Chapter 87: The Winter Twilight (Part I)
Translator: Transn
Editor: Meh
"Ready—! Stab!"
Van'er exerted himself to stab forward with his spear. Holding it with both hands, he could feel the violent tremble and hear the crackling of the spear. At the end of the spear was a demonic wolf. That beast had fluffy fur and blood-red eyes bulging like bells. In its wide-open mouth were two rows of fangs, and the largest one was as big as his thumb. This was his first time to face a demonic beast so closely. It was trying to attack him with its claws and the snowflakes were spattered all over on his face.
Van'er felt his mind was a blank. He was only driven by his instincts learned during the training, while subconsciously holding tightly the shaft of his spear and continuing to attack. Time seemed to flow slowly, and the shaft was bent to its maximum. The spear was stabbed deeply into the belly of the wolf, and he even thought that the sharp claws would tear his cheeks open in the next moment.
"Bang!" Unable to withstand the force of the wolf any longer, the shaft finally broke into two pieces. The sound also made time flow normally again, as he could saw the wolf falling down, just like it jumped on the wall earlier on. Its claws failed to clutch the city wall, scraping flakes along the wall, and then smashed on the ground, with half of his spear still in its belly.
"Flintlock Squad, finish loading!"
"Fire!"
Two gun barrels immediately stretched out beside Van'er. He hurried to take a half step back and raised his head to avoid the scattered fragments and the smoke of the gunpowder. As for his ears, he had no time to cover them.
Soon after the guns fired, Van'er stepped back to the front, where he discovered a variety of demonic beasts dead at the base of the wall. Someone poked him in his back. He turned around and saw his roommate grinning proudly at him.
Van'er thought, "You have just got the opportunity to touch the gun for a week. You have nothing to be proud of." He cast a stern glance at him and turned back to look at the battlefield. "When His Highness's cannon platoon is ready, you'll know the gun in your hand is just like a stick."
"Gunner, here is your spear." Cat's Claw handed Van'er a new wooden spear. "Are these demonic beasts crazy? They've been attacking us for nearly two or three hours, right?"
"They were already crazy," answered Van'er. He took the spear and placed it properly, waiting for the next attack. "What time is it?"
"It was almost noon." Cat's Claw sighed. When the hunter was not looking at him, he took a quick glance at each side and asked," Where is Jop? And the Rodney Brothers?"
"Don't turn around. Do you want to be torn in two by the demonic wolves?" Van'er snapped, "They were assigned to the other section of the city walls, maybe in the third or the fourth group. By the way, why are you in group one?"
"I belong to the auxiliary force." Cat's Claw laughed and said, " Wherever there is a need, I'll come to help. Just now an older soldier was wounded, so it was my turn to..."
"Ready—!" The order of the hunter observer interrupted Cat's Claw's words. Van'er saw a dozen of demonic beasts rapidly approaching. Now he could also quickly distinguish the types of demonic beasts. He discovered there were only two demonic wolves, while the rest were demonic boars, demonic foxes, and a demonic bear, which were no big threat to the city wall.
"Stab!" In spite of that, he still obeyed the order and stabbed forward in unified action with his group members. As expected, his spear stabbed into nothing but thin air. After withdrawing his spear, he saw from the corner of his eyes that the demonic wolves were killed by other soldiers from group one. When the slower demonic beasts gathered around the city wall, the Flintlock Squad squeezed by his side again, shooting downwards.
They had repeated these fixed actions from daybreak until the present. When the horn was first sounded, most people were still sleeping. Van'er yawned. This time, the attack of demonic beasts was more intense than ever before. Usually, they just needed to resist one or two waves of demonic beasts, but today, the corpses of beasts were almost piling up along the wall. They had been replaced by the second Militia halfway so that they could have a short rest and a bit to eat, after which they returned to the city wall.
Surprisingly, Van'er found that he behaved more calmly than he had imagined. He would withdraw his spear when he heard the order, leaving the rest to the Flintlock Squad, just as he had practiced in peacetime. Those regulations and actions, which originally seemed to be strange, came in handy and were incredibly effective.
Other soldiers behaved just like Van'er, firmly grasping the spear and having a serious look on their faces. Some auxiliary soldiers were very nervous, but still stood upright and no one stepped back.
Van'er knew that the daily repetitive training gave them confidence, but the morale was boosted mainly by His Highness. Only after the Flintlock Squad fired, Van'er would steal a glance at the lookout tower in the middle of the city wall—that was where the prince stood.
Since the horn sounded, His Highness immediately came to the city wall and stood there to overlook the battle without any rest. Even when Van'er was replaced to have his meal, he found that the prince remained on top of the lookout tower. Even his breakfast was sent there by the chief knight.
Van'er recalled that the last lord would always withdraw by ship as quickly as possible before the beginning of the Months of Demons. Then the other nobles would also go on board. The civilians would be the last ones to leave. If they could afford some silver royals, they could leave with the ships. But if they had no money, they had to walk to Longsong Stronghold by themselves. Thinking about that, Van'er felt that he was full of energy again.
Yes, they belonged to the Graycastle prince's Militia, totally different from the patrol team of Border Town in the past. With armors and weapons, those members of patrol team often bullied civilians in the New and Old District and blackmailed the foreign businessmen. In Van'er's view, except the two captains, the rest of the patrol team were nothing different from rogues. But the Militia, led by His Highness, was a strong team, which was able to block the terrifying demonic beasts outside of Border Town, making it impossible for them to advance. In the past, only Longsong Stronghold was able to do this.
Just look at Fish Ball, the famous coward in the Old District, who used to be ridiculed by others. Since he joined the second Militia, he was brave enough to fight the demonic beast with his spear. And Fermi, tall in stature but slow in action, was often teased by the people of the Old District. But now he was able to fight with his spear in a quick and firm way, and he was even more skilled than the others. Van'er knew that Fermi would always thrust out another one hundred slashes after the others had finished their training, just because His Highness once said to him, "Clumsy birds have to start flying early. To be successful, you have to keep one step ahead of everyone else to be able to surpass them."
Originally Van'er came here for the two eggs, but now he felt lucky that he had joined the Militia. Every day there was some subtle change, and every day he made progress. Van'er believed that he was definitely not the only soldier who felt it. He did not know how to describe his feelings. Maybe he could use the words which were often said by His Highness during the training—"You're a team that's out of this world".
"Hoot— Hoot—" Van'er suddenly heard two short horn blows, which was the warning sign for the demonic hybrid. He looked into the distance and discovered a demonic hybrid with a lion's head and two wings, which was similar to that beast which broke into the town last time. "This was the second one," he thought. But this time was different. Besides the Flintlock Squad, we had more help.
Van'er turned around slightly, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw a girl with short blonde hair floating beside the prince.