All the residents of Risel City saw a blinding light flash across the sky. Everyone turned their heads simultaneously. A mushroom cloud rose in their vision, and before they could react, the ground shook.
A deafening, indescribable explosion roared through the air.
It ruptured eardrums.
Whooooosh~
The shockwave swept through the entire city like a Category 12 hurricane.
Three entire city blocks at the blast site were flattened simultaneously.
And it wasn’t over yet, in another corner of the city, yet another mushroom cloud erupted.
At that moment, Lady Andabella Risel, the City Lord of Risel City, was patrolling her soldiers atop the city wall.
Outside the city, over a hundred thousand beastman troops had already gathered, yet there wasn’t a trace of worry in the eyes of her soldiers.
Because they firmly believed that City Lord Andabella would lead them to victory, and that the powerful alchemical bombs would ensure the damned beastmen would never succeed.
Clad in a crimson cloak, her long hair a pale silver, Andabella gazed through the crenellations of the wall at the beastmen camped on the grassy plains outside. Her eyes were calm, her expression completely untroubled.
Every year, the beastmen laid siege to Risel City, but with its fortified walls, powerful alchemical bombs, and tenacious defenders, these beastmen, who lacked siege equipment, usually dispersed after a short campaign.
She expected this year to be no different.
“City Lord Andabella, you should head back for now. The beastmen probably won’t attack today,” said her hawk-nosed deputy, his face covered in stubble, as he addressed her from behind the bluish stone battlements.
Then, rumble~
A deafening explosion rang out from inside the city.
Andabella, who was holding a longsword, suddenly turned her head. Upon recognizing the direction of the blast, her hands clenched tightly around the hilt. A storm of fury filled her pale silver pupils.
Gritting her teeth, she spat out each word coldly.
“That’s our alchemical bomb storage warehouse.”
The deputy froze. A flicker of shock flashed through his sunken blue eyes, then he suddenly shouted as if he’d gone mad, “Quick! Investigate what just happened!!”
Before the words even finished echoing, another massive explosion detonated in a different part of the city.
BOOOOM~
The hawk-nosed deputy, bearded and armored, felt as if the sky itself was collapsing. His face turned ghostly pale as he staggered back and slammed into the wall behind him with a clang, his black full-body armor ringing out sharply.
“T-That’s the warehouse in the Western District...”
Risel City had two alchemical bomb warehouses. To prevent sabotage, one was built in the west district and the other in the east.
But now, both were gone. Those powerful alchemical bombs had been their greatest weapons against the beastmen.
Awooooo~ The war horn sounded.
The longhorn made from bull horn was the beastmen’ favorite war instrument. Whenever it sounded, the beastmen would launch their attack.
The deputy whipped his head around. In the distance, thousands of blades away, the once-idle beastmen were now forming up in tight ranks. His lips trembled uncontrollably.
At that moment, how could he not realize it was the beastmen who had orchestrated the explosions?
“W-wyverns!! So many wyverns!!”
A nearby soldier, his voice quaking, pointed to the sky above, his tone barely masking his terror.
Andabella took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Then, turning her eyes from the enemy's movements outside the city, she glared at the still-stunned deputy and ordered coldly:
“Sound the horn. Prepare for defense.
Also, there’s still one alchemical bomb warehouse within the Risel family estate, take a team and move the bombs to the walls.
Order the griffin riders to take off and engage the enemy’s wyverns.
Ready the alchemical cannons for bombardment. The ballistas and mage towers are to snipe any threatening aerial units.
The Risel Mage Corps is to begin spellcasting. If any uncontrollable threats arise, activate the magic array and enshroud all of Risel City!”
A rapid stream of commands flowed from the mouth of this silver-haired girl whose pride ran deep in her bones. The troops, momentarily shaken by the warehouse explosions, instantly steadied.
Order was swiftly restored atop the walls. Soldiers in gleaming full armor began readying every kind of defensive tool.
The archers had drawn their longbows; the mages behind the battlements were channeling mana. On the towers, ballistas began to crank their heavy firing chains with a series of metallic clack-clack-clack sounds.
Only then did Andabella turn again, both hands resting on the cold black battlements as she observed the beastman movements outside.
The snow-white cross on her armor stood in stark contrast to the dark stone, and the crimson cloak behind her billowed violently in the wind. Her silver eyes grew steadily more grave.
From atop the 35-blade-high walls, her field of vision stretched wide. Below lay green grasslands. The moat, 20 blades wide, was filled with long hooked spikes. The black wooden drawbridge had already been retracted. A bluestone road extended outward toward distant fields and farms.
The beastman army surged forward like a dark tide, trampling grass and crops as they advanced in a slow, overwhelming wave.
Rows of bronze-green spears stood tall, their razor tips gleaming coldly. Beastmen clad in beast hides or armor marched side by side. Their bulging muscles looked forged from steel, their eyes flickering with cruelty and brutality.
Weapons beat rhythmically against armor and round shields, producing a dull thud-thud, thud-thud.
The eerie wooo, wooo, of war horns echoed constantly.
On both flanks of the beastman army, wolf cavalry advanced slowly. They rode wolves three blades tall. The beasts’ wide-open maws revealed fangs sharp enough to tear through a knight’s armor with ease.
Above, wyverns flapped grotesque wings lined with barbed spines. With only two hind limbs, they shrieked as they soared over Risel City, their massive jaws agape. Their corrosive saliva dripped onto the beastmen below, eating straight through their helmets.
There were thousands upon thousands of wyverns, their wingspans stretching 8 blades wide, densely packed and filling the sky with shrill cries that plunged the heavens and earth into chaos.
Among them, those with wingspans exceeding 10 blades carried wyvern riders on their backs. The riders held longbows and dragonlances that looked nothing short of monstrous.
A dense mist slowly rose in the sky, shrouding the beastman army. The wyverns moved in and out of the fog, the entire scene resembling demonic beasts about to burst free from hell itself.
War was on the verge of erupting.