Upon reaching the upper walkway of the wall, William felt a wave of grim satisfaction wash over his mind. All the members of the new militia had already climbed the wooden steps and taken their respective places. They formed a veritable forest of lead-tipped spears raised against the gray sky. Seeing those men, once trembling farmers and miners, now organized into a cohesive military formation, gave William the certainty that the hours of yelling, sweat, and relentless discipline had not been in vain.
He walked to the center of the formation, the freezing wind whipping the fabric of his cloak. As Commander of the militia, the weight of everyone's survival rested on his shoulders.
Looking toward the northwestern vastness, beyond the snow-covered plains, William's enhanced eyes spotted a dark mass breaking away from the tree line. They were black shadows, fast and threatening, tearing through the white mist. He calculated quickly. There were more than twenty demonic beasts sprinting at full speed.
Iron Axe, acting as his Vice-Commander, left his supervisory position on the right flank and trotted over to William. After striking his fist against his chest in a quick and respectful salute, the experienced desert hunter narrowed his eyes toward the threat, clearly disturbed by what he saw.
— "Commander William," — Iron Axe began, his harsh voice displaying a rare tension. — "That group of demonic beasts marching against us... their approach pattern is completely abnormal. If they were ordinary corrupted wolves, they would maintain pack tactics. But I am seeing beasts of species that would kill each other in the forest running side by side. They seem to be on a coordinated mission." —
William didn't even blink. A cold smile, the smile of someone who already knew the disaster that was to come, curled the corners of his lips as he kept his eyes fixed on the vanguard of the horde.
— "You have excellent eyesight, Iron Axe, as expected of a hunter, but you need to forget the rules of normal nature from today onward," — William replied, his voice calm and laden with authority. — "I know exactly what they are doing. The miasma doesn't just give these animals strength and size; it erases the instinct of self-preservation and the rivalry for territory. During the winter, wolves and bison are no longer natural enemies. They become infantry and cavalry working in sync. They aren't hunting out of hunger, big guy. They are weapons sent with a single tactical purpose: to destroy our wall and extinguish humans." —
Iron Axe looked at the Commander with a mix of surprise and profound respect. William's wisdom regarding the creatures of the miasma seemed to rival, or even surpass, that of the oldest hunters of the west. The man from the Sand Nation simply nodded, tightening his grip on his musket, ready for the war the Lord had already foreseen.
Because the horde still had to dodge the spike traps and trenches prepared at the base of the wall, the monsters were forced to bunch together, forming a deadly funnel directly in front of the center of the defense — exactly where Van'er's company was positioned.
A few meters from William, Van'er felt cold sweat run down inside his winter clothes. His hands were so damp that the wooden shaft of his spear felt slippery. Taking advantage of a second when he thought no one was looking, the former miner frantically rubbed his palms on his wool trousers.
He tried to remember the breathing instructions from training, but the frantic drumming of his heart refused to slow down. Van'er had lived in Border Town for over a decade, listening to terrifying stories about the beasts. He had even begun to consider himself a soldier after the rigorous training, but facing a wall of fangs and horns charging in his direction made his legs tremble uncontrollably.
Even so, remembering that Lord William himself had promoted him to Vice-Captain the first time he saw him, Van'er swallowed his terror, locked his knees, and kept his spear pointed forward, forcing a facade of bravery.
The horde was close enough now to distinguish its horrors. A demonic bison led the attack. Its skull boasted two twisted horns the thickness of a man's arm. A thick, stiffened coat covered its back like a cuirass. When the monster crossed the ten-pace mark, Van'er felt the very cement structure vibrate.
He waited for the command, hoping the beast would slow down. It didn't. William already knew what would happen.
— "Brace for impact! Hold on!" — William warned with a preemptive roar.
A colossal crash of bone and concrete colliding echoed across the plain.
The demonic bison threw its own body violently against the base of the wall. The impact crushed the creature's neck instantly, snapping its spine with a sickening crack. Black blood splattered, painting the gray cement. The monster died in a grotesque tactical suicide: its enormous dead carcass formed a natural ramp leaning against the wall.
Van'er barely had time to process the beast's madness. Immediately, just as William had expected from the story, two demonic wolves used the bison's back as a platform, propelling themselves with explosive force toward the top of the walkway.
— "Spears! Thrust!" — William ordered, drawing his sword in one fluid motion.
Hearing the command, Van'er and the militiamen launched their attacks in a blind reflex. The line's reaction, however, was inexperienced and flawed. Some soldiers thrust their weapons repeatedly into empty air; others froze for precious seconds. Only one of the wolves was pierced mid-air by three simultaneous spears, falling backward with a yelp.
The second wolf found the breach, passed over the deadly spear tips, and fell heavily onto the stone walkway, snarling in the middle of the formation.
