Ch.184Demon Awakened from the Seal (3)

# 184. Demon Awakened from the Seal (3)

It began with a magical bombardment from the mage corps and a volley of fire from the soldiers.

Colorful spells and countless arrows like black rain were mercilessly fired down from the fortress, resulting in the simple yet brutal outcome of blood and flesh mere seconds later.

But.

“Don’t stop! Keep firing!”

“Shoot! Keep shooting!”

Those brutal traces disappeared in less than a second as monsters pushed in from behind. It felt like throwing stones into the sea. That’s why the mage corps and archers continued pouring firepower without even bothering to aim.

Because anything they shot would definitely hit something.

“High Priest! How much longer?”

“Soon, very soon!”

Every shot hit its mark, literally one hundred percent accuracy, but there were simply too many enemies. How could they possibly deal with each one individually? Naturally, the fortress side had prepared something “big.”

Not just moderately big, but truly, properly big.

Since most of the holy barriers maintained by divine power had likely been destroyed anyway, priests with abundant divine power gathered together and began to pray.

Though they served different gods, possessed different amounts and purity of divine power, and had varying degrees of fighting will.

They were all priests who had protected Faelm Fortress, and they were remarkably unanimous in their desire to repel these abominable monsters.

Their prayers, filled with divine power, dared to ask for a miracle from the gods (and goddesses), and these prayers themselves came together in a way that could be called a very small miracle.

A small sun.

A sphere so white, pure, and hot that it deserved such a name moved gradually outside the fortress, guided by the gestures of the sweating High Priest.

It required tremendous concentration and skill since she wasn’t operating divine power solely by her own will, but she was the High Priest of Faelm Fortress.

She successfully concentrated and guided the mass of divine power containing the priests’ wishes, dropped it at the appropriate place, and then:

“Bestow the fate of destruction upon these abominable things that seek to disrupt order!”

She suddenly detonated it.

————————!!!

Despite being in battle, most of us, including myself, had to close our eyes while leaning against the fortress wall as an incredibly bright light momentarily filled the world. It was so bright that everything appeared white even with closed eyes.

For the monsters, however, it wasn’t just blinding.

It was catastrophic.

As if a miniature nuclear bomb had been dropped, the area directly hit by the small sun became a crater with no trace of monsters remaining. But seeing the monsters near the impact site, one might think instant death would have been merciful compared to their miserable state.

Monsters with arms or legs completely gone. Or those with both limbs missing, just torsos writhing on the ground.

Monsters with burned eyes and deafened ears, attacking their own kind in confusion, eating and being eaten.

And monsters undergoing real-time immolation due to divine flames clinging to parts of their bodies.

If asked how many monsters were killed by that single small sun, one could say it wasn’t even 10% of them, but the impact was undeniable.

For the fortress side: awe and hope.

For the monster side: fear and despair.

“Waaaaaah!!!”

“Oh, God! Your omnipotence is here with us!”

“Shoot! Charge! Don’t miss this opportunity!”

“We can’t let the priests do all the work! It’s our turn now! Designated personnel, gather your magical power!”

They knew how important momentum and morale were in battle, and they relentlessly poured arrows and spells upon the monsters whose formation had collapsed. To prevent them from regaining their senses, to maximize the damage.

Like rubbing salt into a wound and tearing it open, the gap that should have been quickly filled remained open, and monsters trying to invade the fortress were easily picked off one by one.

Additionally:

“I’ll count to 30 from now!”

Unlike all the priests gathering to create one small sun, the sight of mages of the same elemental affinity coming together to cast overwhelming magic was enough to put the word “victory” in one’s heart.

“30 seconds? We’ll hold for 30 days if needed!”

“Hahaha! Did everyone hear that?”

“Yes!”

“Fire!”

Though initially intimidated by the enormous army, the soldiers shooting arrows from the walls thought: this isn’t as bad as we expected.

And the massive fireballs, sweeping ice storms, razor-sharp gales, and lightning bolts thicker than most buildings that began to rain down in succession didn’t betray their thoughts.

