“He’ll be fine.” Raven’s steady voice sounded as he led a group of solemn Arevalo family knights over, his palm lightly patting Alice’s slightly tense shoulder.
Alice drew a deep breath and nodded. “Thank you, Father.”
She knew that if it weren’t for her father forcing his way through family opposition and resolutely deciding to break completely with those demon collaborators hiding within their ranks, she could not imagine any other way to rescue her trapped brother or to reverse the kingdom’s dire situation.
This was a long-planned rebellion, and if it failed, the Arevalo family would face an abyss of irreversible catastrophe.
Her father must have exerted enormous effort and borne tremendous pressure behind the scenes to persuade the conservative elders of the family.
“Mm, they’ve arrived.” Raven motioned for the knights behind him to stay silent, his gaze turning to the other side of the city wall.
One squad after another of torch-bearing knights emerged from the thick gray mist.
The torchlight gleamed off their polished plate armor and revealed the two figures at the front — Second Legion Commander Dominic Elvin and Fourth Legion Commander Simo Barnes.
Today Dominic wore gilded armor representing the Holy Light, his face sharp and severe as if hewn with axes.
Dominic halted and his voice carried clearly across the wall. “Soldiers! Knights!”
His gaze swept across the faces, some anxious, some resolute. “Behind us lies the Golden Tassel Plain that raised us, our homes and our families.”
“Storm Fortress has stood here for centuries, never breached, and it will not fall today!”
“Grip your weapons, trust your comrades, for the Kingdom! For glory! Send these damned Magical Creatures crawling back to the swamps.”
His words ignited the garrison’s morale at once.
“For the Kingdom!”
“We will hold to the last!”
Roaring cries exploded across the wall. Soldiers beat their shields, knights raised their swords and pledged themselves.
Only then did Dominic walk up to Raven and clap him on the shoulder.
“Old friend, despite the many disagreements between us, none of that matters today, not on this wall.”
“We’ve weathered countless Magical Tides together, defended this fortress, and protected the land behind us.”
“Today will be no different.”
A complex expression flickered across Raven’s eyes, but a faint smile crossed his face as he extended his right hand. “For the Kingdom.”
Dominic extended his hand and gripped it firmly. “For the Kingdom.”
While they exchanged those brief words, the soldiers and mages on the wall had already returned to their positions.
All defensive ballistae had their bowstrings drawn, and the muzzles of the alchemical magic crystal cannons were angled toward the boundless darkness outside the walls.
Even more striking were the four towering magic towers rising from the wall like giants, their summits swirling with a terrifying magical radiance.
Those four towers were the essence of Storm Fortress’s defenses. They were operated by teams of stationed professional mages working together. Their power far exceeded ordinary magic crystal cannons, and their attack range was astonishingly wide, capable of covering vast stretches of the battlefield before the fortress.
They had earned glory time and again against the Magical Tides and were one of the cornerstone reasons the fortress still stood.
Below the wall, scattered Magical Creatures had already begun battering the outer defenses, but they posed no real threat to the fortress yet.
The true tide of magic was still coming.
Everyone instinctively turned their gaze to the distance.
Where they looked, the ground trembled slightly under the ebb and flow of mana.
They were coming!
Countless Magical Creatures surged from the Dark Realm like an inky tide, gradually swallowing distant forests and grasslands as they spread in a vast black wave.
To the northwest, most of the monsters had surged from the depths of the Corrupted Miasma Mountains — massive swamp crocs, mud elementals like boiling sludge, swamp water lizards... Together with bizarre aquatic monsters they formed a foul green wave surging toward the fortress.
From the deep, shadowy Dungeons emerged razor-limbed cave spiders, scorpion-lions with cold gleaming hooked tails, and elemental creatures emitting chaotic energy fluctuations...
Even skeleton warriors and Gargoyles sleeping in the ruins of the Dark Realm seemed wrenched awake by some invisible force, joining the tide.
These monsters, from disparate regions and with wildly different habits, now seemed guided by a single will. They abandoned their mutual hostility and hunting instincts, converging into an immense tide from all directions toward the lone fortress on the plain.
The soldiers gripped their weapons, faces pale but eyes steady as they stared at the hellscape of the advancing horde.
“Prepare—”
With the banner’s signal, the longest-range defensive ballistae creaked as soldiers pulled them taut, aiming into the dull sky.
“Fire!”
“Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!!!”
Like thunder, the bowstrings snapped in succession. Heavy bolts shrieked through the air, then plummeted, tearing through the heavy gray mist, striking into the surging tide.
“Puf!”
“Roar!”
Blood sprayed through the horde, accompanied by the monsters’ shrill howls and agonized bellows.
Although the bolts were devastating — even a Silver-grade swamp croc was pierced through by several bolts and badly injured — this horrific attack against the seemingly endless tide was like a few tiny splashes in an ocean.
The slain corpses were instantly swallowed by the coursing masses behind them.
“Rotate, second row ready!”
The officer on the wall remained composed as he continued to command.
Another prepared line of ballistae shifted angles and launched yet another relentless volley.
The tide’s advance slowed only slightly, and soon large numbers of monsters came within the effective range of the alchemical magic crystal cannons.
But the creatures met not panic but ruthless artillery.
Explosions flared across the battlefield, shredding monsters into scattered limbs and spraying fragments everywhere.
At the same time, the pre-set magic traps before the fortress — fire jets, rings of frost, lightning chains — began to trigger one by one, turning the battlefield’s vanguard into a slaughterhouse.
For a moment, the unstoppable surge was forcibly checked.
