e-booksonline Chapter 178 Beast Tide Siege
Chapter 178 Beast Tide Siege
It was early morning on the fifth day after Blackwind Valley was captured.
Before dawn, the soldiers on night watch on the fortress were the first to notice something amiss. The ground was trembling, a slight, rhythmic tremor, like a heavy object continuously striking the earth in the distance, traveling along the layers of soil in the wasteland to the foundation of the fortress, vibrating from their feet to their knees. Some crouched down, pressing their palms to the ground, and could feel the tremors growing faster and more intense, as if something enormous was rushing towards them from the horizon. The soldiers on the watchtower were the first to see it—a black line appeared on the horizon at the edge of the wasteland. At first, it seemed like a visual illusion, but after a few breaths, the line transformed into a surging tide, boundless and vast, covering the entire field of vision from east to west. Han Polu's bugle call echoed from the general's mansion to the fortress, urgent and sharp, like a blade scraping through iron: "Enemy attack! All troops, assault the fortress!"
The defenders on the city wall were in position almost simultaneously with the sound of the bugle. Shield bearers, archers, and spearmen stood in layers, filling the passageways between the battlements. Torches were planted atop the walls, their flames flickering in the morning breeze, casting alternating light and shadow on the faces on the long wall. The cannons were loaded, fuses draped over the firing ports, and gunners crouched behind their positions, their eyes fixed on the approaching black tide, awaiting the order. The beast tide grew larger in their field of vision, its outlines becoming clearer. Wolves, tigers, bears, leopards—various third and fourth-tier ferocious beasts mingled together, their muscles taut, fangs bared, eyes bloodshot, and fine black, malevolent mist clinging to their snouts and muzzles, like a filter embedded between their skulls and torsos, driving them toward the city wall. The ferocious beasts behind followed the footprints of those in front, while those in front trampled their own kind. Their hooves and claws plowed furrows in the wasteland, and the dust was whipped up into the air by the gale behind them, obscuring the figures of the evil race array behind them.
"Fire!" Han Polu's command came the instant the first rank of ferocious beasts entered firing range. Archers on the ramparts simultaneously released their bows, thousands of arrows flying upwards in arcs, piercing the front of the horde. Dozens of beasts at the forefront were struck in vital areas, tumbling to the ground. Trampled by their brethren surging forward, their skeletons quickly collapsed under the dense hooves, crushed into the mud. But the second and third waves followed closely, their speed barely slowing. Logs crashed down from the wall, their thick trunks smashing through the horde, knocking down entire rank-and-file swarms; boulders rained down, the deafening roar echoing outside the walls, scattering debris, blood and mud mingling, forming a slippery mixture at the base of the wall. Oil was poured from the wall, the viscous black liquid flowing down its surface; torches were thrown down, instantly igniting a wall of fire around the perimeter of the city wall. Flames leaped more than ten feet high, the smell of burning fur and the sound of sizzling grease mingling together, and a wave of heat hit us, forcing even the guards standing on the wall to lean back slightly.
But the ferocious beasts controlled by the soul-controlling Gu did not retreat. They charged straight through the wall of fire, their fur scorched and their flesh burned black, yet they continued to ram the city wall. Ten, a hundred, a thousand beasts—their bodies piled up in layers, the first ones trampled underfoot by the later ones, forming a slowly rising slope. The later ones climbed up the slope made of corpses and living creatures, their claws scraping against the bricks with a harsh sound. The entire fortress trembled slightly under the continuous impact, and mortar and debris from the joints of the bricks were shaken off the wall, falling down and sliding into the pile of beast remains at the base of the wall, where they were quickly trampled into the soil.
Su Muyue's exorcising array was fully deployed on the city wall. Golden array patterns spread along the edges of the battlements and arrow towers, like a luminous vein covering the black city wall, enveloping the entire pass in a soft golden light curtain. When the ferocious beasts touched the light curtain, the soul-controlling Gu within their bodies was suppressed by the purification array patterns. Some of the beasts slowed down after colliding with the light curtain, the crimson in their eyes faded, revealing a brief moment of confusion, before turning around and charging into the beast horde, creating gaps in the array. Chu Fan ran back and forth at the array eye on the inner side of the wall, leading the array masters to repair the damaged array pattern nodes. Whenever a section of the light curtain cracked under the concentrated impact of the ferocious beasts, he immediately squatted down to reconnect the rune chains, channeling spiritual power to close the array patterns again. Su Ling'er's medical team was deployed along the passageway inside the city wall. Stretchers went in and out, and blood was still dripping from the armor plates of wounded soldiers as they were carried off the wall. She squatted at the entrance of the passageway, checking each wounded soldier's wound one by one to check for any lingering evil energy and adjusting the medication according to the condition of the wounds. Leng Feng led a team to guard the inside of the city gate, his battle sword held horizontally in front of him. Behind him, the soldiers were arranged in three rows, each holding a sword and shield, standing in a tight square formation, ready to rush in at any time if a crack appeared in the city gate.