Chapter 871 Armada
The day finally arrived, and it was chaos.
A hundred thousand Dragons stormed into the battlefield—an absurd figure that the humans had never experienced in their decade long skirmish against the horrid creatures.
Even after receiving the warnings, they estimated the number of Dragons to be at the upper limit of fifty thousand—perhaps sixty.
But, their current size was twice the expected number.
"Ahh… this is bad." Strategist Lang muttered as he stood beside Alicia in their fortress.
They had the strongest caliber of Dragons under Alicia's control flying around them—all of them being Dragon Commanders—and they remained fortified through a list of Spells placed on the floating structure itself.
Still, neither of them felt safe in the face of the incoming armada.
From their distance, the Dragons appeared to be a swarm of bats… perhaps even locusts. However, the closer they got, the larger they became.
From the very start, they were already in their Dragon Forms, showing how much they meant business.
"We need to brace for impact." The Strategist whispered under his breath. "Chances are that we'll suffer even more damage than projected."
Alicia clenched her fist and bit her lip as she heard this.
The project casualty was one-third of their whole forces. If this battle would cause more lives to be lost, how many exactly would wound up dead? She couldn't help but tremble as she did the numbers in her head.
'Even with my Healing…' Her thoughts trailed as she sighed.
As long as the person was alive, Alicia could heal them completely. However, a lot of these men would die from a single attack of the Dragons, so how was she supposed to help them? Besides, a constant barrage from so many Dragons was bound to cause even more instant casualty than her Healing could keep up with.
'Then there's the fact that I don't have unlimited Mana…' With an army this large, and the kind of injuries they suffered, her Mana Level was going to be depleted very rapidly. Of course, there were stocks of Recovery Potions that she could use, but that didn't mean she wouldn't have to take breaks.
A single second of inactivity probably meant the death of dozens—if not hundreds.
'So many lives… I'm responsible for so many lives.' Alicia heaved slowly, trying her best to keep everything under control.
Her breathing was quickly becoming erratic the more she thought about the situation.
"Please don't overwhelm yourself, Lady Alicia White." Strategist Lang's voice brought her out her silent whirlpool of thoughts.
He was a much older man, with graying hair, and a lean physique. He had a cheerful smile on his face, for someone who often made cold and calculated decisions on the battlefield… and right now, he was staring at her.
"The deaths that will be incurred today are not in any way your fault, or your concern. You should only do what you can, and leave the rest to everyone else." Those words were meant to make her feel better, but she couldn't help but feel worse.
The guilt that ate at her quickened in its intensity.
'But… if I use my Divine Beast Summon Skill… I should be able to turn the tides of the battle.'
She wasn't foolish enough to go for a Divine Beast. What if it was just an Absolute Beast? That would be a fine contribution to the battle, wouldn't it?
'No…' Her body grew rigid as she hugged herself, trying not to show the result of trauma on her face.
Using Divine Beast Summon was not something she could undertake properly in her current state. Not only had she not completely gotten over the traumatic experience that Dagon inflicted on her, but… the death of Snow still haunted her.
If she summoned another Divine Beast, and she bonded with it, then…
'... What if they die cruelly like Snow?'
She couldn't imagine her Beast Summon—which could be described as a pet to her—dying gruesomely before her very eyes.
How could she summon something like Snow and send it out to battle instantly? Particularly when it had no EXP and was most vulnerable.
Such a creature was bound to die sooner or later.
This was why she only resorted to summoning Monsters or Taming Dragons—who were already the enemies. Because even if they were to die, she wouldn't feel the same guilt or pain as what would happen if it was a Beast she Summoned.
'I don't think I can deal with another death on my conscience…' Alicia thought to herself with a gentle sigh.
But, if she opted for the most powerful card in her arsenal—something like Dagon—then she would only be making things worse, and everyone in the battlefield would suffer for it.
This dilemma made her completely moot regarding her ability to contribute more to the fight, and she felt great guilt as a result.
"The fight is about to start." Strategist Lang's voice forced her to straighten up. "Get ready."
Any moment now, the Dragons would launch their first volley, thereby kicking the battle into full swing. The soldiers clenched their fists as they prepared themselves; all recognizing that that very day could be their end.
Ten seconds left, and they began to sweat and tremble, still tightly gripping their weapons.
Five seconds left, and they took their stance.
Three seconds left.
Two…
… One.
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!~
A loud explosion erupted from just a little beyond the first row of human soldiers that were meant to be sacrifices for the Dragons.
They had already expected to be incinerated, or bombarded with the enemy assault, due to being in the front lines, but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, they were hit with a deafening sound that resembled a shockwave.
All of them instantly lifted their eyes to see what had just happened.
"A-ahh…?"
"T-that is…?!"
"W-what is that?"
Right ahead was a powerful barrier—a wall of energy—that completely separated the path of the Dragons from the humans.
However, the explosion did not arise from that.
Instead, it came from certain figures that floated high in the sky—far above the Dragons that remained suspended in the sky and now faced their new opponents.
These figures ranged in appearance. Some of them appeared to be made of elemental attributes—in essence, Elementals. Others seemed to be Monsters of different kinds, and finally… there were puppets who seemed to be modeled after humans. All of these three categories of entities had shimmering armor on, and they were not lacking in weapons.
The army numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and they littered the night sky like a thick cloud blocking the dim sunlight from bathing the battlefield.
"H-how did…? What are they?!" Strategist Lang exclaimed, stupefied by the absurd number of troops that had suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
These troops were the ones that attacked the Dragons in a split-second, faster than most of the soldiers in the battlefield could react.
"An army of that size… made up of Elementals, Summons, and Puppets…" Alicia whispered, also taking all of it in with shock. "... There's only one person on our side that should be capable of something like this."
An image of Rey appeared in Alicia's mind and she found herself gripping her chest while smiling.
"We're saved."