Attack on the base
Chapter 33
Attack on the base
The dim morning light enveloped the griffon camp as Darius inspected his troops, all of them wearing battle armor and carrying a large variety of weapons. The troops were all lined up, and their officers moved around as well, making sure perfect order was maintained.
Beside the lines, Dimitri looked from the top of his tanks as the griffons got ready to fight the changelings. An hour ago, a griffon scout had arrived badly wounded and reported with his last breaths about an incoming changeling attack. He gave an estimate of three thousand, but Darius was sure there’ll be more. A griffon could kill ten of those easily on his own, and the changelings had been winning thanks to their numbers and nothing more. He knew their strategy was massing over them, completely careless of their own lives as they died by the thousands against a small griffon force such as his own.
The bad thing was, it was working. Darius had been sent with a total force of a thousand; Now he only had two hundred griffons in fighting state, and around another hundred wounded.
Darius sighed as he finished the inspection; he was proud of his troops, but he knew that they were not going to make it this time. They had been fighting changelings for a long time now, and this was it. He could feel it in his body, a bad feeling.
He adjusted his helmet and felt the weight of his longsword against his side. He wore entire battle armor, reinforced and even enchanted to be lighter, a gift from a pony friend he had made. It was a work of art, and had proven to be quite efficient in resisting changeling magic attacks and horns.
He looked at the metal beast resting beside the tents, the human on top of it looking at him as well. Darius looked away and back to his troops.
Dimitri felt wrong as the griffon began ordering the troops on the defense. He knew he had said no, but he felt he was already too involved. He needed to return to his world, he was needed there, but he wouldn’t be able to if his only allies so far were massacred and his enemies captured him. He knew the changelings wouldn’t take lightly the death of those troops; he wouldn’t have.
Staring one last time towards the disbanding griffon formations, he looked to the side of the tank. Quick Claw was sitting there, seeming lost in thought. So far, that young griffon had been useful in repairing a few things around the tank with the Russian’s assistance. He didn't seem as scared or as surprised by him, which helped Dimitri feel less alien, or at least a little.
He was about to tell the grifon something when a shout echoed across the camp.
“The changelings! They’re here!”
Immediately, the griffons stood in alert. Around the palisade, the troops prepared their weapons and got ready. A few griffons got ready to fly and meet changelings in the air. Darius unsheathed his sword.
A black blur fell from the sky at rapid speeds and crashed against the ground. A small explosion happened, two griffons shouting in pain as pieces of dark material exploded from it. They fell down hard just as another blur fell. Dimitri was about to ask what was that when Darius shouted.
“They’re dropping! Shields and pikes up, fire arrows at the beasts when you see them!”
Dimitri looked confusedly at the griffon when he turned and looked at one of the small craters the explosion had made. In it, the vague form of a changeling was visible.
“They’re throwing themselves down at us?!” he exclaimed at the now-covering Quick Claw. The griffon nodded.
“Yes, they have an ability that lets them explode when they crash at high speeds!”
At that time, fighting had begun. Hundreds upon hundreds of changelings suddenly erupted from the trees surrounding the camp, clashing against the griffon soldiers. Dimitri noticed as at least a dozen changelings threw themselves at a griffon. The griffon used a large battle hammer to shove half of them away in a bloody mass, but the other managed to strike him deadly blows with their horns. The griffon screamed in pain as they stabbed him with them. In a powerful strike, he shoved the changelings off of him, but then fell down, barely breathing. Another one nearby hadn’t been so lucky.
In his spear, four changelings laid impaled, however, that had made the griffon unable to keep using it and now had five changelings on top of him, each one stabbing with their horns. The griffon fell with a cry of pain as a changeling finished him.
Dimitri cursed as he looked away and saw another dozen changelings going at him. He looked down and saw a trembling Quick Claw. In fast and swift moves, he pulled the particularly small griffon and threw both him and the griffon inside. He rapidly closed the hatch and heard loud thumps as the changelings crashed against the tank's armor.
The griffon looked shocked at the human.
“What are you waiting for!” he shouted. “Go to the visor and tell me where there are huge masses of those bugs together!”
Quick Claw nodded and quickly sat himself (though a little uncomfortably). He peeked and saw the scene outside. It was total chaos. At least twenty changelings were trying to open the tank either by hitting it, scratching it, or throwing magic at it. It seemed futile, though. As for the rest, the griffons were clearly losing. Although the griffon troops were killing more changelings, the enormous mass of those bugs seemed to much for them all.
