CHAPTER 148…………………………………..
Icecrown Siege
The battle had begun.
“Waaah—!”
“Raaah—!”
The enemies surged forward, shouting loudly.
As if they had been waiting for this moment:
“Magic corps!”
Hagen spread his hands wide and shouted.
“Unleash it all!”
The moment his command fell, the Icecrown magic corps began chanting their spells in unison.
“<Burn, gather in a sphere, explode, Fireball>!”
“<Flames, ignite, blaze, Fireball>!”
“<Like an arrow, flames, shoot forth, Fire Arrow>!”
Flames flared across the top of the castle walls in long streaks.
Among the drifting snow, the fire rained down upon the heads of the charging enemies.
Even as dozens of fireballs and flaming arrows poured down:
“Do not stop!”
Valeric, commanding the vanguard of the Northern Army, gave his orders resolutely.
“Charge straight in!”
“Make them regret it!”
Hagen laughed heartily, but nothing happened.
“…Huh?”
Before the falling flames could reach the charging enemies, they scattered midair as if blocked by something.
Bang, bang—the flames scattered with a loud clatter.
“What… is that?”
“The Lion’s Iron Armor!”
Bardo screeched.
“A barrier spell that blocks ranged attacks is engraved! That’s not enough to stop them!”
“What? Where… Why didn’t anyone tell us sooner if that’s the case?!”
“You didn’t expect it to block your magic too, did you?”
“But it’s supposed to be a barrier spell! Then…!”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Gardner cut him off decisively.
“Even if it’s an artifact, mana isn’t infinite.”
Raising his sword high, the soldiers atop the wall drew their bows taut in unison.
“We’ll fire until it breaks through.”
As Gardner brought his sword down, his officers shouted:
“Fire!”
“Shoot!”
The tightly drawn bowstrings twanged, sending hundreds of arrows toward the enemies.
The arrows cut through the snow as they fell.
Yet even these could not pierce the barrier spell engraved on the Lion’s Iron Armor.
Kaboom—!
Watching the arrows shatter above their heads, Valeric’s soldiers scoffed.
“This is amazing!”
“Ha! At this rate, it’ll be a piece of cake…?!”
A chilling voice echoed from above.
“.”
A sharp spear of ice, conjured by Sirina’s magic, cut through the air and struck the enemies.
Heads that had been confident behind the Lion’s Iron Armor were pierced clean through.
“…Huh?”
“What… what?!”
“The White Queen!”
Though wary of Saipas, Sirina continued hurling at the enemies.
< Ice Spear >—a spell cast without full incantation, only the trigger word—but her magic was fundamentally different from the Icecrown corps, who inscribed their spells before use.
Countless soldiers were impaled by the icicle-like spears, helpless.
Yet they did not stop.
“Don’t chicken out! It’s just one person anyway!”
“Stick to the wall! Once they reach it…!”
If the enemies reached the wall, Sirina would have a harder time targeting them.
On top of that, she had to remain alert for anything Saipas might do, making it hard to cast large-scale spells.
But the real danger was lying in a place she had not anticipated.
“The White Queen…”
Whoosh—Kraak!
From afar, Valeric spun his long spear and gripped it tightly with one hand.
His eyes, like a predator’s, fixed solely on Sirina.
“If I kill that woman, Icecrown will be as good as fallen.”
Muttering to himself, Valeric arched back his shoulders and torso.
“Huuup—!”
He drew in a deep breath, inflating his chest.
From the famed bear-hunting Bradigan family, a generational mark:
The special body-enhancing magic, , which concentrates power into spear throws.
A magic designed to maximize efficiency with the restriction that it is only used for throwing spears.
And in addition…
Szzzt.
Red lightning sparked at the spear’s tip.
An artifact gifted by Jeras Grimm, with magic inscribed upon it.
“—!”
Valeric hurled the spear straight at Sirina.
Cutting through the air, it flew along the fastest trajectory to reach her.
…it’s done!
Valeric was certain she would die.
It had the destructive power to obliterate even a bear’s skull and pierce its thick body.
With the spear enhanced by an artifact, even Sirina, the so-called White Queen, couldn’t stop it.
“…!”
Sirina had been slightly late to notice the incoming spear.
Even with magic, she could not completely block it.
But…
“Ugh, ahh!”
Hog, who was guarding her, was not late.
He threw his massive body to intercept the spear’s trajectory and raised two enormous shields.
Kraaaang—!
Red light flashed.
The two shields shattered under the spell , which concentrates mana at the spear’s tip to maximize destructive power.
“Grr, ugh?!”
Despite his and , Hog couldn’t withstand the explosion’s force and lost his balance.
Twisting his body, he avoided hitting Sirina.
Krrrraang—!
Smashing the castle wall’s floor, Hog was flung far away.
“…Blocked it?!”
Valeric, who had thrown the spear, was more surprised than anyone.
