An army of 20,000 surrounded the city of Ared, the last city of the dragon kingdom, to give one last line of defense before the capital.
A number of 20,000 soldiers was quite small in the grand scheme of things. It would be acceptable for small skirmish between nations, but not a last stand for an all out war. And when the army they faced was 50,000 strong, their odds were not great to say the least.
The reason for this lack of man power was simple. Most able bodied fighters were ordered back to the capital to bolster their ranks to fend of the onslaught of creatures heading there way. There was quality in quantity after all.
While this alone did not fare well for them, the situation was rather grim in another aspect. Humans were a weak species, and thus required numbers to overcome odds that were unfavorable to them. If a giant beast came, one would naturally need to rely on ones allies to work together and take it out.
However, what if the army they were facing, did not only have quantity, but the army itself was made up of quality?
The answer was simple.
They would die.
The army they were currently facing comprised of the menace known as beastmen. A type of Demi-human that took more from the animal side than they did the human one. They were vicious and very rarely willing to converse with humans. Though there were some that would forge friendly relationships with humans, these were few and far between. Most would rather devour all in their path. And each one had the power top do so.
Wolfmen: though they were the most common type of beastmen, they were still extremely deadly. Possessing razor sharp claws and frightening speed and senses, even a silver ranked adventurer would be hard pressed to defeat one. Though they shared common traits with the well known werewolf, they are significantly weaker than there larger cousins.
Birdmen: though commonly mistaken for the heteromorphic being known as a Birdman, they were significantly more common then the latter. They possessed the weakest physical ability out of the beastmen, but that was still more than enough to carry a fully grown human. Each one of there arms possessed feathered wings that extended from the wrist to the hip. While they still had hand at the ends of their arms, there legs were more developed so they could fight in the sky.
Ape beastmen: easily possessing the most muscle of any other member of their race, they primarily acted as the brawn of their races wars. They also were said to posses the most intelligence, as they shared the most ancestry with man. A single one possessed enough arm strength to thrown a small boulder with the force of a cannon up to 30 meters.
Though this was only a small portion of the species that made up their ranks, it shows just how outmatched a human would be in a straight fight.
The variety in their fold was quite large. However the one thing that remained consistent was the strength they possessed.
In adventuring terms, The average adult human is ranked as a 3 in terms of difficulty. For comparison an adult beastmen would rank at a 30. therefore a single beastmen represented the strength of ten of theirs.
Of course, numbers weren't everything. One could not defeat a difficulty 90 creature, a level reserved for adamantite adventures, with 30 people. Often times numbers meant they were more dangerous than what was implied.
Even if they matched up correctly, that would mean at there best, they would only be able to kill 2,000 beastmen before they perished.
The people who were about to give their lives knew this, but did not give voice to these despairingly bad odds. That was because if someone really did say it, they might lose what little courage they had scrounged up to fight here.
They were the last line of defense before the beastmen reached there loved ones who had evacuated, so they could not give in to terror. They knew they would die, but they would not despair. The weaponry and the barricade around the city were meant to weaken and stall the beastmen rather than defeat them, so they had to cover as much time as could so they could prepare.
"So, they're finally here..." one of the soldiers gave his thoughts to the one next time him as a method of calming his disturbed heart.
At the horizon of the field in front of them, a wave of flesh proceeded to come ever closer, as if it was a looming spectre of death. Everyone stationed here knew that the beastmen were coming, but it was still shocking to have to see it up close.
"It seems so. At least my wife and child aren't here. They ran to the capital like everyone else." The man seemed to fall into a period of contemplation. Though no one but him knew what he was thinking, the most likely option was he was thinking of seeing his family, or at least of them. "Do we have any chance at victory?"
"A victory for us is stalling them as long as we can. Defeating this number is utterly impossible." He did not take his eyes of the army as he made his reply, as he felt if he turned away from it at this moment, he may not be able to draw on the courage to look back.
The other man gave a worried look towards him, but simply shook his head and faced the oncoming storm. Now was not the time to complain or fall into depression.
The way the soldiers were placed was made to maximize to potential time they could save. 5,000 foot soldiers were placed on the ground to fend of the first wave of attackers, and the remaining 15,000 would be on top of the wall to use other siege tactics on them from afar.
