KREEEE!
The Impianas were already near the fortress when the mages got to the top of the central tower.
Aludra then quickly raised her staff and pointed the magic crystal sitting at its tip toward the flying monsters.
Flash!
A piercing light burst from Aludra's staff.
The light blinded the four Impianas and disoriented them.
KREE!!!
Using the small window of opportunity, Kiran casted his magic.
[Maha Shalju]
Cold mist manifested in front of Kiran's magic staff.
In seconds the mist hardened into multiple ice shards.
At that moment, the elemental mage activated his spell.
[Fly!]
The ice shards sped toward the Impianas and pierced through them.
Right then, Meifa had finished loading the two ballistas atop the tower with large arrow bolts using telekinesis.
She raised her left hand which was equipped with a bangle that could enhance her telekinesis sorcery.
And using the same magic, the Tchakran mage launched the large arrow bolts toward the Impianas to finish them off.
The mages managed to kill the large beasts by using minimum magic.
But their feat did not lessen the pressure on the battles below.
['Lillie (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. Her stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Mannel (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
[Time Remaining]
[44:31]
An archer from Party 10 on the south battlement and a spearman from Party 9 at the east entrance had been lightly injured.
At the same time, thousands of monster shrieks echoed from all over.
[Wave 6]
[Beastling Lv.25 x142]
[….]
[Wave 7]
[Beastling Lv.25 x147]
[….]
[Wave 8]
[….]
[Wave 9]
[….]
[Juvenile Impiana Lv.30 x7]
More hordes of monsters came from the east, south, west, and north at the same time while the previous waves were not even halved yet. Another flock of Impianas had also begun descending to the fortress.
Celeste immediately responded to the worsening situation.
[Start taking your Power Potion! Drink it again whenever its effects wore off! We have plenty in supply!]
Upon the commander's order, all the raiders reached for the Power Potion vial in their pouches and emptied it.
They started fighting with renewed vigor.
['Gaoling (★★★)' has consumed 'Power Potion (A)'.]
['Gaoling (★★★)'s strength and stamina have increased by 15 for the next 10 minutes.]
['Ahsan (★★★)' has consumed 'Power Potion (A)'.]
['Ahsan (★★★)'s strength and stamina have increased by 18 for the next 10 minutes.]
['Ansel (★★★)' has consumed 'Power Potion (A)'.]
[….]
['Janis (★★★)' has consumed 'Power Potion (A)'.]
[….]
The raiders fought on.
They kept intercepting the monsters trying to breach the entrances, obliterating each enemy with coordinated movements.
All the archers aided their comrades from the battlements. Alternating between the ballista and their bow depending on how far and big their target was.
While the mages struck down the dangerous Impianas coming from above, with new flock kept emerging after the mages got rid of one.
But they still could not relieve the pressure forced by the monsters.
['Janis (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Vanse (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Namira (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. Her stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Tomal (★★★)' has been inflicted...]
[...]
[Time Remaining]
[40:18]
The moat was almost full with drowned corpses.
Most of the monsters were able to walk through the channel without drowning themselves given how many corpses had piled up.
This caused more of them to cross over and reach the fortress where our heroes were battling hard.
[Aludra, do something to the moat!]
Celeste called out to the mage-engineer.
Completely aware of what the mage-swordswoman meant, Aludra banged the base of her staff at the center of the tower, where four lines of runes had intersected.
The mage-engineer had placed them there as she was setting up the traps all over the fortress.
Aludra generated a powerful electric force with her magic staff and let the current flowed through the rune lines which ran all the way to the water-filled moat beyond the fortress.
Her stunt caused the moat to flicker with lightning. Its water boiled with electric energy.
Generating electricity was a simple matter for mage-engineers.
It was not on the level of lightning elemental magic which could obliterate lands and enemies.
But what Aludra did was just enough for what she intended.
All the monsters that were trying to cross over were fried to death, if not permanently paralyzed.
This allowed the heroes a brief respite after the furious onslaught they were currently experiencing.
A brief one, however.
KREEEE!!!
[Wave 10]
[Juvenile Impiana Lv.30 x20]
[Poison Stinger Lv.22 x200]
[Blood Crow Lv.22 x180]
[Time Remaining]
[37:29]
Huge swarms of flying monsters emerged from the southern clouds.
Lights immediately flashed in the sky and descended as Master's signal.
[Modifying battle instructions for 'Third Advanced Scouts'.]
