“Archers!” The Empress pointed at the Voyager. “Target that man in black!”
Archers took aim for a few seconds before letting loose the arrows.
As the arrows hit the floor, every single beast within a twenty meter radius of the Voyager was pinned to the ground, but the Voyager was fine. His green corrosive liquid came out of nowhere again. This time, it formed a shield in front of him. All the runed arrows were corroded to nothing.
The Voyager smirked at the direction of the wall before continuing to strike down the shield.
If the defenders had the time to unload a few more waves, could they have killed the Voyager? Maybe.
Do they have the time? No.
With a final popping sound, the shield went out.
The army of beasts looked as large as it was when the battle began. They quickly went across where the shield was and reached the bottom of the wall.
“Nock!”
“Loose!”
Hundreds more beasts fell. Good. The rest started to climb up the wall. Bad.
“Ready for melee.” Even as the words left her mouth, the Empress was shaking inside. Human soldiers should never go melee with beasts. Beasts were larger. Beasts were stronger. Beasts were quicker and they heal faster. Put a sword in a man, that man dies. Put a sword in a beast, that beast can ravage through ten more men before it finally goes down.
Formations are good, but only a few thousand men could be fit on the wall at once at most. The beasts could overwhelm the Formation with a couple hundred casualties and then massacre the rest.
Beasts started to climb. Unlike human soldiers, they didn't need ladders or siege weapons. Most of them had some sort of ability to ascend. As for the rest...one ten feet wide beasts had twenty smaller, dog like creatures on its head as it climbed.
Before long, a wave of black and brown covered half the wall.
Archers leaned over the wall and started unloading arrows parallel to the wall. Countless beasts were shot in the head. The ten feet wide beasts was pierced by a dozen arrows. It slid down the wall. The beasts on its head fell to their death, along with dozens of creatures under the large beast that were pushed down the wall and crushed.
A clean path was opened among the black field of attackers, but it was immediately covered up again by fresh troops.
Arrows poured down like rainfall.
A couple of men sent at least ten arrows into a tiger-like beast, but it was no use. The beast’s head was especially hard, and at the angle, its head was all the archers could hit.
“Get the stones.” Two men got a giant rock and rolled it over the edge. As the rock went further and further down, it grew faster and faster. When it hit the beast, the beast growled, but it didn't fall off. Its claws grasped tightly onto the wall.
The rock went on and paved a bloody way through a dozen more beasts below, but the two men weren’t satisfied. Suddenly, that beast jumped upward again, and its claws have reached the top of the wall.
It was the first beast to reach the top. It wasn’t a good sign.
“Take it down! Take it down!” Two archers unloaded at close range, but all the beast did was wave his claw, and the arrows were knocked off their track.
Druid smirked. That beast was one of the ones he spent extra time on. He received some serums in one of his previous missions that could greatly enhance the strength of an entity. The price was a painful death after 12 hours of taking the serum, but he was certain this beast wouldn’t live long enough for that to factor in.
The beast grabbed onto a soldier and tossed it over the edge. The poor soul would either fall to death or, if he was really unlucky, live long enough to be devoured or stepped on. He ripped another man opened with his bare claws and enjoyed his screams. The runes on the armor were torn open with brute force.
More swordsmen charged up, only to get run over.
It was ironic that, just moments ago, the men of the Empire of the Sun were slaughtering the beasts. Now, the roles were reversed.
The Empress drew her sword, but her dearest general was quicker. General Flores charged toward the beast with his blade ready.
“Formation on me!”
Dozens of Empress Guards focused their energy on General Flores. Flores smashed into the beast and dug his weapon through its plating, sending it to the ground. Before it could get back up, Flores twisted his weapon and pushed it so deep it went straight through the brain.
On first-person view, Druid commanded the beast to jump off the edge with its last dying breath, but just a second before it did, Flores realized what was happening and hopped off the beast and back onto the solid wall.
The beast hit the ground ten seconds later and crushed half a dozen of its comrades.
“Well, that’s unfortunate.” Druid shrugged as he directed the beasts to keep going.
The Empress saw that, and she had just the countermeasure in mind.
“Use the gasoline.”
Hundreds of men started grabbing onto gasoline barrels and pouring the contents over the edge. The black liquid touched beasts and the wall alike. Finally, defenders tossed down torches, which quickly lit all the gasoline up.
A distance away, the Voyagers watched as nearly the entire wall was engulfed in flames. It was a spectacular sight, if the context was ignored and over a thousand beasts weren’t burned alive.
“Very well.” The Empress nodded as the guards on the wall took care of a few stragglers that managed to get onto the wall but were then isolated by the flames. The beasts were still charging, but the flames have wiped out every single beast on the wall. If the rest wanted to get into melee range, they would have to start from the beginning.
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There were some tricky situations, but things weren’t as bad as she was afraid of. As long as resources like gasoline and arrows were in place, any beast that reaches the wall would be put down.
Thankfully, the wall wouldn’t lack resources anytime soon. The battle that just happened has exhausted one-fifth of the resources, but replacements were brought into the fortress from the inner gate even as the battle continued.
As the beasts kept on charging, the Empress allowed a small smile to appear on her face. She entered the Immortal Fort ready to die for the Empire. Now, she suspected she has overestimated her enemy.
But Druid was a Voyager. He was at the caliber of Violet and Jean. He was someone even Violet wouldn’t dare mess with. Was he really a fool who only knew to smash his forces into a heavily fortified wall?
----------------------------------------
At the inner gate, countless convoys were going in and out. Fully loaded wagons dropped off arrows, weapons, medicines, and gasoline before leaving as soon as possible.
Two guards were at the inner gate. From where they stood, they couldn’t see what was going on at the outer gate, but they could hear the screams and the growls.
