chsdbacks Chapter 30 The Beast Horde
Chapter 30 The Beast Horde
It hit Anthony hard; his touch wasn't right.
Sure enough, the mage who was hit shattered into an illusion, and Anthony's true form appeared three steps away.
Undeterred, he chased after them again.
Anthony kept going through physical walls and fences in an attempt to stop the lizardmen.
Like a dump truck, Tenor smashed through walls in its path, and the wooden fence was instantly shattered.
The mage summoned monsters to block them, but they were few in number, of low rank, and lacked reason, so they were no match for the rampaging lizardmen.
Anthony created a large-scale flash explosion. Tenor had seen this spell before; it was the first spell Reginald used when he raided the Pleasure Society.
His vision was suddenly and temporarily blinded, but the problem was that he didn't rely on his sight, so the pursuit didn't stop.
During the chase, the two had already left the village and entered the forest.
Ternor caught a slight tremor in the ground and heard the sound of trees falling in the distance.
Something is coming.
Is it an ally summoned by the mage?
Whatever it is, the most important thing is to deal with the enemy in front of you first.
The distance had become dangerous for Anthony. Tenor first probed with a blow, which indeed created an illusion. Then, he suddenly burst out with speed, caught up with the mage, and struck again, determined to kill Anthony on the spot.
Anthony had no time to prepare his next spell. He stood still, closed his eyes, and awaited death. Suddenly, he opened them.
A gust of wind swept in, and looking up, one could see a huge bone blade cutting through the air. Following that line of sight, a giant with a bull's head and four arms was brutally smashing through the forest, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.
A behemoth four or five stories tall couldn't possibly have moved stealthily, but it wasn't an ally of the mage; the monster's target was Anthony.
But that was Ternor's mission objective!
He roared and, disregarding the risk of being caught in the blast from the giant beast, smashed Anthony to death with a single blow, thus completing his mission.
In the next instant, the giant blade, accompanied by a gust of evil wind, came close behind. Tenor activated his power belt and raised his shield to withstand the attack.
As if two heavy trucks had collided, the ground beneath Ternor's feet instantly caved in, sending sand and stones flying everywhere.
The turf within a 5-meter radius was blown away, the soil was thrown up at high speed, and the ground within a 15-meter radius was shaken.
A dent about 15 centimeters deep appeared where he stood. The impact of the collision with inhuman force was like an explosion, an extremely loud and muffled bang like the roar of cannons.
Ternor was numb from the recoil, and there was a metallic taste of blood in his throat.
After activating the belt, the monstrous strength that allowed him to fight the giant to a standstill was not generated by him.
It felt as if he had divine assistance, like the high-ranking warrior in the bard's description who relied on his willpower to achieve an extraordinary strike in a moment of crisis—he just made an ordinary swing, but a giant helped him smash out a burning sword.
Although he doesn't have to pay the price of exerting force, when he hits the target, the huge reaction force of the target on the sword will be transmitted back to his body along the blade.
This force far exceeds the limits of human endurance and will directly cause his bones to shatter and his internal organs to rupture, resulting in death.
Fortunately, the lizardmen have sturdy bodies and the potential to unleash tremendous power.
Otherwise, in human form, by using magic or props, awakening one's will, unleashing the power of a giant and colliding with it, one could commit suicide in a different way.
No wonder the stories describe the dragon-slaying and monster-slaying blows of high-ranking warriors as tragic and costly—the conservation of momentum won't spare you no matter how burning your will is.
It seems that the Power Belt cannot be activated in a non-mutated state... It's easy to get killed by the interaction of forces.
The giant had four arms, one pair of which were bone blades. Although Tenor took a hit, it did not affect the giant's movements at all.
Another bone blade slashed down from the side, and when Tenor saw that two more hands were about to grab him, he gave up the idea of taking the hit head-on.
He wasn't three-headed and six-armed; even if he blocked one attack, he would still be grabbed by the giant.
The enormous size meant inevitable sluggishness. Tenor dodged the giant's diagonal slash by flipping over, smashed the hand that was about to grab him with his burning sword, and closed the distance with the Minotaur as much as possible.
The power belt lasts for ten seconds, and he must finish off the Titan in the remaining few seconds, or at least render it incapacitated.
"The wizard is mine!" The blood-soaked dwarf butcher shouted as he ran from the north, only to see an even more surprising target.
"Gurbeast! Grant me death, and I will be worthy of the shame I have suffered!" the dwarf roared as he charged forward.
The dwarf's shouts effectively distracted the giant. The giant, as if swatting a fly, freed his hand to entangle with the dwarf, and then took a step in that direction, which actually made things easier for Tenor.
Because the dwarves were so noble, the giants had to stoop down to fight them.
Imagine if you were a giant, you would have to crouch down or bend over to slap a dwarf with your palm, while your opponent is as agile as a mouse.
This made the battle even more difficult for the giants.
The giant's left leg stepped toward the dwarf, easily kicking away a siege engine as it moved, but Tenor advanced instead of retreating, leaping up and using the last few seconds of the Power Belt's effect to slam into the giant's ankle.
Amidst a deafening scream, the giant lost his balance and crashed to the ground like a human with a broken leg.
Tenor quickly dodged the shadow, and the butcher, though not afraid of death, did not want to be crushed to death by the giant in a cowardly manner, so he also dodged away.
A flurry of arrows rained down from the northern forest, and Tenor caught the stench of the beastmen, realizing something was wrong.
