With the corrupt noble families entering a period of silence, the matters of the capital have calmed somwwhat. However, at the western frontier, the soldiers were facing a big problem with the beasts.
"Arghh... dammit! What do these beasts want from us!? If they want to fight, then let's fight! Why are they only taunting us from afar? What purpose are they trying to accomplish by harassing us like so?" A soldier on duty hollered out his pent-up frustration to the wind.
Over the last several days, the beast's movements had been very unpredictable and attacked the Great Wall at least once a day. There was no consistency and their attacks came at irregular intervals with the shortest being 6 hours apart.
The storm was not kind to them as the rain rendered their firearms useless. Firearms required the use of black powder in order to work, and black powder was made from saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. Of the three ingredients, saltpeter was water-soluble, thus how the rain rendered them useless.
The only good news was the beasts had was weary of their firearms since the first confrontation. They did not know of their black powder problem and only taunted the soldiers from afar.
"Haih, I would like to know too, Jerry...but whatever the case is, I'm just glad this damn storm is subsiding." Harry sighed as he lit a cigarette and took a big puff.
"Huh...oi, oi, where did you get that ciggy? Pass me one."
"Sorry, it's my last one." Harry said and exhaled a cloud of white smoke along with his pent-up stress and anxiety, allowing him to enter a realm of relaxation.
Although there was a shift rotation for watch duty, no one would be able sleep with a peace of mind when the beasts are harassing them so often and setting of alarms. With how fierce and fast these new generation beasts could scale their walls; everyone developed a natural fear of losing the wall if they were too slow to rush into position once the alarm rang. The soldiers were all red-eyed and always on tenterhooks as a result.
"Tch, you're not a real brother, Harry." Jerry grunted.
"You can have one of mine, Jerry." Another soldier on watch duty offered.
"H-how did you also get your hands on ciggies…? No… never mind. Thank you, Tim." Jerry thanked before turning back to Harry and said, " You see this? This is a real brother."
Although Jerry wondered how they could smuggle the cigarettes pass the checkpoint, he decided not to think into the matter too much. He wasn't much of a thinker and more of a doer, otherwise he would have chosen to join the military. He placed the ciggy in his mouth and glanced over into the distance as he prepared to light his ciggy when his expression froze, and the ciggy dropped out of his mouth.
"Quick, sound the alarms! The beasts are back to harass us!" Jerry hollered at his fellow brothers-in-arms. There hadn't been any direct confrontation with the beasts in the last several encounters, but just the sighting of them was enough to alarm anyone. If they let their guard down, who could they blame if their wall was overrun?
From the direction of the Wildlands, the shadow figures of many beasts came into view once more. Their numbers were appeared to be in the ten thousand, about fivefold the previous numbers, but what was concerning, wasn't their numbers.
Behind the shadow figures of ten thousand beasts, a fainter figure was seen and to say the least, was a 20-meter tall colossal figure, towering over the others. The sighting of a such a colossal beast alarmed even the general marquis.
Within 5 minutes, the wall was lined up with troops at the ready. The General Marquis wore a heavy expression. In the end, the beasts still chose to attack the Great Wall and not the southern wall. He had erred in his judgement.
Why in Gaia did he give away an airship? Hendrick Graham was feeling regretful, but unfortunately there was no medicine for regret. He shook his head and refocus on the threat in the distance.
The beasts did not charge towards the wall like a mad disorderly mob, instead they were marching orderly and rhythmically like a well-disciplined army would. Their shadowy figures gradually became clear as they drew closer.
Many gasps of surprise were made on the wall and even the general marquis himself widened his eyes in alarm. The vanguard had mimicked human means and were equipped with heavy armor to counter their firearms!
"Prepare the cannons! We can't let those armored beasts get closer!" Hendrick Graham roared out his command.
"General, none of the cannons may work! Please give us another order!" A high-ranking soldier immediately advised him.
"If it doesn't work then you better make it work! Otherwise you all better prepare yourselves to be part of the next bloody war!"
"Y-Yes, General!"
Indeed! If their firearms and cannons don't work, then they must pit themselves against these physically powerful beasts with their melee weapons and abilities! There was no other way! The soldiers quickly got to work, moving and angling the cannons. Damp wooden crates of cannonballs were unsealed to load the cannons and the cannons were soon ready to fire!
"Fire!"
