Chapter 79: The Day We’ve Been Waiting For (2)
“What, what on earth is this?”
A massive wall of fire completely surrounded the enemy.
They couldn’t even consider advancing, let alone retreating.
Everyone was stunned by the sudden occurrence, completely lost in thought.
Viktor was the first to regain his composure and shouted at the mages beside him.
“Break the magic! I said release it!”
However, the mages stood there wide-eyed, frozen in place.
“We… we can’t break this magic.”
“What?! You’re mages!”
“This magic surpasses our circle.”
One of the mages stuttered an explanation.
“Look closely. Does this look like regular magic to you? Have you ever seen something like this? Even the head of an average Mage Tower couldn’t cast magic like this. We can’t break it.”
Another mage replied, glaring at the wall of fire.
“This is 4th Circle magic. But the caster is likely not of the 4th Circle… at least…”
“At least what?”
“…above 7th Circle.”
“Don’t talk nonsense! There are only two 7th Circle mages in the entire kingdom! And you’re telling me there’s a high-level mage here?”
Viktor gritted his teeth and shouted, but the mage muttered to himself as if he didn’t hear Viktor.
“No, even a 7th Circle mage couldn’t do this. What in the world is this? This surpasses the concept of regular magic. It’s not just personal power. What is it? Magic Circle? Artifact? What kind of device is at play? There must be a medium involved.”
Even amidst this chaos, the mages were more eager to satisfy their own curiosity than to defeat the enemy.
They began to analyze the patterns of magic power while inspecting the wall of fire.
However, Viktor had no interest in the principles of magic.
“The Count sent you here in case of mages! And you can’t solve this? Are you just going to stand around idly?”
“We… we can’t do anything.”
“The Count wouldn’t have anticipated this either.”
Viktor was boiling with rage at the excuses from the two mages.
“Ugh, you useless bunch! Isn’t that why you’re here?”
Count Desmond had sent two mages along to prepare for the possibility of Perdium hiring mages with the money from selling the Runestone.
However, even the meticulous Harold hadn’t considered that there would be a mage above the 5th Circle in Perdium.
In the entire kingdom, there were barely over 50 mages of the 5th Circle or above.
No matter how much money there was, they believed the limit for Perdium to hire in such a short time would be a 4th Circle mage at best.
And even that would require some luck to manage.
“I thought it might be possible.”
“Are you saying the Count didn’t expect this?”
Viktor murmured to himself and suddenly raised his head.
The siege war became impossible due to the fire barrier blocking all sides.
They had to wait until the magic was depleted.
Although the flames surrounded them, if they ran quickly, they might somehow escape.
“Retreat! We’ll regroup in the back, and when the fire goes out, we’ll advance again! Get out of this area as fast as you can!”
Just as he shouted and turned his horse, one mage spoke up.
“Come to think of it, the concentration of magic here is unusually high. Something feels… odd…”
Rumble!
At that moment, the horse they were riding stumbled. The mage couldn’t finish and grabbed the reins.
Vanessa had cast the next level of magic.
The golden magic circle engraved in her eyes spun around.
Crunch!
The runestone bracelets worn by her and Alfoy shattered into powder.
The fire barrier was merely a means to hold the enemy in place for a moment. The real deal began now.
The magic that had melted into the surroundings gradually began to take form.
It was soon absorbed into the ground, meeting something that had been waiting below.
Finally, the conditions were perfectly met.
Vanessa whispered softly.
“…Flame Strike.”
The ground trembled, and magic erupted like an explosion.
Boom!
Rumble!
Kaboom!
With earth-shattering sounds, dozens of massive fire pillars erupted everywhere.
“Uaaaaaaagh!”
Viktor’s soldiers screamed as they burned alive.
Those caught in the center of the fire pillars didn’t even have time to scream before turning to ash.
“What is this!”
Kaboom!
Viktor and the mage couldn’t avoid the explosion either.
