Chapter 18: Siege Weapon.
"Exactly."
Words couldn’t describe how proud Damien was of the two of them.
Before either woman could question him further, a series of heavy footsteps echoed from deeper within the tunnel.
The undead had returned.
Several of them dragged rusted ballistas across the stone floor, the ancient siege weapons screeching against the ground and leaving deep grooves behind them.
The sight alone was absurd. A group of undead Eidolons hauling siege weapons through a collapsing tunnel as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Behind them came Chad.
Or rather, Chad was being carried.
One of the undead had slung him over its shoulder like a sack of grain.
Chad’s face was red with fury as he hammered his fists against the creature’s back.
"Put me down!"
The undead ignored him and continued marching toward Damien without so much as breaking stride.
Chad finally noticed everyone staring at him.
His face immediately darkened.
"Don’t."
Damien grinned.
"Welcome back princess."
...
It didn’t take long to explain the plan to Chad. His role was mostly defensive, and more importantly, protecting Seris.
Damien and Yuri were the ones taking the risk, but that was mostly because they were the only ones capable of carrying it out.
"It’s time."
Damien and Yuri waited for another impact, and as expected, it came.
Boom.
The moment the tunnel shook, they shot out through the cloud of dust. Before doing anything else, they needed to actually see what they were up against. Charging in based on pure speculation was basically suicide, and Damien would never do something that stupid.
His assumptions were mostly correct.
The Eidolons really were standing in neat formations, and the siege weapon was positioned several meters in front of the army. There was simply no way for them to keep firing into the tunnel if the weapon was sitting at the back of their ranks.
But there was one thing Damien hadn’t considered.
Hundreds of Eidolons were carrying bows and arrows, not just the usual spiked clubs.
How the hell were they supposed to pull the string with razor sharp claws for hands?
Damien didn’t have time to think about it. The plan wasn’t going to change.
"Brace yourself, this might make you dizzy."
Yuri spoke softly before wrapping an arm around him and activating her dormant ability, Impulse.
The world blurred.
Yuri’s dormant ability surged through her body and into Damien’s, faint arcs of electricity dancing across their skin as the scenery around them stretched into indistinct streaks.
The cold air howled past Damien’s ears, and before the Eidolons could even process what was happening, the two of them were already above the siege weapon.
The moment they appeared, Yuri released him.
She wasn’t here to fight.
Her body was already at its limit, and if she stayed for even a moment longer, both of them would die.
Another burst of lightning crackled around her figure before she disappeared from sight, retreating exactly as planned.
Meanwhile, Damien attacked before his feet even touched the ground.
One of the Eidolons operating the siege weapon immediately let go of the mechanism and released a furious roar. It grabbed one of the massive ballistas lying nearby and thrust the sharpened end straight toward Damien’s neck.
It was quick for a grotesque mess of different animals, but Damien expected as much.
His small body twisted unnaturally in midair. The lingering electricity racing through his muscles forced them to contract harder than normal, allowing him to narrowly slip past the attack.
The ballista missed his throat by inches.
Damien closed the distance instantly.
His hand reached into the quiver on his back, he retrieved a bloodied arrow and drove it downwards with all the strength he could muster.
The metal tip punched through the Eidolon’s throat.
The creature immediately staggered backwards, as blood poured from its neck. It tried to roar again, but all that came out was a wet choking sound as it clawed desperately at the arrow lodged in its throat.
"One down."
He didn’t stop moving.
The moment the ballista slipped from the creature’s hands, Damien caught it before it hit the ground.
The second Eidolon was already upon him.
Its spiked club descended with enough force to cave in a skull.
Damien planted a foot against the edge of the siege weapon and launched himself sideways. The club crashed into the wooden frame instead, splintering part of it apart.
His body rotated through the air.
He attempted to land behind the Eidolon, but the creature was faster than he anticipated.
It turned almost immediately and swung again, this time there was no room to dodge.
The spiked club slammed directly into Damien’s left arm, a sickening crack echoed as bone tore through flesh and protruded from his forearm.
Damien clenched his teeth so hard his jaw hurt, but he ignored it.
Before the Eidolon could pull its weapon back, Damien drove the captured ballista forward with everything he had.
The sharpened tip punched through thick muscle, shattered bone, and burst out through the creature’s back.
The Eidolon’s body froze, its heart bursting apart from the impact.
Everything had happened so quickly that the surrounding Eidolons hadn’t even finished reacting.
Damien still didn’t pause, the Eidolons formation wasn’t really that far away, the moment he stopped to even look at them, they might already be upon him.
"Rise."
Black gaseous mass immediately began leaking from their bodies. The fallen Eidolons twitched violently.
Moments later, they forced themselves back onto their feet once more.
Damien pointed to the siege weapon and barked.
"Push it towards the cave entrance".
Damien was done with the first phase of the plan, except there were factors he still failed to consider, he couldn’t shoot his bow with one arm, he still hadn’t spotted the Eidolon commanding them and the god damned creatures were already pointing their arrows in his direction.
"Shit".
Damien cursed as hundreds of wooden bolts screamed through the air. There were so many that he couldn’t even see the Eidolons anymore, only a thick curtain of sharpened wood rushing to skewer him.