Chapter 27: Chapter 27 – A hint of Babylon’s might

“Arrows are ineffective!” Kai declared.

After Kai saw the scales of the basilisks in action, he immediately made a judgement to rule out ordinary arrows. Such extraordinary defense was insurmountable by the advantage of arrows.

There was no panic in the hearts of the army. Arrow rain offensive was only the most common and routine tactic of the Great Discovery Army. A simple tester of the army. No real trump cards of the Great Discovery Army had seen the light of day in the competition.

“Prepare the ballistae!” Kai ordered from atop a raised platform.

At the back of the army, ten large objects were covered by cloth. With the order they were revealed to the alien world of the battlefield for the first time. Just like on Earth, it was an enhanced version of the simple bow or crossbow. Babylon’s craftsmanship was superior, and they produced ballista with more power and range.

Teams of at minimum 20 soldiers manned the giant crossbows. The bolt was loaded, and the arrow rain offensive of the archer brigade continued. Under the veil of arrows, the ballistae were aimed. The bolts used were far less than the seemingly unending supply of arrows.

The distant back of the Great Discovery Army was of no concern to John Smith. He listened to the clang of arrows against the scales of his basilisks. His pride rose and his restraint withered.

“Basilisks, charge and kill the enemy!” He loudly shouted.

The entire population of basilisks felt their fighting intent boil with enthusiasm. All the snakes lowered their heads and slithered partly submerged in the sand. Their twin tipped tails swayed in sync.

“Fire!” Seeing their range of sight shrinking, Kai seized the opportunity. All ten ballistae clanked as they fired.

The sky blocking sea of arrows continued to fall wave after wave, and from behind them the latest wave the hefty and large bolts of the ballistae was hidden. They quickly separated from the arrows as their angle was shallower and their flight faster.

Unsuspectingly, the basilisks continued to move in a close pack, using their kin to block their sides. On a wide battlefield they would spread into smaller groups to move, but this arena was smaller.

With a whoosh, the huge bolts pierced through the air and struck the pack of basilisks. Compared to the clang of the arrows, only loud pops and thuds were heard. A pair of basilisks were pierces through the side by the thick bolt smashing through their scales and into the ground below. The pair became half nailed in place.

Half the bolts missed their mark, leaving half to hit something. Some getting more and some managing to hit more than two. Only the hissed scream of the basilisks sounded from the battlefield. With the front of the pack being nailed pretty much completely, the rest behind stopped in unison. Horror and fear filled their slit pupil eyes.

The teachers in the viewing room were shocked.

“What weapon is this?”

“So powerful?!”

“It can even stop the powerful basilisks?”

For them, they have seen many showdowns between extraordinary species and civilizations. Weapons were always monotonous and seem before by them. They had never seen such a large crossbow before, more so one from a realm meant to only be a month old.

On John Smith’s side, he clenched his fist as he looked at the crossbow at the back of the Great Discovery Army.

“There was still such a trump card hidden.” He muttered.

Through gritted teeth, he hissed, “But, I also have a trump card!”

“Basilisks, use your special abilities, destroy them!” John Smith’s voice boomed from the sky above the basilisks.

With his order, the largest and only leading basilisk rose up and both its pupils and hood scales shift. The snake eyes turning into even thinner slits as similar eye shapes formed in the opened hood. A terrifying energy emanated from the basilisk.

Suddenly, the soldiers holding the shield formation turn stiff. The whole body became like stone, unable to move an inch. A tall and mighty general experienced the same. Their bodies turned grey as if there were a layer of lime.

…

“It’s petrification!”

“The basilisks of a first-level realm can already awaken such innate abilities already?!”

“What?!”

The teachers were greatly shocked.

The reason why Basilisks was recognized and considered powerful as a medium-level species, is because of its terrifying talent. Petrification, it could ignore almost any defense and harms species of a higher level. Anyone who saw the eyes or scales of the hood were directly petrified.

In the past, during the Polaris Tourney, there was a basilisk species cultivated by a talented student. One of their realm went as the opponent of a High-level energy realm. The army from the high-level energy realm was all petrified by one creature.

“Fortunately, only one basilisk has awakened this innate ability” Janus Estroid said with a hint of hope.

If all 300 basilisks in the field had it, there would be no competition in this match. Even if the whole Great Discovery Army was here it would still all be petrified, not that he knew Terra Stars had many soldiers reserved.

…

More and more soldiers were petrified. Their companions became confused in the face of such a unique ability.

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The extraordinary research team behind was surprised, they didn’t see them use this ability in previous matches when Terra Stars projected the videos for them.

A woman picked up a telescope. She wanted to see what was going on, she looked at the largest basilisk. At this moment, her whole body stiffened. A gray color spread across her body.

“Don’t… look…” The scholar struggled to speak, her warning was cut off with her whole body being petrified.

“Look… Eyes! It is their eyes!” a male scholar exclaimed.

As a specialist in creatures, he shouted, “Quick, don’t look into the eyes of that snake!”

