Kieeeek!
Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of outsider-species magical beasts appeared above Atlas in the sky, letting out grotesque shrieks.
The faces of the city's citizens and the knights and soldiers defending it turned pale with despair at the sight of the beasts blotting out the sky right over the city.
"God..."
"Why have you forsaken us...?"
Sighs of lamentation echoed from every corner of the city.
Kali, standing atop the ramparts, let out a sorrowful sigh as well.
But she couldn't afford to wallow in it. She shouted toward the mages.
"Activate the anti-air magic circle immediately!"
At Kali's command, the mages poured mana into the crystal orbs embedded throughout the defensive barrier, activating the anti-air magic circle.
Woooong!
A translucent barrier enveloped the entirety of Atlas.
At the same time, the mana cannon batteries along the barrier swiveled toward the sky.
Kali yelled at the mage corps.
"Fire!"
Woooong!
Mana concentrated in the crystal orbs at the front of the batteries, and mana cannons shot toward the airborne magical beasts.
Kaboom!
The compressed mana blasts shattered the beasts on impact.
Splatter!
The remnants and sticky bodily fluids of the beasts rained down onto the translucent barrier.
Crackle!
Electricity arced across the barrier, incinerating the beasts' fluids and debris into nothingness.
The problem was the sheer volume of debris piling up on the barrier.
Thud thud thud!
The fragments of the slain beasts hammered down like hail.
Crackle crackle!
The electric discharges surged everywhere, burning away the debris.
One of the mages maintaining the barrier wiped cold sweat from his brow and shouted.
"The falling debris is too much! At this rate, the barrier won't hold!"
And at that moment, a massive explosion erupted, sending countless fragments crashing down onto the barrier.
A section of the barrier that had taken concentrated hits began to crack.
Crackle crackle—
The beasts instinctively sensed the fracture and swarmed toward it.
Seeing this, Kali shouted again.
"Barbarian unit!"
At her call, the waiting barbarians lined up along the ramparts, spears in hand.
They took positions facing the incoming swarm and aimed their spears.
"Throw!"
With the command, the barbarians hurled their spears skyward with all their might.
The spears, empowered by the barbarians' immense strength, flew like cannon shells toward the beasts in the sky.
Swoooosh!
Dozens of spears pierced the barrier and struck the beasts charging toward the fracture.
The moment they hit, the spearheads detonated in massive explosions.
Kaboom kaboom!
The mana bombs embedded in the spear tips exploded on impact with the beasts.
Splatter splatter!
The resulting debris damaged nearby beasts, triggering a chain reaction of destruction.
Yet the number of airborne beasts had barely diminished.
Kali drew her sword and addressed the knights.
"When the barrier breaks and the beasts descend, the entire knight order will fight with our lives to slay them."
The White Silver Knight Order members standing beside her wore resolute expressions.
The Draker family's main knight orders were currently away from Atlas on other missions.
With the beasts invading in their absence, Atlas's defenses were severely undermanned.
Kali had held the line thus far with the White Silver Knight Order she had brought and the Draker knights who remained in the Four Seasons Star.
The knights sensed this battle would be their last.
The White Silver Knight Order knights removed their helmets and bowed to Kali.
They then gripped their swords with grim determination, glaring at the beasts assaulting the barrier from above.
The barbarians threw several more volleys, vaporizing more beasts, but the overwhelming numbers made it futile.
Then it happened.
Rooooar!
Another eerie roar reverberated, and more beasts emerged from the black hole.
But that wasn't all.
A colossal outsider-species magical beast appeared—one so enormous it could be mistaken for a whale floating in the sky.
Kaaaaak!
Protrusions covered the beast's surface, writhing before splitting open into mouths lined with sharp teeth.
From those mouths, bat-like smaller beasts poured out in hordes.
Kieeeek!
The small beasts scattered in all directions, slamming into Atlas's barrier.
Each impact triggered an explosion on the surface.
Kaboom!
Blasts erupted everywhere, cracking the barrier further.
Kali gritted her teeth as she watched the barrier slowly shatter, tightening her grip on her sword.
'Is God truly abandoning Atlas?'
Despair clawed at her mind, but she steadied her shaking resolve and regulated her breathing.
Meanwhile, more small beasts flew in, assaulting the barrier.
After another round of explosions, the cracks were visibly more numerous.
Moments later, the waiting beasts lunged with their grotesque fangs bared, wings flapping as they charged the barrier.
Kaaaaak!
The direct impacts accelerated the fracturing.
Despite firing mana cannons, hurling javelins, and unleashing anti-air spells, they couldn't stem the tide.
Soon, the most heavily assaulted section of the barrier shattered.
Crack—
With a sharp sound, a portion of the barrier broke like glass.
Kaaaaak!
The beasts forced their way through the breach, successfully entering Atlas's airspace.
The waiting Draker mage unit then activated their prepared large-scale spell.
"Cast it!"
Woooong!
The grand magic circle in Atlas's central plaza activated, launching thousands of arrows of light skyward.
Thud thud thud!
The arrows of light pierced the beasts invading the airspace, embedding in their bodies.
Kaaaaak!
Wings torn by the arrows of light, the beasts lost control and plummeted into various parts of the city.
Boom!
The waiting knights and soldiers rushed toward the fallen beasts.
Swish!
Using the beast restraints provided by Nemesis, the soldiers pinned the crashed beasts while the knights severed their necks with their swords.
