Exactly one hour had elapsed since the battle began, and so far, the human side had been holding steadfast.
Not a single beast had reached the wall just yet, and the melee soldiers and volunteers hadn’t had to do anything yet.
The stench of blood, was, however, overpowering, and many beasts, both on the side of the humans and the tide, were growing restless as the scent was stirring their deep-seated instincts. The only difference was that the beasts belonging to their tamers were disciplined enough to not rush forward without permission.
Still, the scene was already quite graphic. Monster parts were strewn all over the place and the ground was beginning to be dyed red as many of the turrets had at least some blood on their surfaces.
’So far so good.’ Fredrick thought as he watched the scene, his helmet allowing him to see a good deal of what was happening. Well, that and the fact that the Citadel was on an upward slope, so the beasts had to progress upwards to meet their target, allowing them to be all the more visible and easy to hit.
’I guess the only disadvantage is that we’re kinda hard to miss. Then again, how does one miss a giant Citadel filled with millions of people, up or down? Are there hidden citadels out there?’ His thoughts were interrupted when a powerful buzzing noise caught his attention and he looked up.
There, he saw a large swarm of head-sized bees that were large enough to cover an entire house head for the wall. A few of the turrets aimed at them, but the bullets barely killed a few due to how evasive they were.
’That’s an issue.’ Fredrick thought as he got ready to summon his beast.
However, on the wall, a compartment suddenly opened and a large turret that looked a lot like a rail gun emerged from it and aimed at the swarm.
It gave off a humming noise and blue runes lit up across its surface. Even from the ground, Fredrick felt his hair stand on end and the static electricity filled the air.
A moment later, a powerful blue blast shot out towards the swarm. It seemed to detect that it was an issue and it parted so that the blast would pass right through it. However, halfway through its passage, it suddenly lit up before exploding in a wave of electricity that washed over all the bees.
The buzzing stopped almost instantly as all of them went rigid and were charred black by the attack. The ones closest to the blast were simply reduced to ashes as the remaining fell out of the sky like puppets who’d just had their strings cut.
’Well never mind.’ Fredrick blinked and stopped opening his beast space. He’d forgotten that pretty much all Citadels were armed to the teeth and had the ability to deal with all sorts of threats.
’Even if that damn thing succeeds, it sure as hell won’t be easy.’ He thought vaguely before frowning.
Back in the observation center, the Handlers were giving it their all. They observed the tide and gave out instructions based on whatever information they’d gathered, every one of them acting in tandem to make sure everything went smoothly.
One of the Handlers who was in charge of picking up the energy signatures of the various beasts say a sudden spike and he focused on it, a moment later.
"Expert Rank beast detected! It is showing signs of intelligence as it is rallying nearby beasts to make a tangible attempt at reaching the wall." He shouted and Major Thompson said without hesitation.
"Register it as a High-Value Target that is to be eliminated as soon as possible. Give the soldiers a ping of its location." The Handler nodded and immediately carried out the task.
Back on the wall, the Soldiers, specifically the snipers, were immediately notified of the presence of an Expert rank beast approaching, and the spotters quickly found it.
"6 Miles, 120 degrees southeast. Large Buffalo type beast with signs of intelligence spotted, it has already taken control of quite a few beasts, and a coordinated attack from them will allow them to push heavily into our lines." A spotter said through their comms and the snipers all acknowledged as they instant turned their attention to the creature in question.
In the forest, the large Buffalo which was pure black with for pairs of crystalline horns snorted as it suddenly felt several gazes on it. Bellowed as its horns began to glow.
Fredrick sensed the incoming attack and frowned as he quickly guessed where it was headed, however, he quickly calmed down. The snipers were behind the barrier.
Indeed, a destructive purple beam suddenly shot through the tree line towards the position of the snipers in a swipe, aiming to take them down in one attack. However, the beam simply deflected off the barrier into the sky. It went up a few hundred meters before exploding into a purple sphere, the shockwave smashing down on the soldiers on the ground.
An instant later, several small but dangerous projectiles shot out, each leaving a trail as it sailed through the air.
The Buffalo snorted again as a purple barrier covered its body. The bullets hit the barrier and mostly deflected off, but one managed to pierce through and hit its hide. Unfortunately, the bullet had lost a good bit of its momentum by then, so the damage was meager.
Because the Rail gun that had killed the bees had turned its attention to the Buffalo, the brief distraction allowing it to turn and charge up as it calibrated its position.
As soon as it did, it fired with a spectacular sound as the blue blast reached the Buffalo in record time and struck its barrier. The barrier resisted for a moment before it was shattered, and the Buffalo took a fistful of lightning to the face.
There was a blast of electricity that rose above the trees, allowing everyone to see the point where the attack had landed. There was also a bellow of pain as the Buffalo... certainly hadn’t gotten off easy.
"Hit it again." One of the spotters said and the snipers as well as the rail gun fired once more. This time, there was no barrier in place, so the creature faced the full onslaught the attacks, and this time, it died.
"Target eliminated." The Handler stated calmly, like the result was expected. And in some ways, it was. Then he frowned.
"Holdnon, detecting another energy spike. But I can’t get a visual on it." Major Thompson frowned at this.
’Stealth Beast.’ He thought before saying.
"Order them to use thermal vision." He said immediately.
Back on the battlefield, Fredrick frowned once more as he noticed something was off. Something strong was staring at him, or more specifically, the soldiers who weren’t behind the barrier.
His hand whipped out and grabbed one of the soldiers next to him and pulled him to the side.
The man was, understandably, startled and wanted to protest, but before he could, an incredibly fast projectile flew past where his head had been and smashed into the wall behind them.
(A/N: For context, the barrier begins from the top of the wall where the ranged soldiers are. Everything on its surface and below is uncovered as the wall itself is as durable as the barrier.)
Fredrick clicked his tongue and briefly glanced back. The wall was unscathed, but on the ground, there was a meter long spike that looked to be made of bone whose pointed end was red hot from the force of the impact just now.
He faced his front and his eyes narrowed. Another Expert rank?
There was another blur, but this time, Fredrick was too far away to do anything about it. As such, a soldier who had been looking warily could only shift his body slightly before his entire arm got blown off.
’Shit.’ Fredrick cursed inwardly as the soldiers immediately started to scramble. A moment later, another spike reached them, but the target wasn’t so lucky as they were impaled in the chest and thrown back.
That was their first loss.
Fredrick clicked his tongue. He knew the snipers were already taking shots, but clearly, their attacker was a lot more elusive than they’d initially thought, and they wouldn’t be able to get rid of it in a short time. As such, he made a decision.
’Come out, Hydro.’ He commanded and opened his beast space.
As soon as he did, the Octopus immediately came out, however, as soon as it did, it attracted everyone’s attention, not because of its looks, though that was certainly a point of interest as well.
No, what drew their attention was the aura. Hydro had a palpable aura that was deep like the ocean, but more than that, was the undertone.
The purple undertone couldn’t be hidden at all.
Fredrick had become an Expert Rank Beast Tamer after Osho had evolved Hydro, making him the 12th Expert rank Beast Tamer of the Blossom Citadel.