Chapter 157 – Bonehead

Chapter 157 – Bonehead

It was a gloomy day, with constant heavy snowing, making Kalash overly excited for some reason. He had been patrolling the walls since morning, making his wife sigh when she brought him a cup of hot tea to warm him up a little.

"You should come in... even your soldiers do it in rotation!"

"I can feel it..." He whispered, taking the mug and sipping on it, "Today is going to be the day! I am sure of it."

"..."

Louise didn't question his husband's words, looking towards the snow-covered valley. He may not be the best when it comes to acting diplomatically or be someone who would understand the complex economic consequences of edicts coming from the capital city, but when it came to war, he had a knack for it. Whenever he was this agitated, like a guardian dog sniffing out a predator who was stalking his flock, it was a sure sign there would be a fight.

True enough, right before nightfall, the balloon, hovering about a hundred meters above the castle, rang the alarms before the people could notice the approaching enemy. It was another massive beast, slowly heading along the Pass, sometimes releasing a low, reverberating grunt, letting its hot breath linger in the air for a long time.

Climbing into the Lion, Kalash quickly activated its core and was excited to examine his first prey in his new armored 'suit.' Focusing and zooming in, he could see that it was a four-legged creature just as big as the first ones, if not bigger. It was cautiously sauntering, taking one step at a time, looking heavy and also giving the impression he knew about the mines, which was... alarming.

If his son would be present, Kalash was sure he would immediately give it a weird name, and he wasn't wrong about it. The 'thing' coming through was similar to an ankylosaurus, which would most likely be a word nobody else could understand but Leon. The only difference was that this version was way bigger. Much, much more powerful and covered with more bone-plated armor like a massive knight.

"Watch out, okay?" Louise shouted while the booming voice of the Lion echoed within the Pass in answer.

"I'll be fine. For Avalon!" He roared as the machine began taking its strides, heading into battle. It was equipped with its newest weapons, giving Kalash confidence, and his departure was accompanied by the rallying cries of the soldiers staying on the walls.

On his right, he had the giant sword attached, while on his left, the finished, massive tower shield was ready for its first sortie, donning the emblem of Avalon in the Lion's chosen blue and golden colors. The approaching monster quickly noticed him and stopped in place. Standing up on its hind legs, it was watching the other lumbering monster coming towards him, giving out some low growls as if it was trying to communicate with Kalash without receiving an answer.

When its attempts at calling towards Kalash were left unanswered, with a deep roar, it shook its massive head, stomping down, getting ready to fight. The beast's head was covered by a shiny, bone helmet that was originally growing from the top of its skull, covering all of its head down to its neck. His whole body, be it its back or its stomach, had multiple bone-white natural armors growing around its vital organs, while its scales, those which could be seen, were faded and dark brown, betraying the old age of the creature. Smelling the air and the weirdness of its opponent, it began swinging its tail, hitting the ground with the giant wrecking ball attached to it, throwing snow and earth everywhere. For all intents and purposes, it was trying to warn the approaching walker to stop and get back, but Kalash ignored it, deciding that anything coming to endanger his castle must die.

"Stupid bastard." He chuckled, slowing down his steps and finally stopping at mid-range, activating the cannons that were previously folded down, resting on his back. As the mechanisms came to life, they were lifted right up to his shoulder, locking in place while he focused his eyes on his prey. When the formations activated, following his will, the monster felt the power gathering and, with its head kept low, began charging Kalash, stopping to try and scare his enemy. "Too late!"

"You ruined a shield and a sword..." I mumbled back in the castle, watching the stupid, grinning face of my dad while I tried not to twitch my eyelids.

"I offed two bastards! Look at them and all those juicy raw materials!" He said it again, pointing towards the two corpses that were being harvested by my people before the castle's walls, right next to the powered-down Lion. "It was pretty easy to drag them back with this machine; you should be thanking me!"

"I can see that." I grunted, looking towards the Pass and seeing the trail of blood he had left behind slowly being covered by the fresh snow.

I was simply a bit unhappy because we would have to make repairs so soon... but I couldn't fault him. These two were tough, although their scales or bones were not as tough as the ice-breathing 'Godzilla' we faced. This means Dad could have bombarded them with the cannons long enough to break them and keep the shield and sword intact.

"Fuck it." I mumbled, smiling, "It is good data. Both the shield and the sword are going to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch; the dents on the former almost cracked it into two, so there is no way to fix it!"

"The sword doesn't hold up any better." He added, and sure enough, it had multiple chips and cracks running through it. "We need better materials, son! Tougher and stronger alloys."

"Yeah, we do. We will install two cannon hands on the Lion while we take these and replace them. Poor Merlin is going to be annoyed... he just finished this shield, equipping it with our anti-magic formation, and you used it..."

"As a shield!" He laughed, making me chuckle because he was a hundred percent right.

"Anyway, for now, don't rush out to meet the enemy and use the cannons, okay? How's the energy of the Lion?"

"Fine. I didn't feel tired at all." He nodded, crossing his arms, looking at the mech with pride, "I like this. Very much so, my son. This was the best gift you could have given me throughout your life!"

"Really now? Better than your grandkids?" I asked, teasing him, making Dad look around, scanning the walls before leaning in and whispering.

"Don't tell your mother!"

"Pfft... idiot..." I grunted, rolling my eyes and making both of us laugh.