“Tell me in degrees how much to turn!” Dimitri shouted from behind. Quick Claw looked behind and saw the human placing a large and long metal thing inside a small hatch and closing it. He then jumped towards a seat and looked at him. “Where do I shoot?!”
The young griffon looked out again. “Turn thirty degrees left and fire.”
“And up or down?”
“Ehh… I think roughly 20 degrees?” he said doubful.
Dimitri looked at him annoyed. “You think or you know?!” he exclaimed. Quick Claw almost jumped at the annoyed human’s exclamation.
“Twenty degrees up!” he exclaimed. Dimitri nodded and pulled some levers. The tank’s turret rotated and he seemed to step on something as a loud boom rocked the tank a little. The sound deafened Quick Claw for a few seconds, and he managed to hear another loud explosion nearby. He quickly looked outside and noticed the fighting seemed to have been brought to a temporary halt as all looked at the tank. Almost immediately though, the fighting resumed.
Dimitri lowered himself again and loaded another one of those metal things.
“Okay, this is going to be impractical, we need a loader!” he said. Quick Claw looked outside.
“They’re too busy fighting,” he said. Dimitri positioned himself back at the place where he had fired.
“Give me another target!”
The griffon looked outside. He noticed three griffons cornered by a mas of many changelings, too large to count like that. “Fifty degrees right, twenty down!”
Again, the turret moved and the tank rocked as another blast sounded nearby. Quick Claw saw as changelings exploded and were sent flying in pieces. The griffons pushed as the changelings looked around, confused as to what had hit their comrades.
“We need a loader,” Dimitri said hurriedly. “Let’s go outside and call a griffon in, and fast.” He pulled a short metal tube with a handle from a short scabbard-looking thing on his belt.
Quick Claw unsheathed a short sword as Dimitri got near the hatch. He pushed it open and jumped outside. The sound of little explosions, like the tank’s, but way smaller, sounded outside. Quick Claw went outside behind the Russian and immediately had to use his sword to defend himself. He pushed three changelings away from him and looked for Dimitri.
The human pointed at a random griffon. “You! Come here and inside!”
The griffon looked hesitantly. “Me?”
Dimitri seemed to roll his eyes and nodded. “Yes, you!” The griffon rapidly flapped once and went inside almost gracefully. The human looked at another griffon. “And you! Come here as well.” The griffon approached them and climbed the tank.
All the while, Quick Claw struggled to keep changelings away from Dimitri, who was now almost oblivious to the fighting as he instructed that griffon. They were beside the weapon Dimitri had used before against the other changelings.
“Okay, point this at the bugs, and be sure not to hit our own,” he said, making him a quick introduction to the weapon. “No matter what, don’t hesitate unless if you are about to hit your comrades. When it stops firing, come a tell me.” Dimitri left a confused Griffon outside beside the gun. He looked at Quick Claw. “Okay, we’re done here! Let’s go back inside!”
Both jumped in and positioned themselves. The human looked at the new Griffon inside. “Okay, you see those metal tubes?” The griffin nodded. “Well, put them inside that hatch, and be sure to close it well before telling me it’s ready. Those things are dangerous, so handle them with care.” The griffon nodded just as the sound of machine gun came from the outside. Dimitri peeked outside and looked at the shooting griffon.
The griffon seemed to be struggling to believe what he was doing as he pulled the trigger, shooting at changelings that approached the tank.
Dimitri went back inside and sat down. “Load!” The griffon nodded and pulled one of the metal things and placed them inside. He closed the hatch and nodded. “Where do I shoot?!”
“Forty degrees left, ten down!”
The tank’s turret turned and another loud boom echoed across the battlefield.
“Load!”
“Ten right, ten up!”
Boom!
“Load!”
“Same position!”
Boom!
“LOAD!”
*** *** ***
Smoke swirled around the battlefield. Corpses littered the ground as soft rain splattered against it, making a soft sound as it hit the soft dirt of the griffon camp. Griffons moved around silently, helping their comrades as they looked for wounded and ordered the dead in lines. A griffon with a little red badge over his head passed around them, looking as if giving the dead birds a blessing.
