"We can't evacuate the whole city in less than two minutes," Lieutenant Mark said, expressing his worry after knowing the incoming beast's ETA.
Back on the wall.
The senior-ranked soldiers planned their method of attack. Their aim was to take down the beast before it could get past the wall. The issue was that the Peacock Flamebird's rank was not known. They were making plans based on the information provided by the documentation of mystical beasts. The information only centred on rank-2 Peacock Flamebirds. The information featured,
Known attacks: fire spitting.
Other Features: High defence against physical attacks due to thick skin.
The senior-ranked soldiers hoped that the beast was either below rank 2 or at rank 2.
The tactics for the attack were formed. The wings of the dragon were to first be obliterated. Then the dragon was expected to crash at the foot of the wall.
Cannons for the attacks were positioned at various points along the wall. It was expected that the dragon would try to counter the attacks, hence the different positions. Some of the attacks would serve as deterrents, while others would seek to obliterate the beast's wings. At least one wing was expected to be destroyed.
If things weren't to go as expected, the aim was now to limit the beast's influence within a city.
The cannons that were to be used for the operation weren't regular war cannons. These cannons were specifically made for rank 2 and higher mystical beasts. The force that the cannon projectile could impact on these mystical beasts could tear their thick skins and cause severe injury. The cannon projectile moved six times faster than the speed of sound in the air.
The projectile was not explosive; rather, it was a spherical mass of strong metal.
There were eight senior-ranked soldiers on the wall. Each of them commanded a unit out of the eight units that had just formed on the wall. The eight units had taken up positions at various points on the wall.
Six cannons were assigned to each unit.
Three units lay in the path of the dragon. The units had two units flanking them on the left and three on the right.
Every one of these senior-ranked soldiers possessed a watch. When the beast was thirty seconds away, the three senior-ranked soldiers of the three central units yelled an order in unison:
"Fire!"
The cannons were ignited, and then they fired at the Peacock Flamebird. The dragon countered the attacks with a ball of fire for each projectile.
A few jiffies later than the instant the dragon motioned to counter the attacks coming at it, the other units ignited their cannons, and missiles were fired at the beasts.
An advantage that these beast-bursting cannons had was that they could repeatedly fire cannons with just a single ignition until the missile chamber was empty. There was a mechanism to stop the shooting and resume it, which wouldn't require reigniting. This work was the result of the best scientific minds in Camelot.
The tactic paid off, and the dragon's right was wing was harmed. It began to fall from the air.
"The beast is crashing down!" Soldiers shouted frantically as the dragon sloped down towards the wall.
"Move away from the beast's path!"
The dragon was heading to crash into the wall, which would involve pummeling the three central units. Unfortunately, only a few soldiers from these units were able to get away and escape death at the hands of the falling giant.
The Peacock Flamebird crashed into Brave City. It was currently lying in a big crater formed by its collision with the ground. It lay motionless in the crater.
Lieutenant Mark was hundreds of metres away from the point where the dragon crashed. In his mind, he thanked his stars that he wasn't standing in the wrong place. He ordered the soldiers around him,
"I want cannons surrounding that beast. If the thing moves, fill it up with missiles."
In less than a minute, the beast-bursting cannons had surrounded the dragon. The soldiers stayed at a safe distance from the beast. It was a safe distance if the fire-spitting ability of the dragon was ignored.
Martha said to Lieutenant Mark, "The information I got from the wall strongly insists that the dragon is a rank 2 beast. This means that the cannons will be enough to take care of it."
Lieutenant Mark was glad to hear the information. With a nod, he said,
"Good."
The area of the city where the dragon crashed was devoid of people. The presence of the dragon drew soldiers to the area. The dragon crashed on its belly in an awkward position. It seemed like its head was buried under its torso.
Lieutenant Mark returned his attention to the operation. He asked with a raised voice,
"Does anyone have sight of the beast's head?"
"Sir. Yes, sir." A bunch of soldiers replied.
Three soldiers handled a canon. This was because a canon was heavy, so it was mounted on a trolley that had a big bucket. One soldier would push the trolley, another would control the direction of the nozzle when it fired, and the third was in charge of loading and igniting the canon.
"We can't take chances," Lieutenant Mark said. "Obliterate the beast's head."
KANG! KAING!
The sounds of missiles smacking into the dragon's head echoed throughout the city. It sounded like metal crashing into metal. The scales that layered the head of the beast were strong. Unfortunately, the barrage of missiles got through, causing injuries. The pain from the injuries jolted the dragon awake. It was at this moment that the true rank of the Peacock Flamebird was revealed.
The feather-looking tails of the dragon unfolded themselves like a Jeobeon (folded handfan). Then, the feathers latched out like spears in the forward direction, towards the assailants. The feathers impaled the soldiers and their canons.
Each of these feathers were multicoloured, eight feet tall, and half a metre wide.
The Peacock Flamebird that was currently in Brave City was a Rank 3 beast.