Chapter 284 - 165: Interception (Part 2)
"Hahaha~ Don’t tell me you’re trying to stop us?"
"With just a few thousand of you pigs?"
The other soldiers of the Vanguard Army who could see the situation clearly burst into laughter. These porcupines were hilarious, giving them a real-life demonstration of a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
"Archers, attack! Let’s show these porcupines what we can do."
The Archers of the Vanguard Army had now moved closer and also saw the Steel-backed Porcupines on the road ahead. Judging by their presence, they looked quite fierce, but there were just too few of them.
With those backs full of quills, it was obvious that melee combat would be a losing proposition. So the Archers shouted excitedly, "Leave it to us, brothers! Prepare for a volley—"
’A chance to earn some battle merits during a retreat? We’ve actually stumbled upon such a windfall. It really is great being in the Vanguard Army. We get to retreat quickly and rack up plenty of kills.’
"Fire—"
A volley of arrows rained down from the ranks of the Northern Expedition Legion toward the Steel-backed Porcupines. The Porcupines stiffened their backs, adjusted their stances, and turned to present their backs to the incoming shower of arrows.
TINK! TINK! TINK!
SHHHICK!~~
The volley of arrows striking the Steel-backed Porcupines’ backs produced the sound of metal clashing. The dense shower left many white marks on their backs, but while the volley looked impressive, after a 70% damage reduction, it was fundamentally unable to break their defense.
The second sound was the quills being shot from their backs after the Steel-backed Porcupines had absorbed enough energy.
Under the effect of "Retaliating Spines," these quills shot straight toward the Archers.
The Archers, positioned in the middle of the Vanguard Army, saw the dense swarm of quills flying toward them. They wanted to dodge but were packed in by the soldiers around them, unable to move. Their only option was to activate their few, limited defensive skills and brace for impact.
The surrounding Vanguard Army soldiers, who had been watching the spectacle, were so shocked by this sudden turn of events that their jaws dropped.
The quills were incredibly fast. Only a few soldiers reacted in time to cast defensive skills on the Archers who had fired the volley, but it was just a drop in the bucket.
"AHH—"
The flimsy defenses were instantly pierced by the rain of spines. The afflicted Archers only had time to let out a single scream before they were turned into pincushions, their lives snuffed out.
"..."
The laughter of the Vanguard Army soldiers died abruptly as the spines landed. They stared in silence at the Archer-pincushions covering the ground.
The defensive strength of these road-blocking porcupines completely surpassed their imagination. Looking at the creatures, aside from their backs now being bare of quills, there wasn’t a single scratch on them. It was safe to assume they were completely unharmed.
The soldiers who hadn’t managed to join the volley now felt a wave of cold fear. ’If I had fired,’ they thought, ’I’d be lying on the ground right now, turned into a pincushion too.’
"What’s going on? Why have we stopped?"
Just then, the commander of the Vanguard Army came up from the rear.
The surrounding soldiers scrambled to explain what had happened, all talking over one another.
The commander frowned, walked to the front of the formation, and observed the Steel-backed Porcupines blocking the road. "Their quills are gone, aren’t they? Keep shooting!"
The surrounding Archers glanced at their fallen comrades on the ground and shook their heads vehemently.
"Fine. You, the melee troops. Get up there and hack those pigs blocking the road to death."
Since the Archers had failed to even scratch the Steel-backed Porcupines’ hides, the commander picked out some assassin-type soldiers to advance. They all shared a common trait: a bonus to backstab damage. Attacking an enemy’s rear could result in a critical hit, ignore a portion of their defense, or... well, it would always produce higher damage.
These chosen soldiers cautiously crept up behind the Steel-backed Porcupines, only to find that the creatures didn’t react at all.
Although they couldn’t figure out what the porcupines were planning, since the creatures were letting them get close enough to attack, they weren’t going to be polite about it.
Blades flashed as daggers and swords were brandished without pause. The assassin-type soldiers, as if they were just practicing their skills, freely unleashed their abilities on the Steel-backed Porcupines’ backs.
Under their high-damage attacks, the porcupines’ now-bare backs were covered in countless wounds. Blood seeped from innumerable small cuts.
