episode_0035

Giant meteors and countless boulders were falling rapidly.

There was no mistake.

This was undoubtedly the work of the Empress.

It must have been a preemptive move to prevent me from gaining credit.

No matter how much of a villain the Empress may be, I never thought she would go this far…

As Prince Apollutus of the Elves rose from his seat, his spirits also stirred.

Countless boulders appeared in front of the spirits.

They began to swiftly shoot out to intercept the falling objects.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

In the night sky, boulders collided with each other, causing intense explosions.

Chain reactions of explosions illuminated the lower area with flashes.

From the Elven camp and the Earl’s army, an enormous number of spells were being cast, but it seemed nearly impossible to stop the increasingly accelerating meteors.

“No…!”

“We’re all going to die…!”

Screams of impending death echoed from all around.

But Apollutus remained unfazed.

“Lord Tennafel, let’s focus on surviving our common enemy first.”

“Yes, uh, y-yes, of course.”

The Earl glanced at me once, then coughed awkwardly as if trying to hide something.

“I will shatter the meteors, so please have your mage units intercept nearby magic.”

“Oh, understood.”

The Earl hurried back to his camp.

Whoosh—whoooosh—

Soon after, a fiery sphere materialized in front of the fire spirit.

As if concentrating its power, it rapidly grew in size and slowly ascended into the sky.

The bubbling surface, like molten lava, constantly spewed out, resembling a small sun.

Illuminating the darkness of the night, it quickly expanded until it was almost as large as a fortress.

Before long, it flew straight towards the meteor that had come closer to the ground.

It took roughly two to three seconds for the massive entities to collide at their tremendous speed.

Kwaaah-

A fierce explosion occurred, and a dazzling light erupted across the world, making it impossible to keep one’s eyes open.

Tables and chairs that were just there a moment ago were all blown away.

Spaaa-

A tremendous shockwave swept the ground, causing numerous soldiers to collapse, but I was protected by the dome-shaped shield made by Rack.

Soon, the debris of the shattered meteor began to fall like rain.

Thud! Thud! Kugung! Kwaaang- kukugugung!

The power of the debris alone was quite formidable.

If Aplatus hadn’t destroyed the meteor, there would have undoubtedly been an even greater disaster.

To shatter a meteor.

Indeed, the noble elf with royal blood was different in every way.

Thinking so, as I looked at the elf prince, he had become quite haggard in the meantime.

As expected, due to the inefficiency of elemental magic, his fatigue had increased significantly.

Having consumed a considerable amount of mana, the prince’s face had become noticeably pale.

Fortunately, it seemed that neither the human nor the elf side had suffered greatly.

Before long, someone shouted, “Another attack is coming!”

Everyone turned their heads at once.

“Unbelievable….”

“This time, there are two….”

Two massive meteors were blazing hot as they accelerated towards the ground once again.

Around them, a vast amount of fireballs were falling together.

“Hurry, use magic to stop them!”

This time, two fireballs appeared in front of the fire elemental.

They rapidly expanded and rose into the air.

Then, as the meteors soared skyward once more, the elf prince knelt down, coughing up blood.

Boom! Kwakwakwa-thud!

The two massive fireballs collided with the two meteors.

The tremendous collision sound and shockwave that followed were incomparable to the previous one.

I instructed Rack to protect the unconscious elf prince.

The amount of debris and casualties was at least twice as much as before.

Large and small, solid fragments fell evenly on both the human and elf sides.

Despite our efforts, there was no doubt it was a disaster.

A significant number of casualties were produced.

Of course, the elves quickly used magic to minimize the damage, but many humans, unable to do so, were crushed by the falling stones and could not avoid instant death.

Perhaps everyone’s thoughts wouldn’t be so different.

If an intact meteor had fallen, it would have caused tremendous damage to the Baekjung Range and the forest of Rivengard.

But we couldn’t relax just yet.

The attack was still ongoing.

High in the sky, perhaps there was a dragon with a grudge against humans and elves, as another meteor fell once again.

