Chapter 339 – Demon Army
Aside from mucus that ate away at the wall, the maneater flowers could also shoot sharp venomous spikes to attack their enemy. Those spikes caught the players off guard, injured many, and killed a lot.
In the sky behind the maneater flowers, endless dark clouds billowed. These were Demonic creatures unique to the Demon realm, Blackcloud Beasts. These creatures possessed the appearance of black clouds without tails, heads or limbs; and their entire ‘cloudy’ body only had a mouth below that spat deadly poisonous black rain that deal super high damage. Their only disadvantage was their slow speed. A Blackcloud Beast alone could cover an area of a dozen meters. With this many gathering at once, they could wash over Hero City completely with their spittle.
The seemingly boundless masses of Darkcloud Beasts perfectly reflected the players’ expression right now. It had been only over an hour and something this powerful already came out. How were they supposed to last through the next eight hours?
Some guilds started to flinch with thoughts of retreat, but Bai Xiaosheng only swept them a cold glance ant said, “If you leave now, your losses until now will have gone down the drain.” Meaning if they persisted in helping him all the way, he’d give them some benefits after officially claiming Hero City. But if they left now? Don’t even think about it.
The guild masters exchanged glances, then gritted their teeth and decided to remain.
“Archers, ready!”
All of the archers in the city gathered to deal with the skyful of Blackcloud Beasts.
In the center of Hero City, the towering Tower of Heroes emitted a milky white light that added various buffs to the players.
Bai Xiaosheng stood on the wall while Zhang Feihu closely stood behind him like his designated bodyguard.
When the slow Blackcloud Beasts finally got within range, Bai Xiaosheng only told the archers to attack before turning away without a care. According to the habits of the Demon race, after the first three waves of Demonic creatures, it should be time for the Demon military to make their entrance.
Boom! Boom! When there were still half the numbers of maneater flowers and Blackcloud Beasts left, uniform footsteps echoed from a distance. On the horizon, a black line appeared and quickly expanded forward towards the wall.
“It’s the Demon soldiers.” There was a commotion among the players but it soon subsided. At the moment, they had no way out. It was impossible to use the Recall Scroll because the closest respawn city was right where they were.
And only two hours had passed.
“That’s quite a number of them.” Fatty looked over, stroking his chin.
Over ten thousand would already look endless, and this army had at least thirty thousand, looking very professional at sieges at that. At their front were several hundred Demonic beasts pulling over a hundred large siege equipment.
“Damn it! We didn’t have a single one when we attacked the city, where the hell did they get so many?” The pitiful contrast angered the players so much they wanted to vomit blood. If they had that many siege equipment, they wouldn’t have had to suffer so many casualties.
“Who can go and destroy the artillery?” Bai Xiaosheng turned around and asked. If they just allowed those things to bombard haphazardly, the city was as good as lost.
No one raised a sound. Aside from the siege equipment, there were at least thirty thousand Demon troops, and that spelled ‘certain death.’ It wasn’t even certain if one could destroy any siege equipment before they died. However, there was no better choice when the attack range of the siege equipment far outstripped the players.
“How about you let him try?” A player quickly darted their eyes towards Zhang Feihu.
“He can’t leave the city.” Bai Xiaosheng chuckled bitterly.
Can’t leave the city. The players were speechless.
“So nobody has this courage?” Bai Xiaosheng was a bit anxious. The siege equipment was already being set up. Once they were done, it would be a disaster for the players defending the city.
“Wheat, you go try.” Fatty summoned Wheat and tossed it out of the city.
“Squeak squeak!” Wheat furiously squeaked at Fatty on the wall the wall before earthwalking away.
As an earth Yao monster, Wheat took like a duck to water with Earthwalk. It quickly arrived at the front of the Demon army where the siege equipment had been half set up and would probably be ready in a few minutes.
Ground Fissure. Without further ado, Wheat used the most suitable skill. A catapult that had just been finished setting suddenly creaked as a big crack appeared on the ground below it. The catapult toppled over and got stuck in the crack.
“Good job! Who else have earth pets, hurry and let them out, don’t hide. Pets level quickly,” Bai Xiaosheng urged. Then he added, “Actually, let them all out. No use keeping them in.”
All of the useful pets were released to attack the siege equipment per their masters’ control. However, pets were pets, after all. One, they had low intelligence, second, they weren’t as powerful; only less than 30% could safely reach the siege equipment, and the majority of that portion was slain by the Demon mob, only 10% managed to land their attacks on the targets.
However, the result of these attacks was quite positive. A dozen or so pieces of artillery crumbled while some were seriously damaged beyond use.
