Chapter 278: War Between Monster And Men [Part 2]
"Load the catapults!" Logan ordered the Orcs who were standing on the ramparts of the wall.
Instead of Fireshard Catapults, they only had ordinary stone catapults. Even so, it was better than nothing.
"Fire!" Logan shouted. "Kill them all!"
Soon, the bombardment of rocks descended upon the monster army that had decided to attack the Aslan Tribe.
The stones killed weaker monsters and seriously injured the stronger ones.
Still, despite killing hundreds in that single volley, the number of monsters seemed unending.
A minute later, the monster army crashed against the walls of the Aslan Tribe.
Due to its height, they couldn’t proceed any further. Of course, the nimble monsters tried to climb over their comrades and jump as high as they could, but the walls were thirty meters tall.
Unless they piled up on top of each other, they wouldn’t be able to breach it anytime soon.
Though things got complicated then and there.
Some monsters had ranged attacks like poison sprays and the like. Naturally, they didn’t hesitate to use them when they thought they couldn’t proceed any further.
That was when Rasta’s totems came in handy. Summoning a powerful gust of wind that blew downward, these spray attacks were repelled. In fact, they even fell among the monster’s comrades, making them screech in pain.
Desperate to make a breakthrough, the monsters bashed the wall with their bodies. Some clawed it, while others used their tails to slam it. However, the walls of the Aslan Tribe wouldn’t be destroyed that easily.
Not to mention, any damage borne by the walls was being repaired by Leone in real time.
It was then that the true challenge struck.
The flying monsters dove from the sky in order to bring down the defenders.
Then again, the defenders were already waiting for this to happen.
"Fire!" Brann ordered.
The repeating crossbows and the ballistas finally unleashed their bolts at the command, hitting the monsters that thought they could pick them off one by one like helpless prey in the open plains.
Soon, dozens of monsters crashed toward the ground, which was a danger in itself.
Some of them even fell down onto the Fireshard Catapults, which were positioned at the base of the mountain.
As for the crossbolts that missed their marks, they fell over the walls of the Aslan Tribe, hitting the unlucky monsters that were in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
In order to prevent friendly fire, Leone laid out some rules for operating the repeating crossbows and ballistas. The first one was that they should always be fired upward and at a certain angle.
And the second was that they must never be fired downward, for doing so would greatly increase the risk of hitting their comrades, who were fighting along with them.
"Don’t worry about the monsters beyond your attack range!" Kael shouted. "Others will take care of them! Focus on what you can hit and trust your comrades!"
Yet, despite all this, the flying monsters were simply too many.
Screams and war cries erupted around the mountain as those guarding the siege weapons clashed against the flying monsters, which were mostly made up of Harpies and Pteranodons.
Blood spilled from both monsters and warriors alike.
Everyone fought valiantly, using everything they had to survive. But despite all that, there were things that simply couldn’t be prevented.
Finally, the first casualty from the Aslan Tribe appeared.
A warrior protecting one of the repeating crossbows was grabbed by a Harpy and tossed toward the defenders of the fortress.
The sickening thud of his body crashing against one of the Fireshard Catapults soon reached Leone’s ears.
The young man glared hatefully at the Harpy in return and asked Yuni, who stood beside him, to shoot it down.
However, before Yuni could even act upon his orders, the Harpy was already pierced by several arrows, prompting it to fall from the sky.
The archers of the Aslan Tribe shot it with bloodshot eyes before shifting their attention to other targets.
Despite the chaos, the orders from Leone and his vassals spread far and wide, giving everyone direction throughout the chaotic battlefield.
Then again, this was their first time dealing with a monster stampede, and they had to admit that it was complete pandemonium!
Otto was focused on killing what he thought were strong flying monsters, leaving the rest to the others.
Astravor had also joined the battle, screeching in fury as it crushed one Harpy after another with its claws.
While that was happening, more Fireshard Catapults were being destroyed with each passing minute.
Ironically, their destruction was caused by the monsters that had been slain by their people or those that had rolled off from the mountain before crashing toward the ground.
"Watch out!" Yuni cried out as she pulled Leone away.
A moment later, a Pteranodon crashed into the place where the young man stood a while ago.
The monster still had a few bolts piercing its wing and body, but it was still very much alive.
Kael’s Bloodriver Serpent, Russel, coiled itself around the monster’s body before sinking its fangs into the monster’s neck.
The Pteranodon screeched one last time in response before its head finally crashed on the floor, its body twitching once before stiffening completely.
Kael, Jason, and a few Elite Warriors of the Aslan Tribe served as Leone’s protectors during the battle.