Just as the monsters seemed to be recovering from the small sun’s damage, they were once again burning, sliced, frozen, and exploding, sending the morale of Faelm Fortress soaring endlessly.

**

“Wow… seeing it in person is beyond imagination.”

“Has the difficulty really been lowered?”

“We can’t let our guard down.”

It wasn’t just the soldiers who were impressed by the overwhelming firepower. We were too. Especially Subin, the Sorceress, and Soyu noona, the Arc Bishop, who watched with their mouths agape. Though they might eventually reach a level where they could exert such power after fully developing, it was nearly impossible for them now.

The important thing was that this seemed quite manageable.

In the game, the fortress forces were, charitably speaking, shields, or less charitably, meat shields and burdens. But with them performing so well, it seemed like we could ease our mental burden significantly.

“It might be because the elite monsters and boss haven’t appeared yet.”

“I agree. But shouldn’t the elites have shown up by now, even if not the boss?”

“I just wish they wouldn’t appear at all.”

Noona Yehyun expressed her hopeful wish, but all of us knew it wouldn’t come true. Probably Yehyun noona knew it too.

We observed the battle with both tension and a glimmer of hope.

Boom—!!!

————————-!!!

“Ack! You scared me!”

“Shit, I knew it!”

“Yuri. Calm down.”

“Sunghyun!”

Perhaps the universe found our optimism presumptuous, or perhaps this was just the beginning.

A sudden, powerful vibration struck the fortress, momentarily halting all activity and drowning out everything.

The mages’ incantations, the priests’ prayers, the soldiers’ aim, and the victory cheers.

Though it lasted only a moment and caused no casualties, it effectively doused the heated atmosphere.

At the same time, the vibration that struck the fortress acted like a slave driver’s whip for the monsters.

The monsters, who had been disoriented and destroying their own formations, instantly regrouped.

The timing was as perfect as poking someone in the ribs just as they’re about to yawn.

Boom—!!!

The situation reversed. At the very least, the fortress forces’ momentum, which had been continuously reaching new heights, was definitely broken.

The monsters’ formation was now more solid than before, and their advance speed had increased.

Worse, the forced cancellation of incantations caused many mages to suffer magical backlash, creating holes in the defensive fire. As if they had been waiting for this moment, monsters with an ominous presence even from a distance appeared simultaneously.

“Captain!”

“Elite monsters!”

They were elite monsters. The creatures were charging toward the fortress at an incredible speed.

And if our predictions were correct, they had specs good enough to easily scale the high fortress walls if we took our eyes off them even for a moment.

“They’re the leaders!”

“Watch those ones! Prioritize firing at them!”

The fortress forces, who had defended this place for a long time, were well aware of this. They looked obviously dangerous. A rain of arrows was once again poured toward the elite monsters charging at a terrifying speed.

However, it had little effect. Though the response was quick, the elite monsters had too many shields at their disposal. They seemed to have no sense of kinship or solidarity, naturally using ordinary monsters as meat shields, which led to a waste of arrows.

The mages who had forcibly overcome their magical backlash with potions and willpower belatedly joined in, but by then the defensive fire had become sparse, creating a vicious cycle where elite monsters could charge even faster.

‘So this is why the fortress suffered heavy damage.’

The overall flow remained unchanged. Not that I wanted to criticize the fortress’s response. The deputy commander and other leaders had prepared as best they could based on our report, and they had performed beyond expectations until that vibration occurred.

So.

It was gradually becoming our turn to step up.

Since the boss still hadn’t appeared, we couldn’t go all out yet, but we needed to turn that downward graph back upward.

“Sunghyun! Orders!”

The raid members must have felt what I felt, as Subin urged me to give orders, and I quickly scanned the battlefield to find an “appropriate” target.

“Number one.”

I pointed to the one rampaging with a terrifying aura at the center of the vanguard.

“Let’s take that bastard down first.”

After all, the best way to break momentum is to take out the leader.