Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 212
Chapter 212
Confrontation with the massive hyena-drake horde was no easy task. Maintaining constant vigilance left everyone tense, and even though the beastmen took turns resting, exhaustion still crept in.
Before sunset, Chen Qi helped cover the entrance to the cellar, then returned to the ice wall with Aze. The hyena-drakes looked the same as before—still showing no intention of attacking.
Today’s weather was dim and overcast. As soon as the sun set, visibility dropped to the level of a Moonless Day. It looked as if a snowstorm was brewing.
Several fire pans were lit inside the watchtower. The walls—just wooden planks—could block the wind but offered no warmth. The females could partially beast-transform for fur insulation, so they didn’t mind the cold. Many sat inside the tower, catching up on sleep. Chen Qi had already rested earlier in the cellar, so now he took out some ingredients from his pack and made a bit of warming soup for the females to drink.
By the time the beastmen finished dinner and the next shift of female defenders had taken over, Chen Qi thought the hyena-drakes would behave just as they had the past few days—no action at all.
But only a short while after nightfall, the alarm signal suddenly rang out. The beastmen who had been asleep snapped awake instantly, grabbed their weapons, and rushed out of the watchtower.
It was pitch-black outside. There was no wind tonight, making the silence feel even heavier. But if one listened closely, faint sounds—like heavy bodies pushing through snow—could be heard from the darkness beyond the wall.
Azhang was already issuing orders with calm efficiency, and the females swiftly returned to their posts. Chen Qi walked to the nearest battlement and looked outward—only to meet a wall of darkness.
“It’s the ironshell-drakes,” Aze said beside him, shielding him.
Seeing the two approach, Azhang immediately called out, “Aze, protect Chen Qi. The dragons are starting their attack.”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Aze hadn’t actually seen the ironshell-drakes—he identified them by the sound of their footsteps crushing the snow. A sense of dread rose in Chen Qi’s chest. Beasts had better night vision than beastmen. If the hyena-drakes chose to attack tonight, in such darkness, it was definitely not a simple matter.
“Azhang, have them light every fire pan on the city wall.”
Previously, to save firewood, the pans had been kept at their dimmest—just enough for minimal lighting. The barricades outside had already been set on fire once before, and in this primitive environment, there was nothing else usable for illumination.
Azhang didn’t question him. At his command, the beastmen lit every fire pan along the wall, and line after line of flames flared to life, brightening the whole ice wall. Aze pulled out a special arrow, nocked it, lit it in a fire pan, waited for the arrowhead to burn properly, then shot it out into the darkness.
The faint light streaked through the air like a firefly. Everyone’s gaze followed it. Even though the flame was weak, with the females’ sharp eyesight, it was enough for them to see the densely packed mass of ironshell-drakes and hyena-drakes surging toward the ice wall.
Chen Qi sucked in a sharp breath. Azhang’s face was grim. Under these conditions, aiming was nearly impossible—but even if arrows were wasted, there was nothing else they could do but fire.
The catapults switched to launching special flammable fireballs. Many extinguished quickly on the freezing snow, but some continued burning tenaciously. Thanks to these scattered flames, the hit rate of arrows increased. Even if they couldn’t kill instantly, they could at least leave wounds on the hyen-drakes.
Only one volley had been fired from the siege crossbows when Chen Qi felt the entire ice wall tremble—like something massive had slammed into it. He tossed a burning torch over the edge of the wall and saw ironshell-drakes already at the base, ramming the wall.
Because iron was scarce, the spikes embedded in the ice wall were all wood or sharpened bamboo. Ironshell-drakes, with their thick hides, completely ignored them. After just a couple of impacts, many spikes snapped. Behind the ironshell-drakes, the hyena-drakes moved forward expertly and began tearing at the ice wall’s surface.
“Pour the grease.”
With Azhang’s command, several basins of oil—kept simmering for days in preparation—were tipped over the edge of the wall. Scalding liquid rained down from above. The ironshell-drakes beneath the wall shrieked as the burning oil splashed onto their backs. A flaming arrow struck one of the oil-soaked ironshell-drakes; flames quickly roared across its back. Screaming, it backed out of the front line, and the dragons behind it scrambled aside to make room.
Once the burning ironshell-drakes retreated from the wall, it immediately dropped and rolled, pressing its flaming back hard into the snow. The frigid snow absorbed the heat; with each roll, the flames weakened until they finally smothered out.
The other dragons doused in oil did the same, extinguishing the flames quickly—though a few panicked, bolting wildly, and ended up collapsing with their backs scorched black. Those were finished off with a single well-placed arrow.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The rest of the stored oil had frozen solid. Only the pots continuously heated over the fire could still be used. With ironshell-drakes shielding the wall, arrows alone were no longer effective. The hyena-drakes soon clawed open gaps in the ice wall. Realizing the situation was turning critical, Azhang ordered part of the defenders to carry the weapons they could no longer use back to the second wall.