His decisive strike—originally intended to break the wall or gate—had been stopped when he had prioritized killing the White Queen.
“Damn it…!”
Resigned, Valeric drew his original spear.
It wouldn’t match the artifact’s power, but it was familiar.
Whoosh.
As he readied a new spear…
“…?!”
A cold blue edge cut through the darkness.
Kaang—!
He deflected the incoming strike.
“Who are you!”
“An enemy, you fool.”
“Kuh!”
Moving alone to seize Sirina had been a fatal mistake.
All around the walls, Icecrown elites trained under Bardo Kroven and Gardner lay in ambush, alongside crows.
Their mission: to assassinate commander-class targets.
As Valeric’s spear targeted Sirina, their blades flew toward him.
“How dare you!”
Whoosh—Valeric swung his spear to block them.
The crows retreated, but the elites pressed inward.
“…!”
Seeing the elites approaching under his spear, Valeric tensed.
Yet he could not block all the elite blades flying from every direction…
Kaang—!
“What?!”
“Kuh?!”
The Lion’s Iron Armor.
Blades aimed at Valeric’s side and chest were blocked.
Even blades flickering with mana could not cut or pierce the armor.
By sheer luck, Valeric swung his spear to push off the clinging elites.
Hoo…
Chasing a retreating elite, he thrust his spear.
Even taking one down could open a path…
“Ice Spear.”
“…?!”
Krak.
A sharp ice spear pierced his right shoulder.
“Grr, ughhh?!”
The chilling, sharp pain drained the spear’s power, and it fell to the ground.
Turning his head, he felt a piercing gaze from above.
“Sirina… the Icemaker…!”
Her gaze lingered only briefly.
She no longer paid attention to Valeric, spinning her head sharply.
“Jee… grrrk?!”
“Shh.”
A crow plunged its sharp blade deep into Valeric’s neck.
Blood gushed from the wound.
By the time the crow withdrew its blade, Valeric was no longer of this world.
…Did she just block that?
Watching Hog intercept Valeric’s spear aimed at Sirina, Saipas furrowed his brows.
Even though it flew, that bear hunter blocked a spear enhanced by a Grimm family artifact.
…More troublesome than expected.
The Bradigan soldiers, confident behind the Lion’s Iron Armor, couldn’t scale the walls.
Originally, the plan was to break the gates or a section of the wall with that spear, but it had been blocked so easily.
“Baron Alberto.”
Yet there was still one artifact left on our side.
“Are we ready yet?”
“Do not rush me…!”
“At this rate, all the bear hunters will die.”
“Ah… I understand… gah!”
Alberto shouted, sweat pouring down his face.
In his hands was a staff gifted by Jeras Grimm.
A silver staff tipped with a translucent blue crystal orb.
A mana stone engraved with magic.
Alberto had to focus all his energy just to barely use this artifact.
Though a baron, he was one of the wealthiest on the continent and a Quad Chain owner.
Thus, using most artifacts was easy for him… but…
“Wh-what kind of artifact is this…!”
This silver staff was different.
It absorbed even the mana engraved within the user’s own sigils.
Alberto had to expend nearly all the mana stored in his four personal sigils.
Thanks to this…
Krrzzt—
A spell that shatters anything blocking the way with wind and lightning.
“Now…!”
He could cast .
The condensed magic inside the crystal orb at the staff’s tip…
Kraaaang—!
Shot forward from Alberto.
In the blink of an eye, the beam sliced through the air and struck a section of Icecrown’s wall.
Crackling, bricks shattered, leaving a massive hole.
Some nearby allies were caught in the debris, but the wall was breached.
“Go in!”
“There’s a hole!”
“The wall has fallen!”
The bear hunters surged straight through.
Arrows raining from above couldn’t stop them.
On top of that, the mercenaries watching from afar joined in.
“Charge!”
“Enter!”
“Don’t fall behind these foolish bear hunters!”
Silverwing joined the battle in earnest.
Allies poured through the gaping hole.
“Ha, ha, haha! Haha! It’s done! I… I did it!”
Exhausted, Alberto collapsed to the ground, laughing maniacally.
Saipas sneered, observing him.
At this rate, Sirina would be distracted by the intruding soldiers.
And that would be the chance to cast magic…
“…?!”
But Sirina’s gaze was still fixed on him.
She hadn’t prepared any large magic.
She only continued to hurl ice spears.
Her vigilance against Saipas had not slackened.
Preparing magic in this state would be almost suicidal.
…but once inside the castle, stopping them would be difficult enough.
As Saipas thought this:
“<As hard as stone, as bright as light, from the not-so-high sky>.”
“<Give no life, shine no rays, just fall and reap>.”
Hagen, waiting atop the wall, unleashed the strongest spell engraved on his sigils…
“!”
It rained down on the heads of enemies who had entered the castle.
