Watching the fireball hit the Queen's ship had sent a shiver of shock down Catalina's body. Though she knew it would happen, watching it happen still shocked her.
Her first thought had been to run over and offer whatever aid she could to her comrades, and the Queen, but she relented. Numerous people were rushing over to help already, her ordering her people was not going to make much of a difference.
Moreover, at the front, they were the only thing keeping the now motivated Gumina army from descending on their own. A hard fight was going to ensue.
At first, she had thought that such a devastating attack would be one-off, but looking up, another fireball was forming.
The enemy army got energized by the explosion, and despite the superior weapons of the enemy, they were able to make progress.
Tristanites may have had guns, but they still wielded them like traditional weapons. They would line up and start firing at the enemy, kind of like a firing squad. They did not know to make use of guerilla tactics and the like.
The automatic fire helped in slowing down and scaring away the enemy. However, that did not mean the enemy was completely helpless.
With mages on the ground as well, they could form shields around their people. It would take a considerable amount of gunfire to whittle down the magical shield, and with enough people having the shield, the enemy stood a chance at breaching the gap.
To Tristan's detriment, the wyverns, that had been circling far away, were put to good use, rushing at the now distraught and disorganized army. Even Catalina and her group of snipers were not safe.
Their only bet was to take down the wyverns before they got to them. This feat may have been easy for Barda, but to normal people whose total life experience with the weapon did not extend more than a month, it was a tall order.
However, the most distressing news that Catalina got was seeing the fireball shaping up above the army once more. She had assumed there were only one of those things, a second attack never crossed her mind.
Despite all that, she retained a cool head and kept her rifle raised, coolly shooting at the wyvern. The snipers near her were encouraged, and they too started doing the same.
The problem with shooting down the beast was that they were unbelievably fast and they could make tough turns in the air. The archers were having a hard time tracking the beast's movements.
Luckily, they had to slow down while attacking. When they swooped in and just before they sprayed their flames onto the enemy, the archers would get a chance to track and even get a shot. However, only the very best could do this.
***
"My Lord, what do we do now?" For once, even Manga had frozen as he watched the second attack descend. No way he could do anything about the falling fireball, and he could not offer any help to those trapped under it.
The nagging junior pulled him out of his reverie by asking him this question. He too was wondering what to do. Move forward and offer help? That was not an option, not if he wanted his men to be caught up in the mess. Pull back, that felt so wrong, not with so many of their screaming.
For the second time, the Commander had been faced with a difficult decision. No matter how much he wanted, he could not rush forward and help those that were trapped underneath the burning wreckage since his men would end up caught in the crossfire.
However, something happened that stunned his already shocked eyes further, but brought a glimmer of hope. The fireball seemed to be decreasing in size.
***
From across the battlefield, the Prince of Gumina had been watching his attack as it fell. Getting his father to give him not one but 2 City Destroyers was not an easy task. Nor did they come cheap. He dreaded what he would experience if he failed.
He had been careful and used the weapons the right way. He lured out the magical classes that could disrupt the attack, then gone for the head of the army.
In the real sense, the fireball did not cause as much damage to the overall numbers of the army. What it did do was cut off the leadership, and by doing so, cutting off the head of the snake. An army without leadership was lost, and that was what he was counting on.
Now that the first attack had been successful, time to finish the job. He was sure the next fireball would destroy any fighting spirit left in the army, and an evil grin appeared on his face.
The Prince was not a bad man. Even among his people he was seen as a hero, hailed as the next great king. How could he allow himself to be bested by some nobody? He had to show the continent and indeed the world that whatever Gumina wants, Gumina gets.
With these proud ideals that he had been raised with, he did not hesitate to unleash his greatest move. He had played his cards as best he could. With victory so close, what could go wrong?
His face began to turn as he looked at his weapon. It couldn't be, was it growing ... smaller?
***
"It is, it is getting smaller!" Lady Arnea shouted, confirming someone's suspicions. Many people could see the descending fireball getting smaller.
By now, it should have already hit, but it did not. Instead, it shrunk and became smaller. Shocked by this, everyone continued to look on.
The more they watched, the more they were shocked. The fireball was not just shrinking, it was also changing shape, taking a humanoid shape. The shape continued to grow smaller until it got to the size of a man, but by that time, the figure was already striking at the Queen's ship.
Lord Abu formed a magical shield around himself and the Queen, but the tumbling figure tore through the shield and landed just a few feet from where he and the Queen were.
Whatever just landed was still smoldering and gave off extreme temperatures. It had burned through the wood and kevlar of the ship as though it was nothing.
Lord Abu dug deep, pulling out every defensive card he had in his deck. He was ready to attack and defend the Queen at a moment's notice. He then extended his power over to the thing that just landed, trying to get a feel of what it was.
***
[Fire Elemental Power Absorption complete. 3 mags obtained.] Barda lamented at the minimal amount of mags he had obtained from such an awe-inspiring attack.
Nevertheless, he understood. An increase in mags represented an overall increase in strength. No mean feat would lead to a substantial gain. He doubted a weak attack would give him any much threat by now.
He was mostly glad that his plan had worked. When he saw the attack on the army, he had been on Firestorm. He hadn't noticed the first attack until it was too late. He had been rushing over to provide whatever help he could when he noticed the second attack. This time, he was close enough to get to it.
However, therein presented the second problem. How would he deal with it? The magical energy was too concentrated to be deflected or turned away, so he no choice but to try and absorb it.
He may have been putting it lightly, but it had been a herculean task to absorb the entire fireball by the time it got to the ground. He had strained his psionic generator to the maximum. Any more and he could have exploded with too much power.
What had helped him was the ice Dragon essence. Having more magical energy within gave someone a higher magical energy tolerance. That would have been the end of him.
Yet for all that trouble he had only gained 3 mags. Perhaps his new units were too large, basing on meters, centimeters, and millimeters, he could have centimags and millimags. Of course, it could also mean he was just that weak at the moment.
When he felt Lord Abu probing at him, he set aside those thoughts. He remembered the fireball had consumed all his armor, and he had nothing else to wear.
A very confused Lord Abu got the weirdest message he could expect in such a situation, "Hey, got any change of clothes with you?"