Chapter 223 223 – Second Wave Begins
"These stones are meant to be pushed off the wall when the beasts reach it. It serves two purposes, the first is to kill some beasts, while the second is to buy a few more seconds for the wall. The wall is strengthened by a few sixth-rank formations that will help it endure the beasts' attack, but they will gradually take damage until they shatter, and the wall soon after. The costs are not a problem; the treasury of the city is linked to the formations."
The treasury had many Qi Stones of all qualities, and their combined worth probably reached over a billion medium Qi Stones. The weak link was not the speed at which the Qi Stones would be burnt, but the time the formations would survive the onslaught of countless beasts acting like rams.
"I hope the wall will endure the second and third waves so we can keep the citizens safe," Miles said in a serious tone. The threat was real, and while he didn't question their ability to survive, he was slightly worried about the mission failing and the wall being breached.
"It won't survive the third wall. We have the inner wall of the inner city; all citizens were evacuated from the outer region into the inner city for safety. We hope to kill at least half of the third wave here and kill the rest at the next wall. The one who kills most beasts every tide is none other than the wall itself."
"The wall kills most beasts? How come?"
"It's made of sixth-grade materials and reinforced by sixth-rank formations. Although it eventually breaks, third-rank beasts and lower crush their skulls when ramming against it. That's one of the reasons we aim at the higher-ranked beasts first, we don't want them to damage the wall," the mayor explained.
'I can imagine it as a game quest to kill a certain amount of beasts while the HP bar of the wall remains as full as possible, and each beast reaching the wall takes a small chunk of HP from the wall with its damage,' Ken pondered while waiting for the tide to begin.
Soon, the ground began to shake, and the sounds of hooves and paws hitting the ground echoed as if thousands of beginning drummers beat their drums without any sync.
"The beasts are coming! Everyone, prepare!" The mayor, who also served as the highest commander of the city guards, shouted.
The earth shook with a higher intensity as the beasts got closer, and the cultivators could see a small sea of beasts galloping toward them. The slower beasts occasionally got stomped to death by the others, and there was not a hint of unity among them.
"20 fifth-ranked beasts incoming! I will deal with the 10 in the east, Team Helper A takes care of the 10 in the west!" The mayor gave orders. Team Helper A was the name Ken's team received.
The mayor only helped kill the fifth-rank beasts before retreating to reserve his strength; there was expected to be a sixth-rank beast next wave, and he could not afford to exhaust himself in a fight now. Killing the strongest beasts now was the best help he could offer to his subordinates.
"You guys can surround me and kill the five fifth-rank beasts on the left, while I take those on the right," Ken said. He had a better plan for them.
"Let's go!"
The five stomped the ground and dashed toward the incoming beasts. The fifth-ranked beasts were in the back of the tide, and they were divided into 4 groups of five. While the mayor took care of two groups, Ken's group was in charge of the other two groups.
Ken separated from the main group and his sword flashed as he unsheathed it, claiming the lives of a few beasts surrounding him.
'Slash.'
Ken sent 81 slashes around him, cutting and killing the weaker beasts. In one second, he already killed over 80 beasts. He could not spend his Qi irresponsibly; he still had to fight thousands of other beasts as well as another wave. His flexible sword jumped from one enemy to another, leaving deep gashing wounds and intrusive Sword Qi to mess them from the inside.
The beasts under the fourth rank had no chance of fending off the intrusive Sword Qi, and it worked like a poison that killed them before they could reach the wall. Their comrades stomped them into minced meat in their charge, their existence was soon forgotten.
Ken stepped on the ground lightly and jumped, landing on the back of another beast. His sword continued to claim the lives of the beasts around him, and his feet were coated with Sword Qi that pierced the back of every beast he stepped on.
Thanks to his human build, as a biped, he could jump even inside the dense herd of beasts, but the same could not be said about most of those that walked on four. They could only watch Ken jump in elegant moves from back to back and only offer futile resistance with their Qi.
'Mind-Poisoning Domain – Frenzy Mode.'
Ken activated his domain technique, sending his Bloodlust Qi in all directions. The beasts turned crazy in a single moment, unable to contain the effect of the potent Qi. The dozens of beasts surrounding Ken began biting, clawing, and ramming into each other mercilessly.
The attacks made them slow down, turning the tide into a mess. The beasts behind them could not stop their march, thus crashing into the crazed beasts. Since it was not a single beast, many other beasts slowed down which caused a chain accident.
The effect did not stop there, Ken kept running on the backs of the collapsing beasts and reactivated his Frenzy technique again, causing another chain event and hundreds of casualties among the beasts.
"ROAARRR!"
An angry roar came from the back of the mighty horde, and the five fifth-rank beasts in charge of this section set their eyes on the troublesome human child.