Ch.886Twenty-Four Constellation Dog Beating Stick Formation

======[ Haschal ]======

“Begin!”

As Diarma’s command fell, two hundred and forty Dragonborn roared and formed the Taekwondo Formation.

The practitioners were divided into four groups of sixty each. Four concentric circles of varying sizes surrounded Persiella in layers.

“This doesn’t seem different from before… well, let’s see.”

Persiella transformed her gathered mana into cold energy and wrapped it around her entire body.

The frozen air crystallized and sparkled, while a chilling frost spread across the blood-soaked ground with a whoosh.

A silver-scaled Dragonborn armored in bitter cold. Her long blue hair fluttered in the mana currents.

There was something undeniably majestic about her appearance.

“…Attack!”

As Diarma, who had hesitated momentarily at the sight, gave the attack order—

“Amitamir! Protect us!”

The first group of sixty practitioners charged at Persiella in unison.

“Protection? Do you really think such luxury would be granted to you now? How absurd.”

The elite two hundred forty of the Small Forest versus Persiella, the self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon, the strongest Dragonborn.

The collision of these ultimate powers, justice against evil, shook the earth.

—-

Taekwondo Formation.

True to its name, which means to beat enemies like dogs with clubs, each of the two hundred forty Dragonborn forming the formation wielded metal staffs infused with mana.

These served as wands to assist with magic, shields to block enemy attacks, and for the sixty practitioners at the front, weapons to strike and crush their enemy.

“May the Small Forest be eternal!”

“We shall eradicate evil and destroy wickedness!”

They charged valiantly toward Persiella, their bodies enhanced with strengthening magic, gripping their staffs firmly.

“Come and try!”

Persiella let out a hearty roar, spread her wings wide, and charged back at them.

Her speed was four times faster than the approaching practitioners. The difference in power was palpable. At this rate, it seemed they would die within seconds of collision.

“…Now! Begin!”

Of course, the Small Forest’s prized Taekwondo Formation wasn’t a tactic that relied solely on numbers and would result in total annihilation within four minutes.

If they were fools who boasted such idiocy as their secret technique, they would have perished long ago.

As Diarma issued the second command, all practitioners except the sixty at the front raised their staffs high and gathered mana.

“āryāvalokiteśvaro bodhisattvo gambhīrāṃ―”

An incomprehensible incantation.

Without expertise in magic, all I could understand was not the content of the spell but its result.

– Woooong!

“Tch…!”

With a vibration that shook the air, Persiella’s speed drastically slowed as she charged toward the front practitioners.

– Crunch….

Her legs dug deep into the ground, leaving profound footprints. This was the effect of the pressure magic cast simultaneously by the sixty practitioners positioned at the rear.

The pressure itself was nothing special, just an ordinary restraining magic, but when sixty pressure spells overlapped, their power was considerable.

Even Persiella, who I presumed had reached the limit of Heaven’s Wall like me, couldn’t completely shake it off and slowed down somewhat.

“Ha, such petty tricks…!”

Persiella clicked her tongue, folded her wings tightly against her back, and swung her sword at the practitioners who had already approached within reach.

“Ice Soul Blade.”

The cold that settled on the blade shot forth as a cutting wind.

A crescent-shaped wind blade that scattered light as it sparkled. It was a freezing slash that both cut and froze its target.

“Block it!”

“aniruddhāḥ-!”

However, as the sixty practitioners in the third row chanted in unison—

– Woooong!

A blue mana barrier appeared before the advancing cold blade. A barrier of no less than sixty layers.

– Kwaaaang!

The Ice Soul Blade collided with the mana barrier and burst with a thunderous sound.

About forty layers of the barrier shattered instantly, and the scattered cold energy created a localized snowstorm.

“Minion of the heretical path! Fall to purgatory and repent for your sins!”

Simultaneously, the practitioners who had finally approached Persiella thrust and swung their staffs in unison.

A fierce attack from all directions. It was a chain of attacks difficult to counter with just one sword.

“How amusing. Do you think you’ve accomplished something just by blocking one strike?”

Persiella sneered and drew upon her mana like a tidal wave to respond.

“White Peak.”

She lifted her tail and struck the ground, causing a translucent ice wall to rise behind her, blocking the attacks of seven practitioners.

