Chapter 16: Humans VS Beastfolk

The beastfolk moved in organized ranks. Wolf-warriors in front, shields raised, spears ready. Tiger and bear warriors behind them, carrying heavier weapons. The shamans remained at the rear, beginning their chants and drums again, maintaining the enhancement effects on the advancing army.

Commander Zhao shouted orders. "Archers! First volley on my mark! Target the front ranks!"

Human guards along the wall raised bows. Arthur counted perhaps forty archers spread across this section of wall. Not a massive force, but concentrated fire could do significant damage against infantry crossing open ground.

"Mark!" Commander Zhao's voice cracked like a whip. "LOOSE!"

Forty arrows flew simultaneously. The projectiles arced through the air, falling toward the advancing beastfolk formation.

Most arrows struck shields and armor, deflecting or lodging harmlessly. But some found gaps. Wolf-warriors stumbled and fell, arrows in throats or between armor plates. The formation did not break. Warriors stepped over their fallen companions and continued advancing.

"Second volley! Loose!"

Another flight of arrows. More beastfolk fell. Still the formation advanced, crossing the killing ground with disciplined precision. They were perhaps one hundred fifty feet from the wall now.

One of the shamans at the rear raised both arms. Arthur felt a surge of that external energy, being channeled through the practitioner and released in a directed working. Wind gathered into a visible wall, sweeping across the battlefield and deflecting the third arrow volley. Shafts scattered harmlessly, pushed off target by the magical barrier.

Commander Zhao cursed and switched tactics. "Foundation Establishment fighters! Prepare ranged techniques! Fire at will!"

Several guards along the wall, those with stronger energy signatures, began executing qi techniques. Arthur watched as they shaped their internal energy into projectile forms.

One guard thrust his palm forward and released a bolt of fire. Not Ember Harmonic manipulation. This was qi aspected toward fire element, shaped through martial technique and launched with willpower. The bolt struck a tiger-warrior in the chest, burning through armor and flesh. The warrior fell, thrashing.

Another guard used an earth-aspected technique, causing stone spikes to erupt from the ground beneath a cluster of wolf-warriors. Several were impaled, their advance stopped permanently.

A third guard, this one a woman with a sword at her hip, made a slashing gesture with her hand. A blade of compressed air shot forward, invisible except for the distortion in the air itself. The technique caught a bear-warrior across the throat. Blood sprayed and the massive figure collapsed.

The shamans responded immediately. The one with the bear skull helmet stepped forward, raising his staff. Arthur felt an enormous surge of external energy, far more than any of the other shamans had channeled. The chief was performing a major working.

The ground in front of the advancing beastfolk army erupted. Not from beneath, but upward, earth flowing like liquid and forming into a wall. Twenty feet tall, thirty feet wide. A barrier of stone that rose between the human defenders and the beastfolk warriors.

Not permanent. Arthur could feel the working's temporary nature. The wall was held together by the chief shaman's continued channeling. But while it stood, it protected the advancing army from ranged attacks.

The beastfolk used the cover immediately. Warriors broke into a sprint, racing the remaining distance to the city wall while protected by the earthen barrier. They would reach the fortifications in seconds.

Commander Zhao was already adapting. "Melee fighters to the edge! Prepare to repel boarders! Oil teams, ready your cauldrons!"

Guards rushed to positions at the wall's edge. Some carried spears to thrust down at climbing enemies. Others prepared large pots of what Arthur assumed was boiling oil, ready to pour on attackers. Several Foundation Establishment fighters took prominent positions, ready to engage any beastfolk who made it to the top.

The first wave of wolf-warriors reached the wall. They carried grappling hooks and rope ladders. Arthur watched as dozens of hooks flew upward, catching on the wall's edge. The climbing began immediately, warriors swarming up the ropes with speed that suggested enhanced strength from the shamanic blessings.

Oil poured down. Several wolf-warriors caught fire, their enhanced fur burning despite the shamanic protections. Their screams were terrible. They fell, taking other climbers with them.

But more kept coming. The beastfolk had numbers, and they were using them. For every warrior burned or speared, two more took his place on the ropes.

