The Imperial Crusade of Badlands (2)

Somewhere near the Almorel, with the Army Group Alpha.

Almorel was a sprawling city; buildings were almost all built out of wood and designed to be low and wide, with most households having attached stables and barns as well as gardens and workshops.

It was extremely rare for any building to have more than two stores. Wealthy families or those powerful Barbarians erected stockades around their properties. There were only a few stone buildings, which were mostly built by the population of the grey dwarves who lived in the Almorel.

The grey dwarves of Almorel lived in a series of tunnels beneath the city. Traditionally, barbarians were not allowed down in the tunnels, but the dwarves had set up small guest houses to receive barbarian visitors.

The dwarves did not speak openly about their underground homes, which elicited much rumormongering of the secrets the dwarves kept down there. Most of the dwarves that lived within the Almorel were the ones that were either enslaved by the Barbarians or subjugated by them a very long time ago.

Almorel possessed wooden walls and an ancient six-story wooden tower fortress called the Raumkreml, which was painted black and served as the city's seat of government. The city was also defended by a force of Watchmen, and it also had its own standing army. 

In the case of need, the Almorel could be defended by any able man, woman, or child of the Barbarian species, as practically everyone who was capable of holding a weapon could be called to fight. 

The Army Group Alpha, which consisted of two Imperial Legions, had effectively surrounded the entirety of the Almorel, as the Barbarians were cut from the means of retreat and the heavy artillery was being placed down.

The entire city was surrounded by the Great Cannons, Mortars, Hellblaster Volley Guns, and Helstrom Rocket Batteries, which were ready for the command to bombard the entire city to oblivion. 

Because the Holy Imperator was present at the Army Group Alpha, ironically though, the command over the entire Army Group befell to Karl Franz, who wasn't exactly most thrilled about the idea of commanding the entire Army Group.

Karl Franz personally observed how effectively the Army Groups under the oversight of General Anduin Lothar and General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris were in their acts, together with the Legion Master Artorias the Abysswalker. 

"The siege preparations are finished, Your Holy Majesty."

The General of the 10th Imperial Legion Anduin Lothar, stated respectfully as he walked up to the Holy Imperator, who was standing on the small hill that was giving him a good view of the Almorel, together with Lady Maria Vileblood and Artorias the Abysswalker, who shadowed over the Holy Imperator for the whole time.

"And the Battle Wizards? Are the magical means of war finished?"

They had entire contingents of the Imperial Battlemage Legion present within the Army Group Alpha, and Karl Franz also ordered the Battle Wizards that were sent here by the Byrgenwerth to prepare the magical sealing of the entire area. 

They basically created a domain over the entire city, so nobody would be allowed to enter through the barrier, and nobody would be allowed to leave. Sealing of the entire area was another means to ensure that they wouldn't be attacked by possible reinforcements of the Children of Bul-Khatos.

But that was a very low possibility because the second city, which was standing in the path of the Imperial Crusade, the Fortress City of Quaraband, was also under the siege of the Army Group Beta, so there wouldn't be any reinforcements from there.

And Harrogath was too far to actually send any kind of help to either of the sieged cities and even then, it would be futile because of the Magic interference, so nobody could even send any message for help.

"Everything is finished; we are only waiting for the command to start the bombardment."

General of the 10th Imperial Legion Anduin Lothar said, as the Imperator of the Holy Arcadia Empire nodded and soon gave the command to commence the attack.

"Raze it to the ground..."

Several moments later, everyone heard the deafening sounds of the artillery firing.

***

Fortress City of Almorel

The machines of war of the Holy Arcadia Empire were firing non-stop, be it the Great Cannons, Mortars, Hellblaster Volley Guns, or the Helstrom Rocket Batteries and the hell was unleashed upon the Barbarian Fortress City of the Almorel.

The overwhelming artillery power of the Holy Arcadia Empire wasn't something that the Barbarians could withstand and soon enough, the entire Fortress City, if it could be even called that, was turned into a blazing hell. 

