Chapter 126: The Pressure Mounts
Arthur continued racing across the rooftops, lightning tearing through buildings behind him without pause. The Goblin Hunters had spread themselves throughout the district exactly as Arthur instructed.
Every time he reached another rooftop, Hunters were already waiting, some carrying replacement spears, others preparing another launch, others recovering usable weapons from collapsed buildings below.
The teamwork began paying off.
Arthur launched himself again.
[Guardian Strike].
King Mu appeared, and another Thunderbird died mid-flight.
Arthur landed directly on another, Dusk flashing once, twice, and the bird crashed into an abandoned street instead of the crowded districts nearby.
Arthur immediately pushed off the corpse.
Another Hunter caught him.
Another launch.
The battle had become almost rhythmic where he was launched, killed, landed, and ran away before flying again. Even the Thunderbirds began struggling to predict when he would be launched, and the Hunters cheered every successful strike.
For one brief moment it looked like the plan was working.
Arthur allowed himself one thought. Maybe.
Then a cry echoed across the cavern. Not from the flock chasing him. From farther away.
Arthur slowly looked upward. Between the massive stone pillars supporting the underground cavern, another flock appeared. Dozens more Thunderbirds, lightning dancing between them.
The entire cavern grew darker.
Lightning reflected across every rooftop.
Every Hunter looked up and hope... Disappeared.
One Hunter whispered, "There’s more?"
Arthur quietly exhaled. "Of course there are," he said.
The new flock joined the first.
The sky became completely filled with blue lightning. The hunt began again.
The second flock changed everything.
Arthur could no longer draw all of them away. Some split off, others began attacking from different directions, and the Goblin Hunters were forced to constantly reposition. One barely reached Arthur in time to catch him.
Another slipped while carrying replacement spears, scattering them across a rooftop, and was left wide open.
Lightning struck first.
BOOOOOOM!!
The rooftop exploded beneath his feet.
"No!" Arthur changed direction immediately.
He abandoned the Thunderbird chasing him, and instead he dove. The Hunter slipped over the edge. Arthur caught his wrist, but the force nearly pulled both of them off the building.
Another Thunderbird screamed overhead.
Blue lightning gathered inside its beak.
Arthur drove Dusk upward.
[Armor Piercing]!
The spear punched through the Thunderbird’s throat and its body crashed into the street below.
Arthur hauled the Hunter back onto the rooftop. "You alright?"
The Goblin nodded rapidly. "...I dropped the spears."
Arthur laughed. "We’ll find more."
He grabbed another spear from a nearby rooftop. "Keep throwing."
The Hunter grinned. "Yes, Prophet!"
Arthur jumped again.
But even he started to make mistakes the longer this went on.
A bolt clipped his shoulder, and his clothes burned at the edge. Even with the uniform defense, the bolt was still able to get through after multiple hits.
And then he stumbled during one landing.
Another bolt destroyed the rooftop beneath him before he could leap clear, and he barely caught the edge of another building with both hands.
A Hunter immediately threw him a spear.
Arthur smiled. "Thanks," he said.
The Hunter grinned. "Don’t thank me," he said. "Kill more birds."
Arthur laughed despite himself, then launched again.
King Mu destroyed another Thunderbird while he killed another himself.
Still, they weren’t winning anymore.
They were surviving.
...
At the wall, the defenders continued holding.
Goblin Archers constantly rotated positions along the battlements. Mages maintained flickering barriers. Riders coordinated flame attacks from atop their Lions. Healers never stopped running between the wounded.
A Goblin Archer screamed as a Thunder Chimera landed directly among the bowmen.
Lightning erupted.
Three Archers were thrown across the battlements, and one stopped moving.
"Healer!"
Before anyone could reach him—
Melo darted through the battlefield, and her four tails flashed. The Chimera staggered as crimson lines opened across its chest. And then its eyes suddenly became heavy. The beast collapsed asleep in the middle of the battlefield.
