Knights & Magic Volume 1 Chapter 5

First chapter of 'Attack of the demon beast' arc.
Decided to use standard military terms, team = 3, squad = 10, platoon = 30, company = 100, battalion = 300, brigade = 1000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_hierarchy#Chain_of_command



In the past, humans only ruled half of Arland continent, with the eastern land beyond the Obine mountain range being uncharted grounds, dominated by demon beasts.

With the silhouette knights as their main forces, humanity pushed the demon beast back and ventured into the east beyond the Obine mountains. The humans was doing well in the beginning but their invasion grounded to a halt. The east of Obine is covered by the Brokiosk sea of forest, with demon beasts that can take on hundreds of silhouette knights lurking inside. Suffering huge losses, retreated out of the forest.

There are vast plains of land at the foot of Obine mountain which is suitable for agricultural use after developing it. To protect this piece of land, they expand their territory to the edge of the forest and formed a country. This is the story behind the founding of Fremara kingdom. There are still demon beast wandering in the Brokiosk forest, and might appear on a whim. To keep the demon beast away, walls are erected along the borders and fortresses are set up at the place where the demon beast shows up frequently... The entrance to the Brokiosk forest known as the 'demon beast highway' (A gigantic animal trail!). Castle walls are then erected between such fortresses. As it is physically impossible to cover the whole borders with siege walls, it cannot deter demon beast that approaches from places not covered by siege walls. The siege walls are effective against titanic demon beast, and thanks to the nation's defensive efforts, the kingdom remains relatively safe.

This happened during a certain quiet night.

Barkley stronghold is one of the fortresses lying between the forest and the borders of Fremara Kingdom. It is quite far from 'demon beast highway', even visits from mid size demon beast are rare, an outpost guarded by 10 silhouette knights.

That night, the guards on duty felt there is something wrong with the unusual silence in the Brokiosk forest. The stars sparkles brightly in the night sky, there are usually a couple of howls from demon beast on a night like this. But it is unnaturally quiet tonight, they can't even feel the presence of the animals, as if they have all evacuated. Although it is unnatural, there are no indication of anything happening. Although they are baffled, they continued to do their rounds.

The silence did not last long. They can hear the sounds of trees being crushed in the distance. It is obvious that something is approaching... Demon beasts. The guards raised the alarm without hesitation.

"What the hell, a demon beast so late at night!?"

"Here is far off from the demon beast highway, what is it doing so far in the countryside?"

The knights in the fortress gets ready when the alarm horn sounded. The outpost was a hive of activity as they muster with haste. The sounds of trees being crushed all this while, the crisis is looming. The pilots on duty jumped into their silhouette knights. The silhouette knights deployed at this fortress are the standard 'jettoy' model of Fremara. The ether reactor was forcefully started from a dormant state, it's hum reverberates around it.

The silhouette knights checks through its start up procedures and equipment speedily and gathers at the gate of the fortress. At this time, the thing that have been crushing trees weird howls appears. The demon beast was like a small moving mountain, covered in uneven shell of rocks like a porcupine. A head and 4 limbs protrude from the sides, so the shape resembles a tortoise. Just that this tortoise is 80 meters long and 50 meters tall.

The guard on duty on the wall has only seen a 'emperor tortoise' in books... a type of demon beast known as 'behemoth'. It's features are its toughness and endurance. With its reputation of being a walking citadel, it is a difficult enemy to handle. To put it simply, the behemoth's biggest strength is 'strengthening'. It uses overwhelming mana output to maintain its strengthening spell, and support a physically impossible body structure. It also enables it to move with an agility contrary to its appearance, and hardening every part of its body from shell to skeleton, possessing incredible toughness. It is said that a behemoth mainly uses body slam to attack, and can shatter siege walls. It's 'heart' that is proportionally with its large body can generate mana equivalent to over 100 silhouette knights. With its endless endurance, the defense of the behemoth is almost impossible to break through. This is a behemoth, a fortress like demon beast with incredibly high defense.

"Demon beast identified... It is a 'emperor tortoise'...! A behemoth!"