Due to the stable supply lines, the Imperials didn't fear a lack of supplies and ammunition and started madly firing at the Almorel, obliterating everything from the face of the earth and ground. 

Turning entire city districts into inferno, as they were burned down in a fire, together with most of the inhabitants were being killed. Because the heavy majority of the city was made of civilians, the military personnel of the Almorel was only something about 20% of the overall population.

The bombardment of the Almorel continued for something around half an hour before the Holy Imperator gave the command to stop the bombardment and another command to prepare for the ground invasion.

"Send in half of our forces to clean out the remains of the Almorel. Order the Wizards to cast the protective spells on the Imperial Soldiers to withstand the heat in the city."

The heat from the bombardment in the city was so intense that even the ordinary Imperial Soldiers would have trouble entering the city without proper protection over them.

And naturally, the best protection was that of the Magic, as that would protect them the best; even though the amors of the Imperial Legions had some runes inscribed on them, Karl Franz chose to be extra careful when he ordered the Battle Wizards to cast protections over the Legionaries. 

***

1st Regiment of 2nd Division of the 10th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Stormwind.

Hawthorne Byron was the Commander of the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division of the 10th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Stormwind, an old, seasoned soldier who spent his entire life fighting against the Children of Bul-Khatos.

He was a man with short brown hair and beard and piercing azure blue eyes, stemming from the common origins of the Grand Province of Stormwind. He was also relatively young because he was only sixty years old, an orphan from the streets of the capital city of the Grand Province of Stormwind, the Stormwind City.

When he turned fifteen years old, he entered the Provincial Army of the Grand Province of Stormwind and for the next ten years, he spent on the frontlines against the Children of the Bul-Khatos, having hundreds of kills. 

After that, he was recruited into the 10th Imperial Legion, where he rose to the position of Regiment Commander and already commanded a company of 5,000 Imperial Legionaries. 

Hawthorne Byron grabbed his one-handed hammer, engraved with the runes of the Great Ones. As a firm believer in the Great Ones, he was also someone who was able to control the Holy Power of the Great Ones, like the former Holy Knight Executioners and now the Stormcast Eternals.

He then looked at five Questors who were in command of five Battalions of his Regiment.

"You all heard the orders; we march in five minutes, everyone prepare your Battalions and the orders are clear; we are taking no survivors, aside from the high-ranking Barbarias, Shamans and Elders."

Regiment Commander Hawthorne Byron issued orders to the Questors of the Battalions, as everyone then went to carry them out and prepare their soldiers for the fight. The soldiers that were tasked with clearing the Almorel or at least what has remained from it, were ordered to kill everything that moved. 

Naturally, this meant that all Barbarians who managed to survive the bombardment were to be put to the sword, but only some of the high-ranking ones, such as top warriors, Shamans, Wizards or Elders, were to be taken as prisoners. 

Those ones would be either a source of information or be transported into the Byrgenwerth to serve as experimental subjects so they could develop some more advanced Mana-Resistnat Runes and other things from their Genome.

The rest of the ordinary Barbarians, be it warriors or civilians, those ones could be killed instantly because they were of no use to the Imperium. 

It wouldn't be the first genocide that the Imperium carried and everybody was certain that it won't be the last one. According to the Final Doctrine of the Holy Imperator, for a better future and certainty, only complete extermination of the enemy would ensure the prosperity of the Imperium.

Thus when the Imperium was fighting some enemy, they would always root them out entirely, not giving them any opportunity to survive any further and cause the Imperium problems in the future.

For that, the Children of Bul-Khatos were too dangerous.

So, the extermination was the only safe way.

The 1st Regiment, numbering 5,000 Imperial Legionaries, was quickly gathered in one place, as everyone stood there in their pristine armor, with facemask helmets covering their faces, as they were holding their halberds and ready to march.

"1st Regiment march!"

Hawthorne Byron shouted as the five thousand Imperial Legionaries started marching in perfect formation toward the ruins of the Almorel.

