Udik felt an ominous chill prickle along the back of his neck as he faced the strange formation before him. As an ogre shaman, he was especially sensitive to the mood of the battlefield. Even Komos, who had come as a messenger, looked completely pale.
“I see. So it really is true that the enemy has gotten hold of information regarding us.”
Reinforced by additional casters from the Second Unit, the force advanced while remaining hidden in the shadow of the toppas.
As for the humans, they watched warily out of the corners of their eyes, but showed not even the slightest sign of launching an attack.
“Don’t mind them! That is our enemy!”
He forcibly dragged the attention of his subordinates back to the unit directly ahead. With no shields at all, a mere three ranks of magicians were standing there, with staffs raised and ready to meet their charge.
“Everyone, stack your spells!”
Each of them placed a hand on their toppas and cast a hardening spell. This would block the enemy’s magic to some degree.
But as if to shatter such expectations, the magicians began to chant.
“Legis.”
Glittering golden sigils rose into the air, and then the enemy ranks released their light all at once.
“Solar Piercing Strike!”
It was a blow that sent a heavy, numbing shock through the gut. A hole was punched clean through the toppa board Udik was gripping, and the goblin beside him fell without even a cry.
“They changed their magic?!”
As shock threw their formation into disarray, the enemy ranks shifted yet again.
From behind the soldiers who had finished their attack, new troops stepped forward, golden seals floating before them.
“Solar Piercing Strike!”
Merciless light scorched the void and blasted the protected boards to pieces.
New troops stepped forward and then…
“Solar Piercing Strike!”
The warriors holding the front line lost their defensive plates, and the mages advanced once more and cried out.
“Solar Piercing Strike!”
In the blink of an eye, the ogres were turned into charred corpses riddled with holes.
“…Everyone, charge at the enemy at full speed!”
Udik roared the order and charged his legs with a spell. A heartbeat later, several ogres surged after him, their rush driven by haste magic.
“Stored spells…to rapid-fire Solar Piercing Strike!”
They had trained mage soldiers in great numbers, intending to overwhelm the enemy by sheer force. The enemy spells employed were supposed to be the most rudimentary ones. Udik had believed that if they reinforced their defenses and charged straight through, there was no way the ogres could be stopped.
Another volley of Solar Piercing Strike flashed. The allies who had followed him fell one after another, crumpling to the ground.
“Everyone, throw your toppa!”
Udik hurled his with all his strength. By now it was little more than a sharpened log.
Enemy magic smashed the thrown logs out of the air, blasting them down.
The spells aimed at them then ceased momentarily, opening a gap in the enemy’s attack. Replacement mages advanced from the rear ranks, only for the following toppa units to hurl their logs as well, mowing several of them down and halting their advance.
“I’ll break through your lot and overrun this place in one sweep!”
But then the ogre’s eyes caught sight of the cavalry standing behind the mages.
Mounted figures, staffs raised, their entire bodies wreathed in crackling blue lightning.
“Dragoon?!”
Then the flash came, mercilessly hammering down on them where they had been funneled into a dead end.
The force of the lightning slammed into their bodies. Flesh burned and their vision was drowned in light.
Bonus chapter courtest of Photo. Thank you so much!!