Chapter 449 – The Second First (1)

The entire sky was red, and one could mistakenly believe that the flames of hell appeared.

Huge meteorites fell toward the ground and were engulfed in flames showing off their ferociousness.

If something like that fell, it would be impossible to hold the camp.

It was not just impossible, but it would be even hard to assess, and the damage to the troops would be beyond one could imagine.
However, the Sun Church were immersed in their own survival.

They could have stopped the meteor, but they didn’t bother doing that.

“To treat so many human troops as nothing.”

Ann frowned at their unpleasant behavior, which she didn’t want to call a strategy.

She observed the troops of the Sun.
As for how they would move, Ann had a few ideas about it.

Of course, she expected them to act out selfishly.
That was why it felt more disgusting.

‘They are making the situation I didn’t want to imagine the most, without a hint of hesitation.’

She had acquired information about the Sun Church in various ways.

They only moved for the sake of the Sun God and treated everyone else in the alliance as chess pieces that could be disposed of.

Even so, as they were responsible for a thousand troops here, they should know how to show some sense of responsibility.

“They don’t need any mercy.”

Commander Darius said that in a cold tone.

Even he, who had been on the dark side of the world for ten years, clicked his tongue at this.

“Do what the strategist lady wants.
Those guys can never stop your next plan.”

“Thank you.”

Actually, she had been trusted with full authority, so Ann bowed her head in gratitude to Darius.

And then she saw a large scroll in front of her.

It was a scroll that had a magic circle that looked like a tree drawn on it, and it had magic for wide-area communication.
Ann raised her hand into the circle at the bottom of the tree and raised her mana.

The mana spread to the top and all the branches.

“We will change the name of the operation from Meteorite to Fire Dragon.
Everyone, please start it.”

-I understand.

Through the scroll, the voices of many could be heard directly in Ann’s mind.
And then, as if a circle around the battlefield had been drawn, a blue light began to appear.

They used the mana conversion device that had been developed by the best magic engineer, Nel-Sharan.

All the plans with magic were canceled, and this led to a new circle.
Siegfried, the person who dropped the meteorites, gaped at this.

“All of the space magic is being converted into another spell.”

“Is this the skill of a Frontier magic engineer? So astonishing.”

The magic Siegfried used wasn’t Meteor Strike, which was famous for being 9th-class magic.

Meteor Strike was a type of summoning magic, and he caused the meteorites that had been drifting around the planet to get pulled through gravity and into compressed space.

In other words, he used magic that came from his magical realization.

It was normal that others could not interfere with it.

“I heard it and knew about it, but I thought it was just an exaggeration.
This… is totally beyond my understanding.”

That was why it felt so shocking and why it was so unique.

If they could conclude the war with their victory, the world would achieve a developed magic civilization.

In order to do that, they needed to lead this war to victory.

The meteorite disappeared, and the gravitational field spread around and turned into a different magic.
It was flame magic that was independently produced by Simon.

“So cool!”

Simon shouted in an unusually excited voice.
It couldn’t be helped.

“Fire Dragon.”

The flame swirled, shining with majestic nature.

Its size was the same as that of an ancient dragon, and the bloody flames proved the name it held.

It landed near the Sun troops, who were abandoning their soldiers and heading toward their allies’ camp.

“You cannot avoid that!”

“It cannot be…!”

“Those tricks of those worms.”

Albert, who led the Sun’s troops, gritted his teeth at the appearance of the Fire Dragon that could melt their skin.
They prioritized one thing in this battle.

And that was to break through the enemy lines and make one of the strengths of the Black Tower appear.

A God from the Sun Church couldn’t appear first.
If that happened, the enemy would definitely send a counterattack.

It would be something that could bring them down.

‘The battle of the Gods cannot be judged by us, but we will move according to the will of the higher ones.’

Albert got on his horse.

“I will intercept it.
You will proceed as planned.”

What he had taken on was a huge role.

Albert gently gripped the sword that was on his waist.
It was the power that was given by the Sun God.

Even 9th-class magic would go to waste in front of it.
He exploded his holy power and jumped toward the dragon.

The body of his horse burst open, and his clothes were soaked in dirt.
The holy aura directly hit the Fire Dragon’s head.

[Mana Conversion]

“Who said once was the end?”

Was it an illusion that a woman’s voice—no, a voice that sounded a bit like a child’s—pierced through his ears?

The Fire Dragon disintegrated, and it wasn’t because of his blow.

“You can never win.”

Albert’s gaze was fixed on a young girl who was looking at this place from a distance.
And the girl, who looked to be around sixteen, said,

“Spell formula, activate.
Fire Dragon.”

The Fire Dragon’s mana merged again, and Albert was inside it.

“Insane.”

He swung his blade to escape, but the flames engulfed him.

He raised his aura to the limit.
However, the true strength of the Fire Dragon didn’t just end there.

