I can evolve everything

Chapter 98: The First Two Lines of Defense

In this way, Ryan can focus all his attention on what is in front of him.

The nearly two thousand monsters are the only thing he needs to worry about right now.

The vibrations coming from the ground became increasingly clear.

The once pure and crisp north wind was now mixed with a nauseating stench.

"It stinks." The mage Thales, standing on the high platform to the left of the first line of defense, pinched his nose, his face turning pale. "These guys are as disgusting as ever."

"If you lived in the wasteland, you'd be the same." Renn stared intently at the canyon entrance. "Ready, Thales?"

Thales, somewhat exasperated, pulled a short staff from his robe: "Don't talk like that! I used up ten whole bags of crystals to set up this defense! And those explosive magic arrays too!"

As they spoke, the beast tide had already reached a short distance in front of the canyon.

Leading the beast tide were countless small, monstrous creatures. They looked like cannon fodder. They paused at the entrance, jostling each other, greedily and fearfully eyeing the canyon ahead.

Behind these short monsters were even stronger gnolls.

They growled softly, urging the monsters ahead to scout the way.

Though those monsters were stupid, they could still sense the danger in the air. They cowered and tried to retreat, but the gnolls behind them smashed their heads.

We must move forward.

This is the logic of the beast tide: either charge ahead or die behind.

"These monsters are clever; they know to send the cannon fodder over first."

Renn lay behind a rock halfway up the mountain, carefully observing the scene before him.

Beside him, Ella and a dozen elite soldiers lay prone in the snow, trying their best to avoid revealing their presence.

"Tails." Renn didn't turn around, but stared at the area below. "Are your preparations really flammable? The temperature is minus thirty degrees Celsius right now."

On the flank of the first line of defense below, the figure in the mage's robe trembled.

Thales gripped the short staff tightly in his hand, his face pale.

"You're questioning a spellcaster's professionalism!" Thales said, somewhat indignant and barely concealing his nervousness. "That's special oil! It can burn even in a glacier! If only—if only they went in a little more—"

The entrance to the canyon, at the first line of defense.

To avoid arousing suspicion from the monsters, the barricades were placed sparsely, but this was precisely a trap.

Sparse barricades will make monsters feel they have an opportunity to squeeze in, thus speeding up their pace.

Just as Raine had predicted, once the first group of kobolds was certain there were no traps on the ground, the rest of the force began to accelerate.

The dark, dense herd of beasts quickly filled the snow-covered plain.

"That's enough," Renn said coldly. "Make your move."

Below, Thales took a deep breath and raised his short staff.

"burst!"

The mage let out a low growl.

The once pristine white snow suddenly cracked open.

The ground beneath the snow turned red.

The snowfield was instantly ignited, flames leaping out and greedily licking everything above.

The more than three hundred monsters in the central area were swallowed up by the sudden sea of ​​fire before they could even react.

They rolled around frantically, trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies, but this did nothing but spread the fire to their companions.

"withdraw!"

After lighting the fire, Thales didn't even look at the results. Holding the staff, he quickly climbed up the mountain using both his hands and feet.

As planned, his mission was complete, and now he had to hurry back to Ryan's side and lie low.

The sea of ​​fire at the first line of defense not only killed a number of monsters, but more importantly, it disrupted the rhythm of the beast tide.

The monsters behind were blocked by the wall of fire, while those in front were screaming in agony, and the entire group instantly fell into chaos.

Although the flames were fierce, they were destined not to last long in the wind and snow of the North.

About ten minutes later, the fire began to subside.

The powerful monsters that had been held back finally couldn't hold back any longer.

Several enormous Yetis roared and charged through the still-smoking first line of defense, stepping over the charred corpses of their kind.

They were enraged. Enraged to the point of losing their minds, they only wanted to tear every human in sight to shreds.

"Enter the second line of defense." Renn's gaze shifted to the narrow passage deeper inside: a narrow gorge.

There, Sergeant Hank and over a hundred heavily armed infantrymen were already on high alert.

However, these hundreds of men were not arranged in a frontal battle formation, but were loosely distributed behind the rock bunkers on both sides.

When the monsters rushed into the narrow passage, they were met with crossbow bolts and infantry attacks coming from the mountain walls on both sides.

These shots were not intended to kill, but only to provoke.

Most of the crossbow bolts that hit the Yetis bounced off, with only a few embedding themselves in their flesh, but that was enough to drive them even crazier.

"roar--!"

A Yeti grabbed a boulder and hurled it towards the mountainside, but it only hit empty air.

"Don't linger! Harass them for a bit and then run!" Hank roared from below, his spear plunging into the eye socket of a gnoll that was trying to attack. Without looking back, he turned and retreated: "Retreat! Retreat to the third line of defense!"

The infantry strictly adhered to the tactic of engaging in skirmishes and never directly fighting.

This tactic is extremely effective.

The enraged horde of monsters was stretched longer and longer, and the originally dense monsters were forced to grow longer and longer in the canyon.

Those in front ran fast, those behind were blocked, and those in the middle were being harassed by arrows from both sides.

"The formation is in disarray."

Renn lay on the mountainside, looking down at the winding line of monsters below, a slight smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips.

At this moment, Thales finally crawled up to Renn's side, panting heavily, and plopped down on the snow, gasping for breath: "Huff... huff... Lord Renn, I... I'm not late, am I?"

"Perfect timing." Renn handed him a water pouch. "Have some water and get some rest. We'll need you again."

"Whoosh—whoosh—as long as I pay more, I can always squeeze out some magic power." Thales skillfully pulled out a second staff from his pocket. "But sir, are you sure you want to detonate it now? If you do, half the mountain will collapse."

"Perfect." Renn coldly looked down at the dense horde of beasts. "Let's teach them a lesson."

"Okay, okay————"

Thales muttered to himself as he planted his staff in the snow in front of him.

At this moment, the battle below had turned into a chase.

Hank's decoy forces have successfully withdrawn to the third line of defense, behind the stone towers and city walls.

Meanwhile, most of the monsters were still jostling each other as they advanced through the narrow passage.

On the rock walls on both sides of the narrow passage, dozens of explosive magic arrays suddenly lit up.

Click.

The sound of rocks breaking echoed through the canyon.

The monsters below seemed to sense something; several of the more perceptive monsters nervously raised their heads and looked up at the sky.