"Steady, don't panic, the magic bulls are coming. Aim at the few at the front and lure them over … Alright, fire!" Laurist waved his hand, and the three steel ballistae let out three loud booms. Three bolts flew over three hundred meters and pierced into their targets.
Blood splashed out, and the screams of the magic bulls shook the surroundings. The black horde of demonic beasts suddenly stopped. Two of the demonic cows had fallen, and a group of demonic cows were looking around for the enemy.
"Load, continue firing."
After the second volley of bolts was fired, the chaotic magic bulls finally discovered the stone wall on the hillside and the few ants that were attacking them.
"Moo …" With an angry howl, the magic bulls started to charge at the small stone wall on the hillside. Soon, the snow-covered hillside was covered by the magic bulls.
However, it was only when the red-eyed demonic bulls rushed up the hill that they realized that the stone wall they saw at the bottom of the hill was not built on the top of the hill, but in the middle of the other side of the hill. It was not a stone wall either, but a long square structure. However, the innocent minds of these magic bulls had already forgotten about the few provoking ants. All the magic bulls that had climbed up the hillside were attracted by a large piece of bright red cloth hanging from the bottom of the square structure …
On the snow-covered plain, that bright red cloth was like a dancing flame, attracting the attention of all the onlookers …
"Moo, moo! Moo … "The angry cries of the magic bulls rang out continuously. Everyone who knew a little about the magic bulls knew that they should never let them notice the bright red cloth on their bodies, because it would cause them to go berserk, and they would chase you to the end of their lives …
The demonic bulls on the hillside moved. They lowered their heads and revealed the curved, sharp horns on their heads. With the force of a thunderbolt, they charged straight at the bright red cloth. Unfortunately, these magic bulls didn't notice that the closer they got to the red cloth, the more the hillside sloped downwards. When these magic bulls charged past the red cloth, they were still two meters away from it.
The charging Demon Cows raised their heads and discovered that there was another piece of red cloth fluttering in the wind in front of them. Without saying a word, the Demon Cows lowered their heads and continued charging forward.
Just like that, this herd of twenty to thirty thousand demonic bulls deviated from the direction of the magical beast tide under the guidance of the red cloth. They had already gone crazy from being teased by the red cloth. After sprinting for more than ten kilometers, the first batch of demonic bulls was already exhausted. Their eyes had also regained their clarity, but they could no longer turn their heads. On both sides were snow cliffs that were six to seven meters high, and behind them were their comrades. Other than the straight path in front of them, there was no other way for them to go …
When the view in front of them suddenly became clear, the Demon Cows discovered that they were in an open and large canyon, surrounded by steep cliffs that were more than a hundred feet high. To the Demon Cows, they did not realize that they had fallen into a dead end. It was just that after sprinting for more than ten kilometers, they decided to rest here and eat some grass and lichen moss to replenish their energy. Thus, herds of Demon Cows leisurely strolled around the canyon, occasionally digging up some grass from under the snow to chew on.
This was the Crewe Circle Isthmus in the Norton Family's territory. The entire isthmus looked like a mischievous child who had dug a large circular hole in the ground. The Crewe Circle Isthmus was not a dead end. There were a few cracks on one side of the isthmus, and one could gradually leave the isthmus. But to the Demon Cows, these cracks were a path of no return.
A few Demon Cows twisted and turned in these cracks, and finally set foot on the ground. But what greeted them was the sound of steel ballistae firing. These Demon Cows felt as if they had been struck by lightning, and instantly died.
"Hurry up and drag the corpses of these Demon Cows away. There are a few more coming up from behind. Everyone, get ready …" Doles stood on a war chariot in high spirits as he gave the order. These cracks that led from the isthmus to the ground were his battleground. As long as the Demon Cows came up, they would be killed by his steel ballistae.
A few family soldiers came up and skillfully tied ropes around the corpses of the Demon Cows on the ground. Then, with a wave of their hands, the horses in front of them exerted their strength, and the corpses of the Demon Cows, which weighed more than a thousand kilograms, glided lightly across the snowy ground to a large open space not far away. In any case, the weather was very cold, and the corpses of the Demon Cows were quickly frozen solid in the wind and snow. They were placed in rows. Only when they were free would someone come and collect the spoils of war.
Bang! The square frame shook violently, and snow and ice flew everywhere. The Green-Eyed Wild Bull that had slammed into the bottom of the square frame shook its huge head. It was also a little dizzy from the impact, and after spinning around in place for a while, it finally came to its senses. It let out a series of moos as it retreated, preparing to ram into the frame again.
"Fuck!" On the square frame, Laurist grabbed a steel ballista and took aim, killing the Green-Eyed Wild Bull before it could ram into the bottom of the square frame again.
