Chapter 102: Siege of Erdu (II)
II)
"...What a surprising turn of events." Lord Heri said, baffled at the new title I got.
"The timing's perfect, but are you confident you'll be able survive with all their attention on you?" Anbu asked.
I nodded.
"I am sure I can outrun all of them. In fact, I even have a bit of a surprise waiting for them. Make sure to tell everyone to hold on to something sturdy!" I said, transforming into Ati's Supersonic Thunderclap and taking off to meet the approaching horde.
Immediately, I felt the gazes of tens of thousands of flying beasts, as they all changed course from Kengir's shores to directly my way!
I immediately flew up rapidly, gaining height over all the monsters as they all moved towards me. We were so high up that no arrow fired by a regular human could reach us, but it wasn't the time for that just yet.
The monsters all began climbing upwards and firing all sorts of ranged attacks my way, the wave of monsters rising at the center like a spike to chase after me.
I used my incredibly speed to fly sideways, dodging all of their attacks, yet not moving away so fast as to not allow them to catch up.
"Come on, come on!" I whispered, trying to get as many of the monsters to clump up.
As the monsters' density began to rise, so did the frequency of their attacks. At first, it was easy to dodge them all, but nearly a minute later, nearly the entire sky was saturated with attacks, leaving me nowhere to run.
I clicked my tongue, having my hand forced early, but I had no other choice. "[Force Sphere]!"
The black ball rushed from my palm into the middle of the flying sea of monsters. For a moment, everything was quiet.
The next, the wind shrieked as it pulled on me with desperate tenacity, though I was thankfully far enough away to resist.
Most of the flying beasts weren't so lucky.
The cloud of monsters had a tremendous hole in its center, with most of the beasts on its outer edges resisting against the pull of both the sphere and the wind being dragged into it.
Mere seconds later, the pull stopped, only to be replaced by a deafening explosion of air, flesh, and blood that was so fierce that it blew the surviving monsters beneath it straight into the sea, smashing their bodies against the water and killing them.
From nearly 75,000 flying monsters, only about 10,000 remained.
The surviving flying beasts that were pushed back by the shockwave recovered, and surprisingly, instead of running away, charged at me like nothing had happened.
"...Seriously?"
I moved, transforming into Nisos's form while trying to take their attention away from the port town while I requisitioned mana from the townsfolk.
Anbu, the amphibious monsters are a problem the rest of you can deal with! Don't worry about the flying monsters!
I said, as I dragged the remaining flyers in circles over the battlefield. ***
Anbu Shullat
After the jaw-dropping display of strength that Kiara showed, she sent me a telepathic message before dragging the rest of the flying monsters with her.
The crowd of nervous defenders that were nervous were suddenly reinvigorated at seeing nearly a third of the monster horde being wiped out in one go, as if they hadn't believed that this mission could succeed.
The cheers were deafening, and Asseth sighed in exasperation.
"Dragons are the rulers of the sky, indeed. If this is what an allegedly rank C dragon is capable of, I shudder to imagine the destruction wrought by them in the Celestial War..."
"Who cares?! She's on our side now! More importantly, brace yourself! The monsters are coming!" the Ionian said, jumping down to the end of the kill zone, ready to act as the anvil for the rest of the fighters to act as the hammer.
The amphibious monsters rose from the shores into the town's port, quickly shambling towards the makeshift fort and its winding, labyrinthian walls.
"Hold your fire!" Asseth yelled, as the monsters moved through town's streets.
The first of the monsters were finally getting past the last of the town's building and were now rushing past the rubble of the hastily demolished buildings by the walls.
"Hold steady!" Asseth commanded again, and the men obeyed.
Nearly ten thousand archers held their bows anxiously, the tension so thick in the air that breathing was a herculean challenge.
When the monster horde finally approached the fifty-meter mark from the walls, all hell broke loose.
"FIRE!" Asseth commanded.
A wave of arrows flew from the walls and blocked the sun, giving the monsters a moment's reprieve from its gleam.