It was debatable whether this was worth the deaths of several tens of thousands of pets, but the players couldn’t care less about that now.
Wheat was still in the middle of its mischievous streak underground. After the first catapult, it took down three more. However, that was as far as the pets’ ability went. The rest seventy-odd artillery was up and aiming at the city wall.
Over twenty catapults were the first to attack. Thrown boulders smashed the wall, and the players on the wall jumped off with overly dramatic screams.
Boom! Boom! As the huge rocks repeatedly struck, they gradually smashed out holes. The defense of a normal city should be fortified with magic runes, but for a city that had been occupied by the Demon race for thousands of years, that was a thing of the distant past.
In addition to stones, the catapults also threw a kind of black flame that burned everything it touched. This flame set the wall ablaze and prevented players from getting back on the wall.
Following the catapults, over thirty cannons that had a black, metallic luster to them came into play shortly after. Every time the muzzle of a black cannon glowed, there’d be a dazzling light that battered the city gate. Fortunately, this gate wasn’t one of the two that the players had attacked and damaged before, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to withstand the bombardment.
With these two siege tools keeping them in check, the players didn’t dare to go up on the wall to launch attacks. In fact, everyone including the NPC troops had retreated to beneath the wall, hiding from the catapult attacks.
The rest of the siege equipment was all a kind of crossbow that could rotate while firing a succession of 100 bolts in one turn, making it a devastating weapon in this kind of battle.
“According to my plan, the wall could at least hold for five hours, then the battlefield would drag to the streets for two to three hours, and then hold up in the City Lord Manor for the remaining time. But hell, it’s yet to hit three hours and we’re already forced to give up on the wall. This defense battle is gonna be tough.” Bai Xiaosheng sighed.
“Tough it is then, high risk brings high profit.” A guild master walked over. “Guild Master Bai, let’s make something clear first. If we can’t defend Hero City, then everyone can return to their mother empty-handed. But if we succeed, how will the city be distributed?”
They had to raise the question since they had offended Bai Xiaosheng earlier. If they actually won the defense battle, after which the NPC troops would fully arrive, the guy would be nice enough to just let them go without giving them anything. In the worst-case scenario, he might just decide to kill them all.
“If the defense battle is a success, every guild here can have land as big as a village-level base, a 20% cut in tax, and enjoy priority privilege on anything in Hero City,” Bai Xiaosheng raised a finger in an oath and solemnly said.
“Alright, we trust in your honor, Guild Master Bai. So, let us all fight to the death!”
All of the players on the scene backed away 30 meters from the wall to avoid the flying stones. Fatty also ordered Wheat to return because it was easy to die when it was alone against an entire army.
Despite having no magical protections, the thickness and solidity of a main city wall were still on another level compared to that of ordinary cities. The Demon army had to work their artillery for nearly an hour before they could create some big holes on the worn-down wall.
After the havoc, the artillery finally stopped attacking. They had to lest they accidentally injure the Demon soldiers who had started rushing towards the wall.
Getting a promise directly from Bai Xiaosheng’s mouth, the guilds were all thrilled. Dying a few times? Didn’t matter. As long as the city was successfully defended, all of their losses would be made up.
Some players yelled they wanted to charge out of the city to fight the Demon soldiers so as to prevent them from entering the city. Without surprise, they became the butt of jokes.
The catapults and cannons were still there. Not to mention the gate and the wall were badly damaged; a part had collapsed, exposing a gap over 50 meters wide. In neat formation, the Demon soldiers were already pouring in through it.
“Guys, we must persist for more than five hours,” said Bai Xiaosheng. While he had planned for the City Lord Manor to hold on for two to three hours, it was better to stay away from it as long as possible, because no one knew what kind of powerful Demonic creatures would appear later.
The players’ momentum wasn’t at all inferior to the Demon army. The latter, while outnumbering them, were only vanguards that were more specialized in breaching walls than fighting. At this moment when the players’ hearts were united, they arranged the most effective tactics possible and weren’t afraid to die as they rigidly blocked the Demon soldiers at the gap in the wall.
Fatty nimbly roamed, slaying several Demon soldiers. Suddenly coming up with an idea, he called HeadofGod and the others, “Guys, let’s take a trip out.”
As the Demon army rushed over and tangled with the players at the wall, the number of them protecting the artillery in the rear had gradually decreased. Whether damaged or complete, the roughly 100 siege equipment was a large fortune. If they could be transported back to the city, the players’ chance at victory would be greatly improved.
Upon understanding Fatty’s idea, HeadofGod and the other friends quickly broke away from the fight, forming a small team of over twenty to sneak out of the city.
