Seeing the horde of mutated beasts rushing towards them, Marie’s eyes flashed with determination.
"Nicolas, have people man the mortars. We’re thinning them out."
The man nodded without hesitation and gave the order.
The mortars were positioned on the east wall, then under Marie’s order, they were fired.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Four sixty-millimeter mortars fired into the night sky, the shells disappearing into the darkness.
The results were immediate.
BOOOOM!!!
The ground was torn apart as several beasts were blown apart by the violent explosion. For a moment, the rushing beasts froze.
The humans too were surprised. Some of them had been common folk before the apocalypse. They’d never seen things like this in action.
The mortar crews were the most shocked. Notifications kept pouring in, and their levels rose rapidly. Still, it wasn’t as impressive as what they would get if they had gone down to kill those beasts with their own hands.
Regardless, they were satisfied with this progress.
"Keep firing," Marie’s voice cut in sharply, snapping them out of their thoughts.
They immediately reloaded the mortars and angled them towards the sea of beasts.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
The beasts, finally coming back to their senses, immediately flew into a rage and rushed at the human settlement. They had merely been fleeing from the explosion in the forest, yet they were being attacked?
Their gazes turned bloodshot as they charged at the human settlement. Unfortunately, they were still some distance away. And Marie planned to exploit that advantage for as long as possible.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The mortar crews continued firing, sending shells arcing over the walls and into the approaching horde.
KABOOOOOM!!!
The earth shook as the shell detonated in the middle of the horde, clearing out several monsters with each explosion.
Still, the beasts didn’t back down. They roared and continued charging at the humans.
Marie’s expression was grim as she watched them charge fearlessly. She glanced at Nicolas and asked, "Ammunition for the mortars?"
The man shook his head with a bitter smile. "We’ve used about 40 mortar shells. That’s half of our stockpile."
Marie wasn’t surprised. "Let them pull back, and have the machine guns take their place."
Nicolas immediately went to carry out her orders, and the assault switched. The mortars stopped firing, replaced by machine guns.
The eastern wall erupted with gunfire.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!
Streams of bullets tore into the horde, causing the front ranks of the beasts to collapse under the storm of bullets.
Many beasts at the forefront were turned into Swiss cheese in no time, their bodies dropping to the ground in high numbers.
This time, the beasts were stalled slightly, as very few of them could tank the bullets. Unfortunately, ’very few’ wasn’t exactly few for the humans.
Seeing the mutated rhinos, mutated elephants, mutated bulls, and other sturdy creatures, Marie’s brows creased. Those beasts tanked the bullets like they were nothing. Only a few of them were starting to accumulate injuries.
The ones that remained unscathed were Tier One beasts. Marie could see the crystals on their foreheads.
Without turning, she spoke to Nicolas, "Those two. Take them down with the rocket launchers."
The man hesitated, but nodded. He could feel the threat of the two mutated rhinos that moved unhindered within the horde.
He quickly got his men ready, and they got the launchers ready.
"Fire!"
THUMP! THUMP!
Two rockets shot through the air, flying straight toward the two beasts. Although they could sense the danger emanating from the incoming projectiles, they couldn’t dodge. The horde was packed tightly. Besides, they were slow too.
Snorting, the Tier One Evolved Rhino couple decided to tank the attack.
"Idiots."
BOOM! BOOM!
The two beasts were killed on the spot, half of their bodies crushed. The surrounding beasts didn’t survive, dying along with them. Still, the beasts didn’t pause or stop. They kept charging forward.
Marie sighed, then said to Nicolas. "Once the ammunition drops down to half, have them stop. Have them target the middle of the horde. They won’t miss that way."
The man nodded, agreeing with her.
"For now, every evolver is coming with me to hold the front line."
She was already donned in her armor, and her equipment was ready. Holding the Blood Spear in one hand and the Stalwart Shield in the other, she jumped down.
The drop was a death sentence for any normal human. But to evolvers, it was nothing more than a small jump.
They landed on the ground one after the other, their faces grim. Most of them had families and friends behind these walls. If the walls were breached, there would be no chance of survival.
Marie was deeply pleased by their determination, as the last thing she needed was convincing people to fight. Still, she decided to speak.
"Evolvers?! Protect our home!"
Her roar was startling, but it seemed to have a strange effect on them.
"Fight!!!"
With frenzied roars almost matching that of the beasts, they didn’t just wait for the beasts to reach them. They stepped forward and attacked.
Several ranged abilities were launched, and the beasts fell in large numbers. Unfortunately, it was only for a short time. Soon, the first melee clash happened, followed by others.
Marie tanked the heavy hit of a Tier One bull and took three steps back. She gritted her teeth, then stabbed forward with her weapon.
The red spear was enveloped in a pale golden glow as it stabbed into the bull’s shoulder.
The beast roared and immediately tried to knock back the weapon, but Marie was fast and pulled back. Annoyed, the beast glared at her and charged forward.
Marie raised her shield and tanked the attack again.
Bang!
She was forced two steps back, her shield arm trembling. She had just recovered from having her bones broken, and on a normal day, she wouldn’t want to get into any serious fight.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have the right to choose tonight.
After tanking the bull’s attack, she stabbed into the other shoulder, digging a deep wound that bled seriously.
Moo!
The bull glared at her angrily as it prepared for a third charge. Marie also braced for the impact, her attention completely focused on it. On both sides of her, humans and beasts clashed, tearing into each other. But she didn’t even glance their way.
Her full attention was on the Tier One bull. She needed to kill it fast, then go confront the other Tier One beasts that were inching closer to the human formation.
Without giving her time to think, the Tier One bull charged again.
Bang!
Marie’s shield held, and she took a single step back. Her spear flashed forward and stabbed towards the neck of the surprised beast. Was this woman growing stronger?
Unknown to it, a golden cross had already appeared on its skin, steadily weakening the beast.