Volume 2: Politicians' Farce Fifteen: Mid-air Collapse

  Fifteen, aerial collapse

  When the yellow-green gas swept through the entire hall in an instant, Morley Saulton hastily activated the only air purification scroll he had, but it only dispersed a small area of stench around him. Under the impact of dozens of stink bombs, most people did not react in time and fainted instantly.

  "If I had known, I should have searched their bodies first." Seeing that most of the valuable hostages had disappeared without a trace, he couldn't help but feel extremely regretful. Although Morse had been a spy for several years, he was only bought by the Kingdom of Elves and hadn't received any formal espionage training. In these few years, whether in his official career or in espionage activities, everything had gone smoothly. Now, however, what originally seemed like a well-planned scheme was repeatedly foiled, something that had never happened before. For a moment, his mind was in complete disarray, and he had no idea what to do next.

  However, he quickly calmed down, and now the most important thing was to wake up his subordinates and then find a way to counterattack. Fortunately, he still had two Gale spells prepared, so More blew away a piece of foul cloud, rescuing several trusted subordinates. During this time, bullets occasionally came from the hillside in front, but fortunately, the yellow-green foul cloud blown outside also interfered with the sniper's aim, causing no significant losses. The few bears flying over from behind mostly turned into fireballs in mid-air under magical attacks, howling as they fell to the ground.

  When the effect of the stinky cloud technique finally disappeared, most of the dogs and bears that had fainted were already killed by the poisonous daggers of the spies. The remaining ones, who had luckily woken up, started a new round of fighting with the spies. Meanwhile, the flying ship had taken off again before this and was fiercely swooping down towards the small hill.

  The politicians who were surrounding Fili with a fierce attitude just now immediately scattered in fear when they saw the airship approaching, and the soldiers who stayed behind also fled after firing a few shots. Fili wanted to use magic to counterattack, but was pulled away by Laini.

  Due to the darkness of night, the pilots in the sky couldn't see their targets clearly and could only randomly drop a few bombs before turning back. Fili and Reni hid behind a bush, surprised to find that the Great Druid suddenly jumped out from the thicket, swung a one-pound cannon at the flying ship, and fired. Unfortunately, either the weight of the one-pound cannon was limited or the flying ship was too sturdy, but being hit on the bottom, the flying ship only shook slightly before dropping a pile of bombs on the Great Druid's head. The giant bear, as tall as two people, could only let out a loud roar and drag its wounded body away.

  The square below Gray Castle erupted with even more intense gunfire, Charlotte's main force was making a strong assault on the ground elevator of Gray Castle, and the flying ship's pilot apparently also noticed this situation, did not continue to pursue the Great Druid, but instead turned back to reinforce Gray Castle.

  Watching the airship slowly disappear into the distance, and the plaza several hundred meters away where gunfire was still intense, Ferry knew that with Charlotte's equipment, there was no way to deal with the airship, but he himself didn't seem to have a good method either...

  "General Taylor, why don't you go up and help the Legion Commander?" General Nohm's voice broke into Fili's thoughts. He turned his head to look back and found that the general was leaning on him from behind, with many escaped senators and officials on both sides, all of whom were urging him with their eyes.

  Even if you know you can't do anything, you have to try your best until the last moment, otherwise you won't be able to explain yourself to your superior. This is an iron rule in the workplace. Phil let out a bitter laugh, and now General Norm was still angry with him, it seemed that he couldn't give up yet.

  "Yes, I'll go right away."

  The small square was littered with corpses and rubble, the originally towering elevator tower had become a pile of debris. Gunfire echoed on the ground and in the floating city, a black flying ship was circling at an altitude of over ten meters, continuously firing at the ground.

  "How's it going?" Ferri found Charlotte behind a broken wall, "Is everything okay?"

  Charlotte was covered in dust, looking a bit disheveled. "We almost succeeded! There were few people guarding below, and we and the Godrick's men could have taken them down with one charge. Unfortunately, that flying ship arrived just then and blasted the elevator shaft! Now the people who went up are trapped inside and can't come down, while we're stuck here unable to go up - things don't look good!"

  Fili looked up at the flying ship in the sky, which was chasing and killing scattered soldiers like an armed helicopter, while people on the ground did not have individual air defense missiles or other effective weapons. The fire of guns against the flying ship was simply scratching, and even the shell could not be penetrated.

  The brave red-robed wizard, Feton, managed to cast a gravity spell, but it was clear that his skills were far inferior to those of his deceased colleagues. The flying ship only shook slightly before regaining its balance, and then a string of bombs and fireballs came hurtling towards him. Despite being protected by the Wizard's Shield, Feton was lifted high into the air by the blast wave and slammed to the ground, left unconscious.

  As everyone was being suppressed to the ground, unable to lift their heads, Fili's heart was anxious, but he had no way out. This time coming to the hot spring valley for a meeting did not consider fighting such a bitter battle, and he didn't have many useful weapons on hand. Although adding a pile of defensive magic to himself and rushing out to fight desperately was also a solution, Fili didn't have the slightest intention of being a kamikaze member. As long as he tried his best until the last moment, he could report back to his superior. How to make an effort, whether it succeeded or not, still had room for negotiation. Therefore, this important reinforcement, who was highly expected by General Norm, simply lay motionless behind the broken wall, watching the flying ship unleash its firepower with wide eyes.

