Way of the Knights

Chapter 376 - War: Blessings

---

One roar signaled the start of it all…

The sound was heard by everyone who's waiting for their arrival. 

At first it was just a few of them, but as they approached the kingdom closer, their numbers easily surpassed hundreds of thousands, and that number quickly became millions. 

The sight of their forces was unnerving. At a distance, they looked like a swarm of locusts but as they got closer, they grew in size and became a horrifying force. Their combined presence caused the sky to darken even more. It was as if they were bringing the storm with them. 

Some people found it hard to believe that there are this many Demonic Beast living in this plane, yet the sight of their army gave them a brutal awakening. 

Needless to say, there was no escaping this. They have to fight, or else they will lose everything that they hold dear. 

Marching along with the demonic beasts are the accumulated forces of the Black Curtain Guild. 

Most of their forces had gleaming red eyes, and were even acting wilder than demonic beast themselves. No one could see it clearly due to their black veils and masks but most of them are wearing savage smiles underneath those masks. It was as if they were driven mad by something that also caused to them lose their sanity.

Luis stood tall on top of the walls, beside him are King Alexander, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Balmung, the veterans and the rest of the Golden Knights. 

His cold gaze observed the approaching army while his arms are crossed. Once they entered a certain distance, he shifted his gaze to one of his men and nodded. The man nodded back and raised his hand, he then roared:

"Trebuchets!"

Sounds of gears and mechanisms were heard. The man kept his fist raised and waited for the perfect timing. Once he saw it, his eyes gleamed. He pushed his fist forward and roared:

"Fire!"

*Woosh!* *Woosh!*

Each trebuchet fire off projectiles that arched towards the beast horde. Some of the smarter beasts evaded the boulders while some weren't paying attention and was hit by them. 

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

Huge explosions rocked their ranks, causing chaos on their march. None of them knew that the projectiles fired by the trebuchets had an additional effect. Some of them had Explosion Runes with them, causing the projectiles to explode into shards. Some of them will release deadly poison, causing death and decay to those unfortunate to inhale them. Others burst into flames, some are made out of metals, and etc. 

The chaos was amongst their ranks are so severe that it caused their approach to slow down. The explosions kicked off clouds of dust, reducing visibility on the battlefield. 

The trebuchets keep firing projectiles, aiming to shave off some of their numbers before they eventually clashed with the enemy forces. Luis kept watching like a fearsome general, his eyes then had a visible gleam as soon as the horde entered the Trap Zones. 

*Roar!* 

Pained roars, desperate whines, dying noises, all of this was caused by the traps that the Lair Hunters prepared before hand. These traps includes spike traps, snares, poisons, pit falls, explosives, and etc. 

By now, at the casualties of the Beast Horde are quickly rising. However due to the great number of beasts marching towards them, the amount of the fallen seems negligible

"Archers, Catapults, Cannons! On my mark!" Luis roared as soon as the horde came closer. 

He raised fist high up in the air as the soldiers waited for his command. Observing their speed and making calculations on his mind, he waited for the perfect timing before he gave out the order. 

As soon as Luis made an announcement, Anne summoned her eagle and flew towards the firing squad with bow on her hand. Her pupils gleamed as her vast aura was felt by the firing squad. 

"Blessing of the Wind: Calming Gusts."

Gusts of gentle winds comforted every soldier, a warm green light emerged from Anne's body and permeated through their souls, giving them confidence and a boost of strength. 

Her blessings caused the worries of the firing squad to melt like snow under the glare of sunlight. Their uncertainties about their aim and their performance in the war, was replaced by utter confidence and calmness that Anne brought with her joining them. 

"Fire at will!"

Luis push his fist forward and released the command. Volleys of arrow, booming sounds of catapults and cannons were heard from the walls. The firing squad sent tons of projectiles creating a waves of doom upon their enemies. Luis didn't have to give out another command since the squad knew that he will only do it once. They won't stop firing unless they were told to do so.

The waves of projectiles caused great chaos upon the massive horde of enemies. 

Similar to the trebuchets, each projectiles they sent had different effects. The Kingdom's forces watched as the waves upon waves of beasts fell due to their explosions, and the casualties are only rising up from this point. The bloody scent could already be smelled from where they were but instead of panicking, this gave them confidence since they have yet to reach the kingdom. 

"Report!" One scout from the Lair Hunters said via long distance transmission link. "We saw a small squad of beasts approaching us near the South Gate. Estimated size is 95,000, no sightings of anyone from the Black Curtain Guild."

"Wait for them to trigger the traps. As soon as the first explosion occurred, Fire at Will. Make sure to leave none alive."

"Roger."

'No one's leading this squad. Did some stray-off already? I don't think so. I'll observe the situation first, we have back-up plans in case of emergency.' His attention was them brought back to the marching horde, causing his face to turn solemn.

Even though he knows that they're shaving off a decent amount of their numbers, it was hardly noticeable due to how much beast there were. More importantly, they are only the weaker beasts and not really doing any real damage to the stronger ones. 

Most of the stronger beasts are either too agile that they are able to dodge the projectiles, or too tough due to their hides, scales and etc. preventing the projectiles from doing any damage. He had no idea how the hell could somebody had the authority to gather this many beast and where did these beasts even come from. But they are the problem now and he couldn't afford to make any mistakes here.

'It's about time for the real clash.' Luis muttered inwardly, he would've liked to shave off some more of their numbers but they are approaching fast, leaving him with no other choice since he couldn't afford them to go any closer to the kingdom. 

"Soldiers! Prepare to meet the enemy!" Luis roared on top of his lungs. 

As his voice echoed amongst their ranks, every single one of them snapped into attention and held their weapons tighter. Luis measured their distance and waited just a bit more. It was then that the King raised his sword up to the sky and held the Kingdom's flag on the other. He unleashed his awe-inspiring aura to his soldiers.

"Lightshield Luminescence!" 

The sky parted and beam of holy light blessed the entire army. Each soldier felt their spirits lifting up, giving an unstoppable feeling and confidence. Their nervousness vanished and was replaced by a heroic thirst for battle. 

Queen Elizabeth stood beside her beloved King, she too raised her sword up in the sky and released her majestic presence on the army. 

"Druid Enchantment: Breath of Nature!" 

The Queen's blessing caused every single one of them to feel their bloods boiling and while their senses are heightened. Even the older soldiers felt like they were back on their primes due to the imposing blessings of their Rulers. 

Along with the boost on their strengths, majority of the soldiers also felt responsibly and unworthy of such blessings. They knew that their King is weakened and the Queen is on a pitiful state, yet they still pushed themselves to the battlefield to watch over them. This caused them to feel even more determined to protect their land and ensure that the Kingdom will remain standing tall. 

"All of you, consume your Moonshine!" Luis' voice echoed once more. 

Each soldiers took out a bottle of Moonshine and downed the entire bottle in go. With this, their senses were heightened even more and their mental states stabilized, enabling to them to concentrate on battle and make the right decisions.

*Squeal!*

A piercing shriek sounded and the army saw an enormous pillar of flame heading towards them. This attack came from a Tier 5 Demonic Beast, and the fluctuations it released was incredibly dangerous. 

But even though that's the case, no soldier moved from their location. None of them felt threatened at all since none of them will get injured by that attack.

Their confidence lies on the one who held the toughest shield on the entire Kingdom. 

"Yeah, no thank you.." Paul sneered as he threw his shield towards the pillar of flame, effectively neutralizing it.