This minotaur is likely a war beast of the Beastman tribe!
Although he forced the giant to lose his balance and fall, the giant only had one leg restricted and did not lose his ability to move.
Without the power belt, it won't be able to kill this monster anytime soon.
Once they are surrounded by the Beastmen, and then attacked by the elite Beastmen and giants, they will both perish here!
He saw the data stream moving around in his eyes and accepted a new task.
[Mission: Escape the Hunt of the Beastman Tribe]
Difficulty: Medium
[Reward: Triceratops Guardian Helmet]
[Status: In Progress]
The reward bone helmet not only provides basic head protection, but also offers the wearer reduction in ranged damage.
It provides additional protection against ranged physical damage equivalent to 2mm thick homogeneous steel, and only applies to ranged physical damage. This allows the wearer to ignore most melee weapons, with only enchanted arrows or powerful bows posing a threat.
The additional effects were barely noticeable to Tenor, since all the Legion's standard equipment was enchanted, and this equipment was only good against militia and ordinary archers.
However, head protection is very important.
Now is not the time to preview the rewards; his first priority is to escape.
Ignoring the arrows, Tenor turned and walked away, trying to avoid the giants and the horde of beasts, while shouting to the dwarves, "Hurry up!"
Gotley raised his battle axe high, ready to fight the fallen Minotaur to the death, when he heard the whooshing sound of arrows piercing the air.
Looking to the side, he saw the lizardman holding up his shield to block several arrows for him, while more arrows landed on the lizardman's scales, like tickling him.
He saw Tenor bypass the giant and prepare to leave.
The butcher laughed loudly, determined not to back down an inch.
Another battle cry rang out, "Skulls offered up, skulls placed!"
A large herd of unicorns bypassed the area and appeared to the south, blocking the retreat route, thus completing the encirclement of the beast tide.
Tenor understood—these cunning beasts had probably already sensed the fighting here, first sending out giants, and then simultaneously launching a flanking maneuver.
There's a trick to it, but the prerequisite for the trick to succeed is being able to stop him!
Driven by his restless blood, Tenor roared as he raised his weapon and charged forward, brandishing his burning sword.
The pack of inferior horned beasts behind him fired another volley of arrows. Without Tenor's cover, the Butcher finally realized that things were going badly.
Perhaps due to poor accuracy, or perhaps because they were used to shooting at humans, most of the arrows flew over the heads of dwarves.
Until the first arrow narrowly missed the dwarf's left shoulder, and the second grazed his scalp, shaving off a lock of orange hair.
Gotley swung his axe to deflect the arrow that nearly struck him, but he knew better than anyone...
Even if he could cut down a troll, even if he could see the trajectory of an arrow, he couldn't possibly stop all the arrows aimed at him.
The butcher doesn't wear armor.
His body, neck, and face were exposed, and if an arrow found the right angle, his journey to death would end in the most shameful way.
To die under the arrows of a bunch of inferior beasts? That's not honorable.
Being killed by a horned beast is a disgrace even for human professionals, let alone a dwarf.
His single eye swept across the northern woods, where small, horned beasts were emerging from the bushes, their numbers resembling an overturned anthill.
More towering horned beasts took shape in the background, their ram-like heads drooping, their horns gleaming coldly in the moonlight.
He had killed hundreds or even thousands of these things in his life, but Gotley knew he couldn't win this battle.
Seeing that the wounds of the Gurmon were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and struggling to get up and grab it, Gotley ran and jumped to avoid another burst of shots and escaped the range of the Minotaur's arms.
Of course, he didn't call this "escape," but rather a charge that was a strategic retreat.
He looked at the blood-soaked lizardmen ahead, arrows striking their thick scales like iron plates, and Tenor didn't even bother to shield himself.
He had already cut down more than a dozen beastmen blocking his way and was carving a bloody path through the woods to the south.
One after another, arrogant unicorns attempted to challenge the lizardmen, but they were all smashed and cut down by the burning sword in the first exchange.
The dwarf hesitated for a moment as he rushed toward the lizardman; every instinct screamed within him:
Slash it down! Slash this Gur beast to death! Die gloriously here!
But another voice, a thought more willing to acknowledge reality, whispered in the depths:
Not here, not now, not shot to death by a bunch of inferior horde.
He caught up with the lizardmen, swung his axe and cut down the large horned beast that was trying to ambush them from the side and rear. Taking advantage of the lizardmen's unstoppable charge, he fought his way through the bloody path towards the beast tide.
The core members of the Beastmen were eager to fight. When the first horned beast charged at them, it meant that the entire horned beast chapter had gathered nearby.
Sure enough, one after another, large horned beasts comparable to novice professionals, taking advantage of the cover provided by the horned beast herd, would suddenly charge out.
However, Tenor blocked the attack with a backhand strike and pushed it away, while the attack that occurred at the same time was deflected with the shield.
Individuals unable to withstand the damage simply cannot survive such wolf-pack-like sneak attacks.
The powerful battle axe struck Tenor's shoulder, tearing open flesh and drawing blood, but it did not impair his mobility.
Lizardmen are tenacious creatures who fight to the death.
He wielded his weapon mechanically, parried with his shield mechanically, and swept or bit with his tail mechanically, but even the most precise machinery could not stop the endless sneak attacks.
He didn't know how many inferior horned beasts and horned beasts he killed, nor how many large horned beasts he repelled.
Blood and flesh were scattered all over the road he walked, and continued to spill as he went.
Why are there so many Beastmen around Laghettia?