Steel and Mana

Chapter 128 – Monster of the Beastlands (2)

There was no time to argue or fight over what to do as everyone was rushing to the walls, wanting to know what was happening. Sure enough, we were right in thinking that the alarms went off because of our magic system after asking the soldiers. Whatever the thing that set it off was, it was hiding in the snowstorm and was as massive as the beast we faced the previous winter.

"Do you feel anything?" I asked, looking at Merlin, pulling my hood tighter, trying to ignore the sharp and cold winds slashing against my face.

"Everything feels that it is jumbled up... weird... But I do feel something..."

"And I hear something!" Father added, and it was making me anxious because I also heard it.

It was a low hum, like some kind of jet engine slowly beginning to spin and power up. Was the beast preparing some sort of spell or attack? If so, and it hits us, we are done for... its sound alone was raising the hair on my body!

"Fire!" I shouted, trying to overcome the howling blizzard, "Fire everything we got; I don't care if we can't aim at a target; just do it!"

I bless my luck that nobody was here questioning my order. Simply, the action that my dad and Merlin also got to a cannon firing into the storm was enough for every warrior to realize something was off. Soon, all twenty-five cannons were roaring, sending orange fireballs into the storm like an angry dragon. We heard them land and explode, and the humming noise stopped, releasing the energy it had built up so far before it was ready. It seemed that we caught it by surprise.

I was right—that thing was charging a spell. Our attacks managed to disrupt it, and it let it loose prematurely as we watched a cold, blue beam pass over above the castle towards the sky. Standing there, I could feel how cold it was, but there was no time to keep wondering what was happening; it was time to do all we could to stop it.

"Keep firing! Raise the powers of the cannons!"

There was no time to think or keep reserves as I ramped up my cannon to the third level, firing a blinding, orange 'missile,' followed by multiple others alongside the long wall. As they flew into the white, blue, whirling blizzard, I could see the white snow turn orange, reflecting their color before disappearing. Then came the explosions... and a painful, deep roar echoing between the mountain walls.

"The storm is not normal!" Merlin shouted over the wind and the roaring cannon fire, "I feel weird because the storm is interfering with magic! This is not just a blizzard; it is magically enhanced weather!"

"Fucking hell..." I cursed, not waiting and ordering to start firing with four CCs inserted into the cannons, willing to sacrifice as many as needed to kill this thing.

When the first few blasts rang out, destroying four of our cannons, the fire spells melted through the blizzard, acting as angry, magical firebirds, and for a moment, we could finally see the monster hiding inside of it. Well... We did not see all of it, but what I managed to glimpse reminded me of Godzilla. Whatever it was, it had silvery-blue scales and stood on two legs with t-rex-like stumps as hands.

The fourth-level spells hurt him for real as the howls released from its mouth were louder than before, and the buzzing sound that was trying to gather energy entirely stopped. At first, I thought we killed that thing, but then the wind changed direction and began flowing towards the Pass, straight towards the monster within the blizzard.

We watched with horror as the beast gulped down the storm with one continuous, long breath as if it were nothing. It slowly began revealing itself as the blizzard dissipated, and we could see its body towering over everything within the Pass. By my estimation, it had to be at least twenty meters high, if not taller. At first glance, the beast resembled a dinosaur, but it was much more stumpy-looking. I say this because its hindlegs were thick, supporting its upright body, while its arms were thinner compared to them. Still, those arms were as thick as train cars. The lower half of its body was wide, acting like some kind of balance, keeping it straight, and unlike Godzilla, this one had no spiky things on its back.

I watched as our attacks continued and saw its silvery-colored, cold scales lit up in a blue light, giving the beast an otherworldly aura. Worse than that... it suddenly erected a magical shield around itself, letting the fire spells hit that, unable to reach and hurt the monster.

"Keep firing!" I roared, watching with a cold gaze. I saw the scorch marks on its scales where we had previously hit it, knowing that we could hurt it. We did damage that bastard, which is why he changed tactics.

"How..." Merlin gulped, his eyes glued to the spectacle, his mind trying to figure it out, make calculations, and get a feeling for the magic it was using.

"There it is again..." Father exclaimed with unmistakable dread in his voice.

He was right. That low humming returned, and with everything visible, I could see that it was coming from the beast's mouth. Its blocky, lizard-like head was aiming toward the middle of the caste walls as it slowly opened its mouth, letting the noise get louder every second its jaws parted further away. This time, I could see the magic formation appear not around it, above it, but on the surface of its skin. I saw the runes take form and light up while bright and mana-filled lines connect them. It was like how the nervous system of humans works, a natural phenomenon. This thing evolved to do this... It was marvelous yet horrifying. Especially because our attacks were hitting that damned shield, unable to get through the bastard!

"I can do it..." Merlin whispered, not blinking for a millisecond.

"Do what?!" I asked, but he already climbed up to the edge of the wall, chanting, holding multiple CCs in his palms, using them as focus pieces and conduits.

There was no time to ask any more questions or wait for reasons that would make sense of it; it was time to trust my Prime Minister.

