Chapter 274 — One Shot Settles the Outcome
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
There had never been mutant individuals like these. Even in the Gondo Wasteland seven hundred years ago, Gao Yang Cecil had never seen aberrations of that shape: four of them, each nearly two to three times the size of an ordinary aberration, their limbs swollen, growths like bone spurs visible at most of their joints. Every spur crawled with an ominous black-red arc of electricity, and on their backs the spurs growing from their ribs had even formed structures like parallel rails. As the four giants let out chaotic, unintelligible roars, the arcs on their spines abruptly expanded. The next second, Gao Yang saw four massive lightning bolts crash down toward the wall.
An attack form never seen before, and a reach beyond all expectation.
Gao Yang was startled, but his body had already reacted instinctively. He poured mana into his longsword; the Pioneer's Sword burst into a dazzling white light, and then he swung the blade again and again. Two shockwaves rose to meet two of the black-red bolts, while near the middle section of the wall an arcane lightning suddenly flared and scattered the third attack with a thunderclap. That was where Kamel held command.
The fourth black-red bolt went wide and struck below the wall. With a roar, dust and rubble erupted from the base of the rampart.
After that sudden strike, the four mutant aberrations did not keep releasing lightning. Probably such attacks cost them dearly, for they could not use them continuously; the electric glow on the spurs along their backs dimmed slightly. Then the monsters straightened, their faceless heads turning toward the wall, and muddy roars rolled out from within them. Behind them, the army of aberrations seemed to have been goaded into frenzy; all at once they surged with excitement and began to charge with terrifying momentum.
As the reports had said, aberrations near those mutant creatures received an "enhancement" by some unknown principle. Both their aggression and their speed of movement had risen sharply.
"Keep firing the catapults!" Sir Byron roared. "Grenadiers, keep throwing! Concentrate on those giant monsters!"
Explosions large and small began to bloom amid the aberration army. The soldiers tasked with throwing crystal grenades had been chosen from every squad for their prodigious arm strength, but even so they could scarcely hurl a grenade to the feet of the large monsters, which were still far off. Only the catapults had the range. Yet after a single volley, Gao Yang could not help frowning.
The accuracy was too poor, and the rate of fire too slow.
More than a dozen bombs burst across the battlefield. They had all been aimed at the four mutants as best they could, but the catapults' wretched accuracy made every explosion land well around the monsters. After one round, a good many ordinary aberrations were blown to fragments, yet the true enemies were still running across the field, untouched.
"Keep firing!"
The catapult crews tightened their winches as fast as they could and reloaded. They knew the fatal weaknesses of their engines: poor accuracy, slow firing, and a nearly fixed range. Even by adjusting the winches and throwing arms they could only roughly alter the range, and they could not strike enemies that came too close. And the aberrations... under the influence of those large individuals, they were moving faster and faster. Soon they would all pass beyond the catapults' minimum range.
In the second volley, a crystal bomb finally found its target. One of the large mutants took a direct hit. With an explosion of appalling force, foul flesh and splintered bone scattered across the battlefield, while still more monsters pressed on toward the wall.
The catapults had ceased fire; at this distance they could do no more. Their crews swiftly withdrew from the outer towers to the wall, released the safeties on their thermal ray guns, and prepared to join the firing squads against the monsters beginning to climb the rampart.