The sudden and unexpected actions of Allina Crest, Commander Finley, and Lucas were not missed by the others in the office, but none of them could understand it, until they heard a faint roar coming from the direction these 3 were staring.
"Fifth Order," Allina, the strongest amongst them, imdiately concluded.
Before she could extend her Soul Sense to get a more accurate assessnt of the approaching enemy, however, Lucas grabbed her arm, "Wait."
Turning her attention to her master’s new Disciple, Allina raised her brow slightly, but soon understand his intentions, an appreciative glint flashing across the depths of her eyes as she nodded and began retracting her aura as much as possible.
As Allina Crest was focusing on concealing her presence, Lucas turned to Commander Finley and asked, "What kind of enemy are we dealing with?"
The old Garrison Commander, a Mid-Rank Spirit Initiate, was curious how Lucas had detected the looming threat at the sa ti he had, but he set such curiosities aside for the mont and focused his senses to probe the situation.
A mont later, a dark look appeared on the old man’s face as he grunted, "It’s those damn bears again."
Several days ago, a pair of large, white furred, Fifth Order bears had chased a horde of weaker Wild Beasts to Port Calden, setting off a large-scale battle that had lasted several hours and resulted in quite a bit of damage.
Fortunately, by concentrating their defence forces, Port Calden was able to repel this attack; but in the process, both Garrison Commander Finley and Commander Dylan from the Raging River Legion had suffered so small injuries.
Knowing how the last fight with these beasts had gone, Commander Finley understood that in order to deal with this pair of bears, he would need help and quickly turned to Commander Crest.
Before he could speak, however, he noticed how Allina was seemingly trying to hide herself, an act he didn’t quite comprehend.
After thinking about it for a second, though, the old veteran Garrison Commander grinned in understanding and began explaining, "There are 2 Fifth Order beasts approaching the walls. One of them is High-Rank, the other is Mid-Rank. They seem to have fully recovered from the wounds we dealt them the last ti they were here, but they are also alone this ti, so we shouldn’t have to worry about weaker critters getting in the way."
Nodding, Allina Crest turned to Victoria, "Viscount Moore, I request temporary command over your ard forces."
"Granted," Victoria agreed without any fuss. She had just pledged to fully support the evacuation plan a mont ago, so turning over control of her military forces wasn’t a major issue.
Besides, as a Vice-General of one of the kingdom’s 10 armies, Allina Crest had the authority to command the local garrison with or without Victoria’s permission. Both won knew this perfectly well, so Allina making this request aloud was more a gesture of good-will than a necessity, sothing that the Viscount appreciated and was willing to reciprocate.
"Good," Allina stood up and saluted before motioning to Commander Finley to follow her, the two of them dashing out of the office soon after.
As for Lucas, he remained in his seat, as did Victoria Moore.
Fighting Fifth Order Beasts was not sothing either of them could get involved in, so they left that to those capable of handling such matters and focused on what they could control.
There were many matters to be discussed and details to be worked out between Lucas and Victoria, so the two of them quickly re-focused and got down to business.
.....
"Archers, fire!"
"Reload the ballistae! Quickly!"
"Keep it suppressed! We need to hold it back!"
Atop a partially broken section of Port Calden’s western wall, several hundred mbers of the City Watch, City Garrison, and temporary militia were raining down arrows on the large, lumbering beast below.
This creature, a Mid-Rank Fifth Order bear, stood nearly 3 tres tall and was over 7 tres in length. While it was puny compared to the gargantuan Seventh Order turtle which had attacked Redwood Town, it was by no ans small or weak.
The beast was on a rampage, repeatedly charging towards the walls, roaring madly at the two-legged creatures which dared to attack it.
Most of the arrows shot from the human archers had little to no effect on the beast, but that wasn’t too surprising considering the large gap in strength between the two sides.
The bear’s fur was simply too thick, so most shots just bounced off of it, but with enough arrows finding their mark, it at least distracted the creature sowhat, buying the defenders more ti.
