178 178 Execute
By following the bottom of the canyon, the snowmobiles were able to make much better time than expected toward their targets through the deep snow piled on top of the frozen rivers.
“The location is right up ahead. I would have liked to have more than twenty attackers, but our people were all too afraid to join the battle.” Wolfe’s driver informed him.
“It will be fine. If that many [Fireball] spells and high-velocity bullets can’t do the job, then even the main army would fold before them. Tell them that the walls of their bunker need to be at least two meters thick to hide their signatures from the humans, and we can get started.”
One of the other mutants in the sled with Wolfe signalled with his hands to the other groups, and they all split off toward ledges a few dozen meters up the cliff faces on either side of the valley.
It was over a kilometre wide here, not usually an ambush spot, but that was why Wolfe picked it.
His driver stopped early, and Wolfe climbed up the cliff until he could see the entire valley. There was a spell he wanted to test out now that he had spent a few hours working on arrays.
It was a modified version of [Cluster Bombs] as an array that should create hundreds of small explosions over a hundred-meter radius. By magical standards, they weren’t particularly dangerous, but against unarmored vehicles and infantry, they would get the job done.
Wolfe focused on the spell until he felt it activate, just waiting for someone to enter its radius, then dismissed it. He didn’t want to give their position away, but knowing that the array would work when he needed it to was enough for now.
“We have four heavy machine guns. Set them up all along the valley behind where the sled sits now. When the convoy arrives, I’m going to block the valley. That will signal everyone else to attack.” Wolfe explained.
Stephanie dug four fox holes for their machine gun teams to hide in using earth magic, and Wolfe cast an armour spell over the top like a tarp. By the time they were in sight of the enemy, the convoy would be most of the way past the trap, in perfect position for an attack from all sides.
The group settled in to wait, and Wolfe lay down in the snow, petting Stephanie while they waited for the enemy to approach.
They heard them long before they saw them, clanking armour and roaring engines rumbling through the valley. This force was clearly massive, and they were moving as fast as they could, not even slowing down enough to send scouts ahead of the main force.
Wolfe placed Stephanie on his shoulder and stood up as the lead vehicles came into sight from his position.
The mental impression of nervousness coming from his witches became tense anxiety, waiting for him to give the signal while the convoy trundled toward him.
They showed no sign of slowing for the lone person standing in the middle of the valley, and when they were two hundred meters away, a single rifle shot rang out, flattening against Wolfe’s armour.
He brought the barrier up across the valley in an instant, and the sound of gunfire and explosions filled the area while a volley of tank shells slammed into his barrier.
They had spotted the four machine gun positions, which were firing wildly beside him in the valley, and the army was focusing on them, not realizing that these guns weren’t even half of the danger that their army was facing.
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Lightning joined the fire as the anti-tank grenades were fired into the convoy, detonating even more vehicles as their stockpile of shells was triggered by the electrical charge of [Chain Lightning].
Then one of the rounds punctured the containment of the null stone weapons, and a mighty vortex of Unholy Fire started to pull everything near it into a fiery death.
That was the last straw for the commanders, and the mundane army, or at least what was left of it, turned to flee.
Wolfe stretched his spell-casting range to place [Cluster Bombs] arrays behind them while the big guns in the bunkers fell silent.
They could put out three hundred rounds a minute, and the ammunition belt was a thousand rounds, so the battle was only three minutes old, but it was very nearly over.
Soldiers had abandoned their weapons and fled the ruins of their transports, running for their lives through the deep snow, and the army’s artillery had fallen silent.
[Retreat. Abandon everything but your lives. Those bastards lied to us. They don’t have anything under control.] The commander announced, so Wolfe picked up the radio set to the Witches’ frequencies.
[Flappy Bird, this is Snowman. Cleanup in aisle three.]
A thousand kilometres away, in Sylvan Coven’s command, a young radio operator stared at her console with a look of exasperation.
“Who the hell is the Flappy Bird? Can’t we send someone to teach him our unit’s call signs, at least? How am I supposed to decode and record his transmissions if they don’t make any bloody sense?” The young witch raged.
“Relax. Priya Unit reported their plans using a proper code earlier. They found another nation’s army moving en masse through the mountains. Cleanup in aisle three should mean that they’ve been taken care of. Flappy Bird likely means we should send scouts.” One of her coworkers suggested.
“Where did you get that from? One transmission from yesterday and a bunch of random nonsense?” The enraged operator asked as another message from the front lines came in.
[Snowman, this is Flappy Bird. I see your smoke. Good work.]
This was a female voice, hopefully, one of their flying scout units. If it was, then at least they would eventually get an update they could understand.
“Tell the others to let the army retreat. It’s time to get out of here before the animals arrive, or we get stuck outside at night.” Wolfe informed his group of gunners, then dropped the barrier.
The valley was too loud with explosions and the continued firing of light rifles to hear the snowmobiles, but within a minute, the witches were all loaded up and racing his way.