A messenger rushed inside Principal Toran Fiore's office without being barred. "Principal! There's a fourth beast horde coming and there are 22 colossal beasts amongst them!"
Toran Fiore, who remained sitting despite hearing the terrible news, did not even react. He nodded, indicating the messenger to finish his report.
The messenger stared dumbly at the principal for not even having the slightest reaction but he immediately recovered. He took out a scroll from his back and immediately unrolled it. He first confirmed that the reports from nine other cities, including the one from the capital, were included in the summary. Then, he started reading its contents.
The other cities within the Kingdom of Pas also suffered attacks from beast hordes with the number of beasts ranging from 300 to 700. There being one colossal beast for every 35 large ones.
Multiple towns had also been devastated by magical beast attacks, but, with the quick response from the capital city, the beasts were immediately dealt with before they could cause any permanent damage.
The sudden erratic behavior of the beasts, reportedly, could not be observed in the Southern Kingdom of Varro and it remained peaceful.
The number of casualties had already reached 17,000. The most one coming from a single area being 1,000.
As the messenger read the last part, his face couldn't help but darken. Naturally, he also had a copy of the report that should be sent by Sera City, but because the battle had yet to end, he could not release it just yet.
Their battle was still continuing but they were already competing to be the area with the highest number of casualties. Moreover, those finished reports sent to them already took into account the colossal beasts' offense. Meanwhile, theirs was just about to start.
In reality, Sera City was actually doing an excellent job already. They faced the most number of beasts.
Reportedly, the most number of beasts that the other cities had faced was 800. But at the moment, they had already reached the 2,000 mark.
"How large is the fourth beast horde?" Toran Fiore finally spoke.
"Only about 200! Amongst them are 22 colossal beasts," the messenger replied.
The principal nodded. "Okay. You may now go."
The messenger's lips twitched. He couldn't believe how the principal was currently behaving. Did he not care about the lives of the soldiers?
"Principal, do you have any other orders?" the messenger asked, expecting the principal to mobilize the academy's staff. To him, even though the Academy's staff was limited, help was still help. Moreover, they were highly trained mages as well.
Unfortunately, the principal did not respond as he had expected.
"You are dismissed," Toran Fiore said calmly.
The messenger left reluctantly without another word.
Montis Leroux emerged from the corner of the room. He had already returned to the city a few weeks ago, but he had been idle ever since. "Principal, we've been holding back for too long."
"You misunderstand me, Montis," the Principal stood up, "gather the staff. We're going out for a walk."
Montis was taken aback by the principal's behavior. He did not expect the principal to be immediately moved just because of his comment. He immediately nodded and left the room.
….
After a few minutes, the 16 staff members remaining in the academy were finally assembled. The principal personally led them forward as they walked through the streets of the city.
However, everyone felt that something was extremely wrong about what they were currently doing.
It's true. The principal did say that they were taking a walk.
But they thought that this was just a metaphor for finally joining the battle!
The staff members could already hear the explosion of spells just outside the city. They could even feel the ground shaking as they walked. So why were they not taking the initiative to support the military?
There was absolutely nothing special about what they were doing.
At random times, the principal would suddenly stop. Then, after a few moments, he would turn around and retrace their steps, only to take another path after a few blocks. There was no set pattern in their movements and it looked like the principal was just messing with them.
Despite this, they knew that the principal would not do something completely useless and had utter faith in him. After all, they wouldn't apply as a part of the staff in the Academy if they didn't.
They kept on walking around.
….
Outside Sera City, in the fourth layer of Brigadier Arvent's formation.
After a few minutes, they were finally able to reinforce their fourth layer of defense. Fortunately, the other three layers in front bought them just enough time to rest and recuperate. Although the troops were still not in their peak conditions, they were still a lot better compared to earlier.
The fourth horde was also much smaller than the previous ones. It wasn't even half of the first. What was notable with the current one, however, was that all of them were borderline colossal beasts, with 22 actual colossal ones.
They readjusted their formations, making all of the C-ranked Serans stand in front while the D-ranked Serans join the Remorans on top of the platform. The latter would be providing range support as well instead of engaging in a melee.
After all, a horde of borderline colossal beasts wasn't something these few D-ranked Serans could handle just yet.
In reality, colossal beasts could be taken out by D-ranked mages. They could even do it by themselves, one on one. However, they could only do this by using the right strategy rather than resolving the matter with brute force.
