Attack on Alpaca Vol. 02 (進撃のアルパ巨人) COUNTERATTACK

Chapter 08 - The Colossal Shadow

(I know it's been FOREVER since you last read the previous chapter, so I highly suggest you do a recap. Sorry. Read Volume 01 and the previous chapters of this volume.)

DIA'S POV

We saw it. A glimpse of a giant shadow as the moon shined brightly for a moment at the horizon.

There was no doubt about it. The giant shadow we saw overhead can only mean one thing - the Colossal Alpaca has returned! And it seems to be moving somewhere slowly.

This is bad. REALLY BAD!! I can't believe our first mission is this!! The three of us wanted a mission so badly many hours ago, but not like this!! Facing the Colossal? We're totally unprepared for that!

"This is bad! Right now, it's too risky to face that thing! We have to notify the rest of the Corps! Sergeant Shun! Take those newbies with you! No matter what happens, protect them even if it kills you!!", another sergeant said as he took off with two other soldiers.

"Roger! You guys, follow me!!", she said as our group divides into two. While the other group seperates to notify the other Legionnaires in the west, our group rides off towards the east.

"Alright guys, I'm taking responsibility now! Listen, our mission now is to notify the rest of the Corps of the attack. We'll be heading towards various outposts to signal the alarms! Let's go quickly!"

Without any other choice, Kanan, Mari, I and the other recruits followed her. As we rode, the Colossal walked away, without paying us any attention.

As the moon started to fade away into the clouds, we could barely see anything. We had torches to light up our way, but I am a bit nervous that the light from our torches could attract attention. Still, we need it to see through this darkness. Argh, I hope we don't get attacked along the way.

We kept moving until we reached our first outpost. Once we got there, we hurriedly got down from our horses and got moving.

"Man that cannon tower! Not only can we shoot down Alpacas with it, the noise it emits will be enough to alert nearby camps!", said Sergeant Shun.

One of the most critical advantages of the Expeditionary Road are the cannon towers. Just as Shun said, their actual purpose was to send noise signals throughout nearby camps of approaching Alpacas, thereby alerting the Legionnaires where the attack was coming from and where to send reinforcements. Shooting Alpacas was just their secondary purpose.

If one has a map of the entire Road, every area has at least one cannon tower positioned. The gap between one tower to another is about 30-40 meters, thus it is easy for you to hear them if you were there. Besides that, the camp which has these towers have sign posts which tell you where the nearest cannon tower is, making logistics, travels, and emergency escapes a lot easier. This is one of the main reason why the Road is so successful - Legionnaires can easily track down Alpacas and take them down before they got too close to the safer zones.

Kanan went up the tower sonner than us and prepared the tower - but something was wrong.

"Ma'm! There are no cannonballs here!", said Kanan.

"What?!! Check again!"

Kanan rechecked. Seconds later...

"Sergeant Shun, there's nothing in here! I've checked countless times!"

"What? That can't be right - "

"Sergeant! I've searched everywhere in this outpost. Not a single cannonball has been sighted!", said Mari.

"Darn it! Everyone, we will move on to the next tower! The sign post here says the next one is southeast of us! Let's head there!"

We moved out again. We travelled to another nearby station. Luckily, we haven't encountered any Alpacas.