Chapter 178

Chapter 178: Meteorites fall from the sky

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The three of them went in different directions. Solitar and Linie moved to the rear to block the retreat of the attacking enemy. Ash, on the other hand, took five compressed rock balls with a diameter of more than three meters, which had been prepared in advance and reinforced with protective spells by magicians. He flew straight into the sky.

All this was carried out under the dim night, and the enemy's vanguard troops, advancing cautiously, had yet to notice anything.

The soldiers, who had already rested before reaching this last section of distance, maintained an unchanged formation with just the right distance between them, making it easy to coordinate operations while still being flexible and maneuverable.

The faces of these elite soldiers were hidden in the shadows of their helmets, but their eyes shone with a hunger for victory. Their fingers gripped their weapons tighter and tighter as they gradually came into view of the bonfires on the city walls at the edge of the horizon.

But even so, the entire formation moved with only slight footsteps and occasional breaths leaking through, blending seamlessly into the quiet night around them.

"Their barrier has disappeared. Magicians, get ready. We must destroy them before they notice us…" Ludwig gave orders to the magicians around him. However, before he finished speaking, the magician next to him suddenly pointed to the sky nervously: "Lord Ludwig! A strong magical fluctuation appeared in the sky!"

"What?! This is a magic attack… a meteorite?!"

Ludwig instinctively looked up at the sky, his pupils suddenly shrinking. The once calm sky had, at this moment, become hideous and terrifying.

Six meteorites, like the burning eyes of a demon that had escaped from the abyss of the stars, tore through the silent night sky, roaring with the intent to destroy everything. They descended with flames trailing behind them, long fiery tails illuminating the darkness.

One of them was heading straight toward the vanguard, and its speed was so fast that one could hardly help but suspect that it would crash down on them in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, Ludwig no longer cared about danger and shouted in anger: "Intercept it! Stop it immediately!!"

In fact, there was no need to say more. Looking at these objects that fell from the sky, radiating an instinctive terror, all magicians deployed their magic circles almost simultaneously.

Beams of light rose from the ground, interweaving and colliding in the air, forming a huge magical net in an attempt to destroy the incoming meteorites.

However, these meteorites were not just ordinary rock formations, and the force attached to them far exceeded their expectations.

The one leading the charge—was Ash.

Despite the dazzling brilliance of the beams of light and their formidable destructive power, they appeared weak and powerless in the face of the unstoppable descent of this unnatural "meteorite."

The moment the beams of magic clashed with the compressed meteorite, reinforced with multiple layers of protective enchantments, the offensive spells dissipated like thin ice shattering under immense force.

All efforts were in vain. The soldiers below could do nothing but watch, their bodies frozen in terror, as the fire-wreathed boulders loomed closer and closer.

"Deploy defensive magic in full force!" Ludwig shouted once more, his voice hoarse. A deep sense of powerlessness and despair surged in his heart, but he forced himself to issue the order with all his might.

But all of this seemed to be too late.

Even as layers of defensive magic rapidly unfolded around them, in that brief period, the meteorite had already reached the ground.

For a moment, the air seemed to freeze, and all sounds were swallowed up by the impending catastrophe.

The moment the meteorite struck the crowd with immense force, time itself seemed to fracture, and the sky and earth shifted in color.

Boom——!!!!!!!!

A deafening roar resounded across the sky, followed by a shockwave so powerful that it spread out instantly from the point of impact.

The earth trembled under the sheer force of the collision. Rocks and rubble were hurled into the air by the shockwave, scattering in all directions like leaves caught in a violent storm.

The ancient magical armor—the proud wisdom of the ancestors—was rendered meaningless in an instant, as all protective magic crumbled like fragile paper.

What was even more terrifying was the sea of flames that surged outward, engulfing soldiers who were thrown into the air by the impact.

As the six meteorites crashed down, six towering mushroom-like clouds of smoke billowed into the sky. The force of the impact sent countless soldiers flying, their bodies tossed around like mere debris in the storm.

Struck by just one meteorite, the vanguard fell into utter chaos, collapsing before they could even begin their charge.

Each meteorite impact brought an earth-shaking tremor.

The areas where they landed became scenes of sheer devastation—flames raging wildly, rocks melting into eerie, unrecognizable shapes under the intense heat.

Faced with this cataclysm, the survivors were gripped by an overwhelming, indescribable terror, suddenly aware of their own insignificance and helplessness.

The troops in the rear fell into disorder, but within the vanguard, only Ludwig's knights and family magicians remained standing.

Several defensive magic shields had successfully absorbed a portion of the shockwave, sparing them from immediate destruction. But the thirst for victory had long since evaporated—only pure, unshakable fear remained.

From confidence to despair, it had all happened in the blink of an eye.

In the midst of the chaos, some of the soldiers caught sight of a lone figure emerging from the flames within the deep crater where the meteorite had struck.

Illuminated by the flickering firelight, the figure appeared almost demonic. With a mere motion of his hand, he unleashed an invisible force that sent nearby soldiers flying as if they weighed nothing. Then, he began walking toward them.

"Lord Ludwig! Retreat at once!!"

A knight rushed in front of Ludwig, sword drawn, facing the approaching figure while anxiously urging his master to withdraw.

"...How can we retreat now? If we back down here, everything will be over!" Ludwig gritted his teeth, reaching for the massive bow slung across his back and pulling the bowstring to its limit.

"That bastard has already used an ability of this scale. There's no way he can repeat it in such a short time—the energy cost must be enormous. He's just bluffing!"

Ludwig had no intention of retreating. In the next instant, three enormous arrows shot from his bow, flying toward Ash from different angles.

Their trajectories were unpredictable, and their speed exceeded that of most spells—fast enough to pierce a magician before they could even react with a proper defense.

Seizing the opportunity, a dozen knights at the front gritted their teeth and charged forward, roaring as they closed in.

But Ash's footsteps did not falter for even a moment. With a mere step, an invisible repulsive force surged outward, expanding in a circular shockwave with him at its center.

BANG!!

The repulsive force exploded outward, hurling the three arrows away upon impact. At the same time, the knights rushing toward him were sent flying backward at an even greater speed than before.

"So fast… Did he calculate it in advance?"

Ludwig's eyes widened as he instinctively retreated, his breath catching in his throat. His mind raced, struggling to convince himself that it was nothing more than the enemy's last desperate bluff—an illusion of strength, masking the exhaustion that must have followed such an overwhelming attack.