Chapter 439 - Meat Grinder
Western Frontier, Great Wall.
In the upper north, the airship passed a fortified wall adjacent to the Great Wall, which successfully sealed off a section of the military city.
The erected wall was not high; it only amounted to roughly 12fts in height on average as it was uneven.
It was hastily made using scrap resources the people could gather, comprising broken stone blocks, wooden crates, planks, random metal sheets, bars, and frames.
The airship descended and landed on an empty patch of land after they were directed by the soldiers.
"General Marquis!"
The captain and crew of the airship immediately greeted when General Marquis Hendrick boarded.
Hendrick nodded.
He swept the airship a look and spotted Princess Faelyn before asking, "Were you heading back to Elvengarde with Marquis Haldir, Princess Faelyn?"
"Yes, that's right." Faelyn nodded before asking with a frown, "Exactly what happened here?"
The captain and crewmembers all tuned their ears in to listen immediately. They were all dying of curiosity to find out the situation.
"Haiz," Hendrick sighed before explaining, "We were struck by a double disaster. The beasts have been growing aggressively in recent days, and we had sought to study the cause. However, our people were infected as a result. Although we quickly contained it, we were shortly attacked by those rats you just saw. They had breached our underground sewage system."
"Anyone bitten by these rats will be infected with the same berserk symptoms, becoming a berserk human—but only if these rats don't devour you down to the last bone, that is. These rats struck quickly, but we also resisted desperately until the hour of sunrise arrived."
"That was when they retreated and gave us breathing room. They appear to fear the sunlight. Even so, many people were bitten in the process, and we ended up losing control of the central region."
After listening, the airship captain could not help but ask, "Why wasn't any news sent back to the Capital?"
"The rats were too frenzied. Wherever there were people, there were rats. The communication tower was destroyed, and the only airships we had at the port in the central region were swarmed while they were taking off." Hendrick stated.
"We were attacked overnight. And as you can see, no one has much energy left to move. A messenger has already been sent, but it will still take a few hours before reaching the Capital. I, myself, could have gone, but I cannot leave and abandon the commands here."
Faelyn and the crew were immediately surprised and glanced around. It was no wonder that everyone they see was in low spirits.
"Everything was built up overnight?" A crew muttered.
It looked like the Western Frontier had been at war for three days and three nights. It was unbelievable that they managed to erect such walls to seal off the central region of the city in one day.
"It good that we have Marquis Haldir here with us now. With his strength, we will have a greater chance of resisting the endless waves of rats. But… I'm afraid it is still going to be a long night." Hendrick said.
"It's a pity that we don't have Grandmaster Don or another strong fire Awakeners here with us. Only with their abilities can we sweep this place clean and not would about this strange berserk disease lingering in the air and infecting anyone else."
General Marquis Hendrick shook his head with concern before walking onto a high platform to observe the situation on the Supreme Elder's side.
Droves of rats continue to throw themselves at the Supreme Elder like moths flying into the fire. Simultaneously, the berserk humans finished scaling the high walls with their human mountain before lunging themselves forward.
Not only did the berserk humans threw themselves at the Supreme Elder, but they also attacked the Wingrats!
In an instance, it had become a three-way battle between the Supreme Elder, the Wingrats, and the berserk humans.
Nevertheless, whether it was the Wingrats or the berserk humans, all were shredded to pieces under the Supreme Elder's thorny vine whips.
'A Transcendent's power is high, but not inexhaustible.' Hendrick mused. He needed to give the Supreme Elder some room to breathe.
"Stay here."
Hendrick gave the order to the soldiers.
While the Supreme Elder pondered how to break free from his current situation, Hendrick flew over in the sky and summoned a wind tempest towards the scorched mountains of bodies.
In a short instance, numerous Wingrats were swept off their feet while the mountains of scorched bodies collapsed. Countless wind blades diced the Wingrats into pieces and blew them away from the Great Wall.
