Chapter 37 War
I charged in first.
It was probably dumb.
No, it was definitely dumb.
But it was a risk I found worth taking. I let my Mana flow through my Channels down into my legs and feet.
My mana burst out from the soles of my feet, catapulting me forward.
I was getting faster. My new usage was similar to how I used Mana Strike.
It was not yet sophisticated enough to be integrated into Martial Forms like Snake Strike, but soon it would be.
I dubbed it Mana Step. Simple, I know.
I arrived in front of the first charging animal before it could react.
It was a large horse barely into Wood Rank.
Its eyes didn't even register my arrival before my fist slammed into its head.
The bones inside its neck cracked and bent in every wrong direction.
The horse continued its momentum, limply flopping on the ground.
I was already upon the next animal.
A boar.
It reminded me of the Boar Demon I had to fight as Timothy.
I threw a hook towards its charging snout, then sidestepped the moment my strike connected. I was ready to follow up with a low kick against its hind legs only to see the boar fly through the air from the force.
I didn't dilly-dally and attacked the next animal.
This one was a slightly stronger-looking bull at the peak of Wood Rank.
I decided to make quick work of it and smashed my fists into its face in quick succession.
It was dazed for a moment. I kicked its front leg, breaking its shin and causing it to drop down.
I moved to the bull's side and my hand flashed forward, but instead of forming a fist, all five of my fingers drove into the animal's neck.
I cut through skin and flesh, before eventually breaking the bone and pulling my arm back.
Blood gushed out of the wound and I didn't look to check whether the bull was dead or not.
Normally, an attack like that would leave somebody with five broken fingers and probably a sprained wrist. Luckily, I had mana. It not only strengthened my attacks but also provided my bones with enough defense to prevent them from snapping.
I really had to get out of my old Earth mindset. Just because it wouldn't work on Earth didn't mean it wouldn't work here. Mana was truly a mystical force.
For the next few minutes, the animals turned into a blur of bloody fountains and limp bodies.
I would arrive in front of them, kick or punch them before moving on to the next.
As I noticed the downpour of monsters slow down, I knew I was about to have a little breathing time before the next wave of monsters would arrive.
I grabbed the bull I had just killed and heaved it up into the air. Blood dripped down its broken nose, onto my face, mixing with my blonde hair. I held the bull as far into the air as I could before turning to my soldiers and pumping my fist into the sky.
"Do not falter, my people!" I screamed. "We fight together. We stand together, and if we die, we die together. All for one and one for all."
They just stared at me wide-eyed. I had taken care of the first wave all by myself. Not even Gerald or my guards joined me. It was my fun. They stood back and watched as I put on my show.
After a few seconds of silence, cheering erupted.
Not just from the soldiers at my choke point but also from the few surrounding us.
Then it just spread, as more and more people joined with their screaming and battle cries.
Most people were still fighting the first wave. But it seemed that the morale was high.
Good.
Because this was just the beginning.
I went back towards my soldiers, a few rats running past me. They were skewered by a few arrows or polearms. The moment I arrived next to the first soldier, I patted him on the shoulder.
"The next guys are yours," I said. "I don't want to take this opportunity from you. Level up and conserve your energy. We have probably not even killed a hundred of them. There are thousands. Don't hoard your stats and make sure you survive this."
Before the soldier could even answer my statement, the next wave of beasts and animals poured in through the small hole between two flaming walls. And to no one's surprise, it was a bunch of boars, bulls, and deer again.
This time, the group of soldiers wordlessly moved forward and met them head-on.
A volley of arrows pierced the animals, then the next second they were skewered by polearms and swords.
Those who didn't die were stabbed a second and third time.
Slowly, I saw a small hill of animals form in front of us.
I immediately spotted the problem. However, before I could say anything, the soldiers moved ahead and moved the corpses in such a way that it wouldn't interfere with their fighting while creating somewhat of a small wall.
"Worry not, my Lord," Gerald said. "We thought of a lot. One of the recruits asked about how we would deal with the corpses. He brought up a good point. So we made sure to drill that too."
I nodded, proud of my men.
I moved up to the archers to observe from the top, and Gerald and my guards followed behind me. I realized they were here to protect me. I wanted to dismiss them, but I knew they wouldn't listen.
Instead, I simply observed how the battlefield was doing for the next half an hour. I made sure not to get in the way of the archers as they shot down volleys of arrows one after another. I wondered how they were going to keep up that rate of firing before my question was answered.
Around an hour into the fight, a new group of soldiers appeared behind every mound of earth and its corresponding wall.
All of them were carrying multiple quivers of arrows in their hands.
They transported them up before going back down, and then I noticed that the new soldiers were the exact same number of people already fighting.
Then, as the wave of monsters was finished up, I could see fighting soldiers and reserves pat each other on the back before they switched. The people who had started fighting at the beginning moved back to camp, while those that just came warmed up.
Looks like the soldiers at the front would switch every hour for now.
