Overwhelming Firepower

While Duke Vardon and Sir Thalos were doing their best to slow down the marching giant shadow monsters, Lucen, Robert, and the dwarves were also doing their best.

They got all the Iron spheres and emptied the contents of the iron sphere, which was basically gunpowder, into a safe container to be reused later.

Once the contents were emptied, they cleaned the inside of the iron spheres. After that was done, they started pouring viscous green liquid. As they were doing this, the metal hissed faintly.

”Just fill them halfway,” Robert said.

Instead of a burning fuse, the dwarves hammer thin iron plugs over the openings, sealing them just enough that impact would shatter the casing.

While Robert and the dwarves continued working on the iron spheres, Lucen looked at Sir Thalos and his Father.

Despite them attacking contiously they had not even defeated a single giant shadow monster. Still, a few of the giants were now half their size.

On the other hand, Sir Thalos was actually sweating quite a lot. Even his Father was already breathing unevenly.

Duke Vardon’s aura mantle had grown thinner. The once-solid silver-blue glow now flickered at its edges, like a flame running low on oil.

Each swing of his blade was still precise, but there were some strains in his movement. Frost no longer spread as far as before.

Lucen clenched his jaw as he watched his father take another step back. Each strike from Duke Vardon carved away at the shadows, but the giants continued advancing.

Sir Thalos roared as he drove his blazing fist into the torso of another giant. The impact tore a hole clean through it. The shadow recoiled, shrank, and then began knitting itself back together.

”Are they ready?” Lucen asked.

”Yes, let’s go and test them out.” Robert handed one of the iron spheres to Lucen.

”Open the gates!”

Hearing Lucen’s command, a few were confused, but no one questioned it, and they simply did as they were told. Everyone in Ironhold trusted Lucen’s judgement, as if it were the Iron Duke himself who gave the order.

Lucen caught the iron sphere Robert handed him, but he did not step through the gate. Instead, he turned toward the battlements.

”Distribute them,” he ordered. ”Everyone who can throw, take one.”

The dwarves did not hesitate. They began handing the filled iron spheres to the knights, those of Thornefang, and every other soldier.

”Do not aim for the head,” Lucen looked at Harlik as he continued. ”If you can aim for the torso. The larger the surface area, the better.”

”You heard the leader! Let’s kill these b*stards!” Harlik barked, and the other members of Thornefang answered with a roar.

Lucen and Robert were the first ones to set out. The closer they got to the Giant Shadow Monsters, the stronger the voices became.

Still, with Lucen’s various skills and traits alongside the ring he had, he could not even hear the voices in the first place.

Robert, on the other hand, could hear the voices and also felt his mana changing form. Still, instead of succumbing to a similar madness as the others and attacking Lucen, he instead found the experience very interesting.

”An unknown energy has entered my system. Is this the so-called demonic mana? Also, these voices replicate people I know, like the old man. Is the demonic mana able to access part of my brain?”

Lucen noticed that Robert was starting to talk to himself again. ”Focus,” Lucen said as he did a finger flick to stop Robert from thinking too deeply.

”Huh? What did you do that for? I was trying to savor this new experience.” Robert looked at Lucen.

”We don’t have time for that. We need to test this thing out, whether it will work or not.”

”... Fine...” Robert answered while almost looking like he was pouting.

The two of them evaded the ones Duke Vardon and Sir Thalos were dealing with and came to the nearest one.

As they closed the distance, the stench hit him fully. Lucen could now truly smell a strong, rotting smell mixed with a burning sensation that almost made him puke.

The ground trembled as the giant took another step forward. Up close, its form was not smooth shadow but constantly shifting layers of darkness folding over one another.

The single pale surface that resembled a face tilted toward them. Even though Lucen could not hear the whispers, he could feel the pressure in the air. It was heavy, oppressive, as if something unseen were pressing against his skull.

Robert showed an even more manic smile than usual. Seeing him like that, Lucen thought he would attack him, so he was getting ready to knock out Robert if needed.

”Hahaha, that’s amazing! At this distance, not only are the voices speaking in familiar tones, but they even know things only I know. Whatever it is that’s in my brain seems to have access to my memories now. How exciting! To think the so-called demonic mana can do something like this!”

”Save your excitement for later,” Lucen said firmly. ”Throw!”

The giant’s upper body began to bend toward them. Its elongated arm stretched forward, the shadow thinning and sharpening at the edge like a blade forming from smoke.

The giant shadow monster’s blade hand attacked Lucen and Robert, but both of them evaded the attack by jumping backward. The ground where the monster attack was pierced. The monster then tried to pull out its blade from the ground, seeing thise both of them knew that this was their chance.

Lucen and Robert threw the iron spheres at the same time. Robert aimed at the monster’s torso, while Lucen aimed directly at the head.

