Chapter 37

EX Story: The Ape King’s Origin Part III

The young Ape King along with his master and the army of armored humans passed by the town, but unlike the buzzling and busy streets they knew before, the town was now only a shadow of its former glory. To put it simply, the town was simply devoid of life. Probably because of that, the air was eerily strange and still. The citizens of the town weren’t even there to cheer and properly send their warriors off, the only thing that was relatively close to that was the ominous sound of howling wind, and rhythmic footsteps of the soldiers marching off to war.

Each and every soldier looked at that scene with various emotions, some gazed at it with a painful expression, others frowned and stared at it in pity, while a handful of them burned with more resolve upon witnessing that sight. But for the young Ape King, he couldn’t help but compare it to the scenery he saw upon waking up on that burned down forest. Because for some reason, even though there were no ashes and smokes lingering around, the young Ape King could clearly sense the presence of death looming in the air.

Just like that, the army of marching soldiers passed by the town. Then after some few more minute of marching under the blazing rays of the sun, the army finally reached their destination.

The place that the army found themselves in was the plain leading directly towards the town. And when the army arrived at that place, it was already midday and the sun was shining brightly in the sky as if bearing witness to what was about to unfold. Naturally, the army immediately set-up their camp the moment they arrived. Fortunately, it seemed like their enemy had yet to arrive so they still had some time to prepare.

While waiting for their enemy to arrive, the soldiers busied themselves on either helping on the preparations or checking up on their equipment. But clearly, those soldiers were simply doing that in order to not succumb to the suffocating tension on their surroundings. As for the young Ape King, he was guarding his master who was busy leading the army for the preparations for the battle.

In truth, the young Ape King’s master had attempted to break their master and servant pact on their way. And in that action, the young Ape King could clearly sense his master’s intention of letting him go probably so that he could flee. But despite his master’s plea, the young Ape King stubbornly refused and chose to stay and fight till the end at his master’s side. In the end, because of his yielding resolve, the young Ape King’s master decided to fulfill his partner’s wish.

Finally, after waiting for hours, the enemy had finally arrived. And unlike the meager hundreds of soldiers on their side, the enemy's number reached about a thousand. Then immediately upon spotting each other’s location, both armies lined up in formation facing each other down.

Because the area was a plain field, both armies had no other options but face each other’s head on. And based on their numbers alone, the young Ape King’s side was clearly at an overwhelming disadvantage. It may be a bit different if they chose to fight inside the town and employ guerilla warfare, but due to various circumstances, the young Ape King side was forced to confront their enemy like this. Another thing to factor in was the fact that each and every soldier on the young Ape King’s side was living in that town, so for them, sacrificing the town was the same as destroying their family’s livelihood which they couldn’t possibly do.

Normally, an army facing such overwhelming odds would certainly lose their morale. But strangely enough, after the young Ape King’s master stood in front of his soldiers and made his speech, their morale rose up to the sky. And along their commander’s vigorous war cry, the soldiers stomped the ground and raised a deafening roar. Along with all of that, even though he clearly didn’t understand his master’s speech, the young Ape King also raised a battle cry that resonated along with the soldiers.

Seeing that strange behavior of the soldiers who were clearly outnumbered, the enemy’s soldiers were visibly creeped out. And who could blame them? They were also soldiers, so they knew very well themselves the feeling of helplessness upon gazing at an enemy who had the clear advantage in numbers. To top it all off, they would be fighting in a plain field so there was no way they could employ guerilla warfare. In fact, given their advantage in man power, they could just simply overwhelm those strangely lively soldiers using their numbers. That was why it was beyond their comprehension why those soldiers had such high morale.

Of course, the leaders of the enemy camp didn’t let their soldiers fall into disarray. That was why before the confusion spread even further, the enemy leaders immediately dismissed their soldiers’ worry by reminding them of their superior numbers. Naturally, it was effective. After all, even if the other side’s morale was high, that simply didn’t matter if they were greatly outnumbered. Furthermore, it was pretty much impossible to pull off a surprise attack in this terrain so the other side had no other choice but to face them in a frontal confrontation.

After their leaders had pointed all that out, the enemy’s soldiers finally came at ease. Immediately after that, the enemy finally made their move.

Upon their leaders’ command, the enemy archers lined up and fired a volley of arrows. Seeing that, the young Ape King’s master calmly ordered his soldiers to raise their shields and to prepare for impact.

While being protected by the shield of his master, the young Ape King watched as hundreds of arrows flew towards their direction. A split second after that, the clattering sounds of metals echoed all around as the arrows fell from the sky. Of course, the rain of arrows didn’t just stop at a single wave. In fact, it actually last for quite some time that the soldiers even started to wonder if their enemy had an infinite supply of arrows. Though obviously, the enemy didn’t have an infinite supply so the storm of arrows eventually stopped.

Fortunately, despite being on the receiving end of that preemptive attack, it seemed like there were no casualties on the young Ape King’s side. It was then that the sound of war horn echoed through the battlefield. Immediately upon hearing that, the young Ape King’s master hastily commanded his soldiers to ready their battle formation.

On the other side of the plains, the enemy soldiers obediently lined up in formation. And when the soldiers finished lining up, the leaders of each squad started stomping on the ground while chanting vigorously like some mad men. Infected by their leaders’ vigor, the soldiers also started chanting and stomping on the ground. As a result, it didn’t take too long for the whole thousand army to do the same, effectively engulfing the whole battlefield with thunderous chants.

Then, as the sound of the war horn echoed once again, all the soldiers who had lined up earlier started charging forward with their leaders upfront. And probably in order to drown all their fears, each and every soldier raised a battle cry whist madly dashing forward.

The young Ape King watched in fear as an avalanche of armored humans threatened to swallow them. But being as decisive as always, the young Ape King’s master didn’t even show any fear nor hesitation and just calmly ordered his mages to prepare their long-range offensive spells. Though of course, compared to the average range of an arrow, the range of a normal magic attack paled in comparison, but in exchange for that flaw, the individual destructive power of each offensive spell was greater than that of a single arrow. That was why in war, spells were mostly used to counter infantry charges.

Standing calmly at the forefront of their formation, the young Ape King’s master waited for the mages to finish their chant. Then just at the right time when the first wave of enemies entered the magic’s range of fire, the mages finished their chants while the young Ape King’s master simultaneously commanded them to attack.

Following that, low level offensive spells rained down on the charging soldiers creating multiple explosions and clouds of dust. And inside that cloud of dusts, screams full of agony and anguish could be heard. Then as the explosions stopped and the clouds of dust subsided, the horrific scene of mangled, and burned corpses came into view.

Upon witnessing that scene, the enemy soldiers who once charged without any hesitation came to a sudden halt. But as if feigning ignorance of their plea, the war horn resounded once again clearly telling them to move and sacrifice their lives.

Probably in a desperate attempt to survive, some of the leaders and soldiers slowly looked back. Unfortunately, before they even managed to, the sound of the war horn resounded on their ears once again. And this time, the sound it produced was even louder than before signifying the final decisions of their superiors.

Left with no other choice, the soldiers could only grit their teeth while looking at the mages up ahead who were all clearly prepared to shower them with those deadly spells once again. Then as if finally surrendering to their fates, the soldiers charged forward while letting out a war cry that was louder than before. Though unlike last time, the soldiers’ eyes weren’t burning with resolve, instead the soldiers were now clearly consumed by a deep seething madness.