The Battle Wizards of the Imperial Battlemage Legion put some protective spells on them to protect them from the intense heat and they were ready to go. The heat that was within the Almorel, or the ruins of it, was so intense that it would cause them some light injuries, if not that, then at least some discomfort.

As the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division of the 10th Imperial Legion started marching into the flaming Almorel, everyone was in high spirits. With the bombardment done by the Artillery and Machines of the War and Battle Wizards of the Holy Arcadia Empire, the subsequent ground invasion was a piece of cake.

Most of the resistance was already broken, and there would be zero to no enemies; most of the people were already killed when they bombarded them to oblivion. Nevertheless, because they were going for the complete extermination of the Children of the Bul-Khatos, they needed to be thorough.

For that, the ground invasion and clean-up operation were necessary. 

Due to his long military career, Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron saw a lot of situations like this, but this was probably the first time he was leading his men into the flaming inferno.

But he was confident in the soldiers of the Imperium, for the brave sons and daughters that were serving in the Imperial Legion and their Homeland.

When they entered the flaming Almorel, it was evident that the majority of the city was already destroyed, together with its inhabitants. According to the preliminary results from the Spells that were cast by the Battle Wizards present in the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division, only a tiny portion of the original population should have survived.

And even then, most of the people that survived were either right now dying because they were under the rubble of the city, or were being burned alive by some of the infernos that were burning down this place or were succumbing to their injuries.

When the soldiers of the Imperial Legion started marching into the Almorel, they immediately spread out and started searching for survivors of any kind to put them down. It wasn't that hard with some advanced Magic, to locate them all, before they started ruthlessly exterminating them one by one.

Only after five minutes or so did they discover the first wave of the Barbarian soldiers who had survived the artillery bombardment of the Almorel and who were right now counterattacking their forces. 

Surprisingly enough, the Barbarian Soldiers that were attacking them were in relatively good state and shape as they were attacking the Imperial Legionaries with newfound hatred and ferocity, not seen anytime before. 

Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron had to admit that the Children of the Bul-Khatos were strong; they were very, very strong, but their other areas were poor. Most of their weapons were crude, and their protections in terms of armor and supportive equipment were almost non-existent.

This, despite the great physical disparities, especially in terms of physical strength, vitality, and defense, between the Children of Bul-Khatos and the Imperial Legionaries, the Barbarians were the ones at the losing end.

Such was the great advantage of having superior equipment, armor, weapons, supportive equipment, tactics and strategy, and a unified front when advancing, something that the Children of Bul-Khatos lacked. 

Yet, even though all things were considered, Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron noticed that his Legionaries were being pushed back by the Barbarians, which was troubling, but it didn't take long for him to realize why such a thing was happening.

"They entered the Blood Rage... this is indeed troubling."

Blood Rage was a special unique state that the Barbarians could enter into, which often resulted in tremendously increased combat prowess. It wasn't often seen, because the requirements for the Children of Bul-Khatos to enter the Blood Rage were severe.

It usually worked in a way where, due to the extreme emotional stimuli, the Barbarians would enter the state of Blood Rage, where all of their physical parameters would increase several folds, their ability to ignore pain would skyrocket, and they would basically fight until they were incapable of fighting one way or another.

It was very similar to that of the Berserker Warriors of the Grand Province of Fenris, who also could enter a similar state, albeit a bit weaker, because they could actually control their transformation to a great degree. 

The Barbarians that entered the Blood Rage lost most of their sanity, and they could not even tell foes from friends in most of the cases, though this only made them even more dangerous than ever before, so... 

Fortunately, this wasn't the first time that Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron saw something similar and knew how to act when fighting the Barbarians that entered the Blood Rage effectively and without suffering high casualties.

"Order for the retreat, Battle Wizards slow them down and once the Legionaries find defensive positions, create a shield wall and hold the ground."

Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron barked one order after another, as eh knew how exactly to deal with the Barbarians that were in the Blood Rage state. As someone who spent his lifetime fighting theme within the Grand Province of Stormwind, he knew of their weakness very well.

