BXBX NOVEL Chapter 395
“No Lady Nanna, I understand your intentions, but master designated the resting protocols for a reason and I’m confident we can manage. Please just inform commander Findlay of the situation but please don’t request his aid, we will handle it.” The lieutenant answered back with a confident voice, saluting as he spoke. Though they were faced against unusual opponents their combined power should be enough, their side had a total of 5 C-ranks after all.
“Very well, I wish you luck. Loki and I will do our best to keep you abreast of the situation throughout the battlefield.” Though Nanna was loathe to do so as that would mean she’d need to watch the ghost monsters closely it was her job, something that trumped her fear.
Maya wisely understood this difficulty thus she brought over the large bag of sweets gifted by Dark and placed them by their side while she swiftly popped open a bottle of wine to calm her own nerves. If the kids were willing to face their fears then she as an adult and their guardian couldn’t very well hide away. The three of them thus huddled around the dungeon core and bravely watched the situation unfold, their skin forming bumps whenever one of the ghost monsters released a mournful wail.
The frost troll lieutenant rearranged his forces, placing a lot of the solely physical attack users out of harms way or beside those who could use magic. Frost wolves were one such caste that was regulated away from the battlefield, given how susceptible they were to the ghost’s attacks.
The ice wolves and couerl pups stayed since they could cover their limbs in ice and shoot mana blasts from their long whiskers respectively. Several frost dwarf warriors were also removed from play so as to reduce the number of entities requiring magic protection. The quarrellers however were kept given that arrow fire would work well against the flying bats.
To make up for this loss in strength the frost troll lieutenant summoned forth a large contingent of frost elementals from the lower floors, 20 to be precise. These monsters would be a good match for the ghosts, able to restrict their actions quite well, with neither side dealing much damage to one another. The lieutenant’s plan was to deal with the wave slowly, grinding them down one at a time mainly through 3rd circle magic. The yuki-onnas will be the main attacking force during this wave.
A few minutes after everyone was in place.
“Screeeeechhh!”
.....
“Hoooowwwwllll”
“Waaaaiiilllll”
The horrible sounds emitted by the wave could be heard as the bats and ghosts charged into the winter forest. The large bats swarmed together as they glided through the tall trees and above the canopy. Each of them looked quite ugly in appearance and grew progressively larger the higher their rank became.
There were 6 types of bats present:
· Long eared bat, F-rank
· Aggressive fruit bat, F-rank
· Powder snow blue bat, E-rank
· Polar fang bat, E-rank
· Northern great bat, D-rank
· And finally a mid D-rank species called Freezing vampire bat
The smallest of these creatures had an almost 2 metre wingspan and despite their sizes flew elegantly through the dense brush of trees, far more adept at flying that the artic owls Frost had summoned previously.
Loki warned the troops about the polar fang bats and the freezing vampire bats as both of them had poisoned fangs, another problem to contend with. The frost dwarven priests and their ice dwarven apprentice priest evolutions could help heal wounds but struggled with poison.
The frost troll witch doctors were more prevalent in such areas but there were so few that it was best to just avoid getting bitten in the first place.
The ghosts followed in shortly after the bat swarm, their ethereal forms allowing them to simply pass through the trees.
The originally intended purpose for the secondary defence zone couldn’t be used against this wave, ghosts could only be blocked by magical means, physical walls meant nothing to them. Thus the forces were grouped up towards the centre, filling up the central bunkers with the bestial corps on the outside and bringing up the rear.
The moment the bats were in sight the frost troll lieutenant looked towards Kiba and nodded. The young tiger replied with a wild smile before taking to the skies. He would start this battle with a grand welcome.
The lieutenant then looked at the other bunkers where the C-rank yuki-onnas were placed before raising his axe up above his head.
“Attack!” He swiftly brought down his weapon and roared out his order instantly bringing life to the bunkers. Kiba also flew across the sky at tremendous speeds, brutally smashing into the swarm of bats with his claws outstretched.
Crashing sounds and screeching could be heard as the massive tiger penetrated through the lines of bats, carving up their bodies as he passed, their wings in particular. Several bats that were still alive thus plummeted the forest floor wherein their next aggressors were waiting. The ice wolves and coeurl pups quickly dashed across the floor, wrapping the necks of the still flailing bats in their jaws before snapping them with intense force, killing them outright.
The quarrellers weren’t ones to gape at the sky while others were working, they loaded their bows and shot their arrows at the dozens of bats obscuring the tree tops -avoiding hitting Kiba of course. Thankfully the bats had pretty poor defence, the arrows dug in deep, killing several and dragging many more down to ground level where the bestial corps and remaining physical combat users went to town.
They moved with fierce intensity knowing that this was the best time to deal damage. The ghost would arrive in a few moments and the bats wouldn’t fall for the same surprise twice.
The death count of the bats quickly rose, ten, twenty, thirty but unfortunately all good things eventually come to an end. The wails of the approaching ghosts grew louder, and many could now been seen drifting between and through the trees. One appeared silently behind an ice dwarf who was in the open after felling a couple bats. It didn’t wail or even make the slightest kind of vibration.
The ghost appeared to be made of translucent blue fog and wore a cloak covering most of its body and face. A large black scythe was held in its hands raised up high above its head.
Without a single sound the scythe slashed down through the air and cut through the ice dwarf’s back. No blood could be seen but the dwarf’s skin where the blade passed greyed and the light in his eyes dwindled, his soul had been snuffed out and devoured by the ghost.
“Physical monsters fall back now!” The frost troll lieutenant saw what happened and couldn’t stop his skin from crawling. The ice dwarf died just like that without a sound, it was so eery and bone chilling.
What killed the dwarf was an upper D-ranked ghost called a reaper; skilled users of scythes and like all ghosts translucent in form but unlike its lower ranked kin it made no sound, no wailing, a silent killer. The ice dwarf didn’t even know what happened before he died.
The lieutenant’s orders were carried out immediately as he wasn’t the only one who saw the death of the ice dwarf. Floods of ice magic swiftly bombarded the area where the physical monsters once were, barring the progression of the ghosts even killing a few of the lower ranked ones. Bats that didn’t make it out in time also died under this deluge, a significant chunk of them being killed at the onset of confrontation. A very weak monster in terms of defence now however they would be attacking in earnest.
“Roar!!!” Kiba roared out as his immaculate fur was covered in blood, some of which was actually his. The bats had very fierce claws and fangs and though he easily ploughed through them, killing many he didn’t come out unscathed. The freezing vampire bats in particular left some nasty gashes across his torso.
“Kiba fall back and lead them to the quarrellers and ballistae! Elementals move forward and mage castes rain ice upon those ghosts, limit their movements for the yuki-onnas!” The lieutenant hollered out order after order to which his soldiers followed without question.
Kiba swooped backwards after taunting the remaining swarm of bats causing them to follow close behind. The ballistae and quarrellers thus opened fire cutting down scores and scores of flyers while the mage castes did their best to restrict the movements of the ghosts but unfortunately that proved to be far more difficult.
The magic only really restricted the lower ranked ghosts, the D-ranks simply walked or rather floated on through with several even casting their own magic, the magic of the dead.