— "Hold the formation! The front is yours, leave this one to me!" — Iron Axe shouted, advancing. The hunter raised the stock of his weapon and, with impressive agility, delivered a brutal blow to the wolf's ribs before the beast could even gain its footing, sending the animal spinning in the air.
But demonic beasts did not feel pain easily. The wolf recovered in the blink of an eye and leaped with its mouth open, teeth dripping slime toward the face of one of the militiamen.
The second wolf found the breach, passed over the deadly spear tips, and fell heavily onto the stone walkway, landing right in the middle of the formation with its fangs bared.
The animal flexed its hind legs, aiming for the stomach of a young militiaman who, paralyzed with terror, could barely hold his own weapon. The beast's instinct promised to disembowel him in a single lethal motion.
But the animal didn't even get the chance to leap.
A gust of wind accompanied a dark blue blur. Before Iron Axe even needed to cock his musket, William had already crossed the distance with an explosion of athletic speed, driven by his enhanced muscles.
— "Not even on my worst day!" — William's voice thundered, cold and absolute.
He didn't use the sword. Instead, William raised the heavy tempered steel shield and, using his own body weight and his colossal strength, delivered a crushing downward blow. The bottom edge of the shield collided directly with the wolf's skull.
The sound that followed was a wet thud, followed by the crack of bones being reduced to dust. The enormous force of the impact not only flattened the beast's head against the cement of the wall, but also shattered its front legs from the ricochet. The wolf died instantly, without even letting out a yelp, a pool of black blood expanding beneath its carcass.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: TIMELINE ANOMALY DETECTED]
The direction of the original story has changed for the better. Result: Salvation of a fellow militiaman who would have suffered serious injuries (Dergus).
[REWARD: +40 Credits]
[CURRENT BALANCE: 50 Credits]
William blinked, momentarily taken aback. Dergus? He glanced quickly at the young militiaman who, still with shaky legs, looked at him as if he were seeing the very incarnation of a god of war. William had no idea who that boy was. He strained his memory, trying to sift through the episodes of the anime he watched on Earth, but he couldn't remember that specific tragic detail. He had intercepted the wolf purely out of tactical instinct to keep the formation together, without knowing that, in the original timeline, that poor extra would end up disemboweled by the wolf. A cynical smile crossed his face; Earning credits unintentionally was the best kind of profit.
The surrounding militiamen gasped, taking a step back on instinct at the Commander's violence. But there was no real panic, and the reason was simple: William had left no room for chance.
Three days ago, he hadn't just rested. William had walked through the entire camp, using his System to read the hidden statuses of every man. He organized the defensive line with impeccable mathematical precision, balancing the posts so that a soldier with Strength 6 and low Endurance was always flanked by two men with Strength 7 or 8, like Zuler or Saldon. The formation wasn't just a wall of spears; it was an indestructible tactical mesh designed by a brain that saw invisible numbers.
William kicked the wolf's carcass off the wall, clearing the way.
— "The line is perfect, Van'er! Keep the spears steady, they'll try to climb up the bison again!" — William ordered, tapping the side of his shield against the former miner's chest to snap him out of it. — "Iron Axe, take command of the center. I'll sweep the flanks!" —
Without waiting for an answer, William sprinted down the walkway of the wall. He wasn't just a commander shouting orders from the back; he was Border Town's very own mobile heavy artillery.
Whenever the pressure intensified in a sector and the wall of spears threatened to give way under the weight of two or three leaping wolves, William appeared like a brutal ghost.
Further ahead, in the left sector, three smaller demonic wolves managed to climb up using each other's backs. A trembling, wide-eyed recruit tried to thrust his spear, but the weapon shook, lacking the strength to pierce the hardened hide of the first monster to land.
William arrived, sliding to a halt on the cement.
— "I'll take this, kid," — William said, grabbing the thick wooden shaft of the spear directly from the recruit's hands with a firm, fluid motion.
He didn't wield it like a traditional pike. Ignoring the forged lead tip, William swung the three-meter-long spear as if it were a giant baseball bat. Twisting his torso, he transferred every ounce of his strength into the wooden shaft and delivered a devastating horizontal blow.
CRACK!
The wooden shaft of the spear shattered in half on impact due to the absurd force applied by William, but the damage to the animals was apocalyptic. The blow caught all three wolves simultaneously in mid-air. The skulls of the first two beasts caved in from the blunt impact, while the third was hurled over the parapet, back down the ten-meter drop, its ribs completely crushed.
All three fell dead before they even touched the stained earth below.
The recruit's jaw dropped, staring at the splintered stump of wood left in the Commander's hands. William simply threw the broken piece away and patted the astonished boy's shoulder.
— "Hold onto my shield for now. And do not hesitate to defend the wall; remember that we have something to protect," — William said, a predator's smile crossing his face as he sprinted to the next pressure point.
