Sealed in Steel [ Tank Litrpg ]

The night of shadow beasts rolled on.

Elian and the defenders were pushed to their limits as the fighting continued for hours. The Grovenians rotated, with Maveron and Reese taking short rests to recuperate. But Elian never left the walls. This area was the main target of the shadow beasts. He had to be there to face the giant monsters trying to break the wall, making the Grovenians' task of bringing them down much safer.

If he were gone, more Grovenians would die. Yes, some defenders have already died or were grievously injured. They wouldn't be the last casualties of battle. Elian felt so helpless being unable to attack, which was why he didn't allow himself to leave the walls to save even one more soul.

All the break he had was when the wave of shadow beasts ebbed. The Grovenians had Healers attend to Elian during the lulls in fighting. Even if their healing magic was severely reduced by Elian's Abyssal Eye's Curse, it was better than nothing.

Elian also chugged potion after potion, just about anything they'd give him, not minding their side effects. He had plenty of experience dealing with those while drinking Gideon's brews.

"You're not getting past me!" Elian had stretched out his arms, holding back several shadow beasts that sliced, stabbed, chewed, and pummeled him. They might as well be toddlers with how much they could hurt him. "Reese, where are you?"

"Don't wear out my name, Penitent," Reese replied. Ribbons of red light danced around Elian. The shadow beasts crumbled into many pieces. "I should charge you a gold coin each time you call for me."

"I'm giving you the opportunity to show off," Elian said with a laugh, amused by the talkative Reese compared to the reserved friend he had in his past life. Elian leaped over the dead shadow beasts to take on the next group. "Continue our push! We have to reclaim the wall."

A shadow beast with the form of a long-necked dinosaur of Earth had reached the wall earlier. Too many giants to stop them all. As the long-necked beast died, it slumped its head on top of the wall. Smaller shadow beasts clambered on it and used its neck as a bridge. Even those who couldn't climb the vertical wall suddenly had a way to reach its top. Dozens of them rushed up and overwhelmed the defenders. Maveron's men were busy with a couple of giants punching the tower with the cannons, and couldn't immediately react.

Their strategy of sticking together as a group to deal with possible breaches quickly no longer worked with so many problems along the span of the wall. With Maveron's permission, Elian took Reese to clear the monsters on the wall.

Foot by foot, Elian met the shadow beasts, with Reese cutting them down. Reese had such fine control of his slashes that he could cut shadow beasts hugging Elian without touching a strand of Elian's hair. Reese's attacks could curve and swerve around Elian's body.

Soon, they reached the dinosaur shadow beast. Reese lobbed off its neck and pushed its large head off the wall.

"Reestablish defenses!" Reese ordered Verney's men. "Line the wall with stakes. Stand your ground! Don't let them—Penitent?" Elian placed his hand on Reese's shoulder.

"Look!" Elian said only one word and pointed before running toward the next problem.

A ten-foot-tall shadow beast had reached where the newly built wall met the old town walls. This shadow beast looked like a mole, with wide, shovel-shaped paws and long claws. It was puny compared to the giant ones; it couldn't reach the top of the lower even if it raised its arm.

The problem was, it was attacking the seam of their defenses. If the new wall was weak, the portion where it connected to the old wall was weaker.

The giant mole looked like it had been digging for several minutes, going unnoticed because the defenders had more pressing concerns. Now, it was the pressing concern. Stone blocks crumbled, revealing the compacted dirt and rubble sandwiched inside.

Three men rushed over and aimed down the wall with crossbows. Their arrows didn't bother the shadow mole beast.

"Get out of there!" Elian shouted. But he was too late.

The wall shivered. For a moment, nothing happened. And then an earthy grumble rose over the shrieks of the shadow beasts. The wall began shaking hard. The portion that the giant mole was digging began to sink, taking the men atop with it, collapsing onto the shadow beasts below. Before the dust settled, a chorus of eerie howls echoed as shadow beasts rushed to the small opening.

"Dammit," Elian hissed through gritted teeth. As he ran, he peered over the left side of the wall, facing the town.