"When it comes to dishing out damage, you still have to rely on us!"
Seeing this, the assassin-type soldiers grew cheerful. If they could break the defense, it meant these enemies weren’t invincible.
And so, they began to hack away with even more vigor. Their hands moved in a frantic flurry, the continuous flashes of their blades making it difficult to even see the porcupine backs in front of them.
’But that didn’t matter. The porcupines are just sitting here obediently, letting us chop away without a hint of resistance.’
The soldiers, hacking away with gusto, failed to notice that the Steel-backed Porcupines’ smooth backs were becoming bumpy and uneven. One by one, new spines were sprouting from their flesh.
The soldiers suddenly felt a change in the sensation of their weapons striking their targets. It was no longer like hacking at a wooden training post; it now felt like striking a battered, uneven iron stake on the verge of ruin.
Many of the soldiers paused. They then discovered, to their horror, that the porcupines’ backs—previously bare after launching their quills—were now once again densely covered in barbs. Looking at the razor-sharp, gleaming tips of the spines, and then at the new cracks and nicks on the edges of their own weapons, they knew these new quills would inflict devastating damage when launched.
"Stop! Stop what you’re doing—"
Someone screamed, their voice quickly followed by a cry of terror.
"Run~~"
He had realized the spines on the porcupines’ backs were still growing.
But it was too late. The spines on the Steel-backed Porcupines’ backs were almost fully formed. The porcupines drew upon a bit of their internal energy, the spines finished growing in an instant, and then—SHHHICK!—they shot out.
The soldiers standing so close to the Steel-backed Porcupines had no time to react. They were all turned into pincushions. A considerable number of spines flew past them, heading for the Vanguard Army soldiers a short distance away.
"Where are the Mages! Get over here and save them!"
The commander of the Vanguard Army, his face ashen, dropped the pincushion of a soldier he was holding and roared at the Mages in the rear to come and assist the wounded.
At the commander’s order, the Mages from the rear quickly moved to the front lines.
’Since the melee troops and Archers couldn’t harm the porcupines blocking the road, it was time to let the Mages try.’
’Everything in the world has a weakness. It’s impossible for a pig to be resistant to both physical attacks and Magic.’
The Mages quickly readied their spells. Just in case, they first erected a powerful defensive barrier in front of themselves. Although they couldn’t link them together to share shield values, they placed the barriers neatly without a single gap, which they reasoned should block a significant amount of damage.
Then, countless Elemental Magic Balls bombarded the backs of the Steel-backed Porcupines. The splashing elements turned the surrounding grass into a chaotic mess. One moment, a patch of grass was burning; the next, it was being scattered by the wind; and the moment after that, it was frozen solid...
The final result was not what the Vanguard Army’s commander had hoped for. The flesh of these road-blocking porcupines was incredibly resilient. Not only could it withstand being hacked and shot, but it also resisted fire and electricity. Even extreme cold failed to damage its tissue.
However, the Mages were unharmed. The protective shields they had deployed before their attack successfully blocked the retaliatory quill volley from the porcupines.
After several rounds of "experiments," the commander had to concede that these road-blocking porcupines were indeed impervious to both blades and the elements.
Moreover, the porcupines could continuously launch their quills, and the more they were attacked, the faster their firing rate became.
’Killing these porcupines with the troops he had on hand was not something that could be done quickly.’
’He couldn’t just ignore them and walk past, either.’
’But he couldn’t let his army be held up by a bunch of pigs.’
"Someone! Send a few squads into the forests on both sides to scout a path."
"The rest of you, except for the Mages, get into the forest and clear a path. Time is of the essence! You must have a new road cleared before the main army arrives!"
"Mages! Continue your assault! Keep these pigs pinned down right here. Don’t let them move."
The Vanguard Army immediately sprang into action.
A few squads quickly entered the mountain forest and vanished from sight moments later.
The rest of the soldiers began felling trees and clearing undergrowth, rapidly clearing a path through the forest’s vegetation.
The Mages re-established their defenses and began unleashing wave after wave of Elemental Magic Balls, attacking the Steel-backed Porcupines.