30 - The Northern capital of Yil

"About 2100 meters"

Merlin spoke into the radio before he looked at the city of Yil through his binoculars again, they decided to travel through the night to reach the city at sunrise, and now that he saw the city nestled in between the two mountains he nodded to himself and spoke

"Yup, this sure is fantasy-like"

Then he raised his hand and formed a fist before he counted out with his fingers when he raised his pinky a cannon sounded out as Jane fired the Long 88 millimeter cannon of her favorite king tiger, the shell flew through the air for about 2 seconds before it impacted the sturdy gate, Merlin nodded to himself before he picked up the mouthpiece of the radio and spoke into it

"2150 meters, send them"

The deafening roars of the 37 tanks crescendoed out as they all fired their cannons, about 2 seconds later the shells impacted on the gate and around it, the wooden gate that was reinforced with steel bars shattered sending splinters the size of limbs flying on the inside of the walls, Merlin narrowed his eyes as he witnessed the carnage through the binoculars, then he spoke through the radio

"Geo group, move"

A few seconds later Geo's response came as the M41's and single 20mm Puma powered on their engines

"Geo group, moving"

Then after a few moments, Jane's group started their engines, Jane exchanged a long glance with Merlin before she smiled, ducked down, and closed the hatch, then as the engine of the tanks started up her voice sounded out over the radio

"Jane group, moving"

Then Merlin took a deep breath before he ducked down and closed the cupola hatch, as the hatch closed the dark interior of the tank was the only thing he saw, the small amount of light that came through the viewports shone a little light on the android crew that wordlessly did their job, their faces looked like skulls under the dim light as the engine powered on the rumble could be felt his stomach and deafened his ears as he spoke into the radio headset

"Merlin group, moving"

The tanks approached the city walls rather quickly and soon they passed through the gate single file, then every other tank swung their turret to the right while the others swung theirs to the left with the only exception being font and the back tank that both had their turrets facing backward, as for why the tank in the front had the barrel facing the other tanks was simple, it wasn't going to fire its cannon before they reached the opposite side of the city and that was at least 3 kilometers of main street away, main street packed with makeshift barricades and guards the M41 in the font soon received an order form Geo over the radio

"Door Knocker, floor it"

The M41 in the font quickly accelerated and soon it impacted the first makeshift barricade with its full speed of 72 kilometers an hour, as the M41 weighed 23 tonnes the barricade experienced about 4 MJ of power, or about the same amount of energy it takes to heat 10 liters of water to the boiling point or to say it in layman's terms: Shit got fucking wrecked, the barricade experienced a similar fate as the south-facing gate they had just passed through and like it the tanks easily passed through…

As Doorknocker passed through the first barricade the smile disappeared from the face of the Northern lord, instead a sneer appeared as he spoke to the mages from the Harmony faction beside him

"As you can see sir's they are metal carriages mounted with cannons, they might be fast and deadly with their cannons, but that's it, as long as one of the cannons isn't pointing at you or you get run over by one it's simple"

The 5 mages from the Harmony faction nodded before one of them, the eldest spoke

"We'll accept your request as long as we receive our payment"

The Northern lord smiled

"Of course, any of the metal carriages you defeat will belong to you, I'll compensate you besides that too"

The mages nodded before they quickly used spells and flew into the air from the lords' castle that was nestled into the western mountain overlooking the entire city, as soon as they left the balcony the Northern lord showed a smile as he leaned back in his chair as he was ready to watch a good show, of course, he didn't believe that the mages could defeat any of Merlin's tanks. He simply need to slow them down while he prepared a special gift for them at the Northern walls, he also had a whole lot of nasty surprises for them on the way

"See if the first gift will be to their taste"

The tanks drove down the main street single file as the mages attacked, they kept above the tanks and pelted them with spells, soon they managed to blow the track off a T-54A, Merlin narrowed his eyes as the single file convoy came to a halt before he spoke

"Fly Swatters, fire when ready"

Geo answered through the radio

"Roger, Flyswatters prepping"

As soon as he gave the command 9 of the M41's stopped, all except for Door Knocker, then they traversed their hull front towards the mages in the air above the tank column before members of their android crew appeared on their engine decks and pulled the bolt on the mounted .50 caliber Browning M2 roof-mounted machine gun before they instantly snapped towards their individual targets before hails of gunfire into the air, the five mages were caught unaware and turned into bloody-mage-sized sieves before they fell down from the air, all of them dead, at that moment Merlin finished the 1-minute process of repairing the blown off track of the T-54A by using spare parts from his inventory, then the column continued driving forward but not for long as they suddenly were hit by an ambush form the side, heavy anti magic beast ballistas from the Northern walls had been placed into houses along the main street, their bolts flew out from windows and open doors and hit the tanks in the side dealing a significant amount of damage to their side armor, Merlin quickly received a report from Geo

"2 M41's report their sides pierced, 1 immobile and the rest except for Doorknocker has suffered light damage!"

Merlin considered his options for a few moments before he gave an order

"Gloves off, Jane move the Churchill's to the front, Geo… Do it"

"...Roger, gloves off!"

The M41's loaded White phosphor shells before they fired them into the houses where the ballistas had fired from, soon screams of pain sounded out as the guards manning the weapons had their skin burned by the white poisonous smoke, after the one minute it took for Merlin to replace the tracks the tanks started to move again, only now the two Churchill crocodiles were in the front, they angled the flamer muzzles on the front of the hull to either side before they began spewing fire at the houses on either side of the main road, then Merlin's voice sounded out over the radio

"Advance"

The Northern lord looked stunned as he muttered

"They breathe fire…"

Then he threw the crystal glass in his hand out over the balcony and he yelled

"ARE THEY FUCKING DRAGONS!?"

His face was flushed red from rage, as he began cursing and smashing the furniture around him Merlin noticed a glint from the falling crystal glass and quickly muttered

"Found you… LOAD A HE, DOUBLE TIME!, Turret left 45, up 34 degrees, target castle balcony, range 1550, Fire at once!"

The Northern lord felt a chill before he heard the whistle of the shell as it traveled through the air, just as he managed to stand up as all the hair on his neck rose as the shell impacted and exploded behind him and sent his body flying forwards out over the balcony, as the pavement below neared his eyes flashed with horror as he let out a scream that abruptly stopped once his body hit the ground…

The resistance lessened once half the main street were on fire and when Door Knocker turned its turret towards the Northern gate the guards had already abandoned it, a few high explosive shells later the tanks exited the city of Yil through the Northern gate, there was none of the usual chatter over the radio as they continued north until the Merlin spoke as the sun began setting

"Geo, from a circle"

"...Got it"

Soon the tanks came to a halt, Geo jumped down from his M41 and sighed deeply, then he turned and walked out towards a forest right off the side of the formation, Jane called out to him

"Hey Geo"

Geo didn't turn around as he asked

"What?"

"I brought you something before we left the capital"

Only then did he turn around, his facial expression seemed to be locked in place at a deep frown, Jane threw him a small package, Geo brought it up to his nose and sniffed it before his eyes widened as he exclaimed

"Where did you get this tea?"

"That's the one right? The one your wife used to make?"

Geo nodded, Jane walked over to him and grabbed him by the forearm before she began dragging him back towards the camp as she spoke

"Let's light a fire and have some, I'll get Merlin to join us, it'll be fun!"

Geo sighed before he muttered

"Have I really fallen so far as to have you, girly, worry about me?"

Jane turned around and looked at Geo before she spoke

"Look at me, I am already a grown woman!"

Geo finally broke a smile as he nodded and agreed

"That you are"