Chapter 138: Waxing Tide
Benton felt pretty good about himself. His barrier worked perfectly, and the morale of all the villagers and the sect members defending the wall seemed to be high.
Pan Jiang, in particular, was grinning like the proverbial cat who’d ate the canary. Though Benton had chosen the kid as the one to draw first blood on a whim, it was a good call. The boy had volunteered for a tough job that wasn’t likely to lead to as much personal glory as the defenders who were designated for cleanup duty outside the wall.
He was really shaping up to be a fine young man and deserved the honor.
Benton patted Jin LiJuan on the head. “I’m proud of you, Li’er. If you stay as brave in the hours and perhaps days ahead as you were just now, we’ll come through this just fine.”
“Yes, Master.”
Though the girl gave no exterior reaction other than her words, he got the sense that she appreciated his praise. The girl really was intense.
He reached out with his spiritual sense. The beasts were growing closer.
“Ye Zan,” Benton said, “we’ve got less than a quarter hour before the fight starts. Might want to send word.”
“Yes, Master.”
Ten minutes passed both very slowly and extremely quickly as everyone grew tense waiting for the beasts to come into view. Eventually, though, the first ones appeared.
A large herd, mostly composed of small animals like squirrels and rabbits and rats, emerged from the forest. Per Benton’s spiritual sense, they were all rank ones, and there were literally too many of them to count. Definitely more than a thousand but probably less than five thousand.
They sprinted full speed toward the village wall. Even with all his enhancements and power, seeing the mass of fur and claws was more than a little disconcerting. He couldn’t imagine how the newly inducted sect members or especially the mortal villagers must feel.