Chapter 18 : Chapter 18
Chapter 18: The Spiked Barricade, the Battle Begins
After everyone had settled on a plan to meet the enemy, they gathered outside the town.
By the time Ryan and Fina arrived, some people were already building a spiked barricade.
“Ryan, be careful,”
Fina said in a low voice.
“Fina, you too. This is not like those minor skirmishes from before. You have to put your own safety first. Do not recklessly throw yourself into danger to save others.”
“Mhm, Ryan, don’t worry. I’ll definitely protect myself.”
“Fina...”
Ryan hesitated for a moment.
“Hm?”
Fina looked at Ryan.
“It’s nothing.”
“Oh, come on. What were you trying to say?”
“Well... I wanted to say that after this battle is over, I want to give you a gift.”
“A gift?”
Fina looked puzzled.
But she knew this was not the time to talk, so she could only suppress the question in her heart.
The moment the words left his mouth, Ryan regretted them.
Why had that sounded exactly like the sort of ominous line people uttered in cheap novels?
Nothing was going to go wrong in this battle, was it?
Ryan thought to himself.
Before the two of them had come out, Kaya had repeatedly warned them to protect themselves.
After all, they had only just reached adulthood and still had brilliant futures ahead of them.
Kaya had even said that if the number of Beastfolk was too great or their strength too overwhelming, then the two of them should give up on protecting the town and look for a chance to escape.
Afterward, whether they went to another town to seek reinforcements or waited until they had grown stronger and came back to avenge everyone later, either option would do.
Ryan had not answered Kaya.
Leaving aside the fact that he did not know anyone in any other town,
with the power Ryan currently possessed,
it would be rather difficult for anyone to kill him in a direct battle when he had effectively unlimited firepower.
Of course, if something unexpected really happened and things developed the way Kaya had feared,
then Ryan would definitely take Fina and flee at the first opportunity.
He had no intention of dying together with this town.
At worst, once he grew stronger in the future, he could avenge the townspeople then.
Before long, everyone finished setting up the spiked barricade nearby.
That way, if the front line could not hold and the Beastfolk got close, it could still serve as a certain degree of obstruction.
Its usefulness might not be great, but at least it offered a little psychological comfort.
After that, everyone fell silent and waited for the scout to return with the latest news.
This was only an ordinary town. Even with Ryan and Fina, who were relatively strong,
everyone’s hearts were still overshadowed by a dark cloud.
To the townspeople, Beastfolk were synonymous with power, and no one knew how many lives would be lost in this battle.
The townspeople had no choice.
This was their home. They could not simply abandon it and flee on their own.
Their property, families, and friends were all here in this town.
If the town were destroyed by monsters, they would immediately become wandering refugees, and they would never have another good day again.
Ryan sat down on the ground with Fina off to one side, doing his best to conserve his strength.
They still did not know exactly how many Beastfolk there were, nor how long the battle would last.
So conserving energy was absolutely necessary.
About an hour passed.
Then a figure came running from the distance.
The instant the figure appeared, the mayor stood up and stared fixedly at him.
Ryan knew that person was probably the scout who had been sent out to gather information.
A moment later, the scout arrived before the group.
“Well? Where are the Beastfolk now?”
The mayor hurried forward and asked.
“Mayor, the situation is not good. The Beastfolk are advancing rapidly toward our town. They are expected to arrive in three hours.”
“What? Three hours? That fast?”
The mayor was shocked.
That was far too fast!
The Beastfolk were advancing much too quickly!
Logically speaking, after encountering the desperate resistance of that other town, they should not have been moving this quickly.
According to the information he had originally received, the Beastfolk should have needed an entire night to reach Lute Town and were supposed to arrive tomorrow morning.
But to his complete surprise, they would arrive in just three hours.
Most importantly, in three hours, it would already be fully dark.
Everyone would have to fight in poor lighting.
That was not good news for them.
Of all the people present, aside from Fina, who could still maintain a certain degree of vision at night,
everyone else’s eyesight would be impaired after dark.
But there was nothing to be done. They could only brace themselves and face the battle head-on.
“Quick, prepare torches. Light up everything nearby and make sure everyone can see.”
The mayor immediately gave the order.
At his command, everyone began preparing torches to keep the surroundings illuminated.
Other people handled those trivial matters. Ryan and Fina continued resting.
After all, in the battle to come, the two of them were the main force, while everyone else was there to support them.
Before long, the surrounding area was lit up.
To ensure the battle went smoothly, several spare torches were also placed beside every lit torch.
With that, all preparations for battle were complete.
All that remained was to wait.
...
Time passed slowly, and three hours later, everyone felt a faint tremor beneath the ground.
The crowd focused their eyes on the distance.
Far beyond Lute Town, a number of massive black figures could be seen.
Their target was unmistakably Lute Town.
“The Beastfolk are attacking. Everyone, prepare for battle!”