The battlefield was pure chaos.
The survivors began to scream, throwing down their weapons and scattering.
“Uaaaaagh!”
“Save me!”
“Fall back! Get back, I said!”
Fire connected to fire, filling the surroundings.
The enormous fire pillars devoured the siege towers and ladders, growing larger.
Soldiers on fire rolled on the ground.
The soldiers of Perdium inside the castle gate swallowed hard, watching the hellish scene.
Who on earth prepared such a thing?
In a daze, Zvalter staggered, managing to regain his balance and look down.
Unlike the confused soldiers, Ghislaine and the mercenaries appeared calm.
“Could it be… Ghislaine, you?”
At that moment, Vanessa collapsed, coughing up blood.
A nearby mercenary caught her as she fell from the air.
Ghislaine briefly looked back and spoke up.
“Belinda, take care of the mages.”
“Uh? Yes, yes!”
Belinda and a few soldiers picked up the fallen mages and retreated.
Ghislaine turned around and began to walk. The mercenaries followed.
Zvalter shouted loudly.
“Ghislaine! What are you doing!”
But Ghislaine neither responded nor stopped. Zvalter called out again, urgently.
“Stop! Stop! Enough already! We’ve won! They’ll all flee from that fire! Why are you trying to go out? It’s a sea of flames!”
Finally, Ghislaine stopped walking and looked at him.
Her dry response came back.
“Because I have to kill them.”
“What?”
“I’ll capture and kill all the ones fleeing. They need to feel the dire consequences of looking toward Perdium.”
“Are you serious…?”
“In the future, enemies who target this place will think twice. They’ll have to decide if they have the courage to risk their lives.”
“Do you really think so?”
Boom.
Ghislaine emanated a fierce aura, something only one who has lived by piling up corpses could possess.
Zvalter’s body was covered in goosebumps at the sight of his son for the first time.
How could he show such momentum?
But right now, stopping his son was the priority.
“I understand your intention, but how on earth do you plan to enter that fire!”
Even if you protected your body with mana, there were limits in such a tremendous blaze.
Trying to push through clumsily would likely result in death for many.
Yet, despite Zvalter’s desperate cries, Ghislaine only smiled silently.
*
From behind, Count Tamos was startled by the suddenly rising flames.
“W-what? What’s happening? Why did the fire just shoot up? There’s nothing here!”
He couldn’t grasp what was happening or what phenomenon it was.
At least the soldiers on the outskirts managed to escape, but far more had perished.
Some even managed to dash out while still on fire, but it wasn’t long before they died.
As Tamos stared blankly, a young staff officer shouted loudly.
“Snap out of it! We need to give the retreat order! Blow the trumpet and send the remaining soldiers ahead! We need to rescue the injured!”
Seeing Tamos still dazed, the staff officer continued urgently.
“This isn’t the forest. The surroundings are wide open, and since we have no mounts, if we just get out, we can regroup and gather the troops!”
One of the reasons fire attacks are terrifying is that flames spread quickly by burning surrounding trees and such.
However, in such an empty plain, it wouldn’t spread much and would die down quickly.
“You, you are the one under the secretary… was it Lowell? What if the enemy comes chasing after us? We should just run away now…”
“The enemies can’t come through the flames either. They’re likely waiting for us to either flee or burn. It will take them time to go around to another castle gate. We need to move now.”
At Lowell’s words, Tamos stammered and asked again.
“But, what if they arrive before we gather our troops… wouldn’t it be better to just run?”
“Ugh, damn… no, my Lord! If we have no troops, surrendering means it’s the end for us! We need to have troops left to at least negotiate a surrender! We need to save as many as we can!”
“Y-you’re right. Right. Move the injured! Retreat as soon as we’ve gathered a sufficient number!”
As Tamos shouted urgently, the remaining guard troops began to move.
There were only about a hundred of them, but that was all the remaining strength he had.
