Free Web NovelChapter 198: The Battle for Herald City - Part 3
When the explosions from Celestina’s Firestorm Arrows went off, the light was so bright that even from over a kilometre away atop the city walls, everyone could clearly see them.
At first, the refugees and defenders alike panicked, wondering just what kind of monster had unleashed such incredible devastation, but it wasn’t long before some of the more informed individuals, namely the soldiers under Celestina and Vanessa’s command, spread word that it was their side which was attacking.
Cheers soon rang out as the sight of the beasts being vanquished in righteous flames brought great comfort and hope to the scared masses.
The celebrations only lasted a moment, however, as the leaders among the defenders quickly began shouting to the crowds, "Don’t just stand there! Move! Get inside!"
Although the display put on by Celestina and the Spirit Initiates was both shocking and inspiring, it was impossible for that to be enough to turn a beast horde of this size back.
As if to prove that very point, barely 5 minutes after the orange conflagrations lit up the night, Wild Beasts managed to breach the outer line of defence, closing to within just 500 metres of the city and entering the zone which was illuminated by special Spirit Lamps from the walls.
Seeing this, the various leaders of the different defending groups all began shouting orders to their troops.
"Archers, take your places!"
"Get ready! Here they come!"
"Hold steady... hold..."
The air thickened with tension as the defenders gripped their weapons tight, all of them waiting for the command to be given.
An odd silence seemed to envelop the wall as the commotion down below, the howls of the beasts, and the clatter from behind all fell away.
Despite not having engaged the enemy yet, many were feeling anxious, with sweat dripping down their brows even in the cold autumn night air.
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450 metres...
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Finally, when the beasts which had managed to slip past the Spirit Realm masters’ first line of defence approached to within 350 metres, a unified cry sounded, "Fire!"
All at once, hundreds of arrows were sent arcing through the air, raining down on the charging beasts.
Immediately, the stark differences between the various defenders became apparent. While 350 metres wasn’t far for a trained Core Formation archer to fire across, the average Body Tempering hunter couldn’t shoot such a distance with any kind of real accuracy, even from atop a high wall.
Needless to say, the untrained civilians who were only somewhat familiar with a bow could in no way even fire that far, all of their arrows landing at most 250 metres away, completely missing any of the approaching beasts.
It was really only those with some degree of training and who were in the Vein Opening Realm that could lob arrows consistently across this gap.
Among those on the walls of Herald City who could fire an arrow more than 300 metres, the number who could do so accurately was perhaps 30%.
As for the how many of those who could fire that far, that accurately, and could bring down a First Order Beast in a single shot, 10% would be a generous estimate.
Put simply, the overwhelming majority of the arrows shot in this first volley missed, landing harmlessly amidst the open fields.
Still, the point of this barrage wasn’t to kill all the approaching beasts, it was simply to slow them down; as such, the larger the volume of arrows the defenders could deliver, the better.
While such a tactic would be unthinkable back in Redwood Town due to the severe shortage of arrows, Herald City had a much larger stockpile of such projectiles, so it wasn’t a problem to be a bit wasteful.
The local garrison alone had a warehouse filled with a few hundred thousand arrows in it, not to mention all the shops and private citizens who also had varying quantities of these weapons on hand.
On top of all that, the local blacksmiths and fletchers had been churning out arrows day-and-night since the crisis began as they had become the most in-demand armament in the city.
With over a million standard arrows available right now, and thousands more being produced each day, even if the 600 or so archers on the city walls fired until they could no longer draw their bows, there would still be plenty of ammunition leftover.
The barrage brought down perhaps a dozen beasts while forcing back several times that number, turning the area around the gate into a pseudo safe-zone.
It was a good thing too, as a rough estimate put the number of people who still needed to make it through the gate at just over 3,000.
After the initial coordinated volley of arrows, however, confusion began to set in. Bigger, more noticeable targets were targeted by dozens of arrows at once, while smaller, less noticeable beasts managed to advance much further before being shot at.
Another issue was the various archers getting in each other’s way.
Almost all of the defenders had never participated in a battle like this before, so they simply shot at whatever they thought they could hit, regardless of whether doing so interfered with their neighbours’ ability to aim, fire, or re-arm.
This lack of coordination didn’t affect the battle much at first, but as more and more beasts slipped past Celestina and the other masters, the defenders grew more anxious and more incidents began to occur.
