Sealed in Steel [ Tank Litrpg ]

Elian's shoulder collided with the spiked head of a shadow beast bigger than his body. Spikes shattered against his skin, unable to penetrate it. His massive Armor attribute nullified the force of the shadow beast's charge. He didn't wear any piece of armor or carry a shield because Lord Gustall could provide him with only regular gear. Elian felt they wouldn't last long with all the tanking he intended to do, and the armor would be too cumbersome to remove once torn or warped.

The shadow beast grunted in surprise as it was stopped in its tracks. It reared up, raising the front half of its body and many forelimbs. Elian crossed his arms above his head and knelt. The shadow beast stomped on him with misshapen legs, backed by several tons of weight.

The force reminded Elian of his earlier Tribulations. His arms didn't waver under the weight of the shadow beast, but his feet got hammered into the ground.

A flash of red. Whooshing winds. The weight was lifted off Elian. The shadow beast wailed as lines of light crisscrossed across its body. It staggered back on its hind legs as fountains of tar spurted from the cuts. Red eyes from various heads blazed in anger. It fell on its side but tried to get up again.

"It's not dead yet?" Reese said, landing in front of Elian.

Other shadow beasts surged.

"Cover your eyes!" Elian formed Aether constructs in front of them that emitted blinding light. That stunned them for a moment. The smaller beasts recoiled. Some even ran away.

It also surprised Reese. "Argh, why did you do that?" he exclaimed.

Elian ran past the hasty swordsman to meet the shadow beasts that recovered from the sudden blast of light. They tried to gore Elian, to no effect. He shouted, "Attack them!"

Reese didn't miss a beat, slicing the beasts with more powerful attacks. He moved in a blur, trailing swirls of red light. Pained bellows and furious roars echoed. Reese's strikes threw back the monsters, but only killed the smaller ones. The larger shadow beasts, though injured, some headless and limbless, scrambled to press onward. Elian was there to block them. Once halted, Reese had the opening to attack the monsters.

Elian and Reese didn't discuss this strategy beforehand. They simply fell into the rhythm of alternating tanking and attacking. Doubtless, if Reese were alone, he'd be overwhelmed by the monsters. One swipe of a man-sized horn could grievously injure him. But with Elian catching the shadow beasts' attacks, Reese was free to dance with his blades and dish out death.

This reminded Elian of the way the Melkwae elves dueled. The pair of competing duelists was accompanied by their respective shield bearers. The two designated to fight only wielded swords; they had to work in tandem with their shield bearers, the latter carrying heavy shields that needed both hands to hold and were strapped to their bodies to secure them. The shield bearers caught incoming attacks and even pushed back the enemy duelist.

Elian couldn't push anything back because his offensive force would get zeroed by his Curse. But he did very well to draw the enemies' attention away from Reese. Together, they gradually mowed down crowds of monsters, diminishing the number of enemies each step of the way.

Maveron and his men assigned to the gap also went out, veering left to give Elian and Reese space. Before the battle, Maveron asked that Elian look after Reese. Wasn't the safest place on the frontlines to be with a Penitent that was essentially a moving wall?

Elian and Reese made good progress as a fighting duo. Even the larger shadow beasts eventually fell. It seemed that they could keep on continuing this until they wiped out all of the shadow beasts.

To their right, Haford and his men drove the shadow beasts past the destroyed houses and back to the hills. Turning left, Elian watched Maveron's group cut through the flank of the bulk of monsters heading for the gap in the walls. Essentially, Maveron and Haford pared down the shadow beasts, leaving a small stream for Elian and Reese to handle.

"The shadow beasts… they're retreating," said Reese, after around half an hour of fighting.

Elian thought Reese would give chase just to show he could kill more, but he remained standing beside Elian. The corpses around them slowly disintegrated into a foul cloud that darkened the blazing hills, as if urban pollution from Earth was out of control. Elian began to feel the unease that plagued him when venturing into the Dark Forest. It was a milder form of the miasma oozing from Thalman.

The negative energies that Thalman gave off were due to his years of Tribulation debt, amplified by his intense hatred of the Magistrate. In comparison, these clouds circling Golden Grove were the resentment of the felled magical trees.

