Lady Maara could not believe it. They had repelled such a powerful attack. She was more than clear that had this been the old city of Tristan, it would have struggled to fight such an attack, let alone shrug it as if it was nothing.
For the first time in the match, a glimmer of hope lit up the Queen's heart. She was very proud of her people and what they had been able to achieve.
More importantly, she was grateful. He had not only gifted her the city back but also given her a kingdom and the means to protect it. The city could survive, even win without him being in war. This was the best gift.
Down below, the feeling was mutual. It was known that whenever one went to fight a mage, they would tuck tail and run, for whatever evil a mage could cook up was no joke.
Similarly, when fighting Gumina, it was known that they were shameless about using their beasts. Yet somehow Barda had equipped the warriors with the tools to win against both. where they would have had no option but to cower and hide, they now could stand and fight.
Just as these glorious thoughts were going through the mind, the entire frontline, made up of mostly chariots, was reduced to ice statues. The celebrations had come too soon. The wave of ice had caught everyone off-guard.
Marian was so shocked he forgot to hold onto the chariot, which made him trip backward. As he was falling, the ice wave went over the chariot, freezing the horses, the chariot, and the rider.
Shivering, the man got up to find everything and everyone around him was frozen. They were still standing, but motionless and dead. He was not sure how he had survived, but he was alive.
Up top, the Queen was beyond shocked. In that attack, more than 10,000 chariots had been decimated. It had been too sudden that not even the mages had had the chance to defend. A hole was torn in the frontline.
Fortunately, the mages in the ground forces had been able to stop the wave before it went too far. What they did not know was that the wave only served as a signal to activate the traps laid below.
As the soldiers on the ground stood rooted to the spot, the ground beneath them begun to move. The soil seemed to squirm, before coming together to form golems.
In an instant, rock golems stood from the ground and started fighting the soldiers. The worst part was that they had sprung right where the men were. In the middle of the ranks. The ships above could offer no support without endangering their own.
"Aim for the cores, aim for the cores!" The mages among the ground forces were shouting at the gunmen who were firing at the golems.
The problem with golems was that they were entirely elemental. In this case, the Rock element. It was created when conjuring magic was imbued into trinkets, known as cores.
When activated, the cores would collect the Element around itself and form an elemental being, the golem. A core could be made for fighting, building, as a mount to be ridden on, and so many other uses.
The efficacy of a golem and its longevity depended on the skill and power of the mage that enchanted the core.
There were 2 ways to deal with a golem. The first was to destroy it completely. Once the Element that had been collected was whittled out, it would not recollect.
This method was slow, inefficient, and worse off, not always dependable. Some cores were built with regenerative capabilities, making the golems regenerate.
However, for such extravagance, the golem had to be high-end. Golems to be used for large-scale deployment such as this were basic in their design, hence in this case, it could be an effective method.
The second one was to destroy the core of the golem. While this was the most effective method, there was a glaring problem, how to locate the core.
There was no standard place to put the core. Moreover, most golem makers ensured the core would not end up in obvious places such as heart or head since that was where everyone would attack first.
The combination of the 2 worked for the soldiers. Keep firing until you either take it down or hit the core. Some cores were found in the arms, legs, stomach. All anyone had to do was keep their fingers on the triggers.
The golem designers had some skill since these golems were well-formed and fought well. They were sufficiently thick enough that by the time they were attacking the nearby soldiers, they would not be whittled down completely.
Very quickly the range that gave gunmen safety was closed in on, and they had to rely on their fighting skills.
That, and the possibility of friendly fire. With the soldiers having very little knowledge of how to use guns, they forgot and started shooting their own. Furthermore, since the golems were made of soil and stone particles, if a bullet were to hit a hard surface, it could ricochet to the friendlies.
The chariots that had escaped the wave were disrupted again by these golems which had rock-formed weapons. They would attack the horses and the horse riders.
The gunners tried their best to take down the golems as fast as they generated, but with friendlies all over the place, and given how destructive their guns were, they could easily end up doing more harm than good.
As the ships watched the horror that was unfolding on the ground helplessly, they too noticed the clouds were getting heavier. The mages sprung into action, but they were too late.
The clouds too seemed to have golem cores, only instead of elementals forming, these were wind gales appearing, disrupting movement in the ships.
The mages already had a hard task maintaining the barrier to prevent another sneak attack from the Gumina such as the ice wave, but now they seemed to have an even harder task fighting the gales that were forming randomly around the ships.
***
"Good, not that they have walked into the trap, time to seal the deal," Lord Falk said licking his lips.
"Hold on, we need to engage their top mages first, we cannot have them interfering with our plans," Lady Gwendolynn interjected. All this was not new, but they just wanted to sound intelligent, as though they were anything more than pansies for Gumina.
"Since when have Tristan had any troublesome mages?"
"Say what you want about the others, but that Lord Abu is not to be trifled with. He is a man capable of many things," Lady Gwendolynn had a wary look on her face. Why wouldn't she, she'd grown up hearing about his order, even stories were told of him.
"Fear not my Lady, that is why I am here," A man clad all in black, even with a mask on his face, said with a husky voice. It was meant to calm but all it did was intimidate her, but in a way, it was reassuring.
"I will have to trouble you then, Lord Choi," The prince of Gumina said, signaling the Arch-Mage to move. Even he had to be respectful before people of such might.
"Do you think he will win?" Lady Gwendolynn asked as she watched the man leave.
"We don't need him to win, we just need him to distract the other long enough. However, he would not lose either way. When it comes to magic, we are leagues ahead of your little continent."
The prince was not worried about the magical combatants of Tristan. The mages under him were more than capable of dealing with the little bug that was Tristan, even with the aid of the Order.
However, the was one thing the prince was worried about. The unknown that he did not know how to prepare for. So far, the guy had hidden his face, which only served to make him panic further.
All these attacks he was doing could be said to be probing attacks, enticing his enemy to show his face. For the next move, he was going to send out his best. If that did not draw him out, it would guarantee his victory. At least he hoped as much.
Instead of the prince being angry, he was amused. It had been a while since he had felt the threat of danger, the fear of losing in a conquest. This was what it meant to be a conqueror. This was how he would step out of his father's shadow.
With that thought in mind, he commanded, "Prepare for the attack!"