"Get ready to fire with maximum force the moment something happens! Anything!" Father roared as all the remaining cannons were loaded with four CCs, no longer caring whether they could withstand it.

"No way..."

When his magic formation appeared, I realized what Merlin was doing. He was using our experimental trojan spell to try to take down the beast's defenses! According to the theory that these monsters were natural magic users, the power of their abilities would need a completely different and new categorization than ours because if they had enough energy, they would be able to unleash any type of spell without fail. What an unfair advantage... I just don't know if Merlin could match it or not.

Yet, here he was, accomplishing a feat that no other human, mage or not, would be capable of... because he finished chanting before the beast gathered its powers. When the spell was completed, the formation around him disappeared and reformed within the giant lizard's shielding, dissipating it instantly. Our cannons were roaring the moment it happened while I jumped forward, hugging Merlin's body with two hands, pulling him back as he almost fell forward, unconscious. Was it a backlash? Or did he overexert himself? I had no time to worry because everything happened so quickly...

As I pulled him back, I saw the spells hit the monster's silver skin, blowing holes into it. Its blood was reddish, splashing out like water balloons being popped, and the weird part was that it was way too bright, as if someone had turned the saturation to the maximum. My guess was that it was the magic infused within that made it so sparkly, but I had no proof.

"Look out!" Shouted my father while I was already landing on my back with Merlin, no longer seeing what was happening, but I could hear it.

With a painful roar, the thing let loose its spell once again. When the high-pitched whining stopped, the blue ray appeared again, hitting the castle's left tower, where the warning bells were located. It was blown clean off and blasted into hundreds of pieces while also being frozen into solid ice pieces. I saw as the soldiers up there were shattered like glass while the whole thing fell down, raining into the inner courtyards, breaking apart while doing so. Whatever that blue ice touched was turned into a statue, even after the beam was gone... I saw multiple soldiers buried under it, turning just as blue as it was the moment it made contact with their bodies, splintering them into mosaic pieces.

"Don't touch it! Stay away from the ice; it is deadly!" rang out my voice, echoed by many others as I stood up, wanting to see what was happening to the beast. "Take that..." I grunted because the maximum-level fire spells did their job. That monstrosity was riddled with holes, and I watched as it swayed, finally toppling over, falling face first to the frozen ground, breathing its last.

"Son!"

"I'm fine, but Merlin...!" I turned around, reacting immediately, checking the boy, who was breathing laboriously. He looked weak, and his body was as cold as the air around us.

"Take him in! Damn it... if another one comes..."

"Don't... Please, Dad... Don't jinx us!" I groaned, feeling that we just skirted past Death itself.

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"Captain, we are nearing the Frontier Region. Are we going to do as we were ordered?"

Aboard the Empire's flying ship, the Salvation, a crew of fifty were on their way towards the Atuvian League, delivering 'help' while also ordering to sell their food at an exorbitant price. Not long after leaving their port, they received a message to skirt around the edge of the region, checking for monsters.

"We are only flying by as ordered. If the border regions are intact, we are not going to see any beasts. Let the locals handle it; we have a much more important mission!" Answered the grizzled-looking, black-bearded man standing behind the wheel of the ship, who belonged to one of the imperial marquess families.

"Should we use the Imaginary?"

"And waste resources or time? No. I already received emergency news from Duke Kustov that his people are nearby at Greyback and will do our job. It is best not to steal the glory from a duke, not after what happened... If they want to do it, let them do it so they can personally visit the Frontier. If there is a problem, we will be alerted and can deal with it afterward."

"Wouldn't that be late?" The young, barely sixteen-year-old officer asked, making his captain laugh and shaking his head.

"It's fine! They are here to be the hurdle for any beast horde. The monsters will gnaw at them until spring comes, and we cannot clean up before that! Plus, we are now heavy with cargo, and our maneuverability is low. When returning, we will be in a much better position to fight—if there is anything to fight. Until then, let us focus on our job; the air up here is way too cold to my liking!"

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It has been a day since the monster's attack. We lost two dozen soldiers and one tower, not to mention half of our cannons were irreparably damaged. Right now, Oleg and the reinforcement from my soldiers were working on cleaning the debris and recovering any bodies we may find. To even start that, we had to wait ten hours because the ice that covered them made it impossible to get near. Luckily, they did not remain frozen forever and slowly naturalized, turning from magical to regular ice. One that could be neared and touched without dying.

The same could not be said about the corpse outside in the Pass. It was still oozing magic, and we witnessed a group of smaller beasts approaching it just so they all turned into ice sculptures. For now, recovering remains from it had to wait, but I was glad of it. It gave us time while my forges worked overtime, creating cannons back home. The winter was far from over.

"Any improvements?" I asked, walking into my room where Merlin was currently in a coma-like state, being cared for by my Mother.

"His temperature is still too low. This is not like the backlash you spoke about from before."

"It has to be a side effect of interfering with the monster's magic. Haaah... He will be fine!" I grunted, slapping my face. I wanted to lie down and sleep, but there was no time for it. "He pulled through it before; he will do it again..."

What I didn't know back then was that although Merlin looked like he was sleeping, deep down, he was having a really intense dream...