Chapter 291: Beast Tide: Vanguard
Wei Chen, on the other hand, had no idea what Ximen Hao and the captain were talking about, so he didn’t know what advice to give. However, judging from their expressions, something was clearly not right.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked.
Hearing Wei Chen’s voice, Ximen Hao suddenly remembered. Wasn’t this guy the young master of a hidden ancient force? Then maybe this guy had a solution!
In all honesty, he didn’t want to sacrifice this group of warriors. He knew they were all battle-hardened veterans, shaped by countless harsh battles against various small-scale fierce beast packs. He wanted to preserve them.
He didn’t know the situation at the second and third defensive lines because those were under his father’s command. He had only taken over the first defensive line a few days ago due to the Ximen Ren incident.
He wanted to preserve these people, make use of them, and earn their loyalty as his own warriors and supporters.
"Bro... do you have a solution?" Ximen Hao asked.
"What solution?"
Ximen Hao then began explaining the defensive plan to Wei Chen and the most likely scenario, one in which this defensive line and its warriors would sacrifice themselves to thin out the beast tide. He also explained that he wanted to preserve their lives.
After listening to Ximen Hao’s explanation, Wei Chen understood.
"I can help you with that, but it won’t be free, you know. I also need to pay my people," Wei Chen said.
"Of course. Money isn’t a problem," Ximen Hao replied without hesitation.
"That’s good to hear." Wei Chen smiled. His cultivation required an enormous amount of spiritual qi to sustain it, an amount that bordered on the unreasonable. That was why he needed a great deal of spirit stones.
With their cooperation established, Ximen Hao smiled. At least he no longer needed to sacrifice these warriors. If money could buy their lives and loyalty, then it was money well spent in his eyes.
"By the way, how are you going to solve this? Do you somehow have a supreme artifact or a powerful formation tucked away somewhere?" Ximen Hao asked.
"Something like that. Let’s find somewhere to sit down and discuss our defensive plan," Wei Chen replied.
"Yes." Ximen Hao nodded. "We only have a few hours before the first wave of the beast tide reaches us."
Hearing the words a few hours, Wei Chen’s eyebrows shot up.
"Wait, hold on... a few hours? Didn’t you just tell that messenger the beast tide would arrive in about a week?"
"Oh, we meant the beast tide will reach the city in about a week. This place is the first defensive line, so they’ll reach us much sooner. After all, the beast tide still has to pass through the valley and break through three defensive lines before it reaches the city. If the defensive lines fail to hold, that journey will take about a week," Ximen Hao explained.
"I see... then we don’t have much time," Wei Chen agreed.
"That’s right. Follow me, then."
With that, Ximen Hao led Wei Chen’s group and the warriors toward the largest building within the defensive line.
Among the group following behind, the bloated commander wore a dark expression. No one knew what he was thinking.
— A Few Hours Later —
The first defensive line was bustling, yet the suffocating air of inevitability weighed heavily on the hearts of everyone stationed there. This was especially true for the low-level warriors, who were little more than cannon fodder and might have to sacrifice their very lives to buy time for those with higher cultivation.
Wei Chen stood atop the observation tower overlooking the battlefield alongside Ximen Hao.
Also in the tower was Dream Butterfly, who had chosen to stay and help her husband.
As for Mo Xingyao and Song Wan, the two had relatively weak cultivation, so they brought little Ningning back to the city with them since they could not contribute much here.
However, because of Song Wan, the Song Clan had sent reinforcements, and they had just arrived. They were a group of elite warriors, a dead squad that the Song Clan had trained after Song Wan informed them that the situation was far from optimistic.
Ximen Hao stood at the top of the observation tower, staring toward the horizon where clouds had begun to gather. From time to time, he picked up his U-Phone as the scouts periodically reported the current position of the beast tide.
Ximen Hao ended the call, looked at Wei Chen, and spoke in a solemn tone.
