Ashen Dragon

Chapter 428: 351. The King’s Surprise (4k)

Faced with the Thrace army’s dense artillery bombardment relying on sheer numbers of cannons, the Kingdom of Cassandra was caught off guard, suffering significant losses.

After all, each mage was exceptionally precious, and spells couldn’t be squandered like cannonballs; they required communication with the Magic Web and consumed the mage’s mental energy to cast.

“Boom!”

“Boom! Boom!”

The artillery fire still roared.

The Therest positions were shrouded in smoke, and everywhere

on the towering city walls appeared craters from the bombardment, and cannonballs fell into the crowd, smashing the unprepared Cassandra soldiers into paste; even some titan demigods were gravely injured as a result.

“Dodge! Dodge!”

“Spread out! Don’t gather together!”

“How can there be so many iron balls?”

“Where did they get so many spellcasters?”

“No, those are not spellcasters!”

The Cassandra soldiers were both shocked and angry, helpless against the attack from hundreds of meters away, even the noble commanders were flustered.

The titan demigods tried to rely on their large and strong bodies to charge forward and smash the devices that fired the cannonballs.

But the angel demigods in the air were not to be underestimated; they flapped their wings, firing clusters of explosive energy, which fell on the charging paths of the titan demigods, and more cannonballs fell from the sky.

This made it impossible for the Cassandra kingdom’s divine descendant legion to advance even an inch into the Therest positions, with even some ten or so casualties.

Each divine descendant was a valuable asset to the kingdom, powerful transcendent beings created through the Sun God’s sacrificial rituals and were the nation’s backbone.

“Damn it.”

“Slash—”

Ely slashed out with his sword, slicing dozens of cannonballs in mid-air into fragments, but it caused even more ignited fragments to fall like raindrops, making the soldiers around him wail in agony.

“Stergen! Make them stop!”

“It’s your turn to act!”

Ely roared loudly, the booming sound spreading across the battlefield, reaching the towering city walls hundreds of meters away.

Outside the tower on the white city walls, several soldiers stood guard.

A man dressed in a deep red robe was resting with his eyes closed, a meticulously engraved mithril staff floated in mid-air, slowly rotating and emitting waves of light patterns.

“It came so quickly…”

“Has it already come to this…”

Hearing the booming sound, the man slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of deep blue pupils with array patterns slowly rotating within them.

He was Stergen Megan. Despite his middle-aged appearance, he was over seventy years old and an esteemed grandmaster of the Cassandra Arcane Legion, a powerful spellcaster who had long reached the legendary level.

However, at this moment, a hint of surprise flashed in Stergen’s eyes.

For it was too soon.

In this protracted war, the legendary spellcasters of both sides rarely appeared, simply waiting within their armies, acting only at critical moments, as if it had been prearranged.

They would only act at key moments in battle and could instantly change the tide of the war.

Why hadn’t they taken the initiative first?

Spells required preparation.

As high-ranking spellcasters, during large-scale battles, the second move often had the advantage over the first, as it allowed for a more strategic and cost-effective response to the opponent’s spells, aiming for greater results.

But the battlefield situation could change in an instant. If seizing the opportunity could inflict irreparable damage on the enemy, taking the initiative wasn’t a bad choice either.

Stergen’s eyes glinted slightly.

With his actions, an invisible bird formed purely of elements flapped its wings, flying high into the sky.

Instantly, a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield appeared in his eyes, and the paths of the cannonballs shrank his pupils slightly.

“Spells?”

“No, more like mechanical marvels.”

“But there wasn’t much spell fluctuation; purely relying on natural magic reactions… interesting thought.”

But when Stergen saw further, seeing the thousands of black cannons gleaming with metallic luster, he immediately frowned.

“How can there be so many?”

“This can’t be something the Thrace Kingdom produced in a short time; could it be—they found an ancient relic?”

“Slash—”

A force field orb rapidly rose from the Thrace Kingdom’s formation, directly tearing apart the scouting bird.

This was no surprise.

The Therest spellcasters had acted.

Stergen grasped the floating mithril staff in mid-air, his expression even more solemn.

“No wonder Ely would be so anxious.”

“But… if they think these inferior constructs can defeat Cassandra, they are delusional!”

A gleam flashed in Stergen’s eyes.

With spatial ripples accompanying his action, he instantly disappeared from the tower, appearing out of thin air in the high sky outside the city walls.

Stergen raised the mithril staff in his hand, and the hollowed-out patterns emitted waves of light. With the intense fluctuation of the magic web, a complex spell prototype gradually formed in the sky.

Finally, a barrier composed purely of force appeared, covering almost half the sky, blocking all the cannonballs and flowing flames outside.

Immediately afterward, waves of distortion twisted the space, and these cannonballs were controlled by some invisible force, deviating off course or even reflecting back into the Thrace formations.

“Stop it!”

“They are coming back!”

“Quick, stop the bombardment! Their spellcasters have acted!”

Chaos engulfed the Thrace positions, and their offensive suddenly ceased, except for the angel demigods who continued to unleash their power, attempting to break it from the outside.

This was the power of a legendary mage: a single move could turn the tide—that was a spell combining [Advanced Force Wall Technique] and [Force Field Deflection].