As the sudden burst of intense light erupted, the Allied Forces troops, unable to react in time, were immediately engulfed by the barrage of flash grenades and all fell into a blinded state.
The previously orderly marching formation also began to descend into uncontrollable chaos amid the panic caused by losing their vision.
Some soldiers who had instinctively escaped safely through gaps in the line of fire inadvertently stumbled into the roaring flames due to the chaotic footsteps, only to be swallowed by the blaze.
"Argh!"
For a time, miserable cries rang out across the entire battlefield without end.
Perhaps because she had been positioned relatively far back and had shut her eyes before the flash grenades exploded, Roxy recovered from her dizziness after barely a dozen seconds.
Looking at the concealed temperature-sensing circuits revealed by magic contamination due to the earlier frost wind, as well as the large net hanging down from above the tree trunks—
In an instant, Roxy understood where the flash grenades that had struck her side so precisely had come from.
Clearly, this was a triggered trap deliberately set by John Maslow.
Using an utterly simple temperature-detection spell, he had taken advantage of its tiny, concealed magic circuits, engraving them within the inner layer of the ancient trees' bark and using the trees' anti-magic properties to achieve nearly perfect concealment.
As soon as the formula detected that the surrounding temperature had dropped below a certain level, it connected to another formula hidden at the top of the trunk that served as a switch. While injecting a trace amount of magic power to activate the flash grenades, it also released the net.
Using gravity, it dropped all those harmless yet fatal-to-them flash grenades into their formation.
In the end, it blinded everyone, restricted their advance, and