Monsters and Machines

Red Maple City's city-level shield closed.

A hazy, thin Energy Barrier enveloped the sky above the plains city. Powerful magic was drawn from the Magic Power Focus beneath the city, then guided and projected through the Rune Array, forming a barrier sturdier than rock. At the same moment the shield closed, artillery fire from the plains rained down upon the city walls.

Piercing shrieks wailed like banshees crying out at midnight. Metal warheads wrapped in pale blue vapor carved bright arcs through the air, bombarding Red Maple City's shield without pause. Explosions flashed continuously across its surface like a storm of heavenly fire—the city's shield shook violently beneath the impacts, layer upon layer of ripples spreading from every point of attack. Yet no matter what, the shield successfully withstood the Cecilians' first wave of assault.

It stood above the city, blocking every bombardment. A deep humming echoed through the outer districts, the sound of the underground magical facilities fully activating.

On the city walls, a Crystal Legion commander wore an expression as though he had survived a disaster. Watching the shield bloom with wave after wave of light, he let out a long breath. "It held!"

But Hitton merely glared at the commander. "Idiot, the battle has only just begun!"

The Dark Chapter Master did not relax in the slightest just because Red Maple's shield had blocked the Cecilians' "heavenly fire." On the contrary, he knew that this battle had only just begun—he even knew that Stone Fortress had fallen precisely after its city-level shield had successfully blocked the Cecilians' assault.

After learning more over this period, he had grasped many characteristics of the Southern Territory Army. He knew that the devices capable of projecting explosions and beams were unlike traditional magical items. They did not need mages to recharge