A Vast Disparity

Above the City of Guardianship.

A colossal city shrouded in a deep blue curtain of light floated in the air. On the bluestone platform at its highest point, Roland and numerous core members of the kingdom's leadership had gathered, looking down at the battlefield below.

Outside the City of Guardianship, an immense military camp stretched beyond sight. Countless Orcs pushed all manner of siege equipment as they launched wave after wave of fierce assaults against the city.

They were not merely ordinary Orc cannon fodder. There were also many elite royal clansmen among them, including Minotaurs, Lionkin, Tigerkin, and others.

With these well-equipped and powerful royal elites joining the battle, the Orcs were able to scale the walls with ease in nearly every assault and engage the defending humans in close combat.

With physiques far superior to those of humans, nearly every Orc who made it onto the walls inflicted grievous casualties. It often took two or three human soldiers to kill a single royal elite.

The battle in the sky was just as intense. It was not a clash between aerial forces, but a confrontation between mages. Powerful spells crisscrossed through the air, weaving a dazzling yet deadly web of light and forming an unconventional no-fly zone.

In such extreme magical bombardments, even the slightest lapse by a mage on either side could cause terrifying spells to inflict devastating casualties upon the soldiers locked in battle below.

The anguished wails, the human and Orc soldiers falling in droves, the spraying blood and flying severed limbs—such brutal scenes pushed the nerves of both sides' mages and priests to their limits, leaving their foreheads drenched in sweat. Even the commanders on the field wore grave expressions and did not dare let down their guard.

Yet Roland and the kingdom's core leaders