The Broken Halo

The detonation of the arrows were like a mixture of fireworks and thousands of grenades exploding at the same time.

Many demons could not react to it despite Simon’s warning.

Even Simon himself barely reacted to it as the shockwaves of the arrows in the sky reached him and the tremor of the wagon and the ground itself sent him flying.

The dying screams of some soldiers and recruits mixed with the painful screams of the living was drowned out by the continuous explosion of the thousands of arrows in the sky and on the ground.

The cracked ground developed more cracks, and hot steam shot out of numerous places on the ground.

At a particular section of the convoy, the ground caved in and the beasts that was carrying the wagons screamed and struggled to find its bearing.

The demons around it also screamed and tried to run away, but every step they took placed more pressure on the already fragile ground and they fell.

Crack!

Crack!

Crack!!!!

The ground caved in and shattered, and the beasts and demons let out their dying breath as columns of flames blasted out from beneath the ground and burned them.

The flames died out and hot steam rose from the shattered and opened ground.

Simon spun in the multiple times before coming to a stop by controlling the wind around him.

He lowered his arms which were burnt and were protecting his face, and without his command, his injuries started healing.

He ignored his injuries and quickly looked around, and his expression could not help but darken at the sight below him.

Corpses that were missing parts of their bodies or were burned to a crisp or had shrapnels in their bodies were reflected in Simon’s eyes.

Simon swept his gaze across the scene of destruction, death, and chaos, then he looked at Sonya and Akaza.

The earth wall Sonya had erected around herself was shattered and had holes in it, but Sonya herself was perfectly fine.

She had covered herself in another layer of earth wall, preventing the explosive arrows from touching her.

As for Akaza, Simon could see that he was injured but he was fairly okay.

He increased the gravity around him to make it difficult for the shrapnels and flames to reach him.

However, his defense was not perfect and some had gotten to him.

Simon then looked at the wagon, and he could not help but frown when he saw that the beast carrying Wagon Eighteen was also injured and was barely restrained by the beast handler placed in charge of it.

As for the wagon, it was tilted to the side and it looked like it was about to fall.

However, Simon saw that a Prime Greater Demon was holding it in place.

The Greater Demon was a two-horned demon, and when he noticed Simon’s gaze, he gave him a nod.

Simon furrowed his brows slightly, then he shifted his gaze toward the members of Core Twenty Two.

Pela’s pale sensory strands had been scorched at the ends, but she was still standing. Joro’s metal shield was split across the middle, while Ossun’s shell-like back was covered in shallow cuts and black burn marks.

Dessa had survived behind her wall of water, although the explosions had turned most of it into boiling steam. Thin burns covered her webbed hands.

None of them had died.

Simon had just confirmed this when a deep, beastial roar rolled down from the right ridge.

Another answered from the left.

”What in the world?”

The surviving demons of the convoy looked up through the smoke.

Several sections of black glass along both ridges suddenly shattered outward. Behind them were dark cave mouths that had been hidden by formations.

Hundreds of beasts rushed out, and these beasts were Crag Hounds.

The creatures moved on four thick legs, with hooked claws that allowed them to run down the steep ridges without slipping. Flat, stone-like plates covered their backs and skulls, while their jaws split farther than those of ordinary hounds whenever they opened their mouths.

Most were Dread Beasts, but Simon could sense at least three Prime Calamity Beasts among them.

The beasts did not move like a trained pack. Instead, they moved like a beasts engulfed by madness and rage.

Their eyes were red, foam dripped from their mouths, and black runes burned around their necks.

The moment Simon saw these runes on the necks of the beasts, he knew what they were.

’Runes that are meant to cause pain.’

Simon’s eyes flickered as he realized what the rebels had done.

They were not controlling them.

No.

Instead, the rebels had driven them mad with pain and were making them target the convoy.

”ENEMY ON BOTH RIDGES!” a soldier shouted.

Dark figures appeared above the cave mouths before his warning finished, and nearly everybody knew who these dark figures were.

Black Banner rebels.

At the peak of both ridges were two Black Banner rebels holding black flags.

Some released hooked chains and slid down the glass-covered slopes. Others remained above, firing attacks at the convoy and the rest threw clay containers that shattered among the Crag Hounds.

The smell of blood and roasted meat spread through the narrow road, causing the beasts to become even more violent.

One leapt from the ridge and landed on a wounded soldier. Its split jaws closed around his shoulder and tore away half his upper body before three spears entered its side.

Another crashed into the beasts pulling Wagon Fifteen.

The armoured animals panicked, dragging the tilted wagon toward one of the open fissures.

”CORE NINETEEN, HOLD THE CENTRE!” a Black Horn officer roared, and Sonya’s shattered earth shell burst apart.

She stepped out, wiped dust from one shoulder, and tilted her head toward the thunder of paws descending from the ridges.

”So that’s what was living nearby.”

Akaza looked up at the approaching beasts with a solemn expression, but his eyes shined brightly with thick battle intent despite the blood running from his arm.

Simon’s expression remained calm and indifferent however.

The arrow explosions had already broken the convoy’s formation. The Crag Hounds were attacking the wounded and forcing the surviving defenders to look away from the ridges.

The rebels descended behind them.

The plan was simple and effective.

Simon released Shadow Sense while his eyes moved across the central wagons.

That was when he noticed Dessa.