That night, the royal capital felt especially different from usual. A stifling, eerie atmosphere hung over the city.
The commercial streets, normally lively and prosperous even at night, had all closed for the evening. The pedestrians seemed to have sensed something as well, hurrying home and tightly shutting their doors and windows.
Now, only the glowing streetlamps and fleeting shadows sweeping across the ground remained on the streets of the royal capital.
Within the royal capital, those shadows continuously converged in the direction of Duke Charlie's residence. Hubert, who had been guarding the entrance all along, slowly opened his eyes. No matter which direction he casually glanced, he saw Archmages floating in midair, assassins climbing along rooftops, and knights poised above. Judging by the auras they gave off, even the weakest were Earth Knights. There was not a single person below that level.
The scene remained silent. The Archmages in the air muttered obscure incantations, their magic resonating with that of the other mages around them. Slowly, they arranged themselves into a strange formation in the sky. Then, a massive Magic Array appeared before them, and terrifying magical fluctuations rippled outward from it like sound waves.
"Clang!" Hubert slowly drew the weapon at his waist and glanced disdainfully at the Archmages still gathering power.
As Hubert drew his weapon, the knights and assassins leaped down from above as well. The sound of weapons being pulled from their sheaths rang repeatedly through the night.
"Clang!" Another crisp sound rang out.
Hubert looked up and saw a gigantic transparent sphere, like a glass bead, forming before the Magic Array. Spatial fluctuations flickered continuously around it.
Then Hubert grinned and mocked them. "More than a hundred Archmages, and after all that effort, you only came up with a sixth-tier spell?"
As soon as