The square frame that Laurist and the others were on was twelve meters long and eight meters tall. In order to prevent the Demon Cows from going berserk and ramming into the bottom, Laurist had purposely reduced the area of the red cloth hanging in the middle, leaving a distance of four meters between the two sides. This was to attract the attention of the Demon Cows passing through the middle, and they would not be interested in the two sides of the base.
However, the Green-Eyed Wild Bull had somehow gotten into a conflict with the left base, and after colliding with it once, it still wanted to ram into it again. Apart from killing it with arrows, there was no other way. Otherwise, if the base was damaged and the entire square frame collapsed, then it would be a huge joke. Fortunately, Laurist's shooting just now did not attract the attention of the Wild Bulls that were charging at the red cloth. The endless herd of Wild Bulls was still charging under the square frame …
"After this herd of Green-Eyed Wild Bulls passes through, we'll go down and gather some snow from the nearby hillside. Tell the camp over there to boil some water, and we'll reinforce the two bases of the square frame and freeze it completely. Damn, I broke out in a cold sweat just now … "Laurist said.
"Me too …" Aire replied as he leaned on the protective wall beside him.
In order to deal with the magical beast wave that would engulf the family's territory this winter, Laurist had mobilized almost all of the family's power.
First of all, Loriste was going to lure the large demonic bulls out of the magical beast tide and pull them to the Crewe Circle Isthmus. If the magical beast wave lost a few hundred thousand large Demon Cows, then the remaining Demon Goats, Demon Deer, and Demon Horses would be easy to deal with.
Laurist was not greedy. If the magical beast wave reached a million this winter, Laurist only wanted to keep half of them. Adding on the spring sweep of the Plentiful Joy Plains, the magical beasts that could return to the Wildlands would at most be three to four hundred thousand. As long as this continued for three years, he believed that the magical beast wave would disappear from the family's territory, and they would no longer be a huge problem for the family.
In order to achieve this goal, all of the family's knights and armed forces had gone through repeated training. The defensive facilities of all the central towns and villages from the second to the seventh had been completed. As the magical beast wave would definitely pass through the five central towns from the second to the sixth, five Gold Knights of the family were personally stationed there. When the magical beast wave passed through, they would seize the opportunity to release some low-fighting magical beasts such as Demon Goats and Demon Deer into the cities, turning the magical beast wave into a carnival of hunting for the entire city.
The central town of the seventh district, Northfield Town. The magical beast wave wouldn't reach here, so there was no need to be too nervous.
The central town of the sixth district, Beast Town. This was the name that Laurist had personally given it last year after dealing with the magical beast wave. Now, it was overseen by the chief Gold Knight, Bofinger.
The central town of the fifth district, which had yet to be named, was overseen by the Gold Knight, Roth, whom Laurist called the Tiger.
The central town of the fourth district, which also had no name, was overseen by the silver-haired Berrugia.
The central town of the third district, which was overseen by the Gold Mercenary Zino Freya.
The central town of the second district, which was overseen by the former military judge of the White Lion Legion of the Crisen Empire, Mons Malek, who had just become a Gold Knight. After the northbound carriages returned to the family's territory, he was given a long vacation by Laurist. After more than a year of training, he finally reached the Gold rank, becoming the sixth Gold Knight under Laurist.
Everyone was rubbing their palms together, full of confidence as they waited eagerly for the arrival of the magical beast wave during winter. Laurist, on the other hand, brought the Gold Sharpshooter Josk, the commander of the guard camp, and the others to lie in ambush on this small hill. They were carrying out the most difficult first step, which was to lure the demon bull herd from the magical beast wave to the Crewe Circle Isthmus …
"This is the third herd, right? How many are there?" Padt asked.
"Fifty to sixty thousand. I reckon there should be around that many," Aire replied.
"That's about it," Laurist said. "After this herd, we'll go rest at the camp over there. Let Josk and the others take turns. When we go down later, remember to drag that dead bull back to the camp. It's been eating dry rations for the past two days, so it's a good time to have a sumptuous meal. "
"Yes, Sir."
The temporary camp wasn't far from this hill, separated only by a small hill. The main reason for setting up camp there was because there was a small pond on the hill, which was convenient for fetching water. However, when Laurist and the others arrived, they discovered that the camp was in a fierce battle. Nearly a hundred Winter Wolves were surrounding the camp. However, they suffered heavy losses under Josk's divine arrows and the four steel ballistae in the camp. The snow was littered with the corpses of Winter Wolves here and there.
By the time Laurist arrived, it was almost the end. The remaining 30 or so Winter Wolves noticed Laurist and the others' arrival and changed their target. They fiercely pounced at them, but they were all turned into corpses by Laurist and the others.
The temporary camp wasn't big. It was only surrounded by a wooden fence that was four to five meters tall, and there were four wooden watchtowers at the four corners, each with a steel ballista.
