Chapter 87 - Struggle
Looking at the gigantic, horned lizards, Shane couldn\'t help but gulp involuntarily.
Using their elemental attacks, the close combat unit charged at them. However, they were almost immediately burned, pierced, or split in two, changing the tides of the whole battle in a blink of an eye.
"WHAT?" Shane couldn\'t help but exclaim in shock. Trying to calm down, he instructed loudly, while trying to sound confident.
"Ballistae on the left-load anti-mana bolts while the ballistae on the right side use armor-piercing bolts! I don\'t care about the costs, but these gigantic horned lizards have to die!!"
The soldiers operating the ballistae were still dumbfounded. It was only Shane\'s order that brought them back to their senses as they subconsciously followed his orders.
The young soldiers shivered in fright on witnessing the scene in front of them. Not even their wildest dreams would they have imagined participating in a huge battle on their first shelter protection mission.
"Focus on the red-scaled gigantic, horned lizards!! They killed most of our comrades down there!! TAKE REVENGE!!" Shane was gutted as well as proud to see so many loyal soldiers die in order to protect the shelter, due to his request for reinforcement.
However, he was sure that the shelter would have been annihilated by now. Humanity, as it is, couldn\'t bear another increase in costs for the world-protection extension at the moment.
The only fortunate fact was that almost all Wild and Elite stage-scaled lizards had been annihilated, while the crystal feathered eagles seemed to be less of a problem.
In total, there were only slightly more than 3000 Wild, 500 Elite, and at most 50 Awakened beasts left on the battlefield which was probably a tenth of the initial beast tide.
In the end, Wild and Elite beasts were cannon-fodder for all the soldiers here. The only beasts killing their comrades were awakened stage crystalized eagles, which seemed to be the simplest evolution of crystal feathered eagles, or awakened scaled lizards and the newly appeared gigantic, horned lizards.
\'Who the hell controls them? Their whole tactic is stupid but these evolved gigantic, horned lizards should reign over a small area with the strength they showcase….\' Shane was completely clueless as he tried to think of a way to fight the new threat. The first ballistae shots distracted him, as they pierced through the thick scales covering the evolved gigantic, horned lizards.
Shane\'s smile brightened upon seeing the beasts roar in pain. The cavalry units had gained enough time to approach the first gigantic, horned lizards.
Without wasting a single moment, all of them lashed out with their spears that were enveloped with dense mana, right before thick earth walls, wind blades and compressed water appeared right in front of them.
With wide eyes, Shane could only stare at two cavalry units being blown apart, severed, or thrown high into the sky due to the erected wall. However, what truly shocked him was the fact that the gigantic, horned lizards attacked, killed their own brethren mercilessly.
\'What is this massacre?\' He asked himself in astonishment.
There was nothing left for him to understand anymore and the only thing that held him together was the fact that the attacking gigantic, horned lizards were assaulted by their own brethren. They were mercilessly stabbed, slashed, and chopped as well by the surviving cavalry and close combat units.
"RELOAD!" Shane shouted as he tried to block the voices of the soldiers from his mind. They were crying in anguish and in their cries he heard their desperation and will to live, even though most knew that their will alone might not be enough.
Seeing halved, burned, and perforated bodies, Shane almost vomited in front of the soldiers he was in charge of.
Suppressing the urge to vomit, he tried to reassure everyone around him that everything would be over soon, once the remaining beasts had been killed.
Looking around, Shane also noticed a small issue. The crossbow bolts and arrows seemed to diminish, and only a few hundred were left, causing him to frown. His eyes fell on one of the soldiers whose legs gave in at the sight of the bloody battlefield.
"YOU!" Shane shouted, causing the young man to look at him with quivering eyes scared that he would die any moment.
Sighing, Shane ordered calmly "Take the reserved crossbow bolts, arrows, and ballistae bolts from the barracks...NOW!!"
Getting hold of himself, the young man rushed down the stairs, only to fall on his face, causing Shane to helplessly shake his head.
Even though his body was only 16-years-old and he had still been a child when he had lived on earth, Shane was familiar with the cruelty of this world. He had been educated by his father about the cold hard truths of Igra that made him more knowledgeable than most of his peers.
Due to this, Shane was sure that humanity would face a hard time if all the soldiers would be as frightened as the ones he was in charge of.
\'Well...it\'s their first time..\' Shane tried to console himself. He noticed that almost not a single Wild and Elite stage beast was left as the last hundreds were slaughtered.
Within the sky, the number of beasts also diminished with the last few crystalized eagles seemingly scared to approach the shelter\'s range, knowing they would die if they tried.
The newly emerged gigantic, horned lizards turned serious, seeing all of their brethren die. The Cavalry still consisted of more than one hundred members after sustaining a large number of casualties.
Right as the awakened beasts were about to flee from the siege, a dense, terrifying, yet familiar bloodlust permeated the whole shelter. Shane had no issues guessing exactly who the culprit was.
When he connected all the dots with each other, his assumption proved to be correct.
\'The bloodlust thunder wolf is the high-intelligent beast! But...what is it doing here and why is it not in the Wolf den, fighting against the main force…?\'
Shane tensed up because of the bloodlust, while the same happened with the beasts and humans on the battlefield, causing them to instinctively halt their fight.
\'The bloodlust thunder wolf became even stronger?\' He thought and it felt like the bloodlust around him became even more distinct.
Shivering, Shane sensed fear enveloping him slowly, trying to pierce into his mind. As he fought against the fear he saw the youths next to him collapse on the ground while the same happened with the Soldiers and beasts on the battlefield.
Not a single being could control their body anymore, while he heard someone behind him exclaiming in an astonished voice.
"High-grade ability!! Not bad!" Barely able to turn around, Shane noticed a young woman with white shining hair and eyes, long white eyelashes, and a perfectly shaped figure standing behind him with a straight back.
Seeing Shane turn towards her, she smiled brightly, saying "You did a good job, Marshall Kriez will be proud of you! ....You did enough, I\'ll take care of everything!" She then turned back to walk down the stairs, as Shane noticed a unit of approximately 100 armored women riding on white horses.
Not knowing what kind of unit this was he could only stare at them. Based on the pressure these women and their horses had endured without sweating a tiny bit, Shane could say for sure, that their mana purity had to be higher than 80%.
But what astonished him, even more, was that he knew the white-haired woman from somewhere, even though he was not sure where…
\'Who is she?\'
Seeing her summon a white horse with a horn on the forehead while shouting "Let\'s go Valkyries! We have to defeat a thunder wolf cub!!". He suddenly recalled the special cavalry unit he had seen earlier, while the name of the young white-haired woman reemerged in his mind.
"Aisha Hael and the Valkyries!" he quietly mumbled.
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