Just over ten minutes after Vanessa returned to the ground to rest, she reunited with Shade in the night sky. Sivie and Megan also wanted to follow and help, but Shade worried that without the two of them, the hard-won aerial front would collapse. Thus, he had the two Witches remain there to resist the bug swarm.
As the bug swarm's second wave of attacks continued to emerge, it was not only the bugs themselves. Relics controlled by Paradox Worms and other kinds of monsters also began trickling out of the forest toward the outskirts of the city.
The most eye-catching among them was the skeleton of an unidentified giant. Dozens of bugs clung to the spine of the ten-meter-tall skeleton, controlling it as it ran from the forest toward the city in a strange posture, swinging its arms and taking great strides. Just as it was about to reach the treant-human front line, it leaped into the air, attempting to jump directly over those tiny creatures, only to be blasted down midair by a triple Fireball Spell from some unknown High-Ring Arcanist.
Shade was rather far from that side and only saw the giant skeleton fall awkwardly after the fireballs exploded. It then grabbed a house and hurled it into the city as a projectile. The city's defensive shield only protected against tangible and intangible entities possessing Spirit and Elements, so the remains of that enormous building flew directly into the city and smashed through half a street before coming to a stop.
Smoke and dust rose into the sky amid the snow, while cries of terror throughout the city were soon drowned out by the sounds of the Ring Arcanists' thaumaturgy.
As Shade and the Witches swept past overhead, nearly every attack in that area converged upon the