification line would end up dying or getting mortally wounded!