Chapter 52:
The red wasteland leading to Yunkai.
Heat waves distorted the air. The horizon seemed to be on fire.
The Pompey Expeditionary Force's armored column had to slow down. Fine sand and dust crept into the engines' air intakes and also into the soldiers' collars.
"Even the wind is scorching."
Jon Snow wiped the sweat from his face and took a sip of warm water from his canteen.
He stood on a half-track command vehicle, observing the front through binoculars.
Suddenly, he felt the steel plate beneath his feet vibrating.
It wasn't the usual vibration of the vehicle's engine, but a more rhythmic, deeper, and duller tremor coming from deep within the earth.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Is that an earthquake?" a Northern soldier asked uneasily.
"No."
Grey Worm narrowed his eyes and gripped his rifle tightly.
"It's elephants."
Woo——————!!!
Accompanied by a desolate horn blast, banners bearing the harpy emblem rose from behind the sand dunes ahead.
Then, a suffocating scene unfolded.
Three hundred war elephants, each the size of a small mountain, formed an unbreakable gray wall and slowly crested the dunes.
They were not ordinary wild elephants.
Every single one was covered in heavy, gleaming full-body plate armor. Their massive tusks were bound with sharp steel spears, and wooden arrow towers were mounted on their backs, with archers aiming down from above.
Even more terrifying were their eyes — they were red. They had also been fed the berserk potion.
"Long live the Holy Alliance!"
The Yunkai commander hid in the rear and cracked his whip.
"Crush them! Let these monkeys who only know how to play with fire-guns see what real power looks like!"
"Charge—!!!"
The three hundred heavily armored elephants began their charge.
The earth trembled. Sand and dust filled the sky. The visual impact was far more oppressive than the steel-skin warriors before. It was like three hundred main battle tanks charging at full speed toward an infantry position.
"Machine gun teams! Open fire!" Jon roared.
Ratatatatatatatata—!
The Maxim heavy machine guns roared once again.
Dense 12.7mm bullets rained down on the leading elephants.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew everywhere.
This time, the reaper did not descend immediately.
The elephants' plate armor was extremely thick and curved. Most bullets were deflected. Although some rounds penetrated the armor and entered the flesh, causing the elephants to emit pained roars, this only fueled their drug-induced ferocity.
They ignored the pain and continued charging through the bullet storm!
"Damn it! Their skin is too thick!"
A machine gunner shouted. "And they're blocking our line of fire! The infantry behind can't shoot!"
The distance closed rapidly.
Five hundred meters.
Three hundred meters.
The overwhelming momentum made the new recruits' legs go weak. If these massive beasts crashed into the formation, even the armored vehicles would be flipped, and the soldiers would be trampled into pulp.
"Hold steady! Don't panic!"
Jon Snow jumped off the command vehicle and shouted into the communicator.
"Anti-tank teams! Forward!"
"For Winterfell!"
Dozens of burly soldiers leaped out of the trenches. They weren't carrying rifles. Instead, each carried a green, strangely shaped tube on their shoulder.
[RPG-7 Rocket-Propelled Grenade Launcher.]
The distinctive oversized shaped-charge warheads gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
"Will this really work?" one soldier's hands were shaking.
"Lord Victor said that if you aim properly, even dragons can be brought down — let alone elephants!" the squad leader roared.
Jon knelt on one knee and personally shouldered an RPG. Through the optical sight, he locked onto the largest lead elephant in the center.
Its forehead was covered with a thick gilded steel plate engraved with anti-projectile runes.
"Distance: two hundred meters."
"Wind correction."
"Backblast area clear!"
Jon took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger.
Whoosh————!!!
A sharp whistle tore across the battlefield.
A rocket with a flaming tail streaked out, leaving a white smoke trail in the air.
Half a second later.
Boom!!!
The rocket struck the lead elephant precisely between the eyes.
There was no large-scale explosion.
But in that instant, the shaped-charge warhead detonated.
The copper liner melted instantly under extreme heat and pressure, forming a metal jet traveling at thousands of meters per second.
What gilded steel plate? What magic runes? What several-centimeter-thick skull?
In front of this metal jet reaching thousands of degrees, it was pierced through as easily as a hot knife through butter!
The charging giant elephant suddenly froze.
A spray of red-and-white matter erupted from the back of its head — its brain matter blown out by the high-pressure jet.
Its massive body continued forward a few more steps due to inertia, then, as if its soul had been sucked away, its front legs buckled.
Boom—!
The several-ton elephant crashed to the ground, kicking up clouds of sand and dust. The arrow tower on its back shattered, and the archers inside were flung out and killed instantly.
The entire battlefield was stunned.
Even the other charging elephants were startled by the sudden loud noise.
But this was only the beginning.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dozens of rockets followed in quick succession.
They streaked through the air like angry hornets, plunging into the elephant formation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With every explosion, another giant elephant fell.
Some had their legs blown off and screamed in agony. Others were pierced through the side, spilling their guts.
The RPG's shaped-charge warhead was designed for tanks. Using it on elephants was complete overkill — this was called power overflow.
Aaaang————!!!
The elephant herd finally broke.
Fear overpowered the drugs. The surviving elephants no longer obeyed their riders. They turned and stampeded wildly backward.
"No! Come back! Don't run!"
The Yunkai commander in the rear shouted in despair.
But the maddened elephants would not listen.
They charged straight into the Holy Alliance's own infantry formation.
Massive feet crushed shields and bodies. Long tusks impaled their own men. The once-arrogant slave army was instantly trampled into a bloody mess by their own "tanks."
"Now!"
Daenerys drew her sword and pointed forward.
"All forces, advance! Drive them back into the sea!"
Toot-toot-toot-toot—!
The charge horn sounded.
Armored vehicles covered the infantry as they launched a counter-charge. Maxim heavy machine guns in the rear mowed down the fleeing backs mercilessly.
…
On the walls of Yunkai.
Watching the collapsing defensive line and the fallen elephants in the distance, the Wise Masters of Yunkai turned deathly pale.
"That… that is the sorcery of devils… that is the magic fire that can burn through steel…"
"No."
The woman who had been standing in the shadows — the shadowbinder Quaithe — suddenly spoke.
Her voice was hoarse and icy.
"That is merely a mortal toy."
She raised the black wooden staff in her hand, covered in strange runes, and pointed it toward the glaring sun above the battlefield.
"The light of the Lord of Light is too blinding."
"Only in darkness can fear take root."
She began to chant.
It was an ancient spell from the Shadow Lands of Asshai. Even from several miles away, the distant soldiers felt an inexplicable palpitation in their hearts.
Whoosh—
The wind rose.
But it was not a hot wind. It was a cold, rotting black wind.
The sunlight over the battlefield suddenly dimmed.
A thick, impenetrable black fog surged from the base of Yunkai's city walls. It spread rapidly like a tide, swallowing the battlefield, swallowing the light, and swallowing the advancing Pompey army.
"What's happening? Why has the sky gone dark?"
Jon Snow looked up and saw that the sun had disappeared.
Everything around them turned pitch black. Visibility dropped to less than five meters.
Static crackled in the radios.
"All units, maintain formation!"
"Ah! There's something in the fog! Ah—!"
Screams of soldiers came through the communicators and then cut off abruptly.
Jon gripped the RPG launcher tightly. The hair on the back of his neck stood up.
The war of physics had just ended.
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