Mia was right. I counted roughly - there were only about 30 to 40 angels. A normal legion should have at least twice that, if not a hundred. This was much less than we expected.
"But the angels don't seem to have any advantage. Their numbers keep going down!" Adrian watched the night sky for a while, then asked Mia with a worried look, "They don't seem to be winning. Are you sure this will be okay?"
"Impossible. Even half their normal number shouldn't let a few dozen monsters have such an upper hand..." Mia's face changed. We could feel the light element in the air was super high. This probably meant the Fifth Legion did come in full, but had already lost badly!
This situation was really strange. The monsters shouldn't have many here because they had to travel far and stay hidden. The angel legion shouldn't be getting beaten so badly, even if they were tired.
"How can this be? I'm going to find Sheryl!" Mia spread her four pairs of wings and flew into the night. I couldn't stop her in time, so I quickly urged Cyra, who was still sitting in the pilot seat:
"Can you think of some way to help? We brought this machine all this way to save energy at times like this!"
We finally got this "high-end secret weapon". If the Empire values it so much, even if it can't fight the big bosses, it should be able to kill some small monsters to help, right?
"If you mean using weapons to destroy those monsters, I only know how to use the big fireball you saw before. But Midas can only shoot one at a time now because it lost an arm. Also..." Cyra moved Midas to look around, then suddenly didn't know what to do. "Those monsters don't glow, so I can't see where they are!"
The light element in the air was too strong. Most of the monsters were far from us. Even if we could vaguely sense the dark element around them, we couldn't use that to aim accurately.
Of course, there were ways to solve this. For example, we could shoot some flares into the sky. But Reed suddenly stopped me and walked to the pilot seat.
"If you use fire magic to hit monsters one by one, who knows how long that will take! Plus, your aim is terrible. I don't want us to end up being attacked by a group of monsters!" She looked down on Cyra and told her to get out of the seat. Then she explained:
"At times like this, the best plan is to use a forbidden spell!"
"Forbidden spell?"
Cyra and I looked at each other in surprise. We didn't expect Reed's answer at all. We couldn't believe she could put something like that on Midas.
To be honest, we've heard a lot about forbidden spells. Unlike normal magic, they're a completely separate system in this world.
Regular magic relies on a person's internal magic power, with humans using low to mid-level spells and angels capable of god-level magic. Even magic scrolls just copy how magic moves in the body. But forbidden spells are different.
These spells use large magic circles to absorb elements directly from the environment. They're not limited by a user's magic power, so they can be incredibly strong. The bigger the circle and better the materials, the more powerful the spell. In theory, they could be limitless!
However, this power comes at a cost. Overusing forbidden spells can drain too many elements from an area, causing severe environmental damage. The barren northern lands are said to be the result of such an incident. That's why the Sage Council strictly regulates their use.
Forbidden spells have another advantage - they can target specific enemies, unlike normal magic which hits everything indiscriminately. This precision makes them very effective in battle, potentially changing the tide in an instant.
Because of their power and potential for misuse, these spells are tightly controlled, hence the name "forbidden". Despite the risks, in certain situations, they might be the only option powerful enough to make a difference.
"The forbidden spell circle built into Midas is limited by size, so it might be a bit weaker than expected. But if we set it to track the dark element around monsters, it can hit them precisely!" Reed took Cyra's place in the pilot seat. She seemed to be setting different parameters by connecting mentally with Midas.
"Are you sure it's okay to use a forbidden spell here?" I asked worriedly. Since they could push the angel legion this far, these monsters must be very strong! Reed looked like she wanted to catch them all at once, so this forbidden spell must be pretty powerful. It probably wouldn't be as big as a nuclear explosion, but it would definitely affect the environment.
The Cycle of Rebirth was about to come. Would adding more trouble now cause unexpected problems? Plus, this was Empire territory. It was bad enough that angels were fighting here, but using a forbidden spell would give the Empire all kinds of excuses to complain.
"What are you afraid of? Do you have a better idea, or do you want to watch the angel legion get wiped out? Elara can handle the international politics later!" Reed didn't care about these things at all. She glanced at me without expression, then thought for a bit and said to comfort me:
"Of course, I'll try to control the area it affects. Using light magic will not only hurt the enemies most, but there's lots of light element around, so it shouldn't cause the big element imbalance you're worried about! The biggest problem now is not having enough energy. This test was only supposed to check normal weapons and outdoor movement. Midas doesn't have enough stored elements, especially after using so much to escape earlier. Even if we choose targets to use less energy, it's still not enough to destroy so many strong enemies at once..."
"Hmph, it should be my time to shine..." Cyra had nothing to do after being kicked out of the seat. She pouted and muttered unhappily. Looks like driving Midas for so long wasn't enough for her.
"Feliciana, I think I know why the angel legion lost so badly this time!" Adrian suddenly waved to me from the cockpit entrance. I went over and saw him pointing at a new red light in the night sky. He said thoughtfully:
The red light was chasing two white dots quickly. They would crash into each other sometimes, but quickly separate and go back to chasing.
"Michelle?"
Since they were fighting monsters, it was clear who that red dot was! I suddenly understood, and knew what was happening.
Most angels in the legion have four to six wings, so they're about level 5 or 6. There are even some above level 6. About the same number of monsters can reach this level. So even if the enemy sent their best, it's hard to believe the angel legion would lose so badly without being hugely outnumbered. That's why Mia didn't think of this at first.
But if Michelle joined, it's totally different. She cuts through angels like vegetables, almost one strike per angel! Very few angels can survive her sword. Even Elara can't fight her. Once she joined the battle, you can imagine what happened.
If I'm right, those two white dots must be Mia and Sheryl. As eight-winged angels, maybe they can resist a bit, especially working together! But they're clearly losing to the red dot's attacks. They're fighting while running away. Who knows how long they can keep this up.