The one reason why the Barbarians obtained such high explosive power when they entered the Blood Rage was because they were essentially burning their very own Lifeforce on an almost subconscious level...

So, while this Blood Rage resulted in a tremendous increase of explosive power, but a the same time, the Barbarians could maintain the Blood Rage state only for a very limited amount of time. 

And when the time was gone, the music had finished... the ball had ended.

Death has come.

"We need to hold down until the Blood Rage ends and their force depletes, then we won't have any problems to deal with."

Once the Blood Rage has ended, the Barbarians won't be a problem. And from what the Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron saw, the Barbarians here were not the most powerful ones. 

The more powerful the Barbarian was, the stronger his Lifeforce was and then, it was equally translated into the length of the Blood Rage. The stronger they were, the longer they could maintain the Blood Rage and the more power they obtained from the Blood Rage.

Fortunately enough, most of the Children of Bul-Khatos were relatively weak in the great scheme of things, so the only thing that they needed to do was to wait. And that was exactly what the 1st Regiment was doing.

Instantly after getting the orders from the Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron, the Legionaries started withdrawing from the parts of the Almorel, where they encountered the Barbarians in the Blood Rage and started searching for the defensive position.

Meanwhile, the Battle Wizards and Gunners of the 1st Regiment, be they of the Gunner Cohorts of Heavy Crossbow Cohort were covering the retreat of the Infantry of the 1st Regiment and very effectively at that.

Battle Wizards were casting elemental spells that were meant to hinder the progress of the Barbarians or to bind them down, while the Gunner Cohors or Heavy Crossbow Cohorts were aiming at the weak, unprotected spots of the Barbarians to bring them down.

When the infantry of the 1st Regiment found an excellent position to defend, they created a shield wall from their shields and put their halberds out so they could strike the incoming Barbarians while the volleys from the Guns and Heavy Crossbows were still being shot at the Children of Bul-Khatos.

While a few of the Barbarians in the Blood Rage state were killed by the Guns and Heavy Crossbows, it didn't really change the overall fact that soon enough, the Blood Rage Barbarians clashed with the Imperial Legionaries that were holding up the shield wall.

Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron observed how the Imperial Legionaries of the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division of the 10th Imperial Legion defended against the Blood Rage Barbarians, as they were falling down.

Once the Imperial Legionaries created the shield wall around a very well-defendable position, they started counterattacking the Blood Rage Children of Bul-Khatos. The Barbarians that were within the effects of the Blood Rage completely lost their very own sanity and any resemblance of the logic and reason.

When they saw the shield wall around the place, the first thing that they did was to rush madly at the position of the Imperial Legionaries without any care for anything within the world and tried breaching the shield wall.

"Send them greetings from the Crane Gunners."

Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron ordered as it was time to speed up this endeavor because he noticed that due to the state of the Blood Rage that was prevalent among the Barbarians fighting his men, they were able to take even a few projectiles from the Guns before they were killed.

Their ability to ignore the pain and even increased healing factor was proving to be a great hindrance and the Imperial Legionaries within the shield wall were mainly focusing on the defense and not on the offense.

The mighty Crane Gun requires two people to lift, set up, and fire. One is positioned at the trigger, ready to sight and shoot anything in a massive range. The other carries the tower shield on which the gun rests, steadying the shooter as well as providing built-in cover.

It is a specialist device for the highly trained, but it can be devastatingly effective when properly employed. Range and precision are nothing to scoff at, especially if they are pointed at your head.

The firepower of the Crane Gun was many times higher than that of the ordinary gun, especially considering the fact, that with the newest Runic Enhancements over the guns, the Crane Guns were even more fearsome than even before. 

The effect was almost immediate, as the Crane Guns took the position on the half-destroyed buildings and like small portable canons they were, they started firing rounds at the incoming Barbarians in the Blood Rage.

Contrary to the ordinary guns that required at least a few of the good-positioned shots at the Barbarian in the Blood Rage to kill them, one shot from the Crane Gun was enough to cull them down, as they were shooting almost non-stop for more than ten minutes.

