Chapter 1330: Battle of Wills

People like Farry—those who refused the Unfallable Pill—were rare.

Jodel noted it without pursuing it. Keeping himself alive on this battlefield took everything he had; scrutinizing the habits of others was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

Eight days since the trumpets of war.

Eight days ago, the line of defense had still held outside Gust Castle. The interlocking fields of machine gun and cannon fire had denied the demons any meaningful advance. But they did not stop—they never stopped—and with time, traces of enemy movement began appearing inside the formation itself. Giant Skeletons broke through the gap between Gust Castle and Metalstone Ridge, transforming the thinly defended terrain into Red Mist territory. The Aerial Knights had tried to contain them. It had not been enough.

When the demons used these enormous fortress-beasts to press from both flanks at once, the artillery’s cohesion fractured. The troops withdrew to the next line of fortifications under return fire, giving ground in order to avoid encirclement.

Then it happened again.

And again.

The unrelenting pressure compressed every rotation. Rest periods that had once stretched through normal cycles shrank to four or five hours. Reinforcements trickled in from the rear—enough to fill the count, not enough to change it. At the front, at any given time, there were perhaps two thousand soldiers. The demons came in twenty-thousand formations. Devilbeasts swept around the defense lines entirely, striking directly toward Cage Mountain—what was happening there, Jodel could not know. Whatever it was, it was not going well.

Three days ago, the order came: full retreat into the city.

Simultaneously, pressure on the western flank surged—an unmistakable signal. Metalstone Ridge, to the west, had fallen. They were next in line.

The day after that, the enemy broke through the artillery perimeter for the first time and closed to melee range.

At that point, this war became exactly what it looked like: a contest of who would break first.

Jodel watched the distant outer wall—ragged now, full of holes, hung with the blue-stained corpses of demons whose blood had dried against the stone in cold, wrong colors. The strip of ground between his position and that wall had stopped resembling a street. Soldiers and Mad Demons lay together in configurations that looked almost like sculpture: half-buried in snow, half-frozen by the wind, unmoved because there was no time and no safety in moving them. Bone spears and stone needles jutted from the ground at every angle, grown there like barbs. Not everyone could shelter in the reinforced strongpoints. For those hiding in civilian houses and trenches, each barrage was a lottery. One stone needle had punched through the wall of a building and come to rest less than a meter from where Jodel was crouching. A hand’s breadth closer and he would have been finished.

“Pui.” He shook his head and flung the thought out. When his clan had faced its darkest days and he had prayed to the Three Gods, no answer had come. He had learned not to expect one. Whatever happened in this city, far from home, it would not be the Three Gods who determined it. But he intended to make his enemies earn whatever they took from him.

The chief had promised: no clan that fought for humanity’s sake would be abandoned.

That was why he was here.

“They’re coming,” Farry said quietly.

No cannon fire. The artillery had gone completely silent the previous night—some said a Devilbeast raid, others claimed the crews had been redeployed. It no longer mattered. They were on their own.

Above the wall, the first demon shapes appeared.

The machine gun squad opened up. The sound of it—continuous, enormous, indifferent to everything—had become, in eight days, the closest thing to comfort Jodel knew on this battlefield. Only the Longsong Cannon surpassed it. Bullets swept the top of the wall; the first demon to leap over dropped before it landed. The ones behind it faltered, skulls jerking back as the rounds found them.

Gunfire from the eastern and western ends of the city confirmed what the noise already suggested: another full siege. Jodel did not think about those sectors. What he had learned in three days of city fighting was this: the most dangerous ground was never where the heaviest fire was concentrated. It was the quiet streets. The alleys that seemed empty.

The First Army had long since abandoned any coherent defensive line. Squads were scattered among the blockhouses, each unit responsible for its own corner. Their primary task was to keep the demons away from the permanent fortifications—the far-off threats, hundreds of meters away, were beyond their reach anyway.

Then six Mad Demons appeared on the roof of a two-story mud building. They were trying to circle around the concentrated fire using the rooftop as a catwalk. In doing so, they stepped directly into the field of view of Jodel’s gunpoint.

He held his breath. Target: the rearmost demon. He squeezed the trigger.

It fell.

Farry and the other two brought their guns to bear. The wooden roof could not tolerate the weight and motion of the demons; their slow, awkward progress made them a gift—exposed, deliberate, impossible to miss.

“Four o’clock!” The shout came from behind them—a Sand Nation fighter. “Large number of demons at four o’clock, coming this way!”

“Leave this to me!” Farry called over her shoulder. “The rest of you—go!”

Jodel swung his rifle toward the new window and moved. Of the four of them, Farry was the best shot. If she said she could handle what remained, she could.

But when he reached the window and looked, his stomach dropped.

More than a hundred demons. A solid wave of them, moving straight toward the belfry.

“Damn—were those six scouting?” someone breathed.

“Yes.” Jodel made the call without hesitation. “Everyone—don’t conserve ammunition. After this wave, we move to six o’clock.”

