Boom-!
A massive explosion erupted from within the body of the King of Flies.
A barrier activated in the nick of time, and Geronimo was flung out of the King of Flies's body, caught in the shockwave and heat that poured out from the passage.
Inside the spinning airship, struggling to maintain balance, I desperately glared at the flames clinging to the body of the King of Flies.
The explosion caused by Burnout, gathering the remnants of her life to ignite, was of tremendous magnitude.
Burnout's passive ultimate skill, with innate magic power of explosive nature, was [Fireworks].
Its effect caused the bodies of the opponents she killed to explode immediately.
The explosion triggered by Burnout's self-destruction swept through the monsters inside the breeding chamber, causing them to detonate in a chain reaction upon death.
They killed each other in explosions, creating a massive firestorm.
The immense number of mutant flies about to complete their metamorphosis inside the breeding chamber would have mostly been blown to pieces by this strike.
It was a splendid achievement. So great that it couldn't just be summed up as 'splendid'.
But...
"Sniff, sniffle, snort..."
Seeing Bodybag next to me, struggling to suppress her cries, felt like my insides were crumbling.
From the beginning until now, always.
The monster front had survived on the heroic deeds of warriors who sacrificed themselves at crucial moments. I honored their legacy, continued it, and made it this far.
But suddenly, I thought.
Could it be that I am forcing these sacrifices?
Bringing people who are supposed to die in unavoidable circumstances, and killing them.
Of course, this isn't a situation with the luxury to ponder such things. However.
As a commander, I...
'I...'
That's when Damien shouted from watching outside the window.
"The King of Flies is completely crashing!"
From Geronimo's window, now regaining balance, we saw the King of Flies plummet to the ground, emitting a long trail of smoke.
The King of Flies's body slid forward, plowing through the plains' soil and sand, then tilted and tumbled forward.
Rumble...!
An immense cloud of dust and fluff was thrown up in all directions as the King of Flies's head slammed into the ground.
Despite the momentum, it continued to slide forward.
"We did it...!"
"The operation, a success..."
"Sob! Damn it...!"
Everyone was relieved at the enemy commander's crash, yet saddened by Burnout's death. Even with the success of the operation, we couldn't be purely happy.
Shortly after, Kellibey muttered in a deep voice.
"There's one more piece of bad news."
Feeling a sense of doom, I asked.
"What bad news?"
"We're crashing too."
"!"
"From the sortie until now, it's been nothing but excessive maneuvers. Fatigue has accumulated on Geronimo's hull..."
Kellibey hurriedly fiddled with the control panel.
"It seems a critical anomaly occurred in the magic row when we got caught in that explosion... The output is decreasing."
The altitude dropped suddenly. The airship began to spin again, shaking violently, and everyone screamed.
Kellibey yelled loudly.
"Hold tight! We're crash-landing!"
The next moment, Geronimo's hull slammed into the dirt.
Boom...!
***
Fierce battles were unfolding on the city walls.
While the soldiers could manage the ordinary giant flies attacking them, the problem was the mutant flies.
These mutant flies, appearing with barriers, rendered most of the soldiers' attacks ineffective, barely being held off by the close-combat troops wielding shields.
Even then, their sharp forelegs and pointed tail stings easily tore through and pierced the shields.
"Aargh!"
"We must hold them back... Urgh!"
Casualties occurred everywhere.
Evangeline maintained her ultimate skill [Last Bastion], allowing the affected soldiers to hang on, but...
Despite that, the damage snowballed.
"Damn flying monsters..."
Evangeline trembled with rage.
The overwhelming advantage of the front line here - the walls - was completely neutralized in the face of flying monsters.
They easily breached the walls, possessing overwhelming defensive barriers and vicious offensive capabilities.
'What kind of enemy is this?'
Moreover, the main body of the King of Flies, a massive evil, was approaching rapidly from behind. Everything about the situation was desperate.
But Evangeline's role in this battle wasn't to despair.
As the deputy commander, and as the heir to the title of Margrave of the Frontier... it was her role to command the entire front, boost the morale of the soldiers, and fight to the end to protect.
"Here we go-aaaaat!"
Evangeline, standing at the edge of the wall, roared.
"Hear me, insects! My name is Evangeline Cross!"
It was the [Roar of the Battlefield], a trademark skill of the Shield Knights.
At Evangeline's shout, the mutant flies turned their eyes toward her in unison.
"I am the heir to the title of Margrave of the Frontier and the designated next lord of this city!"
Facing the insects pouring towards her, Evangeline raised her shield.
"Of course, pest control is also my job-!"
Crack-!
The vicious attacks of the insects continuously fell upon Evangeline's shield.
Absorbing the attacks with [Damage Save], Evangeline then gathered the damage at the tip of her spear and retaliated with [Damage Payback].
Thwock-!
Then, as if they were waiting for it, the flies responded with their barriers. Evangeline's [Damage Payback] was easily absorbed.
But, Evangeline had been waiting too.
The moment those flies used their barriers!
Thrust!
A mischievous smile appeared on Evangeline's face as she leaped towards the flies.
"That barrier of yours, it felt rather prickly when I touched it!"
And then- she pressed her shield against the flies' barrier.
"So, depending on how I receive it, this barrier is also an 'attack', right?!"
Evangeline's [Damage Save] was a skill that absorbed the opponent's attacks with her shield.
Physical attacks were stored as pure damage, while magical attacks were stored as different energies according to their attributes.
And the flies' barrier was a defense that repelled and pushed away anything that came into contact with it.
The barrier tried to push away the shield with a strong force, and Evangeline absorbed that 'attack'.
Whoosh!
