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“…They’re coming!”

Captain of the Heavy Shield Corps Cornell Warlich barked the warning. He raised his shield squarely before him, lowered his center of gravity, and braced himself for the impact he knew was coming.

Through the breach in the wall, a horde of undead surged forward like a mountain avalanche. The earth trembled. The air quaked. A shockwave crashed into them with the force of a colossal hammer striking the world itself. The Full Phalanx held.

For over an hour, they had endured this relentless barrage. Those who slipped past the phalanx were cut down as quickly as the attackers could manage, but there was no end in sight.

Outside the formation, beyond the defensive line, the three members of Amukham, along with Vice-Commander Kyle Irvine and Third Team Leader Tony Easton, continued slaughtering the tide of undead as though sweeping away an avalanche.

Even the occasional giant-class or special-class undead met the same fate as the countless lesser monsters. To those three of Amukham… perhaps it made no difference whether they were facing an ordinary skeleton or a disaster capable of wiping an entire city off the map. Watching Conrad send a Great Skull flying with a single swing of his axe, Cornell couldn’t help but think exactly that.

The undead crashing into Cornell’s phalanx were merely the ones Howard’s vanguard had failed to eliminate. Even so, their numbers were beyond reason. At present, only three members, including Cornell himself, remained capable of maintaining the Full Phalanx. During the vampire assault earlier, three members, or half of the Heavy Shield Corps, had been rendered incapable of fighting. They had survived, but none of them were in any condition to return to battle.

The defensive wall erected by the logistics corps had likewise been devastated during the attack, leaving a massive hole punched through it. The knights had cleared away the rubble and rebuilt the barricade. Even now, the wall itself still retained the blessing bestowed upon it by the clergy, making it a Holy Construct. The undead refused to touch it.

The same held true for the silver wall surrounding Black Rock. Avoiding the sanctified walls, the undead poured only through the massive breach that had been opened.

Thanks to that, the defenders only had to hold the opening. Had the attack come from every direction… There would have been no hope. Once the battle devolved into chaos, those unable to move would be the first to die.

The undead surged toward the breach guarded by the three members of the Heavy Shield Corps. Standing at the center, Cornell increased the mana flowing into the formation, boosting the power of Full Phalanx. With a shout, the three of them received the white torrent of undead head-on and forced it backward. The instant the Full Phalanx contracted again, a crushing weight settled over Cornell’s body. Repeatedly overloading the spell had exhausted the mana battery of his Heavy Mobile Magic Armor. The armor had begun drawing directly from Cornell’s own mana just to remain operational.

At that moment, someone came running toward them from the rear, crouching low while carefully watching the battlefield. It was a member of the logistics corps carrying a massive backpack. Seizing a brief opening in the fighting, the logistics soldier reached Cornell’s back. With practiced efficiency, he detached the large box fixed to the armor’s waist and pulled out its contents. Without hesitation, he retrieved an identical unit from his backpack and inserted it into the empty slot. After securing the casing once more, he immediately stepped away.

“This is the last fully charged Mana Battery we’ve got. Good luck out there!”

After calling out to Cornell, the logistics soldier hurried to the other two members of the Heavy Shield Corps and replaced their batteries as well.

“Just two more hours until sunrise! Hold the line until then!”

Cornell roared as Full Phalanx caught the flood of undead once more.

The time had already passed three in the morning. The sun would begin rising shortly before six. Realistically… They only had about two and a half hours left. Once morning came, the undead’s movements would be severely restricted. The weaker ones would likely disintegrate upon exposure to sunlight, while even the stronger undead would not escape unscathed.

Behind them, Cedric’s voice echoed across the battlefield as he rallied the knights. Even now, he was personally cutting down enemies that slipped through while directing the evacuation of the wounded.

This was where they had to stand their ground. Cornell pulled a fresh magazine loaded with Magic Storage Cartridges from the pouch at his waist, replaced the empty magazine mounted on his tower shield, then lowered his stance once again.

The greatest difference between the Magic Armor used by Howard and the other members of Amukham and the Heavy Mobile Magic Armor employed by the Knight Order lay in their versatility.

The Magic Armor used by Amukham dramatically changed in performance depending on the user’s mana capacity. Furthermore, armor individually adjusted and crafted for its owner could elevate that person’s abilities to extraordinary heights. In other words, a warrior’s combat potential depended almost entirely upon their own personal strength. That was the nature of Amukham’s Magic Armor.

The Knight Order’s Heavy Mobile Magic Armor, on the other hand, was designed to produce a high level of combat capability regardless of its wearer’s individual talent. This was possible because the mana required to operate the armor was supplied by Mana Batteries. As a result, regardless of whether the wearer possessed little mana or an abundance of it, they could consistently achieve a respectable Power Level. If the wearer supplemented the battery’s mana with their own, the armor’s performance could be enhanced even further. Naturally, doing so required considerable skill in mana control.

In addition, the various Magic Ignition Devices installed throughout the armor allowed the user to activate specialized cartridges. These cartridges enabled enhancement, support, offensive, and healing magic without consuming the wearer’s own mana, and could be used regardless of the wearer’s natural magical affinity. By selecting the appropriate cartridge for each situation, the knights were able to adapt fluidly to changing battlefield conditions.

Ordinarily, reaching such a high level of combat effectiveness would require exceptional physical ability combined with masterful mana control. Yet this armor granted that level of stability to every wearer. Combined with the flexibility to switch between different magical cartridges as the situation demanded… That versatility was the defining characteristic of the Heavy Mobile Magic Armor.

Once again, Cornell planted his massive frame firmly into the ground and drove back the crashing tide of undead. The spent Magic Storage Cartridge that had fueled the Phalanx shot out of his tower shield, trailing white smoke.

At that moment, something gleamed beyond the advancing sea of undead.
Cornell’s instincts screamed in warning. Without hesitation, he opened the newly installed Mana Battery to its absolute limit, pouring every ounce of power into the already active Full Phalanx. The very next instant… A deafening explosion erupted. A raging torrent of fire engulfed Cornell and his comrades, along with every undead surrounding them.

The searing heat scorched their skin, burning away even the fine hairs on their bodies. The inferno was so intense that it stole the very oxygen from the air. Breathing was impossible. Had anyone inhaled, their lungs would have been incinerated instantly. Even with the Full Phalanx operating at maximum output, such overwhelming heat still reached them. If his response had been even a fraction of a second slower… Cornell clenched his teeth as the pressure of the explosion battered against him, every hair on his body standing on end.

At last, the roaring sea of flames subsided. Slowly, Cornell opened his eyes. Everything around him had been scorched black across a vast area. The sparse bushes and grass that had managed to grow upon the barren land had burned away completely, exposing the dark, rocky ground beneath. The trees caught within the blast had not even been granted the chance to burn. They had carbonized halfway through and collapsed into blackened fragments.