The firing ports erupted. Among the weapons now was a new one—the general-purpose machine gun, recently issued. It was crisper than the Mark I, lighter in feel, no slower in rate of fire. Its one limitation: a magazine of thirty rounds meant it couldn’t sustain suppressive fire the way the Mark I could. But in a concentrated burst at close range, the limitation barely registered.

The demons had not anticipated this volume of fire from a belfry. Under the combined assault of the general-purpose machine guns and rocket projectiles, the wave of over a hundred thinned by half in seconds. The survivors raised their bone spears.

“Spears—down!”

Jodel threw himself flat.

Dozens of bone spears crossed the air in hard, flat arcs toward the belfry. The bell rang—a deep, hollow sound, more felt than heard—and rang again as more spears struck the frame.

But height was an advantage the demons couldn’t easily compensate for. From low ground, a thrown spear’s angle of attack on an elevated position was bad; the windows filled but the bodies behind them were mostly shielded by the sills. The guns paused, gathered breath, and opened again. The remaining Mad Demons were caught between two impossible options: advance or retreat. Neither was safe.

This particular engagement, at least, was won.

Jodel exhaled. He was already calculating the cost of the general-purpose machine guns’ ammunition, and thinking, with something close to envy, that the Aerial Knights had received them first—if every soldier at the front had one, the demons would be contending with a different war.

Then Farry screamed. “Get out—now!”

He spun.

In the distance, a hole had appeared in the city wall—not from the fighting, too clean, too deliberate. Through it came a Spider Demon, vast enough that the wall’s thickness barely slowed it. It crouched in the rubble, and the thick shell on its back parted. Inside: a pillar of black stone that seemed to absorb the light around it.

It’s aiming at us.

Jodel looked up. The bronze bell above them was still resonating—a slow, fading hum from the bone spears that had struck it.

The bell. It heard the bell.

He grabbed his rifle and ran for the stairs.

Behind him, a soft sound crossed the distance.

“Boom—”

He had not cleared a single flight.

A black stone pillar—thicker than a man’s body, moving in a high, lazy arc—struck the belfry at its midsection.

The roar that followed was not so much a sound as it was an erasure.

The entire belfry came down.