Hendrick did not wait for the beasts to make the first move. Perhaps the results could be disastrous if they don't take the initiative. The soldiers quickly lit the fuse and fired the cannons at his command.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Not every cannon went off successfully, but the ones that did were deafening, with fumes trailing out of their large muzzles. In the distance, the vanguards of the beasts were hit and exploded. Broken pieces of searing flesh, metal and soil blasted in all directions with clouds of black smoke rising to the skies. Hendrick watch the scene with a frown. The result was far from satisfactory!
"Reload and fire at will!"
Boom! Boom!
The second round of bombardment initiated, but the results were far from the same!
The colossal figure in the back flashed forward and deflected all the cannonballs with its tail... or rather tails! Its actions were completed effortlessly like mere child's play and the cannonballs were flung back into various places.
"Watch out!"
BOOM!!! The cannonballs smashed into the vicinity of the soldiers and exploded. Chaos was ensured as the soldiers were brought into a state of confusion and panic.
"Ugh…Is everyone alright!?
"Ow… my back…I'm getting old…but I should be okay…"
"Some minor burns but everyone seems to be okay…wait…where's Jerry? Where did Jerry go?"
"J-J-Jerry w-went..."
"Jerry went where?"
"Jerry went everywhere!" The soldier with a bloodstained face, screamed with madness.
"…"
"F@$&#%!"
The soldier took a moment before registering what everywhere meant and started cursing. Their comrade was blown apart.
...
The majestic figure of a silver wolf with 6 tails became clear for all to see as it held its head up proudly.
"Humans! Throw away your toys and come down to face my subjects squarely!"
The soldiers gasped in disbelief.
"It talks! The wolf can talk!"
"What the hell!? Unbelievable!"
"How can a wolf be that big?!"
The soldiers threw remarks one after another as the wall became noisy with unruly behaviors, unbefitting of disciplined soldiers. but it was to be expected. A talking beast was unheard of in the history of their race, and in their native language no less!
"Silence!!"
Hendrick commanded silence from the soldiers with his powerful voice that even the majestic silver wolf could hear. The wall instantly became pin-drop silent as no one dared to slight the general marquis.
"What gall! How dare you silence this King! If not for the agreement with the other tribes, this King would have already flatten your wall and wreak havoc on your lands for your insolence!" The 6-tailed silver wolf barked like thunder.
Hendrick Graham felt his head hurt, not by sound waves, but by the misunderstanding. How were they going to tide over this disaster? He had some self-awareness and knew he, who was a 9th step awakener wasn't an opponent for this unknown silver wolf with 6 tails. They had only ever known of the iron-tailed silver wolves, which had 3 tails at most.
'Transcendent! It must have evolved and gain a fleshly body comparable to transcendents in strength!' Hendrick Graham concluded.
"Your Excellency, my words were not meant for you!"
"Hmph! Are you saying this King was mistaken!?"
"I…"
Hendrick Graham's words were caught in his throats. This silver wolf was too difficult to deal with! It was like it is purposely picking a fight with them.
Wait…
The previous remarks of the wolf entered his thoughts; Other tribes…and agreement. If he is not wrong, the beasts were divided into many tribes and they have come to an agreement to leave the human domain alone. If that was the case, then there was nothing to fear if they do not step into the Wildlands.
"There's no need to provoke us, Your Excellency! We are naturally not your match and will not fight your people directly!" Hendrick Graham said firmly. His stance was clear. They would only suffer unnecessary losses in a direct clash.
"Hmph! You're right! You humans are too weak to temper my subjects! Stay out of my territory or we will come again!"
Seeing that the humans were too cowardly to come down and fight them directly, the silver wolf was prepared to leave, but not without issuing a strict warning. Prior to subsequent attack after the first, the other beast's tribe leaders had warned it to not invade the human domain.
Being one of the weaker tribes, it had no choice but to comply. However, it was feeling unreconciled since the humans kept pestering its territory. Thus, it started harassing the humans without entering the human domain. The other tribes would have nothing to say against that.
"Awoooo!"
The silver wolf howled, and the beast army started to leave.
"Haih…"
Watching the retreating beast army, the general marquis heaved a sigh of relief. For reasons unknown, humanity was spared, allowing humanity to finally have some breathing space.. However, any plans to reclaim the Wildlands had to be nipped in the bud. The beasts were too strong for humanity!