War raged on, and high above, unnoticed by most, the dense gray mist was suddenly stirred by an odd wind. Two huge wings tore through the haze, and a highland sea-eagle appeared over the battlefield.
On its back sat a figure in a simple mage’s robe, golden hair whipping in the gale — Princess Louisa herself.
Louisa reached up, gently swept wind-blown hair behind her ear, and used a mind-spell. “As expected of the Border Corps who have guarded Storm Fortress for generations — impressive defenses. Their response to the Magical Tide is very experienced.”
The great eagle projected a mature female telepathic voice. “Yes, Your Highness. But those little measures alone won’t break this fortress.”
“Should we descend and cause them a little trouble?”
Indeed, the great eagle was Celeste in disguise.
The half-elf who spent her days prospecting in Golden Radiance Valley still could not sit idle and had followed her princess.
Louisa slowly shook her head, eyes sweeping the wall below. “Not yet. If we appear rashly now, we’ll only alert Dominic and make him hostile, disrupting the rest of the plan.”
“Be patient, until... the Slime Kingdom’s convoy appears.”
Celeste fluttered her wings with a hint of resignation. “Fine, fine. You’re the princess, I’ll listen.”
“But those folks below seem to be in real trouble.”
She circled in the sky, her gaze fixed on the horizon behind the tide.
Almost at the same moment, the officer peering through a bronze spyglass on the wall suddenly changed expression, swore in his native dialect, and then shouted.
“It’s those damned wyverns! Quick! Everyone prepare Antidote Potions, archers to your posts, magic towers ready to intercept!”
At the skyline’s edge came sharp, piercing cries. Membrane wings tore the gray mist as dozens of ugly green-scaled bipedal wyverns appeared.
These beasts looked like crude dragons, but their eyes held only the madness and bloodthirst of animals, no intelligence at all.
Yet adult wyverns possessed at least Silver-grade strength, the equivalent of human elite Professionals.
Their venomous breath alone could, if they approached the fortress, instantly strip whole ranks of soldiers of the will to fight.
The heavy ballistae and alchemical magic crystal cannons on the wall immediately shifted aim and opened fierce fire at the rushing green shapes.
One or two wyverns were struck by concentrated fire, shrieking as their wings were mangled and toxic blood spurted, crashing like meteors into the tide below and stirring chaos.
But most, protected by tough, somewhat magic-resistant green scales and agile flight, pushed through the bolt and cannon fire and drew nearer to the wall.
They flung open tooth-lined maws;
deep in their throats a dark green glow swelled, about to unleash venom.
Alice’s gaze coolly swept the approaching aerial threat, betraying little worry.
She knew the fortress’s four towering magic towers were ready to show their might.
Sure enough, Dominic, who had been closely watching the battle, shot a cold glance at the arrogant wyverns, then decisively waved and ordered, “Magic towers, target the airborne wyvern cluster, deliver an area strike.”
The command spread quickly through couriers and magical communications to the four towers.
Mages who had long been on standby immediately sprang into action. Some chanted around the towers’ core formations to guide surging mana;
others focused their mind energy, locking onto the wyvern cluster.
“Fire!”
One tower’s spire blazed with a blinding golden light like the noon sun. A golden magic circle of countless holy runes opened above its summit.
In the next instant, countless holy light arrows rained down like a dense shower, illuminating vast stretches of sky.
“Rumble!!!”
The holy arrows struck the wyvern cluster like red-hot irons on ice. The green scales of the wyverns seared under the light.
Several young wyverns were purified to ash instantly;
even some stronger individuals had countless holes torn through their wings and plummeted, shrieking.
On the ground, the impact was devastating — creatures under the Silver rank vaporized, the earth itself pocked and scarred.
Although many wyverns survived, another tower began to flare.
“Fire!”
A second tower’s spire erupted with a sharp blue light. Moisture in the air condensed into needle-like ice spears that howled through the air with bone-chilling cold, pelting the approaching wyverns.
“Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!”
The ice spears easily pierced the already damaged scales and wing membranes, freezing and shredding them.
With the wall’s archers delivering precise aimed shots, the wyvern assault finally weakened and ceased to threaten the wall.
In the sky, Celeste gave a slightly surprised chirp.
“Less destructive than a strategic magic array, but the casting range is enormous. It’s basically designed specifically to counter Magical Tides.”
Louisa leaned on the eagle’s back and nodded. “You’re right. Storm Fortress’s designers planned from the start for efficient defenses against cyclical Magical Tide surges.”
“Rather than seeking ultimate single-target destructive power, this kind of wide-area magic that can quickly store energy is the most suitable for the fortress.”
Celeste cocked the eagle’s head with curiosity. “With these four magic towers and the Border Corps’ elites... my dear princess, do you really think the Slime army can take Storm Fortress?”
Louisa’s inner light spread toward the distance. “The ancient defense systems and magic protections of the Graystone Bulwark are hardly inferior to those of Storm Fortress, and they also have a terrifying ancient alchemical cannon.”
“If the Slimes can breach the Graystone Bulwark — something even the kingdom’s regular army struggled with — they may be far more formidable than we imagine.”
Celeste was about to press further when her eyes suddenly narrowed;
she adjusted her wing posture and fixed her gaze on the distant horizon.
“Wait, what is that sound?”
The soldiers on the wall also sensed something odd. Before they could catch their breath, a different sound threaded through the noisy battlefield.
It was a buzzing, low and dense.
A swarm?!
Dominic’s eyes sharpened. He looked toward the sound and tightened his grip on his sword hilt.
“Venom Bee Legions, the Slime Kingdom’s most commonly used war unit.”
“Raven, you were right. Those Slimes really did come.”