The second day since Frost's arrival came and went and it was now dawn of the third day.
The B-rank monsters stayed quiet for most of waves after yesterday morning, but a couple newly uninjured ones appeared during nightfall but without the rest of them their presence was easily managed.
Douglas was back in fighting condition, perhaps around 85%, enough to safely head into battle. Hamon was still in recovery, but the majority of the Majors and other elite fighters were in good condition and ready to face off against the dreaded dawn wave.
Once again the mages were pretty spent from last night's defence but not as bad as the previous dawn wave. This time they'd have a decent amount magic support. There was even arrows for the ranger corps as well as repaired trebuchets and ballistae. This wave was expected to be a difficult one, so all the stops were pulled out to preserve as much of their forces as possible.
Douglas stood up straight on the northern wall in his bespoke platinum armour with Maggie, Halgrave and Frost by his side creating a very imposing image. How this wave goes down will likely determine whether or not they'd survive the full four days until the reinforcements arrive.
Thankfully a few groups of C-rank adventurers arrived in the early hours through the south gate adding to their forces slightly. Unfortunately they didn't bring resources like Frost, but warm able bodies were just as good.
The war horn was blazing throughout the area heralding the hordes' forces but even without that everyone could feel the earth shake.
And as if on cue the moment Furano's forces finished arranging themselves the monsters madly charged out from behind the treeline in great numbers. It was a hodgepodge of species completely different from the large brutes that were sent the previous day.
"Everyone ready arms!" Douglas drew his sword causing the sun to reflect off the edge as he raised it above his head in a grandiose manner.
"Ready arms!" Many captains and squad leaders mirrored his orders causing everyone to draw their weapons and enter their stances. The plan for this wave was turtle tactics and will be the same for each and every wave following this. They were going to play full on defensive until their reinforcements arrived. Only the upper ranked fighters would head beyond the frontline and only when necessary.
There was no more vanguard troops deployed beyond the frontline, too risky.
"You guys will likely have a hard fight on your hands are you prepared." Douglas asked the three people who were by his side.
"We are Lord Viscount"
"I'm always ready for a good fight."
"No problem, Douglas." Halgrave responded respectfully while Maggie laughed and smashed her fists together, creating a booming sound whereas Frost answered informally but all of them sported determined expressions.
"Good, let's survive this and deal with the next one." Douglas gently smiled before releasing his aura in a similar way to Hamon. Since he was weaker his aura wasn't quite as heavy as Hamon's, but it was no less rousing among their own troops perhaps even more so.
Hamon was a colonel, a commander of warfare, but Douglas was a true blooded noble someone that bore the lives of thousands of people on his shoulders a weight that was passed down through his family and it influenced his aura.
Following his outburst Halgrave and Maggie did the same, releasing their blood-filled auras for a powerful demonstration. The three of them together slightly surpassed Hamon thus causing many monsters to flinch in fear.
A couple seconds later an array of magic spells flew through the air in attempt to slaughter the lines of monster charging the field.
"Haaaaaaa block it." The deep voice could heard sighing once again before giving out an order.
In response dozens of blue magic circles appeared above the monsters' side summoning thick shields of ice while the speaker themselves chanted an aria for a strong 4th circle magic spell to fight against Ryuu and Jessie.
A colourful battle erupted in the air as spell clashed against spell. Some spells those predominantly of the fire element as well as Frost's smashed their way through the ice wall but lost a lot of their destructive power in doing so and barely did any damage when making contact with the enemy.
The magic attack also failed.
"Fuck!" Douglas loudly cursed and ground his teeth together. If this happened in the earlier stages it would have been fine since they could afford to waste some ammunition but not at this stage, every spell and arrow was a precious commodity.
This new B-rank was not only strong in terms of aura but knew strategy intimately, a very dangerous opponent. It knew to keep those contraptions hidden until when they were needed and even now they could only roughly guess their position within the forest. Arrow volleys were now too risky severely limiting one of their powerful attacks.
The monster horde also seemed to be reinforced with a contingent of magic users likely the lesser kin of the new commander making their magic attacks fall short as well. Once again it seemed that the dawn wave would rely primarily on the frontline forces.
Seeing that close combat would be the focus Frost was sent down to give aid while Maggie and Halgrave remained atop the wall to conserve their strength for when the B-ranks make a move.
"Chuff!" Kiba who had pretty much healed chuffed in demand wanting to join Frost on the frontline, but Douglas immediately vetoed that option.
"No Kiba you're needed here as emergency backup. None of us are as quick nor as manoeuvrable as you are so you'll have to stay by my side so I can order you where to go at a moment's notice." Douglas understood Kiba's feelings, but emotions couldn't play a part in his decisions he needed to make the most efficient and logical choices if they were to survive this war.
Kiba's ability to fly and fierce charging power made him great as immediate reinforcement and as a retriever of the wounded which given the line up they faced was likely to be generously open for business.
The big tiger grumbled in annoyance before flying back to his little prepared area nearby ready and waiting to be put in motion.
Minutes passed by and the monsters continued to charge forth in dense lines, swarming the frontline troops with numbers and the occasionally high C-ranks gradually eating away at the town's defences.
Arrows would still occasionally fall but whenever the volley was too dense the hidden contraptions on the monster's side would reactively fire wasting the entire volley.
Magic attacks didn't get much better with both sides reaching a stalemate however with Ryuu and Jessie pushing 4th circles spells the unknown commander was forced to repeatedly intervene thus they managed to make some guesses in regards to its species and unfortunately it wasn't good news.
The battle was a veritable slugfest that gradually saw Furano become weaker and weaker. The new commander didn't use overly aggressive tactics, nor did they reveal themselves instead they slowly ordered their pretty much unlimited forces eat away at the frontline piece by piece.
A commander with frightening patience.