Hendrick's attack not only swept away the Wingrats, but he also cleared the foot of the Great Wall, allowing the Supreme Elder to maneuver for his previous stalemate.
The Wingrats were much quicker than the berserk humans.
However, Hendrick was surprised when the Supreme Elder did not take the chance he had given to retreat.
Instead, the Supreme Elder jumped down from the Great Wall while reaching into his hands into his pouch to grab several more seeds!
At the bottom of the Great Wall where the mountains of scorched bodies had been was now a flat ground. However, there was also a massive hole where large numbers of Wingrats could be seen pouring out endlessly!
Supreme Elder Haldir tossed his seeds straight into the hole. Those seeds proliferated into countless more thorny vines that began lacerating everything in its surrounding.
At the same time, several other thorny vine seeds proliferated in the Supreme Elder's other hand before they intertwined themselves and transformed into a super long javelin of roughly 150ft in length!
The super-long javelin was immediately stabbed into the ground while the Supreme Elder was still free-falling forward, causing the javelin to bend like an arc.
While this was happening, the berserk humans had followed the Supreme Elder and leaped off the walls after him!
They narrowly missed each other when arced javelin flung the Supreme Elder back into the sky like a catapult.
General Marquis Hendrick was taken aback by the scene, but he reacted quickly. He immediately flew over and caught the Supreme Elder in midair.
Thanks to the Supreme Elder's quick thinking, he had eliminated himself from the equation and allowed the berserk humans and Wingrats to battle amongst themselves.
Berserk humans continuously threw themselves off the walls while Wingrats poured out from the big rathole. All of this happened while the thorn vines spun and lacerate them like a meat grinder, reaping thousands of lives by the seconds.
"Nice follow-up." Supreme Elder Haldir chuckled and said, "I was not sure what would have happened if you did not catch me."
After hearing these words, General Marquis Hendrick smiled wryly, "That was quite the dangerous stunt you pulled there, Marquis Haldir."
"Hohoho, indeed it was." Haldir laughed it off lightly.
"However…"
Hendrick frowned while observing the ground below with the Supreme Elder in the sky with him.
There was also a tinge of sadness in his eyes while he watched the countless berserk humans get killed without an intact corpse left behind.
Among them were mostly civilians, but there were also soldiers who have served him for many years. Alas, the world they lived in was a cruel one.
"Once all the berserk humans are killed, we will still have to fight the endless tide rats. What do you think we should do, Marquis Haldir?" Hendrick sough the Supreme Elder's opinion.
The Supreme Elder shortly furrowed his brows before glancing towards the great forest in the northwestern direction.
He wondered how the situation was back in Elvengarde.
Roar!
A strong howl suddenly came from the west.
Hendrick and Haldir both turned their heads to look immediately. Faelyn and the others on the Great Wall also glanced into the Wildland's direction.
"Awoooo!"
On a distant hill, a large grey wolf with three tails appeared.
It was not a Transcendent-level beast, but there were large numbers of themselves. They were lured over by the pungent stench of blood pervading the air from dozens of miles away.
After lining up on the hill and gazing into the distance for some time, they began making their charge once the leader howled.
"Oh, give me a break already. We have our hands full dealing with these rats. And now, there are also wolves to deal with?!" A crewmember commented with despair seeping into his hearts.
He did not sign up for this when he was assigned to send the two elves home.
Faelyn furrowed her small brows and said, "We might not necessarily need to deal with Wingrats and wolves at the same time."
After all, the beast races were not harmonious with each other.
As Faelyn expected, the wolves soon clashed with Wingrats. They slammed heavily into each other and tore at each other's neck with frenzy.
The same red glint was seen in the wolves' eyes.
"These wolves have also gone berserk! Just what is happening in the Wildlands right now? Is the Cataclysm really coming again?!"
A few soldiers on the Great Wall began to sob.. They were simply too tired of everything that had happened; losing their loved ones, the beast attacks, the struggles, everything.