“We meet again, Miss Evelyn. I am Veronica, Viscount Sparrow’s Knight.”

Evelyn remembered meeting Veronica during her brief visit to Green’s End. However, back then, they had barely met for a couple of meetings and hadn’t actually talked to one another.

“Why have you called me here?”

Although the rest of the Viscount’s armor was a distance away, Evelyn still kept her guard up. To be precise, she felt wary of Veronica specifically.

This tall woman, clad in a set of heavy armor, was no simple knight. Even at a glance, some as experienced as Evelyn was able to determine Veronica’s hidden prowess.

‘She has no openings.’

“We do not fight you, Miss Evelyn. The same goes for the Duke and Halric, of course. We are simply here as a pretence.”

“...”

“I know it is hard to believe but that is the truth. I’m not at liberty to disclose anything, but you have nothing to fear from us. In fact, very soon, we’ll likely be attacking our allies.”

“Why?”

Veronica, her face expressionless, shook her head and refrained from providing any answer.

“I do not know why you are here or if your Master is also present or not, but as you are not the enemy, we have no reason to attack you. My lord’s army will remain standby until the Demon descends.”

Evelyn eyed the female knight for a bit before backing away and returning to the wall.

She quickly recounted her short conversation with Veronica, which only raised confusion and questions from the rest of the team.

“If they’re not hostile then we might as well use this chance to leave, right?”-Chris

“Something evil is coming… I don’t want to stay here.” Mumbled Isabella while caressing her chest and looking uncomfortable.

“There’s no time to dawdle. We’ll go down and circle around that army. That forest is a good hiding place for a little while.”

Evelyn, Charles, and Isabella didn’t object. They gathered what little belongings they had and hastily left the Southern Wall.

They had been tasked to use the magical cannons and defend the Southern side of Blackcrest, but that didn’t matter right now. Not only was the Viscount’s army wasn’t going to attack, thereby making this place safer than the rest, but Chris’ group was supposed to retaliate for a while until they found an opening to slip through.

Things proceeded in a completely unexpected but favorable manner, so they were going to leave sooner than anticipated.

A couple of minutes after they left, Halric surged from the ground and looked at the four of them fleeing toward the thick forest South.

He didn’t seem angry or surprised. Actually, he was more confused about the Viscount’s army, which was still standing there and doing nothing.

“No time to over-analyze their intention.”

The Treants and other familiars that had been stationed South were all mobilised. They moved in synchro, all heading to the Western side to provide assistance.

Of course, this left the Southern Wall unattended and defenseless, but Halric didn’t consider Kirn’s army that much of a threat, especially since it was a relatively small army composed of mostly infantry soldiers.

…

“Take this you motherfuckers! Hahahahaha!”

Emil Red had goosebumps as he snuck a glance at Melia. This woman, whom he had escaped the Shadow Keep Penitentiary with, was very eccentric and possibly bipolar.

Sometimes, she would be her overly-gloomy self and refuse to talk, but there were times like these, where she would change and start acting like a mad person.

She was tightly holding a massive cannon and firing shots at the army down below.

Gerard Kemb, the Seat of Power, had a decently-sized army, however, the real threat were his 100 shield knights.

These giant fully-armored knights were holding abruptly big shields made of a special kind of stone that was heavily resistant to magic.

They stood at the vanguard and acted as a defensive line, their shields blocking most of the cannon shots fired by Melia.

It hasn’t been half an hour since the battle started yet most of Halric’s familiars stationed North were dealt with.

“I guess It’s time for my genius to shine.”

Emil let out a sigh and walked to the edge of the wall. He looked down and focused on Gerard Kemb.

The Seat of Power was a man in his late forties, equipped with a clean-shaved face, a pair of azure-blue eyes, thin eyebrows and a flat big nose.

He wasn’t as strong as Hector or the Duke, but he had an inherited special ability that allowed him to greatly enhance his physical capabilities.

He stood at the back of the army, strategizing and shouting commands at his men.

Gerard wasn’t particularly afraid of the magical cannon being fired by Melia, but with how smoothly things were proceeding on this side, he couldn’t help but feel wary.

He had expected heavy resistance from Halric, but there weren’t as many familiars as anticipated.

In fact, he had barely lost any soldiers since the start of the fight, though much of that was thanks to the impenetrable wall of defense created by the Shield Knights.

“Fall back 50 steps!”

Upon seeing a man stand on the edge of the towering wall, Gerard immediately ordered the Shield Knights to retreat.

They moved with impressive coordination and swiftness, fending off the couple of remaining Treants while keeping the long line.

‘It’s a mage!’

“Formation B! Infantry to the back!”

Gerard took out a long red banner while pulling the reins of his steed. He galloped to the center of the army and activated the banner, which was a magical artifact.

