The First Legendary Beast Master novel Chapter 267

Chapter 267 Artillery Lullaby

?The sound of artillery shelling the area continued all night, and then just after dawn, the sound of Frost Giant war horns blared across the north end of the valley, interrupting breakfast and causing the radio communications to go crazy.

Karl had left his earpiece out so that everyone could hear the radio during the night, in case the Frost Giants attacked early, but from the sound of the broadcasts, their reinforcements were just arriving.

The bunkers had greatly reduced their casualties last night, and with the addition of hundreds more warriors, the Frost Giants were preparing a charge on the south end of the valley, which would put them in position to flank the main army lines.

The problem for Karl and his team was that the shelling continued, so they couldn't safely approach the Giants to get to work.

[Hawk, fly up and double-check the area, I want to be absolutely certain that nothing is trying to come down this valley before we leave.] He instructed.

First, Hawk flew south, to make sure that nothing got by them in the night, as unlikely as that was. Then he headed north up the valley, where only ten kilometres from the camp, he found a large group of the Giants in white building rock hurling siege weapons and building barricades.

Karl checked that against his map and found that the location should be the Golden Dragon Nation side of the neutral zone, or contested zone, between the two countries. The lake that was directly behind their barriers had been the boundary marked on the map. _{ƒгeewebnovёl.com}

The army almost certainly wouldn't want to push that far, and if they were setting up artillery, the Frost Giants weren't going anywhere. The river wouldn't support the weight, and it was too much trouble to have to disassemble and reassemble them for half a morning's march.

But as Hawk circled back, he saw that the group at the lake wasn't the only one that was digging in for a long battle. On the other side of the ridge, the Frost Giants were building a massive ice fortification within their raging blizzard, visible to the keen eyes of Hawk only because they weren't trying to hide it from the back.

Karl sent in the message, and got back a quick response. Not from the Battalion Commander, as he had expected, but from the main line's regional Command.

[Please remain on site to secure the secondary valley against enemy incursion. Reinforcing troops have been delayed.] They informed him.

[Understood, we will be holding our monitoring position.]

Karl looked at the others and shrugged. "Well, we're up the side of a hill, in the trees, where we can see half the valley. I would say that's a good enough position for what they want, and we can just wait here where it's warm.

Until we get other directions, Hawk and Rae can take turns watching for movement, and we can all stay well rested.

I know that we're not military, so we can theoretically decline the order, but it wouldn't hurt to wait here and see what happens next."

Tessa laughed. "If we move and something comes down the valley to cause problems for them, you know that we're going to hear it from the High Priests as well. They despise it when they get messages complaining about the actions of their clergy, and they're already stressed by the current situation.

Lotus might be used to getting yelled at all the time, but I prefer to avoid it."

Lotus giggled at the insinuation, but Tessa was right. She got yelled at on a fairly regular basis for getting side tracked when she wasn't with a Green Dragon or other type of Nature Priest. They got side tracked just as much as she did.

The artillery never slowed, only staggered its rhythm so that the enemy wouldn't find it as easy to predict. The sound carried through the mountain valleys, impossible to escape as the battle raged on.

[What's this? You've gone for Tank position, and the Healer Role, and now you want to be artillery too?] Karl joked.

[Remi is just a tiny snake, how could she take up our ranged combat role all by herself? Well, by herself or with Hawk if he doesn't have to scout.] Thor asked.

Hawk silently laughed at the thought of an overgrown afternoon snack becoming their ranged damage member, but refrained from saying anything that might make Thor sad. He was excited about helping, so Hawk let him have it.

Thor's idea made good sense to Remi. She wasn't even big enough to see over people, she had to hide in Karl's armour or in her space just so she could see to cast her spells. If she was a flying snake, she could do like Hawk and target them from above, but her minor water control only allowed her to make simple appendages, not wings.

But one day she would be big, and then she would be able to see everything in her swamp.

[We just need to teach her a new skill, so she can see further. If she could find targets when they were further away, Remi could be our tiny blue artillery snake.] Hawk suggested, hoping to keep Thor happy even if they couldn't get an artillery.

That didn't sound like a bad idea to Remi. She just didn't know how she was going to do it. Maybe if her water control was better, she might be able to sense what her blizzard was hitting, and then she could target more spells without needing to see them.

As an added benefit, she would know where everything in her swamp was. She just had to find someone who knew how to teach her that skill. Or have Karl torture one of the Frost Giants until they told him. The Frost Giants should know.

Only, nobody spoke Frost Giant.

Learning was hard, Remi decided.