The arrows then fell like rain, showering the rushing monsters in death, as thousands of monsters cried out in pain before being skewered to death by more even more arrows.
The townspeople's lack of experience, the poor quality of their bows, and the complete absence of any system granted abilities were more than made up for by sheer numbers; there was no need to do anything but fire an arrow in the general direction of the horde – a condition that allowed a normally absurd strategy like this one to work. The only requirement was that they be strong enough to pull the bowstring – or whatever they used in its place – which was not difficult to do given the size of the bows in question.
Arrows rained one after another at the horde, as monsters rushed to climb past the corpses of those ahead of them in a mad frenzy, only to be shot down by a barrage of arrows.
Complimenting the archers, the wooden golems were launching wooden shards towards the coming horde, cutting down even more of the coming beasts.
Overhead, a giant ball of flame engulfed a large swarm of monsters, killing hundreds, as Kiara emerged from it and kept the flyers occupied.
"Perhaps we might make it..." I muttered out loud, hopeful that we might earn ourselves an unlikely victory.
As if trying to prove me wrong, things took a sudden turn for the worst.
Emerging from among the ranks of the amphibious beasts were dozens of large and furious rank B, rare-rarity monsters.
[Abyssal Heavy Hippopotamus Lv. 24]
[Abyssal Heavy Hippopotamus Lv. 31]
...
[Abyssal Heavy Hippopotamus Lv. 26]
The arrows fired by the bows were covering the beasts' hides like pincushions, but they carried on rushing towards the walls as if the arrows did nothing.
"This is bad... If they crash through the walls, the townsfolk will be slaughtered!" Asseth said fearfully.
"Leave this to me. I'll try something out. Don't stop the archers from firing!" I said, jumping off the walls and rushing to meet the charging beasts.
Fortunately, my lightning-infused attacks should have an advantage against both the water and earth attributes, whichever the monsters facing me may be. Moreover, I don't have to actually kill them, only cripple the ability to charge and smash into the walls.
That's where the good news ends. My attacks are only single-target, and I am facing dozens of targets. Normally, it would be impossible for me to stop them all before they reached the walls, but the title I got from escorting the villagers with Kiara just might give me the edge I needed.
As I rushed towards the coming horde, I went towards the first of the Hippopotamuses.
"[Paralyzing Thrust]!" I yelled, activating my class skill as a lightning bolt jumped out of my spear's tip and smashed into the monster's head.
It fell over forwards, rolling into the ground and smashing large swathes of dirt and rubble in the process. I jumped over its paralyzed body as I moved towards the rest.
My new title, [Guardian of the Meek], activated its effect.
In an instant, I found myself teleported atop of another Hippopotamus.
"[Paralyzing Thrust]!"
Just like the one before it, this one fell unceremoniously into the ground. The process repeated itself over and over, before all of the dangerous monsters lay in the ground, unable to move.
I felt myself nearly fall over to the ground as a result of the sheer mana expenditure. I took another look at the powerful title I'd obtained.
[Guardian of the Meek]
No matter the place, those who prey on the weak exist. Fortunately for them, you are their omnipresent shield. Wherever danger comes, you will be there to stop it.
When protecting creatures without combat abilities, teleport to any aggressors at a mana cost dependent on the distance.
I heaved a sigh before standing up and making my way back to the walls. Some of the archers had unlocked classes and evolutions and were being rotated to grow by Asseth without compromising the front line.
Right as I was about to reach the front walls, the wall ahead of me exploded, the few people unfortunate enough to be directly atop it being launched in gory bits and pieces. At the center of the rubble lied Kiara's body, broken and battered, yet still alive.
"Owwiieee..." she said.
Frightened, I looked above, and found a despair-inducing sight. [Scorching Phoenix Lv. 42]
Rank A creature. The Scorching Phoenix is an undying predator born from the eternal flames of the fourth layer. A fiery death is all that awaits any unfortunate prey that this mighty being chooses to target.