The mages along the walls used a bit of their mana to block incoming flaming projectiles, while letting ones that weren’t obviously attempts to firebomb the city pass.
They were limited in their abilities, and the cannons were their highest priority.
"Shame we didn’t have more cannons." Princess Alexis sighed.
Marquis Burton shrugged. "This defence has held for over a century. Granted, we haven’t faced an attack on this level, but it has served us well."
Dominic stepped to the window and began erecting small [Area Barrier] spells to block flaming projectiles while they planned. He didn’t need to stop them entirely, just slow them enough they fell short of the city, or shatter the vessel, and then the oil would disperse into a fireball in the sky.
The messenger standing by the window with Dominic began to relay messages.
{The North Wall is holding strong. Rifleman Commander Dax has confirmed a Dagos Noble kill by rifle from eleven hundred metres.
The west wall is holding, but the fire is starting to take root in the city there.
Eastern forces report minimal enemy artillery, but preparations for an infantry assault.
Southern Wall forces report an enemy retreat. Forces upstream have poisoned the river, and their men are falling ill.}
"Why didn’t their mages cleanse the toxin?" Marquis Burton asked.
Princess Alexis shook her head. "They don’t have any. Or, not enough anyhow. After the attack on Wavemates, nearly every magic user in the nation fled. If you thought that the Nobles in Cygnia were cruel to nonhumans and magic users, then you would be appalled at how they are treated in Dagos."
"So, while they are attacking, and they have the ability to craft magitech devices, they’re short on people who can actually use them. Now, I see why they’re becoming desperate to take portions of Cygnia." The Marquis realized.
The Princess nodded. "They’re falling behind in the magic race to advanced technology. If they don’t do something, they’re in trouble. But they’ve decided that diplomacy was not the answer."
Dominic continued to block projectiles so that the mages could focus on loading cannons.
A barrage of cannon fire came for the top of the Keep, and Princess Alexis laughed as Dominic blocked them, then flipped off the enemy spotters. He was having far too much fun this morning.
"Is it just me, or is the artillery all targeting the Keep?" The oldest son of Marquis Burton asked.
"They have stopped firebombing the city to focus on the Advisor." The messenger at the window concurred.
The messenger just shrugged. How was he supposed to answer that? If it wasn’t a good idea on Dominic’s part, they were about to get a cannonball through the wall of the strategy room.
The mage who had been sent up for defence duty smiled at the Marquis. "Sir, you need not concern yourself overmuch about that.
The Advisor knows what he is doing.
The distraction is buying time for the locals to put out the fires in the city before they can spread too far, and every minute, we destroy more of their artillery."
The Princes and the Marquis updated the battlefield map as reports came to the door, and Dominic spared them a bit of attention as the attacks by Dagos’ artillery returned to their original targets.
It had taken a few minutes, but someone must have realized that he was just distracting them from their work, and wasn’t likely to be injured by the attacks.
"They are building up along the highway on both sides of the city. It looks like Dagos is planning a simultaneous east and west charge to attempt to breach the city gates." Marquis Burton noted as they placed markers on the map.
Princess Alexis nodded. "That’s my impression as well. So the question is if they’re going to go all out on a northern offensive, or if the soldiers in the south are only faking illness."
Dominic watched as half of the airships descended, adding their firepower to the assault and devastating the back lines of the Dagos force, which were out of range of the city’s cannons.
That extra level of attack, on forces that would have traditionally been considered safe from retaliation, was crushing enemy morale.
As well as their supplies.
"Dagos has lost over half their remaining artillery in the last fifteen minutes." Dominic noted when he finished blocking attempts to burn the city.
The enemy was running low on ammunition, thanks to the efforts of the airships to target their supply stations, and the rate of fire of the defenders was causing chaos in their ranks. At this point, they were too busy to be doing anything but protecting themselves and digging in to fortify their remaining positions against Burton City’s defenders.
Then, a massive explosion outside the city caught everyone’s attention.
"The airships just detonated a munitions storage location on the south side. The crater is hundreds of metres wide. Estimated casualties are in the thousands." The messenger relayed.
That would change things.
Secondary explosions followed from the south as the bombardment continued, then another explosion rocked the east side of the battlefield.
"A second munitions storage vehicle has detonated. The army has begun to charge the walls. Orders?"
"Order the riflemen, archers and cannons to target the infantry. Signal the airships to continue their work on the supply lines and reserves." Princess Alexis ordered before the Marquis could speak.
Battle horns were sounding, and Dominic could see a few vehicles modified as rams among the eastern and western forces.
"They’re aiming for a mechanized battering ram along the road entrances. Expect sixty plus kilometres an hour and twenty tonnes of vehicle." Dominic relayed, looking out the window of the Keep.
Marquis Burton swallowed hard then nodded. "We have prepared for this. Barricade trucks to the gates."
A large vehicle rolled out of a warehouse by each gate, equipped with what looked like a portcullis on a frame. They drove up to the wooden gates, pushed them solidly in place, and then crews began hammering posts through holes in the support arms, anchoring them in the ground.
As long as the ram vehicle didn’t manage to crush the portcullis support, the gates should be secure.
And the riflemen were not going to make it easy for the vehicles to get to the wall unscathed.