The mayor shouted his order.
Everyone picked up the weapons they had prepared and stood ready.
Ryan and Fina also drew their weapons.
Ryan carried a P90 submachine gun.
Fina held the Desert Eagle.
Click-clack! Click-clack!
The Beastfolk advanced quickly, and the tremors in the ground became more and more violent.
Soon, everyone could see the Beastfolk with the naked eye.
The Beastfolk stood between two and three meters tall, with thick, powerful builds, broad shoulders, deep chests, and clearly defined muscles full of strength.
Their skin was green, though the shade varied. Some were dark green, some light green, and their rough skin was covered in tiny bumps.
Their heads were large and somewhat disproportionate to their bodies.
Their foreheads jutted forward, their jaws were thick, and the muscles on both sides of their faces were well developed, bulging outward.
Their eyes were red, their pupils vertical, and their gaze vicious and wild.
Their ears were small and pointed, pressed close to the sides of their heads, with a few black hairs at the tips.
Their hair was coarse and hard like steel needles, uneven in length. Some let it hang loose over their shoulders, while others tied it behind their heads with leather cords, with dead grass and dirt caught in it.
They carried all kinds of weapons in their hands, including sabers, swords, spiked clubs, and more.
Ryan made a rough count. There were thirty Beastfolk in this group.
“That’s good. The number isn’t too high.”
Ryan quietly let out a sigh of relief.
There were only thirty Beastfolk, which was good news for him.
There were around fifty people on their side.
Ryan did not expect them to kill the Beastfolk. That was unrealistic.
As long as they could help buy him time, that would be enough.
Ryan and Fina alone could kill this entire group of Beastfolk.
“GRAAAH!”
The distant Beastfolk spotted Ryan’s group and immediately let out a roar.
The next moment,
all of the Beastfolk charged straight at them.
Ryan and Fina looked at each other, then nodded.
Both of them raised their guns and aimed at the Beastfolk.
Bang!
Fina fired first, and a bullet shot straight toward a Beastfolk’s head.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Ryan’s submachine gun followed immediately after.
Although the Beastfolk were still far away from Ryan and his accuracy was lower at this range,
who told Ryan to worry about money now?
When one was poor, one had to strike with precision. When one was rich, one could simply blanket the enemy with firepower.
Ryan’s backpack held countless magazines.
Every single one of them was a magazine the System had already loaded with bullets.
Once one ran dry, he could simply swap in another magazine. It was simple and fast.
So Ryan did not wait for the Beastfolk to come closer before making his move. The moment he saw them, he opened fire.
“Urghhh!”
“GRAAAAH!!!”
The Beastfolk at the front were hit and immediately fell to the ground with miserable screams.
In the very first exchange, the Beastfolk had already lost five of their number. Only twenty-five remained.
Before they had even reached Lute Town, five Beastfolk had already been killed.
By the time they reached the town, it was entirely possible they would all be wiped out.
The others present all stared wide-eyed at Ryan and Fina’s ferocity.
They had originally prepared themselves for the possibility that many people would die in today’s battle.
They had even prepared themselves to die.
But they had never expected Ryan and Fina to give them such an enormous surprise.
The Beastfolk were still dozens of meters away.
And yet the two of them were already inflicting such devastating damage.
The remaining Beastfolk did not become afraid. Instead, they charged forward even more frenziedly.
Everyone looked at Ryan and Fina with burning eyes.
Deep down, they even began to hope.
They hoped the Beastfolk would be wiped out by Ryan and Fina before they even reached them.
That way, not a single one of them would have to die.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Ryan’s submachine gun never stopped. It continued spraying bullets at the Beastfolk without pause.
After the chaos at the beginning, the Beastfolk began moving in zigzags as well, trying to avoid Ryan’s bullets.
But Ryan’s years of marksmanship training had not been for nothing.
No matter how tricky their movements were, they still could not evade Ryan’s bullets.
And mixed in among it all was Fina’s precise gunfire.
The Beastfolk were suffering enormous losses.
Ryan felt puzzled.
The losses this group of Beastfolk had taken were not small, so why were they still not retreating?
Judging from the way they were zigzagging, it was obvious that they possessed a certain degree of intelligence. They knew how to dodge Ryan’s bullets.
But the current situation was this: they had already suffered heavy casualties before even getting close.
And yet even so, they were still charging. They showed no sign of retreating.
That stirred a faint sense of unease in Ryan’s heart.
Could it be that this group of Beastfolk had some other plan in reserve?
Ryan frowned deeply.
He truly could not understand what scheme these Beastfolk might still have.
But when he could not figure something out, he put it aside for the moment.
No matter what the Beastfolk were planning,
all he had to do was kill every Beastfolk that appeared before him.
In the face of absolute power, all schemes and tricks were worthless.
And right now, the P90 submachine gun in Ryan’s hands was a natural disaster the Beastfolk simply could not withstand.