Chapter 37: 36

36: [STAGE 2] Nothing better than the good ol’ quantity

Two days later.

The morning of the day that the stage will begin.

Finally, the repair of the fort wall was finished.

“There are many parts that we had to hurry through since we were running low on time. However, it will be enough to serve its function as a fort wall.”

I gently patted the shoulder of the leader of the masons’ union who bowed his head.

“Good work. Really, you’ve done a great job.”

The well-groomed castle walls glistened in the morning sunlight.

My heart was almost feeling reverent when I thought of the money and supplies that went into repairing this wall.

Clunk! Clunk!

In the meantime, a newly installed automatic turret moved its barrel with a menacing sound.

I stroked the large gun barrel like I was petting a dog's chin. Who’s a good boy, who’s a good boy?

‘I got enough supplies.’

I saw the arrows and cannonballs piled up on the walls. Those were enough to shove dozens into the monsters’ bodies.

‘And the military force has also been expanded.’

I could see old soldiers checking their armor and armaments on top of the fort wall.

The Twilight Troops.

They were the soldiers of the Cross family who had been protecting this city for their entire lives along with Earl Cross.

It is said that the original size was about 1000, but with the retirement of the Earl, most of them scattered, leaving about 300 people.

‘Still very thankful for this.’

However, they were not just any 300 soldiers.

They were the 300 veteran soldiers who were the most adapted to this frontline environment and killing monsters.

Now that I have to be thoughtful of each and every soldier, it couldn’t have gone any better for me to have these veterans.

I decided to give all of them a bonus on their weekly wage.

‘I even finished the preparation of the Kill Zone.’

The wooden fence wall that would restrict the movement of the monsters, also known as the Kill Zone, had been completely repaired.

Not only that, small barricades and traps were scattered everywhere on the way to the southern wall.

There were many repaired artifacts, cannons, and ballistae on top of the fort wall.

“The preparation is complete.”

I said in confidence.

“Come at me, monsters!”

In the over 700 times I completed this game, things had never been this good at this stage.

My confidence skyrocketed. It seemed that I could clear the stage without any problems no matter what variables arose.

Clop! Clop!

Just then, a soldier on horseback rushed in from outside the wall. The soldier was from the reconnaissance unit that was dispatched yesterday.

“Report from the reconnaissance base!”

The soldier screamed as loud as he could.

“The monsters are coming-!”

“...!”

At the same time, I could begin to feel a distant vibration under my feet.

A thick cloud of dust rose from the distant horizon. It meant that the head of the monsters had reached that place.

I turned on the stage information window and put it in front of me.

[Enemy Information - STAGE 2]

- Lv.? ???: 3

- Lv.5 Giant Gutter Rat: 3251

- Until the start: 10 minutes

In 10 minutes, the battle will begin.

“They will be here soon! Do not let your guard down!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Lucas and other officers responded to my command in unison.

‘Very reliable.’

Seeing their vigilant figure made my heart feel lighter. I grinned.

And it was that moment, the last time I was checking the situation of troops and preparing for battle—

“Hm?”

I frowned.

I wondered when the rat corps would appear, so I turned my gaze to the south.

There I saw someone standing… over the horizon.

“......?”

I rubbed my eyes thinking that they were playing tricks on me, but that wasn’t the case.

Someone was standing calmly on the southern field where the rat monsters would soon come.

A man dressed as a bard, wearing a pointed hat.

“Who is that?”

Lucas approached me confusedly.

“What’s wrong, Your Highness?”

“Lucas, do you see that guy over…”

I stretched out my hand to the south and looked south again, but…

“Huh?”

The bard with a pointed hat was gone.

Lucas seemed puzzled while I was standing frozen.

“I don’t see anyone, Your Highness.”

“Demian!”

I urgently called Demian. Demian, who was holding his crossbow from the other side, came to me in a hurry.

“Did you call for me, Your Highness?”

“Do you see anyone standing over there?”

Demian carefully examined the direction I was pointing at, but before long he shook his head slightly.

“I don’t see anyone, Your Highness.”

“......”

If Demian can’t see anyone, it really means that there is no one over there.

Chills went down my spine.

‘Am I seeing things?’

If it’s really something like that, it’d be great.

But what if I wasn’t seeing things? What if someone was actually there?

‘Then why would he be there?’

As I was puzzled, I started to hear a faint noise.

Rumble…-

The ground began to shake.

“They’re here!”

I clenched my teeth and looked south again.

Rumble-!

And there came a gray wave.

The astounding wave of three thousand giant rats was rushing to the city from the south.

Even though they were still quite far away, I could smell the rotten stench of the gutters. The smell of pestilence surrounded my nose.

I clenched my fist tightly.

‘I have to be calm.’

No matter how many rats there are, no matter if I’m hallucinating or not, the only thing I could do was already determined from the beginning.

‘I must stop them.’

I tried my best in preparation. Now all I can do is kill as many monsters as possible.

Rumble-!

The frontline of the rats approached the wooden fence wall of the southern field. I raised my voice and shouted—

“Artillerists, ready fire!”

