Chapter 169 - 168: Fight to the Death

Chapter 169: Chapter 168: Fight to the Death

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The artillery emplacements on the second floor of the wall finally roared to life.

The Artillery, positioned behind the crenellations, spat tongues of orange-red flame. Deafening roars shattered the night sky as an eerie wind instantly scattered the gunpowder smoke spewing from their muzzles. The cannonballs traced a series of imprecise arcs, smashing down into the surging green tide in the distance.

All of this Artillery was of the common White Quality, cheap goods that Gu Su had previously scrounged up from the Endless Ghost Wall. They used the most ordinary black powder.

With no specialized gunners to operate them, their power was mediocre, their range was short, and their accuracy was a matter of luck—to say nothing of any additional Attributes.

But when the enemy was so numerous they covered the entire ground, none of these problems mattered in the slightest.

A cannonball landed among a crowd of Lizardmen and exploded with a thunderous blast. In a flash of fire, three or four scrawny figures were blasted into the air, mangled limbs flying in all directions.

Then came another, and another...

Each shell blasted a small clearing in the green tide.

But the clearing wouldn’t even last a second.

The Lizardmen behind trampled over the still-twitching corpses of their comrades, instantly filling the gap.

They trampled over the mangled, bloody bodies, continuing to surge forward, their speed hardly slowing in the slightest.

The roar of the artillery fire echoed through the night sky. The exploding light repeatedly illuminated their ghastly green faces, yet those faces showed no fear—only a numb, mechanical drive to press forward.

Gu Su stood on the wall, his fingers digging into the stone of a crenellation.

’They’re too close.’

The Lizardmen had already charged to within a hundred meters of the wall.

He could even make out the bark still clinging to the crude Wooden Spears in their hands, see their chapped lips and cloudy eyes.

The green tide churned in the darkness like some kind of living, writhing lichen, devouring the ground inch by inch.

"Magic Skeletons, prepare to Attack!"

His voice boomed across the night sky.

The Magic Skeletons, already in formation on the wall, moved as one.

Red Ice stood at the forefront of the left flank. The ethereal blue, star-shaped mark between his brows shimmered faintly in the darkness.

He raised his hands, and the ethereal blue frost coalescing in his palms rapidly formed into Ice Arrows—not one, but seven or eight at once—that went whistling toward the densest part of the tide.

The twenty-odd Magic Skeletons behind him likewise raised their hands. Though not as skilled as Red Ice, each was still able to conjure one or two Ice Arrows.

The moment an Ice Arrow pierced a Lizardman’s body, its ghastly green skin was instantly coated in a layer of white frost. The struck Lizardman would stagger, its movements visibly slowing.

Some, struck in vital spots, collapsed to the ground, only to be trampled into paste by the comrades following them.

A single volley from the Red Ice Squad took out at least thirty of them.

But Flame Bone’s method of Attack was completely different.

This Minion, marked by the red triangular flag on his back, didn’t cast any Magic himself. He stood in the center of the formation, hands held aloft. As spectral flames flickered in his hollow eye sockets, an invisible wave spread out from his body, enveloping the twenty-odd Magic Skeletons behind him.

The Flame Magic those Skeletons were in the process of gathering suddenly swelled, empowered by this wave.

Fireballs that were originally fist-sized swelled to the size of bowls, their orange-red flames now tinged with an eerie golden edge.

More than twenty Fireballs smashed into the Lizardman horde at once, exploding thunderously. The flames tore a gap more than ten meters wide in the green tide, and the scorching heatwave could even be felt on the wall.

Lizardmen hit directly by the Fireballs were incinerated on the spot, turning to charcoal. Even those merely grazed by the flames had their skin instantly blister and crack, releasing a pungent, burnt odor.

Flame Bone’s amplification had at least doubled the power of this volley of the Fireball Technique.

Meanwhile, the Acid Wind Squad launched their Attack from the right side of the wall.

The green, star-shaped mark on Acid Wind’s own forehead was particularly conspicuous in the dark, and the green Magic Gas coalescing in his palms carried a pungent, acidic smell.

With a wave of his hand, the ball of Acidic Liquid flew in an arc into the enemy horde. It exploded on impact, splashing corrosive fluid over a wide area.

Lizardmen splashed by the Acidic Liquid shrieked in agony, clawing at the corroded areas, only for the flesh on their own fingers to rot away as well.

The twenty-odd Magic Skeletons behind him also cast the Strong Acid Technique. Globs of eerie green acid rained down one after another. The faces of the Lizardmen they struck began to melt, revealing the ghastly white cheekbones beneath.

In the areas shrouded by acidic mist, even the ground sizzled, releasing faint wisps of greenish smoke.

After three waves of magical attacks, the Lizardman tide finally stalled for a moment.

The foremost wave had left at least a hundred corpses in its wake. Those behind were forced to trample over the still-smoking remains to press on, which did slow them down for a beat.

But only for a beat.

Gu Su could see it clearly: the rate at which his Magic could kill them simply couldn’t keep up with the rate at which the Lizardmen were swarming in.

Red Ice’s Ice Arrows took time to coalesce, Acid Wind’s Strong Acid Technique consumed a great deal of Mana, and while Flame Bone’s amplification was powerful, the spellcasting Skeletons also needed to rest.

"Rotate in three squads!" he commanded sharply. "Red Ice leads the Attack, Flame Bone prepares, Acid Wind on standby!"

When your Mana is spent, fall back and rest! Next squad up!

Don’t stop! Don’t let them reach the wall!"

The three Minions nodded silently and immediately began coordinating their squads.

The Red Ice Squad continued its Attack, the Flame Bone Squad took a half step back to gather Mana, and the Acid Wind Squad rested in place.

Ice Arrows, Fireballs, and Strong Acid rained down in rotation. The green tide was repeatedly blown apart, only to flow back together again each time.

The corpses piled higher and higher, but the living Lizardmen continued to surge forward, wave after relentless wave.

As they closed to within fifty meters of the wall, Gu Su knew that Magic alone was no longer enough to hold them back.

Just then, four Corpse Witches hurried over from the other side of the wall.

Potions of all sizes hung from their waists, some glowing an eerie purple, others a deep, inky green. The bottles clinked against one another as they walked, producing a faint tinkling sound.

Gu Su glanced at them and got straight to the point. "Do you have any poisons or poison smoke that can be used immediately? Anything toxic will work."

"We do!"

The Corpse Witches all began to pull out the various potion bottles hanging from their belts.

However, there weren’t very many of them.

After all, neither the Toxicity Research Room nor the Poison Laboratory had been built yet, let alone the Highly Poisonous Alchemy Room and Highly Poisonous Processing Factory they planned on building for mass production. The poisons they had on hand were all concocted by themselves from limited materials.

All told, there were only these few bottles. They couldn’t just gather common weeds like they did when fighting the Sewer Kobolds; for now, this was all they had.

"How do we use them?"

"Shake them hard and throw them. Aim for the most crowded areas."

Since they lacked the means to create many things at the moment, the Corpse Witches had to make their poisons as simply as possible.

They weren’t trying to coat weapons with poison or get anyone to drink it. They just had to activate the potion and toss the bottle.

Nothing else to worry about after that.

As for the poison’s effectiveness, that would depend on the weather.

Of course, in a situation like this—a tidal wave of charging enemies—even the weakest poison would be quite useful.

"Alright. Combat teams, over here."