The situation became much worse for the Prime Soldiers as they tried to reach the circular rock in the distance. None of them died but a few still got their armor pierced and broken. They had to throw away the power suit when that happened. The pressure mounted on their heads as more and more armor fell.
But when the Foulclaws started to gather into a giant blob of water, it gave the Prime Soldiers some breathing room.
Balmar didn't buy it. There must be a reason why those beasts gathered and turned into that blob of water. With how much intensity they had fought earlier, it was definitely nothing good.
"Keep running!" Balmar shouted. "Focus your firepower on the front line!"
The soldiers couldn't hear him, but the messenger did. They sprinted with their horses towards the captains and relayed the message.
Balmar grimaced. All these loud sounds made it hard to coordinate his army. He could still communicate with them through the messenger, but the time it took for them to deliver the order was too long for this situation.
"Balmar. Are you going to tell me what that thing is?"
Balmar shook his head. "I seem to have seen it before. But I couldn't remember. Regardless, it's better for us to run as far as possible."
Goras nodded. He continued his task, observing the situation and coordinating the coachmen and other auxiliary units as Hax call it.
The caravan moved together. The magic bulls sprinted as fast as possible, while the Prime Soldiers protected it in a circle formation. The majority of the firepower was focused on the front line. The sight ahead was like a farmer collecting wheat with a sickle.
This made it easier for the caravan to advance.
Goras predicted that it would take a few days for them to reach the towering rock, but if they could maintain their speed, it would only take them a few hours.
Balmar had decided for that. He didn't bring any food supplies for the soldiers. If they fought for days without end, then they would run out of energy.
Suddenly, the blob of water, towering over the land, burst. The water surged towards the army like a raging ocean under the high storm. The sound of it crashing into the boulders one after another almost consumed the other sound. Cold wind blew to his face.
"Faster!" Balmar shouted.
The water appeared to be chasing them as it didn't go in any other direction. When the wave hit the Foulclaws, they turned into water and the wave increased in size. But when the wave crashed into boulders, the stone immediately turned into dust and disappeared without a trace.
What would happen to a person if they got caught?
Balmar shivered. The wave was quite a distance away from them. But with its speed, it wasn't long before the wave could consume them whole.
An intense feeling of unease washed over him. He scratched his head and bit his lips. What should he do? The wave was getting closer as time passed and it wasn't possible to increase their speed.
Goras grabbed his shoulder. "Take a deep breath and calm down."
Balmar nodded and took a deep breath. A slight acidic air entered his lung, but it still made him feel better. "Let's try using the explosive wagon tricks. Nesterin used it all the time and it works."
"Will it work on the giant wave that is currently chasing us?"
"All we can do is try."
Goras agreed with the plan. There was nothing else they could do at the moment. Trying anything, even if it sounded stupid was all they got.
The coachmen drove the wagon to the backline. A few horsemen rode beside them. They let go of the reins and hopped on the horse. The magic bulls still sprinting, though not as fast without the coachmen urging them to do so.
The Prime Soldiers waited for the wave to come close. And when it did, they fired the wagon and let it detonate in far larger explosions than they had ever seen before. The explosions seemed to disrupt the wave's speed. It slowed down remarkably before it started to speed up again.
Those gunpowders weren't that strong before. Hax must have done something to them. That man could almost do anything. He wondered what he would create in the future.
He had to return alive to know that.
"The explosions didn't work," Goras said. "It didn't do anything to the wave. We should try something else."
"I think it was quite a success. Don't you see the wave slowed down earlier?"
"Those wagons have our ammunition in them. We just lose fifteen of them to slow down the wave a little. If they use more wagons to slow it down, they wouldn't have any more bullets to shoot the monsters."
That was a problem.
If they ran out of bullets, the monsters would eat them. But if they don't stop the wave, it would crash into them.
Both decisions were terrible. Both of them caused death. He couldn't delay much longer. For every moment he spend time thinking, the wave got closer.
"Use the wagons."
"Are you sure about this?" Goras asked. He didn't seem to have any good idea. If he did, he would deny Balmar's decision and argue fiercely.
"We have no other choice. Our only chance to survive is to get to the hill. The wave couldn't climb that steep land."
Goras nodded. He was quite a critical man and would consider everything to find the best decision possible. To agree with such a terrible plan meant that it was the best decision or there wasn't any better option.
He took a large gamble this time. If this failed then they would die. All of them. He didn't mind dying but his men were all good people. Especially Goras. The man could be annoying sometimes with all of his arguments, but none was more kind-hearted than him.