Free Web NovelChapter 204: The Battle for Herald City - Part 9
Sickle Bats were social beasts that lived in colonies. Thanks to their size and strength, Sickle Bat families tended to be small compared to other species of bats, but having a couple dozen members was still perfectly normal.
Releasing her Soul Sense in a wide sweep, Vanessa’s brow furrowed deeper as she realized there were indeed several more Sickle Bats nearby, 2 in the Fourth Order, 7 in the Third Order, and a few dozen more below that.
Vanessa now had a dilemma on her hands.
While she could probably ignore the First and Second Order bats, the Third and Fourth Order ones were a real threat.
Starlight was still faster than even the strongest Fourth Order Sickle Bat, so she could avoid them while concentrating on taking down more of the flying beasts, but if that led to these nocturnal hunters ignoring her and heading to the city to find easier prey, it would be a disaster.
On the other hand, if she prioritized the Sickle Bats, Vanessa would have to let a significantly larger number of weaker flying beasts reach the walls, which would also cause great damage.
While Vanessa was a Peak-Rank Spirit Initiate, and thus stronger than any of these Sickle Bats by a large margin, her ability to fight in the air was largely dependent on Starlight’s speed and strength, and he only had a slight edge over this enemy.
The flying beast swarm was getting closer to Herald City with every passing second, so Vanessa rapidly weighed her options and determined what she needed to do. Clipping her bow into her saddle, she reached down, unhooked a short spear from Starlight’s harness, and began channeling her Spirit Qi into it.
Holding the spear in her right hand, Vanessa used her left to steady herself as she commanded Starlight to accelerate.
As the pair picked up speed, the Sickle Bat which had launched the previous sneak attack seemingly sensed a threat and also began swerving and accelerating, trying to escape.
Unfortunately for it, Starlight was both faster and more agile, so the distance between them only grew shorter.
It took 5 seconds for Vanessa to finish charging up the spear, causing its tip to release a bright white light, one that would be visible even from the city wall which was still some 3 kilometres away, but she didn’t immediately throw it, wanting to get closer to her opponent to guarantee a hit.
300 metres....
250 metres....
200 metres...
The Sickle Bat was now panicking as it could feel the threatening aura Vanessa was giving off.
It gave up trying to fly silently and flapped its wings as hard as it could, weaving an evasive path through the sky; but try as it might, Starlight was locked onto it and matched its movements with precision.
This was the difference between a beast that lived in the wild and one that was raised by humans to serve in war. Both had sharp natural instincts and excellent control over their bodies, but only one of them underwent rigorous training to hone those abilities for fighting.
Closing the distance to just under 150 metres, Vanessa drew her arm back as she circulated her Martial Qi into her back.
Pulling her muscles taut, Vanessa aimed true then released a shout as she unloaded all that tension, transferring power from her hips, to her shoulder, to her arm, to her fingers, and finally, in one smooth, whip-like motion, she sent the glowing spear hurtling through the air.
.....
Even amidst the heat of the chaotic battle for the city wall, when a white light erupted high up in the sky, accompanied by a loud bang, it naturally drew many people’s attention.
Both humans and beasts looked up instinctually, but only a few of them could actually see through the flash and discern what was going on.
From her perch atop the main gate, where she continued firing arrows non-stop, Celestina was naturally able to tell what happened, and after briefly examining the situation, she also understood the reasons behind it.
Vanessa had done a good job so far at keeping the enemy fliers occupied, but it seemed she had run into a problem, one that she was unable to solve all on her own.
Seeing how the intention was to prevent panic from spreading, Vanessa should have dealt with the flying beasts as quietly as possible, for as long as possible. So, the fact that she specifically used a Thunderclap Javelin, a single-use Low Grade 1 Spirit Weapon designed emit bright light and loud noise in order to draw as much attention as possible, indicated that she needed assistance.
The enemy Vanessa had struck with her spear had essentially exploded into a mist of blood and guts, but a quick check of the skies allowed Celestina to identify the particular threat her former student was concerned about.
Sickle Bats, how troublesome, Celestina thought to herself as she observed Vanessa’s movements for a moment. Seeing the latter not move to engage the stealthy bats and instead resume her engagement with the larger flock of flying beasts, Celestina knew what her student was asking for.
After calling out to one of her subordinate Commanders, instructing him to take over, Celestina scanned her surroundings and spotted an appropriate spot to set herself up on.