Together with the cooperation of other Gunners, Heavy Crossbowmen and Battle Wizards, they were able to clear out the Barbarians in the Blood Rage inducted state rather easily within the next half an hour.

This was already being considered as a splendid result because they suffered very low casualties numbering only a few tens, which was already far better than anyone could actually ask for.

So the Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron was very pleased with the results, as he then started barking another wave of the orders now that they had dealt with the Barbarians, as according to the Wizards, they were already safe.

The reconnaissance spells were not showing any hostiles or enemies in their vicinity and he already got a message from the other Commanders that they too, encountered and cleared out the remnants of the Children of Bul-Khatos within the Almorel.

"Advance deeper into the city, search through the ruins of the building and kill the survivors, advance into the central castle and search every nook and cranny of it, link with the 3rd Regiment of 2nd Divison and 1st Regiment of 1st Division that are advancing into the central castle."

Regimental Commander Hawthorne Byron ordered as it was time to finish the fun within the Almorel because the real battle would await them at the Harrogath and Mout Aralat. That would be where the real fun began, this time, it was only an appetizer. 

Cleaning out the rest of the Almorel wasn't much of a problem, because the majority of the resistance coming from the Children of Bul-Khatos was already broken during the time when the first Regiments of the 10th Imperial Legions entered the flaming ruins of the city.

***

MC POV

Listening to the reports that were coming during the battle was probably one of the most exciting things to do during the battle. It was always something that I enjoyed, especially when the good news was flooding in like in this case.

Right now, I was within the command center of the G-1 Base Landcruiser, which was the newest machine of war, straight out of the Forges of the Ironforge in collaboration with other Dwarven Clans and Byrgenwerth itself.

G-1 Base Landcruiser was an enormous machine of war, something akin to a movable mobile fortress of steel and margin, which housed a series of facilities, like an entire armory, field hospital, command center and many other things.

Right now, there was only a single one constructed and it was given to the Imperial House, before the Imperial Crusade started, I got a request from the Dwarves to test it in the field because, in the future, it would be mass-produced.

The overall plan was to distribute one for every single Imperial Legion because it would tremendously increase the combat prowess of the Imperial Legions if they had a movable fortress, because, despite its enormous size, this thing was pretty useful.

Considering the number of weapons and features that the Dwarves and Scholars of Byrgenwerth built here, It would be disappointing if it wasn't.

"Your Holy Majesty, the Almorel was effectively destroyed and right now the Imperial Legionaries are searching through the ruins of the city, but according to the preliminary results, there are no things of importance or interest."

Anduin Lothar the General of the 10th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Stormwind, submitted the report, as I just nodded my head, because the result was already predictable and nothing new.

"How are our casualties?"

I asked about the more negative aspect of waging war, but since the establishment of the Holy Imperium, things often turned out for the good, especially when it came to healthcare and giving the soldiers the best healthcare and protection means as possible.

"Overall we lost only around 350 of the Imperial Legionaries due to the surprise attacks by the Barbarians that survived the artillery bombardment and subsequent fire and entered the Blood Rage state. Fortunately, the commanders that were present on the battlefield acted swiftly and executed tactics that were developed to handle such problems."

Imperial General Anduin Lothar said with a certain degree of pride in his voice as he said that he was one of the people who developed the so-called Anti-Barbarian Tactics that was right now commonly used against the Children of Bul-Khatos.

"We need to head toward the Harrogath and Mount Arreat before the leadership of the Barbarians recall the rest of their population to defend their sacred places."

I said that right now,m we were in some sort of theoretical race against time because it was clear that a large part of the population was living outside of the Harrogath, as the Barbarians were not really an urbanized society. 

Due to the fundamental nature of the Harrogath and Mount Arreat as Holy Sites for their race, it was relatively hard to get a permanent residence in that place and only members of the powerful Clans and Tribes of the Children of the Bul-Khatos were allowed to live there permanently.

I was aware that sooner or later, hopefully later, the leadership of the Harrogath, the Elder Council, will recall all of their members back to the Harrogath and Mount Arreat to defend their most holy place within the Badlands, where they will make their final stand.

