218 Arrival of the Beast Horde (2/2)
”I don't know! All I could see are flying flesh!”
”Do you think it's because of the arrows?”
”Now that you say that…yeah, I think so too!”
”Look! It's definitely the arrows! They explode in contact!”
”Yes! I can see that! Haha! This is awesome!”
”Yeah! Take that you assholes!”
”This is my kind of fireworks!”
That's right. Not defending against the arrows were the first mistake of the beasts. For this, they kingdom had to thank the Sacred Leaf Tavern. They made a concoction called 'Explosive Flesh Solution' and have the arrows dipped on it before being used.
If these arrows made contact with any flesh. It will cause an explosion that could kill them in the process, this is why the supervisors of the Ranger Units were severely reminded not to be wounded by their own arrows for their own safety.
Unfortunately, due to the suddenness of the situation the Tavern wasn't able to produce as much of this solution as possible. If they were given more time, then they could've just send volleys of arrows dipped in the solution and called it a day. The batches that the Tavern was able to supply was enough for only the first volley of the Ranger Units, along with some other purposes.
”Catapult Units! Trebuchet Units! Aim!”
Luis' booming voice alerted the jovial crowd back to attention. The units he called out hurriedly moved and prepared. They loaded the boulders and angled the device according to Luis' command.
Once again, Luis waited for the marching horde to reach a certain distance. When they crossed the distance he had in mind, he yelled: ”Loose!”
The catapults and trebuchets let loose, boulders flew towards the marching beast horde like meteors.
Some beasts learned from their earlier blunder and prepared to defend against the boulders. They launched their own projectile to meet the falling boulders or evaded the impact. Some managed to destroy the boulders before they could even fall, and some managed to evade the impact.
From the looks of it, the first volley of the Catapult Units and Trebuchet Units weren't able to do as much damage as they would like.
But another development occurred.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
Just as when the beast horde thought that they were safe. The boulders they either destroyed or evaded, suddenly exploded into shards of rocks that caught them unprepared.
The weaker beasts were unable to defend against the pieces of rocks that almost turned like a flying daggers due to the intensity of the explosion, causing them to be filled with holes on the spot. Some of the beasts who were calmly flying forward had their wings pierced, causing them to fall and be stomped by the rest of the marching beasts.
Balmung smiled upon seeing this. It seems that his little trick worked.
With his little knowledge with Inscriptions, he decided to take a gamble and ordered some of his men to put an Inscription called: 'Delayed Explosion Rune' on the boulders that will be used by the Catapult and Trebuchet Units.
Objects that have Delayed Explosion Rune will explode, thirty seconds upon impact. The rune is simple enough for anyone that has minor inscription knowledge to learn and is actually considered as a low-grade or basic level rune. But for a large scale defense like this, it turns out to be a deadly weapon.
Luis didn't stop there, he ordered the Catapult and Trebuchet Units to reload the siege weapons for another wave.
”We managed to shave at least 100,000 beasts from their numbers.” Old Lee reported, ”I hope it continues this way.”
”Yeah.” Balmung replied, though he was happy to see his experiments succeed, it was not yet the time to celebrate. There are still a great number of beasts heading their way, and soon they will enter a brutal melee with them.
”Seniors.” Luis called out from the side, the Golden Knights looked at him at the same time and heard him say: ”You may advance now.”
After hearing him say that, the Golden Knights nodded and transformed into golden streaks of light.
Old Lee stood fiercely onto the air, both of his arms held lightning bolts as he chucked them towards the incoming horde with ferocious speed.
Leona slashed her sword and a towering wall of flames appeared, causing the beasts to have difficulties on moving forward.
Morel similarly stood in mid-air. Behind him, hundreds of Wind Spears condensed and rained down on the beasts like heat-seeking projectiles.
The morale of the army rose fervently as they saw the pillars of their kingdom slaughter their enemies. Their existence filled them with hope and determination to stand tall and protect their home from the invaders.