Way of the Knights

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Southern Wall, Final Haven Kingdom.

On top of the Southern Walls, several people were overlooking the situation below.

There is a solemn atmosphere in the air, silence permeated the surroundings. Those who had weaker cultivations couldn't help but to swallow some spittle from time to time. The tension in the air were making them sweat profusely.

Some of their supervisors already gave them the pep-talk. They were also promised with handsome compensation depending on their performance. This of course alleviated some of their worries, but of course their nervousness still lingers. The grip of death is slowly inching forward, they will face a war that would determine not only their safety but also the safety of their loved ones and home so of course, how could they not be nervous?

*Psssh!*

A loud hissing sound caught the attention of many. 

The Prince, along with the Guardians who were standing on top of the walls, hurriedly looked at the horizon and saw that there was a glaring red, smoke signal that was rising up to the skies.

Balmung's pupils constricted, he inhaled sharply, raised his spear and roared: "Brace yourselves! Our enemies are coming! Raise your weapons! Today, we defend our home!!!"

"DEFEND OUR HOME!!!" The soldiers around him roared back. 

The morale of the defenders rose as they tightly gripped their shield in anticipation. Their fighting spirit rose as they glared at the horizon.

"The spies are coming back." Luis whispered as he saw several silhouettes running for their dear life as they scattered some makeshift traps and molotovs, in hopes of slowing down the marches of the beast horde or cutting down their numbers.

As the spies ran back, everyone felt the earth quaked. Trees were falling down and dark clouds were seemingly advancing along with the beast horde.

The spies maintained a large distance away from the beast horde, when the defenders saw them running back, they knew that it was only a matter of time before the beast horde emerged from the wilderness.

And that time arrived.

*Roar!*

Roars filled with animosity, howls that sent shivers to the spine. The deadly march of the beast horde shook the earth and the hearts of the defenders. It took only a glance of their numbers for their morale to sink.

Their numbers were seemingly endless. From the last update that Balmung received, their numbers reached a whopping 800,000 in number. 

All of the saw pretty much every variety of beast in the horde. Some of them were the common ones while some were something they've never seen before. They came in different shapes and sizes but to the defenders, these beasts shared one goal, and that is the destruction of the kingdom.

While some soldiers lost hope as they saw their sheer numbers. There are some people who didn't and never allowed their spirits to be dampened by the enemy.

"Archers! Take aim!!" Luis bellowed from the side. 

His booming voice was laced with his energies, slapping the Ranger Units awake from their stupor. They hurriedly took stance and aimed at the incoming wave of beasts.

"On my mark!" Luis bellowed once more. He raised his hand with an open palm while he was glaring at the beast horde. He waited patiently, he wanted the horde to reach a certain distance in his vision. 

Once they arrive, Luis' booming voice was heard once again. "Rangers! Loose!"

*Chak!* *Chak!* *Chak*

Volleys upon volleys of arrows went flying from the Ranger Units. The arrows arched beautifully, reached their peak and came flying down towards the marching beast horde.

The horde saw the arrows coming but only a few decided to evade it. Those few were the ones who sensed danger in these arrows, most likely the weaker ones who felt that these arrows could take their lives. The rest didn't even bother since they trusted their thick skins. 

Luis along with a few knowledgeable people smirked inwardly. 

The volley of arrows fell to the beast horde. Some beast didn't manage to evade in time and outright died, causing their bodies to be crushed by the marching horde. The others were also struck with the arrows but didn't even felt pain, they continued marching forward. 

It was then that there was a huge change that happened to the beast horde.

*Roar!* *Roar!* *Roar!*

Pained cries and roars echoed on the battlefield. The defenders looked confused as they felt multiple explosions and saw flying pieces of flesh.

"Hey what's going on?"

"I don't know! All I could see are flying flesh!"

"Do you think it's because of the arrows?"

"Now that you say that…yeah, I think so too!"

"Look! It's definitely the arrows! They explode in contact!"

"Yes! I can see that! Haha! This is awesome!"

"Yeah! Take that you assholes!"

"This is my kind of fireworks!"

That's right. Not defending against the arrows were the first mistake of the beasts. For this, they kingdom had to thank the Sacred Leaf Tavern. They made a concoction called 'Explosive Flesh Solution' and have the arrows dipped on it before being used. 

If these arrows made contact with any flesh. It will cause an explosion that could kill them in the process, this is why the supervisors of the Ranger Units were severely reminded not to be wounded by their own arrows for their own safety. 

Unfortunately, due to the suddenness of the situation the Tavern wasn't able to produce as much of this solution as possible. If they were given more time, then they could've just send volleys of arrows dipped in the solution and called it a day. The batches that the Tavern was able to supply was enough for only the first volley of the Ranger Units, along with some other purposes.

"Catapult Units! Trebuchet Units! Aim!" 

Luis' booming voice alerted the jovial crowd back to attention. The units he called out hurriedly moved and prepared. They loaded the boulders and angled the device according to Luis' command.

Once again, Luis waited for the marching horde to reach a certain distance. When they crossed the distance he had in mind, he yelled: "Loose!"

The catapults and trebuchets let loose, boulders flew towards the marching beast horde like meteors. 

Some beasts learned from their earlier blunder and prepared to defend against the boulders. They launched their own projectile to meet the falling boulders or evaded the impact. Some managed to destroy the boulders before they could even fall, and some managed to evade the impact. 

From the looks of it, the first volley of the Catapult Units and Trebuchet Units weren't able to do as much damage as they would like. 

But another development occurred. 

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

Just as when the beast horde thought that they were safe. The boulders they either destroyed or evaded, suddenly exploded into shards of rocks that caught them unprepared.

The weaker beasts were unable to defend against the pieces of rocks that almost turned like a flying daggers due to the intensity of the explosion, causing them to be filled with holes on the spot. Some of the beasts who were calmly flying forward had their wings pierced, causing them to fall and be stomped by the rest of the marching beasts.

Balmung smiled upon seeing this. It seems that his little trick worked.

With his little knowledge with Inscriptions, he decided to take a gamble and ordered some of his men to put an Inscription called: 'Delayed Explosion Rune' on the boulders that will be used by the Catapult and Trebuchet Units.

Objects that have Delayed Explosion Rune will explode, thirty seconds upon impact. The rune is simple enough for anyone that has minor inscription knowledge to learn and is actually considered as a low-grade or basic level rune. But for a large scale defense like this, it turns out to be a deadly weapon. 

Luis didn't stop there, he ordered the Catapult and Trebuchet Units to reload the siege weapons for another wave.

"We managed to shave at least 100,000 beasts from their numbers." Old Lee reported, "I hope it continues this way."

"Yeah." Balmung replied, though he was happy to see his experiments succeed, it was not yet the time to celebrate. There are still a great number of beasts heading their way, and soon they will enter a brutal melee with them.

"Seniors." Luis called out from the side, the Golden Knights looked at him at the same time and heard him say: "You may advance now."

After hearing him say that, the Golden Knights nodded and transformed into golden streaks of light. 

Old Lee stood fiercely onto the air, both of his arms held lightning bolts as he chucked them towards the incoming horde with ferocious speed.

Leona slashed her sword and a towering wall of flames appeared, causing the beasts to have difficulties on moving forward. 

Morel similarly stood in mid-air. Behind him, hundreds of Wind Spears condensed and rained down on the beasts like heat-seeking projectiles.

The morale of the army rose fervently as they saw the pillars of their kingdom slaughter their enemies.. Their existence filled them with hope and determination to stand tall and protect their home from the invaders.