Death Mage with an SS-Rank Talent-Chapter 187

Last Bastion...

The Battlements are filled with soldiers, ready to fight the monster horde. The long-range attackers stayed on the battlements while the close-range awakeners had to stay outside of the walls, ready to pounce on the monsters when they appear.

The mortals and the healers stayed inside the walls, ready to refill the supplies of the attackers from the walls or help heal the wounded when they were brought inside, which is almost impossible.

It may be possible for the long-range attackers who use magic or arrows as their attack method, not to use swords or spears, as these ones would be outside the wall. They would be fighting in close range, and once wounded badly, they would most likely lose their life.

There was no other choice for them as the close-range combatants.

The close-range combatants would most likely win a duel against spellcasters as long as not much time is given to these spellcasters, but in a real battle, many preparations would have been made beforehand, and the range at which those spellcasters engage would be farther than what happens in a stadium.

The duels are, after all, entertainment and a way to observe the growth of the new seedlings, not death matches. So, the time allotted to the matches and the area where they would be competing would be smaller than a real battle.

In those duels, as long as the spellcaster keeps the close-range combatant away from themselves, they would win in the end or lose if the opponent reaches the spellcaster and that happens within minutes, if not seconds.

In battle, that would be worse. As long as an enemy appears, they might lose their lives in seconds.

So, the long-range attackers would attack the enemies from far away positions in order to thin their numbers, and then the close-range combatants would eliminate the remainder of the enemies. This is how teamwork in the battle works, but this also leads to more casualties among the close-range combatants.

---

According to the scout reports, the monster horde that has appeared near the fort has a huge number of monsters, a number that they had never seen before. It was only mentioned in the books during the Monster Wars, this place used to be attacked daily, even hourly, by a huge number of monsters, ranging from Rank-0 to Rank-6.

The Colonel stood on the battlements without showing any fear. He is, after all, a Rank-7 Swordsman, though he might have reached that rank only recently.

He can stop some Rank-6 monsters, but what he fears was not what he sees, but what he can’t see, their leader.

If a bunch of Rank-6 monsters joined the horde, then that means they were commanded by some monster that is of a higher rank than them or comes from a special race, but the second option is less likely.

This was because the special monster races’ reproduction rate is very low. So, they don’t usually leave their lands, unless they are provoked. So, the most likely case would be that there is at least a Rank-7 monster somewhere, commanding all these monsters.

If and when that shows up, it would spell doom for him and everyone in the fort.

"Those damn cults, why do they have to be causing trouble for fellow humans", the colonel cursed in his mind.

The last bastion might not have seen a battle in almost a century, but the commander of the first continued to be a General, who would be at Rank-8.

A few weeks ago, due to the cults attacking Alliance outposts everywhere, many soldiers who were posted on the borders were deployed inside to protect the people, and that ended up with him as the commander of the fort.

When he got that promotion, he was quite happy as he was then the head of the fort, and everyone had to move per his orders. Now, though, he couldn’t help but lament about the matter.

If Rank-8 awakened was present, if those soldiers that were withdrawn from the first were still here, fighting the horde might not have been so worrisome as it was now.

Though he has boosted the morale of the soldiers as much as he can, there is only so much he can do. No matter what words are spoken, it won’t be easy to remove the fear of the strong from the hearts of the weak.

The weak would always be afraid of the strong, and that is why many would do even evil deeds to become stronger, so that others might not do something like that to them.

He did what he could do, and now everything depends on the soldiers themselves and the reinforcements that they are waiting for.

They knew that the colonel had sent a message to the alliance for help. Now, they have to fight until those supposed reinforcements appear, or their morale could crumble if it takes too long.

---

Roar! Roar!

Dum! Dum!

The distance roars, and the rumbling sounds made by the monsters started to appear near to the fort as seconds passed by. By estimation, those monsters would fall on the fort in the next two minutes or less.

"Soldiers, get ready, the battle is upon us. Long-range attackers, prepare yourselves, and wait for my command. Once I give the order, fire everything you got", the colonel spoke out loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Second by second, the monster horde reached near the fort.

"Mages and Archers, get ready... fire, fire everything you got", the Colonel ordered.

The enemy is not a coordinated army that is at a constant speed to estimate the time for perfect attacks. With monsters that are running independently, he only needed his attackers to wait till they arrived in range of the attackers.

Wasting attacks would lead to more losses. So, the first attack was ordered when the monsters appeared in the range.

Buzz!

Boom! Boom!

Once the order was given, the mages, warlocks and every other long-range attacker who was stationed on the battlements started their attacks without giving any gaps between attacks.

One after another started to fall on the monsters, killing them, slowing them down or injuring them as much as possible.