One of the guards was a veteran while the other was newly recruited.
“You know, I would kill to fight beside the Empress.” The veteran glanced at the direction of the outer gate. He turned back to the recruit. “I have fought in the war against those Moon barbarians. I have killed three of them. Why am I watching the door with a greenie?”
The recruit frowned. “Why are you complaining? You get to live. The guys at the front have to face those monsters.”
The veteran’s disdain for the recruit was obvious.
“Shut up you coward. How much do you get paid a day?”
“10 gold coins.”
“Well, do you know how much a farmer gets paid a day?”
“I don’t know...2 gold coins. On a good year.”
“Yep. A farmer works all day and prays for a good year, and you get five times the money whether the year is good or bad.” The veteran reasoned slowly. “Why do you think that is? It’s so we can die for the Empress when we need to, and I’m fine with that. It’s a trade, and we have agreed to it the moment we joined.” He glanced at the wall again. “We’re fine now, but it’ll only be a matter of time before we get sent to the front.”
The recruit looked around before leaning forward.
“I heard we’re not just facing the monsters in the mountains.”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard the Empress herself talk to General Keys. She said we were facing an enemy who has, what was that? Conquered worlds? What does that mean?”
The veteran was silent. Throughout years of combat, he has never heard anything like that before. Conquered worlds? Who are these people? Gods? Demons?
He finally spoke up.
“We have a duty, and it is to protect our world. I don’t care if we are facing gods or demons. If they want to harm the people we have sworn to defend, then I will give my life fighting them if I have to.”
The recruit paused as he looked down. A sense of guilt was in his eyes.
“I get it. I really do. But I don’t want to die. I...you wanna be honest? I have never touched a woman before. I don’t want to die that way.”
The veteran sighed. Suddenly, he felt so sick. Why? Why is all this happening? What kind of god or deity would wage war on a world for no reason at all? The Empire of the Sun was prospering. The Empress was wise and caring. She has adopted policies that minimize poverty and social injustice. She was a champion of justice and fairness. Once, the Empress’s childhood friend broke the law by kidnapping and raping a woman. The Empress had that friend arrested, publicly tried, and beheaded. Ever since that happened, no one, no matter how rich or powerful, dared to break the law.
The Empire of the Sun was as good as an Empire could be. What type of monster would seek to ruin that?
All he could do was clap the recruit on the shoulder.
Suddenly, a female figure approached from a distance toward the inner gate. The two guards frowned. Something was not right with that figure. She was wearing black armor, and she was holding onto a large sword. Her eyes were cold.
Only convoys were allowed to be here, and she definitely wasn’t a member of the convoys.
The two immediately transformed from lost men to vigilant guards.
“Halt!” The veteran stepped forward. “Identify yourself.”
Karina tilted his head and smirked at the guard before suddenly raising her sword. The veteran guard watched as purple lightning assembled across the Voyager’s blade.
Ok. Definitely not a friend.
“Incoming!” The veteran screamed a warning as he drew his sword, activated all the runes he had, and charged forward. His blade was eager for blood. The figure looked frightening, but just like he said to the recruit, he has a duty to fulfill.
A flash of lightning deviated from the Voyager’s blade and struck the man in the chest, electrocuting him easily.
The recruit’s eyes widened at his fallen comrade. For a moment, he couldn’t believe the man who he was just talking to is just straight-up dead. But his mind quickly went to what he was going to do.
If he charged forward, he would certainly die. As he said, he didn't want to die.
If he backed off, he might stand a chance of surviving, but...
Finally, he pulled out his blade.
“For…”
The Voyager suddenly smashed her blade into the ground. Immediately, thousands of shreds of lightning exploded all around her. It ravaged through everyone around the Voyagers. Convoys were destroyed as both the guards and the horses were electrocuted to death. Guards that rushed to face her were fried alive. Their metal armors and metal weapons became perfect frying pans.
Dozens of smoking corpses hit the ground. Among them was a young man who has never slept with a woman.
“Nock, loose!”
Arrows came down from on top of the wall. The Voyager waved her sword and emitted a circle of lightning around her. Every arrow that came within its range was zapped away.
“Close the gate!” On top of the wall, a general screamed. The fortress was designed to sustain attacks from both sides, but the inner gate was opened for the convoys. It was never closed, and the intruder was just outside.
But it was too late. Karine charged forward with literally lightning speed. A squad of swordsmen and archers at the door did their best to slam the door shut. Ten men pushed the door while a dozen others remained outside the door. Arrows were fired, and the swordsmen formed a Formation. These men have given up on life. They knew they couldn’t kill the Voyager, but they could do their best to delay her long enough for their brothers to shut the gate.
Karine didn't even stop for them. She flashed past the Formation. The guards tried to turn around and face her, but they quickly realized they had no control over their body.
Human bodies were controlled by electric currents. As she went past the guards, Karina sent a small, almost insignificant wave of electricity into the body of the guards that overrode any electric current the brain deployed to the rest of the body.
The ten men pushing the gate were fried alive.
Karine was inside the fortress.
“Don’t worry!” The general on the wall did his best to stabilize moral. “She’s just one woman! We have twenty thousand! Archers, unload on her! I don’t believe she can deflect arrows forever! Swordsmen, form larger formations! We can take her!”
Karine saw all the Sun forces gathering up around her, but she wasn’t intimidated. Instead, she took out an orb and tossed it into the air.
All the Sun soldiers watched in vigilance. What could this monster be doing this time?
The orb exploded in midair...and formed a portal.
The general was right. A single Voyager, no matter how powerful, could never take down the entire fort all by herself. There were so many guards that Karina would be exhausted before she could kill all of them. But what one Voyager couldn’t do, an entire army of beasts could.
And an army of beasts was what popped out of that portal.