The archers would switch less often. Firstly, because up there they didn't have to risk injury, and secondly, because we didn't have that many. Our army was around 350 men heavy. 80 of them were some kind of long-range fighters. And out of those 80, all went on the mission, but only 60 returned.
20 deaths may not seem much, but they were.
Not only did every amount of manpower count, but also they were people. People with dreams, families, and aspirations.
Now they were nothing but memories.
I shoved these thoughts away.
More would die.
There was a reason why we were switching every hour.
It was not simply because of exhaustion.
No, it was so that each and every one of those soldiers could level up.
Most of them were my age and just gained access to the System.
They were barely into Wood Rank. For now, the fighting was easy.
We were outnumbering the beasts because of the way we changed the environment and the animals' mindlessness.
So, we would switch as often as possible and get the people to gain a good amount of levels and confidence. Then once the real shit began, everybody would have to fight anyway. There would be no resting.
Just fighting.
***
Yep, I was fucking right.
There was no resting. For the past six hours, I ran around the whole battlefield making sure that everything was going as planned. Gerald and my guard of course followed behind me. Here and there I would fight a few groups of monsters, but I realized I was doing more harm than good.
Each animal was an opportunity to grow in levels and skill.
So, if I wanted to help them, I had to stay away.
But every time I saw somebody get injured, something in me wanted to go out there and fight the fight myself.
I knew I could. I could kill hundreds of these animals on my own and make sure nobody was injured.
But I couldn't. And that ate away at me.
Even Gerald saw that and pulled me away to give me a short lesson in leadership. My personal feelings did not matter. I had to look at this battlefield with cold-blooded logic and nothing more.
Anything else would just kill more people.
As I ruminated on these things, a shrill screaming snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Stone Rank monster!"
My head snapped to the left. With a glance, I could tell there were no Stone Rank veterans present on our side. I was the closest. The beast was already in motion and ready to charge into the wall head-on.
I moved before anyone could say anything—I was the closest one so I had to move. Cold-blooded logic.
Not too far away from me, a boar covered with earth-like scales pounded across the ground.
Suddenly, around its forehead, a layer of stone began to form in the shape of a cone before it smashed into the wall.
The sound of wood creaking and breaking reverberated through the whole battlefield.
I could see the wall crack. The earth mound shifted and the dirt fell to the sides.
On top of the wall, the archers all fell backward.
Their arrows seemingly having done absolutely nothing to stop the monster's charge.
Before the boar could even do anything, I was upon it.
With a Mana Step, I arrived at the monster's side.
My eyes quickly found one of its unprotected spots before I struck out with Mana Strike.
All of its vitals were protected so I opted out of a precise strike and instead wanted to do as much damage to as much tissue as possible.
My fist smashed into its ribs and the boar squealed in pain.
It slid a few feet on the ground—its ribs were definitely cracked but it was otherwise uninjured.
I activated Mana Step again, arriving in front of the beast that just got ready to charge me before slamming my mana-infused shin against its legs.
It hurt me. But it hurt the monster more.
For now, I couldn't use Mana Strike on my legs, but I was getting there.
I threw strike after strike in quick succession. I had the momentum and wasn't ready to give it up. I would have ended the fight already with multiple Mana Strikes, but I saw Gerald catch up and decided to wait to preserve my mana.
Cold-blooded logic.
Both he and I teamed up, and the boar was taken care of with ease and without any injuries.
Of course, we could have done it faster with Skills, but we didn't. Eventually, the boar succumbed to its injuries and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
Gerald dragged away the body while I took care of a few animals that were giving the soldiers a lot of trouble.
Gerald and I nodded at each other; we went back to our perpetual routine of running around the battlefield and doing absolutely nothing other than checking upon things.
The next six hours passed all the same. Beasts would rage through the flaming walls of fire.
My people would fight them, and here and there, a Stone Rank monster would have to be taken care of.
Luckily, nobody had died yet. I knew it would change soon.
By now, the giant blaze had turned into a forest of hot, smoldering coal that gave off a steady streak of steam up into the air.
For now, the coal still acted as a natural barrier between us and the beasts hidden away in the darkness. But I knew it wouldn't last long. So did my soldiers. We used every possible moment to rest, and right now, I slipped into Meditation to recover some of my mana.
An orange dot lit up through my eyelids. My eyes snapped open. Then I saw a flash of fire in the background of the forest.
This was impossible.
Our fires had already died down; the trees were nothing more than scalding hot charcoal.
Another flash of fire, this time I was able to catch what it was—a fireball. A fireball that was followed by wails of pain and hooves pounding against the ground. More and more of these flashes lit up the night, and the cries of anguish only grew louder.
The pounding grew closer.
I finally saw the outlines of the beasts emerge out of the forest. It was a few first. Then hundreds. A moment later, I saw more than a thousand. A thousand beasts ignoring the smoldering hot charcoal on the ground, and I finally realized what the purpose of the fireballs was.
The Shamans forced the beasts to charge forward.
Oh, these fuckers wanted to destroy my little town.