And so he did. Over the next twenty-seven minutes, the wall transformed into William's personal slaughterhouse. Beasts that managed to dodge Van'er's bullets and the line of pikes were invariably crushed by punches carrying the weight of forging hammers or hurled back off the walkway with perfect kicks. No one was hurt. Not a single soldier even had their skin scratched. William covered his men's flaws before they could be exploited by the enemy.
When the tragic silence of winter finally returned, the first attack had been completely subdued. Black carcasses piled up at the base of the wall, and the walkway remained untouched, safe, and clear of allied blood.
Van'er let out a long sigh, leaning back against the cold wall, feeling the relief wash through his bones. The entire militia looked at William not just as a noble from the Kingdom of Dawn, but as an Invincible Guardian.
William shook out his knuckles, relaxing his posture. The attack by the common beasts had gone exactly as he planned. His second test of strength had been an absolute success, and the injury toll was zero.
However, the calm was short-lived. His "meta-knowledge" told him that the introduction was over.
From the top of the makeshift observation tower, the lookout pointed with trembling fingers toward the tree line to the northwest.
— "Commander! By the gods... what the hell is that?!" —
William and Iron Axe turned quickly. The mist seemed to part almost with macabre reverence to allow the passage of the monstrosity marching with slow, heavy steps that made the earth beneath the snow tremble.
Still a few hundred meters away, the creature's silhouette was distinctly colossal. Van'er, peering over the Commander's shoulder, muttered a forgotten prayer. Even if you stacked ten robust oxen, they wouldn't reach half the volume of that armored aberration.
Iron Axe swallowed hard.
— "Commander William..." — the veteran whispered, his voice a little tense and his eyes fixed on the monstrous shadow. — "That... that is a fully grown Hybrid Species. I have never seen one so gigantic advance this early in the winter." —
William clenched his fists. He could shred wolves and break spears on common beasts as if they were toys, but he was no fool. The System gave him power, but a living mountain of heavy, resilient scales still required the weight of true progress to be brought down.
He turned sharply, without an ounce of hesitation in his voice.
— "Saldon!" — William bellowed, spotting the militiaman who was helping to stack more reserve spears.
The boy stopped and saluted immediately, his eyes filled with fanatical adoration after watching the Lord fight.
— "Go down right now! Run to the castle and find Sir Carter, Arthur, and Prince Roland!" — William ordered, pointing imperatively to the stairs. — "Tell them the warm-up games are over. We have a cataclysmic-level Hybrid Species marching straight for our sector. Tell Roland I said to bring the heavy gunpowder immediately! Go!" —
Saldon vanished down the wooden walkway like a lightning bolt. William remained standing still, resting to recover from his fatigue. He was breathing heavily, his body warm from the recent battle, adrenaline still coursing through his veins as his eyes never left the abomination in the distance.
It was then that he felt it. A very subtle displacement of air right behind him, an almost imperceptible scent of mist and something sweet. Before he could turn around, a velvety feminine voice breathed very close to his ear, tender and low, audible only to him:
— "Good job." —
William froze. He knew that voice. It was Nightingale.
He didn't move; the surprise paralyzed him more than the sight of the Hybrid Beast. His mind, which always acted spontaneously and automatically, locked up for a millisecond trying to process her presence there.
He was fully aware of her role in Border Town. Nightingale was Roland's shadow, the invisible bodyguard who never left the Prince unprotected. Because he was the one responsible for governing that place, if anything happened to him, Anna and Nana's home would be at risk. But even if she wasn't with him, it was normal to think she would be watching Anna, ensuring the main heroine's Magic Power didn't spiral out of control before the Day of Awakening. Or perhaps, considering the slight "hostility" Nightingale had developed toward Arthur, she could be following him, keeping an eye on the other "unpleasant foreigner."
But no. She was there. On the freezing walls, amidst the blood and Demonic Beasts. Watching over him.
For a brief, intense moment, the fear of the colossal creature disappeared. The noise of the battle around him and the frightened shouts of Iron Axe's men became muffled. The simple realization that Nightingale, the most loyal and aloof woman, was there to ensure his safety, made something awaken in William's chest. It wasn't a System notification, it wasn't an attribute bonus. It was a warm, complex, and overwhelming feeling, a mixture of pride, surprise, and something deeper he couldn't put into words, but which made him grip the hilt of his sword with renewed conviction.
He wanted to look back, wanted to see if her mist was still there, but the reality of war allowed no pauses. Iron Axe called out to him, breaking the "spell" he was caught in.
William swallowed the lump in his throat and turned his eyes back to the approaching titan of black flesh, his heart beating fast — not just from the dread of facing the monster, but from the memory of the whisper in the mist. His mind already calculating the impact, ready to find out what happened when a hybrid beast clashed against the apex of human power, now fighting with an even greater determination.