The next moment, the flies' barrier was cleanly stripped away. Evangeline cheered.
"This works!"
Evangeline's spear tip began to shine once again. The barrier she had taken from the flies now glowed blue like an additional blade laid upon the spear.
"Here goes!"
[Damage Payback]!
Boom!
The fly impaled on the spear tip burst apart.
Absorbing the barrier with the shield, and then slicing off the heads of the fly monsters with the barrier-wrapped spear.
Evangeline, having discovered a way to nullify these damned monsters' barriers, let out a cheer of joy.
"Great! You're all dead now, for real!"
Evangeline, having landed on the ground, looked around as if seeking praise.
And then she saw it.
Click! Click! Clicckk!
A swordswoman in maid attire with dull blue hair, wielding a glowing blue dagger, was slaughtering the flies.
It was Elize. With the blue dagger in her left hand, she delicately sliced through the monsters' barriers like performing surgery, then, from the sword coffin, she drew any blade to throw at them.
Whish! Whish-!
The flies fell one after another. Watching this incredible movement, Evangeline's mouth hung open.
"Elize, what is that dagger?!"
Elize, spinning around to step back beside Evangeline, caught her breath before answering.
"...[Barrier Cutter]. Something about an ancient scalpel used by magicians for surgery or something."
"Wow, that looks super handy!"
Nearby, the Holy Knight Division was in battle.
The red priests were mostly equipped with blunt weapons like maces or clubs, but Rosetta, their commander, was the only one wielding an iron whip.
Strangely, every time they struck above the barrier, the flies inside twisted in agony and, unable to endure long, suffered wounds and fell dead.
Evangeline's eyes widened.
"This looks convenient too! How did you do that?!"
Rosetta, having neatly coiled her whip, answered.
"Should I call it the internal heavy hand technique... I suppose, it's something applying the principle of Infiltration Energy."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"It means, no matter how strong the armor on the outside, if you deliver a strong vibration, the inside becomes a mess... In simple terms, it's a technique that bypasses the barrier and hits with holy power."
"Oh, so you do speak plainly!"
Rosetta, with a finely furrowed brow, took out a notebook and wrote something.
"Evangeline Cross, quibbling, heresy points 10..."
"Ugh, those damn heresy points! I'll pay it off with donations later, just fight the monsters!"
"...Ahem. You seem to have the makings of a good lord, Miss Evangeline."
Rosetta put the notebook away. Evangeline laughed in disbelief.
Then it happened.
Whoosh-
A scorching heat was felt from the side. All heroes and soldiers on the wall looked in that direction.
"Hooo..."
It was the Dragon Lady, Dusk Bringar.
Whatever she did, she forcibly grabbed more than a dozen mutant fly monsters with magic, held onto the barrier they collectively put up, and then clung tightly to it...
"Don't be bothersome- aaaaah!"
With her black hair whipping behind her beneath a silver crown, she poured in a long-range breath attack.
Zzzzrrrzzz!
The breath, while heating up the red-hot barrier trying to block it, didn't last long before melting down, and over ten mutant flies were burnt to death at once.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The faces of heroes fighting with techniques, equipment, and even secret arts like Neijiazhongshoufa stiffened.
"Hoo!"
Dusk Bringar, doing a somersault back onto the wall, showed her sharp teeth and said.
"These creatures' barriers have a clear output limit. Concentrate firepower! They won't last long."
"Ah, understood, Your Grace!"
Evangeline issued the command, and cannons, ballistae, and artifacts began targeting the flies and unleashing their firepower.
As Dusk Bringar said, though the flies' barriers were strong, they couldn't last. Concentrating firepower brought them down one by one.
Just as the situation seemed to be turning...
"The, the King of Flies!"
A scout shouted at the top of his lungs.
"The King of Flies is crashing-!"
"...!"
Everyone startled looked in that direction, and it was true.
The King of Flies, its wings already burnt to ashes, was falling to the ground, causing a massive explosion behind it.
Everyone on the wall cheered. Dusk Bringar, jumping up and down like a child, clapped her hands.
"Did Ash do it? Woah, I knew he could!"
"To actually bring it down, that's amazing..."
Halfway through her words, Evangeline's expression hardened.
"...But, will it stop before hitting the walls?"
"?!"
Rumble...
The King of Flies, originally flying at a terrifying speed, had lost lift and was crashing to the ground, its giant head already slammed into the dirt.
Yet, it still had momentum. The massive body of the King of Flies, throwing up huge clouds of dirt, slid towards the walls.
"Block it."
Evangeline mumbled, then shouted at the top of her lungs.
"We have to block it! All firepower, concentrate on the King of Flies-!"
Immediately, not only cannons and ballistae, artifacts, but also the waiting magicians' spells, various supernatural and magical techniques, and Dusk Bringar's all-out breath attack were unleashed towards the King of Flies.
Bang! Boom! Boom...!
But, it was futile.
The King of Flies, with its head and entire body smashed and shattered, did not lose momentum and continued to push towards the walls.
Realizing blocking was impossible, Evangeline screamed with all her might.
"Everyone, to the base of the walls-! Evacuate-!"
Soldiers, magicians, alchemists, and priests frantically evacuated.
Those in the center of the wall hurriedly descended to the base or spread out to run to the adjacent walls.
And then-
The collision.
Boom...!
The sliding body of the King of Flies hit the walls.
Its overwhelming mass shattered the southern gate of Crossroad, the fortress city considered the pinnacle of imperial architecture, and plowed into the southern walls, collapsing them entirely from the center inwards.
Rumble, rumble...
And finally, when the King of Flies's advance stopped.
Its gigantic body had penetrated the wall and dug deep into the city.