Milos, who was at the battlements, kept on firing his arquebus. He could feel his heart beating faster than ever.

Who would ever have thought that his first battlefield experience would be something like this?

He had heard stories of the monster waves. He already knew that the main duty of the North, of Stellhart, was to protect Norvaegard from all outside threats. As the son of the Iron Duke, Milos understood that Lucen, who was the leader of Thornefang, would join this kind of battle.

He already knew all that, but he would never have expected that the time to face the monster wave was going to be his first battle.

He had almost died at the hands of a legendary creature like the Frost Titan, and now he was a part of a battle against a goblin army that seemed to have no end.

In the face of all of this, what Milos was feeling was not fear, but excitement. The story he wanted to be a part of was something like this. He now fully believed that the decision he made to join Thornefang was truly the right one.

From the battlements, he saw Robert's crazy fighting style. He was dealing with those more powerful goblins that Milos could have never imagined existed before coming here.

Goblins like giants, and Goblins that wore nice-looking armor, and there were the three goblins at the back who seemed to be the most dangerous.

As he and everyone else continued using whatever means of attack they could on what seemed to be an endless horde of goblins, Milos noticed that two of those Goblin Gladiators had gotten near the walls of the Fortress.

The Giant Goblin Gladiators started attacking the walls. The rune defenses of the walls were already barely holding on due to the Frost Titan attack. So now it was easier to break as cracks started appearing on the wall.

"Everyone! Light up your Iron Spheres and throw them at those monsters!" Harlik shouted. Hearing the command, Milos quickly took out an Iron Sphere and lit it before throwing.

Every person who had an Iron Sphere threw it at the Goblin Gladiators. The Iron Spheres blew up in front of the Goblin Gladiators.

The many Iron Spheres blew up the Goblin Gladiators. Unfortunately, due to the Goblin Gladiators being near the wall, they weren't the only ones that blew up, but that part of the wall blew up as well and crumbled down.

Seeing this scene, Harlik gnashed his teeth; he had made a mistake... No, that was not a mistake; it was the only thing he could do to stop those two Goblin Gladiators from breaking the walls and entering.

Still, he quickly moved and started running to the part of the wall that crumbled. "Thornefang, head to the gap in the wall and do not let a single goblin in!"

Vardon also noticed what Harlik had done, and he understood that with Harlik's abilities, that was the only decision he could make.

"Support Thornefang and hold the line!" Roderick shouted at the soldiers of the First Fortress.

The breach gaped like a wound in the fortress wall. Smoke, dust, and shards of stone rained down, but through it came the sound of snarls and guttural roars.

A few goblins that were able to get past the bombardment were about to arrive in front of the gap in the wall.

"Shields in front! Spears and arquebuses behind! Hold them here, don't let a single one of those monsters enter!"

Harlik ordered as he smashed his shield onto a hobgoblin rider. He then opened the slot in the new shield were he placed the arquebus to shoot.

Milos's fingers fumbled as he pinched the black powder, the grains sticking with sweat to his skin.

His breath came ragged, and the acrid bite of smoke scraped at his throat like sandpaper. Every muscle screamed at him to hurry, yet he forced himself to move with care, to measure each step of the reload.

After he was done reloading, he sprinted after the others, his heart pounding in his throat. This was a battle of life and death; one wrong move and only death would follow.

Yet even though there was no fear in his mind, and only excitement in writing the next page of their epic.

Milos and a few others of Thornfang blocked the gap in the wall using their new shields, opened up the slots in the middle, placed their arquebuses in position, and started firing at the incoming wave. A few of them had the new arquebus: Thunderstorm that could fire four shots in succession.

Smoke poured from the muzzles of their guns, stinging eyes and throats. The roar of the arquebus: Thunderstorm cracked louder than any other, its repeating volleys shredding through the first ranks of goblins. Bodies fell into the rubble, but more clambered over them with claws and rusted blades.

"Reload faster!" Someone shouted.

Milos's hands moved on instinct, his fingers blackened with powder. He snapped the weapon shut, aimed through the shield slot, and fired again. The lead ball punched through a hobgoblin's throat, dropping it where it stood.

Beside him, one of the men using the new arquebus: Thunderstorm let off all four shots in rapid succession, the echoes rolling like thunder.

The spray of goblins collapsed in a heap, but due to exhaustion, the recoil nearly threw the man onto his back. Milos helped steady him, heart hammering, as the loud sounds of gunfire echoed in their ears. The two of them reloaded their weapons and once again aimed and fired.

***

While Thornefang was making quick work of the lesser goblins and hobgoblins, another Goblin Gladiator appeared as it raised its massive club, a shadow blotting out the moonlight. Then came a roar like a forge erupting.

With a deafening crack, the Crimson Lord Mk IVs burst to life. Blades, glowing red with heat, carved arcs of firelight across the battlefield.

The Gladiator barely had time to howl before its torso split open, molten flesh spilling as the smell of scorched meat filled the air.

"We can't have Thornefang take all the glory," Knight Garett's voice boomed as he cleaved another Gladiator from shoulder to hip. "We will cut through the wave!"