Slash!
The beasts' heads rolled across the ground, severed by aura-infused blades.
For ordinary magical beasts, that would have been enough to kill them.
But outsider-species magical beasts could regenerate even from being shattered, reforming in different shapes.
Kaaaaak!
Even headless, the beasts thrashed to escape the restraints.
Their bellies split open, unleashing tentacles that whipped out.
Swish!
The tentacles wrapped around the soldiers holding the restraints, draining their bodily fluids.
"Arghhh!"
The soldiers screamed in agony, and the knights hurriedly summoned their auras to slice the tentacles.
Slash!
Even severed, the beasts regenerated swiftly, forcing the knights to settle for pulling the wounded soldiers back.
The knights who had evaded the attack shouted rearward.
"Archers!"
The waiting archers fired their crossbows at the approaching tentacle-extended beasts.
Thud thud thud!
The bolts embedded firmly, and the mana charges in their tips detonated simultaneously.
Kaboom!
The explosions scattered the beasts' bodies in all directions.
The volunteered citizens sprinkled oil on the debris and set it ablaze.
Sizzle!
This wouldn't fully prevent regeneration, but it bought some time.
Throughout the city, knights, soldiers, and citizens combined their efforts to fend off the fallen beasts.
Yet they were still outnumbered by the relentless swarm.
Kaboom kaboom!
At that moment, the beasts that had breached the barrier flew toward the ramparts, attempting to demolish the defensive wall.
Kali and the White Silver Knights behind her raised their swords high and shouted.
"For Atlas!"
"For the honor of the White Silver!"
Vivid aura blades ignited along their swords.
Kali led the charge, unleashing the Dragon Slaying Technique's force-amplification against the incoming beasts.
Rumble rumble!
Her empowered sword strike reduced over a dozen beasts to fragments in a single clash.
Slash!
The White Silver Knights swung their aura-wreathed swords, preventing any beasts from reaching the wall.
Kali, at the forefront, scaled the wall and leaped into the air, swinging her sword with a fierce kiai.
"Haaaaap!"
Hundreds of beasts charging the wall were crushed as if struck by a giant's blade, plummeting below.
Kali twisted midair, turning to face the next wave and slashing again.
Kaboom kaboom!
The powerful strike pulverized the beasts like flies, sending them flying.
Rumble rumble!
Sword in hand, Kali defended the wall more steadfastly than anyone.
The White Silver Knights drew courage from her, boosting their morale.
"Follow our lord!"
Surpassing their roles as knights, they charged as guardians of Atlas, swinging their swords relentlessly, staking their lives.
Thud thud splat!
Soon, the base of the wall was piled high with the mangled corpses and debris of beasts like a mountain.
The beasts, realizing Kali was the cause, momentarily retreated.
Charging recklessly would mean being swept away by her sword, reduced to gore.
But then.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The colossal beast hovering above began to move.
It slowly descended toward Atlas's barrier, dragging its massive bulk.
Kaboom!
As its weight collided with the barrier, powerful electricity surged between them.
The mages maintaining it felt the mana backlash and cried out.
"The barrier can't hold any longer!"
The crystal orbs in the control devices glowed red-hot, spewing smoke.
Crackle!
Backlashing mana surged toward the mages.
"Run!"
The moment the mages fled the controls, the mana overloaded and exploded.
Keeeen—
Simultaneously, the barrier shielding Atlas's skies dissolved.
Rumble!
With the barrier gone, the colossal beast unleashed grotesque insect-like magical beasts from its body.
Chirr chirr chirr—
Beetle-like beasts with venomous stingers and over a dozen legs swarmed downward in a black cloud.
The mages gritted their teeth, focusing their mana.
"Fire!"
Mana cannons targeted the insect-type beasts, and arrows of light shot from the grand magic circles.
Thud thud thud!
The blasts and arrows reduced beasts to ash, but it was futile.
There were simply too many.
Chichichichi—
The insects scattered across Atlas with eerie cries.
They targeted the weakest citizens first.
Knights and soldiers throughout the city tried to protect them, but the numbers overwhelmed them.
Then, figures in black robes emerged from Atlas's alleys.
Slash!
Nemesis's assassins revealed themselves, slicing through the beasts attacking civilians.
Boris, instead of fleeing, had signaled Shadia and the assassins to defend the city from the invading beasts.
At the same time, he led Nemesis's intelligence operatives to the rooftops of high buildings, installing new equipment.
It was a massive cylindrical barrel. Once set, he signaled the waiting Six members.
"Activate it!"
At his command, ultra-vibrations emanated from the cylinder.
Woooong!
The ultra-vibrations from the cylinders on various high-rises resonated, amplifying rapidly.
Woooong!
As the vibrations spread, astonishingly, the insect-type beasts lost power and plummeted to the ground.
Outsider-species magical beasts had no fixed weaknesses, making countermeasures difficult, but ultra-vibrations worked universally on insect-types, so they had rushed to deploy the equipment.
Thud thud thud!
The people, momentarily stunned, poured oil on the fallen beasts and ignited them.
Thanks to Nemesis's intervention, the immediate crisis was averted.
But then, a change occurred in the colossal airborne beast.
Rumble rumble!
The whale-like beast's back split open wide.
Inside the gaping maw pulsed a massive cocoon like a heart.
It was none other than the cocoon harboring an angel, one of the Watchers of the Apocalypse.