The iron spheres struck almost at the same time. Robert’s sphere hit the giant’s torso and shattered immediately.

The thin iron casing broke apart on impact, and the viscous green liquid splashed across the shifting darkness.

Lucen’s sphere struck the pale surface that resembled a face. For a fraction of a second, it did not break. Then cracks spread across the iron shell, and it burst open.

Once it broke free from the iron spheres, the alchemical acid started to spread. Where the liquid touched, the shadow did not absorb it. Instead, the darkness recoiled violently. Smoke rose in thick, choking clouds as the acid began eating into the creature’s body.

The giant shadow shrieked a horrible-sounding shriek. This time, the sound was not distant or echoing. It was raw and furious. The air trembled with the force of it.

In several other areas, the people with iron spheres had thrown them at the giant shadow monster.

Every single one of those hit were now shrieking; it was a powerful shriek that made a few normal soldiers have their eardrums burst.

Several soldiers dropped to their knees, blood spilling from their ears as the shriek tore through the battlefield.

The sound was not merely loud. It carried pressure, as if the air itself were being compressed and driven into their skulls.

Lucen staggered half a step but forced himself to remain upright. Others already used their aura mantles or some spell to shield themselves from the shrieks.

”Hold your ground!” Lucen shouted, unsure if the others could hear him. Before them, the acid continued to eat through the shadow giants.

Large sections of their bodies dissolved completely. Where the corrosive liquid clung, the darkness peeled away in layers, shrinking rapidly instead of regenerating.

One of the giants lost its entire upper torso. The remaining mass collapsed inward, condensing instead of dispersing. The giant shadows were slowly becoming the same size as them.

”They’re compressing,” Robert said, eyes wide with fascination.

’Are they going to a second phase?’ Lucen couldn’t help but comment in his mind as he clicked his tongue.

The massive form of the giant collapsed inward even faster. The layers of shadow folded into themselves, condensing with unnatural precision. The towering figure that had once blotted out the sky was now no taller than three men.

All across the battlefield, the other giants followed the same pattern. Their immense bodies dissolved under the acid and compacted rapidly, shrinking from titanic silhouettes into dense, humanoid shapes.

One of the shadows suddenly moved, and it was so much faster than before. It appeared in front of one of the soldiers and, with its shadowy hand, like a sword, pierced the other party’s head.

The soldier had no chance to even react as his body fell to the ground dead. Seeing this scene, Lucen shouted. ”RETREAT! BACK TO IRONHOLD!”

Everyone retreated a few soldiers tried to throw the remaining iron spheres, but the smaller shadow monsters were too fast to hit.

A few soldiers were unable to run away as they were killed without resistance. They screamed as they died.

Many of those men and women were people Lucen had spoken to. He knew them, he had laughed with them, he had eaten with them.

They too were part of Ironhold, their families lived there, they were happy to have joined this battle, they had fully believed in him that victory would be at hand, and now they were there lying on the ground.

Lucen, who saw what was happening, gritted his teeth and screamed. His ruby-red eyes shone with intense killing intent. He created dual pistols in his hands and started shooting at the shadow monsters.

The shadow monsters were fast enough to evade the bullets, but with Lucen’s skills [marksmanship], [gun kata], and [battle instinct], he was able to predict the movements of the shadow monsters and shot in the direction where they were heading.

At first, he thought that the bullets would pass through or would prove hit but would not cause much damage, as before. The only reason he even tried hitting the enemy with his guns was because of his anger.

Yet the second the bullet hit the shadow monster, something unexpected happened. It created a shield out of its body, blocking the attack.

This was the first time the shadow monster tried to block any attack. Lucen had a guess right now, but he needed more data.

Lucen continued firing at the shadow monster as it charged at him with a shield made out of what seemed to be its own body.

Lucen then activated another skill [ricochet], the bullets hit one another and hit the shadow monster from behind its shield.

That’s when Lucen saw that the shadow monster was damaged. It now had a hole that was not healing as fast as before.

Lucen’s eyes narrowed the moment he saw it. He then quickly tried something else; he infused his bullets with a fire element.

If this were the normal shadow monster from before, the elemental bullet would heal it. He wanted to make sure if right now would be different or the same.

The shadow monster, with its speed, was able to dodge a few bullets and block some, but Lucen was still able to get a hit in.

The bullet imbued with a fire element blew up upon contact with the shadow monster. This time, the fire element was not absorbed, nor did the shadow monster heal from the mana it received.

Instead, the shadow monster was broken all over, seemingly trying to heal itself. Lucen did not bother to test anything anymore and continued shooting at the shadow monster with elemental bullets until it was no more.

”Physical attacks and spells work now!” Lucen shouted at everyone who was retreating back to Ironhold. ”Let’s kill these f*ckers!” Lucen couldn’t help but shout.