Chapter 257: Divide and Conquer (7)

The Hebrion party, including Desir, who had broken through the line of defense at the crossroad, headed to the right.

The road on the right went through the market district.

The narrow market streets were complex and densely lined up with buildings with plenty of room for an ambush. In fact, the whole design was perfect for hiding traps.

For the Hebrion party who couldn’t afford to waste a single second, it was a very unfavorable setting.

However, they proceeded more smoothly than expected. Between Desir and the other magicians, a majority of the traps could be disarmed well in advance, and ambushes were easily thwarted by Pram and the other knights.

The roofs of the darkly colored buildings scattered throughout Pittsburgh stood tall, as if challenging the very skies themselves. That was where Romantica sat, away from the troops that headed towards the palace.

In her view, the sight of Divide’s commander issuing an artillery attack at Hebrion Party caught her attention.

Unfortunately for him, he was completely defenseless against any direct shots.

“How foolish.”

The moment Romantica snapped her fingers, the air around her started swirling around her unnaturally. And soon, the Divide commander’s hair began fluttering. Unfortunately for him, he noticed the unusually strong winds far too late.

“Huh… … ?”

The air pressure around him increased by several magnitudes.

*SPLAT*

With a gruesome noise, the commander of Divide exploded. All that remained was a piece of cloth from his Clothes Line that was ripped into pieces.

“Five.”

With that, the number of enemy commanders that Romantica had taken down increased to five.

Her magic was beyond the point of being called a form of sniping.

The winds that Romantica wielded scanned the area, giving her information, and soon as she found her target, the air pressure rose, killing them.

Romatica had literally weaponized wind itself. There was no such thing as a blind spot. As long the target stood where the wind was, it was impossible to escape her sniping.

“Six.”

*SPLAT*

Since there were no bullets involved it made it impossible to figure out her location by analyzing its trajectory.

“All of the field commanders are being targeted; find the sniper immediately!”

“Invoke your detection magic without rest!”

The Divide soldiers hurried to invoke detection magic to locate Romantica, but the Blue Rose that she was wearing completely blocked all attempts.

“For them to gather high-ranking magicians as well… they must be rather angry.”

Not only that, but it resulted in Romantica gaining information regarding the location of their main forces.

As countless magicians continued using detection magic to track the sniping, the air pressure around a high-ranking magician increased instantly.

“With this, seven.”

When even the magicians who were working to counter the sniper started getting killed off, Divide’s commanders eventually gave up looking for her and started playing it safe.

Unfortunately for them, it seems that the fear of not knowing when and where the next shot will come from has the effect of destroying army morale.

Thanks to that, Desir and the Hebrion Party under him were able to proceed towards the Palace of Divide without much damage.

But Divide wouldn’t take such disgrace laying down.

“KYAAAAK!”

From somewhere came the high-pitched screech of wyverns. It was undoubtedly the Flying Dragon Brigade, the most elite unit in Divide’s standard army.

[Owl’s Vision.]

When Desir looked up using magic, he saw hundreds of wyverns with knights atop them racing through the sky, the telltale sign of the Flying Dragon Brigade.

They each held a six-and-a-half foot long spear with a considerable amount of aura wrapped around it.

They circled the sky like vultures that had found prey.

Their target was Desir, the commander of the Allied Forces.

‘Don’t tell me… … !’

A member at the forefront of the Brigade hurled his spear at Desir.

As the javelin accelerated, it came flying towards him at a tremendous speed.

*WHIP*

Runel, the A-Tier artifact made of Blankšum, moved to block the spear after Desir acknowledged the threat.

*CLANG*

A sharp screech rang out and a torrent of sparks followed. Despite having been blocked before reaching the ground, it was strong enough to send considerable shock waves into the ground.

The Flying Dragon Brigade’s spears continued to rain down. Hundreds of them fell from the skies, like a meteor strike hurtling towards the ground.

Desir urgently called out to the person standing beside him.

“Adjest!”

“Leave it to me.”

As Adjest pulled out her Center of Ice, a chill started spreading around her.

[Frozen Palace]

Adjest invoked her signature imagery magic, allowing her to rapidly cast spells in the area around herself and Desir.

Hundreds of defensive spells were invoked to fight against the hundreds of spears. Thick ice barriers rose from between the buildings as the atmosphere around them froze.

*CRAAAASH*

Countless spears collided directly with the palace, damaging its icy composition. The palace shivered in pain before ultimately collapsing on itself.

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When their first attack thwarted, the Flying Dragon Brigade flew back up again and circled around.

There was no way they were going to back down. The bombing would soon begin again.

If this situation were to repeat again, Desir had no chance of winning. The Frozen Palace showed explosive power for a brief moment, but it took up an enormous amount of mana. It would be impossible for Adjest to use it repeatedly.

The wyvern-mounted knights retrieved more spears from their dimensional pockets and prepared for their next attack. At their vigor, Desir smiled bitterly.

“Who knew they’d be such a pain?”

It was impossible to shoot down wyverns with low-circle spells. They were infamous for both how nimbly and quickly they could maneuver while mid-air.

A high-circle spell might have been able to handle it instantly but considering the damage it would do to the entire city, that was not an option either.

