After a while, the harpies reported back an approximation of the number of the beasts.
M-my king! It’s like a sea of demonic creatures! There must be around 20.000 demonic beasts of what I see, but they keep coming! Their numbers keep on increasing!
A wind flying fairy said in an agitated voice.
Are there any flying type beasts?
Yes! Insect type demons, huge birds, Wyverns and even some Phteromoses!
Phteromoses are some kind of demonic pterodactyl-like beasts with black horns, sharp feathers. They breathe out a mist that corrodes even metal and their sharp claws can cut through dark-iron like through butter. They are an A ranked beasts and the bigger ones can reach rank S with ease.
?!
Everyone was shocked by the reports yet again.
W-Wyverns? And there are more of them?! Aren’t they of S rank?
And since when do Phteromoses fly together with wyverns?! They normally fight for the title of the King Of The Sky! Why are they grouping together now?!
If these are just the beast from the sky, I don’t wish to know what kind of monsters we will have to confront on the ground.
Everyone became agitated. Their morale fell and their fear started to take control. Even the warriors had their spirits drowned by the horrible news.
“…”
Ryu heard their comments in silence. Then he shouted out.
“Isa!” → Ryu
[Yes.] → Isa
Isaz2IsazAn Elder Futharks rune which, in this novel represents only \"Ice\", \"coldness\", and \"stillness\". Appearance: Looks like an I and is normally written on stone, wood or even bone. imediately appeared right beside him, bowing lightly while waiting for orders.
“Take this.” → Ryu
Ryu handed to Isa an Energy Stone then pointed in the distance.
“Shoot a Dragon Breath at the nearest Phteromos you can find. You’ll need to go on top of that mountain to see it.” → Ryu
[I understood and no need.] → Isa
Isa then summoned two ice wings and flew high in the sky. When Isa reached the same level with the clouds, he was able to detect a swarm of flying beasts and even more between the trees, at a distance of a few hundred kilometers away from them. Isa gulped down the Stone then a ridiculously strong aura emanated from him. From the ground, he shone brighter than the Moon but weaker than the Sun, making everyone to look at him with awe.
[ROOAARR!!] → Isa
From its mouth, a thunderous roar resounded then a sudden flash appeared in the night. A huge beam of freezing energy shot out and was sent right toward the demonic army, taking lives like the reaper’s sickle.
-CRAW!-
Three Phteromoses were completely obliterated while the beam continued and destroyed another part of the wave in between the trees, killing a few dozens of demonic beasts in one go.
I-incredible…
The harpies, flying fairies, and assassins looked with big eyes at the disaster created by only one breath from Isa, which was just a golem built by Shen.
You saw that, right? Even if we are one to one hundred, even if is one to one thousand! We will fight no matter what comes on our way! We will kill and push forward even if we have to fight against the world itself! Warriors! Brace yourselves for we will either lose and die or win and go on living! → Ryu
Ryu’s thunderous voice boomed inside everyone’s mind, igniting their spirits and will to fight once again.
“WOAH–!”
The entire Kingdom shock from the war cry of every single resident while the fighting spirit rose to the skies. Everyone prepared to die for their friends, families, and homes for which they traded sweat, tears, and blood to keep them safe.
“Isa, Ken. Bring the golems. It’s time for us to move out.” → Ryu
[Tonight, we hunt!] → Ken
Ken’s eyes shone like torches while the blood-lust flickered like fire.
[This calls for a massacre!] → Isa
Isa liked its fangs and made a ferocious smile, it’s killing intent freezing the air around.
[BZZZ~!]
Every golem vibrated with energy, preparing for an all-out war and ready to trade their lives for their king.
Ryu gave each normal golem 5 stones while to Isa and Ken, 15 stones each, the rest keeping for later.
“Use your strongest skills only where there are more highly ranked monsters. If you can use it only to kill stronger demonic beasts then feel free to do so as well. This time its a free for all, don’t get trashed.” → Ryu
[Yes.]
