As Kodria's preparations were nearing as finished as they could be, Akira was growing antsier as he waited for something, anything, to happen to break the torturous waiting for the unknown event to happen.
He had little to no idea what it would be just from reading the few short sentences from the notification. But he knew it had to be a big deal if it allowed them time to prepare for the event.
The fact that it was connected to the main kingdom quest meant it was likely a power check for the dukedoms that were participating in the event. Both the human and demon races who were participating in it had only been warned by Kodria but they did not know of the great significance put behind the coming storm.
All while thinking about this Akira walked along the path atop the outer city's first wall which was the largest of the 4 square walls that protected the city. Fluffball walked alongside him, not that interested in anything. The patrolling city guards on the walls paid him no attention and kept an alert lookout for any danger outside of the city.
Kodria's army was now fully mobilized and was camping inside the first two walls in temporary wooden barracks that had been set up just for this event.
Akira turned his attention to the soldiers that were currently training on the ground below them. They were doing this to keep in shape and warm during the lull in action. On any other day, they would normally be hiding inside their homes or barracks drinking warm wine and eating hot food to ward off the cold winter. But now they had no time for such luxury. If they were rusty in their fighting when it mattered, not only would they lose their lives, but the civilians could also be affected as well. So this little suffering in the cold was nothing and they grew accustomed to such harsh training.
“It was quite expensive to equip everyone with newer or at least better armor than they had before,” said Akira as he watched the soldiers train. His attention was drawn to the trio of humans from the north that had joined the army. They were rising star rookies in the army mainly due to their hard work and the fact that they each had a special skill that they had awakened.
“Yap!” said Fluffball as he placed his front paws on the top of the wall and looked down at the soldiers.
Most of the gold that was used to pay for such a massive amount of minerals and also pay for their production was not from Kodria's coffers but Akira's own pockets. If Kodria had paid for everything, then there would be no gold left to keep the city running properly or to make payments for the government workers.
He knew all this because his entire horde of gold was gone... 0 gold left! Although he was sure he could make more if he went hunting, sold off some items he had collected over the years, or just encountered some demigods.
Luckily Mileena had enough gold of her own from her adventuring days to buy all the minor household items she needed. But most of their needs were already taken care of by the castle maids so there was no pressing need for money right now.
“You are right Fluffball. It was all for the best. Now Kodria's strength has grown even more. We should not be pushed around like before... I hope. One thing is for sure, with the many veterans that fought throughout the Molten Onyx siege we will not be as green in a similar situation as then.”
Ding!
The Culling: Monster outbreak!
The first main wave of three starts now!
Seeing the short notification Akira let out a sigh of relief, all of his worry now gone.
Now that he had a clear understanding of the challenge they would be facing, there was no need to worry. A wave of wild monsters? No problem. They had faced worse hardships before.
Akira immediately began to transform causing the city guards to be startled as the black mist covered his body for a second as he transformed and an oppressive aura burst out.
“AWOOOOO!” he let out a loud howl warning all of Kodria of the coming attack.
When he finished howling he activated the skill [AQR] and began running on all fours towards the tower that was currently being used as a command post.
Klyn, Zundar, Balue, and several other officers inside the tower were going over various minor plans trying to cover for every possible enemy that could show up. But when they heard Akira's howl they all stopped talking. They all stood up straight and walked to the tower's main door to see what was going on and were met by the transformed Akira who arrived as they opened the fortified door.
“Who is the enemy this time?” asked Zundar.
“A wave of monsters. I am unsure what type but it should be far more manageable than the enemies we faced in our last siege. Send the order that the army will head out to face the monsters. If we do not have to risk damaging the walls and other buildings outside it is better to take care of the monsters outside first,” Growled Akira.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The officers in charge of the various sizes of wolf packs saluted Akira and then ran off to follow his command.
As the army started to flow out of the city the civilians were herded into the inner core of the city with the gates to each wall being closed and locked behind them.
Akira, Fluffball, Zundar, Klyn, and the royal guards all joined the army outside the city.
The ground all around the city for a long distance had already been cleared of snow, a task done each day by large plows pulled by sturdy oxen who were controlled by the soldiers. With this done there was little worry of having an even harder time trying to fight in deep snow.
As the army was forming into their units and joining either the right wing, center, or left wing of the battle line, the sound of the approaching monster wave reached their ears. It was coming from the woods to the east of Kodria.
“AWOOO!” Upon Akira's command, the army started marching forward to intercept the monsters halfway.
