Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 128 - 123: Monster Wave II

As soon as I gave the command, tens of magical ballistae sprang into action, aiming directly at the monsters who came in rushing like a tide. Following the arrows were long-range spells or magical-arrows imbued with spells.

No normal arrows were used here, because the monsters residing within the Shawn woods were mostly of earth, water and plant-elemental type. They had tough hides, thick layers of scales, thick skulls, horns, vines – basically they were armored all over.

And piercing their armors was not possible with normal arrows, hence only powerful ballistae, spells and magical arrows were fired.

Though, even they weren't that effective in front of the plant type monsters that didn't have a vital point and could regenerate. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

So, as the first volley landed, accompanied by violent explosions of tyrannical power, the monster wave stopped for a moment.

Some monsters leading their stampede-like charge dropped-dead on the spot, while others got injured enough to not being able to move.

But as I said only for a moment.

The monsters are not just unruly animals, they are magical beasts as well, though 'fallen' magical beasts from human perspective.

So, before the second volley struck, and the magical glow of the previous volley's spells was still fading, the stampede began to shimmer with its own enchanting aura.

The thick skin of Dregnoths, who were a type of fairly common earth elemental monsters in Rowen, standing somewhere between a ceratopsian dinosaur and a rhino, tensed up. Sturdy, jagged plates of earthen armor appeared to cover their bodies, while their horns got a much more menacing upgrade, becoming longer, sharper and tougher.

Unlike Dregnoths though, the Gorglites, which were serpentine beasts of varying sizes with adults growing up to 20 meters long, had different plans. Their massive sizes, pointed head, tough hide, and venomous bone spikes that they could launch towards their enemies, didn't do much in changing their nature. Just like snakes they burrowed into the ground. Their massive size sinking into the ground effortlessly much like a fish diving deeper into water.

Now, hiding underground they were untouched by most of the consequent attacks.

Their ability to freely swim in the ground would've actually been a menace if the magical engineers hadn't studied them.

In fact, my talisman's ability to dip underground was based on the Gorglites' ability, and if they could recreate that effect, they could also create something to disable it.

Hence, the village, the walls and the formation of knights that was close to the walls were safe from unexpected underground attacks. Same could not be said for the mercenaries though, as they were spread far and wide.

The next monster was more annoying, plant type one. It's appearance – a writhing mass of vines, thorns and hardened bark, that could extend and retract on will – matching its name, Thornmaw.

Though less in number than the rest, they were annoying as hell to kill. Their core was hidden deep within their tough vines, which could regenerate as long as the ground had nutrients. But their resilience wasn't their only threat. With alarming speed, their vines could bloom deadly flowers, releasing toxins that caused paralysis and hallucinations—if they didn't outright kill their victims.

The Thornmaws didn't even flinch at our magical barrage, they took it in stride and regenerated before the dust could even settle.

And the final and most dangerous monsters to look out for were the Verdant Wardens. As the name would suggest, they were intelligent, much more so than the rest of the monsters. Moreover, they knew actual magic spells different from the other magical beasts who just used their bloodline abilities.

As for their appearance – they looked like a minotaur made up of bark wearing vines all over. Unlike an minotaur though, they didn't have a face, just a huge green eye embedded in middle of their angular-barky-face which matched with the bright green jewel embedded in their staff.

Just four in number, or maybe just four who had emerged out of the forest, the Wardens at the very back of the monsters didn't have many spells aiming for them, but even then, they reacted.

Slamming their staffs on the ground they worked together to create a dark-greenish barrier with incomprehensible symbols on it that protected the monsters at the forefront from the second volley.

Other than these four, there were a lot of other monster species like – demon baboons, dire wolfs, kobolds, forest salamanders, tree-kins, etc. but they were not really a threat.

Actually, I was pleasantly surprised that no water type beast joined the fray, but I guess they could just follow the river to relocate or maybe there was some different reason.

I was just glad that they weren't here since that meant that the monster wave had limited heavy-long-range attacks.

-BOOM!

-BANG!

-CRASH!

After the second volley, the entrance of the forest was scorched, the ground was filled with craters, and a few magical spells were still active.

But unlike before, the monster wave didn't stop, using whatever method they had the monsters charged, finally engaging with the troops in melee.

Hence, the battle that earned me the moniker of the Saint of Light began, unbeknownst to Kapheria who actually came up with it.

***

'Let's hope you're wrong Leader.', Syrus sneaked a glance at Allen as the waves of monsters descended upon them.

Since, they had joined Ruhr's Iron-blooded Gentlemen, both of them were at the forefront of the army and were the first ones to actually fight the monsters.

Just a few minutes ago, Ruhr had explained everyone their positions, and introduced the people they had to work with, so Syrus knew what he had to do and the fact that Allen had been given a fairly safe position.

Though, in a battlefield, who was actually safe?

Having seen enough wars, Syrus knew that the answer was none.