Shadow beasts trickled into the town. Expecting this place to be breached, the defenders had prepared wooden fences and stakes behind the wall. The shadow beasts tore through them and pounced on the spearmen of Verney. One of the shadow beasts managed to get over the wall of spikes and ripped the head off a soldier.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Elian checked the ride side of the wall, looking over the shadow beasts climbing over each other to enter the opening.

The giant mole shrugged off the rubble and resumed digging, clawing other shadow beasts in the process. The shadow beasts continued forcing themselves into the gap, not caring about the giant mole killing some of them. If the giant mole could widen the breach, the soldiers on the ground wouldn't be able to keep the shadow beasts from spilling to the rest of the town.

No hesitation. No fear. People's lives are on my shoulders! Elian leaped into the hole in the wall. He fell several feet, tumbling off the rough blocks, before landing onto a cushion of shadow beast bodies.

The monsters went into a frenzy when they sensed him among them. Elian pushed himself to stand as teeth and claws tried to wound him. He kept a grip on his mace even as a shadow beast gnawed on his arm. He was squeezed on all sides, and he couldn't see anything.

Something massive slammed down. Elian got hammered down into the rubble. Shadow beasts around Elian popped like zits, covering him with sludge. He was then raked out of the ground by long claws—the shadow beast mole was trying to dig him out.

"No, you don't," Elian grumbled, slipping between the claws. He barely managed to stand when he was covered by shadow beasts again. "Reese!"

Red light poked through the gap of the bodies on top of him. The shadow beasts got cubed and were blasted away.

Stolen novel; please report.

"I'm already here, Penitent." Reese landed on top of the giant mole and stabbed its head with both swords. Red lines branched out from his blades, covering the giant mole. The lines furrowed into deep wounds, and blood spurted.

Reese jumped over Elian, did a somersault, and landed behind him.

"Stay!" Elian shouted, knowing what Reese would do next.

"The shadow beasts inside the town—"

"Don't leave this spot," Elian said as a new bunch of shadow beasts covered him.

"People are dying!"

Elian frowned. He could hear the screams and cries for help behind him. "I can't hold these monsters back!" he shouted, even as a shadow beast chomped on his head. It pained him to say he was lacking. "Once they get past me, they'll kill more people. Defend this place. Let others deal with the monsters already inside."

Reese didn't reply. He didn't leave either, cutting down shadow beasts that spilled over the pileup, trying to bury Elian.

I'm too weak, Elian thought. He had to rely on others to defeat the enemy. Alone, he couldn't do much other than be tanky. If only he wasn't cursed by that damned Giant King.

He could hear the Giant King's parting words before killing him, "MAY YOU SURVIVE TO WATCH THIS ALL UNFOLD ONCE MORE BUT BE POWERLESS TO DO ANYTHING."

It was unfolding as the Giant King prophesied. Yes, Elian had saved many people. Yes, he was a huge help to the Grovenians. But the fact remained that he could do nothing to the shadow beasts. He had to wait until midnight for his Tribulation to be available. And that was his only method of killing the enemy, of putting to rest the angry Lost Souls.

"Penitent, get out of the way!" Maveron's shouting from above brought Elian back to the present. Maveron swung his sword at the taller tower, destroying part of its top.

Other warriors copied him. With powerful attacks, they shaved parts of the walls on either side of the breach. Rubble tumbled down to fill the hole.

Elian jumped back as stone blocks fell. Several shadow beasts chased him; they were promptly killed by Reese. Without a word, Reese then left in a hurry, probably to hunt the shadow beasts wreaking havoc in the town. Elian turned around to look for where Reese had gone, but he beheld a dreadful sight.

Three giant shadow beasts had already entered the east side of the town, their horned heads bobbing above the roofs. Elian rushed to a ladder and climbed the wall and get a better view. A section of the eastern wall had been destroyed—a large breach, it would seem. Even a tower was brought down.

A third of Maveron's men, strong swordsmen wielding swords with spell shards, were assigned there. The flashes of light and explosions on the still-standing section of the wall over there meant that some of them were alive.

However, none were stopping the giant shadow beasts.

If those large guys were in, so were dozens of the smaller ones. They were headed to the south of the town, where the townspeople should have retreated around Lord Gustall's small castle.