What was really keeping this bear at bay were 5 siege weapons resembling giant crossbows. While these weapons still weren’t able to cause significant harm to the beast, the tre-long bolts they fired could bruise and bloody the bear with a fair level of consistency.
This Fifth Order Beast, along with its companion, had attacked the city once before, and during that assault, this particular section of the wall had suffered serious damage. Repairs had been underway, but as a precaution, more troops and equipnt had been positioned at this weak point.
That foresight was now coming in handy, as the ballistae took turns firing at the Mid-Rank Fifth Order Beast, pushing it back and keeping it from reaching the walls.
No one on the defence line dared to slack as they knew that their enemy could easily scale or smash the 7 tres high walls they were standing on. If this Fifth Order Beast managed to break into the city, it would undoubtedly cause massive damage and loss of life, sothing the defenders here were determined to prevent.
However, the Mortal Realm soldiers and militia weren’t trying to defeat this bear, their mission was to distract and pin it down while the real battle was being fought nearby.
As the human archers pelted their foe with ranged fire, 3 Spirit Initiates were engaging another Fifth Order bear just a few hundred tres away.
This bear was bigger, bulkier, and stronger than the other as it was in the High-Rank.
2 of these humans were Mid-Rank Spirit Initiates, while the last one was in the High-Rank, but even though they outnumbered the beast, they weren’t able to gain the upper hand in the fight. The inherent advantages Wild Beasts had over humans was on full display here with the bear using its much greater size and physical strength to push back its attackers.
If this was all the force Port Calden could bring to bear, while they still might win this battle, it would surely co at great cost; however, this situation, where the humans were on the back foot, was actually the result they were hoping for.
10 minutes or so into the fight, just as Port Calden’s Spirit Initiates had managed to draw the High-Rank Fifth Order bear a full kilotre away from its companion, a lone figure leapt off of a Tartan which had been circling over the battlefield and plunged towards the creature’s back.
Falling from a height of nearly 300 tres was dangerous, even for a Peak-Rank Spirit Initiate, but Allina Crest had not hesitated to do so the mont she saw an opening.
Continuing to keep her aura withdrawn, Allina reached into her Space Bag and pulled out her trusty weapon, a large, two-handed war hamr that weighed so 30 kilograms.
The giant, nacing hamr being held in the hands of such an elegant and noble looking woman painted quite an odd picture, but Commander Crest had never been concerned about such trivialities.
In her opinion, as long as it allowed her to smash up any enemy or obstacle in her way, it was a good weapon.
With her comrades suddenly launching a flurry of attacks to keep the beast’s focus on the ground, Allina was able to descend to within 50 tres of the bear before it finally realized that sothing was approaching it from above.
By then, however, it was too late.
Flaring her aura wildly, Allina rapidly channeled her Spirit Qi into her war hamr and hurled it down violently, simultaneously using the recoil to slow her descent.
Coupled with the montum of her fall, the force Commander Crest was able to deliver with this single blow greatly exceeded what she normally would have been able to and resulted into a deafening boom that echoed across the entire battlefield.
A sickening crack was heard, after which a pain-filled roar filled the skies.
Suffering a sneak attack on par with a Low-Rank Spirit Adept’s all-out blow had completely crippled one of the High-Rank Fifth Order beast’s rear legs.
Allina had been aiming for its spine, hoping to end the fight in a single blow, but at the last mont, the beast had managed to shift itself just enough to avoid a fatal hit.
Even so, with one of its limbs essentially having been blown off, and with blood gushing from the mangled wound, the beast’s combat effectiveness had dropped by at least 30%.
In such a state, with its mobility compromised, and with a Peak-Rank Spirit Initiate joining the battle, the Fifth Order bear imdiately understood that it would be dying here today.
It was a completely unexpected developnt for the creature, which had arrived at this colony of weaklings thinking it could take revenge for disturbing its hunt several days ago.
After getting over its initial shock, though, the bear, realizing its fate was sealed, beca even more aggressive, its eyes going bloodshot as it threw its body around, slashing with its claws and snapping with its jaw wildly.
If it was going to die today, it planned to take at least one of these insolent hairless creatures with it.
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