Not only do I want my family to be safe, but I also couldn't imagine the queen falling under the hands of the beastmen...
Though no one here had ever met her, it was common knowledge that the queen of the dragon kingdom was a little girl. Though no one knew how It was possible that she could run a kingdom, it could simply be her dragon blood coming into play for that. She would often send letters of encouragement to those conscripted into the fighting. Anyone who read them would instantly feel their heart melt and want to protect her at all cost.
Dear soldiers of the dragon kingdom...
I can't thank you all enough for your hard work! I dew really appreciate it, because otherwize we would all be captured and eaten. Don't give up hope! I believe in you!
-Draudillon.
The notes would always have misspellings and poor typography. If one didn't know who it was from, they may mistake it for drunken rambling. Though since it was from a child trying her best, it made everyone invigorated by invoking a protective desire in all of them. This fighting spirit was the only thing that could get them to face an army such as this.
"Therefore..." The soldier knocked his bow as he gave voice to his thoughts, followed by the rest of the contingent. "We won't let them reach the capital!" the bows were loosed, sending a storm of arrows to the mass of beast.
Though this was a common strategy, due to the powerful hides and fur of most beastmen, the arrowheads didn't do much on the first volley. As the rain of arrows fell, Most simply fell of their coats and clattered to the ground harmlessly. Very few managed to strike home, and the ones that did were not fatal, merely blinding them in one eye.
This was not a reason to panic. They would simply have to release another volley to cause more damage. However...
"Why are there so few birdmen in the air?"
Logically speaking, they would employ the entirety of there forces to assault the dragon kingdom to ensure they would win the war. That was just common sense. Then what could be the reason to hold off on deploying their air forces?
"Could it be they want to wait until the Firing squad has been taken out?" the soldier next to him attempted to answer his query, but there were still problems with the idea.
It would certainly make sense from a tactical perspective, since there arrows would be the best method to take them down. But the reverse was also true. They had the easiest time reaching them on the barracks, so that was a major point of worry in there plans to stop them. They would have needed to be defeated first for them to pull it off succesfully.
Five more rapid storms of arrows were directed at the beastmen, but at they end, it seemed only 1000 of them could even be considered injured, and only 50 of them had actually fallen. However they had already reached the front line, So any more would harm their own soldiers. So as the two armies clashed, sword to fang, they supported from the rear, attacking individuals to aid them.
The physical abilities of the two was without contest. Even if a sword strike managed to strike home, it was likely that it wouldn't be enough to push through, and the soldier would be viciously torn apart, skin from flesh from bone.
However despite the support they were receiving from the archers, due to the overwhelming disparity, the 5,000 soldiers were slaughtered in less then 5 minutes, leaving only carnage in their place. Though this was bad, as they needed to hold off the enemy as long as possible, it was not the worst one possible, since the bulk of there tools were on the top of the wall, in order to slow them down.
As soon as the human wall had been torn through, the Wolfmen at the front sunk their claws into the stone wall, a feat proving the sharpness and muscle strength one possessed, and began to scale it to reach the top of the city and begin what would no doubt be a massacre.
In the face of this, the army did not grow desperate, nor did they fall into panic, but simply stared at the ever encroaching soldiers get larger and larger, until the entire wall was almost filled with the bodies of beastmen. Though it may seem as they had given up and waited for death, there was a reason for their inaction. And that reason soon became apparent within seconds.
"AHHHHHHH!"
"What the hell is GRAAAAH!"
"Get it off me!"
They had been given orders to wait until the last possible second in order to pour boiling oil and tar on the sides of the walls to get as many beastmen as possible. Though this would be a massive waste of resources, and one would think to use boiling water instead, the dragon kingdom was not in a state to be worrying about saving resources. Not only that, but the oil would make the sides of the walls slick, which would make it much harder for them to climb it.
The plan was to cause the beastmen to see they could no longer climb the walls, and would then storm the front gate all at once to break though into the city. However that would only make it easier to pour things on them, since they would converge in one spot, that would then be stuck together with the tar. This method if pulled of correctly, would make it extremely hard for the beastmen to actually get in the city, and would force them to halt their advance on the city to think of a way in.
seeing as the first phase had been pulled off without a hitch, the men's spirits began to rise, and as they saw the beastmen backing off to head towards the gate, they dared to hold the faint hope that they could win if luck was on their side.
