Chapter-11 : Wall Defense_Chaos Ascension

Time Left : 68 Hours 03 minutes 22 seconds

Max panted heavily as he reached the top of the flight of stairs. He was in the place of another soldier but like last time his body was his own, which was not trained to climb towering castles that took hours to scale. And this was after they had been hauled up the wall by a strange pulley-like contraption.

Theirs was the last legion in, and they had been assigned to Little Vigour Castle, the rightmost castle on the wall. The name probably signified something better in the native language, like Last Hope or something, but in English, it was Little Vigour.

Half an hour later, they were all standing in lines and holding their bows. Those who didn’t have one were given one. Apparently, for the first phase, the archers will be the major damage dealers. There were wooden buckets of a pungent purple substance on the right of each soldier. They were supposed to dip the arrows into the vat of poison before hurling them over the wall.

Here he began understanding the structure of the defense line. The length of the wall had 5 huge structures at even spacing which were platforms for war machines like ballistas and trebuchets. The wall had a plain top that had battlements on both sides. The soldiers were divided into two parts. Most of them were archers who would shoot down arrows while a smaller contingent maintained melee stances as they waited to repel the climbers.

Max stood examining his bow and planning. He had a lot of things to do and too little time. One thing was certain. Even if he was a trained ordinary soldier, he could not complete all the missions while staying in formation. He needed to get out but could not figure out how. In this time he had asked around a bit and had finally figured out who Imhotep was. And to nobody’s surprise, he was the leader of the army invading the human kingdom of Franka.

You would expect a lot of movement and panic in the ranks of the army while it waited for its foe’s approach. But contrary to popular belief, the wall was silent. These weren’t amateurs scrambling to form a defense like the rebels were but a proper army with trained and disciplined soldiers. Except for Max’s surroundings which were taking positions, the wall and the castles were by and large draped in an ominous silence.

Max was standing in the far back of the ranks and away from the battlements. Maybe it was that relative safety, maybe it was the numbness to fighting he had gained by being in a fight for the last 3 days, but his thoughts could not help but wander. He was still thinking about the consolidation.

What could be the first step to stepping into the world beyond humanity? Was there some kind of core forming in his heart? The System guy also did something to his heart, didn’t he? He also remembered reading about soul formation realms in Chinese cultivation novels and beast crystals in Japanese ones. But even if that was true, that seemed pretty advanced stuff for a beginner. So then what? He had examined his body for any changes or hints about what it is he was supposed to consolidate but there were no noticeable changes in his capabilities. Which made sense considering he hadn’t truly gained a level yet.

But then, he found something weird. His body felt slightly heavier. He was sure it wasn’t weight gain, as his activities in the last three days could have only caused it to fall not rise. When he tried focusing he noticed something. It felt as if his whole body had been pumped full of something. It's like some kind of jelly. But this jelly-like substance innately felt like something that was not supposed to exist corporeally but rather transcedentally like mana. Then it suddenly clicked. It was mana. Or a kind of it anyway. It felt like a condensed form of it. It did not restrict his movements as by nature it was like a fluid - Shapeless. But it took a bit more work to move like wading in water.

At first, he had thought that it was merely his exhaustion from the last phase, but turns out there was more to it. That was when something clicked, but suddenly, His thoughts were interrupted by distant drums of the invading forces. In response, horns blew on the walls and castles as if competing to see who could drown out the sound of the other.

That was also when he noticed a slight ripple in the ranks. The men didn’t move but a slight wave still traversed nonetheless. They had prepared for this. For years they had trained for something like this. Their blood, sweat, and tears had watered the tree whose fruits were these mighty legions standing in arms. They were the brave soldiers of the Grand Army of Franka. Their prowess spanned the length of the Kalabar plains and their heritage extended beyond thousands of years. But still, a tinge of anxiety and fear found its way into the grizzled faces and stoic minds. After all, when the reaper decides to rear his ugly bony head, legends crumble.

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Slowly the drums gave way to a rumble more terrifying than the drums had ever been. Being way in the back, Max’s view was blocked by a throng of broad-backed warriors. Although he was at a huge height, he was standing at the back of the line. But still the earthshaking war cry of a charging army sent chills down his spine. For the first time he realized the sheer scale of the battle that had tens of thousands on each side.

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Time Left : 60 Hours 03 minutes 22 seconds

“Pull! Hold! Release!” The sergeant shouted for the umpteenth time, and the air exploded into a cacophony with thousands of whistling arrows rising into the sky like a blanket only to disappear from view at the battlements in front. On a journey below to the depths of what could be described as hell for the ‘shorties’.

Max had long given up on keeping his face free of sweat long ago, and only wiped his brow now and then to keep his eyes clear. His aching muscles had gone numb to the pain and his mind had succumbed to the monotonous process of getting an arrow on “Quiver!”, placing it on his bow on “Aim!”, drawing the heavy string on “Draw!” and releasing on “Fire!”

He had been worried if he would be able to perform alongside all other soldiers considering he had held a bow for the first time in his life, but it was turning out okay so far. Better Even. At this rate, he expected to complete his basic mission for C rank to be over in a few more hours. Just to be sure he looked over to the quest counter.

E - Mission 000 : Kill 10 soldiers personally.(1/10)

D - Mission 001 : Kill 5 variants personally. (0/5)

C - Mission 002 : Kill 200 beasts personally. (180/200)

B - Mission 003 : Kill the forward Enemy Commander. (0/1)

A - Mission 004 : Identify and kill the traitor before he destroys the wall. (0/1)

S - Mission 005 : Hold the defence line for more than 48 hours . (0/1)

X- Mission 006 : Kill Imhotep(0/1)

Apparently, the shorties had sent their beasts to lead the attack as meat shields, and some of their soldiers mixed in between were trying to establish the footholds on the wall. It was a pretty standard practice according to the broken sentences between huffs and puffs the archer beside him had spoken.