Chapter 223: Battle In Silverspire 1

[Silverspire — 6:00 AM.]

?GRAAAAAA!!!!!

?A gigantic bear, standing a whole ten meters tall, roared as it stood up on its hind legs, its massive paws pounding against the earth and vibrating through the damp morning soil.

?"Kill!"

?It spoke, the crude, grating human word tearing from its maw, and instantly, thousands of ravenous monsters charged toward the city defense barrier in a deafening wave of fur, claws, and bloodlust.

?BOOOOM!!!

?A blinding beam of light shot out from the heavy spirit cannons mounted on the wall, smashing heavily into the charging monsters and obliterating dozens in a single fiery blast.

?"Keep firing! Mages, show them your battle power!" Marianne yelled, standing atop the ramparts with her cloak whipping in the backwash of the artillery fire, her eyes locked on the chaotic carnage below.

?"We have more than twenty spirit cannons on this wall. Each one can wipe out up to twenty SS-Rank monsters in a single shot, and even an SSS-Rank beast would get seriously injured by a direct hit. But... why aren’t these things even trying to dodge?" Katherine asked, her brow furrowing as she pointed down at the wall of mutated lions leading the charge.

?"Those five male mutated lions are all SSS-Rank beasts! Each of them should be fast enough to dodge a cannon blast, but they just keep running straight into the barrier." She added.

?"I see what you’re driving at. Any creature that makes it to SSS-Rank has some real intelligence, but it looks like something is pulling their strings... Aim those cannons at the frontline monsters!" Marianne ordered, her jaw tightening as the heavy artillery lowered their barrels toward the advancing horde.

?BOOM!!

BOOM!

?The cannons unleashed lethal energy beams that slammed right into the lions, blowing them apart into bloody chunks and scattered fragments.

?".....?"

?"Huh?"

?The awakened fighters stationed along the wall were completely stunned, lowering their weapons for a fraction of a second.

?SSS-Rank monsters are notoriously tough and possess dense spiritual cores that shouldn’t go down from a single defensive strike, especially when they have actual combat stages and battle instincts. So why did those apex predators drop like fragile glass?

?"What if they aren’t even real SSS-Rank?" Daniel asked, stepping up beside Marianne and turning his head toward her with a grim expression.

?"When we first tracked their signatures during the early reconnaissance, they were only S-Rank and a few SS-Rank... I think something forced a massive, unnatural power boost onto them overnight, but didn’t actually push their internal foundations all the way up to true SSS-Rank."

?"An artificial boost? These things only carry the superficial aura of SSS-Rank. At best, they’re just peak SS-Rank beasts riding on borrowed momentum," Katherine noted, her ears catching the muffled, secondary explosions echoing from the other distant city gates.

?"Never underestimate your enemies on a battlefield, no matter how fragile they seem. Did you see those five standing out there in the distance?" Marianne asked, pointing a gauntleted finger past the carnage toward the quiet figures waiting beyond the horde.

?"Are you talking about the cobra, the bear, the lioness, the monkey, and... wait. Is that a human?" Katherine blinked in surprise, staring hard at the fifth figure—a humanoid woman hovering effortlessly in the midair above the four monstrous beasts.

?"She’s a high-tier shape-shifting monster capable of human transmutation... Those five are the main commanders orchestrating this entire tide. They’re genuine SSS-Rank entities, and every single one of them is a special boss-class threat." Marianne revealed grimly, her fingers gripping the pommel of her sword.

?"I can feel their bloodlust and heavy demonic pressure bleeding through the air from all the way over here... Don’t tell me there are more of these commanders commanding the tides at all four gates." Katherine exclaimed, her eyes widening as the terrifying scale of the invasion settled in.

?"Guild Leader, we can’t just play defensive waiting games forever. Sooner or later, the monsters will push past the effective firing range of our cannons and mages, and then the energy barrier will take the brunt of it. Once the barrier falls, these stone walls won’t hold for long." Daniel stated bluntly, lowering his gaze to his healing arm with a flicker of frustration.

?He knew from the reports that he needed a full week for the bone structure to regenerate properly, but six days hadn’t even passed yet since his injury.

?’My hand looks fine on the outside, but the bones inside are still too weak for a heavy clash against a true boss monster.’ He thought to himself, clenching his fist in quiet agony.

?"Fall back and coordinate the ranged fighters from the upper walkway. We have to hold this line." Marianne said, drawing her sharp sword from its scabbard with a clear, ringing chime of steel. Without a second’s hesitation, she leaped straight off the high wall into the open air.

?"Guild Leader!! Be careful! You’re the general of this city defense line! Remember that!!" Daniel yelled after her, leaning over the stone parapet.

?"Don’t worry, we’re right behind her," Katherine said with a cool, unbothered smile before diving off the rampart after Marianne, her spiritual aura flaring to life.

?"She always charges in without thinking." Daniel sighed, shaking his head at their reckless bravery. He looked back at the gathered awakened fighters who were still standing frozen on the walkway.

?"What are you all standing around for?! Do you seriously think I’m going to give some grand, inspiring speech right now?! Go out there, protect your city, and protect the people you love! But above all, keep yourselves alive!!" He roared at them, his voice carrying the full weight of a commander.

?"Yes!!"

?All one hundred awakened fighters—ranging from B-Rank recruits to hardened SSS-Rank veterans—nodded in unison. They vaulted over the stone edge, their boots slamming heavily into the earth outside the wall.

?"Charge!! Protect the city!!!"

?"Attack!!!"

?A warrior yelled, summoning his personal blade and surging forward past the shimmering edge of the energy barrier. The rest of the human vanguard followed closely, stepping through the lines to form a solid, unyielding defensive front.

?"Looks like everyone made it," Marianne said, glancing back at the awakened fighters and seeing the fierce, unyielding determination burning in their eyes—a spark that no artificial monster tide could ever extinguish.

?GRAAAAAA!!

?"Here they come, boys! Knights, take the front line!" Marianne shouted, channeling her spirit energy into her voice.

?Without wasting a breath, the heavy knights stepped forward in unison, slamming their massive tower shields into the dirt to form an impenetrable wall of steel, iron, and dense spirit energy.

?"Assassins and warriors, guard the flanks! Cut down any monster that manages to slip past the knights! Mages, keep up the suppression fire with long-range spells. Cannoneers, target the enemy’s rear formation—break up their support lines from the back and leave the front to us!!" She commanded, her tactical vision clear.

?"Understood, General!!"

?A short distance away in the open wilderness, the five leading boss monsters watched the human formation lock into place, slow, sadistic grins spreading across their monstrous faces.

?"Humans are genuinely pathetic... No matter what formations or clever little tactics you try to pull, this city is falling today," The dark-skinned humanoid woman hovering in the air said, a cold, mocking smirk on her lips.

?"Should we move in and crush their bones?" The giant cobra hissed, its coils shifting hungrily.

?"Not yet. Let’s just sit back and watch them struggle." She replied lazily, enjoying the prelude to the slaughter.