  However, the intense gunfire and explosions coming from the top of the floating city forced the flying ship to change direction and move away upwards. Fili let out a sigh of relief and peeked out from behind the broken wall. The originally beautifully decorated connecting bridge at the bottom of Gray Castle had been blown into a large hole, with faint sounds of gunfire and shouting still coming from inside, it seemed that the soldiers who rushed in had not been eliminated yet.

  "It doesn't seem like a big risk." He estimated the height and distance, then added flight magic to himself and flew towards the bottom of Gray Castle.

  The most luxurious revolving restaurant in Grey Fort has now become a scene of violent demolition, with the expensive glass curtain wall and skylight completely shattered into debris. The floor is cracked open with many large holes, and a large number of violent elements are continuing to wreak havoc with bear paws, magic, bullets, and bombs. It seems that this place has completely lost its repair value and will have to be rebuilt at great cost in the future.

  After the airship left the mountain ridge, Grand Druid and several accompanying wizards rose into the air under the command of Nom Zhilak, successfully landing in the rotating restaurant where the anti-magic array had been destroyed. Some Drow warriors also activated their innate skill of floating in the air, taking advantage of the spies' lack of time to intercept them, flying over 200 yards and joining the battle. The dozen or so spies were immediately overwhelmed by this special task force, and even the remaining hostages could not be guarded.

  The monks took the opportunity to rescue the remaining hostages, attaching a feather fall technique to each of them and throwing them down. Anyway, the big shots had already been transmitted away, and the rest were just small fries. They could only save as many as they could, and if they couldn't, they could only give up.

  However, with the return of the flying ship, the situation changed again. As both sides were mixed up in the darkness and difficult to distinguish from a distance, the dizzy pilots suddenly launched an indiscriminate attack. In the chaotic battle, Zorvath warriors, mages, bear dogs, and spies fell down in flames and bombs, and those who remained could no longer fight. One by one, they found a broken hole and jumped down to the next level to avoid the crazy death god above their heads.

  Daru attempted to counterattack, prying off a large section of the floor and throwing it at the flying ship. Unfortunately, it was blocked by the mage on board, and he himself was knocked off balance by the blast wave, tumbling down the central spiral staircase that had already been blown into a massive crater. Several bombs followed close behind him. A loud roar echoed from within the crater after a series of explosions, suggesting that his injuries were not too severe.

  Next, everyone who had just caught their breath heard a chilling sound of metal cracking.

  With a loud explosion, Fili easily broke through the floorboard and conveniently froze several spies who were still firing at the stairwell entrance with an ice storm spell, turning them into ice sculptures. The soldiers who were making a frontal assault immediately rushed up to turn these ice sculptures into corpses with bullets. This temporary alley-fighting squad, after searching the entire room and reloading, directly blasted through the ceiling and launched an attack upwards from the large hole that had been broken open.

  Before the ground elevator was destroyed, at least fifty soldiers had rushed into Gray Castle, but they were all blocked by the spies' bullets and magic in the entrance hall, unable to move forward. As soon as Phil arrived, he took over command, drawing on the US military's experience in Iraq to switch to explosive tactics, not taking the enemy's defensive path, but instead using extremely violent magic and bombs to destroy walls and ceilings, directly killing the enemy from behind.

  This tactic seemed to be very effective, and in less than a minute, he led the team to kill near the control room where the Mithril core was placed, and also sealed many spies in the rubble. However, the opponent also learned this trick, and the narrow corridors and guest rooms were filled with explosions from time to time, and people were crushed by falling beams or collapsing walls from time to time.

  But this was not the real urban warfare, and blasting tactics would bring unexpected consequences. However, when Phil realized this, a disastrous intense tremor had already begun!

  "Run!" Fili grabbed a soldier beside him, leaped over the swaying corridor, smashed through the glass and jumped out of the nearest window, then activated the feather-falling technique on his cloak. But it was still not enough to outrun the falling debris, and he was unfortunately hit by a pile of rubble, hurting so much that he almost fainted.

  However, the sense of crisis in the desperate situation kept him awake, and he endured the severe pain to activate the elastic boots that had just been replaced on his feet - this was an important life-saving equipment designed by himself, which could make the physically weak wizard jump dozens of meters, even if it looked like high heels. He lightly tapped the ground with his toes, barely escaping the danger by brushing against the thousands of tons of bricks pouring down behind him, and then fell to the ground without any elegance, unable to get up no matter what. Meanwhile, the poor soldier was knocked unconscious by falling bricks in mid-air.

  As a military fortress, the stability of the building should be the top priority, but Greyfort prioritized turning the top floor into a luxurious restaurant and installed a large amount of heavy granite tiles and metal decorations, making it already somewhat top-heavy. Now, with two groups of people digging like moles and destroying a large number of load-bearing walls and pillars, this building that originally had quality issues is becoming increasingly unable to support its own weight. The explosion of the flying ship against the central pillar was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

  As the last few metal pillars let out a deafening screech as they twisted, deformed and snapped, this luxurious airborne hotel finally ended its mission, collapsing layer by layer like a pancake, leaving almost no time for people to exclaim in shock, before turning into flying dust and rubble, burying those still engaged in fierce battle. Only the all-metal engine room floated lonely in mid-air, as if mocking human foolishness.