That was right—a tank.
When a Horned Demon nearly seven and a half feet tall, weighing five or six hundred pounds, and made entirely of muscle appeared in the corridor,
it practically filled the entire space, blocking it completely!
"Roar!" it bellowed.
The sound was amplified by the corridor.
The Swadian Footmen standing close by in a dense formation like a steel hedgehog felt a fishy wind rush at them. They instinctively bent slightly at the waist, their hearts tightening!
What a huge creature!
It was truly intimidating!
"Engage!"
Yet there was not a trace of fear on the Swadian Footmen's faces. With their hearts pounding in their chests, the courage born from standing within the bounds of the Swadian Stronghold made their spirits soar!
So when the Horned Demon burst from the darkness, appeared before the Swadian Footmen, and let out its roar,
the Swadian Footmen raised their Fan Shields and pikes as though of one mind, roaring back:
"For!"
"Swadia!"
Their voices might not have matched the Horned Demon's roar.
But the synchronized battle cry of twenty-five adults still created a powerful wave of sound within the corridor!
It was a response.
More than that, it was the fierce fighting spirit in the Swadian Footmen's hearts as they faced the Horned Demon!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Meanwhile, on the second floor of the Stronghold Main House, the Mercenary Sentinels at the Firing Ports had already reloaded their Light Crossbows, and their fighting spirit was equally high.
Once the iron bolts were seated in the grooves, they raised their Light Crossbows and unleashed another volley!
The bolts flew.
One thick, short bolt after another flashed over the Swadian Footmen's heads. When they reappeared, they had sunk into the Horned Demon's face, neck, chest, and abdomen.
In an instant, the Horned Demon became a ridiculous hedgehog covered in bolt fletching!
"Roar!"
The pain across its body immediately enraged the Horned Demon. With a furious howl, its massive body, already filling the corridor, crushed forward like a tank!
Straight at the Pike Square formed by the Swadian Footmen!
"Kill!"
And that was exactly what the Swadian Footmen wanted to see.
They shouted in unison.
Their hands clenched tightly around their pikes.
Packed closely together, they watched the Horned Demon draw nearer. Relying on their long training and the tacit understanding shared by Swadians, they thrust their pikes forward as one, forcibly stopping the Horned Demon before them!
Holding it outside their pikes!
"Roar!"
The Horned Demon grew even angrier, because twenty-five pikes had now pierced its body.
Wounds covered it.
Bloodied holes covered it.
Even a creature like the Horned Demon, with tough, rough skin like leather and solid muscles, would still be injured by sharp weapons!
But faced with this Pike Square that truly resembled nothing more than a hedgehog, even with a body as sturdy as a tank, it was helpless!
Not to mention the Mercenary Sentinels, who were rapidly reloading and firing their Light Crossbows.
And at the top of the third floor,
the ballista that the Lake Rats Recruits had carried from the second-floor bedroom to the rooftop, set up, and nearly finished reloading finally gave a click.
The two thick giant bowstrings had finally been drawn back, and a one-meter spear bolt was placed into the firing groove.
Two Lake Rats Recruits worked the winch.
One Lake Rats Recruit loaded the spear bolt.
The three of them operated the ballista with practiced efficiency, their movements flowing smoothly without a single wasted action.
At last, after the Horned Demon appeared in the corridor,
it was reloaded once more!
Then, as the Lake Rats Recruit operating the ballista raised a Wooden Hammer and smashed it heavily against the bowstring catch,
Buzzz! The bowstring and bow arm shook violently.
Whoosh!
The one-meter spear bolt in the firing groove vanished instantly.
Thud!
When it appeared again, it had already embedded itself at the junction between the Horned Demon's lower abdomen and chest.
The immense force brought the Horned Demon, still waving its arms and baring its claws with savage ferocity, to an abrupt halt. Its thick body staggered half a step backward.
Several Imps behind it had no time to dodge and were directly crushed beneath its falling body!
With the crack of breaking bones, the fate of those Imps was obvious.
The Imps behind them, already blocked off, all screeched and fled back into the darkness.