"The vanguard of the beast tide will arrive any minute now. I hope your reinforcements get here soon. Otherwise, when the main force arrives, we might not have the strength to hold them off."
During the planning stage, they had agreed that the defensive line would deal with the vanguard first. After that, Wei Chen’s reinforcements would arrive to ambush the main force.
The vanguard of a beast tide was usually composed mostly of cannon fodder beasts that were relatively easy to deal with. Their primary purpose was simply to make up the numbers and drain the defenders’ spiritual qi and ammunition so that the main force could arrive later, inflict serious damage, and finish off the exhausted defenders with their elite troops.
This was the standard tactic used by every beast tide. In response, the human side would do everything possible to reduce the strength of the vanguard, because if they allowed it to remain intact, the situation would become far worse once the main horde arrived.
Everything followed the same playbook. The human defenders poured as many attacks as possible into the vanguard, while the beast vanguard did everything it could to waste the defenders’ ammunition and spiritual qi, exhausting them before the decisive battle even began.
But even knowing this tactic, could they really afford not to play by those rules?
Some could, and some had tried, only to fail spectacularly and pay the price with their blood.
That was because, even though the vanguard consisted mostly of cannon fodder, there were always elite beasts mixed among them. Once the defenders became overly confident and attempted clever tactics instead of following proven strategies, those elite beasts would seize the opportunity to wreak havoc.
Those elite beasts were the very reason so many supposedly brilliant strategies had failed in practice. After all, high-level beast tides were commanded by highly intelligent King Beasts.
However, since this was Ximen Clan territory, they could afford to take a calculated risk. Behind this defensive line were two additional defensive lines under Ximen Hong’s command, serving as safety nets.
Furthermore, Ximen Hao wanted to preserve these warriors and earn their loyalty as his future supporters, so they had agreed to such a risky plan.
Hearing Ximen Hao’s concern, Wei Chen could not help but chuckle.
"Relax. The second wave won’t even get the chance to touch the walls."
As they spoke, smoke began rising on the distant horizon as countless dark figures poured across the earth.
No.... they were not marching.
They were charging.
Charging toward the defensive line like a pack of starving predators that had just caught sight of an enormous feast. Their roars shook the plains as countless fierce beasts trampled over one another in their desperation to reach the prey first. Some even bared their fangs at their own kind, tearing into each other in a frenzy, all hoping to claim the first bite for themselves.
Seeing this, Ximen Hao’s expression grew solemn.
"They’re finally here," he said, warning everyone around him.
The warriors standing atop the battlements immediately became alert, every muscle tense and every nerve stretched taut like fully drawn bowstrings ready to release.
The rows of cannon towers, which had only recently undergone hurried makeshift repairs, stood ready with their barrels aimed at the horizon.
These cannon towers would focus their fire on the elite beasts while allowing the cannon fodder to advance, because they had very little usable ammunition left after years of negligence and corruption.
Time ticked by as the sand slowly poured through the hourglass. The warriors responsible for scouting, hidden within crevices using their concealment techniques, continuously reported the positions of the elite beast groups.
Thanks to the U-Phone 2, they no longer needed to run back to the defensive line just to deliver their reports. As for using communication jade slips? What were communication jade slips? Most of them were single-use items, unlike the U-Phone 2, which could be used indefinitely as long as it had access to spiritual qi.
Ximen Hao could not thank his own extravagance enough. Back then, he had decided to purchase U-Phone 2s in bulk and distribute them to the officers throughout his clan as their primary means of communication.
Otherwise, reporting and coordinating on the battlefield would never have been this convenient.
The distance grew shorter and shorter.
Wei Chen then looked at Dream Butterfly.
"It’s time. Buff them a bit with your song," Wei Chen said.
"Buff? What’s that?" Dream Butterfly asked, tilting her head.
Wei Chen smiled wryly.
"I mean... bless them, or strengthen them, or enhance them with the power of your song," Wei Chen explained.