The first wolf-warrior crested the wall's edge. A human guard thrust with a spear, catching the beastfolk in the shoulder. The warrior snarled, grabbing the spear shaft and yanking. The guard stumbled forward. The wolf-warrior's other hand, clawed and massive, raked across the guard's throat. Blood sprayed and the guard fell.

The wolf-warrior pulled himself onto the wall, immediately engaged by two more human guards. The beastfolk fought savagely, claws and fangs supplementing the axe in his hands. One guard fell with his skull caved in. The other managed to drive a sword through the wolf-warrior's heart before a second beastfolk crested the wall and split the guard's head with a hammer.

More beastfolk were reaching the top now. The battle line dissolved into chaos as melee fighters clashed along the wall's length. Arthur tracked perhaps twenty separate combat exchanges happening simultaneously within his field of view.

A human guard at Qi Condensation level fought a wolf-warrior of similar strength. The guard used efficient spear work, thrusting at vital points while maintaining distance. The wolf-warrior circled, looking for an opening, then suddenly lunged faster than the guard expected. Enhanced strength from shamanic blessings. The warrior got inside the spear's reach, claws tearing into the guard's arms. The guard dropped his weapon. The wolf-warrior's jaws closed on the guard's throat.

Nearby, a Foundation Establishment human fighter engaged two wolf-warriors simultaneously. This guard was skilled, qi flowing through his body in visible patterns of enhancement. His sword moved in arcs too fast to follow easily, each strike carrying force that sent the wolf-warriors backward. But they were wearing him down through numbers. One warrior would feint while the other attacked from a different angle. The guard defended against both, but his movements were becoming slower. Fatigue setting in.

A tiger-warrior made it over the wall, massive and heavily armored. This one's energy signature marked him as Foundation Establishment equivalent. The tiger-warrior roared and charged toward Commander Zhao's position.

Zhao intercepted with a technique Arthur could barely follow. The commander's body blurred, crossing twenty feet in an instant. Movement technique, burning qi for enhanced speed. Zhao's spear, wreathed in earth-aspected qi energy, thrust toward the tiger-warrior's chest.

The tiger-warrior blocked with his shield, the impact creating a shockwave Arthur felt from forty feet away. The shield cracked but held. The tiger-warrior countered with a horizontal axe swing that would have bisected Commander Zhao if it connected.

Zhao ducked under the swing and thrust again, this time low, targeting the tiger-warrior's knee. The spear punched through armor and into flesh. The tiger-warrior howled and stumbled. Zhao followed up immediately, his spear finding the throat this time. Blood fountained. The tiger-warrior collapsed.

But more were coming. The beastfolk had momentum now. Perhaps fifty warriors had gained the wall, and more were climbing every second. The human defenders were being pushed back through sheer numbers.

Yuan Feng was fighting as well. The City Lord engaged three wolf-warriors simultaneously, his cultivation at Core Formation allowing him to handle multiple Foundation Establishment opponents. Yuan Feng's techniques were brutal. A palm strike that released compressed air, crushing a warrior's ribcage. A sweeping kick that sent another tumbling off the wall entirely. A qi-blade that severed the third warrior's arm at the elbow.

Near Yuan Feng, another Core Formation cultivator fought with different techniques.

This one was a woman Arthur had not noticed before, wearing dark blue robes and carrying a sword that glowed with internal energy. Her fighting style was more refined than Yuan Feng's practical brutality. The sword moved in flowing patterns, each strike precise and economical.

She engaged a bear-warrior, the massive beastfolk swinging a great hammer with enough force to crack stone. The woman dodged rather than blocked, her movements minimal but perfectly timed. Her sword found gaps in the bear-warrior's armor, cutting tendons and arteries with surgical precision. The bear-warrior collapsed within ten seconds of engagement.

Arthur watched the Core Formation fighters with interest. Their power was significantly beyond Foundation Establishment. Not just stronger, but more controlled. Their qi moved through complex internal patterns that suggested sophisticated refinement. This was what high-level magic looked like in this world.

The shamans at the rear were maintaining their support techniques. Arthur could feel the continuous flow of external energy being channeled through them, providing enhancement to the beastfolk warriors on the wall. The effect was not dramatic, but it was noticeable. Warriors moved slightly faster, hit slightly harder, recovered from wounds slightly quicker than they should.

