Crest of the Strongest Knight

Chapter 174 - Under Fire

Medrauta nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. No fancy plans or anything, just you and me."

The two of them made their way down the mountain, Viviane remaining on the slope as Medrauta completed their descent. With her sword drawn and still glowing silver, Medrauta dashed toward the cannonspawn, cutting off their advance. Even as she pulled ahead of the frontmost cannonspawn, she could hear the familiar high-pitched shrieks that the witchspawn emitted whenever one of them perished, courtesy of Viviane's high-speed shooting.

The cannonspawn's advance stalled immediately as they registered the newly arrived threats, pointing their "heads" toward Medrauta and tracking her with pinpoint, mechanical accuracy as they let loose a tremendous volley of cannonfire.

"Gah!" Medrauta threw herself to the ground, rolling forward and onto her feet as she quickly recovered to dodge the next bombardment. Had she not been empowered by Viviane's Crest, the volley likely would've struck her.

This was the very first time anyone had actually seen the cannonspawn fire, and Medrauta was unlucky enough to witness the spectacle up close and personal. While dodging arrows was one thing, the black-red spheres that the cannonspawn spat from the depths of their barrel-like bodies flew at incredible speeds that were nearly impossible to dodge at such a close range.

Even more terrifying was their uncanny accuracy that could almost give Viviane a run for her money. Pinpointing Viviane's shooting location almost instantly, the cannonspawn that she had been picking off had begun returning fire, their shots landing dangerously close to the small alcove of boulders she had been shooting from.

The explosions from their shots shook the mountainside, nearly causing the noblewoman to lose her footing before she managed to catch herself on a sturdy outcrop where she quickly dove into cover, waiting for the cannonfire to cease. Not used to dealing with such terrifying sounds coupled with return fire from enemy units, Viviane's entire body trembled from the experience.

Her breath came short and rapid as her heart beat violently, threatening to burst out of her chest as she gripped her bow tightly. She shook her head, attempting to clear it and refocus her attention to leap back into the fight and support her knight. The thought of being bombarded again terrified Viviane, but the prospect of losing her knight terrified her even more.

Medrauta swore under her breath as she dove forward, narrowly avoiding a black-red cannonball that blasted past her head, mere inches away from her face. The force of the passing sphere was immense, the wind that it generated causing the sweat on Medrauta's brow to be pulled free.

The knight dove forward, her silver hair streaming behind her like the tail of a fearless comet breaking through the atmosphere with all its might. Her sword flashed through the air, a glittering pinwheel of light as it caught the rays of the slowly setting sun. With a single slash, she felled at least a dozen cannonspawn, their tubular bodies at the mercy of her blade once she managed to close the distance.

Meanwhile, Viviane had returned to the fight after her brief respite, pouring arrow after arrow into the cannonspawn formation. Before separating from the army, she had brought six fully loaded quivers along with her, and she had already emptied three with the sheer speed of her rapid shooting, each of her gleaming arrows finding their mark with ease.

Despite the rough start, the fight was beginning to ease up now that Medrauta had managed to close distance with the brunt of the cannonspawn forces and Viviane had found her rhythm between shooting volleys and ducking into cover. More importantly, the two had quickly managed to figure out the reload cycle of the cannonspawn.

As the cannonspawn were modified witchspawn and carried no ammo, the deadly spheres they shot were formed within their own bodies, depending on relatively time-consuming cycle that required a reloading cannonspawn to remain stationary as it drew mana from wherever Amelia had placed her power source before converting it into a cannonball. While it was possible for them to generate ammunition using the mana that formed their bodies, such a practice would not be sustainable, forcing the cannonspawn to draw from the primary power source instead.

Because of that, Medrauta and Viviane were able to take advantage of the lengthy reload period to drive further and further into the cannonspawn formation. With only a single knight and lady, it was virtually impossible for the two of them to cull the entire force, but they were making decent progress in stalling their advance at the very least.

With each passing second, more and more cannonspawn began leaking past Medrauta's onslaught, crawling closer toward the behemoth and the human army that was bravely supporting Eris' efforts.

As she took cover from the cannonspawns' most recent bombardment, Viviane took the opportunity to look back at the behemoth and the human army, hoping to see some sort of positive development. Her eyes strained, a frown touching her face as she watched Eris continue to duel the behemoth.

The human army had surrounded the great beast, and it seemed a number of soldiers in the rear were being directed by Scarlet, putting together some sort of contraption while Eris and the five knights from Spinel kept the behemoth busy.

A sense of longing clutched at Viviane's heart as she wished dearly to lend a hand, but the sounds of Medrauta fighting in the mountain pass quickly dragged her back to reality. She nodded to herself, taking a deep breath.

Then, she stepped out of cover and let loose a rain of silver once more.