Encounter (2)
Late autumn, when the vegetations shed its green color and revealed its other side.
Troops were marching along the desolate official route of the field.
They were the detached troops of the Thunder King and the Archmage, moving towards Fort Poltaron at the Allendia border.
Unlike the western sky, which turned gray as winter came, the winter sky in the middle of the continent was strangely blue and high.
A black dot was stamped over it, however.
Some of the good-eyed knights shivered.
“Is that…”
In the past, few people would care about the sky.
But how long had they been suffering from overhead assaults?
“Enemy attack!”
“Wyvern of the Sword King!”
The march stopped, and soldiers began to form a defensive formation.
“You finally showed up, Pitch-Black Nightmare!”
“Shield unit, forward!”
“Archers, prepare your bows!”
Of course, it wouldn’t have much effect.
There was no concept of anti-aircraft defense in the world yet. If they set up a defense line, they would only be beaten.
But this time, no one was afraid.
“My Rune Queen!”
“They’re attacking us!”
Sitting in the carriage, Genovia looked up.
“Yes, I see it.”
* * *
Turning around the sky over the detached troops, Ryu Han-bin stared down carefully.
“Is that it?”
Some stood out among the armed forces equipped with defenses.
“It stands out.”
It was a man on a Golem Steed and a woman leaning over a four-wheel carriage.
Even at a glance, it was clear that they weren’t ordinary people.
What they were on wasn’t normal at all.
It was an object decorated with a platinum mane, emerald eyes, and a body embedded with gold, jewels, and magic tools. The sleek fuselage reminiscent of the best horse was made of expensive magic metal.
“It’s like the Lamborghini of Golem Steeds, isn’t it?”
The carriage also had an elegant design.
Gold was embroidered on a streamlined, well-lifted body.
The wagon-driving Golem Steed was the same as that of a middle-aged man.
“Whether it’s Earth or Latna, it’s obvious that a really expensive item will look expensive.”
Mumbling, Ryu Han-bin invoked his Aura.
-Aura Sight!
And used it to strengthen his eyesight. The appearance of the distant individuals began to be evident.
A burly, blonde, middle-aged man in a robe and a voluptuous black beauty.
“Garhan the Thunder King, and Genovia, the Archmage.”
Through the portrait using thought photography, he knew their features, but that was the first time he had seen them in person.
Ryu Han-bin’s expression hardened as he spoke to Effir.
“Please approach them carefully.”
The distance was too far to be confirmed by his Guideline.
Even if they passed by, they needed to be within 20 meters.
“Got it.”
With her wings folded, Effir slowly began to lower their altitude.
* * *
“That Wyvern is notorious…”
Looking at the approaching silver-maned Wyvern, Genovia pulled out her staff.
“Let’s see what it’s like.”
Being one of the strongest Mages in the world, she had many powerful magic staffs.
Estellion Staff, the ultimate weapon handed down from generation to generation to the Head of the Sinkers.
A level 130 artifact obtained from the Grand Maze Kaltan, the Staff of Light Flame Wheel.
Staff of the Wizard King, which symbolized the throne of the Mado Kingdom.
And the staff of Draco Imperium, a unique item.
All of them were rare items. So much so that any Mage would risk their lives for them.
However, all of those were now asleep in Genovia’s sacs of compression.
From her point of view, those were nothing. They were all old-fashioned antiques.
Hence, she made a staff herself.
It had a seven-color crystal on its tip and complex magic patterns along its shaft.
The most efficient and powerful weapon that could be perfectly implemented with the full power of the Archmage, ‘Staff of the World,’ which contained the essence of Latna.
Holding it high, she uttered a language of strength.
“Blooming turbidity, Cyclone Tempest.”
A gust of wind was cast in a vast area of hundreds of meters.
Dozens, even hundreds of it began to blow loudly through the atmosphere.
Whoooosh!
“Wow! What’s this?”
Effir flapped her wings and flew back up. The atmosphere was so messed up that it was too much to maintain her posture.
Leon Hart shouted quickly.
“Calm down, Effir! Isn’t it common sense to interrupt one’s flight with wind magic? Enough to deal with…”
Leon Hart stopped abruptly.
The basic way to cope with wind magic was to hold out as much as possible and get out of its current.
‘Get out? To where? There are gusts everywhere in a range of a few hundred meters.’
He was frightened of the Archmage’s power.
How could she block Effir’s flying ability, which seemed so overwhelming, with a single spell?
But Effir was no pushover.
“Gee! Now that’s done!”
Instead of escaping, she jumped into the winds instead, then folded and spread her wings, going with them.
“Riding and flowing!”
She didn’t go against the flow but rather slipped naturally, leaving her body to it.
The black Wyvern quickly crossed the airstream as if it were a roller coaster.
Genovia, who was watching the sight, was in slight admiration.
“The rumor was real.”
She seemed to know what she was doing.
She read the complex flow of wind only by instinct.
That wasn’t something that could be done through calculation.
“I can do it.”
If Effir instinctively and sensibly read the situation, Genovia thoroughly calculated with her head and read it logically.
She was ready for the next magic spell.
“Storm Bringer, deliver the crushing blow of the wind.”
Wind blades that could cut steel like pudding were fired one after another, carried by air currents, and raced with an erratic orbit, crowding over the Black Wyvern.
