Ling Yue watched Tanya throw a round thing off the top. She covered her mouth and screamed with grief, “Aaaahhh!!”
I watched the panther’s head get thrown off coldly. I then roared, “We don’t need prisoners, understood?! We don’t need prisoners!”
Tanya lingered for a moment, and then drew her short sword.
“No… Don’t… Don’t… I… I…”
Ling Yue knelt powerlessly next to me. Her tears covered her face, but I ignored her. Marvel was the one she loved. She still had feelings for him despite him betraying her. Her Marvel was now a corpse. The two were bound to never meet again.
It was war. I had no need to show Ling Yue sympathy. Ling Yue was on my side; she should’ve supported me. I was very unhappy with the fact that she still had feelings for Marvel. I randomly felt good now that he was dead. Marvel was the only who courageously resisted us. With him dead, we’d be able to press forward with an indomitable will. There was nobody else who would dare to stop us.
The painful roars of the panthers on the walls could be heard along with sequences of gunshots. The soldiers who had captured the city walls cheered as they threw the corpses off the walls. They cheered loudly every time a corpse was thrown off. We really needed a victory. We needed a victory after being attacked by them to tell our soldiers that we couldn’t be defeated.
“My Marvel… Marvel…”
I finally paid attention to Ling Yue who was kneeling on the ground as if she was possessed. She hung her head down as she staggered over to Marvel’s head. He still had eyes still open. I sighed, and the White Deer King began to walk. I grabbed Ling Yue’s hair from behind. I had no pity for Ling Yue, who was heartbroken for my enemies. I dragged her over to one side.
“Think about your position, Ling Yue. I’ve already treated you well enough. I’ve let you have your ways enough times. Are you still unaware of what it is you want? Didn’t you say the four tribes killed your family? Didn’t you say Marvel betrayed your love in the end? What do you want now?”
Ling Yue wailed as I dragged her back by her hair. She desperately kicked and cried as she looked at the head that couldn’t move ever again. She shouted, “Give it to me! Give it to me! That’s Marvel… That’s Marvel… Let me see him one last time… Let me see! Let me hold him!”
“That’s impossible. He’s my prey that I successfully hunted, and my spoil of war. Ling Yue, sort yourself out. If you still want to oppose me, I’ll kill you right now.”
I threw her over to the guards at the rear. One of soldiers carried Marvel’s head back cheerfully. His demeanour was similar to a young man carrying a fresh watermelon home. He raised Marvel’s head up high with a smile, and then threw it over to us. I looked down at his still eyes and snickered, “It appears that you didn’t hold out for too long, Marvel. You have no future in the face of supreme power.”
Just as I was about to hand our flag over to the soldiers to have them set it up on the city walls to declare our victory, the soldiers who captured the walls suddenly stopped and looked ahead. I stopped in place and looked in the direction that they looked. I had no idea what had happened. I just heard a sound similar to a crow’s caw. Next thing I knew, I saw a fireball. It wasn’t magic, but a massive boulder that was on fire.
The soldiers screamed as they quickly scrambled. The boulder fell down from the sky. It was hot and fiercely whistled through the sky. It landed where our team was. The soldiers frantically screamed. Some made one last cry, while others were terrified as they were set ablaze. I froze. I discovered all of the soldiers who captured the wall were screaming just as I went to speak. They jumped off the city walls as they screamed, ignoring the height and ran for their lives.
I didn’t need to ask them what happened, since I saw it.
It looked as if the sky was torn apart by a black pair of wings. It looked as though a crow cawed forth the stench of blood. I didn’t know what creature with huge wings flew over. It had sharp talons that stretched out toward the soldiers on the city wall similarly to an eagle swooping down on a rabbit on the grass. It pierced the soldiers’ bodies with its talons and picked them up before throwing them out. Blood and organs rained down from above. The humongous black bird flew in the air as it sang the melody of death.
“Retreat!”
I wasn’t sure what the situation over there was, but I knew that we had to retreat. The valley was excessively narrow. If we were blocked by our siege weapons and attacked by the humongous bird in the sky simultaneously, we’d suffer very severe losses. They must’ve been the anthropoid’s follow-up army. I didn’t bring my entire force over, so engaging would be no different to fighting rocks with eggs.
“All units, retreat orderly! Form a gun formation!!”
I didn’t move, despite giving the order to retreat. My eyes were still fixated on the city wall. Tanya and Philes hadn’t appeared yet.
‘Where are those two?’
Boulder after boulder zipped over. The closest one struck the soldiers next to me dead. Their blood splattered onto me. I tightly clenched my teeth and searched for the small blue silhouette.
“Protect His Majesty!! Protect His Majesty!!”
A huge bird noticed me standing still. It cawed loudly as it prepared to dive down for its prey. A falling boulder ripped through the air as it dropped downwards. My guards roared as they raised their rifles up. They gathered around me and fired toward the sky. The huge bird was hit with a barrage of bullets, knocking off one of its wings. as well. It wailed, and then crashed down in front of me.
The other huge bird around noticed us. It cawed and then flew towards us. My guards gathered around me and desperately fired at the huge bird overhead. The huge bird was afraid of our guns. It flew around in the air as it waited for an opportunity to strike. Our forces made a swift retreat, and we would fire at attacking birds every now and then. However, what followed was always a cry of despair.
“Come on! Come on!! My Tanya! My Philes!! Where are you?! Tanya!! Hurry and jump!!”
I finally saw a blue silhouette. She was covered in blood. She seemed to have cut down the anthropoids that turned to rush toward us. She looked at me. She heard my shouts. Just as she finally went to leap down toward the pile of corpses below…
*Caw!!*
The huge bird in the sky didn’t spare the small silhouette that suddenly appeared at the wall. It cawed as it flew over. Tanya didn’t have a gun! I roared with despair. The White Deer King sprinted full pelt over to her. I snatched the gun of my guard next to me as I continued to rush toward Tanya, who jumped down, and the huge bird diving downwards.
“Tanya!”
I fired at the same time I shouted. A guard in white appeared behind Tanya all of a sudden. He shielded Tanya’s small body from behind. The huge bird’s talons ripped into his cloak, flesh, organs and bones. He groaned with pain and desperately pushed Tanya away from himself.
After the next instant, the bullet I fired pierced the huge bird’s eye. The explosion magic bullet blew the huge bird’s head apart, reducing it to a pool of blood. The small silhouette that separated from the huge bird was akin to a kite that’s string had snapped. The bird’s corpse landed on the ground with a heavy thud. I caught Tanya from her jump and held her in one of my arms before finally rushing over to the body.
At the same time, I also noticed several huge birds swooping down toward me…
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