Chapter 75: The Melee Commander

“Prepare for battle,” Wu Qingsong finally issued his first command. In contrast, the defenders on the neighboring section of the wall had entered a state of tension too early and were already beginning to show signs of fatigue.

Wu Qingsong had to call Harold over, “Lead a team as the reserve force. If the section next to us can’t hold, rush in to help immediately.”

Some might think that it was enough to just take care of their own assigned area and that others’ issues were not their concern.

But Wu Qingsong couldn’t indulge in such self-deception. If his section held but the adjacent one was breached, the outcome would be no different than if his own section had fallen. No one would survive.

He couldn’t manage the entire city, but he couldn’t ignore the risks right beside him either.

“Don’t use the incendiary bottles until it’s absolutely necessary,” Harold reminded him at that moment.

Unless intervened by elves, the spread of technology in this world was actually quite slow. The powerful incendiary bottles, improved by Wu Qingsong, had so far only been used by the Silver Moon Wolf Clan’s rebels, serving as their secret weapon. They had played a significant role in the previous elimination of a raiding group.

On the chaotic battlefield, it might be hard for anyone to notice the uniqueness of their weapon, but if someone remembered its power and connected it to the incidents in Rem City, their relationship with the Silver Moon Wolf Clan would become crystal clear.

“I understand,” Wu Qingsong nodded.

Fortunately, the Thirteenth Mercenary Group was the last reserve and military force. If they were forced into battle, the situation would already be dire. In such a scenario, there would be no need to worry about the secret getting out.

The antpeople rapidly approached Esola City. Silent except for the occasional clicking of their joints, this silence made them all the more terrifying.

Standing atop an arrow tower, Wu Qingsong watched the mass of dark figures closing in at the speed of galloping horses, his nerves finally beginning to fray.

There were definitely more than just a few thousand.

Tension and fear might have exaggerated people’s perception of the antpeople’s numbers, but regardless, Wu Qingsong couldn’t believe there were only a few thousand.

No matter how composed he had tried to appear, this was his first time commanding a military operation of this scale. Prior to this, if you didn’t count strategy games, his only leadership experience was being a group leader in elementary school, organizing a line-up of less than twenty children.

“This is no different from a game,” he desperately convinced himself while intently observing the situation below the city walls.

The antpeople were undoubtedly the main force. They varied in size, the most common was the type he had purchased for his subordinates to practice on. However, mixed within their ranks were many smaller ones, about the size of dogs but visibly more agile, as well as giant ant soldiers with mammoth-like heads and jaws.

If the regular antpeople were warriors, then these giant ones were like tanks in their midst.

Behind the antpeople’s formation, there were many other types of insectoids, such as a huge creature resembling a scorpion with multiple pincers, spider people with eight massive claws, and strange insectoids with oversized heads that looked like triceratops. However, they stayed in the distance and showed no signs of charging forward.

The antpeople’s formation had now reached the range of bows and arrows, but they seemed to lack any long-range attack capabilities. The beastfolk knew that bows and crossbows were ineffective against these creatures. Aside from a few catapults striving to hurl massive stones into the ant swarm, everyone waited in silence for their approach.

Just as the swarm got within twenty meters of the city walls, a large group of smaller creatures suddenly burst forth from beneath them, rapidly scaling the walls in an instant.

“Mites,” someone screamed.

“Attack!” Wu Qingsong bellowed from atop the arrow tower.

The first mite quickly appeared on the battlements. The city wall posed no obstacle to these multi-legged monsters. Hissing like snakes, they lunged at the defenders as soon as they emerged. The city defenders desperately swung their war hammers, smashing them into pulp.

But the number of mites was overwhelming. Just as the defenders began to relax slightly at their apparent fragility, more mites clambered up the wall.

They had oval-shaped bodies covered in repulsive hair, pincer-like limbs as sharp as daggers, and terrifying jaws.

Many mites were smashed mid-air by war hammers, but numerous others successfully latched onto the beastfolk. They wildly swung their pincers and bit furiously at their prey.

Warriors wielding shields and short hammers were somewhat better off against these foes. They instinctively blocked the mites’ lunges with their shields, then smashed them with their hammers. The militia with long hammers struggled to fend off such attacks, forced to drop their weapons and tear the mites off with their claws. Some mites had already clamped their jaws deep into their flesh, eliciting agonized screams.

“Boiling water,” Wu Qingsong immediately shouted. “Pour the boiling water!”

Gloved horsemen scrambled toward the large pots that had been boiling for a while. Several of them lifted one together, tilting it over the edge of the wall. Below, a chorus of shrill screams erupted.

In the chaos, a person was pounced on by a mite and instinctively let go of the pot, causing the boiling water to spill onto them. They screamed in agony. Others quickly rushed over, grabbing the handle he had released and joining others to pour the remaining boiling water down the wall.

Many pots were thrown down in extreme panic. But there was no time to worry about that, as the antpeople had begun to scale the walls.

“Short hammer wielders take on the mites. The others, lift the logs!” Wu Qingsong, with a clear view from the arrow tower, yelled out orders.

The weight of their bodies prevented the antpeople from climbing the nearly eight-meter-high walls as rapidly as the mites, but their scythe-like claws could firmly hook into the wall’s crevices, allowing them to steadily ascend.

“Throw it close to the edge. Hurry!” Feeling useless on the arrow tower, Wu Qingsong rushed down with his guards, darting back and forth along the section of the wall he was responsible for.

The mites that had led the assault were almost entirely exterminated, leaving their bodily fluids and corpses everywhere on the ground, trampled and turned to mush by the defenders.

In a frenzy, the people hoisted logs and hurled them over the edge of the wall near them.

Wu Qingsong quickly realized the rolling logs they had prepared wouldn’t last long if the onslaught continued for long. Adapting his strategy, he ordered the use of stones for defense and reserved the logs for critical moments when the wall was close to being breached, smashing down the antpeople who were close to scaling the top.

“Fight on!” 

He wanted to say something inspirational like the heroes in movies, but in such chaos, only these two words came to his mind.

The intensity and scope of the battle far exceeded anything he had seen in any movie. The antpeople’s wall-climbing speed, though slower than scaling ladders, was fast enough to make defense a daunting task. Moreover, they could ascend from any part of the wall, making them unpredictable and hard to fend off.

Wu Qingsong could no longer maintain his composure as before. In fact, when surrounded by the sounds of fear, anger, chaos, the hissing of dying insectoids, the moans of the injured, and the clueless cursing and accusations of squad leaders, it was impossible to observe the battlefield with the detachment of playing a game.

Unwittingly, Wu Qingsong had turned into a warrior himself, shouting and swinging his war hammer like the others, breaking the scythe-like claws clinging to the walls, crushing the heads peeking over the edge, while loudly venting his emotions to those around him.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him from behind, and he almost swung his long war hammer at them in reflex.

“Your place isn’t here!” Harold, gripping his shoulder, yelled into his ear. “You’re the commander, not a reckless fighter. Get back to your position!”