Akira watched the edge of the woods trying to see what would appear. As they neared the woods hundreds of monsters jumped out of the treeline. Akira focused on one of them. [Vile Snow toad lvl 95.]
The [Vile Snow Toad] had a body that was the size of a large pumpkin. Their bumpy skin was completely white and looked to have a similar defense as thick leather armor. Although this wave of monsters looked rather weak compared to his current strength, if it were only him that had to fight this wave he would quickly become tired, and this was only the first main wave of monsters. There were still two other major waves to worry about. It was better to save the majority of his strength for when it was really needed and trust the army's soldiers who were around the same level as the [Vile Snow Toads].
“Awooo!” The army stopped moving forward and the multi-layered shield wall formed up ready to receive the flood of [Vile Snow Toads] that was now hopping in the thousands.
“Begin!” shouted Klyn giving the order to all the shamen under his command at the rear of the formation. As one they started to chant their buffs to support the soldiers in the first row of the shield-wall.
The werewolves in the first shield wall were not transformed as it would take a lot of their energy to stay like that. This was not a race but a marathon they needed to conserve their stamina for as long as they could.
Fwooosh! Flowsh! A hail of arrows shot from the rear and arched high above the soldier's heads and fell down piercing the ground and hundreds of the hopping [Vile Snow Toads] heavily wounding or killing them. With such a massive unorganized wave attack where the monsters were all clumped together, it was hard to not hit something.
As the [Vile Snow Toad] hopped forward they ate every visible vegetation not covered by the snow.
They were truly a plague and disaster for those that were not prepared or if they had winter crops outside their city. Kodria was extremely lucky this did not happen in the summer or fall before the harvest.
Balue stood next to Akira at the rear watching with great interest as everything happened all around him.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The unorganized mob of [Vile Snow Toad] began to haphazardly slam their hard bodies into the first shield wall. There were no tactics to their attack, just numbers.
The thick leather skin of the [Vile Snow Toads] only hampered the sword and spear attacks a little, overall the soldiers were able to kill them with two or three attacks.
As more and more of the [Vile Snow Toad] were slaughtered a new problem popped up. When they were stabbed or sliced open the blue blood in their body would spurt out all around them.
At first, they did not care about being covered in blood since being covered in blood and guts during a major battle with monsters was nothing out of the ordinary.
But when soldiers who received blood splatter on their faces or exposed skin they started to lose control of their muscles in the affected area while also feeling great pain as the blood was very slowly melting away their skin!
“Awooo! Awoo!” Akira quickly gave the command for those affected to fall back and warned the rest of the soldiers to be careful of the spurting blood.
The affected soldiers limped back or were carried to the waiting Holy shaman in the rear who immediately inspected the wounds and began treating them with both chants and potions for the more severe wounds.
When the last [Vile Snow Toad] was killed everyone let out a great sigh of relief.
But it didn't last long as the sound of another wave similar to the first could now be heard coming from the woods once again.
They were forced to fight multiple waves of the [Vile Snow Toads] all throughout the day and even into the early night with only the stars and moon lighting the battlefield. Everyone in the first shield wall had been rotated out several times.
With such a massive number of monsters attacking the soldiers, they were all able to grow stronger as they continued killing the monsters. Their average level was now reaching the lvl 100 range.
This was great news, but also worrying for Akira as he knew that the demigod guilds that were strong enough would also benefit from the various monster waves attacking their bases.
The battlefield was littered with thousands upon thousands of [Vile Snow Toad] bodies. Forming small hills near the army's shield wall.
“That seems to be the last wave... for now,” said Akira as he listened to silent woods.
“What are your orders?” asked an officer who stood nearby.
“Have those that are still fit to fight clear the bodies from the battlefield and see if there are any usable resources in or on their bodies. The wounded and exhausted soldiers can retire back to the barracks to receive treatment for any wounds they have and allow them to rest up before the next attack.”
“You mean these waves of monster attacks are not over yet?” asked Balue.
“No, such an easy attack can not be all that is in store for us. We must clean up the area and recover our strength enough to face whatever is coming tomorrow.”
***
Bent-gii.
The Fullmoon guild members had little trouble with the attacks that came to the city walls as the wave was far smaller than what Kodria had to face.
“Ah... such a pleasant feeling,” said Sweety.
“Far different from his hell training! I love this!” said Galena.
“This was too easy! I like Duke Akira's training more,” said Beater.
“Shut up!” said Sweety, smacking her brother on the head. “Don't say such a thing! Are you trying to jinx us?”