Arthur decided he had seen enough of the wall battle. His role was protecting civilians, not engaging in the siege warfare. He needed to move into the city proper, find people who needed help.

He descended the stairs from the wall, moving quickly but carefully. His Dissonance was still at approximately 50 points, thanks to the aggressive Flush. He had enormous operational capacity. Time to use it.

The streets near the wall were mostly empty. Civilians had fled toward the designated shelters when the alarm sounded. But Arthur could hear shouting from deeper in the city. Not battle cries. Screams of fear. Some beastfolk warriors had broken through already, bypassing the wall defense entirely or infiltrating through some other route.

Arthur moved toward the sound of distress, his Attunement tracking energy signatures as he ran. He detected two wolf-warriors cornering a group of civilians in an alley. The people were backing away, terrified. An elderly man tried to position himself protectively in front of a woman holding a small child. Brave but futile against enhanced warriors.

Arthur reached the alley before the warriors could attack. He positioned himself between the beastfolk and the civilians. The wolf-warriors saw him and immediately recognized Arthur as a cultivator despite his foreign appearance. They hesitated, evaluating the threat.

Arthur raised one hand, palm forward. The universal gesture for stop.

One wolf-warrior snarled something and charged anyway. The other followed half a second later.

Surface Synchronization with Bedrock. Arthur hardened his fist, the minimal enhancement necessary for what he needed. His Dissonance climbed from 50 to approximately 54 points. The Flush penalty added about half a point, negligible at this level.

The first wolf-warrior's axe swung toward Arthur's head. Arthur ducked under the strike and drove his stone-hard fist into the warrior's solar plexus. The blow expelled air from the beastfolk's lungs with explosive force. The warrior collapsed, gasping.

The second wolf-warrior tried to tackle Arthur, using enhanced strength from shamanic blessings. Arthur sidestepped, grabbed the warrior's arm as he passed, and used the beastfolk's own momentum to slam him face-first into the alley wall. Stone cracked. The warrior slid down the wall, unconscious.

Total engagement time: perhaps four seconds.

Dissonance cost: minimal.

Current total: 54 points.

Arthur gestured for the civilians to run. They did not need encouragement. The elderly man bowed quickly before shepherding his family toward the nearest shelter.

Arthur continued moving through the city. He encountered more scattered situations. A bear-warrior trying to break down a door where Arthur could sense children hiding inside. Arthur intercepted with a Stone Wall technique, blocking the warrior's path. When the bear-warrior tried to smash through, Arthur hardened the stone further and used Ember at Surface Sync to superheat it. The warrior's hands burned when he touched the wall. He gave up and moved to find easier prey. Arthur followed, harrying the beastfolk with small techniques until the warrior was too injured to continue and collapsed.

Dissonance cost for that engagement: perhaps twelve points plus penalty.

Current total: approximately 68 points.

Three wolf-warriors cornering a merchant family near their shop. Arthur used Torrent at Shallow Synchronization to create a flood of water that swept their feet out from under them. While they were down and disoriented, Arthur used Bedrock to partially entomb their lower bodies in stone. They would be trapped for at least several minutes, long enough for the civilians to escape.

Dissonance cost: approximately twenty points with penalty.

Current total: 88 points.

A tiger-warrior attempting to climb onto a rooftop where several families had taken shelter. Arthur used Zephyr at Standard Synchronization to create a powerful updraft that blasted the warrior off the building entirely. The beastfolk fell twenty feet and landed badly. Alive but in no condition to continue fighting.

Dissonance cost: approximately thirty-five points with penalty.

Current total: 123 points.

The pattern continued for perhaps fifteen minutes. Arthur moved systematically through the civilian districts, intercepting beastfolk warriors who had broken through the main defense. He used minimal force necessary to disable rather than kill. Efficient techniques at the lowest Synchronization level that would achieve the desired effect. His Dissonance climbed steadily but remained well within safe parameters.

Movement caught Arthur's peripheral vision.

 A small figure approaching at high speed from a side street.

Arthur turned, ready to engage another threat, then recognized the energy signature.

Tao.