"Rian, I'm leaving. Explain it to Tess and Amy."
"Huh? Hey, Shirone!"
Before Rian could stop him, Shirone teleported away at an incredible speed.
After a while, Amy and Tess caught up to Rian.
"Rian! Where did Shirone go?"
"He went ahead and moved forward. Just a moment ago."
"What the heck is he thinking? What did he say?"
"He said he plans to trigger traps in advance using his Explosion ability. He thought you wouldn't allow it, so he went alone."
"Of course not! Who would permit such a reckless method! Besides, since Explosion is a kinetic defensive shield, it can be dangerous if it's not the right time!"
"Yes, it was probably just to avoid hearing that from you."
Amy was upset. Not because Shirone acted unilaterally, but because the strategy he chose was actually the most effective judging by the outcome.
However, it was too risky. In a normal situation, even if the odds were low, there might be chances of success. But in this case, no matter how high the chances were, the risk of failure had to be considered.
"If he fails, he'll die! That idiot!"
Shouting at the absent Shirone, Amy placed her hands on Rian's and Tess's shoulders.
"I can't do this. It's impossible to stop him, so let's help him first. Everyone, stay alert. We'll follow at full speed."
Amy bent her upper body and initiated teleportation. A bright flash of light pierced through the water of the stream.
***
The upper course of the valley, which was the only path to the hideout, was completely blocked by a 20-meter-high wall.
At that moment, about 10 men were positioned, and Falkoa's men, who were building the encirclement, began to arrive one after another.
"The enemies are coming! Get ready to activate the traps!"
"Are they much faster than we expected? We don't have enough time to activate them all."
The leader clicked his tongue. He didn't know whose idea it was, but it was quite clever. As long as there was no way to avoid the trap, the strategy was to run the shortest distance and try to bypass the traps.
"It doesn't matter. These traps were designed to deal with hundreds of people. Even if we only activate half, it will be enough to bury four of them."
The leader kept his composure until the end and gave instructions to his subordinates.
But the sight of a child running alone towards them from 200 meters away left him astonished.
"What? Why is he alone?"
"It seems he ran ahead because he was in a hurry."
The leader didn't believe it. Of course, it wasn't out of the question, but the moment he realized that his enemy was alone, he had an unusual feeling acting in his mind.
He was beginning to think that it would be a waste to activate the trap.
"It's a psychological warfare. It would be a waste to use a long-range trap to catch only one person."
"So, what should we do? Should we go out and fight?"
"What do you mean, 'what should we do'? Just activate the traps quickly. Are you stupid? That's exactly what he's thinking. He may be risking his life, but they underestimated us too much. Capturing even one of their two magicians would change things. Don't hold back."
"Understood. Hey, we've already started! Everyone, get ready!"
Shirone stared at the wall blocking the valley. About ten enemies were tightening their bows, aiming at the sky.
"Arrow attacks?"
Shirone was puzzled. It was almost impossible for only ten archers to reach a person at a distance of 100 meters.
However, the enemies released their arrows without hesitation, and Shirone stopped running to look up at the sky.
They seemed like ordinary arrows, except each one had a tip of a different color.
"It's a magical projectile!"
Shirone, who had just teleported, instinctively retreated. If he hadn't seen these Magical Projectiles in the ruins of Kerugo, he would have been taken by surprise.
"Shirone!"
At that moment, Shirone stopped retreating upon hearing Amy's voice from behind.
Due to how quickly she had arrived unexpectedly, Shirone could sense how anxious Amy had been.
But Shirone didn't change his mind. Trapped in a situation where it was neither possible to advance nor retreat, the Magical Projectile fell to the ground.
A powerful explosion erupted, shaking the valley as a thick cloud of smoke enveloped Shirone.
Shirone realized their strategy. They planned to block his view and then finish them off with a trap.
"Amy! Don't come!"
Even if Shirone hadn't said anything, Amy couldn't approach. This was because in places where the smoke didn't spread, enormous vibrations could be seen with the naked eye occurring over the valley.
As expected, terrifying mechanical devices, resembling catapults, were revealed along the cliff. Although they had wheels, they were large enough for several people to push against them to move.
"Now is the time! Unleash everything!"
Following the leader's orders, Falkoa's subordinates activated the device. Enormous rocks were thrown into the valley with the help of levers.
The rocks were of immense size, enough to fill the V-shaped cross-section of the valley and then some.
Judging by their power, it wasn't a trap created to block a small number of people. It was a secret weapon designed to annihilate enemies on a final battlefield.
"Shirone!"
"Amy shouted frantically, but it was already too late. The huge rocks sank one by one into the cloud of smoke.
Amy heard a hallucinatory, screeching, and crushing sound created by her imagination. But the very next moment, a powerful explosion dispersed that hallucination.
The lingering smoke over the valley dispersed, revealing Shirone enveloped in a sphere of light.
'Photon Explosion!'
The sphere of light glowed intensely with Shirone at its center. The Spiritual Zone, with a maximum diameter of 20 meters, was even larger than the rocks.
As that immense light rampaged wildly at an incredible speed, onlookers felt as if they were about to go blind.
The light, laden with mass, exerted all its force in an attempt to counteract the momentum. But the boulders also posed a formidable weight against the opposition.
