Chương 95: Beast Wave

In the morning Damion woke up to a wailing sound. The noise was not Bethany crying, but the city-wide alert for a beast wave. When the reason for the alarm fully registered in Damion's mind, he leapt out of his bed and was getting his armor on at breakneck speeds.

"All residents should seek shelter immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill. A beast wave has been spotted moving toward Saung. All residents should seek shelter immediately. Remain in your shelter until the 'all clear' is sounded." The city-wide announcement confirmed Damion's fears. As he gathered the rest of his gear Damion's thoughts turned to his parents and his little sister.

After Damion left his room, he found his father hastily gathering a few items in a carry bag while his mother clutched Bethany to her chest. When his parents saw him and saw that he was wearing his full armor with sword on his hip, their worries for the day grew.

"You need to get to the neighborhood shelter," Damion told his parents when he saw his father was collecting memories and trinkets.

"Our basement can protect us from C Rank threats," Caleb said.

"Go. We'll be fine here." Damion considered his father's statement, but something felt off. Even before the warning alarm sounded, Damion had felt something. At first, when he woke up, he thought it was just the remnant of a dream. But now Damion felt it was something else. Strong magic was in the air, stronger than he had ever felt before.

"Go to the shelter. This beast wave is strong."

"What do you mean? You haven't even gone outside. How do you know?" Sharon asked.

"I can feel it. The magic in the air. This beast wave is far stronger than anything I have ever felt. I've felt C Rank Demonic Beasts before, even A Rank mages, this is magnitudes stronger than anything I have ever felt before."

"The walls of Saung have never been breached by a beast wave," Caleb said looking at his son.

"Flying beasts don't have to breach the walls to be a danger," Damion argued.

"Please just go to the shelter. I have to join the defense forces. I can't be worried about you and mom and Bethany while I'm out there fighting."

"Alright," Sharon spoke up.

"We'll go to the shelter. Go do what you need to do. We'll be fine. And be careful." Satisfied with his mother's answer, Damion pinched Bethany's cheek and headed out the door. A glance at his communication tablet told Damion he was to report to the east gate of the city for further assignment. At the gate, Damion saw Justiciar Mathis Moretti barking out orders to every adventurer that showed up, mage and knight alike. When Damion approached the Justiciar turned his attention to Damion.

"Get up on the wall over the gate." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What level of beasts are we looking at?" Damion asked.

"The warning came from an adventurer team out in the field. Thousands of Demonic Beasts heading this way. They did not provide a strength assessment. Probably couldn't. Were too busy running."

"How long until the beast wave arrives?"

"Ten, maybe fifteen minutes." Damion gave a nod to Justiciar Mathis and headed to his position above the gate. Looking out across the farms and empty fields, Damion did not see any signs of the beast wave yet. The automated farms were still running, harvesting as much of their crops that were ready as possible before the beast wave arrived. After a few minutes, Damion saw in the distance a cloud of dust.

The beast wave was approaching, and Damion was sure this was not like any beast wave Saung had ever endured before. If even from this distance Damion could feel the magic of the beast wave Damion was not sure what to think.

"Attention all residents. A beast wave will arrive at the city within five minutes. This is not a drill. All residents should seek shelter immediately. Remain in your shelter until the 'all clear' is sounded. All knights and mages are required to report to designated defensive position regardless of status." The message went on to repeat three times. By the time the announcement stopped, Damion could see the first groups of beasts in the beast wave.

Wind Wolves, Stone Bears, Rock Crabs and Forest Froth Spiders were all rushing towards the city. Damion could not tell how strong these individual beasts were, but these Demonic Beasts normally did not exceed C Rank. However, Damion knew the first beasts in a beast wave were always the weakest. These beasts were ones driven out of their homes in the Benault Forest. Driven forward by the fear of the stronger Demonic Beasts coming out of whatever Breach spewed them out. Ms.

Teft had instructed Damion on a number of secrets about Breaches and beast waves. The chief of which was that there were two main causes of beast waves. Breaches were the first and the other a powerful Demonic Beast moving into an area claiming it as its new territory, forcing all the other beasts to flee in mindless fury. Damion doubted a powerful Demonic Beast had been allowed to move across a Yellow Zone or a Green Zone. This left a Breach opening.

The most common Breaches were Unstable Breaches, but they typically only spewed out weak Demonic Beasts. However, judging by how many Demonic Beasts were on the way to Saung, Damion guessed that either this was not a typical Breach, or a very powerful Breach opened. With the Demonic Beasts now in sight, the city's defenses were activated. From hidden compartments along the top of the wall large turrets were raised.

Each turret spouted three cannon barrels, reminding Damion of turrets from the great battleships of bygone wars on Earth. Ms. Teft had told Damion about the magic cannons hidden in the walls, but he had never seen them before. Just raising the turrets cost a great deal of mana and firing them cost even more. Damion was not exactly sure how they worked. A series of enchantments that focused and channeled mana from magic batteries.

Beyond that the only thing Damion understood about the magic cannons was a blast from one of them could take down an A Rank Demonic Beast. The fact that the city was raising the magic cannons told Damion the situation was serious. If there were not A Rank Demonic Beasts the use of the magic cannons was excessive. In fact, if there were not dozens of A Rank Demonic Beasts then using the cannons would be considered a waste of resources. As the Demonic Beasts moved closer, the cannons on the walls fired.

Damion half expected to go deaf, but these were magic cannons, not cannons from Earth that used explosives to launch projectiles. The magic blasts shot out from the cannons were balls of different colors. When these magic balls splashed into the ranks of the Demonic Beasts Damion realized the different colors represented different types of magic. The red magic balls burst into flames that incinerated all the beasts in the area. The pale blue magic balls caused everything around them to be frozen in ice.

The third magic balls were a mix of blue and silver and when they exploded they shot lightning bolts bouncing between the Demonic Beasts causing them to drop to the ground.