Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

The overcast sky loomed over the highlands, clouds stacking in the East, heralding the change of seasons. And beneath the cloudy skies, a fortress built of White Stone stood atop a hill tens of meters high, seemingly the embodiment of the indestructible.

Ancient serpent-shaped carvings encircled the city walls up to the White Snake Hill City on top. Yet at this moment, the city walls were engulfed in a stifling silence. Over a thousand White Snake Samurai were guarding the city walls, astonishingly quiet without a sound.

The Samurai defending the city seemed to have lost their desire to talk, and even their ability to speak. Their eyes were numb and empty, faces filled with deathly intent, resembling living corpses. The Leather Armor and War Clothes they wore seemed to have gone unwashed for ages, stained with strange blood marks, and smears of unknown oil.

"It truly is an extraordinarily quiet dead city, a fortress on the brink of death."

The Royal Banner of the Black Wolf flew high, erected on a high platform outside the South City. The tall dirt platform, constructed by the effort of tens of thousands of civilian workers, was situated atop a hill, nearly level with the opposing city walls, dedicated to observing the Hill City's state.

At this moment, Bertade stood on the high platform, squinting his eyes to survey the exceptionally solid-looking Hill City before him. This was his first time observing one of the last two fortresses of the Telascallan. After a long while, he shook his head and spoke to Xiulote beside him.

"Your Highness, the terrain of this Hill City is excellent, very solid! In terms of defense, among all the City-States I've seen, it ranks second only to the Ototpan Mountain City and Tloquiditlan, the city within the lake... However, the morale of the Telascallan Samurai defending the city seems very low! Even without using the heavy gun, as long as we don't mind the casualties, we can break through them and take the city all at once!"

Xiulote remained calm, nodding in agreement. The White Snake Hill City was encircled, firmly besieged, with not a grain of food allowed inside. The siege had lasted over a year, with the city long having run out of food, turning to cannibalism for survival. With no reinforcements outside and no supplies within, under such circumstances, it was impossible for the Defending Army's morale to stay high.

In fact, if the opposing side were not the mortal enemy Mexica Alliance, who offered sacrifices to the Divine Descendants, the Telascallan Divine Descendants defending the city might have surrendered long ago.

"Bertade, you are correct! This fortress only has a single breath left. Now, let's use the God of Thunder Mortar Cannon to blast that breath away!"

Xiulote grinned and took out the attack banner, swinging it forcefully.

"Legion, attack!"

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Soon, the war drums of attack sounded in succession, and the massive Mexica legion began to move. The first ones to attack were two hundred shield vehicles, pushed by hundreds of militia, they slowly approached the city walls, shielding five hundred elite archers. Moments later, the shield vehicles advanced up the hill, struggling to close within a hundred paces from the city. Then, the archers took their stand, pulling longbows to launch Feathered Arrows toward White Snake Hill City.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Facing the Mexica legion's barrage, the deathly silent city walls finally came to life, starting to sporadically respond with arrows, though the numbers were sparse.

Cloud Serpent Warrior Olin sat on the city walls, holding a shield askew, watching the Mexica outside the city. Beside him were stacks of lime jars and rolling logs for defense, perfectly blocking the other half of his body. Arrows rained down from the sky, hitting wood and shields with "thump, thump" sounds. However, Olin's face remained lifeless, showing no emotion.

Such siege probes had occurred many times before. Olin clearly understood that the Feathered Arrows shot by the Mexica archers posed little threat to him in his Leather Armor. The advantageous terrain and walls of White Snake Hill City rendered the archers' angled shots powerless.

"If it remains like this, the Mexica cannot breach today."

Warrior Olin sat on the city walls, murmuring his weary prayers.

"Cloud Serpent Divine! Come quickly!... Destroy everything within the city! I can't bear eating anymore..."

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The fierce drumming grew intense, and more arrows were shot. Clearly, Mexica's attacking morale was far higher than previous attempts.

Next, under Olin's bewildered gaze, ten short and stout large Copper Beasts, shining golden yellow, were dragged slowly up the hill by over a hundred militia. Though deemed short, the Copper Beasts were not necessarily very short, perhaps only a bit shorter than a person's height, but indeed stout. The "mouth" of the Copper Beast was wide open, enough to swallow an entire human head and more!

"Hmm? What are these large 'Copper Beasts'? Could they perhaps, like those before, produce loud thunderous sounds, launching small stone projectiles? ..."

Olin thought dazedly. From Mexica's uplifted morale, he vaguely sensed danger. During previous sieges, he witnessed the bombardment of Sun Divine Eagle Cannon. However, against such steep slopes and high hills, the impact of those "Copper Beasts" was quite limited, with the stone projectiles posing no threat to the solid stone walls. Only the thunderous boom was truly unforgettable!

"The Cloud Serpent priests said these Mexica's Divine Power Weapons borrow power from Underground Demons!... If I die under such a weapon, will I fall into the Abyss, entering the realm of demons? ..."

Olin thought aimlessly, seemingly indifferent to the fate of the fortress or his own death. Since being besieged by Mexica, he knew that the fall of the city was inevitable and dying in battle was justified. After all, so many Divine Descendants, so many Samurai, had already perished in this brutal Divine War; why should he escape? The only concern was his destiny after death, where he would ultimately go.

"Haha! Where does one go after death? Olin, you've eaten so many people, consumed others' wives and daughters, while others ate your son... Do you still imagine entering the Divine Kingdom of Cloud Serpent's Divine Light after death?"

As he thought on, Olin laughed wryly, tears streaming down, faintly stained with blood. Arrows fell now and then, yet they couldn't instill fear in the dead-hearted. He simply pursed his lips tightly, watching Mexica militia methodically fixing ten large Copper Beasts on the hill. The position of this deployment was behind a large area of shielded vehicles, barely a hundred paces from the White Snake city walls.

"It's close... I feel it's close..."

Olin softly murmured as the White Snake City Lord Tizat's panicked cries echoed on the walls.

"What are those golden Copper Beasts? What are they! Hurry, call for the Cloud Serpent Priests! Quickly have them perform rituals and prayers! ..."

Echoing cries of fright from the City Lord reverberated, but aside from his family of warriors, few others responded. Olin, too, remained silent, watching as dozens of Mexica artillerymen buzzed about, filling the massive "beasts' mouths" with large jars of "black powder." The artillerymen's faces showed signs of tension during loading—this was unlike any previous heavy artillery, packed with over ten pounds of new gunpowder!

Finally, enormous stone projectiles, larger than a human head, were gradually stuffed into the "beast's mouth." Then, the mouth was sealed with cotton, a long fuse connected... Every ritual composed precisely was performed in front of Olin, no farther than a hundred paces away, unfolding neatly and orderly like a ritual before death.

"... Stone projectiles larger than a human head? Could it be... Ah!"

Olin blinked in astonishment, observing the Copper Beast "swallowing" the stone projectiles, for the first time showing signs of surprise. At that moment, a foreboding sense returned, powerful enough to demand attention.

"Cloud Serpent Divine! I pray to you, do not let me die too disgracefully..."

The Cloud Serpent Warrior muttered prayers, eyes brimming with fear. He watched the Mexica artillerymen ignite torches, light the fuse, then swiftly covered their ears, squatting behind the Copper Beasts. Soon enough, following moments of utter silence came the thunderous roar—a sound more powerful than ever before!

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!..."