Hamster Wheel Village Defense Battle (3)
The thick steel bolt from the repeating ballista punched straight through the lead mercenary’s chest and buried itself in the dirt.
“Kill them all!”
My cold command was the signal. Murderous intent poured down from the rooftops and watchtowers ringing the square.
Thwip-thwip-thwip! Hiss-thunk!
Bolts and bowgun arrows rained from every direction. In an instant the mercenaries became rats in a trap, a merciless storm hammering down on their heads.
“Gaaah! Ambush!”
“Above! Shoot the rooftops!”
They didn’t go down easy. True veterans of the back alleys, the kind who rolled for a noble’s dirty gold. A few of them went down spraying blood under the crossfire, but even while screaming they instinctively locked backs together and formed a defensive knot.
“You filthy little rat bastards!”
Crouched in the middle of the pack, the dark mage spat out an incantation like he was vomiting blood and slammed his staff into the ground.
Wuuuung!
The air trembled. A violet mana shield far thicker and more solid than anything before sealed them inside a perfect hemisphere.
“It’s a multi-layered mana shield!”
Hilde’s urgent shout cut across the square. Inside that overwhelming all-around barrier the mercenaries steadied themselves and began to counterattack.
Clang!
The storm of arrows and bolts slammed into the thick hexagonal mana wall and bounced off like toys.
In that brief opening the survivors raised Adlerheim-made rifles and started sniping the rooftops.
Bang! Crack!
“Kyaaah!”
“Get down!”
The wooden railing beside a ranger girl who had been reloading next to me shattered under a bullet, sharp splinters flying. I lunged, grabbed her by the scruff, and flattened us both against the roof boards.
They were shooting from below at a bad angle. Even so, their fire was terrifyingly precise. Safe behind the shield, they were pouring out one-sided firepower. The whole battle was about to flip on us.
“Loti! If we don’t break that barrier we’re all dead first!”
Hilde shouted from the opposite roof, still pressed flat while bullets cracked past her.
I clenched my teeth hard enough to ache.
Raw physical force from arrowheads alone would never punch through that multi-layer shield in one go.
Then we mix something else into the physics.
The exact same trick that had humiliated the dark mages back in Oakwood.
I squeezed my eyes shut and hauled on the Apostle’s authority.
Flash.
Dozens of translucent spirit horn-mice burst out of my shadow all at once.
Climb on!
My will pointed them straight at the heavy strings of the loaded ballistae.
“Chik!”
The horn-mice scattered like lightning across the towers and roofs, then rode the thick steel bolts like leeches, trailing golden light as they settled into place.
Bolts coated in overwhelming holy power—anti-magic shield-breakers.
The horn-mouse missiles made their second debut after Oakwood.
“Fire!”
Thrummm!
The heavy strings screamed metal as they released. Horn-mice with blazing golden eyes rode the bolts, slicing through the black night sky.
Crack! Kzzzzzt!
A bolt slammed dead-center into the mana shield. The barrier that had casually shrugged off pure physical force went berserk under the alien holy power. More horn-mouse missiles hammered home one after another. The binding of the magic twisted, and the solid violet dome shattered like a pane of glass, fragments dissolving into empty air.
“Wh-what the—!”
The dark mage staggered, raising his staff in panic. That single exposed instant was all Hilde and I needed.
Click-clack!
In our hands were the Adlerheim needle rifles we had looted from the mine.
Air guns and bowguns aren’t enough. We cut his throat for good.
As if we had rehearsed it, we both squeezed the triggers at the same time.
Bang!
The acrid stink of burning paper cartridges. Two heavy lead balls tore through the dark and punched cleanly into the dark mage’s chest and the side of his neck.
“Guh… hhk…”
He gurgled, frothing blood, then toppled like a rotten tree.
The moment the mage died, their defensive formation collapsed.
“Sh-shit! The rats have powder guns too!”
“Heads down! Aaaargh!”
While the mercenaries flailed in confusion, the rangers poured fire into them without mercy.
“You damn rat vermin! How dare you!”
Cornered, the elf captain roared, voice raw with fury. He yanked a massive greatsword from his back; blue mana blade-light rippled along its edge.
Ssshhhk!
One sweep through empty air sent a razor of sword energy flying. It sheared through the thick wooden pillar of the roof we were using for cover like it was soft tofu.
“I’ll smash everything! I’ll carve every last one of you to pieces!”
Bloodshot eyes fixed on us, the elf captain led the remaining mercenaries in a leap toward our building. Close combat. Veteran swordsmanship loaded with mana. On this narrow roof those blades would cut the rangers down like autumn leaves.
That was when it happened.
Krrrrroooom!
A bone-shaking roar and vibration rolled up from the alley mouth of the village.
“Wh-what the hell is that sound?”
The elf captain and the mercenaries who had been climbing the wall whipped around in shock.
Clank! Clank!
