Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 271: Chapter 212: Defeat_1

Their hair was falling off, their eyes pitch black. These beasts bore ghastly wounds but did not die. On the contrary, they moved violently.

Others were withered and scorched all over. Though humanoid, they crawled with limbs bent backward, their abdomens bizarrely sprouting enlarged red fungal bodies.

Still others stood in human form, but their heads were replaced by huge mushrooms. Their skin was sallow and wrinkly like dead branches, covered with smaller mushrooms, and they staggered as they moved.

All sorts of monsters, twisted by the disease into grotesque forms, continued to advance...

The soldiers relying on the defensive line watched as the enemy, creatures unlike any they had ever seen or could comprehend, drew steadily closer.

Not to mention, the number of monsters stretched beyond sight, at least tens of thousands.

This scene cast a shadow over everyone’s heart.

The pressure in the soldiers’ hearts built up. However, they found some solace in having seen even more powerful monsters before, which in a way had prepared them.

”Cannons ready!”

Barton shouted. The three cannons within the position were loaded. When the monsters came close enough, there was no need to aim—they just had to fire.

The roaring of war machines erupted as three shells of various sizes whistled out, smashing into the monster ranks. Even the monsters’ inhuman bodies could not stop them; these Bombs tore straight through, ripping them in half. Even the shells rolling on the ground afterward still packed enough force that a slight touch would sever limbs.

The formidable power displayed by the cannons tore three distinct gaps through the enemy’s dense formation.

But in an instant, those gaps were filled by the sheer number of monsters, as if nothing had happened.

”Load! Faster!”

Watching this scene, Barton felt the memories that had haunted him for so long resurface. More inhuman monsters, that same fearless, tight-knit assault...

The pressure inside him surged until another shout snapped him out of it.

”Damn it! Look at yourselves! We’ve killed things far worse than these mushrooms, and you’re afraid of them? Have your balls turned into mushrooms and grown on their heads?”

Dismas yelled at the Musketeers, his rough humor somehow lightening the soldiers’ burden.

That’s right, they had faced those kinds of monsters before, so why would they be afraid of a few mushrooms?

”Aim for their balls next time. Take them down, and we’ll have mushroom soup tonight.”

Dismas eyed the enemies drawing closer. He had good control over judging distance and, once the monsters entered musket range, he gave the order.

”Ready—fire!”

As soon as he finished speaking, gunfire exploded, and Lead Bullets propelled by gunpowder flew into the enemy lines. The damage inflicted was minimal; most shots merely caused the monsters to stumble and fall.

However, those that fell could trip up the ones behind them, making it difficult for them to rise again amidst the trampling.

In some ways, the greatest harm was done by the monsters themselves, but this affected too few of them. Most who were hit simply shook it off and continued their advance. Only a shot to the head could bring death.

After the Musketeers’ previous lapse in focus, several of them had discussed and researched the issue. They realized that the tedious loading process was hard to manage with a blank mind.

The solution was to break down the ammunition loading steps. The front rank would fire and pass their muskets back, then take a reloaded musket and continue firing. Each man behind was responsible for one step, greatly increasing the reloading speed.

This also significantly boosted the rate of fire, forming a powerful barrier of gunfire. It was not intended to kill, but rather to continuously fire in hopes of disrupting the enemy’s assault rhythm.

Having snapped out of his daze, Barton also ordered the cannons to continue firing. Both the cannons and muskets worked to weaken the enemy as much as possible within that hundred-meter range.

But no matter how much they pushed the limits of man and cannon, firing more shots and more cannonades, the loss suffered by the monsters over those hundred meters was perhaps not even a few hundred.

Instead, the monsters seemed more energized at the sight of humans, converging into a dense surge even without direction.

That throng of enemies was unstoppable...

”Quick! Retreat to the second defensive line!”

The cannons, overheated, had already been pulled back, and even the muskets struggled to withstand the frequency of firing without problems.

Luckily, these were new guns, durable enough not to misfire catastrophically; otherwise, the already low morale would have shattered as well.

Upon the command, the army responded swiftly with an orderly withdrawal. A mad rush would have been a rout. Dismas even organized a couple of rounds of covering fire, which delayed the monsters a little.

The shallow trench they had dug earlier made a difference. The first monsters to fall into it in the dense formation caused a chain reaction. In that moment, more monsters died than from all their previous efforts with cannons and firearms.

However, that trench had been dug by hundreds of men toiling for half an hour. Where would they find that kind of time now?

It bought them merely a five-second delay. The trench was quickly filled, the makeshift barricades were toppled, and the mighty army of monsters crossed the hundred meters, seemingly undiminished in number.

Reynard had been carefully watching the monsters’ movements. It wasn’t clear before, but as the troops retreated, the monsters seemed to be chasing life itself, converging on their own initiative without needing any guidance. In theory, this should be to our advantage, he considered. Our own lines would become weak if spread thin, and we risk being surrounded and crushed if the lines shorten.