-End of explosive operation.
Now trigger.

Ann nodded at the voice ringing in her ears.
And there was a huge explosion at the place where Albert was.

Although the size of the dragon became smaller, it was still able to attack the Sun troops with a mighty force.

“Damn it!!”

“Everyone, avoid it! If we get hit by that, the damage will be too severe!”

“Dive deep into the lines of the enemy! From now on, it is a solo operation!”

The Paladins of the Sun began to spread in all directions, avoiding the Fire Dragon.
But even that was all within her calculation range.

Rather, it was the best move that Ann aimed for.

“All troops.”

The Sun was great individually, but when they formed a group, they were fearful.
And when such troops moved on their own, their power would decrease.

She knew that without having to think too much.

“Wipe them out!”

As Ann spread her hand forward and ordered, the waiting soldiers risked their lives and threw their bodies at the Knights of the Sun.

“How dare you stand in our way with such petty force! This ends now!”

One of the Knights of the Sun sped up his horse and rushed ahead, and such things happened everywhere.

In a way, the Black Tower’s troops rushing at them might be like moths to fire.

However, the reality was entirely different.

The fire was on the other side.

“My fists are hot after such a long time.”

“Commander.”

“I will have some fun too.
Such a chaotic world.
I really like this!!”

Darius flew to where the Knights of the Sun were.
He had broken through the wall of his power, and he was now a Grand Master, and with that, he crushed a Knight with just one punch.

No matter how strong the Knights of the Sun were, they couldn’t simply overcome a Grand Master.

“Uhahahah!”

Darius burst into laughter and moved to break necks.

The battlefield was blazing.

A fierce battle took place, and the fight went full-scale.

“It is time.”

Lennon said to Ann, holding his staff.
Their troops were sweeping away the enemy lines.

The Sun troops were stranded.
Some had been scattered, and they began to fall one by one.

Bang!!

“Damn it.
I never thought I would be pushed back like this.”

The commander of the Sun Church smashed the table with his fist.
To be honest, he thought their side would win the first battle.

Their side had prepared tens of thousands of troops, and their method of fighting was good too.

After receiving intel that the forces of the Black Tower didn’t have any of the major three races, he was sure of their win.

There was no one who could stop them now.

“It should have been so.
Then, why?”

The enemy’s numbers were within their range of expectation.
It was shocking that a meteor turned into a Fire Dragon, but he didn’t think it was something that the Sun troops couldn’t handle.

They could stop it.

But when he saw them disassemble their formation, he was at a loss for words.
What was more shocking was how the enemy troops rushed toward them without fear.

They weren’t like moths to a flame.
No matter how organized the cavalry was, if they acted alone, their strength would diminish.

And it wasn’t long before he found out where they went wrong.

“Fuck!”

The Knights of the Sun fell one after another.
The morale of the allied soldiers was greatly reduced due to the shock of being used as decoys.

So he judged that if he could make them bring out their God first, they would win, and the lost morale would be restored.

But things went wrong.

“Co-Commander.
Enemies are coming in! They cannot be stopped!”

If they were defeated in the first battle, the enemy forces would penetrate through the central part of the continent.

‘There is no other method.’

The commander clenched his teeth and touched the firebird crest of the Sun Church on his body.

He held it up and prayed.

“My father.
Please take pity on the mistakes this foolish child made and give this land a bright hope.”

The holy power was absorbed into the crest, and a golden pillar of light soared high into the sky.

The whole sky seemed to be covered in golden light, but before long, the heavens and land were separated as white light shone on the ground.

[Foolish one.]

A loud voice shook his head.

Blood flowed from every hole in his face, and he died of unbearable pain.
The adjutants hurriedly tried to help him, but he was already a corpse.

But nobody cared about his death.

They bowed their heads towards the God that was descending from the heavens.

[Who can stand against me?]

The heavens and the land shook.

Even if the war was being pushed to one side, before a God, everyone was equal.

Ann looked at the God who came in golden light.

She didn’t know which of the 12 Gods had descended, but she didn’t have any worries.

From here on out, it wasn’t a fight between humans.

[I didn’t like it at first.
Just that we should break down the enemies with all our might. 1 Why should I watch the trivial wars of mortals? Come out.
This body will exterminate all of you.
I am the….]

The light began to disperse, and the God could be seen.
It was a monster with gray skin and stone fragments sticking out of its body.

[Atlas!!]

At the cry of the monster, numerous soldiers began to collapse to the ground.
And there was one woman who watched this.

Carefully holding the greatsword she hadn’t held for long, she slowly got up.

Blue flames rose around her, and she heard a familiar voice in her ears.

-Are you ready?

“Always.”

-Go and teach them a lesson.

“Of course.”

Ann smiled.

The crescent moon on her forehead shone softly.

TL/N: When Gods speak, they do it with a sense of pride, thus, ‘we’ is used in this part. ↩️