"Hold the line! Our families are already sheltered in safe caves—stop every last one of them here!"
Adekate strapped a shield to his arm and roared at the soldiers behind him.
After Gilgamesh made the arrangements to expand the army, Adekate handled the matter. As Mesopotamia's first absolute military commander, he had been granted immense authority. The so-called "army," which had originally consisted of around twenty men and was rather "abstract" in both numbers and combat capability, had been expanded by Adekate to eighty men. In addition, there were more than four hundred volunteers.
Nearly every adult man capable of supporting the front had come to fight against the Demonic Beasts. Even so, there were still boys too young to fight who wanted to join in, only to be pressed back by the adults.
It was not yet time for children to take the battlefield.
Atop the city walls, the Divine Authority Seal shone brilliantly. Dozens of golden city-defense cannons, powered by lapis lazuli under the soldiers' control, aimed into the distance.
There were the Demonic Beasts that had come alongside Gugalanna.
Gugalanna had been held back in the distance by King Gilgamesh and the heroes Annanu and Enkidu. Thunderclouds rumbled, but the Demonic Beasts would not stop.
Having lost their minds, they would only madly charge in the direction Gugalanna was advancing, offering everything they had to that great Divine Beast—even if it was now seeking to destroy this land, to destroy the place where they lived.
An enormous Bashmu dove down from the sky toward the battle line, letting out an earth-shaking roar.
Adekate howled and stood at the very front of them all.
He was a general raised by Annanu. The only thing he knew was: "Follow me!"
A massive bone spear thrust toward the Bashmu, but