When the beasts act as a group, mages would have a clear disadvantage.
The beasts could just change targets whenever convenient, so playing dirty or baiting would not work most of the time. They might just gang up on someone who they deem threatening.
As for C-ranked mages, according to their level, they could take out normal colossal beasts quite easily. As long as they keep their guard up, they would be fine.
In theory, 200 more beasts should not be a problem. Even with the disadvantage of the troops not being in top shape.
Moreover, they didn't need to cover a wide horizontal area anymore, so the troops that spread evenly during the previous wave of attacks were now compressed in the center, ready to meet the fourth one.
Brigadier Arvent was finally able to calm down. He told himself that it really wasn't a pattern; it was only a coincidence.
Now, they faced a group of beasts that evolved way more than the previous three. But it didn't really mean that they were much more dangerous.
If only the two thousand or so beasts attacked at the same time, the city would've been devastated already.
Beasts are still just beasts.
Klein Arvent stood up. The enemies are almost upon them.
"GET READY FOR THE NEXT WAVE!"
"AH-WOOH!"
Weapons were already enchanted.
Spells were ready to be released while some were being charged slowly as they waited.
When the first group of beasts emerged from the maze, dozens of spells rained down.
The area just outside the exit of the maze was immediately swallowed by colorful lights caused by the explosion of the spells. However, this was still not enough. If it were, there wouldn't even be a battle in the first place.
Several beasts jumped out from amidst the explosions. They were wounded, but it was not enough to stop them just yet. They all charged forward relentlessly.
"ATTACK!" the Brigadier gave the signal to the Serans.
The soldiers' warcry filled the air as they moved forward.
But just when they were about to engage, a huge head of a snake came out from behind one of the maze's walls. It was pure white, and it looked like it only had one eye.
The Remorans were too busy on the maze's exit that only a few were able to attack it.
Suddenly, the skin just below its face suddenly opened.
The Brigadier immediately sensed danger. In a split second, he banged the lower tip of his shield on the ground. A wall of ice rapidly grew upwards blocking the path of the Serans who were charging.
The Remorans on the platform didn't even have the time to react when the scene in front of them was suddenly replaced by a huge block of ice.
Then…
Pew pew pew pew pew pew pew!
Clink clink clink clink!
Dart-like objects shot from the neck of the snake chipping away at the Ice Wall that the Brigadier erected.
In no time, the surface of the Ice Wall was already filled with webs of cracks. Soon, it would shatter and break!
"REINFORCE THE WALL AND GET DOWN!" the Brigadier commanded.
The mages on the platform got down as fast as they could while keeping the Ice Wall intact.
Suddenly…
BAAANGG!
Since the barrage of attacks on the maze's exit was halted a few seconds ago, the area was already rid of dust and dirt flying everywhere. There, a massive figure of a black rhinoceros with a steel helmet towered in front of the Ice Wall.
It completely broke the cramped exit of the maze. Moreover, through the clear surface of the Ice Wall, it could be seen behind it that it didn't go through the maze at all. It charged right through it!
Shit!
The Brigadier could already see the distorted figures of the large beasts enter the area. Now that the maze was rendered useless, they would be fighting dozens of beasts all at once.
On normal occasions, Klein Arvent would've laughed at the rhino for having such a stupid-looking helmet on its head. But this time, he really couldn't help praising it. It would've been a worthy opponent.
Sadly, he couldn't challenge it on a one on one.
"FALL BACK!" Klein Arvent ordered.
Although reluctantly, the soldiers followed.
As his troops retreated, he formed as many walls in front of him as he could. He piled them one in front of the other, making it much sturdier.
However…
SHATTER!
All of his efforts were rendered useless by one charge by the rhinoceros. More importantly, there was another annoying opponent backing him up.
Klein Arvent jumped multiple times to dodge the darts shooting towards him. He activated Frost Rush to increase his mobility. He hovered above the ground as he sent several spells on the two colossal beasts simultaneously.
Behind him, his troops had also activated their own mobility spells to fall back faster.
Several other colossal beasts had also entered the defensive area behind the fourth maze at that point.
Things didn't work out as they had expected.
The colossal beasts they were facing were much tougher than the normal ones.
Brigadier Klein Arvent silently prayed that the mages in the city wall would be able to provide assistance.
He continued throwing spells as he covered for his entire team.
….