Chapter 206: The Beast Tide (Part 1)

The two fourth-level spells, “Mud to Stone” and “Stone to Mud,” can be considered among the most common support spells. Nobles building castles or royal families constructing fortresses would often hire numerous mages skilled in these spells to greatly accelerate the construction process. These spells are essential for mages who are not good at combat, allowing them to earn substantial rewards.
As a result, almost every mage who reaches the rank of Bronze Mage would strive to learn and master these two spells.
“Let’s start reinforcing these earthen walls now. Don’t spare your magic—there’s enough for your recovery!”
Saying this, Donald casually tossed dozens of small recovery potions before flying down from the city wall alongside Kelsas.
Although Kelsas hadn’t mastered many spells of the world’s mages yet, he had learned these two complementary support spells first. With a magic capacity second only to Donald’s as a mage-hero, he could achieve even greater results than the chief mage, Baorn.
The mages stared at the alchemical potions with eager eyes. Restoring magic was always a top priority for mages, as having a potion at a critical moment in battle was like having an extra life. No mage would ever want too few of such valuable potions, which kept their prices high and kept supply in short supply.
Apart from the chief mage, who received two extra bottles, each mage got five small recovery potions. Though they were reluctant to use these precious potions on support spells like “Mud to Stone,” the safety of Port Leyton demanded that they share them. They had to squeeze every last drop of their magic to use as few potions as possible.
Within an hour, most of the earthen wall defenses in the port area were transformed into stronger stone walls. Donald alone reinforced 300 meters of wall, while Kelsas, second only to his master, reinforced about 200 meters. The astonishing depth of their magic and mental strength left all the mages in awe.
The others used “Mud to Stone” repeatedly, taking recovery potions whenever their magic ran low. Some reinforced nearly 100 meters of wall, while others did several dozen meters. After working for over ten minutes, the eight mages finally completed the stone wall defenses before returning to the city wall to rest.

Although there are rest potions, repeatedly casting spells is also mentally exhausting. It’s necessary to rest as much as possible when the sea beasts are inactive to face them in the best condition. Although there are only nine mages here, including Donald, they are all powerful mages at least at the Bronze level or higher. The combat strength they can exert together exceeds that of tens of thousands of soldiers. As for the other lower-level mages and apprentice mages, they have been assigned by the guard force to defend important locations to prevent powerful sea beasts from breaking through the defenses of ordinary soldiers and reaching the city walls. Of course, in terms of endurance, these mages are far inferior to warriors, as their magic power is limited, allowing them to deliver only short-term, high-intensity attacks against enemies. Time passed quickly; a few hours slipped by in an instant, but for those on the walls of Port Leyton, every second felt like an eternity. After receiving accurate news, Count Leyton wisely ordered the port to be closed, with all civilians temporarily taking shelter inside the city, and many others evacuated to the territories behind Port Leyton. Now, aside from the defending troops, the recruited adventurers, and mercenaries, there are only nearly a thousand strong civilians responsible for logistics on the walls. With a total force of just over ten thousand people facing an unknown number of sea beast threats, everyone felt a heavy weight in their hearts. On the side of the sea beasts, today should have been the deadline set by the Ocean Lord, so these sea beasts should have rushed in in chaos long ago! Yet, aside from the slight disruption caused by the intense magical fluctuations from the mages’ earth-shaking spells earlier, those sea beasts remained quietly lurking in the water outside the port, behaving like the most disciplined elite army. This situation was not good news for the people of Port Leyton. If these less intelligent sea beasts were truly attacking Port Leyton in an orderly manner under the command of the Ocean Lord, their combat strength would increase many times over. Just as the people on the walls were worried, the sun had risen high in the sky. The midday sunlight shining on the sea made the silhouettes of the sea beasts lurking in the shallow waters even clearer. As the defending troops on the walls began to relax and prepare for lunch, a melodious howling sound came from afar, and the sea beasts lurking in the water moved.

Thousands of sea beasts, like cavalry given the order to charge, roared as they surged out of the water and rushed toward the port. Their howls had a psychological impact, frightening even the seasoned soldiers who had fought many battles on the city walls, let alone the recruits and adventurers conscripted last minute.

“What’s the rush? Prepare the ballistae, load them with fire bombs! Attack once they gather in large numbers behind the stone wall!”

As the commander of the defense forces, Laint knew the importance of morale and immediately mobilized his soldiers, easing some of the tension.

The first wave of tens of thousands of sea beasts quickly reached the stone wall. Most of them were aquatic monsters that resembled seals, but with much sharper claws and teeth than sea cats. Their strength was only slightly greater than that of ordinary beasts, and their size was about that of a regular dog. With limited intelligence, they were mere fodder in the sea beast horde. Many simply charged headlong at the stone wall—how could such thin walls, several meters thick, be shaken by these small beasts? They ended up bleeding profusely, while the walls only suffered a few shallow dents.

Yet these lowest-tier sea beasts compensated for their weakness in numbers. The first wave alone numbered tens of thousands, with countless more continuing to surge ashore.

“Prepare the ballistae, fire!”

When tens of thousands of sea beasts gathered in front of the stone wall—blocked by ditches and traps in front and the stone wall behind—they could only manage to get a small portion over the wall by piling on top of each other. At the commander’s order, over thirty ballistae fired simultaneously, unleashing fire bombs made of pottery jars. Most landed behind the stone wall.

Boom explosions echoed, accompanied by the sizzling sound of flames burning fat and the screams of the sea beasts. Many people couldn’t help but vomit.

Each of the thirty fire bombs, upon explosion, covered an area of seven or eight feet in radius. With so many sea beasts packed together, they quickly caught fire from the alchemically created oil on their peers. The unstoppable flames spread rapidly, killing thousands of sea beasts in just a few dozen seconds. Most died from being crushed together and exposed to the flames, with fewer than a few hundred killed directly by the fire bombs.

“Great job!”
“Amazing…”

After the smoke cleared, the soldiers on the city walls cheered. The first wave of sea beasts was nearly wiped out by their single attack—it seemed victory was within reach!