Chapter 152: Chapter 152: The Puppet-Master
'But what is the point of all of this? They know they have no chance of winning!' Kain thought in frustration.
He had been suffering from intense anxiety ever since the wards fell, much of which was due to not being able to see Bridge and the others. Bridge was out there somewhere, and the possibility of him being dead or severely injured gnawed at Kain's sanity. The helplessness of not being able to assist, to even confirm his brother and best friend's status, was unbearable.
Kain had to use all of his restraint to calm himself down and not send one of his Vespirae Guards to go look for Bridge, or to go look for him himself. Of course, if he did so he'd likely be severely punished as a deserter.
Not to mention that their group was already stretched so thin to maintain the defense now, if he sent away one of the Vespirae and a spiritual creature managed to break through to harm the ordinary civilians he'd rightfully be treated as a criminal. Kain also didn't think he'd be able to forgive himself if civilian casualties were to occur due to his actions.
He needed to have faith in Bridge.
However, it seemed that Kain wasn't the only one who anxiously wanted to check on their loved ones.
"Remember why we fight!" Ezra's voice cut through the noise of the battlefield. "Each and every one of you has the strength to make a difference. Do not let fear control you! Stand firm!"
Kain could see the strain on Ezra's face. The captain's contracts were engaged in a fierce battle against the beast tide.
The Void Lynx moved erratically through the battlefield using teleportation, it created portals that redirected attacks and allowed endangered allies to move to a safer location.
The green-grade snake coiled and struck with ruthless efficiency, each attack causing another green-grade creature to fall.
The drake created waved its claws in the air to cause small-scale black holes that sucked in many of the yellow-grade spiritual creatures in the vicinity.
The Djinn's presence alone seemed to inspire awe and fear as it simply seemed to cause the bodies of its foes to break apart with a wave of its hand, and the taotie continued to devour its foes as though it'd been starved for months.
Yet, even with their extraordinary abilities, Ezra and his team were being pushed back. The many green and blue-grade spiritual creatures were relentless, their overwhelming numbers forcing the defenders to fight with everything they had just to keep from being overwhelmed.
Not only them, but everyone on the battlefield was probably feeling overwhelmed.
As if the situation wasn't bad enough, a new threat began to approach Kain and the others. The third and fourth years were overwhelmed and unable to offer support, it would be up to the first and second years to stop its advancement.
The green-grade spiritual creature was a spider. Its body was enormous, with legs that spanned dozens of meters each, and its entire body was covered in a sleek, silver-blue exoskeleton. Its abdomen was large and slightly translucent and its many red eyes glowed sinisterly.
From it abdomen extended hundreds of fine shimmering threads that had a faint flow. Each of the threads were long enough to extend dozens, if not hundreds, of meters, and soon all of the wild spiritual creatures attacking the city were connected to a thread. Once touched by the thread their eyes all turned completely white and stared blankly forward.
The sight of the spider's controlled puppets, their eyes glowing white, was enough to send shivers down the spines of even the most experienced guards. The mental control was not just a physical threat but an emotional and psychological one, creating an atmosphere of fear and helplessness that spread across the battlefield.
All of their actions also became incredibly coordinated as though instructed a skilled general. Their threat level also increased severalfold. Kain and the others were already in a precarious position when the beasts were attacking separately, now that they were working as a team, holding the defensive line was much more difficult.
Seeing that the source of this coordination was the threads ejected by the spider, Kain and the launched attacks and weapons to try to cut them. However, all of their attacks went straight through them as though the threads didn't even exist.
Kain sent Bea towards one of the controlled orange-grade spiritual creatures and managed to conclude that the threads were composed of mental-attribute energy.
He was a little jealous. The number of people the spider could control was lower than Bea once she had enough time to produce many splits, but the mobility and flexibility provided by these threads were incomparable to Bea relied on mist to be able to move around and infect others.
As the spider approached the wall, some of its threads even managed to make contact with the defenders, turning them against their comrades.
The defenders futilely tried all manner of methods to cut the threads or to awaken their controlled comrades but to no avail.
The situation had become even more precarious as the defenders not only had to fight against external attacks but also attacks from their allies within the city. The defence was crumbling under the dual onslaught of both internal and external enemies.
A drastic change would need to be made, otherwise the defensive line won't be able to last until the wards were back up.