Chapter 1509: Clash
Chapter 1509: Clash
The healers took the bodies to the temporary healing area they set up.
They started dissecting it and right after the first cut was made, they were stunned. Instead of the blood flowing out instantly, it became viscous like a gel.
It didn't even seep out of the cut as it should have.
It didn't take long for them to understand what the immediate cause of death is.
The blood is turning into this viscous liquid and the transmission is being stopped. The blood that was within the heart also turned into a gel forcing the heart to stop.
All the organs are seeped with this gel-like substance.
The healers gave the details to the city lord.
"Is there anything you can do to prevent this?"
"There is not any that we could think. We don't even know what caused this. Is it a type of potion, poison, curse? whatever it is, we don't have any clues left behind on the body.
The hint is that it definitely came from outside and forced itself into the bloodstream through the flesh."
"We need to find a way, if even killing these creatures takes a toll on our soldiers, then exterminating them would be completely impossible. We need to think of a way to destroy them without losing people.
If that is not possible, we need to find a way to lessen the number of people we are going to lose.
Think of something, get any resource you want from the main city, you have my full authority. I will recommend you to the Grand elder's city if you do a good job in this."
The healers nodded and went back to work. Everyone has some kind of theory regarding this, but none of them has a basis to propose it. Now that the city lord gave them full authority, they are looking forward to doing whatever they liked.
They can test their hypothesis and there are even rewards if things worked out. This is more than what they could ask for.
They decided to take full advantage of this situation.
As they tried to figure this out, City lord decided to go a little scouting on his own.
He searched for any traces of these creatures in the surrounding forests to see if they can catch one and do some examination.
They might be able to find the cure for this blood gelling process.
But there is no luck. They searched for the whole day, and only stopped at night. But they were unable to find anything that could help them.
The city lord was extremely anxious about these creatures, so while he was scouting, he let his people work on some kind of protection for themselves.
One of them is the metal elemental barrier. From what he heard from the officials of this port city, the water snakes that were being shot by the creatures is corroding the stone, but they didn't say anything about the metal.
So, he figured he can count on some kind of metal to resist some of the water snakes if they are shot again.
He also thought of some plan and didn't let his subordinates create a large scale metal elemental barrier along the whole camp area.
Instead, he created smaller formations that could be activated at a whim based on their situation.
He prepared all of the things that he can to save the city from these creatures and awaited their arrival.
By night, his wish came true.
The water creatures finally appeared on the surface of the sea once again. Half of them stayed in the water while the other half walked out of it.
The first half started shooting water snakes and this time, directly at the camp, while the second half attacked the camp directly.
The city lord looked at the hundreds of creatures coming towards them along with the amphibious sea animals., like turtles and crabs that also joined in.
He gulped in fear at the sheer number of enemies they have to face. He felt a bit hesitant and reluctant about the whole thing. He clearly understood that the fear of the port city officials and nobles is not there for no reason.
The battle started and both sides quickly started losing numbers.
The city lord decided to do a long prone battle and whenever a water snake came out of the sea to hit them, a metal elemental formation created a shield and blocked it.
The block is a lot different than normal as it focused on diverting the snake instead of blocking it completely.
The formation barriers are created in such a way that the water snakes are headed towards the forest and the river without going toward the city.
For the most part, this worked. But for the red patterned water snakes created by the red creatures, things are not that easy.
They broke through the metal elemental barrier and made their way to the camp without any resistance whatsoever.
The city lord felt his heart racing as he fought with the creatures while trying his best to protect himself and his subordinates.
The battle went on and on. The creatures are coming without any end to them and by midnight, the city lord decided that they needed to retreat. Way too many of his forces are dying here and it is a way too high of a price to pay in their current war situation.
He decided to lead the battle backward as they retreated slowly back.
After they reached a few hundred meters deep in the forest, the creatures didn't follow them and instead went back to the sea.
Even the water snakes also stopped.
The city lord noticed this and set up a camp in the forest. After that, he sent his daughter back to the Grand elder to inform him about their situation, along with the recorded proof and the proof of the dead bodies and the anomaly of their blood changing into the gel-like substance.
He sent all of this data back to the Grand elder in hopes of getting some help.
The daughter left the camp at midnight and she was supposed to be back by the next dawn.
But to the City lord's surprise, she is nowhere to be seen.
After the dawn, the city lord kept on asking the scouts if they have seen her presence, but the answer is always no.
But midday, he started having a really bad feeling about this.
"I am going to go back and check my daughter's situation."
"City lord, the situation here is already quite dire, without you it would be hard to deal with these creatures. We need your support here. How about you send some of your trustworthy subordinates to check the situation.
I am sure they will be able to find her"
"It is not about the trustworthiness of others, If my daughter got delayed at the Grand elder's place, then it might have been some serious issue.
I cannot just sit back here if he is really in trouble. And my subordinates wouldn't be enough to get her out of it if it is really some trouble in Grand elder's territory."
"We know that, but the city…"
"If I am not even sure of my daughter's safety, what use am I being in charge of so many people. I wouldn't be able to stay relieved without knowing my daughter's situation. So, let me just find out how she is doing.
If it is news that is not pleasant to me and something drastic and irreversible has occurred, I will still come back here and assist you.
All you need to do is, hold on for a few days."
"If you say so, City lord. But please do come back. We are all depending on you."
The subordinate said and sent the city lord away.
The city lord ran past the forest at his top speed as he made his way towards his own city.
But what he doesn't know is, as soon as he entered the forest, a small bird on a tree is looking at him and its eyeball followed his position at a rapid pace.
The image was shown on a crystal screen within the carrier and Philip who was watching this immediately sent an order.
The water creatures came out of the water and started making their way towards the newly made camp and this time, they are not holding anything back.
They didn't move slowly and they didn't care about the distance between them and the sea anymore. They just zoomed into the forest and the camp as they attacked everyone.
….
The time passed slowly as the city lord quickly moved to the city.
After a few hours, he can see the vicinities of the city and he halted in his tracks.
There are tracks of battle everywhere. Not a single place looked normal. All of the trees are crushed and the soil became loose.
He had a bad feeling as he sped to the city.