The Demon Barbarians attacking the western side of the city were all large-bodied creatures, such as those of the Bear Clan and Elephant Clan. They possessed tremendous killing power but were somewhat ponderous. The humans used their mechanisms to withstand them head-on, then sought opportunities to kill them.
However, everyone soon discovered the problem: killing Demon Barbarians this way was far too inefficient. Before long, once too many Demon Barbarians had gathered atop the walls, disaster would follow.
Huang Zhi, a Metropolitan Graduate crossbowman, frowned. He operated an heirloom Hanlin Mechanism Ballista, painstakingly refined over three generations. Even though he was only a Metropolitan Graduate, he could control it easily; it simply lacked the greater power it would have under a Hanlin Academician's control.
At the front of the mechanism ballista was a U-shaped shield, with the bolts fired through its central opening. Unlike ordinary ballistae, this one could fire two bolts simultaneously without any reduction in power, so Huang Zhi killed far more Demon Barbarians than ordinary Metropolitan Graduates did.
He could easily kill Demon Generals, but as the number of Demon Marshals increased, he could no longer incapacitate those enormous creatures unless he struck a vital spot. This had become a constant source of worry.
Even the finest crossbowman could not hit a vital spot every time.
Fortunately, red light descended from the sky.
Huang Zhi discovered that his bolts flew faster. This meant that even if Demon Marshals and severely wounded Demon Marquises spotted the incoming bolts, they had no time to dodge.
The efficiency with which Huang Zhi killed Demon Barbarians rose dramatically.
Similar scenes unfolded across all four walls.
Every scholar-craftsman engaged in battle discovered that a thin layer of red light had appeared over the surface of his mechanisms, with some of it seeping