A Goblin Healer immediately dragged the unconscious Archer away.
Another Goblin silently picked up the fallen bow.
The wall had become organized chaos.
Sun suddenly noticed something. "Mithra," he said.
She followed his gaze.
The Titan Boulder Apes weren’t throwing randomly anymore. Every boulder, every pillar, every piece of rubble was aimed toward exactly one location.
The crack.
"They’re concentrating fire," Mithra said.
Sun immediately understood. "They’re trying to break through one point," he said.
Mithra didn’t hesitate. She immediately changed Arthur’s original plan.
"Archers! Forget the climbers! Target every Boulder Ape! Goblin Riders! Burn the rear ranks! Mages! Support them!"
Immediately the battlefield shifted again. Arrows filled the sky. Fire rained downward. Magic exploded among the Apes, and several giants collapsed. Others simply grabbed another boulder.
The barrage never slowed.
A Boulder Ape hurled an enormous slab of stone. Every Mage attacked at once, fire, wind, earth, water, but the slab kept falling.
Sun planted Long.
[Point Shockwave].
The impact exploded the stone only a few meters before it reached the wall, fragments raining across the battlements.
Goblin cheers erupted.
Then immediately stopped because another slab was already flying. Three Goblin Riders burst from the smoke atop their Blazefang Lions.
"Together!"
The Lions roared.
Three pillars of fire twisted together into a single torrent.
BOOOOOOOM!!
The falling slab exploded into burning fragments. The second boulder never reached the wall.
But the Riders didn’t stop as their Lions and Deers sprinted along the wall. Every pass unleashed another stream of flames and wind, forcing Fire Lizards and Thunder Chimeras back down the crystal ramps.
"Archers!"
Countless arrows rushed out before the area darkened beneath the volley. Fire Lizards dropped one after another. Several Thunder Chimeras spiraled from the air. Even the Crystal Serpents were forced underground.
For one glorious minute the monsters fell, and the crystal ramps collapsed. The monsters actually retreated, and the Goblin warriors erupted into cheers.
"We’re pushing them back!"
Sun laughed. "See? That’s how you fight!"
Then...
The ground trembled again.
Crystal burst upward in three different places at once. Then Crystal Serpents raised multiple ramps simultaneously again, allowing for the beasts to come in different directions. The defenders became overwhelmed while the fire Lizards reached the goblins on the wall. Thunder Chimeras leaped directly into the Goblin formation, lightning erupting everywhere.
One Goblin Healer was nearly thrown over the wall.
Mithra dove, catching the Goblin by the wrist. While still hanging over the edge, Kusa flashed, cutting down two climbing Fire Lizards before she pulled the Healer back up.
She didn’t even look at them. "Heal," she said, then immediately returned to fighting.
She didn’t wait for thanks.
She was already gone.
Another beast and another strike.
The bombardment became so intense that visibility disappeared entirely.
Dust. Smoke. Fire. Crystal.
Nobody could see, forcing the defenders to begin fighting almost entirely on instinct.
The western battlement suddenly collapsed beneath a wave of monsters.
One Goblin Archer shouted. "Left side is in trouble!"
Sun was already moving.
A Thunder Chimera landed first, and its claws ripped straight through two Goblin shields. Before lightning burst outward and made the Goblin Spearmen cry out in pain. They fell down to the ground panting as the beast sneered.
Sun stepped in before swinging Long two times.
[Point Shockwave]!
BOOOOOOM!!
The Chimera flew backward into two Fire Lizards climbing behind it.
"Kong!"
The little monkey launched from Sun’s shoulder. He landed directly on a Titan Boulder Ape climbing the crystal ramp.
The giant roared.
Kong answered by punching it directly between the eyes, and the Ape barely moved.
Kong blinked.
The Titan swung.
But Kong ducked beneath the fist before seeing Sun throwing its spear down. His eyes lit up before he quickly ran up the monster’s arm and jumped onto its head. Before grabbing his spear and smashing down onto the Ape.