Only seven or eight Hellhounds, like small Tibetan Mastiffs with dark-red hairless bodies, continued barking wildly from behind.
But that only made the corridor even more chaotic.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Yet what greeted the barking Hellhounds were the Mercenary Sentinels, who had reloaded once more, raised their Light Crossbows without even looking or aiming, simply pointed in a rough direction, and pulled the triggers!
Another volley swept through.
The barking Hellhounds immediately fell silent, their barks turning into cries of agony.
These Hellhounds knew pain too.
Even the Horned Demon sprawled on the ground, struggling to rise again but slowing down because a spear bolt had pierced straight through its abdomen, howled in pain.
The sight made the Swadian Footmen, still standing in formation as immovable as reefs, even more excited.
Their eyes gleamed with eagerness!
When fear faded.
When courage increasingly occupied the high ground of the heart.
Then,
even when facing the Horned Demon that had charged at them so menacingly, as if it meant to crush them all,
they felt ready to fight a Blood War to the very end!
"Roar!"
Yet the Horned Demon rose again. Dark-red blood carrying the stench of sulfur still trickled from the wound in its abdomen where the spear bolt had pierced through.
It had indeed suffered grievous injuries.
Its wide-open mouth, full of fangs, and the violence and furious madness in its small eyes could not be concealed at all.
With another furious roar, it charged straight into the Pike Square formed by the Swadian Footmen!
Pain made it angry.
Being heavily wounded made it even angrier.
And being wounded to the point of unbearable pain by humans whom the Imps it led had slaughtered in great numbers...
drove it utterly mad with rage!
Buzzz... thud!
But just as it stood again and howled as it charged into the Pike Square, another dull impact rang out.
A fresh one-meter spear bolt suddenly appeared in the Horned Demon's right shoulder, piercing through its shoulder blade and punching out through its back with a blood-covered sharp tip!
That spear bolt directly crippled its right arm.
And the pikes thrusting toward it from the front tore one wound after another across its body.
With the ballista's support,
the Swadian Footmen did not retreat even half a step. They held their pikes high, forcibly enduring the Horned Demon's charge and refusing to let it advance any farther into their range!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Even the Mercenary Sentinels fired volleys with their Light Crossbows at nearly their fastest speed!
In barely ten seconds, the Horned Demon's body was drenched in blood and covered in wounds. It looked utterly miserable!
Even counting the total time since the Horned Demon had appeared,
it had been only four or five minutes.
Yet it had already...
fallen into such a state!
"A little ridiculous." Even Shen Mu, standing beside the wall of the Stronghold Main House with one hand resting on the hilt of his Germanic Sword and his thumb rubbing the silver ring on his index finger, looked far more relaxed now.
So when he looked past the crowd of Swadian Footmen at the Horned Demon still stubbornly holding itself upright,
his eyes held mockery!
If it was a living creature, it had to respect the killing power of weapons.
Even a demon from the Fantasy Side
had to show proper respect when facing a ballista!
Standing below the Stronghold Main House, Shen Mu could clearly hear the winch above rapidly pulling the crossbow arm and bowstring back, followed by a light crack.
Shen Mu knew that meant the ballista had been reloaded once more and could fire the sharp spear bolt in its firing groove!
But this time, the Lake Rats Recruits adjusted the ballista's firing angle slightly.
Thud!
The one-meter spear bolt appeared right at the Horned Demon's chest, plunging deeply in and piercing out through its back.
The Horned Demon, still waving its left arm in a frenzy, froze.
"Three Arrows to Pacify Tianshan?" Shen Mu, watching from behind, suddenly thought of the phrase for no apparent reason.
Thump! Then the Horned Demon crashed heavily backward to the ground before the Spear Phalanx of Swadian Footmen, slamming into the hard corridor floor with a huge, muffled impact.
It twitched twice, then fell completely still.
"Kill!"
At that moment, the Swadian Footmen still gathered in their Pike Square shouted excitedly.
Because they knew.
Victory had suddenly arrived before their eyes!
Before you continue