"We should leave," Elian said, wrinkling his nose at the angry stench. "Oh, the drums and horns call for retreat. There we go." The groups of Haford and Maveron signaled for them to fall back too.

Reese followed Elian to the walls without question; stubbornness couldn't have plugged Reese's nose from the clouds spewed by the decaying shadow beasts.

Wind bellowed outward from the town to drive away the magical smoke—these were prepared spells stored in crystals atop the towers. Having fought the shadow beasts several times, the Grovenians knew they needed it to clear the battlefield and stop the smoke from billowing over the walls.

"Grand work, you two," Maveron said. It went exactly as Maveron intended. He wanted to ease Reese into working with others, but didn't want him joining his team, or else he'd pull rank on them. "You did the job of several men. Reese, I see the fruits of your training. Words of your prodigiousness were true. I pray you become the pride of Golden Grove."

"I pray the next wave comes soon," Reese muttered. "None of these weak critters."

Critters? Elian shook his head. Some of the shadow beasts they had fought were bigger than houses. "They might continue testing our defenses and eat up our resources before sending in those that could destroy walls."

"This time, they seem to be more discerning where to deploy their most powerful members," Maveron said. "The abominations may be planning to breach our walls in several places. That could spell the doom of Golden Grove."

"Look over there!" Reese pointed to the hills. "This could be the real attack!"

They glimpsed towering forms that stamped out the swirling flames from the seals, turning the hills dark again. The ground shook beneath their feet as the giant shadow beasts rumbled forward. Baleful cries spread over the hills, reaching Elian and the Grovenians. Elian couldn't help but shiver from the eeriness of the shadow beasts' calls. A sense of sadness also wrapped his heart.

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Was this the emotion projected by the shadow beasts?

"It might be as you say," Maveron said, rapping the side of his helmet. "Prepare. Refresh our enchantments and drink your potions."

"No more playing around, huh?" Elian chuckled at himself. "Oh, that's such a cliché line from a movie."

"What's a 'cliché' and a 'movie'?" Reese asked.

Elian replied immediately, "Words from my hometown that mean we should prepare."

Reese thumped his chest. "I'm more than prepared."

The sky lit up once again with flaming arrows, setting on fire the next ring of seals. Two layers left and their surprise for the attackers. They'd save those for later waves because it'd be a long night.

"We should head out again," Reese said. "Cut down their numbers and save the trap seals. Most assuredly, more monsters will come."

"Your father doesn't order to do so," Elian said. "Probably too risky. Better stay behind the walls. And you might get hit by our side."

Carpenters continued to work on the new wall under the light of lantern orbs. They plugged up the narrow opening that the warriors used to go in and out of the town in this area, given that the actual gate was far away.

The shadow beasts entered the magical mine field. The dog-sized beasts got stuck in the magical quagmire, slowly sinking the more they thrashed about—easy pickings for the archers. As for the larger monsters, their feet sank into the ground, off-balancing them; they toppled onto their lesser kind. That was when the cannons of the town opened fire with their magical ammunition. The town only had ten cannons with limited projectiles. Ten was plenty to shoo away human invaders. A small-sized army of people would be hard-pressed marching against several cannons shredding their ranks. On the other hand, ten cannons couldn't deter hordes of gigantic monsters that didn't care about dying.

Compounding the problem was that shadow beasts came from every direction. The firepower of the cannons couldn't be concentrated to defend one area.

Three cannons were placed atop the tower nearest the destroyed wall. They boomed the music of war, blasting away chunks off the giant monsters, focusing on the legs of those that sank into the mud pits. Still, the legless shadow beasts pulled themselves forward with their many arms.

Aiming for the shadow beasts' heads was useless because they had many. And they didn't truly have a brain or a heart or a true weak point. They had to be destroyed enough so they'd die.

"That colossal bastard!" Maveron shouted, pointing at the monster, almost the same height as the towers interspersed along the town wall. It walked on two legs but had many arms of all sizes. This was the biggest shadow beast they had seen thus far. "Cannons, to bear! Don't let it get close to the wall!"

Elian held out his hand, stopping Reese from jumping off the low wall. "Don't go out there."

"Why not? Let's cut its legs and—"

"You'll get swarmed by other shadow beasts."