[Point Shockwave]!
The invisible blast launched the giant downwards and off the wall into the crystal ramp. Everything beneath it collapsed. And dozens of climbing monsters disappeared together.
Goblin warriors erupted into cheers.
Another Chimera immediately landed where the last one fell.
Sun sighed. "They really don’t quit."
And then he paused when he noticed a Titan Boulder Ape climbed onto the wall. As it raised both fists, he looked at Kong. "You thinking what I’m thinking?"
Kong grinned before jumping up as Sun planted Long beneath him.
[Point Shockwave]!
Kong shot into the sky like an arrow.
The little monkey slammed both fists into the Ape’s forehead.
BOOOOOOM!!
The giant lost its balance. Kong planted both feet against its face and then kicked. The Titan toppled backward before crashing into the crystal ramps below, taking dozens of climbing monsters with it.
Goblin Riders erupted into cheers.
Sun folded his arms proudly.
"...Not bad. I thought for a second there we were getting rusty."
Goblin Riders charged across the battlements atop their Blazefang Lions, driving back monsters that had already reached the wall.
Eventually the dust cleared.
The defenders were still standing but only barely.
Every Goblin was breathing heavily with their mana running low. Quivers were nearly empty. Even Mithra’s breathing had become uneven.
Then everything changed.
The Titan Boulder Apes stopped throwing. Every single one. Silence spread. Even the Behemoths slowed their assault.
The Goblins hesitated. "Why did they stop?" one whispered.
A roar answered them.
A massive Titan Boulder Ape slowly stepped forward, twice the size of the others, its fur dark crimson, ancient scars covering its body. Its eyes calmly swept across the battlefield as if it were studying it.
The Goblins suddenly realized this creature had been observing them the entire battle. It wasn’t another monster but a commander.
Its eyes stopped in one location.
The crack.
Sun quietly muttered, "It found it," he said.
The Chief bent down, but it didn’t grab a boulder. It grabbed an entire broken stone pillar from the valley floor, far larger than anything thrown before. The surrounding Apes instinctively moved away to make room.
The Chief slowly rotated its shoulder, testing the weight.
Then it threw.
The pillar tore through the air with a deafening whistle.
Mithra’s eyes widened. "No!" she said.
The Goblin Mages fired their attack towards the pillar.
But it was too late.
The pillar slammed directly into the widening crack.
Booooooooooooom!!
The wall shook harder than ever before, and the crack doubled in length. Ancient stone burst apart, huge chunks crashing into the city streets below. Several Goblins lost their footing, and one watchtower collapsed completely.
The Ape Chief slowly beat its chest over and over. Then it roared, the sound rolling across the entire valley.
A crimson light spread through its body and then the air suddenly became heavy. Broken weapons began vibrating as loose pebbles rose and then bricks. Then shattered crystal and entire sections of collapsed walls began floating.
Stone pillars. Broken houses. Fragments from destroyed towers. Everything rose into the air.
The battlefield slowly became silent. Even the Thunder Chimeras stopped attacking for a moment. The Stonehorn Behemoths halted their charge. Every monster looked toward the Chief, almost as though waiting.
Sun slowly lowered Long, his usual smile disappearing. "Mithra," he said.
She gripped Kusa tighter, her instincts screaming. "I know," she said.
The crimson light grew brighter.
More rubble rose.
Entire sections of broken buildings began floating around the Chief. It slowly raised one enormous hand, and the floating rubble followed, like an army awaiting orders. The crimson light continued spreading across the battlefield as the floating rubble gathered into a massive storm around the Ape Chief.
One Goblin Archer slowly lowered his bow.
A Rider tightened his grip on the reins.
Even the Blazefang Lions stopped growling.
Nobody understood what the Titan Boulder Ape Chief was doing.
But every instinct they had screamed the same warning.
Run.
Sun quietly said, "This isn’t good."