Chapter 605
Time to Rampage Again. (1)
A soldier of the United Army let out a long yawn atop the massive fortress.
“Haaahm… This is so boring.”
It had already been two months since he arrived here.
At first, everyone had been on edge. They didn’t know the exact details, but there had been talk about fighting against a massive horde of monsters and even a dragon.
But as the months passed, the tension gradually eased.
Thinking about it, there was no reason to be afraid. No matter how strong the monsters or the dragon were, could they possibly defeat this massive army entrenched within the fortress?
The soldier turned around.
“Damn… Just looking at this is reassuring.”
More than a hundred massive catapults stood in perfect formation.
That wasn’t all. Hundreds of knights were stationed here, and dozens of mages stood ready.
The army alone numbered close to fifty thousand soldiers.
Hunters had also been assigned to each fortress, as they were veterans when it came to hunting monsters.
On top of that, the Fenris Mercenaries, now the greatest mercenary corps on the continent, had been fully mobilized and stationed at various fortresses.
Each fortress housed an overwhelming force, and more than ten of these fortresses were blocking the Shadow Mountains.
Any approaching monsters would be crushed on sight.
With such overwhelming forces, the soldiers had grown complacent, idly chatting among themselves.
“Man, I thought I’d be heading home now that the war’s over.”
“Yeah, same here. But suddenly, they drag us out here to fight monsters?”
“Well, at least it’s better than the war, right? These monsters aren’t even as strong as we thought.”
There had indeed been sporadic monster appearances. However, the most they had encountered at a time was only a few hundred. Before they could even reach the fortress, they were flattened by the catapults.
Since the monsters never got close, the soldiers never had to fight. As this situation repeated, it was only natural that they let their guard down.
One of the Hunters clicked his tongue as he watched the soldiers grow lax.
“You lot… Don’t get too comfortable. A Monster Wave isn’t something to take lightly.”
The soldiers scoffed at his warning.
“Come on, we outnumber them. Why should we be scared?”
“With this setup, they won’t even get near the fortress.”
“You’re a Hunter, right? You’ve fought monsters more than us, but you’re more scared than we are?”
Annoyed by their mockery, the Hunter continued, his face dark with displeasure.
“This is the frontline fortress. When the Monster Wave starts, this place will be hit first, and we’ll have to fight the most monsters. What’s so funny about that?”
This fortress was the closest to the mountains among all the fortresses stretching across the defense line. It was positioned at the most vulnerable route, the very path where monsters would swarm in the greatest numbers.
This place is a fortress meant to be abandoned in the worst-case scenario.
If an overwhelming number of monsters appeared, its role was to buy time for the other fortresses to prepare.
That was why there was another fortress positioned behind this one. In other words, the troops stationed here were different from those in other locations, they had to be prepared to die.
However, despite the Hunter’s warning, the soldiers remained unconcerned.
“That’s why they stationed the most troops here, isn’t it?”
“Have you ever seen this many soldiers used to stop monsters before?”
“I guess it’s because you’re a Hunter. You don’t really understand our strength, we are the United Army, the very force that won the war.”
The Hunters of Turian hadn’t participated in the recent war. Their role had been to keep watch while the monsters fought the Riftspawn and to hunt down any creatures that managed to escape.
After that, they had simply been reassigned to the fortress, occasionally venturing up the Shadow Mountains.
From the start, Julien and Marquis Gideon had only brought their regular army to join the United Army.
The Hunter merely smacked his lips at the soldiers’ ridicule. He could understand why they were acting like this.
‘Honestly… maybe with this army, we really could stop a Monster Wave with ease.’
He found himself reluctantly agreeing with them. He had never seen such an overwhelming force stationed in a single fortress before.
Just then, a Fenris Mercenary approached and patted the Hunter’s shoulder with a chuckle.
“Don’t mind them. People in different lines of work just don’t get each other.”
The mercenaries hadn’t relaxed their vigilance. To be precise, it was because Ghislain had ordered them to remain on high alert.
They trusted that Ghislain wouldn’t have enforced such thorough preparations for no reason.
With these subtle tensions between them, the soldiers, Hunters, and mercenaries continued waiting inside the fortress.
Occasionally, monsters would appear, but at most, they numbered in the hundreds. So when new ones emerged, the soldiers barely reacted.
Kaaaaahng!
In the distance, monsters began creeping forward. What had started as just a few quickly grew into dozens and hundreds.
“Ugh, they’re back again.”
“There’s a bit more than usual today.”
“Not like it matters. A few rounds from the catapults, and it’s over.”
“If they’re gonna come, they should just come all at once.”
“Hahaha! Exactly. Just one big wave so we can finish them off in one go.”
