| Author: The Sole Survivor | Original Source: SFACG |
| Translator: CatatoPatch | English Source: Re:Library |
A single volley later, over a thousand of our enemies were slain!
With that, the battlefield descended into an eerie silence; not only were our enemies stunned, even our allies were just as shocked.
The members of the Magitek Knight Corp were similarly frightened by their horrifically effective volley. Despite learning about the power of these mana cannons prior, mere numbers lacked the sheer gravitas that a thousand blown up corpses provided.
Unlike their dead comrades, the three-star soldiers remaining had the ability to wrap their Fighter’s Aura around themselves, giving them a much tougher defense compared to the two-stars.
While a two-star was still able to enhance his body with his aura, that only made him stronger than an average human. Perhaps one single fireball was manageable, but what about two? Three? With how concentrated our carpet bombing was, they stood no chance at all.
As the dust settled on the battlefield, those that were fortunate enough to be outside of the volley’s range knew to escape while they still could, lest another came right after…
“Tell the commander here, the stragglers on the walls are his, I will bring my men to the breach. And depending on the situation, I might even launch a counterattack.” I grabbed a passing soldier and relayed the message. Then without waiting for an answer, I raised my hand and yelled, “Forward!”
Step by thunderous step, our massive metallic frames began to march forward. Even with each magitek knight weighing over a ton, one could almost mistake them for actual human knights thanks to their humanlike movements. Even their orderly formation, a result of those eight days of training, served to further reinforce this imagery.
“Boom…boom … boom…”
Wherever we went, a tiny tremor would shake the lands, like drumsticks striking a massive battledrum. Even from a distance away, our sonorous warsong brought fear into the hearts of the invaders. No amount of preparation or gear could prepare them for the doom that gripped their hearts like a vice.
The soldiers before us parted way without exception, even those who were desperately trying to flee mere moments ago.
Our message was clear: wall or no wall, we still held the cards in this battle.
“Perhaps they are the secret weapon of this fort?”
“Still… are they even human at this point?”
“Can a human even be that tall?”
“That doesn’t matter, we have the advantage now!”
“Reclaim the wall!”
“Chase away the invaders!”
Having recovered their morale somewhat, the soldiers began to rally around their metallic saviors. In that sense, calling this the Messianic Knights series was quite apt… But still ostentatious…
The brats riding these metallic constructs basked in the admiring gazes of the soldiers until…
“Prepare the next volley! Our target: the breach ahead!”
I promptly brought them back to reality. Thankfully, those eight days of drilling them had left them… sensitive to my commands. All it took was a single bark and they were dragged back to their senses.
Just in time, too. The enemy hadn’t, in fact, given up on attacking and was already preparing for another charge.
To be honest, I would have had a harder time blasting them if they had chosen to charge right into the fort when they had the chance. Instead, they chose to secure the walls over routing their enemies. It was a sound decision with pros and cons, and one that would have worked for sure had it not been for my sudden interference.
They had gone through the effort of staging an elaborate siege on the north wall, hired an overlord to blast a forbidden spell at the wall, all for naught. Now that they had the ineviable of trying to reclaim the advantage by sending more of their troops into the meat grinder.
Unfortunately, this second wave was doomed to failure from the start. With a single raise of my hand, another volley of fireballs came raining down on them.
Yet the same death and destruction did not happen. At the very instant I expected the fireballs to strike, a blue dome of energy surged forth, shielding the soldiers beneath from harm.
Like raindrops to an umbrella, the fireballs pelted the blue dome, causing minute ripples all over the thin layer, but ultimately failing to breach the dome.
A stalemate had been achieved, but not for long. Over a thousand fireballs had been launched, and only half had landed thus far. By the midway point, cracks began to appear as the accumulated damage began to overload the spell. Once the thousand mark had been crossed, the dome finally gave in, shattering like a pane of glass.
Even so, I did not order a third wave of fireballs; the fuel for those mana cannons was limited and I did not want them to be spent in just the opening phase.
It was time for me to act. Like a fiery arrow, I dove into the collapsing dome with Wyrm, yelling mid-air, “Charge!”