Surprised, Effir’s movements became increasingly chaotic.
“Wow, Woah!”
The wind blades weren’t just flying in.
Like Effir, Genovia used the gusts to move them.
Both sides were in the same air space, ensuring that they would collide.
“Yikes!”
Gritting her teeth, Effir spewed a force and escaped from the airflow, allowing her to avoid the Storm Bringer offensive.
Swoosh!
The road was swept away by the air current.
It was a natural result because she came back to the place where she went in to avoid it.
“Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!”
Effir screamed, bursting with a groan.
“Please do something!”
“Oh, I got it!”
Han-bin swung his Gigant and spread Blade Aura all over the place. Leon Hart also fired a series of Ectoplasmic Spears, while Artis raised a whirlwind of flames.
Boom!
The sky, which quickly turned into a mess, was filled with smoke and flames. It was a sight that looked like a magnificent fireworks display.
Cheers broke out from the ground.
“Perfect!”
“Now I’m gonna get that damn Wyvern!”
Ryu Han-bin shouted with urgency.
“Oh, no! Just fly higher!”
Effir began to rise in a hurry.
But even that was not easy.
Genovia laughed and raised her staff again.
“You’re in a corner. How can this be that easy?”
There was no corner in the vast expanse, but Genovia’s wind magic was nothing short of a cage made out of air currents.
Hundreds of rays of light shone toward Han-bin’s party, who were in a hurry like prey caught in a trap.
“Flash of penetration, Mass Arcane Cannon.”
A level 130 light magic pierced through hundreds of meters of air to reach Effir.
Flying frantically in a zigzag, she dodged the offensive with all her might.
However, more magic spells kept flying in.
“Bloom and spread, High Explosive Rune.”
Countless balls of fire flew through the light beams and detonated in the air.
Boom!
It could easily damage the opponent just by popping within her vicinity instead of hitting her directly.
Reeling from the tyranny, Effir groaned.
“Ugh!”
* * *
Light continued to penetrate the sky, and explosions covered it countless times. Shockwaves produced continuous roars, reaching the ground and tearing up ears.
If hell existed, she thought it would be like that, but Effir did not fall.
“Come on!”
She avoided the incoming beams with an S-shaped flight.
“Yap!”
Alternating between acceleration and deceleration, she glided through the gusts.
“Hey!”
The Wyvern folded her wings between the explosions and escaped through the gaps of the assaults.
She was hanging in there really tenaciously, even though her opponent was persistent.
Genovia clicked her tongue.
“Wow…”
Though she just found the Wyvern interesting before, at that moment, she released a real compliment.
“Can I catch it? I’d love to do some research.”
It was the highest compliment on her part. However, it was a curse for Effir.
Anyway, Genovia had no choice but to admit it.
“That’s a long way to go.”
No matter how close she was, she felt she could get it right.
And that fact was well known by Ryu Han-bin.
“Don’t ever go near her, Effir! If you get any closer, you’ll die!”
Effir replied sharply.
“I know! I know that, but I can’t keep going like this!”
Even at that moment, her physical strength and concentration were being greatly reduced.
How many more minutes could they survive in such a dreadful anti-aircraft barrage?
‘I have to do something!’
Leon Hart looked back at Artis.
There was no way for Ryu Han-bin, an Aura user, or Leon Hart, a Spiritist, to attack the ground at that altitude. Only a Mage could do it.
“Artis! Bombardment!”
Artis grabbed his staff in embarrassment.
“Uh, it’s too far away…”
It was true that Mages were the best at long-range attacks among Latna’s four major users. But even so, there were boundaries.
Genovia, who could attack them despite being so far apart, was simply a monster.
‘Is there only one magic of effective range?’
The determined Artis immediately chanted a spell. Then he invoked the Fire Dragon King’s staff and invoked his magic.
“Meteor Swarm!”
The sky turned red and roared.
Rumbling!
Soon hundreds of fireballs began to pour through the gusts.
That time, Genovia’s expression also hardened slightly.
“Meteor? Even high-level Mages can’t use it easily.”
It was only possible with powerful artifacts to match.
After reading Mana’s wavelength in a pouring fireball, Genovia soon realized why.
‘Oh, were you using the Fire Dragon King’s Staff?’
It was ignored as an antique, but it was unexpectedly powerful. Of course, it could never be enough for Genovia to be alarmed.
‘Looks like he’s a good match for it.’
She lifted her finger, finding it insignificant.
“Bottom to up.”
Finally, the true power of the Archmage had been invoked.
The magic of will, which did not require a starter or spell, dominated everywhere.
Hundreds of fireballs that were falling soared up to the sky, then exploded, becoming hundreds of suns.
Terrible explosions followed like an eternity.
Boom boom boom!
Moments later, a black Wyvern staggered through the heavy smoke.
She looked shabby, but she had a smile on her lips.
“Hehe, I’m out of it…”
The explosion of the completely reversed Meteor Swarm also disrupted Genovia’s wind magic.
“It’s like giving the enemy a way to escape!”
With Han-bin’s party on board, Effir quickly raised their altitude.
Watching the scene from the ground, Genovia smiled coldly.
“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. You think you’re out of it, right?”
She collected her staff back.
“I let you out of there.”
She spoke to her colleague casually, looking to the side of the wagon.
“Garhan, it’s your turn.”
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