39 A Long Nigh

Tim and Silas were in trouble. They were the vanguard of the ammunition convoy, and they had just entered the town center when an immense bull on fire came charging straight at them.

"Tier 4!" Silas gasped.

"Brace!" Tim crouched, holding out his precious Tier 3 spear, praying against all odds that at least one of them might survive, at least one of the eight young boys behind him who went to get the spears might come out of this alive and finish the mission, because most certainly, he himself wasn't going to make it…

But a miracle occurred.

Remian shouted, "Light!"

Before Tim could exclaim anything, a wall of light twice his height and much wider rose up in between him and the charging bull. There was a terrible, jarring impact; Tim could feel the ground sake under his boots from the crash.

But the Bull was stopped cold. It could not get even an inch past Remian's light.

Silas let out all his breath in relief. "It's so good to have the most powerful mage in the Frontier on our side."

The bull turned and charged at Remian.

"Light!" Another wall formed up, and again, the poor bull slammed head-first into it.

"Fire!" Mandy was there with the Fire Ball wand.

Wait. Was that even going to work? The bull was already on fire…

The Fire Ball exploded on its rump; the noise and impact seemed to have added to its scare, enough to send it running at least. The bull went running toward Tim's left.

"Leave it! Let it go!" Remian pointed. "Focus fire on the spider!"

Right. Also at the town center, Kage and the priests were fighting off an oversized Tier 3 lizard and a gigantic spider.

"Fire!" Mandy shot off another Fire Ball at the spider, engulfing it in a satisfying explosion. It stumbled to one side while Kage stabbed his slightly-curved blade into its back. The priest fellow slammed his shovel into its face. Between the three of them, the spider went down.

"Yes!" Mandy exulted, turning as the oversized lizard leapt for her. She pointed the wand at it. "Fire!"

But this time, only a sputter of sparks emerged.

"Light!" Remian raised a barrier between the lizard and Mandy before it could reach her. Behind it, Kairos and the other priest were whacking at it with a broom and a staff, but they weren't doing much good.

"Charge!" Tim roared, lunging forward, his spear aimed at the lizard. Silas didn't ask questions; he ran alongside Tim, matching speed and pace, their joint momentum arriving at the lizard in perfect sync.

There was a brief resistance, a brief moment when Tim feared the skin of the lizard was too tough, that they might just be bounced back… but then there was the sensation of piercing through that thickness, and then there was blood spraying, and Tim leapt back to avoid getting it all over his face, but Silas wasn't so lucky…

"Eww!" Silas protested, half-covered with lizard goo.

"Incoming!" George was behind them, and Satsu, and Manoharan. The three of them had been hauling the carts, but now they had leapt forward to join the battle, leaving the cart to the other four. Tim and Silas separated, getting clear before those three rammed their own spears into the lizard to finish it off.

The lizard perished.

"Nice!" Remian exclaimed. "Well done!"

Tim smiled. Silas just wiped goo from his face and grimaced.

"We have the ammo!" George told Remian, signaling the four guys still guarding the cart. Three of them were using spears from the cart in this battle. This left twenty-seven newly forged headless but sharp steel stakes ready for the Ballista.

"Go!" Remian didn't bemoan their lateness or anything. He just pointed to the right; southward, where the Towers were waiting. "Get them to the Legion!"

'To the Legion', not 'to the Ballista'. Right. At this point, it might be too late to use the Ballista. But the Legion could definitely use these spears in direct combat.

"We'll cover you!" Remian added, with agreeing nods from the priests and even Kage.

Having them for protection, Tim's confidence soared.

"All-out run!" Tim grabbed onto the cart. "Everyone, rush it!"

The nine boys ran, every one of them with whatever hand-hold they could manage, tugging or pushing the cart at a flat-out run toward the south.

"To the Legion's Guard Tower!" Remian directed, as they exited the town perimeter and dashed past the Legion camp.

The Legion was busy with a handful of Tier 3 Wilds as a third Wave of slow Tier 3's and Tier 4's approached. Goodness, three of that group were Tier 4's!

"To the tower!" Tim guided the cart, then took his hand off. "Vanguard, to the battle front!"

The cart would slow down, of course, with less boys pushing and pulling it. But they were already moving at a dead run, and Tim wasn't sure that ramming a cart full of Tier 3 spears into the back door of the Tower was going to be much help. They were going too fast. Now that they were within earshot, it was best to slow it down a bit.

Tim and Silas turned their spears and their momentum towards the melee between the Legion and the Second Wave in front.

"Rear guard, to the battle front!" Fifty meters from the Tower, George called off the two boys previously guarding the rear. They, like Tim and Silas, backed off the cart and headed for the melee. "Mid-guard, to the flanks! Haulers, it's all you from here!"

Three boys more separated but ran on beside the cart, leaving only the original two haulers pulling and pushing it. The cart slowed down immensely as it arrived at the tower.

Meanwhile, Tim and Silas had joined the melee. Their charge tore into a Jumpy Jackal which had been in a weird sort of tug-of-war with a Legionnaire's spear in between its teeth…

The jackal howled, turning on them, but then the rear guard boys arrived and finished it off.

"We have the spears!" Tim shouted as Kage leapt onto another giant spider and stabbed that one through the back too. The Legion finished off the last of the Second Wave Wilds in the meantime.

They were clear. The Third Wave was almost on them, but they were clear!

"Re-arm!" Markus called. "Fresh spears for everyone!"

Even the priests took up the new spears. Meanwhile, George had rushed a handful of them to the Ballista before anything else. The twin huntresses had dipped some weird blue liquid on them and were firing them off with Wind Blessing support even as the Legion re-armed.

"Light!" Remian brought out another Light Barrier and stopped another Tier 4 cold.

One of the Tier 4's went down under the Ballista's fire, and then the Third Wave hit. Up against the likes of giant beetles with super-thick armor, Trinocerouses, and Violet Hippos, the defense line held for perhaps three seconds before they were breached.

"Light!" Remian actually managed to stop the third Tier 4 at the defense line.

But that was the best that anyone could do. Seven heavy Tier 3 Wilds trampled their way to town.

"Open the back door!" Candice and Denise turned the Ballista around, shooting out the back now, instead of the front.

"Target their legs! Hamstring them!" Markus ordered. These heavy Wilds were tough and heavily armored, but they were slow. They still had time before they arrived in town.

Kage dashed forward. He darted in and out and Wilds fell roaring in pain.

Behind them, Remian was gasping and yelling, holding off both remaining Tier 4's all by himself. "Light! Light! Light!"

The Ballista fired. The Legion tore at the legs of the Tier 3 Wilds. Kage darted everywhere. Markus pounced, lancing spear after spear into the backs of the Wilds breaking past them.

It was a long, grueling battle. Even after the Tier 3 Wilds were stopped, they had to finish them off, and then turn their attention back to the Tier 4's held back by Remian. If it weren't for the Ballista, Tim strongly suspected that they would have lost the battle entirely, because by that time, nobody had any strength left to contend with the likes of those Tier 4's.

But the Ballista did its work, and Remian held them with Light Barriers, and eventually, the last of the Beast Wave floundered and fell.

By that time, Tim and most of the Legion were so tired, they pretty much floundered and fell too.