The rocks, violently trembling as they pierced through the Photon Explosion, seemed as though they would crush Shirone to death at any moment.
But by the time the rocks were halfway through, they shattered into dozens of pieces. And from there, Shirone's Photon Explosion began to dominate the rocks.
As the number of medium-sized rocks exponentially increased, a series of explosions ensued.
Smaller. Even smaller.
Shirone kept unleashing photon cannons until the rocks turned into dust.
When the object that used to be a rock reached Shirone, it was nothing more than tiny particles. Even those were swept away by the cycle of light.
The rocks took only 2 seconds to crash to the ground, exactly the time it took to disintegrate into dust.
Thousands of events compressed within human perception, creating an optical illusion as if a massive explosion had occurred.
The dust scattered in all directions and settled on the ground.
The eerie sound of the wind persisted in the valley.
Falkoa's lackeys couldn't comprehend what had just happened. A flash of light and the rocks turned to dust. That's all they could see.
Shirone crossed the dust-covered stream and stared fixedly at the fortress. He saw the lackeys who had activated the trap quickly retreat.
The leader realized that something had gone terribly wrong. He had been living on the battlefield for over 10 years, but he had never heard of such magic, not even rumors.
"Damn it! Who is that kid?"
"Leader! What should we do?"
"Prepare the magic projectile! Fire!"
As the lackeys quickly separated arrowheads and placed Magic Projectiles, Shirone, who was fiercely staring at them, concentrated his mental power in front of his eyes.
A photon sphere was born with a 'pop', absorbing the light around it and vibrating powerfully.
"Leader! Over there! That's dangerous!"
Someone who had previously experienced Shirone's magic at the Royal Tavern shouted to the leader.
Indeed, what the leader saw was baffling; light compressed into something larger than a human face.
"Hurry up! Quickly assemble the Magic Projectiles!"
The movements of the subordinates became faster, but the magic was faster.
A line of light was drawn between Shirone and the fortress, as if a flash of light had suddenly appeared.
Boom!
When the Photon Cannon crashed directly into the iron door, it produced a deafening metallic sound.
The lackeys flinched and frowned as they assembled Magic Projectiles. The impact was so powerful that even the wall shook. Even after the magic disappeared, the iron door hummed.
"What... what? Is it broken? Check it!"
The lackey descended the stairs connected to the ground and inspected the fortress door. The thick metal plate was bent but not destroyed.
The subordinate cheered as if he felt that even this achievement was a victory.
"The door is intact!"
"Good! Now it's our turn to attack."
Tess looked at her friends and spoke as the Photon Cannon's attack failed.
"Magic can't bring down the door. Rian, let's climb the wall."
To win a siege, you must succeed at one of two things.
The first is to destroy the door with siege weapons or magic and push your troops through.
But if you can't break down the door, scaling the wall and eliminating the enemies is another option. And that was the duty of a swordsman like Tess and Rian.
"Alright. It's better if we climb."
Rian secured his straight sword to his back to move more easily. But just as the two were about to start, leaning the upper parts of their bodies forward, Amy stopped them.
"Wait, hold on."
"There's no time to waste. We need to attack before the enemies regroup. Now is our chance."
Tess's judgment was correct. Amy, specializing in fire magic, was weak against the impact, and Shirone's photon cannon was also ineffective against the thick iron door.
But Amy knew Shirone had another weapon.
Moreover, it was the most effective magic in this situation.
"Alright. Shirone will take care of it."
Tess, who didn't understand the situation, looked at Shirone with a puzzled expression and suddenly widened her eyes.
A red light extended from Shirone's body.
"What... what is that? Isn't that dangerous?"
Humans feel uncomfortable when they see the color red. It's because it reminds them of blood.
Even Tess was apprehensive seeing the eerie red light, so one could only imagine how much more alarmed the enemies must be.
"Leader, what on earth is that?"
Shirone fired a beam of red light forward. A laser beam hit the iron door so quickly it could be called an instant, burning the surface.
"Euak! What's that?"
The subordinates, who had already experienced the power of the Photon Cannon, took fearful steps back.
However, no shockwave or loud noise was expected.
The leader, inspecting the door from beneath the fortress, regained his confidence. The current magic was simply shining on the iron door; it had no discernible power.
"Good! Now's the time! Prepare the magic projectile!"
Including the subordinates who had returned from the trap, there were more than 40 people. With this number, they could have devastated the area around Shirone with a barrage of Magic Projectiles.
As soon as all subordinates finished aiming, the leader lowered his hand and shouted.
"Fire the... huh?"
Kukukukuku!
At that moment, the fortress wall began to vibrate abruptly.
Not only the leader but also the subordinates who were about to release the bowstring looked at each other in surprise.
A subordinate who had leaned over to inspect the door from outside the fortress wall spoke with a trembling voice.
"Le-Leader! Tha-that's...!"
The iron door shook violently. Finally, the vibration that began at the iron door spread throughout the fortress wall, shaking the structure's foundations.
Faced with something they had never seen before, Falkoa's subordinates could only be horrified.
The metal plate where the laser touched began to boil, and bubbles began to rise as if they were air bubbles.
Then the fortress wall trembled as if it were about to be torn apart, and finally, with an explosion, the iron door swung open.