Not far from him Kai heard their discovery. After processing the ability of the basilisks in his mind, he ordered loudly, “Everyone, bow your heads!”

As an army of strict discipline, the Great Discovery Army obediently follows orders. All the army lowered their heads along with the members of the extraordinary research team. After bowing their heads, they found the strange petrification phenomenon did not continue.

The male scholar who shouted the solution continued his previously rushed thoughts, “It should be a kind of innate magical power of the snakes. Anyone who sees their eyes will be solidified. Their hood scales might be involved too.”

With the danger prevented, the question of what to do now spread. Unable to fight without looking at their opponents, the soldiers were stumped. In the Great Discovery Army’s luck, the only basilisk acting was the largest one who was releasing the petrification. The other basilisk idled behind him.

It wasn’t until a young general suddenly spoke up, “We can use, from the greedy slimes, the third plan of deal with the greed monsters!”

Kai thought for a moment, recalling the difficult Gollime monsters. They had several options, adopting the coin and gems along with coined arrows. The third plan was not used.

Coming to a decision, Kai ordered, “Prepare the fire attack!”

Acting on orders immediately, soldiers carried large pots to the trebuchets. Having been set up earlier, the trebuchets were ready since the beginning. The large pots were launched quickly. Arcing through the air, they made their way to the basilisks position.

The large pots cracked as the thin pot’s surface hits the giant snake’s body. All the pots cracked on impact. Kerosene within the pots spread everywhere. Further waves of pots were launched, slowly the ground under and around the basilisk was all covered in kerosene. A strong pungent smell permeating the area.

“Fire the arrows!” Kai commanded loudly.

The arrows of the archer brigade were already prepared, their normal arrows replaced by flaming arrows. In sync, thousands of arrows were fired. Their target was not the basilisks, but the kerosene on the ground.

Some were blocked by the smooth and defensive scales of the basilisk covering the ground, but most still fell on target. In a moment a huge flames soared into the sky, enveloping part of the basilisk group.

“Fuck!” John Smith cursed.

His rage quelled after he thought about it. Basilisks were extraordinary creatures, they had thick scales and tough bodies. They were not afraid of ordinary fire like this at all.

The basilisks were smart and quickly respond. Burying their bodies into the sand and used their tails to swat at the surrounding sand. They attempted to put out the fire.

Their attempts were partly successful, but the real purpose of the attack was no the fire at all. In the kerosene, there was many other substances mixed in. Once lit, the flame would create a thick smoke. The smoke billowed greater as the fire grew and spread.

The line of sight between the two sides was heavily blocked. It was only then did the spectating teachers and contestants notice the real purpose of the fire. With neither side being able to see properly, the petrification ability of the basilisk was made useless.

Kai immediately ordered the attack. Soldiers at the ballista started working again. With the fire forcing the basilisks to bury more of their bodies under the soft sand, the target became easier with them moving slower and without awareness of incoming attacks. Of the ten huge bolts that fell from the sky seven puncture the largest basilisk, pinning it to the ground.

The other basilisk rushed to spread out and get out of the line of fire. Enduring the thick smoke, they became disorderly.

With the disarray of the enemy forces, the cavalry of the Great Discovery Army started to move. A thousand soldiers split into two groups and flanked the left and right sides. From the sky, oil pots and flaming arrows continued to fall. They provided the perfect cover for the cavalry and fueling the blinding smoke.

The nearly 300 basilisks that remained focused on the fall of the ballista bolts. With fire surrounding them from three sides and the arena wall behind them, they were trapped.

Even though the basilisks were not afraid of fire, the scales of their underbellies were not as resistant as the larger ones upon their backs. The weaker underbellies of the basilisks would accumulate pain from the fire.

Under the threat of the ballista and blazing fire, the basilisks shifted between burying themselves in the ground and raising their heads and belly up to swiftly swivel around. As the thick smoke inhibited all sense of coordination, weaknesses begun to appear in the extraordinary creatures called basilisks.

The two groups of cavalry moved quickly, they came to the edge of the fire. They wore goggles that were capable of temporarily reducing the harm of the smoke on them. On the opposite side, the basilisks trapped in the sea of flames had their smell and touch greatly reduced. They couldn’t get a clear idea of their approaching foes.

Wielding longbows, the cavalry shot towards the basilisks. They aimed for the exposed underbelly. At the close range, the softer scales couldn’t resist the impact of the arrows shot from the advanced longbows of Babylon.

One of the basilisks in the outer perimeter screamed. An arrow was stuck in its belly. The wound spilled blood. Not to be outdone, the rest of the cavalry shot with great vigor and skill. Under the constant barrage of arrows from the cavalry, the wounds upon the basilisks continued to pile up.

The giant snakes tried to rush the surrounding cavalry. The leader ordered withdrawal and the basilisks were forced to return to their group, lest they get picked off alone when chasing the retreating cavalry. Then the cavalry reapproached, a cycle of wounding, enraging, and out running begun.

Arrow after arrow, rounds of chase and retreat, the soldiers keep wounding the basilisks. The first to die to this tactic appeared. Immediately after another. Then the third was not far behind.