The only reason why Divide was able to stall them here was because of the tremendous effort they put into making a wyvern army functional. It took knights of extreme skill and a considerable amount of time in order to tame wyverns, and Divide alone had committed the resources to training knights who were both capable enough to tame wyverns and competent enough to use them effectively.

‘Was the right side a pitfall?’

If Raphaello’s group had encountered the Flying Dragon Brigade, it would have been a cakewalk. Desir’s specialty was dealing with magicians, and spears coated in aura could not be inverted. Unable to safely attack or adequately defend, Desir was left hopeless.

Desir stared fixedly at the wyvern army circling above them.

‘This is impressive.’

They were the enemy, but he could not help but praise them.

The strategy of using the wyverns’ mobility to avoid the enemy’s attacks while also neutralizing them by rapidly firing spears was impressive.

The wyvern army had undoubtedly already grown to the level they were at when the Shadow Labyrinth had occurred.

Which was why Desir felt even more like it was a shame to lose them here.

‘Under normal circumstances, they would’ve been with us as well… … ’

He could not help feeling regret at this misfortune, since his plan had been to gather all of the powerful troops to fight against the Shadow Labyrinth. But his regret wasn’t enough to make him back down.

For his immediate goal, to stop Skull Mask’s plans, he had to take them down. Putting aside his feelings of regret, he spoke as he activated his communication pad.

“Romantica.”

“KYAAAAAK!”

The wyverns’ cries rang out. The wyvern army rushed towards Desir once again.

Aura bloomed from their spears. In just a few moments, spears would once again pelt Desir’s squad.

“… … !”

Incredible winds began to sweep the wyvern army away. The winds were strong enough to be called a typhoon.

The wyverns that were travelling through the wind were tossed around, unable to control their bodies. Unable to handle the sudden change in wind pressure, they got tangled up. Everywhere, members of the wyvern army fell after crashing into each other.

“Fold your wings! You mustn’t get swept up by the winds!”

Even then, some senior knights fought to keep their balance and recover their formation. In response to their efforts to maintain order, they received a frighteningly accurate sniper shot.

[Storm Shot]

The Flying Dragon Brigade was equipped with the best defensive gear Divide had access to, specifically designed to counter artillery shots. To ensure their safety tenfold, they maintained an altitude an above-average magician would struggle to reach. Between their armor, altitude, and mobility, the Flying Dragon Brigade was practically invincible. Against this opponent, they had nothing to–

*Bang*

Romantica’s attack pierced through them.

Between her specialty training and the rifle she treasured as her weapon, the shot had exceeded the Fifth-Circle in terms of power and accuracy.

Callithus grit his teeth. Nearly half of his troops had become immobilized due to the air currents, and a few had fallen.

Determined to prevent any further damage, Callithus issued an order to his troops.

“Increase your altitude!”

The wyvern army’s troops changed their direction and soared upwards in unison. Their plan was to avoid the shots by raising their altitude.

They soon reached the maximum height they could withstand. The shots stopped coming as a result.

Immediately, Callithus turned around and yelled.

“Drop!”

He planned to dive-bomb Des1r.

Dropping from thousands of meters above ground adds acceleration when launching the spears. It was a way to make the most powerful attacks while avoiding the sniper’s attacks until the very last second.

Hundreds of troops rushed towards the ground in unison.

That’s why they were so shocked when she came towards them.

“S-Someone is coming up!”

A white-haired woman was approaching them.

It was Adjest Kingscrown.

*Craaack*

Every time Adjest stamped her foot, the atmosphere froze beneath her to create a foothold. Using that as a stepping stone, she leaped, reaching the wyvern army in an instant.

Her improved Ice Empress skill had brought her physical abilities to King-Class.

“… … !”

Seeing that, Callithus could not hide his astonishment. He had not imagined that there would be anyone capable of doing such a thing.

But he soon regained his composure.

‘This is the sky. Even if you made it up here, do you really think you stand to fight a wyvern?’

Simply stepping onto the stage did not make them equals.

This was a stage only for those that were prepared.

And the ones that were ready were the wyverns.

“Strike her!”

At captain Callithus’s words, the wyvern army changed its target. They charged at Adjest who had invaded their stage.

But as soon as they changed their movements, Adjest stopped rising and began to invoke magic.

[Ice Palace]

Callithus felt the bitter cold breaking through his cold-resistant Clothes Line and permeating his entire body. Soon after, hundreds of ice shields began materializing in front of Adjest. The endless stream of shields blocked her from the wyvern army.

It almost looked like a massive ice barrier had been created.

At its absurd size, the wyvern army was slightly astonished. But that was it.

“Is that… Sigh of Kizard?”

“Is she trying to block us with a mere Third-Circle defense spell?”

The members of the Flying Dragon Brigade unanimously scoffed at Adjest. Not even Callithus was an exception to this.”

“Is that woman out of her mind?”

Known as the strongest Third-Circle defensive spell, Sigh of Kizard.

However, it was still only Third Circle magic. No matter how many times it was invoked, it would be impossible to block spears that held such powerful aura.

The wyvern army didn’t stop and charged at Adjest.

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