Amidst the shrill howls, the heretics moved in coordination within the bombing zone. As many as they were destroyed by artillery fire, more followed.
On the highest spire of the castle, with the help of the gun scope, Alex saw the undulating silhouettes in the explosion through the gunfire - the slender humanoid shadows were torn into pieces and turned into nothingness.
Obviously, they were not cultists, but something else.
For a few seconds, he even thought that these abominations were the victims of foolishness, and that their attempts to cross the wall of fire would only bring death to themselves.
The next moment, he realized he was wrong.
Those forms may be destroyed, but they are still not destroyed.
They fell over and lost their shape, but the resulting liquid still flowed together.
"Emperor...what the hell is this!"
Alex almost screamed.
The potholed roads were filled with sticky white, pink, and rotten blue liquids that flowed toward the river, breaking down the east bank's retaining wall, and then slowly flowed into the water, like melted candles.
When those bubbles hit the water, the pollution quickly spread to the river.
Alex watched these hissing, oily, disgusting colors streak across the water, drifting south and north.
The river looked like the skin on a human chest had been stretched so tight that it was tearing apart, and the water surged like a wounded beast.
Soon, the ground turned into loose gravel, and the water turned into cold meat.
The water level of the entire river began to drop, and its water began to evaporate.
In the end, the river that had protected them for several days turned into a rotting corpse of a giant. It could even be said that the entire river disappeared, leaving only the river bed with disappearing hills piled on it.
When the river evaporated, the heretics appeared, howling and rushing forward.
More and more cultists poured out of the artillery fire. When the artillery fire was unable to kill all the heretics trying to break through, gaps in the defense line began to appear.
Behind the cultists, more mutated and terrifying things emerged from the smoke and fire.
There are scarlet flesh that is integrated with machinery, there are countless nightmare creations with broken limbs and broken arms, and there are even blasphemous beasts with hooves and horns.
Groups of monsters swarmed from the embankment. They rushed across the river bed with their songs, and even the air began to be filled with the aroma of luxury.
In just a few seconds, the situation of the war changed dramatically.
The heretics advanced for several miles, and Yaric gathered troops on the other side of the river, infantry and armor to build a solid river bank defense node.
But within a very short period of time, all fortifications will be surrounded by the tide of death.
If changes are not made, those troops will be doomed.
"All troops retreat!"
When the Chimera on the defense line turned around and began to retreat with the panicked infantry, Yaric punched the rock fence in front of him with his fist.
"Ours will establish new positions on the castle walls, and we will wait for them there!"
The fortifications of the castle were less than three miles in circumference, and he had the strength to protect it, and he had tens of thousands of soldiers.
"All artillery!"
Yaric loudly issued instructions through the communicator.
"Shorten the range and concentrate all artillery fire on the riverbed! Other troops obey my orders and retreat to the artillery position! When the enemy attacks again, we will annihilate them."
The troops on the river bank retreated quickly, and the defense line was filled with smoke and the roar of artillery shells - heavy explosive shells and rapid-fire artillery deployed on the city walls began to cover the fire.
Due to the timely retreat, the infantry kept up with the armored forces.
This time, Yarrick saved more troops - he vowed that this retreat would not be a second defeat.
At the same time he ordered a minefield to be laid in the narrow strip of land between the castle and the river bank. He must rely on this road to complete his reluctant retreat and make these abominations pay for every yard they advanced.
Continuous barrage swept in from the east, and the heretics climbed onto the wall of the West Embankment regardless of the bombardment.
They charged along the road, chasing the retreating Astra Militarum.
A string of bombs flew over the heads of the soldiers, and the bomb hit a heretic.
In the next second, this heretic fell apart like a patchwork of insects, but it was not over yet. A terrifying figure that seemed to be a woman burst out from the blurred flesh.
It spreads its arms, eager to embrace its first victim with its pincers.
The slowest runner became the victim, and it quickly bit off the heads of two of them with its pincers. Then it wrapped its arms around the third man and lifted him high.
The soldier's screams were horribly muffled, and Yaric ordered snipers to fire on the monster, freeing the poor victim and saving his soul.
Thick smoke covered the river bank, preventing him from seeing the specific scene, but Alex could still hear it in the rumbling sound of artillery fire, the rumbling sound of engines, the noisy march, and the fierce sound of gunfire.
In the middle, he heard the whistling sound of the song of temptation.
It took hold of his soul and tried to seduce him, but only fueled his rage.
"Hit them hard! Molotov cocktails! Hit them all out!"
Three minutes later, a series of artillery bombs set off a sea of fire in the area from the river bank to the castle, and the incendiary bombs projected by the basilisks covered most of the area.
The heretics danced and howled wildly in the sea of fire. In addition to pain, there was also some incredible joy.
And those terrifying forms were also reduced to ashes in the flames.
As it grew dark, the remaining troops quickly retreated into the castle.
They were safe, once again.
But it's only temporary.
At this time, a heavy rain suddenly fell from the sky.
This was an unexplained heavy rain, and it was also the heaviest rain that Alex had ever experienced. He looked at the darkening sky and felt a sense of sadness in his heart.
His good luck seemed to be coming to an end.
The heavy rain did not extinguish the flames, but it greatly reduced its power. More heretics and monsters began to pour towards the castle regardless of casualties.
"Everyone! Get to the combat position immediately!"
With no time to breathe, the soldiers who had just escaped death were immediately driven out into the rain.
They squatted behind the rock barrier, staring at the surging enemy tide ahead, trying to grasp the wet laser rifles in their hands. Everyone looked pale, and there was almost no fighting spirit.
In just two minutes, seven or eight gunshots rang out from the defense line. This was when the officers had to shoot the soldiers who had suffered a mental breakdown.
No one is willing to do this, but now is a life-or-death situation. Allowing those lunatics to talk nonsense will only cause the already low morale to quickly collapse.
"Soldiers, I am your political commissar, Sebastian Yarrick."
At the critical moment, Yarick used a makeshift loudspeaker to start his battle propaganda.