It soon got to the point where fights started breaking out as garrison soldiers blamed militia for making them miss their shots while merchant escorts accused city guards of intentionally blocking their lines of sight.
At the same time, the beasts closed in on the refugees and the gates, which only made everyone more apprehensive and distressed, further escalating tensions.
Seeing the beasts drawing ever closer, and knowing it was only a matter of moments before people started dying, Sasha turned to Captain Pierce and shouted, "We can’t let things carry on like this!"
Not wanting to waste any words in this critical situation, Thomas Pierce simply nodded, "We’ll buy you some time down below! Figure something out up here!"
With that said, Captain Pierce leapt off the wall while shouting, "Core Formation and above, with me!"
The elite soldiers from Celestina and Vanessa’s units who were nearby all followed suit, jumping down and pushing their way through the crowd to engage the enemy in melee combat.
Inspired by this display of bravery, or perhaps caught up in the heat of battle, others began jumping from the walls as well.
Most of these daredevils were adventurers who reveled in combat and thrill-seeking, but there were plenty of ordinary guards and soldiers as well.
Around 100 people descended from the walls, and many more might have followed if it weren’t for the simple fact that they couldn’t.
Only those in the Core Formation Realm and above could cross the 8 metres gap between the top of the wall and the ground without risking injury. That said, there were still some Vein Opening Realm civilians who took this risk, likely desperate to save friends or family they suspected were still outside the walls.
This many defenders on the ground were likely enough to hold back the beasts the archers failed to kill at least temporarily, allowing everyone a little more breathing room up above.
This strategy alleviated the immediate problem, but it didn’t solve the deteriorating situation atop the wall with the disorganized archers.
Wracking her brain, Sasha desperately tried to think up a solution, but unfortunately, every idea she came up with was completely impractical in this chaotic mess. There was simply no way for her to turn the scattered defenders into a coordinated fighting force.
Watching the number of arrows being fired continue to drop, and the number of arguments on the wall continue to grow, Sasha felt a deep sense of frustration and instinctually looked out towards her grandmother, wondering how she would have solved this problem.
Upon spotting Celestina in the distance, though, something caught Sasha’s attention.
The 8 Spirit Realm Cultivators were all fighting independently, not coordinating with each other in any way. Each of them was simply battling within their designated domain while trusting the others to defend their own territory.
That’s it! Sasha thought to herself. She didn’t need to turn all the guards, soldiers, adventurers, and militia on her side into a cohesive unit, she just needed to stop them from getting in each others’ way!
The answer wasn’t more coordination and communication, it was less!
Thinking so, Sasha immediately began shouting at the top of her lungs, "Archers! Plant your feet and focus only on targets directly before you! Stop aiming left and right! Just shoot forward!"
Naturally, only a few of the archers heard Sasha’s command above the noise of the battle, and those who did wondered why they would be given such strange instructions.
Shouldn’t they be trying to bring down the closest beasts first? Or perhaps target the most dangerous ones? If they only shot what was right in front of them, wouldn’t more beasts slip through?
Initially, only the members of Sasha’s militia who heard her obeyed this order, fixing their stances and firing at just the beasts they could hit without shifting their feet, but even that produced a noticeable improvement, one that wasn’t missed by other leaders on the wall.
Realizing the usefulness of Sasha’s plan, others began giving similar orders to their subordinates.
"Focus on what’s in front of you! Ignore everything else!"
"Shoot forward, let others worry about what’s on your sides!"
"Fire ahead, just fire ahead!"
"Stop stumbling around you fools! Keep your feet still!"
Gradually, the line of archers shifted their approach to the one Sasha had proposed and the intensity of the barrage began increasing again. There were still many issues, such as stronger beasts managing to get closer or even reaching the melee defenders now that they weren’t attracting dozens of arrows at once; but overall, the situation had still improved.
With the beasts around the gate barely being held back, and the crowd of refugees rushing into the city as fast as they could, it finally seemed like the humans had gained the upper hand in the battle. As long as they could hold out for another 10 minutes, the evacuation would be complete and they could seal the gates.
Then, they could rely on the high walls to repel the Beast Tide from a safe distance.
Just as the defenders on the walls were beginning to regain some sense of optimism though, a few fearful, panicked voices rang out.
"Watch out!"
"Incoming!"
"Get down!"
"Take cover!"