Actually, he hoped that his leader was wrong, that Allen didn't belong to the battlefield. But that was the part he was conflicted about too.

After all, he had seen what being weak meant in this world, and that war was not needed to punish the weak.

Atleast the strong get to die fighting, but the weak… the weak are exploited until they dead.

"Focus!", Cana's vexing voice sharply resounded through the battlefield, breaking him out from his reprieve. At the same time, he saw a dregnoth charging straight at their group, and he couldn't think about Allen anymore.

"Haa!!", with a shout he charged along with the two of his team members preparing to flank that beast.

-Crash…!

There was a huge crash as just a few meters beside him as Ruhr, glowing blood-red now, stopped the hulking dregnoth in its tracks. Syrus, used to the mayhem of the war, didn't even flinch just like his two other teammates, and took his position.

"Roar!"

"Growl!"

What was his position you ask?

To protect his teammates.

Three demon baboons lunged on him before he could even take his position. But that was not a problem for Syrus.

Without wasting a movement, Syrus swung his sword wide, a flaming red arc erupting from the edge that burned the demonic baboons and threw back the other monsters.

Of course, the next moment the monsters were back on him, as he fended them off with one wide swing after another, only going for the kill for the easy pickings.

Behind him, a knight from Serina's mercenary band, Iron Vow, had already gathered mana on his sword, which he then swung heavily. The strike landed precisely at the weak point in the Dregnoth's natural armor, severing its tail—an appendage full of muscle with an mace-like end—in one fluid motion.

"Roar!!"

Around the same time, a mage from Liora's mercenary band, Velvet thorn, who was standing beside Allen, casted a wind elemental spell that made the Dregnoth lighter.

Taking that as a signal, Ruhr changed his grip on the Dregnoth's horns, he could do that now as the creature's momentum had halted and it was still reeling in pain from losing its tail, and twisted them sideways.

The last member who also belonged to Iron-blooded Gentlemen and the knight who severed the Dregnoth's tail also joined from the flanks pushing the Dregnoth from the side with their full power.

"HAAA!", Ruhr grunted as with one final push, the Dregnoth which weighted atleast 20 tons was toppled sideways. Without its tail to keep it stabilized and its now lighter weight, it never really had a chance.

Ruhr pinned the monster down with its horns giving the other two the perfect chance to kill it, now that its unarmored underbelly was right in front of their face. And they had to do it fast because Syrus was getting overwhelmed by now.

Instead of just front, there were monsters in every direction now, many having bypassed him. The good thing was that there were many mercenaries ready to face them behind him, the bad thing was that there were many more monsters than mercenaries. He was barely keeping them from attacking his teammates behind him.

"Jose! Nick! Hurry up!", Ruhr exclaimed urgently. But it was not because of him not being able to hold on, actually this much was easy for Ruhr. And in fact, he could've taken the Dregnoth out in a single punch if he wanted to.

The reason he didn't was because he had to be efficient, for the battle was going to be long and grueling, so much so that they would be sick of drinking potions by its end.

And there were so many monsters here that wasting time on a single monster was not something they could afford.

Thankfully, they had years of experience doing this and had developed all kinds of strategies for all kinds of different monsters, just like this one for Dregnoth.

Heeding Ruhr's command, Jose and Nick worked together to tear apart the underbelly of the beast, which was not armored but still was tough as hell, finally killing it.

Syrus pulled back along with his team, as they made a beeline for the next 'strong' monster, sneaking a glance at Allen behind.

Allen was still there, keeping near the party's mage, not even having taken out his sword. It looked like the mage had protected him really well, though, his face didn't look great, which was normal for a child in a battlefield or so he thought, before being occupied in killing the next monster.

Honestly, things were going much better than Syrus had expected. He wasn't paying much attention to the rest of the battlefield, but even then, he could tell there hadn't been any casualties so far. And not because the human side was particularly skilled—it was simply due to a single spell, his leader's spell. Considering that most casualties in a war occur either at the beginning or the end, that alone was a huge statement.

He didn't know when he developed it or how, for he was seeing it the first time himself, but that single spell had transformed their disorganized army into an immortal legion.

The seven magic circles surrounding the brilliant sun-like construct were constantly shooting beams of light, with each beam of light locking-on an injured fighter and healing them.

The healing itself was not that impressive, but the pace at which it emitted the light rays and its accuracy made up for it.

Light injuries were healed in an instant, while fatal ones which meant certain-death in a battlefield before were minimized enough so that the person in question could retreat alive with some help.

And then there was the huge magical circle encompassing the construct itself, it didn't do any healing of sorts, instead, it shot incinerating beams of light towards the monsters, keeping the Verdant Wardens focused on defense.

'Can we win this without many losses?', he almost thought, before he crushed that thought down, assumed the worst – a habit Syrus had to cultivate to prevent himself from going insane – and played his part in this battle, just like he did in all others.