"But—"

"And do you want to get hit by our side?" Elian pointed at the warriors with ranged stored spells, raining them down on the shadow beasts. They didn't aim for the giant shadow beast, focusing instead on the smaller ones. They left the giant to the cannons to hit its knees.

Reese sighed. "No…"

"Wait for the other monsters to get cleared." Elian turned to grin at Reese. "Then, we'll both go down."

Reese smiled in return, nodding. "My blade will be ready."

The giant shadow beast stepped on a quagmire seal. Its entire foot got swallowed by the ground up to its ankle. It leaned to one side. The men cheered, thinking it was going to topple over. But the giant shadow beast maintained its balance. With a mighty roar, it pulled its foot free and resumed walking. The men's groans of disappointment were drowned by the crashes that grew louder.

Elian shrugged. "That really wasn't supposed to stop the really large ones. We didn't have enough time or resources to make complex seals."

"You have extensive experience defending fortifications," Reese said. "It may be out of my expertise, but I can scarcely see how you gained knowledge of sealcrafting while being a dedicated Penitent. These seals hardly aid you in meeting a Tribulation."

"Ah, those are skills from another life… before I became a Penitent. Anyway, it'll be our turn soon."

Only the giant shadow beast continued approaching the wall. The lesser monsters got trapped by the seals or killed by Maveron's men and Verney's archers. Another wave of shadow beasts was coming to link up with the giant one; they'd spill into the town once the giant broke the hastily built wall.

"Penitent, here you go." Maveron handed Elian a rope with a small lantern orb attached to its end. "And you, too, Reese." Maveron and four of his men had ropes, too. "Aim for the right knee. Its right, not ours. The cannons have already removed the flesh around its joint, but the phantom bones prove too hard to break. We'll have to get up close. Make sure it falls to the side, not toward the walls."

Elian and the others nodded as they readied to descend.

"Are you certain you can survive facing it, esteemed Penitent?" Maveron asked loudly to get himself heard.

"I'm certain. If I'll have injuries, I don't know. Also, this big guy won't focus on me for long. Just a few stomps, and it can bury me in the dirt. Don't forget to dig me out, okay?" That got laughs from everyone.

"That means we'll have to act fast." Maveron jumped down the wall, slowing his descent with the rope.

Elian threw the rope down and walked off the edge of the wall. He fell straight to the ground, more than a dozen feet. He thanked the Storm God that he didn't fumble the landing. The end of his rope fell behind him; the lantern orb was his guide to find it when it was time to go back up.

He ran ahead of the group, covering himself in Aether armor that shone white. The heads of the giant shadow beast turned to him.

This somehow feels nostalgic, Elian thought.

He was confident he could survive the hits from an actual Giant. This shadow beast should be weaker in comparison. This was the opportunity to test his body against colossal enemies because this would be his role in the future—he'd tank the Giants.

Elian pushed his constructs to emit as much light as possible. He covered his eyes to avoid blinding himself. Even then, the light tried to pierce through his palm and fingers. Though he couldn't see where he was going, he kept on running and hoped his path remained straight. A few times, he almost tangled his legs as the ground buckled beneath his feet. The giant was getting closer. He couldn't hear anything other than its earth-shattering footsteps.

Any moment now, Elian thought. He could only hope that his mace would survive getting—

CRASH!

The next thing Elian knew, he was squished against the dirt. All his Aether constructs shattered. It was darkness. The important thing was that he wasn't in pain—the force was weaker than his current Tribulation. However, the difference was that the pressure from the weight of the shadow beast continued to bear on him. The only thing he could do was maintain his grasp on his mace to keep up his tankiness.

Hard to breathe, Elian realized. This was a stupid weakness in his plan. What use was tankiness against suffocation?

Light. For a couple of seconds.

Elian breathed deeply as the shadow beast raised its foot. It stomped once again, embedding him into the dirt. He made sure to face up and cover his head with his arm. Even then, he felt his nose break. His facial bones creaked, and his muscles were sore. This was why he never used his face to meet a Tribulation.

Another stomp. Weaker, this time. The shadow beasts moaned in pain. Elian saw light again.

The shadow beast was falling. A mini earthquake as it hit the ground.

"Penitent!" Reese jumped into the small crater and grabbed Elian. "Let's get out of here!"