Such a situation was, naturally, unacceptable.

"We also got the report from the Army Group Beta and Army Group Delta."

I turned my sight to one of the members of the Imperial Military Intelligence who was assigned to the Army Group Alpha. The person who spoke was in charge of the Intelligence and Information exchange between various branches of the Imperial Military.

"And?"

If the results of the attack on Quarabrand and the southern coast of the Badlands were the same as ours on the Almorel, then we have basically accomplished Phase 1 of the invasion, which would be great progress.

The Children of the Bul-Khatos would be bound and imprisoned within the Badlands with no possibility of escape. With them constrained to the Badlands and no possibility of escape, the Imperium would have no problem when it came to the systematic extermination of their species.

"The 1st Imperial Fleet led by Admiral Euron Greyjoy has completely decimated the Navy of the Children of the Bul-Khatos and took over the entire southern coast of the Badlands. As we speak right now, the 9th Imperial Legion of the Grand Province of Munn should be securing the last remaining holds of the Barbarians on the coast."

The unnamed man from the Imperial Military Intelligence reported I smiled hearing that, because this was a splendid piece of news. With the sea routes cut down, they don't have anywhere to escape, and we are not even talking about the possible reinforcements from the Orks of the Orklands.

The Imperial Military Intelligence already concluded that there was a relatively high chance of some of the Orkish Tribes and more powerful Klanz or even Warbands sending reinforcements for the Barbarians in case they were attacked by the Imperium.

Now that the sea routes were held by the Imperium, the Orks would need to clash with our Fleets on the sea and that would result in their loss because even though the Imperium wasn't really used to the concepts of Naval Warfare, the Greenskisn were even less.

Not to mention, this was a problem that we were already working on correcting now that we obtained someone with real experience when it came to Naval Warfare.

"That is indeed splendid news... and of the Army Group Beta?"

The Army Group Beta consisted of the 4th Imperial Legion of Faelor, the 8th Imperial Legion of Caladan and the 3rd Legion of the Silver Knights led by the Legion Master Hawkey Gough.

"The siege of the Quarabrand was executed as planned and the city was captured with minimal casualties with the entire population being exterminated. Only a few of the strongest Barbarians that somehow managed to survive were captured and transported to the Byrgenwerth as test subjects."

This wasn't a surprising result, considering the size and strength of each of the Army Groups that were participating in the Imperial Crusade. With their firepower, they were able to raze the Qaurabrand to the ground, even faster than the Army Group Alpha.

But the real reason for that was that Almorel was actually a bigger city of the two of them and had an even bigger population, so we were stuck at the siege of the Almorel for a bit longer, while Army Group Beta was already advancing on the Harrogant near the Mount Arreat.

"Is there anything of importance to report?"

I asked when I noticed that this was probably the end of the report, as the person from the Imperial Military Intelligence shook his head in denial, so this meant that we could advance further on the Harrogath.

"Now that we heard the reports, we need to strike at the Harrogath as fast as possible, what is the approximate time in linking with the Army Group Beta?"

Looking at the two generals of the Imperial Legions, for a brief time, General Anduin Lothar and General Zangru Baruch von Lutheris before the General of the 5th Imperial Legion stepped forward to answer.

"In a few days, we would be within reach and could create a wall against the potential counterattacks from the Children of the Bul-Khatos."

When they linked together, the two Army Groups would be able to support each other in case one of them was attacked. The HighCom of the Imperial Military counted on the possibility of the Barbarians organizing large-scale counterattacks against their Crusading Forces.

Still, considering all the facts, I doubted that the Barbarians would organize any kind of large-scale counterattack because they were right now facing different problems, namely the incoming collapse of their fortifications on the southern coast and also, they lacked inner unity for such an act.

The Elder Council formally ruled their entire species and the territory of the Badlands consisted of the representatives of the most powerful Tribes and many of them had very deep-seeded hatred for each other or very different philosophies of life.