Chapter 16 - Infiltration "Fire!" The soldiers roared as mages and archers alike unleashed a flurry of spells and arrows that covered the evening sky. In addition, burning boulders were launched from the three catapults at different parts of the castle walls. In retaliation, the demons fired their own mixture of spells and arrows at the humans below. The human archers retreated back a couple of steps as guardians brought up their shields to defend against the incoming attacks. The mages helped out by casting defensive spells like Earth Wall and Ice Shield as well as certain offensive spells like Whirlwind and Rock Blast. But of course, they were only able to block some of the incoming attacks. The rest, however, brought casualties with every hit. After observing the battle, XiYang saw a huge meteor appear from the sky. His eyes squinted as he sensed the ferocity of the magic spell. Was this the famed fifth level magic spell - Meteor? He did not expect the demons to have such a powerful mage on their side. Quickly, XiYang thought of a plan to stop the meteor. He reached into his bag and pulled out three large metallic balls, each one about the size and weight of half a shot put ball. With all his strength, he tossed the three balls high into the air. Then, as the balls fell down, he jumped towards them and held his paddle like a baseball bat. With a heavy swing, he swatted the three balls into the meteor. The three balls moved in a curving fashion, spreading out and striking towards the meteor. However, before contact, the three balls converged and struck the meteor at the same region. This was a variation of one of his special techniques - the Cobra Strike. Because of the number of balls used, the name of the move was modified to be the Triple Sidewinder. Anyways, the three balls pierced into the meteor causing the meteor to crumble into pieces. Now, one would assume that breaking apart the huge meteor into smaller more manageable meteors wasn't a good idea, however, this was exactly what XiYang was aiming for. The Speed Berserker got into position with his feet apart and slightly bent. He raised his paddle above his head with the paddle side facing down and his left hand by his waist. "Age-Uke Stance: Coiling Serpent!" XiYang shouted as he swung his paddle down in a clockwise motion. The paddle skimmed along the surface of the first meteor, spinning the meteor in a clockwise motion. Because the meteor was spun in a clockwise fashion, a force was created which pushed the meteor in the opposite direction of its movement. This essentially cancelled out the speed of the meteor. With the speed gone, the burning meteor dropped to the floor with a loud and harmless thud. Next, XiYang used a special movement technique from a form of martial arts known as the Crab Style. The technique was called Crab-Style: Lateral Crawl. Using this movement technique, he smoothly sidestepped to the right side where another meteor was and proceeded to use Coiling Serpent again. The Speed Berserker continued executing combinations of these two techniques until the rest of the small meteors were taken care of. All this lasted no more than a minute. Seeing the powerful meteor get taken care of by XiYang, the human soldiers roared with renewed motivation and increased their firepower. Spells upon spells and arrows upon arrows were fired towards the demons on the castle walls, killing many and injuring more. .......... Meanwhile, in a distance to the right of the demon fortress, Pine was preparing to infiltrate the fortress. The fortress was a simple, typical stronghold with only one legitimate entrance - the front gate. However, that did not mean people couldn't enter through less direct means. While most of the demons were distracted by the human army in the front, only a few demon warriors stood guard on the other three sides. Pine had circled around the fortress a few times before determining that the right side had the least number of guards. As he stood at a distance, Risa started casting a number of buffs on him, raising his strength, agility, and vitality. After buffing, Risa finished off with a spell of invisibility, erasing all visual appearance of the ranger. Without a word, Pine headed towards the fortress walls. Upon arriving at the foot of the castle, he scanned the walls for any crevices or barred up holes. Usually, a fortress would have small barred holes or crevices where sewage and waste exit through. Once he finished marking the locations of these crevices, he began scaling the wall. Minutes later, he reached the top of the wall. He was just about to vault over when he heard voices. Carefully, as to not make a sound, Pine eased himself and hanged onto the wall. As the unsuspecting demons walk past his position, Pine leaped forth and noiselessly landed on top of the wall. Pine pulled out his dagger and using a swift movement, he arrived behind the two demon guards. With two quick slashes, he slashed both demons' necks, killing them immediately. Pine glanced around his surroundings, carefully making sure that there wasn't anyone else in the vicinity. Once he made sure that he was alone, the ranger hoisted up the two corpses and tossed them over the wall. Then, he jumped down the wall, landing in the grounds inside the fortress. Quickly, he made his way to the gate. So far so good. There were no mishaps since almost all of the demons were fighting in the frontlines or attacking on the top of the walls. There were no guards protecting the gate as they did not assume anyone would be able to infiltrate inside the fortress. As Pine tried to open the gate, a rustling noise clamored out from behind him. He turned around and saw a demon! This demon looked different from the other demon guards with a powerful lower body and the head of a wolf. This demon looked stronger than the other demons Pine had met so far. He might be one of those demon elites! The demon was sniffing around as if trying to detect something. Pine held his breath and tip-toed towards the demon. With a swipe of his dagger, he ambushed the unsuspecting demon and plunged his knife into the demon. But that's when Pine realized that the demon in front of him was an afterimage! Pine spun around and raised his guard. He scanned his surroundings, trying to locate the demon elite. Suddenly, he sensed danger coming from his right. Pine reflexively raised his arms to block and was blown away by a fierce attack. The demon had located his position! Pine looked up at the demon after stabilizing himself and saw that the demon was staring straight at him. How? He was still invisible. Then, he remembered that there was a demon elite with very good sensory skills. This demon must be that demon elite! Since his cover was blown, Pine grunted. The sudden noise from him was the key to deactivating his invisibility. With his presence made visible, the ranger glared at the demon elite before him. "Another rat eh." The demon elite smirked as he unsheathed his blade. "Hopefully you won't jump off a cliff like the other one." Pine narrowed his eyes and lunged. The demon elite smiled at the ranger's bravery and lunged as well. The two met each other's charge and clashes of fighting could be heard.