As someone who was very familiar with the Threat System, Ruthven felt an abrupt chill travelling down his spine when finally got a general picture of what was going on. A being or a monster capable of controlling 200 plus E-rankers (which were community-level threat monsters) and a few D-rankers (or village-level monsters) would most likely be C-ranked himself in minimum. This means that the one behind all this ruckus was a city-threat himself.

  "W-What…!? The scales…" Ruthven's mouth widened in surprise as he witnessed in his own naked eye the hardness of the enemies' scales as they were struck by the swords and arrows. "It's really hard!"

  "Lord Ruthven, what shall we do?! Even the magically imbued arrows still seem unable to penetrate the hard outer scales of the minotaurs…"

  "No way!" He clicked his tongue in frustration. "But the HQ guidelines said that minotaurs, even in D-rank status, can be pierced by it! This is really, really bad!"

  "Wait, the more I look at it… This must be a variant, Lord Ruthven. The tails and the antlers are much longer than normal ones recorded. They're a bit taller, as well."

  "No wonder our archers couldn't fatally wound them… Damn it! You bunch of abominations!"

  "So what shall we do now? It's still a few minutes after the evacuation kicked off in the county. If we allow these monsters to roam freely beyond the gate, some slow-moving citizens will surely be in trouble. The mission will surely be a total failure! Shall we move to plan B? The shape of the battlefield is already suitable for it… What do you say?"

  "That's right… But before that...give a minute or two to think first."

  "Understood! As general commander of the troops, it's your decision to make,

  after all."

  By the looks of how things were going, their first plan to formally fight the monsters with all their might had just become futile. Thus, they needed to shift immediately to plan B. However, the second plan was quite costly and the underlying risks were high that Ruthven hesitated a bit whether or not to go on with it. Upon evaluating the situation, one thing was made clear—he had no choices left available for him. Now, he really had to gamble.

  "Prepare shifting to Plan B! Prepare the fuels immediately!"

  After this order was passed on to the whole troops, they immediately withdrew from the scene and ran as fast as they could back to the gate. Some were carrying the wounded and the corpses of their comrades while the others collected the swords and paraphernalia left by the fallen. It took them no more than three minutes to completely leave the battlefield and go back inside.

  "Position the pressurized pipes…!"

  "Lord Ruthven, this is a good opportunity. Look, the monsters are flocking at the gate!"

  "Indeed…"

  The last of the troops entered the gate while being closely chased by the monsters; the gate, upon the order of Ruthven, was again closed in order to prevent even a single one of the horde from entering. And then, in a few seconds, three suspended gigantic pipes, which were carried by the archers, appeared at the top of the walls. They were connected and installed to the two gigantic vessels filled with some red-colored liquid solution. Apparently, the diameter of the pipes seemed spanning to a half a meter. They were the same huge pipes that Edward ordered from the county's utility department just a few hours ago — all to be used solely for operations like this.

  "Commence…!"

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  As Ruthven passed on this order, the archers above the walls simultaneously took off the cover that prevented the pipes from releasing the red liquid from the vessels. This was only made possible due to the idea suggested by Edward to use pressurized pipes that propel the liquid and reach even wider area which was likened to hoses used by firemen. The only difference was that these pipes were bigger and more powerful. In a split second, the flocks of hundred monsters that were about to finally destroy the gate were showered in blood-red paint. It covered their whole bodies while little splashes scattered all over the place. It blinded and slightly corrupted the outer cuticles of the wild snakes but left the minotaurs completely unscathed.

  "Sir, the first vessel is now empty. Only about a hundred of the monsters were covered. Shall we open the second vessel…?"

  "Yes. Do it immediately!" Ruthven shouted.

  "Understood!"

  "Also, prepare the ignition right away!"

  The archers emptied the two huge vessels until the bottom eventually turned dry. And when all monsters became finally covered, one of the skilled archers shot a burning arrow towards the flock. It was direct hit to one of the minotaurs. The result was spectacular. Even in broad daylight, the sudden escalation of ravaging flames balled and consumed the monsters whole while illuminating all over the place. The burning scenery even reached the eyes of those evacuating beyond the Danuve River.

  Ruthven, Edward, and the others took shelter as they were not excused as well from the charring reddish heat that almost melted their armors and swords like that from a furnace. The gate, where the explosion was so near, partly crumbled as it braced from the full force of the flames. The foot soldiers used their wide shields as additional covers as the heat continued to penetrate the thick walls. Even Medici was knocked down by the sudden blast of heat in front of him even though he was already using some piles of blocks and bricks as cover. Some temple maidens who had volunteered to participate in the mission suffered from slight burns, thus they were forced to use their own medical potions to relieve themselves from the pain.

  "Ha-ha-ha! Take that you damned oafs! That was one hell of a potent magiton fuel, you know? You're more or less reduced to charcoal by now!"

  "Lord Ruthven, this will still take about five minutes before the flames would finally subside…"

  "Yeah… That sure is…"

  Ruthven was hesitant of this plan due mainly to the costs. First, they needed to have at least two huge vessels of high-grade Columbian fuels. In other words, they had to spend about 500 golds just to succeed in this plan. After all, a vessel of the Columbian fuel cost 250 golds. Note that a single vessel was enough to light all the lamps in the whole county for a year. Hence, they just spent about two-years worth of fuels for the county's people just to triumph against this monster invasion. Since the county's annual profits from taxes and mercantile returns amounted only to 3,000 golds, then they more or less spent the 16 percent of it in just an a few minutes. The Countess still hadn't known of this since they needed not to ask for permission in order to perform certain military initiatives especially during times of urgency that public safety demanded it. The leaders of the Orders were given emergency powers to utilize government-owned assets during times of grave need just like this one. Rightly! Particularly this time when the whole county was under siege.

  "It cost us 500 golds but it paid us off just fine. So I think it's still a fair—"

  "—Wait, Lord Ruthven, look…! W-What is that..?!" Edward abruptly stopped the self-satisfied and relieved Ruthven while pointing his finger at the nucleus of the whirling flames. "N-No way! Can you see that!?"

  "W-What…!? You're kidding, right!?"