The cold wind swept pale-black smoke into the courtyard. Marble tiles cracked and shattered beneath the tracks, and the courtyard that had known peace for thousands of years was now engulfed by endless explosions and the roar of engines. Though the First Secret Regiment tried to hold back, they still encountered unprecedented resistance upon advancing into the third courtyard.
Kamar-Taj's personnel were distributed not according to military doctrine, but by rank and status. Junior instructors and Arcanist apprentices lived in the first, second, and third courtyards. To enter the courtyards farther back, one either had to possess exceptional talent or advance through examinations. Thus, the Arcanists beyond the third courtyard were mostly Kamar-Taj's backbone—the Emperor's forces had not even had time to fire before they were met with a counterattack from the organized Kamar-Taj Arcanists. The moment they stepped into the courtyard, crimson flames spread across the front yard like flowing water. The First Secret Regiment soldiers in full-environment combat suits were immediately seared by the blaze. Beyond the boiling fire outside their visors, they could see nothing else. They felt as though some invisible force had caught their feet, as if they were crawling through a swamp. The more they struggled, the more some rope-like, viscous semisolid substance clung to their combat suits.
Corporal Bolton accidentally tripped over the sticky substance on the ground.
Only when he hit the ground did he see clearly that the stuff stuck to his armored visor was nothing more than ordinary-looking spider silk. The sticky threads plastered themselves all over him. It took him tremendous effort just to pull his hand off the ground, but flames raced along the semiviscous silk and onto his tactical gloves, blackening his visor before burning through his breathing filter. Superheated air surged through the tubes into his