CHAPTER 112: A METEORIC PATH; THE DEMON VANGUARD

The strange phenomena that culminated in the explosion of 67 reality anchors took place in a flash.

Only about ten, perhaps fifteen, minutes had passed since Sieg burst out from the Abyssal Depths. Everything had taken place quickly—and ended just as swiftly.

The detonation of the reality anchors had swept the entire lake clean.

The artificial lake had been left in utter ruin. Not a single intact spot remained. Charred, molten fragments were everywhere—shrapnel from the anchors' explosions.

Within the water, a hand of smoke hauled Sieg, who had fallen from the sky, toward the shore. Charles and Hugin watched as the smoke demon slowly dragged Sieg out of the water.

"How are you holding up?" Hugin asked. He approached Sieg, who was struggling just to sit upright.

The massive hand of smoke dispersed and flowed back into Hugin's pipe. The smoke demon said little, its usual chatter absent. Clearly, it had expended a considerable amount of energy during the incident and had no interest in banter.

"Not good. I was really close to dying this time. Luckily, as long as a dragon's body draws breath, it can slowly recover. At least my human form is still usable," Sieg said with a weak smile, followed by a cough. Even maintaining his human form evidently required immense effort.

"I wish there were something we could do, but your unique condition makes healing spells and potions ineffective. The fact that you're alive is enough. What exactly was that thing?" Hugin asked, tapping Sieg's back with his fist before pointing skyward with a solemn expression.

The entity that had appeared in the clouds—a massive, terrifying dragon's eye—was Hugin's greatest concern. It had been the reason Sieg had flung them aside and unleashed his strongest attack on it.

Hugin knew about Sieg's secret identity but had no knowledge of any connection between Sieg and such a formidable existence. Sieg had never mentioned this curse—a secret unique to him—to his old comrade.

Sieg gave Hugin a wry smile, then raised a finger to his lips in a gesture for silence.

"You can't speak of it?" Hugin asked gravely.

Sieg nodded in confirmation.

"Alright, then. I won't pry further, but remember that if you need help, the Nightblades will always have your back."

He understood that this terrifying entity tied to Sieg was akin to the Corpse of the End, a memetic existence. To directly describe or observe it would risk forming a connection with the entity.

In most cases, such encounters ended in madness or death. As a member of the Nightblades, Hugin understood the danger of such existences and information better than most.

"Thanks. Honestly, I wouldn't have survived without you all," Sieg said with his usual gentle smile.

"That darkness—it was Wang Yu's doing, wasn't it? I must have underestimated his standing with the Lady of the Night. This was divine intervention, no doubt about it," Sieg continued, analyzing the Firmament of Eternal Night that had appeared out of nowhere to shield him from that entity's gaze.

"Weak and undeveloped though it might be, it was certainly effective. The Lady of the Night that Wang Yu spoke of isn't a strong deity. She seems to have lain dormant and is only now reviving. The fact that she was willing to manifest such a working for Wang Yu—one so potent relative to her strength—is testament to his standing in her eyes."

Sieg removed his drenched clothes, laying them aside as he sat on the devastated lakeshore, lost in thought.

"Wang Yu's contribution was immense. And that Church of Nightfall Charles mentioned also shows significant potential. Wang Yu certainly deserves a reward, but we should also consider investing in and monitoring the church," Hugin suggested.

"I've been away with you on missions, Captain, so I don't know much about the Church of Nightfall. Honestly, when we initially supported Wang Yu, I wasn't expecting much. But now, it seems there have been some surprising developments in the capital's shadow," Sieg replied. He was clearly intrigued that Hugin, who usually cared for little beyond missions and investigations, had taken an interest in the church.

"Let Charles tell you about it. After all, he's the one who spent time there," Hugin said, gesturing for Charles to step forward.

"Boss, Professor, can I get a raise?" Charles pleaded with puppy-dog eyes, shamelessly trying to negotiate for better terms.

"Haha, alright. Your foresight and that reality-reversing Tarot card of yours played a big role. Go on," Hugin replied, amused by Charles' antics.

"You're the best, boss! Alright, let's see. Honestly, Wang Yu's Church of Nightfall really is bizarre..." Charles began excitedly.

"Fascinating. A place where diverse races coexist in harmony... It feels like a coincidence, but at the same time, only the unique environment of the capital's shadow could give rise to such a church. In some ways, it's almost inevitable. Wang Yu's Church of Nightfall truly is extraordinary," Sieg mused after hearing Charles' account. The harmonious, borderless nature of the church was rare and meaningful. To think it had grown out of such an inhospitable environment as the capital's shadow...

"Should I send her there as well...?" Sieg wondered to himself. Just then, a brilliant meteor streaked across the sky from the direction of Stevenson Academy of Magic, interrupting his thoughts. The royal guards' decisive assault on the Hellgate had begun.

"What's that?" Charles asked, startled. After the day's chaos, even a minor change was enough to unnerve him.

"The final assault on the Hellgate has begun, but that's got nothing to do with us now. We've done what we can," Sieg said, exhaling deeply as he gazed at the falling star.

"That's right, but where's Wang Yu? He was right here. Why hasn't he regrouped with us? Let's go look for him. The disturbances in the void earlier were so intense that they disrupted all communications. Only the giant array on the floating island could pierce through all that interference and contact us," Hugin suggested.

