These people who had just stampeded over their own allies—

They were smiling.

Korvath stared at them for a moment.

He had seen many kinds of warriors in his life, brave ones, kind ones, mad ones, even warriors who knowingly charged towards their own deaths. He had seen men scream in fear, men who cried, men who cursed, men who begged—

But this...

This was different.

These smiles were different.

These weren’t brave smiles, nor were they smiles that had accepted death, these were... child-like smiles.

Like children had found a new game to play.

They... they were enjoying this.

Korvath watched how one rider’s beast stepped on the arm of a fallen warrior. He could see the fallen man’s arm bent at an unnatural angle, the bone definitely broken.

"AAGGGHHHH!!!"

The fallen man screamed, but the rider above him did not even look down, his smile only got wider.

’Is it because... they are from two different tribes...?’

Korvath didn’t understand.

He looked at another beast that slipped slightly on the bloodied snow, its leg sinking into one of the hidden pits. The rider was thrown forward, his shoulder hit the ground, the fall was brutal, something he should not have stood up from but...

He did.

The warrior did stand up, even as his arm was hanging at a wrong angle, he pushed himself up, with the same crazy smile on his face and...

He started running on foot instead.

’What the...’

Korvath had no idea what was happening, however, he shook his head and focused on the battlefield.

"Loose again!"

He commanded.

Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh

Another rain of arrows fell.

It pierced enemy shoulders, their necks, one went through the cheek of an enemy rider and came out from the other side.

The rider’s head snapped back but he...

He slowly lowered his face, blood pouring down his chin and he...

He smiled.

Korvath’s eyes widened in horror.

"Throwers!"

He screamed, not letting the horrifying sight get to him.

"Front left! Target the beasts moving at the front left!"

"YES!"

The throwers moved quickly, heavy stones hurled down with ropes and simple launchers.

The first stone smashed into the head of a large unmounted horned beast. Its skull bent in, blood spraying across the snow.

"RROOOAAAAARRRRR!!!"

Spurt

An attack like this should have been more than enough. With an impact so strong, with damage this huge, a normal beast should have fallen but...

This one did not.

It took three more steps, then it lowered its broken head and tried to run again.

BOOOM

Only when another stone struck its front leg did the beast finally collapse, rolling into the snow.

The sight made the men standing on the Wall pause for a moment. They had seen beasts survive wounds before, beasts were strong, many were stubborn but...

This was not stubbornness.

This was... something else...

"DO NOT STARE!!"

That was when Korvath screamed, pulling the soldiers out of their reverie.

"They die like everything else!

Hit them again!"

The units moved.

Archers fired, sling crews sent stones down, oil crews waited for the right distance, Shardpeak crews checked the ropes tied to their weighted nets.

And the enemy—

They continued to move.

There were riders in front, foot warriors behind them, and larger beasts in the middle. The larger beasts were being held back for now, but even they moved strangely.

The strangest part about this was how these beasts were reacting.

Normal beasts hated fire, they almost always reacted to the sound of falling stones and moved to dodge them, some had an instinctive hatred for blood too.

But...

These ones kept walking through all of it.

That made Korvath and the others frown, but they didn’t stop. The Wall was loud, men continued shouting orders, translators repeated every command in different tongues.

Below, the first trap field had already become a mess of broken bodies, hidden pits, and bloodied snow.

And still, the enemy kept advancing.

At the same time—

Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh

Korvath looked up, something had changed above as well. The enemy’s Flying Unit, which had been comparatively normal till now and had been facing their own unit, suddenly started moving differently, all at the same time, without any apparent command.

Their formation changed.

The first wedge split into three smaller groups, one group met the Alliance Air Units directly, the other two moved wider.

Korvath understood the plan immediately.

"They are circling!"

He screamed.

The translators repeated it.

The Air Units above adjusted, but the enemy was already moving.

That was the difference.

Somehow, the enemy was moving without any commands, with almost perfect teamwork. There was no language barrier because words weren’t even being said, the Alliance Air Unit was much slower.

As for how it was happening—

Korvath couldn’t tell, not when he was standing in the middle of the chaotic battlefield.

The enemy flying beasts on the far left dipped low, then rose again, carrying leather bundles under their bellies.

Korvath recognised what they were carrying.

Bombs.

The same ones they had used to attack the Stonefang Quarter before.

"Shardpeaks! Rigs!"

Korvath commanded, his eyes burning with cold rage.

The Shardpeak crews were already moving.

"Ready!"

"Pull!"

The first weighted net shot upward, it opened in the air like a dark hand, the enemy beast twisted away from it, but the weighted hooks caught one wing.

"KRRRIIIIRRRKKKKKKKK!!!"

The beast screeched.

"Pull it!"

"PULL!"

Four men and two women grabbed the rope and threw their weight back.

The beast tried to fly away, but the hook was already plunged into its body. If it forced itself further, it would only tear open its wing.

No beast would force through it, not until the hook was taken out—

At least...

No normal beast would.

But—

"KKKRRRIIIIIEEEKKKKKKK!!!"

This one did.

It roared and forced itself up, the hook that was plunged into its body tore the entire wing, blood splattered and fell down like rain, together with the beast which could no longer fly.

The most horrifying part?

Even as the rider was falling with the beast, he did not scream.

He smiled.

BOOM

The beast crashed into the outer slope, breaking its neck on the rocks.

But...

Those who saw what happened—

They did not celebrate it.

They... could not celebrate it.