A semi-spherical translucent barrier appeared, encompassing the entire army as Emil raised both hands to the sky and channelled his Mana.

The spell he was casting didn’t take long to be ready, and when it did, it truly was a shocking sight.

An absurdly large volume of water appeared in the air, slowly spinning before descending upon the army from above.

It was akin to an unstoppable avalanche that shot down with full force.

Gerard and his men prepared for impact, but when the water hit the barrier, nothing happened.

“Hahahahahaha! Got you!”

A mocking laughter came from Emil, who was holding his left wrist with right hand.

The index of his left hand was pointed toward the army, not unlike a gun. As the confused and surprised soldiers saw the water vanish into tiny blue particles, Emil started firing small yet lightning-fast projectiles.

Those ‘bullets’, which glowed with a brilliant blue light, reached their target in the blink of an eye.

Before anyone could react, 10 Shield Knights were hit in the head and fell to the ground, lifeless. To make matters worse, the magical projectiles fired by the Painter didn’t vanish, instead, they kept moving around and piercing through everything in their way.

The normal soldiers, weaker and more vulnerable than the Shield Knights, were either killed or incapacitated once hit.

SImultaneously, Melia kept firing shots at the now-grouped army, but Gerard’s banner was able to block any strong exterior impact. Strangely enough, only Emil’s magic was able to bypass it as if it didn’t exist.

“Spread out and prepare to attack! Shield Knights, formation A! Soldiers, focus on the remaining Treants!”

Emil’s trick worked and he managed to take down some of the enemies, but the damage done to Gerard’s army was minimal, to say the least.

Now prepared for his magic, the Shield Knights reacted accordingly and were able to block the small and fast bullets that kept flying at them from atop the wall.

…

Eastern Side

The 50 mages under Sulong Bluegrass were at the far back of the army, close to a small forest at the foot of a valley.

They were positioned in key spots within a magical circle drawn on the dirt. Even from a distance, you could see a dense quantity of Mana moving around the circle and focusing at the center.

All the mages had their eyes closed, each holding a staff that facilitated the task.

The screams of the soldiers and scary growls of the Treants didn’t disturb them, and while these mages weren’t as good as the ones in the Empire, they were still not to be scoffed at. After all, the spell they were about to cast was able to literally raze an entire city the size of Blackcrest to the ground!

As the carnage and chaos spread and grew more intense, one of them felt the ground tremble, causing him to twitch ever-so-slightly.

He thought nothing of it, but after a couple of seconds, he heard a horrifying cry which disturbed not only him, but all the rest as well.

A hideous and massive Sand Worm had sprung from the ground and devoured one of them before diving back into the ground.

Sulong, and by extension, the mages, had prepared sufficiently to ensure the spell was properly cast, so the loss of one mage was hardly detrimental.

Unfortunately, what was unforeseen was the way the mages could be disturbed. The brutal sight of one of them getting killed like that left them fearful and unable to concentrate.

They were, sternly and repeatedly, ordered to hastily complete the spell and ignore any and all disturbances, but when the Sand Worm resurfaced again and killed two mages, they were forced to retaliate.

One of them mumbled something before shooting a bright yellow light in the air. It was a signal to inform Sulong of the danger.

Meanwhile, four mages turned their attention to the worm and cast multiple fireballs that accurately hit the monster the moment it revealed itself.

The Sand Worm, which was a massive lump of disgusting pink-ish flesh, rolled on the ground and laid there, seemingly lifeless.

From a distance, one could see Sulong shoot into this direction as his golden staff let out a blinding light.

“Is it dead?”

The mages looked at each other, but when the Sand Worm didn’t move after a couple of seconds, they breathed a sigh of relief.

“Aagh… he-help…”

The momentary and tense silence was broken by a muffled cry as a hand crawled from the half-open mouth of the monster.

Three mages ran toward their comrade and dragged him out.

“Th-.... thank you…”

He gasped for breath, his body drenched in a nauseous liquid.

“What’s going on?!”

Sulong appeared, his eyes concentrating on the dead Sand Worm. He frowned and quickly counted the remaining mages.

“It was a Sand Worm, sir! We managed to kill it in time!”

“Then return to preparing for the spell! Swiftly!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The mages, along with the comrade they had dragged out, returned to their spots.

‘All that’s left is to take everything for myself and then finish him off.’

Arthur, possessing the mage, snuck a glance at Sulong, who stood a distance away.

[Wither Touch]

Slowly, the Parasite started absorbing the Mana being channelled to the center of the magical circle. He was doing it in a progressive manner, planning to act only when the mages showed signs of exhaustion.

That way, even if he was forced to flee, they wouldn’t be able to repeat the process again.

Alternatively, he could sneak-attack them right now and possibly kill half of them in one-go, but that was a bit risky as Sulong seemed to still be on-guard.

It was much better to not only tire the enemies but also empower himself as much as possible.