Out of the dark rolled a massive hybrid of iron and timber, belching thick steam, never stopping, never slowing—the pure embodiment of our rodent beastman grit, the crystallized spirit of the great Hamster Wheel.
Our trump card. The giant hamster-wheel tractor crashed onto the battlefield.
“Run it! Don’t stop—floor it harder!”
Mani screamed from the driver’s seat, hands locked on the controls.
“Chik! Let’s go!”
Inside the crude iron mesh, three or four rodent beastman girls spun the hamster wheel like mad. The steam boiler mounted at the rear poured on extra power.
Monstrous mass plus full acceleration. The giant wheel charged straight ahead without a shred of mercy.
“Wh-what the hell is that thing?! Shoot it! Shoot!”
Panicked mercenaries emptied their guns, but the lead balls simply clanged off the tractor’s thick front armor and ricocheted away.
“Aaaaaaah!”
The elf captain ground his teeth and swung the mana-charged greatsword in a huge arc. Against that overwhelming physical mass, his little sword technique meant nothing.
Crunch!
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
The wet, sickening sound of bones exploding. That arrogant body vanished under the massive wooden wheel and was flattened like paper. The tractor didn’t even slow down; it drove straight through the middle of the mercenary formation.
“Gaaah!”
“No! Stay back! Aaaaah!”
A giant something charging out of nowhere. The surviving mercenaries’ morale hit rock bottom.
“Th-the captain’s dead! Run!”
“That thing’s a monster!”
They scattered in terror, trying to break out of the square. I slung the needle rifle across my back and drew both pistols.
“Formation’s broken! Sweep them!”
The order had barely left my mouth before the Rat Rangers stopped shooting and leapt from roofs and towers.
“Form the phalanx!”
Temi’s command. The ranger girls clustered into a tight circle, resetting their small steel shields and short spears.
Sena too, holy power already glowing on her shortsword, charged into the pursuit.
The enemy were adult men twice our size.
“We’re small! Don’t stretch for necks or chests! Eyes below the belt only—legs and ankles! Stab!”
“In the name of the Goddess!”
The rangers dropped into a beast-low crouch and drove in. They punched short spears through the calves of men who had turned to run, and when someone raised a weapon and left an opening they savagely cut the cartilage of the knee.
“Aaaargh! My leg!”
“These damn rats from underfoot—!”
Huge mercenaries flailed and rolled in the dirt. That was only the beginning of a far worse hell.
From every direction of the blood-reeking open ground, hundreds of wild field mice blessed by Rodentia poured out in a black flood.
“Chik! Chiiiik!”
“Gaaah! Get off! Get away!”
The wave of mice swarmed up the fallen men’s pant legs, forced sharp front teeth into the gaps of leather armor, tore out flesh, and clawed unprotected faces without mercy.
“Help me! My eyes! Aaaaaah!”
Only moments ago they had swaggered in as the attackers. Now they crawled through the dirt like bugs, screaming in pure agony.
I blew the acrid smoke curling from my pistol barrels with a short puff.
“This is the power of the small ones.”
Through the ash-gray smoke, dawn finally broke. The long, brutal defense was over.
The outer walls of the village were smashed beyond recognition. The Rat Rangers were bandaged head to toe, scorched by powder and cut by blades. Yet by some miracle not a single one had died.
When the sun rose and the last gunshot faded, the entrance to the underground sanctuary opened. Villagers who had spent the night trembling in prayer poured out.
“We’re alive! We won!”
“Temi-unnie! Chief Loti!”
They threw their arms around the dirt-caked rangers and wept openly.
But…
Looking down at the still-burning wreckage of the barricades, I felt my insides twist.
“This is bad. The houses are all wrecked.”
Mani came up beside me and sighed. I shook my head.
“Not the time to fix houses.”
“Huh?”
“Think. When those barons realize their entire force just vanished, what do you think they’ll do next?”
Mani’s face hardened at my cold question.
“Next time it won’t be back-alley mercenary trash. They’ll bring a real private army. Maybe even cannons.”
I clenched my jaw and stared across the blood-soaked square. The first precious home we had built with our own sweat and blood for the Church of the Hamster Wheel.
“We have to abandon the village for a while.”
Even Hilde and Sena, standing close by, were left speechless by my decision.
“Abandon it? Then where are we supposed to go?”
Hilde demanded, almost accusing.
Leading more than a hundred people wandering the forest really would be suicide.
A huge hideout that can completely conceal this many people without being found…
There was the cathedral, at least. That place could shelter us safely for a day or two.
And another figure… no, another goddess… rose in my mind. That sly smile that had hugged my waist in a dark corridor and whispered so sweetly. Right now she might actually be useful.
There’s Felicia too.
She should be living in this capital right now. One way or another, it wasn’t a dead end.
I turned my back on the morning sun that was painting the sky red.
“Everyone, pack your things!”