They were busy fending off the Harpies that were targeting Leone, so they were a few seconds late in coming to his rescue.
Fortunately, Yuni had remained on standby and was carefully watching the surroundings for possible threats.
"Are you okay, Great Chieftain?!" Kael asked.
"I’m fine," Leone replied. "Thank you, Yuni."
The young lady only gave Leone a brief nod before continuing to monitor the surroundings.
Daedalus had already stored the Pteranodon’s body inside its pages, which surprised Hagen, Malik, and Godwin, who were all paying close attention to Leone.
They only saw the Pteranodon’s body disappear, but they didn’t see how it actually happened.
Even so, they remained vigilant of their surroundings as they continued to use their bows to snipe the monsters around them.
This time, Leone noticed a scream coming from the ramparts where Logan and Ulric were stationed.
The nimble monsters were now climbing on top of the dead bodies of their comrades, using their corpses as platforms to jump toward the ramparts.
Some of them specialized in crawling flat surfaces and scaled the walls with ease, only to be hacked by the Orcs guarding them.
But even so, several Orcs had died after some monsters were able to successfully crawl up the ramparts and engage them in battle.
These monsters were also repeatedly unleashing quills, spray attacks, and even spells like Stone Bullets, making it hard for those at the walls to defend themselves. The situation was simply too chaotic to predict.
If not for Logan, Khan, and Ulric moving about to handle the monsters that managed to scale their defensive walls, things might have been more dire for the defenders.
They were purposely ignoring the monsters at the very base of the tower walls since all they were doing was attacking it.
If they killed them, then the monsters would just use them as stepping stones, which would be the greatest problem in this kind of siege.
The defenders only attacked either the monsters at the back or those that were using ranged attacks to attack them from below.
At least, it was how they had handled the defense before the lizard monsters, who were capable of crawling up the walls, appeared.
Leone didn’t know how many minutes or hours had passed since the fighting had begun.
The Fireshard Catapults that were still operational were now less than fifty, and all of them were still continuously unleashing bombardments, hoping to thin out the remaining monsters throughout the battlefield.
Some warriors even grew hoarse from shouting as they fought the monsters who wished to end their lives.
Amidst all the fighting, Leone saw flames rising up from the fortress the Darkmane Tribe was protecting.
It was a signal telling them that the Monster King had finally been sighted, which made the young man’s face turn grim.
Suddenly, the Pteranodons and the Harpies started to retreat, flying away in the distance.
The land monsters had also retreated like the tide, leaving only their dead comrades behind.
"They’re regrouping with the main force of their army," Kael said calmly.
Leone sighed internally before checking the status of his mission. He didn’t dare to check Daedalus’ casualty report, knowing he would be shaken by the number of their losses.
He simply checked how many hours they had left before their suffering would come to an end.
————
[Territory Mission 2]
[Requirements to upgrade to Rank 3: 1/10]
[Second Mission: Defend Aslan Soleil For Seven Days!]
[Difficulty Rating: Hell Mode]
[Remaining Defense Time: 21:32:00 Hours]
————
"Twenty-one hours..." Leone muttered.
Kael approached the young man and bowed respectfully before him.
"Your orders, Great Chieftain?" Kael asked.
Leone’s lips trembled before he steeled himself to give the order.
"Gather the bodies of our brave warriors and take them to the Hidden Valley," Leone ordered. "We will give them a proper funeral once the battle is over."
"Understood." Kael bowed respectfully.
He then moved to give out the young man’s orders. Meanwhile, the bodies of the dead monsters outside and inside the fortress all vanished without a trace.
At that moment, Daedalus had forcefully collected them using its Administrator Authority.
Leone stared off into the distance to where the monsters were gathering. He had sent a mental message to Kael not to attack them for the time being because it might trigger them to launch another attack at their fortress.
Right now, they needed to rest and heal the injuries of their warriors.
He then asked one of his protectors to pass a message onto the non-combatants to deliver food and water to everyone.
"Leone, the fortress of the Darkmane Tribe received great damage during the battle earlier," Daedalus reported. "Should we repair it?"
"Repair it," Leone replied without hesitation.
He wasn’t acting out of compassion, nor had he forgiven the tribe that had once marched to conquer his domain.
If anything, he simply needed the Darkmane Tribe to remain part of Aslan Soleil’s defensive line.
If their fortress fell during the next assault, more monsters would head in the direction of Grimjaw Mountain.
Keeping them alive wasn’t an act of kindness. It was simply the most efficient way to keep more of his own people alive.
Simply put, he was just using the Darkmane Tribe as another wall that would stand between the Monster King and the Aslan Tribe.
A wall that would serve its purpose until it finally crumbled into dust.
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