Laughing carefreely, they began loading the catapults.
Even the commanders didn’t reprimand their undisciplined soldiers. The fortress life had been monotonous and dull even for them.
“Fire!”
Kwaaang! Kwaang! Kwaaang!
At the command, massive boulders were launched mercilessly from the catapults. Before the monsters could even get close to the fortress, they were crushed beneath the falling stones.
The soldiers grinned triumphantly as they watched.
“Tsk, tsk. Sometimes, I almost feel bad for them.”
“I don’t get why they keep crawling toward us when they don’t stand a chance.”
“What do monsters know? We’re the ones suffering, having to go fetch more rocks.”
For them, the hardest part was restocking the boulders for the catapults.
Because of Ghislain’s orders, they had already gathered so many stones that one side of the fortress was completely filled with them. But they had been strictly commanded to replenish every single one they used.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
A slightly stronger barrage than usual rained down. The monsters charging ahead had already been reduced to pulp.
As the dust began to settle, one of the soldiers frowned.
“Ugh, there are a few more behind them.”
Grumbling, the soldiers launched another round of boulders.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
“Huh? More just showed up.”
“There really are a lot more today.”
“But still, it’s just a few dozen at most.”
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaaang!
After a few more rounds of bombardment, the soldiers started to feel uneasy.
“…More? Again?”
“Why… why aren’t they decreasing?”
“What… is that?”
The number hadn’t suddenly exploded. But no matter how many times they fired the catapults, the monsters kept appearing.
The soldiers halted their attacks momentarily to assess the situation, turning their eyes toward the approaching horde.
At first, they had only seen a few dozen. But in the brief moment they had spent observing, the numbers had swelled into the hundreds.
The writhing mass of monsters seemed to spread outward like a tide. Before they knew it, the horde had easily reached the thousands.
Unlike before, the speed of their increase was accelerating.
Only then did tension finally creep into the soldiers’ expressions.
“They just keep coming?”
“They’re multiplying too fast!”
“R-report this! Hurry, report it!”
Before they knew it, the numbers had swollen into the tens of thousands. The writhing, multicolored tide filled the horizon.
With each blink of an eye, the monster legion expanded like a living, breathing organism.
Kaaaaaang!
Kwooooooo!
The monstrous howls echoed from all directions, shaking the very ground beneath them.
The savage roars, sharp enough to tear through ears, sent chills deep into the hearts of those who heard them.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Enormous ogres, trolls the size of mountains, and growling bugbears stomped forward, their movements making the earth groan in protest.
Their footfalls ripped trees from the ground and shattered boulders into dust.
Kyaaaaah!
Above, wyverns and griffons, winged predators, swarmed like a dark storm, blotting out the sun and casting a suffocating shadow over the battlefield.
Their gleaming fangs, razor-sharp beaks, and talons glistened in the dim light, painting a chilling picture of the death that loomed overhead.
Countless small and mid-sized monsters surged forward like an unending tidal wave. They blanketed the ground like a living carpet, advancing relentlessly.
Their momentum was overwhelming, as if they would consume everything in their path. A calamity that devoured all lay before the fortress.
“Emergency! Emergency! It’s a Monster Wave! The Monster Wave has begun!”
“Everyone, get to your positions! Move, now!”
“It’s a full-scale assault! We have to stop them somehow! Don’t let them reach the walls!”
The shouts of commanders echoed throughout the fortress. Soldiers’ faces turned pale with fear.
In the past, they had dismissed monsters as trivial, confident they could handle hundreds with ease. That was because they had never faced a Monster Wave from the Kingdom of Turian before.
The fortress had fended off past waves with far fewer forces, so their confidence had naturally grown.
Hunters, staring blankly beyond the walls, muttered to themselves.
“This is… nothing like what we’ve seen before.”
“Someone earlier said they wished they could take them all out at once… What a cursed thing to say.”
“The Duke of Fenris was right again.”
This was nothing like the Monster Waves they had witnessed countless times before. It truly seemed as if every monster from the Shadow Mountains had emerged at once.
If such a Monster Wave had occurred in the past, the fortress would have long since fallen.
The sight of the approaching monsters sent shivers down the spines of the hunters.
“And this… isn’t even all of them….”
The Shadow Mountains were vast. Every major monster emergence point was guarded by a fortress.
Right now, the monsters were also charging toward all those other fortresses.
Of course, since those fortresses were farther back, they still had some time before they were hit.
Even the most battle-hardened hunters were stunned by the sight before them. Yet, in the midst of the impending disaster, there were those whose fighting spirit burned even brighter.
“It’s fine! The Commander already told us there’d be a shitload of them!”
“He also said we can handle this! Don’t freak out!”
