The Assembly
The Assembly
This was unusual as only when the patrol team could not handle the issue would the alarm signal sound out.
Roland and Carter looked at each other and then rushed to the castle's backyard. Roland mounted the horse which had been prepared by the guards and headed for the city wall with Carter and his heelers.
When they boarded the city wall, the Militia was already in place. To Roland's relief, there was suddenly an array of guns on the top of wall. It seemed that the eggs did work.
Roland looked northwesterly, finding a group of demonic beasts approaching Border Town. Roland guessed there were about 20 evil beasts.
Iron Axe ran to Roland from his guarding position, giving a salute and reporting to Roland, "Your Highness, there is something weird about those demonic beasts."
"Weird? Do you mean that they generally don't take collective action?"
"No," Iron Axe explained, "colonial animals would forever be colonial animals. Take wolves for example. Their habitual nature won't be changed. However, these demonic beasts are not the same kind, and they are not supposed to take actions together. Some hunters even witnessed them fighting with each other before."
Demonic beasts were often mutated. They had a burning desire to hunt, were prone to be infuriated and did not know how to avoid risks. In a sense, they had lower intelligence than beasts.
Roland carefully observed for a while, finding different sizes and species of beasts, including demonic wolves and demonic bison. Roland thought it didn't mean that they knew the importance of collective actions.
Because they were still guided by the barriers and traps furnished by Iron Axe. All the beasts had been gradually getting close to the front of the city wall.
Van'er was so nervous that his wet palms could not grip his gun tightly. While nobody was noticing, he secretly wiped the sweat using his clothes.
The hunters who were responsible for observation repeatedly said, "Relax and take a deep breath." Van'er did as what the hunters said over and over. However, his could not cease to be nervous because he had heard so many rumors about how fierce the demonic beasts were for the past ten years when he lived in the Western Region. Since the start of Months of Demons, the Hunter Squad had killed some scattered demonic beasts under the city wall, which had eased his fear for them a little and he had thought he could be brave enough to face the fierce beasts. The fact was, he was not that brave.
Being picked out by His Highness to be Deputy Force Commander of the Spear Squad, Van'er tried to keep his expression calm, maintaining the appearance of an armed guard.
The beasts were getting closer to Van'er and he could recognize what they looked like. At the head of the beasts was a demonic bison, whose two shiny black embolons were as thick as his arms. Its fur was just like a cloak, fully covering its body. Van'er felt the ground was quaking while the demonic bison was about 70 meters away from the city wall. He licked his dried lips, waiting for the "thrust" order from the hunters.
A loud noise was heard.
The demonic beast did not slow down and directly ran into the city wall, shattering its brain and splashing its black blood.
Before Van’er could catch his breath, two demonic wolves swooped down.
"Stab!"
Hearing the order from the hunters, Van'er subconsciously raised his gun and tried to stab the wolves even though they were not in his attack range. The effect was not as good as they trained: Some thrust their guns immediately after the wolves jumped up, and some failed to react in time after receiving the order.
As a consequence, there was only one demonic wolf being pushed back, while another one fell down on the top of the wall.
"Stay in formation!" the hunters shouted loudly.
Although he was wondering which side the demonic beast would attack, Van'er still remembered what Iron Axe had warned them. When you focused on the things behind you, the danger would come from the front. He kept closely staring at the oncoming beasts, holding fast to his gun.
The Hunter Squad was obviously more experienced than the Spear Squad.
Before the demonic wolf fell down, the hunters had pointed their machetes at the beast. Iron Axe was pretty nimble; he directly dashed to the beast, smashed at its waist with his gunstock and then watched it roll a few circles in the air.
The demonic beasts were great in both physical stamina and defensive ability. Thus, such attack would not cause it too much damage. Alter falling down, the beast got up instantly and showed its sharp fangs.
Iron Axe had already pointed his gun to its forehead.
Then came a gunshot!
The skull of the demonic beast flew into the air and its body retreated back, collapsing and trembling.
"The damn beast was dead now. You need to continue keeping your position."
"Ah, my stomach." Someone was screaming.
Van'er glanced at him from the corner of his eye and saw a member of the platoon team sitting beside the city wall, hands stained with blood.
"His tharm was out!"
"It was scratched by the claws of demonic wolves."
"Please help me..."
"Damn it! Bind up with a cloth!"
The scene was chaotic. A few demonic boars with rough skin rushed at the city wall and were hit by crossbows of the hunters.
"Calm down!" Roland shouted loudly. He was blocked by Nightingale just now and arrived at this moment, "Don't you remember what to do if someone get hurt during the training? Follow the rules!"
What prince said reminded Van'er of his responsibility. As Deputy Force Commander of the city wall's defense team, there should be someone organizing the rescue when there was an injury.
He named his two teammates and said, "You take him to the hospital quickly!"
According to his previous experience, there was no chance that this man could survive. His Highness, instead, considered it to be more important to follow the orders and regulations, especially for the member of the Militia.
After the wounded were carried away, the order was restored on the city wall. The demonic beasts seemed to be of numerous quantities, only a few could impose threats on the people atop the city wall.
The Hunter Squad shot the left demonic beasts one by one and Van'er eventually took a deep breath. He felt he had use up all of his energy during this half an hour's battle.
At this moment, the hunters on the alert in the watchtower of the city wall shouted again, "My gosh, what's that..."
Van'er also saw it.
Although it was a long distance from the city wall, it must be a buster from its silhouette. Van'er firmly believed that it would be larger than ten cattle together.
Only Iron Axe recognized what that monster was at once.
He sucked in a breath. There was no doubt that it was a demonic hybrid and that this would bring them big troubles.