Josk smiled wryly, "Sir, we seem to have forgotten about the carnivorous magical beasts that are following the magical beast wave in search of prey. It's a good thing that there were only a hundred or so Winter Wolves attacking the camp. We would've been in deep trouble if we had encountered a pack of a thousand."
The temporary camp only had a hundred or so experts selected from the guard camp, and the family knights were only Josk, Ell, Pat, and Jim. Fortunately, it had snowed heavily during this period of time, so Laurist had no choice but to instruct everyone to work together. They spent three days building a five-meter-tall snow wall around the camp, then poured water over it to form an ice wall. Only after the camp had enough defense did he continue to lead the people to the opposite slope. They climbed to the top of the square frame and began to lure and divert the large demon cow herd.
After another ten or so days, Laurist and Josk took turns to lure and separate seven large magic bull herds. There were about a hundred thousand of them, and the magical beast wave was over. All that was left were carnivorous magical beasts. Laurist and the others were trapped in the temporary camp for almost seven days, dealing with the attacks of several packs of magic wolves and leopards. After inflicting heavy casualties on these magical beasts, they forced them to give up on attacking the camp, and only then did they leave for the Crewe Circle Isthmus.
At this time, the Crewe Circle Isthmus had become a large-scale center for slaughtering cows. The number of magic bulls that came out of the cracks in the isthmus had increased from a hundred at the beginning to thousands every day. The chariot squad under Dolus' command had now become part of the automatic slaughtering line. The magic bulls that came out of the cracks would be shot twice before they could even stand firm, and they would fall to the ground, still struggling for their lives. A hoop would be thrown to the side, and the one that caught the bull's head would be dragged away, and the second bull would come up and repeat the process …
The corpses of the Demonic Cows were piled up like a mountain on the ground. Rows of frozen Demonic Cow corpses were piled up to seven or eight stories high. The empty ground continued to expand, and the piles of Demonic Cow corpses soon appeared on the empty ground. Dolus had already sent an urgent message to Monolith Castle, requesting for a few thousand more people to move the corpses.
The ground around the crack in the isthmus had already been dyed red by the blood of the magic bulls, but as the number of magic bulls in the isthmus increased, the starving magic bulls had to find a way out through the isthmus. Apart from going up through the crack in the isthmus, there were also countless magic bulls that turned around and prepared to go back through the straight path they had come from.
There were only about four hundred steel ballistae above the crack, while Dolus' chariot squad had two thousand five hundred. Laurist had already arranged for more than one thousand eight hundred steel ballistae to lie in ambush on the two sides of the straight path. All of the magic bulls that were heading back were attacked by a torrent of ballistae bolts in the back half of the straight path. The corpses of the magic bulls piled up on top of each other on the slope, and the blood of the magic bulls flowed into small streams on the straight path …
The entire winter, Dolus' newly formed chariot squad had been fighting against the magic bulls that had fallen into the Crewe's circular isthmus. It took them more than two months to exterminate all of the 170,000 magic bulls. Everyone was exhausted, and almost a thousand of the two thousand four hundred steel ballistae had been destroyed due to the high frequency of use.
When the last of the magical cows fell in the open space of the isthmus, Dorcas sat on the chariot and said to Laurist who was accompanying him, "My Lord, I don't want to shoot at cows anymore. I'm sick of seeing them."
With the arrival of spring and the retreat of the magical beast wave, good news came one after another. The first was the central town of District 6, Beastmaster Town. It was the first district to experience the magical beast wave. Thanks to Laurist and the others luring away the magic bulls, Boddinger, who was in charge of Beastmaster Town, boldly opened the city gates more than ten times, allowing over two hundred thousand magic goats, antelopes, and deer to enter the city. This made Beastmaster Town the town with the most meat harvest during the magical beast wave. Afterwards, they made a large number of round goat rib traps, allowing Beastmaster Town to harvest the corpses of thousands of carnivorous magic beasts after the magical beast wave retreated.
Next, the five central towns from District 5 to District 2 also had their own harvests. After adding them up, it was discovered that there weren't many herbivorous magic beasts left. Of the million magic beasts, less than three hundred thousand were able to return to the barbarian plains.
Laurist was overjoyed. This way, in another two years, the magical beast wave would disappear from his family's territory. He could finally focus on farming and developing his land.
Patting Dolus on the shoulder, Laurist said, "Alright, it's time to set off. Jost's archer and cavalry battalion will escort your chariot squad to wipe out the magic beasts lingering in the Plentiful Plains. Roth the Ferocious Tiger's armored cavalry is also waiting for you in District 3. There might be magic bulls left in the Plentiful Plains, but most of them are carnivorous magic beasts. Be careful. When you return from your mission, I guarantee that new steel ballistae will be waiting for you. "
"Yes, my lord," Dolus saluted.
… …
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