Thud! Thud!
Asher dashed toward the West Division, flanked by Nero and a dozen paladins who were guarding his tent.
His mind raced with several thoughts, but his eyes never left the thick smoke billowing into the dark sky.
As if that wasn’t enough, another explosion occurred, followed yet again by another, and another!
A total of five tents erupted in fire, each explosion releasing a violent wave that blasted nearby soldiers, scorching the skins of the closest ones and wounding those farther away!
Asher’s eyes widened. His right hand reached out, gripping Euodias. As he pulled his sword out, his speed increased.
‘What is going on?!’
_____
Meanwhile, in the West Division, Paul, the General of the Goshen Longbow Archers, was on one knee, panting heavily.
He was about to rush into that tent to awaken his men when the flames hit the tent and three others.
Like the first, they all burst into flames. And like the first, everyone inside the tent was incinerated!
The cause…
A massive white tiger prowled toward him, its golden eyes locked into him. Behind it, hundreds of barbarians with bloodshot eyes and bloodthirsty aura clashed with the soldiers who were on guard and those who had managed to react in time.
Unfortunately, the troops stationed in the West Division were the Goshen Longbow Archers, a long-range unit. Now, they were forced into close-quarters combat against melee force!
And not just any melee soldiers—but warriors who had activated a troop talent called ‘Berserk’!
A troop talent that amplified their strength and regeneration.
A deep, growling voice rumbled through the chaos.
“Kill as many as you can. They’re filthy wastelanders, after all.”
The white tiger shimmered, transforming into a towering, broad-shouldered man with white hair and a short beard.
Levi Tigris!
Count William’s second son.
He smiled at Paul as a barbarian threw a great sword which he grabbed effortlessly.
Shing!
Steel sang as he unsheathed the deadly weapon, dragging it against the ground as he closed the distance.
Paul braced himself, expecting Levi to swing his weapon in a downward strike, and rolled left to evade…
“Caught you!” Levi roared as flames exploded from his mouth!
Paul crossed his arms, unleashing his full force as he rolled backwards, the heat searing his skin.
Gritting his teeth, he exhaled sharply and suddenly sprung to his feet. But instead of facing Levi, he turned and fled!
Seeing this, Levi let out a guttural laugh and breathed flames facing the sky. This time, the flames split into five curving downward, right toward Paul’s destination—his tent!
Boom!
Paul saw his rent reduce to an inferno right before his eyes.
“General!”
An archer burst from the darkness, carrying Paul’s bow and quiver in his hands.
Levi’s eyes widened. He lunged forward, raising his sword and swinging it downward for a killing blow…
But before he could, Paul kicked a short tree trunk straight at him.
Levi was forced to halt and slashed through the wood with a single strike.
By the time he split the trunk apart, Paul had laid his hands on his bow and scattered his arrows on the ground.
Levi grinned. “Come! Let me see what an Ashbourne general can do?”
While he yelled, two arrows arrived before his eyes. Tilting his head, Levi barely dodged them, but they scraped against his armor.
Levi’s smirk faltered and eyes narrowed.
Then—his eyes narrowed even further as he sensed that the arrows were coming back while three more were rushing toward him from the front!
“You…!”
He breathed flames again. The flames were so explosive that just upon contact with the arrows an explosion occurred.
The blast resulted in a shockwave that flung both knights backwards.
But as Levi tumbled through the air, two arrows pierced through the firestorm and planted themselves into his shoulder!
Just between his breastplate and his pauldron.
The pain only made him growl like a beast.
The battlefield rang with the clash of weapons and the cries of men.
Levi’s lips curled into a wicked smile.
There was no doubt the barbarians were having the upper hand. With the Berserk talent in their hand, the barbarians had turned into relentless monsters, increasing their power and healing.
But this talent wouldn’t last forever. They had to finish their mission and retreat before the effect of the talent wore off.
_____
“My Lord!”
Nero stood before Asher who suddenly stopped running and stood in one spot for minutes!
Nero looked at the worsened state of the West Division and then at Asher who instead of facing the burning West Division, was staring at the Great Dividing Wall.
All of a sudden, Asher grounded his teeth as if a realization had struck him. “It’s a bait. The real target has been the wall all along!”
“W… what?!”
“Find General Alec! Tell him to send the Grand Aegis unit to the walls—NOW!”
Sensing the urgency in Asher’s voice, Nero didn’t hesitate and shot off toward Alec’s tent at full speed.
_____
While this was going on, Uriah, the man always standing on the highest vantage point, frowned.
For the last ten minutes, he had been watching something… unnatural occur.
It only dawned on him now that this wasn’t ordinary!
At first, a strange fog enveloped the forest. But now, it had grown, spreading across the vast field, rising higher and higher—up to the point where it was even taller than the walls!
He had watched this fog grow to become something so monstrous. At first, it seemed like the night’s fog was drifting from the forest and since it started from the forest, he wasn’t suspicious.