A silver lining, if it were ever one, was that the shadow giants were preoccupied with destroying buildings. They smashed and stomped the structures made from the trees that once were their original bodies. Understandable that they'd get angry at those. This bought the defenders some time before the shadow beasts reached the fleeing townspeople.

"Esteemed Penitent!" Maveron ran over to Elian. "The worst is upon us!"

"Verney sends his order." Elian pointed at the blue and yellow fireworks forming symbols in the sky. "He's calling for troops to head off the shadow beasts. We have hope yet!"

During the council of war, they had discussed this possibility—what if the shadow beasts managed to enter the town again? If it were a small incursion that could be easily thrown back, there was no need to move around the groups. But if a large part of the wall were to fall, and many shadow beasts were to enter, then they had two options.

The more drastic one was for all the defenders to hastily retreat to the inner part of the town before too many shadow beasts had flooded in. Staying on the walls would be useless because they'd be surrounded, attacked from the front and the back by the enemy. This was what they did the previous time the walls fell and the shadow beasts entered Golden Grove. It was essentially a last stand—they managed to survive until the sun came up.

But if the remaining forces of the shadow beasts weren't that many, it would be best for the defenders to stay on the walls. They'd continue bleeding the attackers and prevent more from entering. Teams defending areas with lesser pressure would send men they could spare to plug the gap and eliminate the shadow beasts inside the town.

Verney had the benefit of having a literal bird's eye view of the situation, accompanied by a mage with scrying abilities and warriors with familiars that scouted the battlefield. This was his call.

Maveron nodded. "Verney doesn't call for a full retreat, despite the large opening. Victory may just be within our grasp."

"Yeah, they're running out of numbers."

"But this is a gamble, nonetheless. Verney has to hope that the hunting groups have people to spare, and that those would be enough to hold on until victory."

"Look over there." Elian pointed at blue streaks jumping from roof to roof. "The Azure Roc Company sends some men over."

"Are they sufficient?"

Elian didn't give a straight reply. "It's one thing to fight to defend a wall. It's another thing chasing all these shadow beasts all over town." Which was to say, they would never be really sufficient.

"Haford will prioritize the colossal shadow beasts," Maveron said. "And leave the others for later. They might not bother with the smaller shadow beasts at all, for they have to return to their section of the wall." Maveron left unsaid his concern that the smaller beasts would then go and attack the townspeople.

Verney and Lord Gustall had soldiers defending the townspeople, but they were few and stretched thin. Reese had probably thought of this, which was why he left the wall.

"If you're thinking of abandoning—" Elian began to say.

"We can't," Maveron cut in, shaking his head. "If we leave our post, if we weaken the defenses of this wall, the shadow beasts would destroy it. Then, Verney would have no choice but to order a retreat. It might very well be the difference between victory and defeat. However…" He looked at Elian.

"I'll go," Elian said. "And I'll look for Reese, too. If we bring down the giant shadow beasts, the Azure Roc mercenaries can help us defend the townspeople from the smaller ones."

"Will you be able to do that, esteemed Penitent? Can you and Reese bring down the giants on your own?"

Elian gazed up at the sky. The clouds had cleared through the night, revealing the stars. "Is it midnight yet? I'm not too familiar with the stars of this region to tell…"

"It must be past midnight," said Maveron. "Why are you—?"

"I'll get going then." And Elian jumped off the wall.

He ran through the streets of the town, following the trail of shadow beast corpses. This must be the work of Reese. He also came across bodies of soldiers. Further ahead, there were people without armor or weapons—townspeople. For some reason, they didn't go with the rest to Lord Gustall's castle.

Elian stopped his brain from self-blaming. This wasn't the time for that. And he had made peace in his past life about the truth that he couldn't save everyone.

"Reese! Reese, where are you?" Elian shouted.

"Here, Penitent!" Reese dropped down from the roof of a cookshop. "That's two gold coins for—"

"Ask that from your uncle. Have you seen where the giants are headed?"

"Yes. Why are you—?"

"The most dangerous of the three—where is it going? The biggest and meanest looking. We're going to kill it."