Darius leaned against the only post of his tent that was left standing. He smoked a pipe, the grey smoke swirling around his head and towards the sky, partially disturbed by the falling water. He stared at the camp, lost in thought, as a dead griffon was carried before him towards one of the lines of dead bodies. The changelings were being piled up in a mound at the side of the camp. Once all the black bugs were cleaned from the battlefield, they were going to burn them. As for the griffons, the dead would be treated to a short ceremony and then burned. Normally it would be an individual burning, but with the changelings still lurking around the camp it was not plausible.
Darius took the pile out of his beak and sighed. A hundred and fifty dead. A hundred and fifty battle-hardened griffons, had died. He only had about fifty ready to fight, plus the injured that were still making an effort. As soon as the battle had begun, most of the injured griffons had taken their weapons and joined the fight. That had helped slightly, though many of them had died.
What was surprising though, was the number of dead changelings.
The ground had been literally littered with the black corpses, and the ground had been tainted green by the blood from them. It had been hours, and already changeling piles were too much. He was going to order burning them soon.
Still, thousands of dead changelings, against a hundred and fifty griffons. It wasn't something he'd accept, but it was by far their most surprising victory against the bugs.
All thanks to the tank.
He turned and looked at the massive steel beast that still seemed to emanate smoke from its mouth and irradiate heat from the repeated shots it had taken. The machine gun on top had looked red by the end, with all the shots fired.
Darius knew the human was inside with the three griffons that had been with him during the fight. The griffon officer was going to have the three assigned for the time being to the human’s tank, or as long as the human decided to help. That thing had proven out to be a genuine machine of destruction. Dozens upon dozens of craters of various sizes marked the spot where many changelings died, and that was just for the tank. The machine gun had caused many more as well.
If the human decided to help them, it was very likely they're make it out of their predicament alive, and in time to defend the golden throne from the upcoming attack… That is, if it hadn't happened already.
He sighed as he returned to his pipe. He inhaled and felt the air from the pipe fill his mouth, relaxing him for a moment…
Ohhh, sorry for the short chapter. This one was going to include some more perosnal problems with Dimitri, and a second changeling attack, but I just couldn't find a way to do this that was actually good, so I decided to leave it as it is. Hope you guys liked it. 
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By the way...Is the animution infinity or something?
IS-2 only have like 28 rounds for the main gun and several thoudsand for the machine guns.
7186120 oh, I forgot
Nope, they didn't use more than 15 rounds in total, maybe I should specify though. Keep in mind the Griffons aren't fast loaders either (first time doing it). I actually forgot to point that, but it will be a serious problem for the Russian later.
Hey look who's back!
Nice chapter.
WHY SO SHORT?!?!?!
One problem: The IS-2 had only 28 shells in it......so........ya. Ammo problem.
yes you are back! outstanding!what an excellent chapter as usual! well done to you!
7186663 Hahaha. Yeah, I'm sorry for the long update. Writer's block and school are terrible for writing
7186874 Yeah... Short is sad, but also it guaranteed it was good. I tried to add more but it just didn't feel right. I'm on vacations now so I'll try to write more for you guys
7187842 Thank you! Hope you like what I have next for you all
7188354 The feeling's mutual.
7188355 Yay!
*Notices how he doesn't answer other comment*
7189457 thanks for the recommendations! I'll see if I missed some. I do believe I say Some of what you're pointing out in future chapters, but I probably missed some... If you keep reading maybe you could let me know more mistakes like these ones please? I'm not an expert on the weapons technicalities and all that. I'm more into the big picture, like strategy of WWII and such.
7189638 hahaha. My goal: answer every comment. My goal was just crushed by thee!
(Jus' Kiddin'
)
7191553
*Notices how he STILL hasn't answered the plot hole brought up there*
Really?
7191634 Ohhh, hehehe
I did in another comment
He's gonna have problems with that soon. He only wasted around 15-18 ammo, taking into account the griffons can't reload fast.
7203987 Well since it was a 2-peice shell anyway, I'll take that answer, as it seems plausible.
7204690 That was an insult.
Hitler was a crazy evil genus, but not in military. He did a great job with propaganda, building, and organizing the military.
That being said, he's also the guy that invaded Russia in fall, and who ordered them to stop making the worlds first assault rifle, dispite its HUGE success, ect, ect.
7204766 Either way, that problem will be of relevance soon so you all will know about that problem in the story itself.
7204998 Well good, because Mother Russia is not here to give you new shells.
7205383
Don't fuck with an is-2