Jumping down into the streets, Celestina dashed over to a tall bell tower that was nearby and stood 3 stories higher than the city walls. This little bit of extra height might not seem significant when trying to shoot down beasts several hundred metres above the ground, but it was better than nothing.
Additionally, from this vantage point, Celestina wouldn’t have to worry about the landbound beasts disturbing her while she was aiming.
The enemy fliers were still too far out for Celestina to effectively engage from the ground, but at the rate they were approaching, it wouldn’t be long before they drew close enough for her to hit.
Her priority would be the Third and Fourth Order Sickle Bats, which would undoubtedly cause massive casualties should they be allowed to act with impunity.
Not bothering with the stairs at all, Celestina leapt between ledges and windows to scale the 5-story bell tower in the blink of an eye and soon landed on its flat roof.
Glancing up, the General noted that Vanessa and Starlight’s movements had become a bit sluggish, likely a result of exhaustion. The enemy beasts had also taken note of this and many which had not dared to approach the pair before were beginning to make probing attacks.
The fate of most of those beasts was death, but the fact that some of them managed to land even glancing blows showed that the fight was far from one-sided.
Celestina wanted to support her student immediately, relieving some of the pressure Vanessa was facing, but she knew her priorities.
Having already been intercepted in the skies, the flying beasts would undoubtedly expect an attack from the ground now and would have some vigilance in that regard; but, the first few arrows fired would still have some advantage in terms of the surprise factor.
That would be Celestina’s best opportunity to take down as many powerful enemies as possible before they became aware of her exact position and moved to avoid her.
Steadying her breathing, Celestina did her best to conceal her aura as she nocked an arrow and drew her azure longbow, taking aim at one of the 2 remaining Fourth Order Sickle Bats which had broken off its attempts to attack Vanessa and had turned towards the defenders on the city wall.
The Fourth Order Sickle Bat began its silent descent, its black wings spread wide as it swooped down towards its unsuspecting victims. Little did it know that it too was prey being targeted by a merciless predator.
Approaching to within 2,000 metres of the walls, the Sickle Bat had entered Celestina striking range, but the General remained patient and didn’t fire yet, allowing it to descend further and get closer before taking the shot.
Just 8 days ago, Celestina had hit a much smaller Vile Coyote from an even greater distance while standing aboard the rapidly moving Sunchaser, so there was basically no way she could miss the Sickle Bat at its current range, but killing a single enemy wasn’t her objective here.
Darting her eyes around, Celestina did her best to track all the other Sickle Bats simultaneously without using her Soul Sense directly in order to not give herself away. Her hope was that more of them would give up trying to catch Starlight and Vanessa and instead target the city, bringing them into her kill-zone. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Unfortunately, only a couple of the Third Order bats broke off their pursuit and descended along with the first Fourth Order beast.
It was slightly disappointing, but in war, things rarely go exactly as you want them to.
With all 3 of her targets now within her range, Celestina rapidly pushed her Spirit and Martial Qi.
3 rapid bangs sounded as Celestina loosed 3 shots in just one second while finely adjusting the strength she used each time so that the arrows would all land at roughly the same moment despite the beasts being different distances away.
Less than 5 seconds later, before the sound of Celestina firing her bow could even arrive, the 3 arrows struck the unsuspecting Sickle Bats dead centre, blowing massive holes in their chests.
All 3 of the creatures reeled back from the impact before they fell to the ground, landing amidst the horde outside the walls and crushing a few unlucky beasts.
Such a huge impact, along with the previous burst of light in the sky, could not be covered up or glossed over anymore, so most of the defenders on the walls were now well aware that a wave of flying beasts was approaching them.
However, seeing 3 massive bats being shot out of the sky so easily by their leader kept morale from collapsing.
With the secret out, there was no longer any need for Celestina to withhold anything so she simply shouted with a Soul Qi infused voice, "Spears and shields forward! Concentrate on blocking the beasts from mounting the walls! Archers, fall back! Concentrate your fire on the enemy’s rock throwers and fliers!"
As she shouted, Celestina released her Soul Sense in full while rapidly firing more arrows from her bow, not only targeting the flying beasts which got too close, but also the stronger beasts she could spot on the ground, especially the bipedal ones which were still occasionally lobbing rocks towards the walls.
Out of everyone on the battlefield, Celestina had the longest range and highest lethality by far, so it wasn’t an exaggeration to say she was single-handedly stabilizing half of the battlefield all on her own. She couldn’t possibly have won a battle against thousands of beasts by herself, but her presence on the frontlines was enough to keep the humans’ fighting spirits burning strong.