The golems nodded then ran toward the forest.
Ryu did the same and after reaching the top of the mountain, he saw in distance a cloud of dust with trees falling left and right.
How long until they get here? → Ryu
From their speed, it must take around three more hours until they reach the top of the mountain. Six hours until they reach our Fortress.
A harpy reported back with a serious face on.
I will try to buy as much time as possible for now! Mages! Get to work! I don’t want to see even a tree standing on this side of the mountains! → Ryu
Ryu the transformed into his Dragonic form and flew with the speed of sound toward the army of beasts, his blood-lust making some weaker beasts to freeze in place.
Roger!
“Everyone! Use [Firestorm]!” → Fiora
Fiora commanded and everyone started to use the same spell. From between the clouds, a rain of fire fell with a blinding light on an area of 10 kilometers in circumference, burning the entire surface of the mountain to coal and dust.
“Um… Tell me again, why are we burning the forest now, and not when the beast wave reaches these parts, so we can kill them at the same time?” → Sofia
Sofia asked Lissa, which was right beside her.
“If I’m not wrong, it’s so we can have more vision around us, because of the huge trees around our fortress, we can’t see the exact numbers of the enemies. Like this, they will be in an open field and we would have a clearer image over the enemy, easily able to eliminate them afterward.” → Lissa
Lissa answered with a serious expression. She was able to learn a lot from Gregor’s stories of when he was in the army and his knowledge he acquired after reading more strategy books.
“That’s right. We will need an open field around us since we are on a defensive. Such a forest would have been useful against guerilla tactics, but we are not proficient in them right now. So rather than risking our lives for an uncertain strategy, we had better go with what we already know and are used with. And that is filed-cleaning them all in one go.” → Gregor
Gregor nodded and explained to Sofia and the other mages around them.
“Eh~? Why are you two so knowledgeable about war strategy? Have you took parts in other wars before?” → Sofia
Sofia asked with shining eyes.
“No. But it’s from historical books and manuals of strategy from when I was in the army. Such tactics aren’t normally studied by everyone, but I showed interest and talent in this area, giving me access to more books which contained such knowledge.” → Gregor
“Amazing!”
The other mages nodded and felt safe for having someone as knowledgeable as Gregor around their forces.
“Don’t be amazed from just this much. Bernard actually defeated me in a strategy-talk before. His military experience is larger than mine. He is much more aware of the reality of a battlefield than mere theories and ideas found in books. In war, tactics work from the beginning to end only once out of ten times, even less. The rest is either improvising another plan at that exact moment or going by instincts, seeing if the guts and intuitions can win the war on their own. The variabilities in war are immeasurable.” → Gregor
Gregor answered with a frown.
“…”
Everyone looked at the young tiger with shock in their eyes.
W-war is more complicated than we thought.
Bernard. The strategy you told me before. Think we can use it now? → Ryu
Ryu asked through telepathy.
No. It’s extremely useful against beings with consciousness, but these are beasts. They would throw themselves in pits of fire if that would help their group to advance at least one more step. Such a strategy won’t work on monsters, but we can use something else against these brainless beasts. → Bernard
Bernard made a big smile.
I ask freedom to act on my own accord while on the battlefield, together with my units. → Bernard
Permission granted. → Ryu
Ryu answered instantly. He believed in Bernard when it came to commanding an army, even more than he would believe himself with that.
Thank you, sire. → Bernard
Bernard then commanded the mages.
“Put down the fire! The trees are already burnt down! Now it’s time for phase two! Warriors, forward! Mages, when I give the signal, explode the tip of the mountain, but with moderation!” → Bernard
Nobody really knew what Bernard tried to do, but from his smile, they knew he was up to decimating monsters.
“ROAAAR!!!”
Ryu reached the waves of beasts and already started to massacre them, going first for the wyverns in the sky then the Phteromoses, those being the fastest of them all.