Before the pilots can process the guard's screaming report, behemoth slammed into the walls of the stronghold. It's intentions are unknown as the behemoth attack the fortress from the front. Using its body weight and the toughness the behemoth took pride in, the demon beast turns in self into a battering ram. The siege wall and gate made of iron and stone was destroyed with one hit, the debris splatters all over. The mind of the pilots witnessing this scene turned blank.

After hearing the reports of the guard and the destruction to the stronghold, the pilot's faces show shock and awe. Who would have known that a battalion level demon beast will show up at a place so far away from demon beast highway? A battalion level demon beast requires a battalion of silhouette knights (about 300) to defeat it. But there is only a squad (9) of silhouette knights stationed at this outpost, 10 silhouette knights if you include the captain. This is enough to keep duel level demon beast (equal to 1 silhouette knight in power), but is overwhelmingly under strength to challenge a battalion level demon beast.

It will be suicidal to take a stand against the demon beast, but the pilots did not waver. They do not know why the behemoth is heading into The kingdom of Fremara, but if they allow it to push through without warning headquarters, the results will be disastrous. It is impossible to stop behemoth with the forces stationed at stronghold Barkley. But if they stall for time, they might find the weak spot of the beast. They made their resolve and charged at it bravely.

With the walls breeched, the behemoth break down the remnants of the gate and walks into the stronghold. It's howl shakes the fortress like an explosion.

The squad of silhouette knights moved with this cue, pointing their magic arsenal, 'flaming lance', at the behemoth. The knights channels their mana into the spear shaped weapon, the emblem converts it into a physical phenomenon. Magic scripts and mana beyond the capability of humans to process are activated, forming tactical level magic. Flames erupt from the tips of the spear and score direct hit on the beast with an explosive sound, burning it with a pillar of fire. Normal beasts would have fallen under this attack, but the behemoth live up to its name of a moving fortress and is totally unfazed by the strike. But this is within the expectations of the silhouette knights, and they continue the onslaught of flames with their lances, covering the beast in smoke and fire.

The power of the magic arsenal are strong, but the expenditure of mana is very intensive. All the silhouette knights kept up the attack until their mana reserves are depleted. To replenish their mana pool, they power their ether reactor to absorb ether from the air. The reactor moans louder as it works even harder.

The entrance of the stronghold was blazing in a sea of fire after the continuous assault by the silhouette knights. The cracking flames and smoke shrouded the behemoth completely and the knights loses track of the beast. There are merely 10 silhouette knights, but even a battalion level beast should sustain some injury under their all out attack. Just when the pilots are thinking about that, a howl made the earth shudder, the shockwave disperse the flames and behemoth appears from behind the smoke. Reality betrays their expectation, the behemoth's gigantic body is unscathed.

Behemoth rush towards the squads of Jettoy with a momentum that doesn't match its size, the speed is so fast the Jettoy could not evade it in time. The silhouette knights was down after receiving a solid blow. The steel plates cave in an instant and the limbs are squashed. The sparkling crystals shards flew out from the gaps between the armor. There is no way the pilot will survive.

The other Jettoy fell back, keeping a distance from the beast. The behemoth attack with a deceptively quick pace, knocking away the Jettoy who can only fire off a flame bullet in futile resistance.

The remaining Silhouette knights judged that their magic attacks are ineffective and surrounds the behemoth, attacking with swords. But just as the rumors says, the shell covering the behemoth is unbelievably hard, negating all the slashing attacks. With its whole body is covered by the shell, the behemoth is still able to move with amazing speed. Just 10 silhouette knights won't be able to buy time, and is in danger of being wiped out by the behemoth. The surviving pilots felt an unspeakable terror run down their spine, this is indeed a battalion level demon beast. The captain of the silhouette knights made a snap decision.

"Alan, Benjamin, Chris! Are you still alive?"

"...Yes sir!"

Behemoth goes on a rampage again, slamming its body into the fortress with the force that it used to charged at the Jettoys. The stone made stronghold is falling apart, it can't last much longer.