"Commander, about the situation in the city—"

"That's not your concern! Focus on your duties," the lieutenant cut off the soldier mid-question.

Their task was clear: destroy the Hellgate. Everything else could wait. Neglecting their duty would only worsen the situation.

"Prepare to move out!" the knight commander shouted.

"Yes, sir!" came the royal guards' unified response. They quickly regrouped around the knight commander, leaving behind demonic carcasses—those of beastly ogres, winged horrors, butchers, and beholders—and even the corpses of their own fallen comrades. The grotesque mixture of blood and shattered limbs turned the battlefield into a grim, chaotic mire.

Even so, the royal guards resolutely and methodically carried out their commander's orders despite the bloody and brutal scene before them.

"Form ranks!" shouted the knight commander, his voice amplified by fighting spirit to become even more powerful and resonant.

"Yes, sir!" the knights responded in unison, their voices similarly enhanced by fighting spirit. At the same time, their fighting spirit began to radiate outward using a technique they had drilled countless times.

This wasn't the same as a grand knight's physical manifestation of aura. Rather, the royal guards' fighting spirit extended from their bodies and intertwined with that of their comrades. Their fighting spirits were linked together like a web and converged at the forefront where the knight commander stood.

The intertwined mass of fighting spirit unified the entire formation, melding the many soldiers into a single, cohesive entity.

"Magicians, cast Haste and Shield! Clerics, deploy Holy Barrier and Purification!" came the lieutenant's orders.

The royal guard was composed of more than just knights; magicians and clerics also played crucial roles. Unlike the knights, these spellcasters did not respond loudly but instead quickly carried out their assigned tasks.

A gentle breeze encircled the soldiers, making them swifter and more agile. Invisible shields rose—not to cover individuals but to envelop the entire formation as a single, unified defense.

A radiant golden barrier of holy light appeared at the front of the formation, serving as the spearhead of the charge. Simultaneously, clusters of white particles descended, healing minor wounds and rejuvenating the soldiers who had been fatigued from fighting the demons, restoring them to peak condition.

"Charge!" As the knight commander issued his final order, the soldiers spurred their mounts forward and charged toward the Hellgate.

Accompanying the royal guards—even preceding them by a significant margin—was a dazzling meteor launched from above Stevenson Academy of Magic. This was the Celionor Meteor, a higher-tier version of the Arcane Comet, prepared specifically to clear the way for the royal guards.

Arcane Comet was a spell that relied on an overwhelming quantity of zeroth-tier arcane missiles to bombard enemies. The Celionor Meteor, its upgraded version, employed countless first-tier spells in the same manner, a significant leap forward.

The radiant meteor soared in the same direction as the charge of the royal guards, guiding their path and paving the way for their advance.

During the past fifteen minutes that the royal guards had spent preparing for their assault, the Hellgate had summoned a horde of high-ranking demons and an overwhelming number of low-ranking ones.

The skies teemed with winged fiends and beholders, while the ground swarmed with densely packed minotaurs and rampaging butchers. All these demons were in the royal guards' path.

The Celionor Meteor had been unleashed precisely to annihilate these obstacles. As it reached its target height, the meteor erupted in a dazzling flash, splitting into hundreds, then thousands, and finally countless crystalline projectiles that fell from the sky.

This was the essence of the Celionor Meteor: domination via sheer size and scale.

The radiant meteoric fragments each represented a relatively simple first-tier spell: Explosive Arcane Fragment.

This spell was more advanced than arcane missiles, with a runic structure comprising about a dozen more runes. Those runes granted the spell a critical property: explosiveness.

The innumerable meteoric fragments struck the ground one after another. Their unstable magical circuits immediately collapsed, triggering a chain of explosions that was amplified by how densely packed they were.

The resulting cascade of destruction engulfed and overwhelmed everything in its path.

A chain reaction of explosions extended relentlessly toward the Hellgate, obliterating all obstacles in the path of the advancing royal guard.

Dirt and debris soared skyward as the explosions consumed both airborne and terrestrial demons indiscriminately.

The beholders and winged fiends, lacking robust defenses, were incinerated instantly and reduced to ash within the fiery maelstrom.

The minotaurs, whose heavily armored heads formed the bulk of their defenses, were unable to withstand the all-encompassing onslaught. Their bodies were torn apart and scattered.

Only the butchers—thick-skinned, high-ranking demons—managed to endure the intense bombardment.

Even so, their bodies were battered beyond recognition, with no intact muscle or flesh remaining. Their hardened skin and flesh was ripped apart and eventually consumed by the inferno.

When the explosions subsided, only a handful of bloodied butchers remained standing amidst the carnage, howling in agony. The royal guards' formation emerged from the smoke and debris, surging forward to meet them.

The Holy Barrier cast by the clerics formed the spearhead of the charge, with the knight commander at its focal point. The interconnected fighting spirit of the formation channeled and concentrated everyone's strength into the core of the formation. The magicians' Haste spell boosted the formation's speed, while their Shield spell protected the formation from external explosions and debris. Together, the royal guards advanced as one, a unified superhuman force.

Like an unstoppable blade, the formation cleaved through the butchers, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake.