Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1139: Traps are a Fortress’s Best Friend

"Patriarch Zhen Shi! The layer of the Beast Tide has been successfully dismantled by the ranged defenses."

"That’s good to hear, but..."

"Several avian beasts had taken it upon themselves to attack our siege engines and archers directly. No casualties yet, but several of our machines have been destroyed."

"May want to check on that former bit soon."

...

[Oh dear. It appears the Whirling Dust Devil Tyrant is smarter than we thought. He sent flyers to cripple our defenses.]

[Figured that would happen.]

[Do we intervene now then?]

[Nay. Let the traps go off first. We don’t want to get caught in our own explosives.]

...

SKREEE!

"DIE YOU STUPID BIRDS!"

SWISH!

"Gah!"

"Chip, no!"

"Bastards!"

Thunk, think!

Skree...

As the avian aether beasts kept up with their assault, the defenders found themselves between a rock and a hard place.

Or in this case, a talon and a horde.

At this point in time, over a third of the siege engines were being rendered unusable due to being flipped over, and at least a quarter of the archers had been injured to the point of retreating due to the birds.

The damage could’ve been much worse had it not been for the timely intervention of the remaining archers and Rianna, who personally exploded several of the birds trying to take out the cannon type siege engines.

"The birds are retreating!"

"Finally!"

"But it gave the rest of the Beast Tide tme to get even closer to us! They’re at the half way mark!"

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"Shit!"

Time and fury waits for absolutely no one, so while the defenders of Stone Claw were trying to deal with the aerial assault, the rest of the Beast Tide used that opportunity to close the gap even further, reaching a half way point between making contact with the city walls and their initial spot on the horizon.

Fortunately for the defenders of the city though, they wouldn’t have to worry about the beasts getting too close just yet.

"Wait a minute, didn’t we set up something to deal with the horde if they reached that halfway point?"

"Right! Someone launch a fire arrow down there, now!"

"On it!"

Under normal circumstances, the scent of fish oil in a wasteland or desert was incredibly noticeable. However, that was not the case when that aforementioned scent is masked by the scent of a thousand different beasts, blood or blocks of dried feces.

The latter of which was also quite flammable.

Underneath the hooves and claws of the charging aether beasts, several hundred or so jars of refined oil were being smashed open and smeared all over the ground as they kept going forward.

"Release the flame projectiles!"

And that oil was about to be ignited.

From atop the city walls, several archers released burning arrows while several of the remaining catapults released boulders made of coal and covered in tallow.

The obvious sight of fire caused some of the smarter aether beasts to dodge, while some of the dumber allowed themselves to get impacted or impaled by the blazing projectiles.

Regardless of their choices though, they were still going to get burned.

Whether the oil was ignited by a burning arrows, a lucky spark or chunks of burning coal was unclear, but the result was still the same.

In an instant, a sea of flames engulfed the charging aether beasts.

Many of the weaker aether beasts began to panic as their bodies suffered burn wounds or their hair was set ablaze due to being soaked in oil.

The resulting smoke caused even further problems for the horde, as the smell alone was enough to cause them to choke up and cough while the burning heat stung their sensitive eyes.

Unfortunately, this tactic didn’t work on all of the attacking aether beasts.

The ones mostly affected by this environmental hazard were first to second tier aether beasts that were in the front of the horde leading the charge.

So while these wild weaklings died in droves to the blaze, the fire and the corpses of the aforementioned were merely light detriments to the much more powerful beasts behind them.

"Incoming lizards!"

"Actually, I think some of those are tortoises!"

"Both are reptiles, who cares?!"

Plowing through the burning bodies and wildfire were multiple lizard-like aether beasts covered in metallic scales and tortoise-like aether beasts that had shells tougher than whatever arrows the defenders had on hand.

The reptilian beasts took over as the vanguard for their scorched brothers-in-arms, ruthlessly trampling through them, and emboldened by the sea of flames that got their cold blood running hot.

Fortunately, the people of Stone Claw prepared for this possibility as well.

"They’re getting closer to the array field!"

"Get ready for the blow out!"

The moment these heavy reptilian tanks crossed a threshold only the defenders knew about, all hell broke loose.

Again.

Beneath the feet of the beasts, various types of aether arrays began to light up and activate one after the other.

Bursting geysers, pillars of flame and ensnaring vines began to burst out of the ground and mess with these bloodthirsty beasts like they were toys.

Unsurprisingly though, these arrays didn’t do much in terms of raw damage, save for the occasional explosion or electrically inclined array.

But that was fine by the defenders of Stone Claw.

They didn’t need the arrays to outright slay these monsters, they just needed a clear shot at the soft underbellies!

"Ready, steady, fire!"

SWOOSH!

BOOM!

"GRAAAA!"

Like clay pigeons, the knocked-up and disoriented reptiles were shot out of the air by bolt, by arrow and by cannon balls.

Some had merely suffered crippling flesh wounds, while others had their entire torso blown out.

This layer of defensive traps had done wonders in reducing the horde of beasts even further than before, even allowing the ranged warriors time to repair their siege engines and start attacking again, but it wasn’t enough to entirely stop the Beast Tide from getting closer and closer.

"By the nine hells, how many of these beasts have we slain?!"

"I don’t know anymore..."

Until, eventually, they finally came into contact with the city’s walls.

"Oh fuck!"

"Archers, switch targets! Siege teams, keep firing! Everyone else prepare to counter boarding action, or at least fire whatever attacks you have straight down the wall!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

When the Beast Tide made initial contact, they had attempted to smash through the city walls like so many others before it. However, this turned out to be less than useless.

Unlike previous cities, the walls surrounding Stone Claw had been reinforced with not only high quality materials, but with several reinforcing arrays as well.

Those foolish beasts that had attempted to crash through the walls at full force had voluntarily turned themselves into examples as to what happens to a body when it crashes into a iron plate at several dozen miles per hour.

The ones who hadn’t done so though, used the deceased bodies of their smashed-in comrades as a means to scale the wall and then start climbing.

These particular beasts were dealt with by the archers and defenses with medium ranged abilities.

Elsewhere though, the crashing of the beasts proved a touch more effective.

"They’re about to crash into the gate!"

In the time before the Beast Tide, Stone Claw had several gates in which people could go through freely. But with the construction of this grand wall, the only entryway in and out of the gate was a massive gate made of metal and hardened wood.

Now, normally, the gate was the weakest and most dangerous part of a wall, due to that area being a natural choke and being inherently weaker than the rest of the wall.

But pray tell, what do you think happen if such a weak point was made of something like...a parasitic type of tree?

...Meanwhile...

"Phew! Sorry for making you guys wait, that was...unpleasant."

"Unpleasant? I went to go and check on you and it sounded like you wrestling a live alligator or something, the fuck happened to you to lead to that?"

"Actually, better question, did it happen to involve the reason why you had to slip out last night? Don’t play dumb, I saw you."

"Oh, uh...well, remember that crazy alchemist lady that’s friends with the Matriarch?"

"The Imperial Alchemist that gifted you your Permafrost ice?"

"That’s the one."

"What about her-wait...you’re not-!"

"No, that’s not the case! She simply arranged an evening for me to meet up with her daughter."

"Oh...so you were on a date last night?"

"Kind of..."

"Kind of?"

"Well, turns out the daughter is a major alchemy lover like her mother, and she wanted to compare how my cooking alchemy compared to her traditional Aquarii alchemy."

"So you wowed her with your cooking?"

"Damn, that’s more of a third date thing. I’m impressed."

"I guess? But yeah, during the contest I accidentally ate one of her failed pills and well, you heard the result."

"Huh...what was that pill supposed to do?"

"Armored skin."

"That explains the clank..."