“Chen Qi, we can’t hold this position much longer. You and Aze fall back to the second wall.”
Azhang loosed an arrow, killing a hyena-drake that had failed to duck beneath an ironshell-drake’s body, then turned to Chen Qi.
Chen Qi glanced at the chaos below—dragons swarming beneath the wall. He stowed his crossbow and arrows. He didn’t argue. Climbing onto Aze’s back, the two retreated down the nearest rope ladder to the second wall.
The dragons were attacking from all directions. As the breach at the base of the ice wall widened, the entire structure began to tremble. After dumping the last of the heated oil for safety, Azhang ordered a full retreat. Many hyena-drakes had already burrowed into hollowed-out sections of the wall. Keeping the ice wall standing any longer was impossible—it was only a matter of time before it collapsed completely.
The wall had been built much thicker this year—almost double last winter’s width. Even so, with hyena-drakes tunneling inside, breaking through the wall was inevitable. But that extra thickness bought Azhang enough time to pull back all valuable supplies from the outer wall.
Chen Qi lit the fire pans along the second wall. Once the beastmen had all withdrawn, he helped disengage the rope ladders linking the two walls. As the final ladder fell into the pitch-black chasm below, a thunderous crash erupted. By the light of torches still burning on the ruined wall and a few overturned fire pans, they could see it—the massive ice wall had completely collapsed. Many of the hyena-drakes that had carved their way into the wall were crushed beneath enormous slabs of white ice—silent, unmoving.
Several layers of barricades had been placed inside the outer wall. Though many had been destroyed by the collapse, countless fire arrows rained down from above, igniting the scattered barricades. At last, the dark plains lit up in blazing firelight, and the shadowy forms of dragons standing beyond the collapsed wall came into view.
Densely packed—just like the enormous hyena-drake horde Chen Qi had seen circling the tribe earlier.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The leading ironshell-drake stepped over the shattered ice, advancing toward Qi Ze City. Behind it, the hyena-drakes let out raspy, guttural calls. It was impossible to tell whether they were celebrating the fall of the beastmen’s wall or urging their companions to hurry forward.
Just then, a wolf’s howl rose from within the tribe. It wasn’t the usual warning call the beastmen used—it was the cry of a little wolf cub, still soft with its immature, milk-scented voice.
“There are hyena-drakes inside!” With the wolf’s cry came a shout from the inner wall—a distant warning from several female guards stationed there.
Chen Qi’s heart lurched. Why were hyena-drakes inside the inner wall? Had they found another way to dig through?
But aside from the giant pit trap, there was the moat—over ten meters deep. Stone lanterns lined its banks, and Chen Qi had seen no sign that the water level had dropped.
He found the answer almost immediately.
A massive shadow suddenly dropped from above. Aze grabbed Chen Qi and rolled away. The fire pan beside them was knocked flying. Chen Qi snapped his gaze up—
A full-grown hyena-drake had landed beside them.
The gust stirred up by its arrival hadn’t even faded when Chen Qi looked up again—and saw a huge pterosaur diving toward them. Another pterosaur flew just beside it, and in its talons it clutched a hyena-drake, which it released as it swooped overhead.
Chen Qi’s pupils tightened.
The pterosaurs had taken advantage of the confusion—while everyone’s attention was on the ironshell-drakes smashing the wall, they had used the darkness to drop hyena-drakes directly into the tribe.
“All crossbows—aim at the pterosaurs!” Chen Qi shouted at the beastmen who were still stunned by the sudden situation.
Pterosaurs didn’t dare drop hyena-drakes from too high. Their descent brought them into range. Their hide was nothing like an ironshell-drake’s—not even as tough as a hyena-drake’s. Even wooden bows could pierce them.
Aze reacted first. Before the diving pterosaur reached them, he whipped an arrow from his quiver, drew his bow, and released. He barely needed to aim—the arrow streaked straight into the pterosaur’s brow. But the distance was too short; he had no time to put full strength behind the shot. The arrowhead sank only a small inch into flesh, not enough to kill.
Still, the strike made the pterosaur howl in pain. Blood streamed down, blinding its eyes. Instinctively, it beat its wings to flee the danger, jerking backward and climbing sharply upward.
Aze wanted to fire again and bring it down—but the hyena-drake that had knocked over the fire pan had already regained its feet. With a furious roar, it lunged straight at Aze.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: 1 of 3 for the week.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
Editor stepping into the realm of MTL translating, starting with CLWP. Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