"Alan evacuate all the people who are still alive and run to Carrier fortress! Benjamin alert all the neighboring city the behemoth might go to, and rush to Yanktwin! Chris, make for the capital! Run at top speed, run till you grind the crystal tissue to dust, you must report this to the capital!"

The captain turns the head of his machine and look at his remaining subordinates.

"The rest of you... Sorry, you drew the short straw."

The 3 pilots belongs to the younger generation, the reason behind their nominations are unknown, but they have no authority to refuse or hesitate. The top priority is to stay alive and deliver the warnings, there is no time for them to bid farewell. A tinge of sadness flash across their face, but they regain their spirit through determination and their sense of duty.

"Go!"

"Yes sir!"

The young pilots left the front lines on their Jettoys without hesitation. After the captain confirm the situation through his holographic projector, the corner of lips rises in a smile.

"My brothers, we will be knock away if we stay in this cramp space! We are abandoning the stronghold, going outside and use stalling tactics!"

"Hey hey, we won't let you come into our kingdom!"

"Let's show this damn tortoise what we are made of!"

The 5 Jettoys escape from the stronghold, preparing to fight the behemoth. This is a hopeless battle, but their movements are clean and crisp. The behemoth raze the stronghold to the ground and start its attack again. The Jettoy used a series of coordinated attacks to impede its advance. But the range magic attack cast at random couldn't stop the movement of the giant beast. They will need to use melee attacks eventually, striking the head and legs before running away. The hit and run tactics is repeated again and again. The Jettoy can only focus on dodging the enraged behemoth as they fought on.

But even silhouette knights have a limit to their energy.

Silhouette knights are equipped with ether reactor a semi automatic part that supplies mana by absorbing the ether in the atmosphere. But the supply rate is limited. Especially in battle, if the usage rate is higher than the supply rate, the mana reserves in the machine will get gradually smaller. The pilot is only human... both man and machine have their limits. With the depletion of the mana reserves, the sluggish jettoy are sent flying. The loss of focus due to fatigue cause the jettoy to miss the chance to evade and get smashed by a tail attack. One by one, the knights falls to the demon beast.

But the 5 silhouette knights managed to buy a few hours of time that are more precious than gold while facing off a battalion level demon beast, it is only right to see this as the victory of their iron will.

The one who held on to the very end is the veteran captain. The machine is full of countless scratches, the right hand was blown away by the swipe of the behemoth's tail. The crystal tissue are in tatters due to damage as well as wear and tear, the mana reserves are on its last legs, he can't even run away.

"... The rookies have escaped... This fucking turtle, next up won't be a half ass group like us, but a standard order of knights. Prepare to be history."

Since he can't escape, the captain commands the damaged machine to run. He never thought he will survive, injecting his remaining mana into his command Silhouette knight and charge at the behemoth recklessly. But the best it can do is stagger forward in awkward steps. He tightens the grip of the sword in the left arm and throw the whole weight of the machine in a stab at the face of the behemoth.

Maybe the demon beast knows the concept of respect.

Behemoth lock on to the last enemy blocking its path, opens its mouth and took a deep breath. This is a never seen before attack. After a beat, just before the sword of the command silhouette knight reach the behemoth, a tornado breath powered by magic spew from the behemoth's mouth. The fierce wind uproots the trees. The command silhouette knight took a direct hit and was blown far away, the crystal shards and pieces of armor rains over the forest.

Behemoth growl. The squad launch many attacks in their stalling tactic, and with the command silhouette knight's last blow, a faint crack was left on the behemoth's face, lightly scratching the eye ball. If the damage of the command silhouette knight wasn't so severe, it might have hit the eye ball. Behemoth surveys the areas for a while, and starts advancing after making sure those in its way are gone. Its footfall is heavy and its eyes bears no sign of emotion.

The largest demon beast calamity since the founding of Fremara started quietly. What is its goal? The answer lies in the road the demon beast is heading down, the largest city of central Fremara... Yanktwin.

End

Next update: slow.