“Frost Claw.”

She swung her left arm sideways as if shaking it off, her nails extended, and four ice blades stretched along the trajectory, cutting one practitioner into five pieces.

“Ice Soul Blade.”

Another sword strike was blocked by a hastily cast mana barrier. The cold energy contained in the projected slash spread out, enveloping two practitioners.

“Kugh…! My arm…!”

“Careless…!”

Practitioners with limbs frozen by the cold grimaced in pain and hastily retreated.

“Cold Night.”

As Persiella spread her wings filled with mana, everything within a radius of over ten meters was engulfed in extreme cold and froze.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

The Dragonborn who had attempted close combat breathed fire or manifested fire magic to ward off the cold as they backed away.

“Ha, who gave you permission to retreat-“

Persiella snorted derisively, gripped her longsword with both hands, and concentrated massive cold energy into the blade.

As if she intended to swing it and freeze dozens at once.

“Second row! Intercept!”

Fortunately, that sword was never swung.

The sixty practitioners who remained after the front row responsible for close attacks, the rear responsible for binding and suppression spells, and the third row responsible for defense—

They unleashed a barrage of attack magic toward Persiella as soon as the sixty Dragonborn at the front moved away.

Fire and lightning, thunderbolts and cutting winds, something like a black vortex and purple pillars of light poured down like a downpour toward the center of the formation.

That was the role of the remaining sixty. To prepare attack magic while the close combat group engaged the enemy, and to pour it out as soon as the close combat group retreated.

And during that time, the close combat group would briefly catch their breath, tend to their wounds, and charge toward the enemy again when the magical bombardment ceased.

The organic coordination of close combat and ranged bombardment.

Endlessly repeating this to gradually wear down the enemy was the fundamental essence and core principle of the Twenty-Four Taekwondo Formation.

Theoretically, it was a flawless method… but then, how effective would it be?

That remained to be seen. The Twenty-Four Taekwondo Formation had just completed its first attack rotation.

Whether it would be effective or not would have to be observed further.

Hidden in a position where I could see all the numerous Dragonborn at once, I watched them and gauged the moment to intervene.

—-

After about thirty seconds.

[ It’s quite a spectacle. ]

Hersella let out a quiet exclamation of admiration at the sight of sixty magic Dragonborn pouring out various attack spells.

Indeed, it was spectacular.

“…Is this all you have?”

The problem was the lack of damage.

In the midst of a shower of dozens of spells, Persiella perfectly withstood all attacks with just her cold magic.

She spread bitter cold to extinguish all flames, surrounded herself with ice walls to block thunderbolts and cutting winds, and individually deflected with her sword any magic that penetrated the ice walls.

Her movements seemed slightly sluggish, perhaps due to the pressure magic, but as she swung her sword while pouring out mana like water, being somewhat slow wasn’t an issue at all.

Then.

“White Thorns”

The frost that had spread beneath Persiella’s feet spread widely across the ground, and then—

– Whaaaash!

It shot up as a hundred icicles.

It was a technique reminiscent of the Thorn Shadow skill from the Karma of Murder that I had mastered.

“Kugh?!”

“Dodge!”

Icicles shooting up from below, aiming between the legs. The Dragonborn who had been firing magic hurriedly jumped sideways to avoid them.

A small gap created by this. Persiella didn’t miss it.

“Then… I’ve seen enough.”

Persiella gripped her longsword in reverse and thrust it toward the ground.

“Ten Thousand Snow Ice Heaven!”

White cold energy surged up like an upside-down waterfall. It was a sight reminiscent of the Church of Elpinel’s attack miracle, ‘Light Pillar.’

Unlike the holy light that felt warm, the pure white pillar manifested by Persiella was filled only with cold energy that sent chills down one’s spine.

“Cease attack! Defense! Focus on defense!”

Diarma shouted urgently, pointing at the sky. The Dragonborn’s gazes all turned upward.

And they saw it.

“This is…!”

Like a massive oak tree with wide branches and lush leaves, the pillar of cold light that had shot into the sky was spreading widely in all directions and falling down.

– Swaaaash!

In the form of a downpour of no less than ten thousand ice spikes.

Ten Thousand Snow Ice Heaven.

Indeed, it lived up to its name.