Chapter 544: Rush and fight
The place to which Malevolence’s humans retreated was a part of the riverbank where flat sandy plains gave way to steep hills and even a few rocky cliffs, with only a few narrow passageways leading upward.
More humans were already lying in wait there, and others had rapidly joined them, while bees covered their backs.
A person less familiar with battles against evolving creatures would’ve thought that since bees could fly over the heads of the crocodile-beasts and shoot them from a safe distance, this was an entirely one-sided battle from the start, in which humans were just a liability.
This would’ve been nice, but Malevolence knew that if something like this were the case, these beasts would’ve been eaten by local insects and flying beasts a long time ago.
She didn’t have any blue-eyed scouts, enough Oracles for precise prophecies, or a lot of time to watch the crocodile-beasts’ behaviours, so she was ready for the unexpected.
And it happened. Perhaps realising that their prey was getting too far away, or being too incensed by the shower of projectiles from above, some crocodile-beasts slowed down and raised their heads toward the bee swarms.
Then, from the mouths hidden between the crocodiles’ mandibles, powerful jets of water shot into the sky!
Each of them hit with the force of a cannonball. A dozen jets hit the soldiers, each of them shooting down at least a dozen Beemarines with their width despite their loose formation.
One of the jets flew dangerously close to Malevolence herself—only fifty meters away. From this distance, she could even spot the bits of undigested food in the water and wonder for a moment if it came directly from the crocodile-beasts’ stomachs.
The Beemarines were invulnerable to most physical damage, but the jets still shot them from the sky, and only a few could recover fast enough to not fall to the ground.
"Fly higher and retreat to point B!" Malevolence ordered, seeing that more crocodile-beasts were preparing to spit out water jets. "The humans had enough time to flee!"
The soldiers obeyed immediately, flying much higher. The distance at which the jets wouldn’t be able to hit them was too large to shoot at the crocodiles effectively, but at this point, it was unnecessary.
The mass of the beasts advanced, but now it was met with a reformed line of humans and their rifles.
From high above this battlefield, Malevolence gave them an order to shoot in volleys.
The human Lieutenant raised an arm, shouting to the people while an Agent on his shoulder echoed his words into people’s minds. They aimed... and fired.
Each human rifle was like a cannon to bees. A truly massive cannon. Their effectiveness was hard to overestimate.
The massive bullets, each larger than an entire bee, hit the mass of advancing claws and carapaces. The front crocodiles cried out as the bullets hit their bodies, cracking the carapaces and bruising flesh inside.
However, the humans had poor aim. Even from a relatively short distance, and when aiming, most of them could barely hit a crocodile in the head, much less in the eye! Malevolence narrowed her eyes, seeing how the hook-like fingers of some humans were shaking on their rifles so visibly that she could tell from kilometres away.
The Wildmen were a notable exception.
They were guarding their own side of the chokepoint, and this was where the most crocodiles died from this volley. And this was even though most of them were shooting with crossbows and bows instead of rifles!
Their battle spirit was also much higher than that of any other human. They clearly had a lot of combat experience, unlike Malevolence’s people, who were mostly support personnel.
A few dozen bodies were left behind by the crocodile wave, but the rest advanced after only a slight delay. There wasn’t enough time for the second volley, and Malevolence gave the next order.
"Attach bayonets! Prepare for melee! Bees—we fly in to support in a loose formation!"
The human riflemen attached bayonets; the Wildmen pulled out hatchets, swords and spears.
Bee swarms lowered, aiming at the crocodiles’ vulnerable spots.
And the melee started.
The crocodiles pushed into the chokepoint, sometimes literally walking over each other to get to their prey faster. They lunged at what they could see, and it was clear that whoever got caught by their sawtooth-like mandibles would be as good as dead.
The humans shouted battlecries and fought back the best they could. In a fight as thick as this, as soon as they pointed the sharp ends of bayonets in a somewhat right direction, they would definitely hit a beast.
But if a hit wasn’t strong enough, a crocodile could just push forward until its mandibles could reach prey!
Those crocodiles that couldn’t even walk over other beasts tried to climb the hills and cliffs. Their short, but powerful claws dug into soil and stone, but couldn’t find enough purchase.
The soil here was still wet from recent storms, and the beasts clearly weren’t suited for climbing. Even when using each other for support, they couldn’t climb high enough to reach any humans comfortably.
But when one man tried to poke a crocodile with a bayonet from a "safe" distance, a beast lunged at him, grabbed the rifle, and pulled it down. Almost together with the man himself!
Over all this, swarms of bees, which were mostly ignored by crocodiles, did their best to hit their vulnerable spots. Some squads flew dangerously close to the melee to aim their shots at crocodile-beasts’ eyes.
With their combined efforts, the line held without losses. Slowly but surely, they were going to whittle the crocodiles down, make the crossing safe, and get enough food to last the army for the rest of the journey easily.
Or so this would’ve happened if the humans had been just a little more able.
A man in line was too slow or too weak; with a bayonet in its shoulder, a crocodile lunged at him and grabbed his leg in a deathtrap before pulling the man down.
Then it all began falling apart...