"We might actually be able to win this! Do you think..." he had turned to express his excitement to his comrade next to him so he could get another perspective, his breath caught in his throat. Where there had once been a man was now a red splotch on the floor. He turned his head to the direction of the city so he could attempt to understand what just happened, and nearly vomited when he did. Nor was it just him. The rest of the contingent nearly did the same as well, some not even able to due that much, which left the sickly stench of bile waft through the gore ridden battlefield.
Plastered to a watchtower by an arrow was the knight from before, but to call it a mere arrow would be understating it in the extreme. It would be more apt to call it a ballista bolt made from metal due to its size.
Ballista bolts were made of wood for a variety of reasons. Not only due to the expense of making them from higher grade materials, but also because of the distance they could go. Using metal for such a ammunition type would be to heavy for one, and thus would cause it to clatter uselessly to the ground from its weight.
So then what was this done by?
Following the path taken from the hunk of metal would lead ones eyes to a terrifying sight. Four 8 meter tall statues shaped like a centaur lined the horizon, each wielding a different weapon. However they were not mere decoration. The best proof of this was the leftmost statue that was possessing a bow. It was moving its arms to show it had sentience, and was moving into position to shoot another arrow.
Anyone could guess at this point what these creatures were. They were golems, constructs of magic and materials that would do the bidding of whoever ordered them. However who could have predicted that they could be made to be this large! Even ordinary wood golems took more than a year to build!
With perfect movements that would take any human years of mastery, another bolt was let loose from its quiver, and smashed only a few meters away from where he had been standing. As a result, the wall that had previously barricaded the city had been completely smashed, leaving a huge hole in its wake for the beastmen to pour into. There previous work to stop there advance was erased in the blink of an eye.
With a opportunity now available to them, they climbed the wall with ridiculous speed. Now that it was uneven, it could be climbed with ease. Even a human could climb up the wall as it was now.
"Cheh, dammit!" he did the only thing he could do at that moment, and took what arrows he had left to try to stop their advance, but it was too late. The horde had already reached him, and 3 different creatures had lunged for his throat at the same time. And as if he needed anything else to be depressed about, out of the corner of his eye he could see the birdmen starting their advance as well.
It was pointless, huh?
With that pitiful last thought, he closed his eyes, and braced himself for death.
"[Walls Of Jericho!]"
Before any of them reached him however, a translucent, red barrier came into existence between him and the beastmen. Annoyed that there prey had slipped through there grasp at the last moment, they clawed and bit at the invisible wall, but to no avail.
"What the hell is this thing!?"
He also shared the beastmen's thoughts. Just what caused this barrier to appear? Nor was it just him. The entire army, which now was protected under the guise of this mysterious shield, could not help but think what had just saved their lives. They were so shocked that they didn't notice another metal arrow bounce right off it.
As if to answer the beastmen, a cold voice rang forth.
"Don't worry about it. [Triple Maximize Widen Magic – Fireball!]"
Three argent flames flew over his head from behind him, which then collided with the opposing force. The results were obvious, for as soon as contact was made, the balls of fire erupted into mighty pillars of incendiary glory, erasing all in their way. So quick was the conflict ended that people could not help but wonder how a life and death battle just occurred there moments prior.
This power brought both terror and joy to those who witnessed it. To those on the brink of death, it seemed to be a godsend for there lives to be able to continue to see another day, but it also caused them fear at seeing such a mighty spell. Anything that they could muster could not hope to defeat such a force, and as they saw its source, their terror only deepened.
This powerful flame had flown from a skeleton, draped in ropes black as knight. As the nemesis of all things living, it caused everyone to believe they simply were going to die by the hand of someone else. Though it was not the only entity.
Surrounding it were three others. An avian shrouded in gold, a slime that easily dwarfed a man in size, and a small girl who could not have been over the age of ten.
No one had any idea what to make of this, as each ones appearance was so drastically different from one another, that nobody could think of a rational response to this. The words that were said next also threw them into another state of panic.
"Now then, shall we get started?"
A/N I honestly wanted this part to be longer, but that would have taken way to much time. Either way I hope you enjoyed it!