*
Meanwhile, Ghislaine tapped his armor and looked at the mercenaries.
“We can’t hold out long. Kill them as quickly as you can and strike the remaining ones.”
The black armor that Ghislaine and the mercenaries wore had the inner fabric of Dirus Ent stitched onto them.
Since it was made from materials able to withstand 4th-circle fire magic, they might be able to endure that enormous magical fire for a while.
Gillian shook his head and said, “This is probably the most expensive trap in history.”
“That’s true. We just wasted all the runestones we brought this time.”
“Are you not worried about the runestones?”
“Money is just a means to achieve a goal.”
The mercenaries, who had been following orders without understanding what was happening, finally realized Ghislaine’s strategy.
Since the war was declared, Ghislaine had ordered the mercenaries to bury a ton of runestones outside the castle grounds.
The runestones were buried extensively in the land outside the castle.
“I thought it was hidden so it wouldn’t get stolen, but who knew it would be used like this. All those runestones just wiped out.”
“Isn’t that a waste?”
“I was planning to sneakily dig some up later, but they all blew up in the end.”
The mercenaries let out a hollow laugh.
Normally, one would run away with all the runestones. That amount was enough to live comfortably for a lifetime.
But to blow up all those runestones for just one trap? It was hard to tell if it was impressive or too much.
“Still, that woman is something. She really is a Mage.”
“With her skills, what circle is she? Could she be a grand mage?”
“I thought she was just a maid.”
The mercenaries admired the results, but it was actually a bit different.
No matter how much Magic Power she received, with Vanessa’s current skills, she couldn’t blow up that many runestones at once.
She merely detonated a few of them.
However, all the runestones were inscribed with various spells like focusing, chaining, and explosion.
Before the war was declared, Vanessa had diligently inscribed spells under Ghislaine’s orders.
It was a task that could only be done with someone possessing exceptional magical theory and senses like her.
Ghislaine had been preparing this trap since the time they were mining the runestones in the Forest of Monsters.
Bringing Vanessa from the Mage Tower was part of that plan.
And finally, it was time to make those invading bastards pay.
It was time to unleash the pent-up rage.
“Kill everyone in sight!”
Ghislaine shouted loudly and charged forward.
As Gillian and Kaor followed closely behind, the hesitant mercenaries gritted their teeth and went after them.
“Let’s go for now!”
“If they said it’s okay, it should be fine!”
“Let’s catch them all before they run!”
Szzziiing!
The inner layer of Dirus Ent began to steam and dry up upon contact with the flames.
“Oh, it’s warm! So warm!”
“It’s bearable!”
“Quick, kill them and get out!”
There were still quite a few enemies left in the battlefield turned hellfire.
The mercenaries chased down those fleeing with all their might, swinging their weapons.
“Raaaargh!”
The enemies struggling within the flames collapsed helplessly.
While the mercenaries were slaughtering the survivors, Ghislaine was searching for someone amidst the fire.
“I need to kill that bastard Viktor first.”
Even now, Viktor was strong. He would undoubtedly become a formidable opponent as time passed.
He had to be found and killed in this war.
“If he died directly from the fire pillar, that would be lucky… but I need to confirm at least a piece of his corpse.”
Ghislaine dashed through the horrific screams of the enemy soldiers all around.
“I found him.”
And finally, she spotted a man standing alone amidst the flames.
“Raaaargh! My army! How dare you!”
Viktor was roaring with rage.
Half of his face was covered in blisters, still boiling, and his armor was broken and dented in many places.
But he was still alive.
“I will kill them all! I’ll cut open their bellies and hang their heads on the castle wall!”
His eyes gleamed with madness.
He could not return like this.
He had to behead the Lord of Perdium and all his retainers, even if it meant dying here.
Even if he were to die, it was the last way to preserve his honor and face.
Just as Viktor was about to unleash mana and charge toward Perdium Castle…
Whoosh!
Something streaked toward him, slicing through the flames.
