NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24
Chapter 24: The Golden Barrier on the City Wall
The beastmen’s equipment was quite outdated, so the bird-humans, aside from tearing with their claws, had only one long-range attack method: throwing stones or roughly polished short spears from high above.
Generally speaking, the bird-humans are quite valuable even within the Beast Kingdom, so they usually don’t land to engage humans in close combat. Instead, they constantly use this method to harass and suppress, creating opportunities for the main force to breach the city.
The United Kingdom doesn’t have an air force, or rather, it lacks a structured large-scale aerial combat unit like the beastmen, leaving them at the mercy of the attack.
Countless stones and various chaotic projectiles rained down like a storm. While their power wasn’t significant, due to the force of gravity, if they hit a soldier’s head, even an average fighter would be knocked out instantly.
Prepared as always, Liliya wasn’t about to let that happen.
Without needing Princess Liliya to remind him, Layton immediately took a deep breath and let out a thunderous roar that echoed across the west wall.
“Shield bearers, raise shields!!!”
“Ha!”
A defense line made of countless shields shot up, nearly covering the entire battlement. The clattering sounds were incessant, and due to the timely preparation, this wave of attacks caused almost no damage to the soldiers on the wall.
As for Liliya, although a few silver-armored guards immediately wanted to rush over and raise their shields to protect her, Vilyric quickly cast a massive golden curtain, shielding not only the princess but all the leaders and soldiers within a hundred meters.
The stones and short spears crashed against what looked like a thin golden barrier, vanishing without a ripple, while those inside could attack outward without obstruction.
The attacking beastmen and even some of the soldiers on the wall were startled by the sudden appearance of the huge light shield, their hands pausing instinctively. Those leaders protected within by Vilyric were shocked enough to almost pop their eyes out.
Although they had been informed beforehand that this black-haired girl was a “legendary-level” expert, no one expected her to conjure up something this terrifying so easily. Was this really still a legend?
Only Liliya, who had witnessed Vilyric cast the 9th-tier magic “Blessing from Heaven,” along with Layton and the distant young general Rekter, showed slightly more normal reactions. However, Liliya still looked at the stunning girl beside her with a knowing gaze, then refocused on commanding the troops.
Well, this wasn’t too bad, at least there wasn’t an outrageously exaggerated reaction. After all, they were on the battlefield, and many weren’t in the mood to pay attention to such things.
Vilyric didn’t particularly notice Liliya’s expression and merely nodded to herself in satisfaction.
The shield she had just released was a 6th-tier spell, requiring only level 50 to learn, with no overly complicated prerequisites. In fact, this skill, “Radiant Protection,” is just one of the prerequisites to learn some higher-tier skills, and it must be fully developed.
The size of guardian and barrier skills can be manipulated by the input of magical power. Although now it was just the basic range of “Radiant Protection,” if maximized, it could reach a diameter of at most two kilometers.
Its higher-tier version, the 10th-tier spell “Eternal Shield of Light,” if Vilyric had just cast that, could easily cover the entire Wanku Fortress, including a large area outside it.
Moreover, once this skill takes form, it automatically absorbs magical energy from the air to replenish its consumption. Unless it is completely shattered, it can persist indefinitely, making it one of the strongest guardian and barrier skills, second only to the final mastery of all skills in a specific series.
Vilyric’s purpose was solely to protect Liliya, so she certainly wasn’t going to unleash anything too outrageous.
In fact, she was rather curious about what a naturally occurring war in this world looked like. So, unless something remarkable occurred, she didn’t plan to take proactive action to influence the war’s progression.
Furthermore, Vilyric was slightly concerned that Hua had not been by Liliya’s side since this morning.
The princess had merely mentioned that she was assigned a special task and didn’t have time to elaborate when the beastmen began their siege, which piqued Vilyric’s curiosity.
Although they managed to fend off the Leopard-Humans climbing the walls and the aerial harassment from the bird-humans, the beastmen in the middle army, consisting of vast numbers of lions, tigers, and bears, were already fully prepared to start their frontal assault!
What? You ask what if they lack siege weaponry?
Well, they’ll just toss everything by hand!
Although she had heard some discussions from Liliya and the others in books, the wildness and brute strength of the beastmen still astonished Vilyric.
Those towering, muscular black bears were casually picking up nearby lions and tigers, taking a few steps back, and roaring as they hurled them toward the city wall and interior of Wanku Fortress!
Are you kidding? That’s thousands of meters away— even many bullets on Blue Star can’t reach that far…
Moreover, the relative shortness of lion-humans and tiger-humans is only in comparison to their throwers; they themselves were at least over two meters tall. How much strength did that require to pull off such a comical act?
And it wasn’t just one or two bears doing this—the entire first row of several thousand beastmen all made the same motion.
Countless red and yellow meteors fell like cannonballs into the city, landing on the battlements, and some crashed loudly against the solid walls.
Even more absurd was that, aside from those who tumbled mid-flight, most of the lion-humans and tiger-humans tossed over seemed unfazed, shaking their heads dazedly, bloodshot eyes roaring as they charged at the surrounding humans.
However… even though Miss Vilyric was startled, it was clear that this level of impact was no match for “Radiant Protection.”
Dozens of furry balls collided loudly against the shining shield, instantly bursting into golden sparks before softly falling off the battlements—whether they were alive or dead was anyone’s guess…
Liliya was likely aware of such siege tactics, but upon seeing a small number of beastmen skip over the walls into the interior, she immediately felt uneasy and decisively shouted with the aid of magical props.
“Fourth Legion, encircle and annihilate the beastmen troops that have entered the city! We cannot allow a single one to infiltrate the residential areas! Mage units, erect barriers to intercept the projectiles; Shadow Guards, move out and cooperate with the troops to quickly eliminate the lion-humans and tiger-humans atop the wall!”
“Yes!!”
A mixed chorus of high-pitched responses erupted from all sides. Vilyric looked down to see numerous figures within the inner side of the city wall rapidly converging, forming a massive semi-circle gradually tightening inward—this should be the Fourth Legion that Liliya had arranged in advance.
Who knows if these ordinary human soldiers could handle that group of lion-humans and tiger-humans? However, the beastmen that truly fell into the city were not many, and there was a staggering numerical disparity of dozens times over. Moreover, many strong individuals among the humans should handle it just fine.
Well, it wasn’t something she needed to worry about anyway.
Facing a real war soaked in blood and life, Vilyric’s heart, though much more detached, still stirred with a sense of fervor.
The massive deaths didn’t make Vilyric uncomfortable; she felt as if she were observing an intense territorial struggle between two armies of ants, her heart brimming with eagerness and the desire to applaud.
So, what new and fresh happenings would unfold next? How exciting! ~