But something might be wrong.
And suddenly, it hit him.
This wasn’t natural!
A chill ran down his spine.
‘Is it a beast?’
Suspicious, Uriah sent one of his red-tailed hawks into the fog. His eyes turned dull white as he shared its vision, watching it glide through the thick fog, unable to see anything beyond the swirling gray.
Just as he was about to give up, the hawk suddenly burst into a clearer zone, where the fog thinned to a faint mist.
His breath caught.
He saw thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of barbarians pushing siege towers!
Over 15 trebuchets had been set and these siege towers, greatly better than the ladders they used were being pushed towards the Great Dividing Wall!
One had to know that these siege towers built for him were a bit taller than the wall!
Puchi!
An arrow sliced past the red-tailed hawk’s right wing, shearing off some feathers with it!
Alarmed, Uriah commanded the hawk to retreat. Heeding this life-saving command, the hawk shot upward, flapping its wings as hard as it could.
More arrows whizzed past it, some far and some near.
Some dangerously near too!
Fortunately, it burst out of the fog, flew and swooped back to its master, perching on Uriah’s shoulder.
Uriah turned to the Grand Aegis Heavy Infantrymen and Stormbringer Markswomen stationed on the wall. They stood there unaware of the horror advancing beneath the cover of the fog.
“Blow the horn! Barbarians will soon reach our walls!!”
The soldier inside the watchtower upon which Uriah stood grabbed a massive horn secured by thick wooden beams.
He took a deep breath, his cheeks inflating, then blew with all his might.
A deep, earth-shaking roar came out of the horn, echoing across the battlefield and alarming both the Ashbourne soldiers who were already in formation as they headed to the wall thanks to Asher’s prior orders and the barbarians who were inching closer to the wall!
Then came the next threat.
After the roar of the horn died down, the fire-life eyes of the Ashbourne defenders reflected a terrifying sight—massive boulders wrapped in cloth, soaked in oil and set ablaze.
Boom!
Some slammed into the wall, sending debris and flames everywhere while others soared over, crashing into the camp behind!
“Move!”
Captains and commanders roared at the top of their voices as the priests summoned force fields to intercept the flaming boulders.
But not all could be stopped. The places that were unfortunate were crushed by the boulder and fire took over, consuming everything in its wake!
“To the wall!”
Asher emerged from his tent, fully clad in Exodus, the Conqueror—his prized armor, forged from dwarven ore!
With a solemn expression, he marched for the wall, leading a row of paladins, clad in their gleaming armours and flowing cloaks.
He was led straight to the lift with some paladins and was taken up. The moment he reached the top, chaotic voices filled his ears.
His eyes descended on a scene where Stormbringers shot lightning-packed arrows into the dense fog. When the arrow hit a barbarian, it would release a lightning blast and that would clear the fog, allowing the knights to see the dense population of barbarians they were to fight!
Unfortunately, the fog swallowed the gaps almost instantly.
“This fog is unnatural,” Eleazar muttered at Asher’s side.
“Indeed,” Asher agreed. It was clearly a spell from a mage, a powerful one at that since it could cover over 3000 yards!
Turning, he gazed at the Stormbringers Markswomen trooping into the walkway and taking positions.
In a span of minutes, two thousand Markswoman lined the walls! The death toll among the barbarian side rose steadily—until their siege towers finally burst out of the fog.
Right before their wall!
The Stormbringers swiftly retreated, making way for the Grand Aegis Heavy Infantrymen who planted their tower shields into the ground and pointed their spears at the towers in a solid formation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The doors of three siege towers that arrived at once fell, connecting the siege towers to the wall and barbarians poured out.
In a swift motion, the Grand Aegis soldiers split their shield formation just enough to allow the Stormbringers who were on their knees to fire another deadly volley.
The arrows pierced through the barbarians, throwing some of them off the plank.
As the barbarians surged closer, the Grand Aegis soldiers closed the shield wall, thrusting their spears at the barbarians, in relentless waves, they impaled those who lunged toward them.
Like a refined machine, the Grand Aegis soldiers cut down barbarians in droves. Their momentum kept increasing—until something changed.
A different set of barbarians stormed out.
Like the others, they charged recklessly at the Grand Aegis men but were even more crazy as they jumped into the air, landing on the very spears that were meant to kill them!
However, this time something was wrong.
Their skins were hard to pierce through!
Looking closer, one would notice that these men didn’t have normal skin tones.
Their skins had a texture like that of a rhino!
With terrifying strength, they swung their massive axes.
The shield wall finally shattered.
Find your next read at My Virtual Library Empire
Chaos ensued.
“Hahaha, kill these weak men!”
A barbarian, towering at 7. 5 feet, considered a gaunt amongst his brethren, looked at the Aegis knight around him with a scoff and swung his cudgel.
With a single swing, he sent the knights flying.
But then, something flickered in the corner of his left eye.
Before the barbarian could turn, someone had moved past him.
Thud!