Chapter 1330 - Battle of Wills

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations People like Farry who spurned the Unfallable Pill were a rarity. But seeing that he looked decently spirited, Jodel didn’t think any deeper into it—fretting about his own survival was hard enough on this battlefield, let alone others. Eight days had passed since the trumpets of war began. Eight days ago, their line of defense had still been outside of Gust Castle. The combination of machine gun and cannon fire made it difficult for the demons to progress any further. However, with the passing of time, traces of the enemy began appearing all over their formation. Giant Skeletons started breaking in between Gust Castle and Metalstone Ridge, turning the weakly defended region into a Red Mist region. Although the Aerial Knights attempted to stop them, it was to little effect. When the demons relied on these ‘Fortress-like Monstrous Beasts’ and launched a pincer attack from the two flanks, the fire of the cannons was scattered. In order for the troops to avoid being surrounded, they retreated backwards to their subsequent formation while returning fire. These events repeated once more. The incessant attacks by the enemy caused everybody to feel an enormous pressure, their break times shrank from normal rotations to four or five hours, although the rear received a few reinforcements, the difference in numbers was so large that it was plain to the eye. There were at most two thousand soldiers fighting at the front line, while the assaults that the demons launched on them basically all consisted of over twenty thousand. What’s more, the Devilbeasts could go around the defense line and directly charge in the direction of Cage Mountain. Although it was impossible to understand the situation back there, clearly they were not in a good position. Three days ago, the front line troops received a command for the entire army to retreat into the city. At the same time, the demon’s attack from the west side suddenly became a lot stronger, this was undeniably a signal: suggesting that it was likely that Metalstone Ridge, which was on the west side of the First Army, had already fallen, and they were next. The next day, the enemy broke past their line of artillery for the first time, and engaged in close range battle with the soldiers. At this point, this war had become entirely a battle of wills. Jodel looked at the dilapidated short wall hundred of meters in the distance. The ravaged outer city wall of Gust Castle was now filled with holes, and its surface was filled with hanging demon corpses. The blood that poured out of the corpses dyed the wall in a layer of eerie and ghostly blue. The strip from the defense line to the short wall was more like a purgatory. The corpses of soldiers and Mad Demons were splayed all over the place and mixed together, with half of them buried underneath the snow and the other frozen in the icy wind, like naturally formed ice sculptures. As the enemy’s attack was unrelenting, they didn’t even have enough time to take back bodies of the ones fallen in battle. The two sides of the long street were filled with bone spears and stone needles stuck to the ground like barbs grown from the earth—because not everyone could hide within the sturdy fortifications, it would be like a lottery for the soldiers hiding in civilian houses and trenches every time the stone needles rained from the sky. One of them had penetrated the wall of the house and fallen less than one meter away from him. If it had been slightly closer, he would have already began serving the Three Gods. “Pui!” Jodel shook his head, and flung those inauspicious thoughts out from his mind. When his clan was in danger, no matter how much he prayed to the Three Gods, he never got any response. It was natural that he was not protected by the Three Gods this time. Even though he might ultimately die in this city far from home, he definitely wanted to make his enemies pay a hefty price before then. The chief had sworn that he would definitely not maltreat any clan who fought for the fate of humankind. That was the reason why he came here! “They’re here!” Farry warned. No sounds of cannon fire… Yesterday night, the artillery had become completely silent. Some say that they had suffered a sneak attack by Devilbeasts, there were also some who claimed that the artillery soldiers had been transferred somewhere else. No matter what it was, right now they could only rely on themselves to hold off the enemy. Finally, the figures of the demons appeared above the wall! The machine gun squad was still the first to begin fire—Apart from the Longsong Cannon, the loud and continuous noise of machine guns had become the most wonderful and moving sounds in the soldiers’ hearts. The flying bullets caused the snow around the wall to spray in all directions, and the first demon to leap over the wall was instantly hit and fallen. The demons that followed closely from behind also had their skulls flung back by the rain of bullets. Gun fire also sounded from the east and west sides of the city. This was clearly another intense siege. Jodel didn’t concern himself with the demons who charged towards the line of artillery head-on but focused his attention on the alley a hundred meters away. After three days of battling to defend the city, he realized something: The most dangerous area was usually not where all their artillery was focused at, but the streets and alleys that seemed quiet. At this moment the First Army had already long lost their line of defense. The troops had been organized into small units and were scattered disorderly around the blockhouses. Their most important job was to stop the demons from sneaking near their permanent fortifications, as for the enemies hundreds of meters away, it would be difficult to aim fatal shots even if he wanted to kill them. Suddenly, six Mad Demons appeared above the roof of a two-story mud building. They seemed to plan on using the building to circle around the areas where the gun fire was most concentrated, and this action made them completely exposed before Jodel’s gunpoint. He held his breath, aimed at the demon moving at the end, and squeezed the trigger. The target fell on the sound of fire. Farry and his two other companions joined in the firing. The weak wooden roof was unable to withstand the drastic movements of the Mad Demons and their slow climbing caused them to become the most eye-catching target- boards. “Four o’ clock, there’s a large number of demons at four o’ clock!” Before they could finish off what was left of the remnant demons, Sand National from behind them hollered, “They’re coming in this direction!” “Leave this place to me!” Farry yelled, “You guys go and deal with the ones on the other side!” Jodel immediately turned his gunpoint and ran to the front of another window —If the team were to single out whose aim was the best among his team mates, it would be unquestionably Farry. If he said he could finish off the remaining demons, then it would definitely not be a problem. But when he saw a swarm of over a hundred demons charge toward his hiding spot, Jodel’s heart sunk. “Damn, were those bastards from before scouting?” someone gasped in realization. “I’m afraid so.” He immediately came to a conclusion. “Everybody, don’t save up your ammunition anymore, after we take out this wave of demons move towards six o’ clock!” Concentrated sounds of gunfire erupted from the window, among them were the newly issued automatic weapons—compared to the roar of Mark I, the new weapon which was called the general-purpose machine gun sounded more crisp, but was not below the monstrous weapon in terms of firing speed. Its only shortcoming was that its magazine only contained thirty rounds of ammunition causing it to be inferior to the Mark I in terms of suppressive ability. But clearly the enemy had not expected such powerful firepower would come from the top of the roof of a tiny belfry. Under the heavy, head-on assault of the general-purpose machine guns and rocket projectiles, the hundred or so demons instantly halved in number, the remaining enemies all raised their bone spears. “Be careful, they’re throwing spears!” Jodel hollered as he pushed his body to the floor. Dozens of bone spears shot like arrows to the top of the belfry. “Dong—!” The bell hummed intermittently as it was stricken by the spears. If they were on the ground, ti would have been difficult to escape this attack, but the difference in the height of their positions formed a natural cover, even if the bone spears that were thrown from a low to high ground filled the windows, it would be difficult for them to fatally shoot down a soldier. The sounds of gunfire paused for a moment and then began again. The remaining Mad Demons were pushed into a predicament where they could neither progress or retreat. It was almost certain that they would be able to finish off this enemy squad. Jodel involuntarily released a sigh. He was felt a hint of pity, he had heard the costs of producing general-purpose machine guns were not cheap, and were first given to the Aerial Knights to use. If everyone in the front line arm had hold of one, the demons would be no match for them even if they didn’t rely on the bunkers. At this moment, Farry suddenly screamed, “Crap, get out of here!” He froze and subconsciously twisted his head around to look. In the distance, a hole appeared in the city wall. An enormous Spider Demon passed through the body of the wall, crouched down, and opened the thick shell on its back where a pitch black stone pillar seemed to emit light. Wait, could it be aiming at them? Jodel raised his head, the bronze bell that hung from the beam of the roof was still vibrating. Hell, it was the bell hums from before! He raised his gun and ran towards the stairs. At the same time a soft sound came from the distance. “Boom—” Before he even ran down one flight of stairs, a black stone pillar that was thicker than a person flew in a high parabolic trajectory and then directly struck the midsection of the belfry. Following a thunderous roar, the entire belfry collapsed!