The artillerists lit the cannon in unison. I stretched out my hand vigorously,

“Fire-!”

And shouted.

Boom! B-b-boom!

The deafening noise of the cannons continued.

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Shriiek-

The cannonballs that cut through the air hit the ground after a long flight.

Kaboom…!

They raised a cloud of dust and crushed the frontline of the rats.

[Enemy Information - STAGE 2]

- Lv.? ???: 3

- Lv.5 Giant Gutter Rat: 3154 (Kill Count: 97)

Almost one hundred rats were crushed to pieces by just the first fire.

“Yes!”

I clenched my fists as I inspected the literal sight of the shattered monsters.

“Screw them up!”

These rats ain’t shit, just numbers!

* * *

* * *

Boom! Ka-boom!

The wooden fence was installed in the southern field of the fort.

As the monsters advance along the fence, their speed slows down, and the line of movement gets interfered with. Then we pour crossfire on them.

That’s what Kill Zone means.

The frontline of the rats couldn't get out of this labyrinth of slaughter, and the kill count went up at a terrifying speed.

‘There are too many of them, so they come in lumps.’

This means,

‘If we pour out AoE attacks, we will kill multiple units all at once!’

About 30 minutes had passed since the start of the battle, and not a single rat had escaped.

[Enemy Information - STAGE 2]

- Lv.? ???: 3

- Lv.5 Giant Gutter Rat: 2327 (Kill Count: 924)

Almost a thousand rats have burned to death in the crossfire.

I was worried because of the enormous number of monsters, but at this rate, there won’t be a problem.

It was the moment when I was trying to put my mind at ease while watching the rats being smashed helplessly in the Kill Zone…

Rattle…

“Huh?”

A corner of the wooden fence wall suddenly started to sway.

Squeak, squeak-!

With the shrieking noises from the rats, the giant rats started to crawl over the fence.

“?!”

Frightened, I quickly picked up the telescope and looked at the spot.

“Good god.”

The inside of the wooden fence had high piles of rat corpses.

The bodies of the dead rats piled up so high that they started to fall over the fence wall.

And the rats behind it climbed over the corpses and escaped out of the fence.

Squeaak-!

As if a blocked dam started to overflow,

The rats climbed over the fence and started rushing out of the Kill Zone in an instant.

“Dammit!”

I couldn’t help but spit out profanity.

I thought the Kill Zone would collapse after at least killing more than half of them.

I couldn't believe the corpses that piled up helped them climb the wall. I never even thought about it.

‘But it’s still fine!’

I quickly ordered the artillery units to change their aiming points and prepared the ballista units.

‘There’s still some distance from the Kill Zone to the fort wall, and I made sure to cover it with all kinds of obstacles! I can still buy so much time!’

However,

There was something that I overlooked.

Rumble-!

It was the speed of the gutter rats.

The rats that poured out to the open field were so damn fast.

Furthermore, the rats were about the size of a large dog. In other words,

Twang! Thud!

Twak…!

They cannot be hit by large, slow ballista arrows.

“Goddamn rats!”

“They’re so swift for no reason…!”

The soldiers continued to fire the cannons and ballistae as they spat out profanity,

But it was an unusually difficult task to hit the rats who were pouring in and spreading out like waves in a wide field.

Squik! Squeak!

Rumble-!

Bending their small and nimble bodies, the rats ran across the field.

Except for the explosions caused by cannons and the arrows that the soldiers hit by luck… They were closing the distance almost unhindered.

“Hmph!”

Twang! Twang!

Demian restlessly fired his crossbow beside me.

He was steadily taking out those rats, but it just wasn’t enough.

‘’Of course I considered the event of them reaching the walls, but…’

At this rate, more rats than I expected would reach the fort wall…!

It was at that moment.

Vwooom-

Clunk!

A beautiful, heavy mechanical sound rang out.

Ratatata!

Dozens of turquoise magic bullets were fired with a pleasant sound that echoed through the eardrums.

The magic bullets raked the ground, and high smoke rose from the field where they were hit directly.

Magic bullets swept the area like a whip. All the rats in the path were destroyed and collapsed.

“Oh my goodness gracious!”

I looked around as I was deeply moved by the sight that unfolded in front of me. I saw a moving building with its thick gun barrel clattering.

It was the automatic defense turret that I summoned!

I nodded as I tapped the gun barrel, which was burning with heat, with my fingertips.

“Nothing better than the good ol’ auto turret in the Tower Defense genre.”

Although this game was more leaning toward the character defense genre—whatever!

The automatic defense turret fired a bunch of magic bullets like a whip.

The bullets that poured out like a bullet-hell game effectively kicked the rats out.

However, it was still not enough to defend the entire battlefield.

And there were thousands of them out there.

Outside the range of the automatic defense turret, the gutter rats continued to pour in.

Moreover,

Vwoom…

The turret entered a reload sequence as it ran out of bullets.

And consequently, there was an absence of firepower in the fire net,

Rumble-!

The gutter rats were now rushing to the center of the fort wall.

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