[GROAAR!]
[ROAAAH!]
Isa and Ken did the same, killing and decimating every living being around them on the ground bellow Ryu.
The golems created energy weapons or simply used their black iron gloves and used martial arts to kill the beasts with technique over strength.
-BOOM-
The forest behind the mountains exploded, froze and burned, taking down trees that killed even more demonic beings at their fall.
“ROAR!” → Ryu
Ryu roared out and pushed the head of a huge ogre and dragged him on the ground while crashing on more beasts like a truck. A huge, bloody trail was left behind on the ground, then Ryu simply punched again on the stomach of the ogre, blowing the area around and sending the beasts flying. His fists were as explosive as dozens of C4’s from his world, blowing up beasts left and right in succession.
Ahahaha~! This is so fun! → Ryu
“Come on! Is this all you got?!” → Ryu
Ryu then took the position of punching.
[Godly Fist] x20
He shot out [Godly Fist] in succession, faster and faster, blowing up the terrain and turning the beasts around him and in front into a bloody baste. Then he opened his mouth and roared.
“ROAR!”
A concentrated blast of ice shot out from his mouth, forming a hole through dozens of beasts in front. Ryu used the [Energy Beam] from the Energy Fighter set and combined it with his frost essence and draconic features, forming it into a secondary, weaker [Dragon’s Breath].
The battle kept on going for almost an hour and Ryu did all he could so no beast would go behind him. He was lucky enough to have the beasts take this route that was right between two chains of mountains. He was able to stop the advance of the beasts with only him and the golems.
-ROOAAARRRR!!!-
An angry roar was heard from far away and more roars of different beasts resounded, making the demonic beasts to turn their attention toward Ryu and the golems.
That Roar… it sounded familiar… → Ryu
Ryu thought for a second, then dodged a huge claw from behind.
He grabbed the head of the huge demonic bear that attacked him and shattered it instantly, afterward flew to the next beast and punched it hard turning it into a mist of blood.
[Dragonic Palm]
A huge dragon-like claw appeared after Ryu punched out, pushing and crushing all the beasts in front.
[Dragon’s Breath]
A huge frosty breath shot out from his mouth, freezing and then crushing the beasts in front. Some S and A ranked monsters were able to block the ridiculous breath but most of the lower ranked ones were completely frozen. For a distance of 500m with and an area of 6 m, the forest with the beasts was frozen still.
The other golems were not as ridiculous but just from three to five moves, they were able to bring down a demonic beast of rank C and lower while if they teamed up in two, even a rank A or even S couldn’t have a chance. Isa and Ken, on the other hand, were exactly like Ryu. From one of their moves, one or more beasts would die instantly.
[This. Exciting!] → Isa
Isa licked the blood from its claws and looked at the beasts like a predator at its prey.
[For once, I agree with you.] → Ken
Ken also gazed with sharp eyes at the beasts, burning the blood and forming a red miasma around him.
“Haha~! Oh? I’m too far in front, it seems.” → Ryu
Ryu tried to control his urge to go wild so he won’t go any deeper than this. He tried to make a line over which the beasts should not go past. If he jumped right in the middle of the enemy lines, his goal of buying time would go down the drain.
Since when was it so hard for me to control the fighting instincts? This dragonification is really scary. → Ryu
-ROAR!-
-CHAO!-
-GUAH!-
-CRO!-
More and more roars of different kinds of demonic beasts resonated from inside the huge forest.
-ROAR~!-
Ryu’s roar was almost like that of a dragon. It overshadowed any other roar from inside and outside the forest and shocked most of them from the domineering roar.
How’s that? Still feeling like fighting me? → Ryu
[You. A mere half-breed dares stay in my way?!]
Suddenly, inside Ryu’s head, a monstrous voice resounded, making his blood turn cold and make his fighting spirit to freeze for a moment.