“I’m not freaked out! You’re the one freaking out, aren’t you?”
Only the members of the Fenris Mercenary Corps were flushed with excitement as they prepared for battle.
They were mercenaries from all over, strangers to each other at first.
But being part of the Fenris Mercenary Corps alone was enough to forge a strong bond between them.
Unlike before, they now saw Ghislain as the greatest Commander they had ever served under. After all, he had continued to invest vast sums to support them.
Of course, the Duke of Fenris’s formidable backing and the pride of belonging to the continent’s largest and strongest mercenary corps played a part as well.
“Alright! Let’s fight like hell today!”
“WOOOOOAAAAHHH!”
At someone’s rallying cry, the mercenaries raised their weapons and let out a deafening roar. Even the allied soldiers, watching them, found their spirits lifted.
The Fenris Mercenary Corps believed in Ghislain. Most of them had never even seen his face, but as long as they followed his orders, everything always worked out.
Thanks to the mercenaries' overwhelming confidence and battle cries, the fortress forces managed to steady themselves to some extent.
They had accumulated plenty of war experience by now. Before long, the soldiers themselves were exuding sharp battle intent.
“Fire!”
Over a hundred catapults launched simultaneously. Enormous boulders tore through the sky in high arcs.
Kwaang! Kwoong! Kwaaaang!
It was as if a meteor shower was raining down from above. The boulders crashed into the monster horde, crushing dozens upon impact.
The ground-shaking tremors and the monsters’ agonized screams spread in all directions.
In an instant, hundreds of monsters fell. But just as quickly, hundreds more swarmed forward to take their place.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
Kwoooooooh!
The large monsters had hides far thicker and muscles far tougher than expected. Many had already gone half-mad, making them immune to pain.
Even as their bodies were torn apart and their bones shattered, those still clinging to life let out furious roars and charged at the fortress.
Before long, the monsters had advanced too close for the catapults to handle.
“Magic! Use magic against them! Target the large ones first!”
At the commander’s urgent cry, mages began casting spells with desperate expressions.
Kwaaaang!
Pillars of flame, bolts of lightning, and spears of ice rained down upon the large monsters.
Many fell, but there were simply too many of them.
The ogres continued their advance, dragging their burning bodies forward. The trolls endured even after being struck by lightning, roaring as they charged.
“We can’t stop them all with magic alone!”
“Archers, fire! Don’t hold back, shoot everything you’ve got!”
Fwaaaack!
A storm of arrows filled the sky before raining down on the monsters.
The smaller ones collapsed, pierced by countless shafts. But against the large monsters, their thick hides barely allowed the arrows to lodge in.
Still, there was no other choice. Strategy and tactics had become meaningless at this point. The battle would be decided by how strong and how frequent their attacks were.
“Don’t stop! Keep firing!”
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
Fwaaaack!
Rocks, arrows, and spells continued to pour into the battlefield.
Thousands of monsters had already died, yet even more surged forward to take their place.
The soldiers’ faces twisted in horror. Even their battles against the Riftspawn had not been this overwhelming.
The Riftspawn were fast and strong, but physically, they were no different from human soldiers.
That meant that even if they were numerous, they were manageable as long as their own numbers were sufficient. Magic, in particular, had proven devastating against them.
But monsters were different. Some were as weak as Riftspawn, but the majority possessed far greater physical strength.
With their monstrous endurance, they were charging forward like mindless berserkers. Their numbers rivaled that of the Riftspawn during their territorial expansions.
“This… this is a real Monster Wave….”
Someone muttered, pale as a sheet. They had heard it would be massive, but no one had imagined it would be this overwhelming.
Their attacks were landing, but they were meaningless in the face of the enemy’s sheer numbers.
There was no solution. All they could do was keep fighting.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
Desperation drove them to attack without pause. Archers’ hands blistered and bled, while mages began running out of mana.
Some catapults broke their ropes from being reloaded too hastily. The stockpile of boulders was depleting rapidly.
Then, suddenly the sky darkened.
The flying monsters had reached the fortress before the land-based ones.
Kaaaaaaaah!
Winged creatures of all kinds began diving toward the fortress.
“Look out! They’re coming from above!”
A single archer’s warning was all it took. Panic erupted across the fortress.
The flying monsters swooped in, seizing soldiers with their razor-sharp talons and beaks before tossing them into the sky.
Their attack threw the fortress into complete chaos.
Amidst the chaos, a lone crow that had been circling the battlefield was suddenly snatched up and devoured by a descending wyvern.
— “You insolent wretch! Kyeeeck!”
Tragically, the crow’s cry of indignation was drowned out by the deafening roars of monsters and the terrified screams of soldiers.