[Changing the default archer class strategy and the default mage class strategy from 'Unrestricted Fire' to 'Designated Fire'. Archer and mage unit will now focus on selected targets.]
[Setting targets for sniping to 'Airborne Enemies'!]
Glowing cross symbols marked all the monsters in the air.
Celeste noticed this and responded to the order.
[All archers, retreat to the central tower! Focus your attacks on the flying monsters only! Mages, start using Second Circle spells!]
The raiders did not question their commander.
With swiftness, all the archers jumped off the battlements and ran to the top of the central tower.
Together with the mages they launched volleys of projectile assaults toward the swarms of monsters flying in from the south.
They managed to intercept all of the monsters before they could come near the fortress.
It would had become dangerous if those swarms managed to reach the heroes.
I suspected that was the reason why the previous advanced scouts had many casualties at this point in the mission.
They were likely overwhelmed by the airborne monsters and had minimum means to counter them.
Due to the aid of the long-ranged combatants at the central tower, the ground heroes of the Third Advanced Scouts were able to hold off all the hordes of creatures that were trying to breach the entrances.
Everything seemed going well until a new signal came from Sigyn to all the heroes.
[Urgent Order:]
[TAKE COVER!]
The battles were fierce on all fronts.
Despite the signal, the heroes could not figure out what Master was trying to warn them about.
That was until four beastlings managed to jump over the walls and infiltrated the fortress.
One of them killed an unsuspecting swordsman from Party 8 that was resting in the back line. While another hero from Party 10 was injured heavily. The others barely managed to dodge the ambush.
['Geroth (★★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
['Turc (★★★)' is on the brink of death. His life is in danger!]
['Ruford (★★★)' has fallen into the state of fear. All stats decreased by 30%!]
[Time Remaining]
[29:58]
These beastlings were different from the ones we used to face.
They were almost twice as large. And they had this terrible aura emanating from their every surface.
[Prime Beastling Lv.30 x4]
Not letting them spread more chaos, Celeste, Sigmund, Gaoling, and Dharma swiftly killed the new monsters.
But about a hundred more of them were approaching from beyond the fortress.
[Wave 11]
[Prime Beastling Lv.30 x26]
[Blood Crow Lv.22 x211]
[Gatormole Lv.25 x203]
[Killer Spider Lv.22 x231]
[Poison Stinger Lv.22 x236]
[Wave 12]
[Prime Beastling Lv.30 x26]
[Blood Crow Lv.22 x211]
[….]
[Wave 13]
[Prime Beastling Lv.30 x26]
[…]
[Wave 14]
[Prime Beastling Lv.30 x26]
[…]
While maintaining composure, Celese gave her orders for the developing situation.
[Heal the wounded with the elixir! Don't use the Healing Stone yet! Aludra, deploy one golem to each entrance! Meifa, start using your enchantment stones to strengthen us! Be wary of the new beastling! They're stronger and could jump into the fortress!]
With the commands, Dharma instructed one of her comrades to aid their injured member. While Celeste helped putting away the fallen Party 8 raider.
Aludra then produced four golem cores from her pouch and activated them.
The golem cores hovered in the air and they manifested into giant hunched stone figures the size of an ogre.
With a wave of Aludra's hand, the four golems spread to the four entrances of the fortress and started aiding the raiders.
The Third Advanced Scouts were given twenty giant golem cores for the mission.
Each golem core could only be used for ten minutes. But they fought autonomously and with immense power.
Aludra had her own cores which could create smaller golems. Though those were something she prepared for her own direct defense.
Following the mage-engineer's stunt, Meifa produced several enchantment stones from her pouches.
She then raised her magic artifact to activate those stones.
The healer's second artifact was a short scepter with a magic crystal on each end.
One crystal was purposed to enhance her healing magic as well as enchantment. While the second one was to strengthen her compulsion magic.
At the moment, Meifa was utilizing the former.
Multiple enchantment stones hovered to the air and glowed with bright light.
The magic light penetrated to all the heroes fighting inside the fortress.
['Meifa (★★★)' is casting multiple enchantments.]
[Enchantment casted!]
[All heroes' strength, agility, and stamina have increased by 10 for a period of time!]
Even with the injured hero healed, golems deployed, and enchantment casted, Celeste still shouted encouragement for all the heroes fighting in the fifth Quintal Trial.
[Fight on, everyone! As long as we don't give up, we can survive through this!]