The knights of Stellhart roared in response, following their crimson blaze into the horde.

The Stellhart knights surged through the breach, their blades hissing as they cut through goblins like wheat. Each swing sent showers of sparks across the stone and snow.

Vardon watched the knights showing their prowess in battle in front of Thornefang and made a sound of amusement.

"Those new toys the young lord gave to them seem to be useful." Thalos, who was beside Vardon, commented.

"Yes, because of those things, my son invented. Those that were supposed to die were able to live another day..." Vardon's voice was low, almost proud, but his eyes sharpened as he looked past the chaos.

"Did you notice Thalos?"

"Yes, my lord... That Goblin Mage has been gathering mana for a while now."

High above the swarm, the Goblin Mage's staff pulsed with sickly green light, runes crawling across its length like fireflies. The air trembled around it, warping as mana spiraled into a growing sphere.

"I don't know what kind of spell it is about to unleash, but we must kill it before it does."

Vardon wanted to make a move now, but he was still trying to regain enough stamina and aura. In his current state, he was not sure if he would be able to kill the mage who was beside the Goblin King and General.

"I'll do it, Father."

Vardon and Thalos looked behind them and saw Lucen, who was supposed to be resting, standing before the two of them.

"Did you say that you would kill the Goblin Mage?"

Vardon's brows furrowed. He looked at his son's condition, even though Lucen seemed fine on the outside, the way he was breathing, the way he stood, his body wobbling ever so slightly, but then he saw the look on Lucen's face.

It was a manic look similar to Robert when he starts to experiment. There was something his son wanted to test out on the battlefield, and he was eager to try it.

"Are you sure that you can kill the Goblin Mage?" Vardon asked this time in a different way.

"Yes, I can."

Hearing Lucen's confident answer, Vardon sighed inwardly and smiled. "Very well, I will entrust this mission to you, my son. Kill the Goblin Mage before it finishes whatever spell it is trying to cast."

Lucen smiled viciously as he did a knight's salute. "As you command."

Lucen, who had upgraded his gun knowledge to intermediate, used gun creation to create two Colt Model 1900s.

Lucen then loaded them using bullet creation, and then imbued elemental fire into the bullets using his new skill Elemental Bullet.

Lucen then enveloped himself in his first mantle aura and jumped down the battlement. He then pointed his two handguns behind him and started shooting in intervals.

The bullet that came out made a small explosion, propelling Lucen forward. Lucen then repeated the steps and made himself look like he was flying by propelling himself with explosions.

If his body wasn't strong enough and the guns he created were normal, his body and guns would've broken already. It was a good thing that his body was strong, and the guns created using gun creation will not break as long as his mana is strong enough.

"Hahaha, it f*cking worked!" Lucen said excitedly as he propelled himself above the torrent of goblins.

The goblins below snarled and shrieked as they threw spears and fired arrows at Lucen. Unfortunately for them, Lucen, using his battle instincts, was able to avoid each attack by changing his trajectory every now and then.

The second new skill Lucen unlocked was now in effect. It was the passive skill Kill Zone; the more enemies targeting him, the more it increases accuracy and chance for critical hits. Strengthens agility and dexterity depending on how many enemies he is facing.

Right now, at this moment, Lucen caught the attention of many enemies, increasing his accuracy, his agility, and his dexterity to an incredible degree.

When Lucen was close enough, he shot himself further upward. He then let go of the two handguns and used gun creation to create a Gewehr 98 bolt-action rifle.

Since he stopped propelling himself upward, Lucen was now falling to the ground. So he quickly loaded the Gewehr 98 using his Bullet Creation. Then, with his marksmanship skill, he aimed at the Goblin mage at a distance of slightly over a kilometer.

Despite rapidly falling to the ground, all Lucen was feeling was excitement. He then used Elemental Bullet to imbue the bullets with the wind element to speed up the bullets.

Lucen's marksmanship skill then took into account the speed of his fall, the new element imbued into his bullet, the wind resistance, and the distance between him and the target. He let the skill guide him and made his shot.

Due to the height he was at as he was falling, no weapon the Goblins had could reach him. Even the Goblin Gladiators, with their immense strength, were unable to throw their spears accurately enough to hit Lucen.

The bullet Lucen fired flew through the air faster than sound, wrapped in a spiral of cutting wind.

The instant it struck, the Goblin Mage's skull did not simply crack. It burst like an overripe melon under a hammer. The elemental wind expanded on impact, shredding flesh and bone into a fine mist.

One yellow eye popped free, spinning away in the air, while jagged shards of skull whirled outward like shrapnel.

The back of its head detonated in a spray of blood and brain matter, painting the snow behind it in steaming crimson.

The body stood for a heartbeat longer, twitching, staff still raised to the sky. Then the headless form collapsed forward, twitching spasms shaking its limbs before it stilled forever.

"Mission accomplished," Lucen murmured to himself as he quickly created two handguns again and stopped himself from falling, propelling himself back to the fortress.

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