Nascent Soul Rebirth: Starting as a Wizard

"All artillery, cover fire! Target, the fan-shaped area ahead, disrupt their charging formation!" Malcolm's roar rang out through a makeshift megaphone.

"Boom! Boom boom boom—!"

The twelve rune cannons, after being calibrated, emitted a roar that was far deeper and more coherent than ever before.

The scorching energy projectiles no longer fell in scattered bursts, but formed a barrage of bullets accompanied by deathly screams, pouring heavily into the gray-white "tide" front.

Each shell that lands explodes into a fireball more than ten meters in diameter, and the shockwave throws small rock creatures into the air, where they shatter into stone fragments.

Rock fragments flew everywhere, and waves of earth surged into the sky, momentarily halting the momentum of the charge.

If it were those old, unreliable cannons from the past, they would never have had such a suppressive effect.

However, there were simply too many rock creatures.

The first wave of projectiles cleared out hundreds of small units, but more rock creatures continued their charge, stepping on the fragments of their own kind, without slowing down at all.

Two kilometers.

"Musketeers, take your positions! Free fire! Prioritize attacking medium-sized unit joints and energy nodes!" Fifteen junior apprentices gritted their teeth and set up rune muskets on the ramparts.

After adjustments, the recoil of these weapons was reduced by one-third, and the concentration of energy rays was increased by nearly 50%.

"Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh—!"

A steady blue energy beam shot from the muzzle, leaving brief streaks of light in the air, precisely hitting the gaps in the legs or the faint spots of light flashing on the torsos of those creatures that resembled moving tanks.

While it may not be fatal in one strike, it is enough to make them stagger and slow down.

A medium-sized rock creature was hit in the knee by three consecutive beams of light, its supporting leg shattering instantly. Its massive body crashed to the ground and was trampled into pieces by its kin charging from behind.

One kilometer.

The torrent of rock creatures was now clearly visible. It was no longer a "tide," but an overwhelming blanket of grayish-white death.

The troll slave legion's lines began to stir, with some of the younger trolls letting out uneasy growls.

"Hold your ground!" The overseer's whip cracked in the air. "First rank, raise your shields!"

The three hundred trolls simultaneously slammed their tower shields into the ground, leaning forward and bracing their shoulders against the inner walls of the shields.

They repeated this action hundreds of times.

500 meters.

The charging vanguard finally collided with the troll's shield wall.

"boom--!!!"

That wasn't the sound of metal clashing, but the muffled thud of rocks against rocks, flesh against rocks.

Dozens of small rock creatures in the front row slammed into the tower shield. The huge impact caused the trolls holding the shield to take a half step back. The "Sturdy" runes on the surface of the shield flickered wildly, and half of them dimmed and went out.

But the shield wall did not break.

"Hold on! Hold on!" the foreman shouted hoarsely.

The trolls roared primally, pushing their shields forward with brute force, while simultaneously thrusting heavy iron-clad wooden clubs through the gaps in the shields.

These rudimentary weapons, enhanced by the "Sharpness" rune, were able to easily pierce the relatively fragile bodies of small rock creatures.

The first wave of impacters fell, but more rock creatures surged forward.

The real bloody slaughter has begun.

Trolls have extremely strong regenerative abilities; ordinary wounds can stop bleeding and scab over within minutes.

But the damage caused by the rock creature's claws and impacts is far more severe than usual.

A troll's shield was shattered by the charge of a medium-sized rock creature, and splinters of wood pierced his chest. The next moment, another rock creature's claws tore open his abdomen.

Green blood and entrails gushed out, and the troll staggered backward, trying to cover his wound with his hand, but more rocky creatures engulfed him.

The first casualty has appeared.

Then came the second, and the third.

The cannons and muskets on the city walls fired at full speed, attempting to relieve the pressure on the troll defenses.

The knights gripped their weapons tightly, but Solo's orders were clear: the knights must remain on the walls as the last line of defense.

The value of troll slaves lies in their consumption.

Three hundred meters.

The trolls' first formation has been shattered.

Nearly a hundred trolls fell before the shield wall, their corpses trampled by rock creatures, their green blood soaking the earth.

The remaining trolls were forced to retreat and merge with the second line, but the line was already half gone.

"Second formation, spear throwers!" The overseer changed tactics.

The remaining two hundred or so trolls drew crude javelins from behind them—these were just sharpened rock pillars with stones tied to the front, but also covered with basic runes.

At a command, more than two hundred javelins traced parabolic arcs and fell into the rocky biota.

The effect was limited, but it at least slowed down the advance.

Just then, the medium-sized individuals and large crystals finally entered the optimal killing range.

"All firepower, concentrate on attacking the large crystallized objects! Don't let them get close to the city walls!" Solo's voice echoed across the battlefield through the sound transmission array.

The cannons adjusted their angles, and all five cannons simultaneously aimed at a large crystalline body that was gathering energy and whose surface crystal clusters were beginning to glow.

Five energy projectiles hit its torso almost simultaneously.

"BOOM—!!!"

The explosion engulfed the crystallized creature, but when the smoke cleared, it only had a few cracks on its surface, and its charging speed did not decrease at all!

Its crystal clusters shone brightly, and an invisible energy shockwave spread out, instantly shattering more than ten small rock creatures and several trolls in front of it into pieces!

"Damn it!" Malcolm cursed. "Keep firing! Don't stop!"

The musketeers unleashed all their firepower at the crystallized creature, the energy beams exploding into sparks on its surface, but failing to cause any real damage.

At this moment, the other three crystallized bodies also entered the firing range, and they began to fire sharp crystal spikes.

"Raise your shields!" The knights on the city wall reacted quickly, raising their tower shields.

"Ding ding ding ding—!"

The crystal spikes rained down on the shield, most of them bouncing off, but a few still managed to pierce through the shield's weak points.

A knight's shoulder armor was pierced by a crystal spike. He groaned but did not retreat. He pulled the spike out with his backhand and poured green healing potion on the wound—it was a simple potion concocted by Malcolm. Although crude, it could at least stop the bleeding.

The troll defenses are collapsing at an accelerating rate.

Medium-sized rock creatures began charging into the troll lines.

Each impact from these creatures, which are five meters tall and weigh several tons, sends several trolls flying, shield and all.

The troll's regenerative abilities proved utterly ineffective against such terrifying damage.

One troll had its spine broken and collapsed to the ground, where it was quickly trampled into a bloody pulp. Another troll tried to smash the head of a medium-sized rock creature with its club, but instead had half of its body smashed by a backhand claw.

The sounds of wailing, roaring, cracking rocks, and clashing weapons blended together into a brutal symphony.

Solo calmly observed the battlefield.

The troll slave legion is being rapidly depleted, but their sacrifice has bought precious time—the cannons and muskets on the city walls have destroyed more than thirty medium-sized rock creatures and severely damaged two crystallized ones.

The Knights have suffered zero casualties so far.

If it were the chaotic defenses of ten days ago, the city walls would probably have been breached by now.

But the cost was heavy.

Of the three hundred trolls, less than one hundred and fifty are still standing.

The battlefield was littered with the shattered corpses of trolls, their green blood pooling into streams.