Chapter 72: A Grinding Battle Begins Without Ceremony!
The raging beasts surged forward like an unstoppable flood, trampling their wounded companions without a moment's hesitation, reducing them to mounds of flesh and blood left behind on the barren ground, while the rest of the beasts kept charging madly toward the walls.
Their eyes burned crimson red, as though something had seized control of their minds. They no longer cared about the natural hostility between species or the predatory instincts that normally governed them — instead, they'd all united behind a single goal...
Destroy the Territory, and kill every creature standing on two legs within it.
As the distance shrank to three hundred meters, the details of the horde came into sharper focus. Kaiden's eyes swept rapidly across the ranks of beasts until they landed on two massive creatures standing out clearly amid the surging flood.
He didn't need to watch any longer.
They were two Rare-rank beasts.
He fixed his gaze on them. The first was a giant spotted hyena with a gleaming metallic jaw, while the second was an enormous black wild boar, jutting tusks curved like spears protruding from its lower jaw.
But he had no time left to waste watching them.
He turned his head toward Nora, the small white-haired mage, and raised his voice so it would reach everyone.
"Nora! Pool of Light... now!"
Nora had been waiting for this order since the battle began.
She raised both hands immediately, and golden threads shot out from them, weaving together in the air before transforming into a glowing aura that enveloped all the Elite Soldiers.
Warm energy spread through their bodies within moments.
Kaiden knew that despite their strength, the Elite Soldiers hadn't yet faced a battle of this scale. His title "Lord Vanquisher" wouldn't offer any benefit here either, since its effect was limited to fighting other lords' forces, not beasts.
This was precisely why he'd brought Nora along.
Pool of Light increased the Elite Soldiers' overall combat power by twenty percent — a boost capable of making a real difference in a battle like this.
And of course, Kaiden hadn't overlooked the enormous mana cost of keeping the skill active for this many soldiers, which was why he'd already supplied Nora with a large stock of mana recovery potions beforehand.
The Elite Soldiers felt fresh strength surging through their veins, and what remained of their tension melted away.
When they raised their eyes toward the charging tide of beasts, they no longer saw terrifying monsters...
They saw experience points waiting to be harvested.
Kaiden caught the shift immediately and turned to Nora, giving her an approving thumbs-up.
In a moment like this, a buff like that spoke louder than a thousand rousing speeches.
Rumble! Rumble!
The ground shook harder as the beast tide drew closer, until small pebbles began bouncing across the dirt with every tremor, as if the earth itself had turned into a giant drum skin being pounded violently.
GRAAAH!
ROOOOAR!
A ROAR!
A HOWL!
A HISS!
The roars, howls, and hisses of the beasts blended into a single deafening roar that shook the air, until Kaiden's eardrums began to ring. Only moments remained before impact.
Kaiden kept his eyes locked on the beast tide, focusing his attention on the two Rare-rank beasts leading the horde. But when the distance shrank to two hundred meters, something he hadn't anticipated happened — the beast flood suddenly split into two, with the iron-jawed hyena veering toward Piedra and the Elite Soldiers, while the massive black boar broke off directly toward the main gate. It lowered its head, its curved tusks now looking like two enormous spears, before letting out an enraged bellow and charging at full speed.
"Damn it! It's going for the gate!" Kaiden shouted as he grasped the beast's intent — no matter how thick the gate was, it remained the weakest point in the wall. At the same moment, the two giant ballistae mounted on either side of it swung into action.
Fwoosh!
Fwoosh!
Both metal bolts launched simultaneously at the two Rare-rank beasts. At the last instant, the hyena dropped its body low, so the bolt only grazed a long scratch along its side, while the other bolt struck the boar's back in a direct hit. But the result fell far short of what Kaiden had expected — the bolt failed to pierce its thick hide, leaving nothing but a shallow wound that only enraged the beast further.
ROOOAAAR!!
Steam billowed from the boar's nostrils, and instead of slowing its charge, it grew even faster. Kaiden felt his chest tighten — with that size, that speed, and those razor-sharp tusks, the beast looked like a living battering ram. He realized instantly that the gate wouldn't survive a direct impact.
He didn't hesitate. He raised his hand, and at the last possible moment, three earthen walls rose in succession in front of the gate.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
CLANG!!
The three walls shattered one after another as if made of paper, but they succeeded in absorbing part of the beast's momentum before collapsing. Dust blanketed the area completely, blocking the view, but amid the chaos Kaiden heard a massive metallic crash, and knew the boar had slammed into the gate.
The dust gradually began to clear, first revealing the boar's massive body, then the gate behind it. A huge dent from its tusks marred the center of the gate, but it had held. Kaiden let out a breath of relief — his improvised walls had succeeded in weakening the charge just enough to save it.
But what pleased him even more was the sight that followed.
"It's stuck!"
The boar's curved tusks had driven straight into the iron gate. The beast strained with all its might to pull back, but its legs kept clawing uselessly at the ground while its head remained trapped, letting out furious bellows mixed with confusion.
Kaiden wasn't about to waste an opportunity like this. He swept his hand, and three stone spikes shot up from beneath the ground directly under the boar. At first, the spikes stopped upon touching its belly — its body's resistance was greater than he'd expected — but Kaiden clenched his fist and channeled mana into them, and they grew harder and sharper.
Rip!
Squelch!
This time the spikes tore through the boar's belly easily, sinking into its guts and shredding its internal organs.
ROOOAAAR!!
The beast let out a deafening scream, and under the force of the pain, a burst of tremendous power erupted from it, freeing itself — its tusks snapped the heads off all three spikes, while their broken shafts remained lodged inside its body.
But before Kaiden could capitalize on the wound and finish off the first Rare-rank beast, he caught a flash of rapid movement from the corner of his eye. The beast tide had finally arrived, and since he was standing between his combat formation and the gate, he'd become the nearest target.
Four beasts leaped at him all at once, jaws and fangs bared wide, intent on tearing him to pieces.
And so... the grinding battle began.
No threats... no ceremony!
End of Chapter 72.