As she watched the falling meteor, Eris Anen Seriere couldn’t help but feel a jolt of fear.
Anyone else in her shoes would probably be scared too. With that thought, she lowered her body atop the dragon’s head when Shakallim’s telepathic communication echoed in her mind.
Are you scared?
“……How can I not be scared?”
She had taken on the role of the continent’s vanguard. It was proof of her capability, but no matter how skilled she was, the heavy responsibility felt like a crushing weight.
“All those people down there are watching us. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that our success or failure rests in our hands.”
Hmph, isn’t that a relief then?
“Eh?”
Eris asked back, not understanding his words. Shakallim clicked his tongue at her confusion.
I don’t have to entrust my life to those pathetic bugs. How fortunate it is that I can take responsibility for my own life!
“Should I call you a dragon for that?”
Hmph.
It could be said he was arrogant, but it was also very much like Shakallim, and it gave her a sense of trust. After all, if he had become an ally, he was the strongest support she could hope for.
You better get your act together. I heard that the last thing that scum named Daniel prepared was you.
“……That’s…”
She was left speechless. From Eris’s perspective, the situation was far too sudden.
Three days ago, she had started training with Daniel. Despite holding the title of Guardian of Yggdrasil, she had suffered overwhelming defeats, but today was the day she vowed to achieve victory no matter what.
After blinking and regaining her composure, she found herself not in the training room but in her own room. The staff had been whining that it had been three days.
‘Why did Daniel stop my time?’
Eris had no idea. She only knew that Daniel had some oddities about him, but there wasn’t enough time to dwell on it further.
“……”
Her gaze fell upon May, who was anxiously pacing while waiting for Daniel before the war. She also took in the sight of Rin quietly waiting for him. Their expressions hinted that they knew something.
Eris felt a pang of jealousy. To be frank, she had to acknowledge that the feelings they showed were deeper than what she possessed.
‘Maybe…’
Once this battle was over, Daniel would choose someone. And deep down, she had a creeping certainty that it wouldn’t be her.
Wasn’t she just the most indecisive elf ever?
She gave herself a self-deprecating smile. Whenever she looked at Daniel, she felt a longing to be with him, and that feeling was genuine.
But when she saw the women beside him, doubts began to creep in about whether she truly loved him more than they did.
Unconsciously, she took a step back out of a profound sense of defeat.
Sigh, feelings are really complicated…
Living for thousands of years, the elf was overwhelmed by the confusion of first experiencing deep affection.
She hated how she kept wavering, but surprisingly, this feeling wasn’t bad at all.
“It must be growing pains.”
As Shakallim took a deep breath toward the falling meteor, he felt the massive chunk of mana he wielded condensing in one place.
Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!
The staff was yelling, excited for some reason. Normally, such noise would annoy her, but in this situation, it was relieving and even encouraging.
“Yes, let’s go!”
She gathered her mana. The massive mana from the towers on the ground felt like it was aimed toward her and Shakallim.
Though it felt like her body could burst at any moment from the immense amount of power, both Shakallim and the staff of Yggdrasil endured it.
“I will clear the way!”
The wind path shot from the staff’s tip. Compared to the size of the meteor, the shooting storm was infinitely small.
But did that mean it stopped the meteor’s movement? Not at all.
It merely scratched the surface, failing to deal any significant damage. But the spell was never meant to penetrate the meteor.
It was a strike meant to concentrate the continent’s greatest firepower at one point. Rather than crushing, it was focused on condensing the wind.
As always, the wind would guide the way.
Whooosh!
A breath of Shakallim’s all-out effort burst forth toward the straight path guided by Eris’s wind magic. Rather than spreading wide like usual, it targeted a single point, shooting straight forward.
The breath hit the center of the meteor directly. At first, it seemed like it wasn’t moving at all.
But slowly, the breath began to penetrate inward.
As the surface was broken, the speed of inward penetration increased dramatically. Shakallim, despite staggering as if about to fall at any moment, didn’t stop his breath.
Boom!
With a destructive sound, Shakallim’s breath pierced through the meteor.
The resulting hole began to form cracks on the meteor, which ultimately split perfectly in half and began to fall apart.
“It’s, it’s working!”
Hmph, of course…
Their voices were devoid of strength, having used every shred of mana. Eris was barely holding on top of Shakallim, who was descending slowly like a falling object.
And then, flying ships passed overhead.
The dwarves inside saluted the falling dragon and elf.
You filthy bugs better handle this properly, or I’ll chew you up!
With Shakallim and Eris exiting, the dwarves’ flying ships swooped in.
“Attack the inside that the dragon smashed, not the surface!”
“Use the cracks inside the meteor to break it down further!”
The dwarves’ ships began their bombardment as they slipped between the two halves of the shattered meteor. But that wasn’t the end; support also began again from the towers on the ground.
On the tallest tower stood the mage Adriana, holding the staff of the Grand Witch, taking a deep breath as she led the many mages.
“Let’s begin!”
Cutting off the support directed at Shakallim and Eris, she now gathered mana centered on the tower.
The mana coalesced into blue orbs on top of the tower, and the condensed mana began shooting out in countless lines.
It was a bombardment magic, Comet Barrage, personally devised and developed by the Grand Witch and Adriana for this occasion.
If Shakallim and Eris’s first strike succeeded in splitting the meteor in half, then the following fire support and debris processing would form a massive web covering the continent.
Bombardments were fired from countless towers.
Humans, Beastmen, Elves, Dragonkin, and more. All the outstanding mages from every race had come together, showcasing the maximum output that the continent could display to their God.
The meteor, having been split in half, began to splinter once more. Once broken, it started to lose the solid condensed resistance it once had.
Before long, the bombardments ceased.
The once earth-shaking sounds of bombardment quieted down, leaving only small snowball-like fragments and bits of meteor debris falling from the sky.
“We, we did it…”
Adriana, collapsing with tears in her voice, had trembled with fear, wondering if they could really win when she first gazed at the meteor.
But they had triumphed.
The continent had achieved victory against the destruction chosen by the God.
“Hahaha!”
Cheering erupted among the surrounding mages. No, the entire continent was alive with exhilaration, reveling in joy.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“You’ve really done well, Lady Adriana!”
“If it weren’t for the Comet Barrage you invented, we wouldn’t have succeeded!”
Amidst the tears of the surrounding mages, Adriana looked out the window. A huge burst of light fell from the sky.
‘Now, I have done all I can.’
No, the continent had done all it could. The rest was up to someone else.
Ares Helias whispered his love to Arni Duratan, his lover who had stayed with him until the very end.
As the guards dragged Arni away, tears streaming down her face, her image became deeply embedded in his heart, becoming the greatest reason for him to keep living.
This was a plain deliberately made by the royal palace for today. Originally just a small hill, it had been cleared away into a desolate place devoid of anything.
“Ah…”
As he watched the colossal meteor fall, shatter, and ultimately turn to ash, Ares felt a burning sensation on the back of his hand.
The mark of the Sun God glowed brilliantly upon him.
“So this is the price of power?”
Since gaining the Sun God’s powers, Ares had undergone tremendous growth. However, because his comparison point was Daniel McLean, he seemed relatively weak.
The heat from the mark gradually traveled through his hand, reaching his shoulder and then his head. As he began to lose consciousness, he realized his entire body was shining brilliantly.
A violent and coercive ego began to take hold.
The guards around him had already fled.
A massive blaze began to swirl around Ares, flames threatening everything in the vicinity like a gaping maw.
“Please.”
And at the far end, he saw Daniel McLean and Kurika approaching, swords in hand.