Many elves cast spells desperately until they exhausted themselves, but the meteor remained unaffected.

Summoning the meteor in the first place required an immense amount of concentrated mana, a high-level magic.

Due to the high concentration of mana surrounding the meteor, it was impervious to most spells.

Everyone was in despair.

I was no different.

Now, all that remained was to lose our lives in the catastrophe caused by the meteor.

Kwoooong-

Moreover, this one was much larger and, naturally, faster than the previous ones.

There seemed to be about 10 seconds left.

Heeheeheehee!

It was then that a roar more thunderous than a lion’s echoed.

A horse enveloped in light was charging at an incredible speed.

8 seconds.

The horse closed the distance in an instant, as if using teleportation.

7 seconds.

“Stop!”

Crgrgrgr-

5 seconds.

Elaine leaped from the horse.

4 seconds.

She suddenly reached out both hands toward the meteor that covered the sky.

3 seconds.

Kwaaaaaaaang-

An intensely bright light covered the entire world as if it would blind us.

***

Approaching the location of the prince, Elaine witnessed an incredible spectacle.

Numerous magics clashed in midair.

Even three meteors collided with massive fireballs and exploded.

To anyone watching, it was a situation so serious that it seemed like a war had broken out.

Yet Elaine was not afraid at all.

On the contrary, she was confident.

After seeing the goddess in her dream, among the countless pieces of knowledge that filled her mind, one was shouting for her to choose herself soon.

“The Shield of the Goddess!”

Even though it was only a thought in her mind, the bright light rapidly spread from Elaine’s palm in all directions, drawing all sorts of sacred sentences into beautiful curves like the surface of a rapidly freezing lake.

It felt so enormous that it could cover the entire plain and still have some left, truly like a shield used by the gods.

Kugugugung!

The meteor and all other magic that struck the shield began to break through on their own without conveying any impact.

It seemed to be rapidly dissipating in a storm beyond imagination.

Puk!

After the meteor completely vanished, the shield of light dispersed into fine dust and flowed back seamlessly into Elaine’s body.

Perhaps because she had regained her strength, she didn’t feel even a hint of fatigue despite performing an incredible miracle.

When she turned her head, she faced the astonished countenance of a young man with long silver hair, much like a prince.

“No, how on earth…?”

The belatedly arriving Count Tenafel couldn’t continue speaking at the sight of this unprecedented miracle.

“Is this the power of the goddess…?”

Aplatus wiped the blood from his lips with a somewhat speculative expression.

Then the prince approached Elaine and asked if she was okay.

Relief washed over her at that moment.

For some reason, Elaine’s legs almost gave way, but the prince caught her just in time.

And high above them, thousands of feet in the air…

Someone aboard a flying ship was watching the entire situation.

It was through the magic circle drawn on the ground.

As if watching a video, the situation below was clearly visible.

“Who on earth is that woman?”

The one who spoke was Matapju, who received the horoscope of Duke Shurain.

“….”

However, no one could easily provide an answer.

Simply because they truly didn’t know.

Then, someone finally spoke up late, and one by one, others started to chime in.

“A shield of light that repels meteors… I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”

“Does light-based magic really exist?”

“Who in the world is that blonde woman?”

True to their naturally curious natures, even in this situation, their curiosity about a magic they had never seen before was as irresistible as ever.

“Master Tower, what will you do now? Will you launch another attack?”

Someone spoke with a worried expression.

“We’ve already used up all the acquired mana stones, and the mana of the wizards has been completely depleted. It seems we have to return for today.”

“But wasn’t it Count Shurain’s commission?”

“If we just leave like this, what will happen to the remaining commission fee?”

“Moreover, if he harbors resentment and informs another tower, won’t it become a big problem?”

But as the Master Tower, there was no way.

They had managed to block as many as four meteorites.

A considerable number of the wizards who cast spells together had already fainted.

It was so regrettable to have consumed such a huge amount of mana stones, but there was nothing else they could do.

Now they were unable to summon any more meteorites.

“Let’s go back. Turn the bow.”