"Hahaha! You all are just bluffing. You ragbag bunch, you think you can survive the cannons of the magic artillery? I want to see if it's really as miraculous as you claim!"
Hearing Cysper's words, the enemy immediately laughed disdainfully! Then without warning, they suddenly opened fire while still speaking.
The imperial flagship airship at the front let out a thunderous "BOOM!" A dazzling red blaze spewed from the cannon muzzle, heading straight for the Pope's position.
"Watch out! Hold the defensive formation!"
The church airships reacted swiftly. In the instant the cannon fire came raging in, a yellow-white shimmering shield suddenly appeared around the hulls, solidly blocking the attack. I could sense the shield contained a huge amount of light elemental energy - parts of it resembled a "Light's Sanctuary", but the brownish glow suggested it also mixed some kind of earth magic array I didn't recognize.
The human specialty is combining different elemental magics to enhance the overall effect. Angels can only use light magic, which though specialized, is too limited to handle all battlefield needs.
In any case, this cannon strike was indeed blocked by the powerful magic array. But it didn't emerge unscathed - the blast's massive impact pushed the Pope's airship back dozens of meters, nearly capsizing it several times before finally stabilizing.
Thankfully it didn't crash to the ground...
I wiped the sweat from my brow, relieved. That was a ferocious strike - if every volley had that effect, we couldn't withstand it even if not killed outright. Luckily Cysper and the others seemed unhurt, with only a few church soldiers accidentally knocked overboard but quickly caught by griffin knights below.
"The Kingdom Army will fight to the death to defend our homeland! We will not retreat!"
Seeing the enemy fire first, Alfreed drew his longsword and shouted defiantly.
"All forces attack! We cannot let New Parristol invade further into the kingdom! If we don't stop it here, the consequences will be unimaginable!"
"For the Kingdom!"
Choruses of roars responded as the battle was joined! The scene descended into utter chaos, cannons thundering and spells flying wildly as screams rang out.
The Kingdom's agile griffin knights were too quick for most airship cannons to hit. But arrows and magic volleys from the shipboard crews and city buildings found their marks, already downing several knights in under a minute.
Conversely, the church airships' powerful shielding deflected most regular arrows and spells. But their lack of mobility proved crippling - the Empire's big cannons scored constant hits! Though the shielding saved them from outright destruction, the impacts terribly battered and injured the crews.
Our attacks seemed feeble - just arrows and spells besides the griffin knights' risky strafing runs. Against the Empire's shielded airships, most offensives barely scratched them. And those skyborne city buildings seemed even tougher, some blasted but not even marked by our explosive spells - I wondered what incredibly sturdy materials they used.
The hidden monsters hadn't even appeared yet, and the battle already looked dire! I ducked and weaved through enemy cannon fire, wondering if even my Water Abyss Sword could make a difference in this melee. But doing nothing wasn't my style either!
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I was about to charge the enemy flagship and try capturing that General Frank when Reed suddenly blocked me through the psychic network.
"You'd best not join this battle. Those airship's magic shields are very hard to penetrate by normal means. Just wait a bit longer, reinforcements are coming!"
"What do you mean? What reinforcements?"
I was dumbfounded - where were these supposed second wave reinforcements coming from? Alfreed and Cysper didn't seem aware of any, or they wouldn't have engaged already! The church side couldn't possibly have more help coming, and even the Sage Council clearly stated they wouldn't intervene. Reed's claim baffled me.
"You'll see soon enough!"
However, Reed didn't elaborate on my question, merely giving that curt reminder.
"Don't forget, you came here to meet Adrian, not waste effort joining the Kingdom's battle! Better save your strength for the critical moment - there will be plenty of chances for you to take action later!"
"Wait, I'm not trying to show off..."
I couldn't help feeling exasperated - where was her mind going? My main reason for helping Alfreed was to weaken New Parristol's defenses, otherwise infiltrating the city alone to meet Adrian would be nearly impossible.
But Reed didn't respond further, lapsing into silence. I gritted my teeth, surveying the situation. Though the tide was turning against us, neither the Kingdom nor church airfleets had clearly lost yet.
With the Pope and other VIPs withdrawn to the rear, and Douglas' anti-air magic barrage from the ground, they shouldn't be defeated outright just yet. So leaving the aerial battle aside, I turned and flew down towards the ground.
Below New Parristol's underside, amid the barren wasteland, stood a huge jutting rock formation starkly visible against the flat sandy terrain. Hovering above it, following Cyra's guidance, I finally spotted Reed and the others hiding behind its shadow.
"What are you all doing here, sneaking around like this?"
No sooner had I landed than I blurted out my doubts. Not only was there an intense battle raging overhead, but the scene below gave me an even bigger fright.
"Wait...I recognize that magic array! What was it called again?"
Etched onto the flat ground was an immense magic circle spanning several meters wide. Its coloring blended with the terrain, making it hard to discern at first glance.
"Isn't this the one you used to make that hydrogen bomb?"
Finally recalling, this was the circle Reed had employed in Edenmere's library to drain all the light elemental energy, causing a huge uproar that even forced changing venues for the second Edenmere tournament! She had to relocate her experiments outside the city after that fiasco.
"Don't tell me you and Judith are sneaking around here trying to make another hydrogen bomb???"
A terrifying thought crossed my mind - could Reed be planning to just nuke New Parristol flat? That was way too extreme, I couldn't let her do that! With a war raging overhead, if she really detonated a bomb, the death toll would be horrific beyond words!
"Where did that idea come from? Even if I managed to test one before, making another isn't so easy now, we're lacking a lot of necessary conditions..."
Glaring sternly at me, Reed seemed to deny my guess, as Judith hurriedly cut in to explain.
"Actually this array is mainly for absorbing elemental energy and converting it into a power source! It has nothing to do with that...ham? What ham are you talking about, is it delicious?"
"Never tried it..."
Reed gave an exasperated look, brushing it off. Then she turned to me with a reminder.
"Don't forget what I said - my aim is helping you meet Adrian smoothly, not blowing him up. Just stand aside and watch what happens next!"
"But..."
I still couldn't fathom what they intended by absorbing elemental energy from the air. Previously when Reed drained Edenmere's light energy, it was to convert into compressed hydrogen fuel. But she had just denied that purpose, so what was the real plan?
"I only just got here too, I'm completely in the dark about what they're doing."
Noticing my gaze, Cyra just shrugged helplessly. But then she seemed to recall something and asked me.
"Oh right, did you see Cysper and the others arrive by airship through that spatial transfer gate? They rushed up into the sky so quickly - weren't they awesome? The ships in this world can fly!"
"You sure are interested in him!"
I couldn't resist teasing her, before glancing upwards. But our side's disadvantage only worsened - many church airships had already been destroyed or downed after repeated bombardment, vastly depleting their numbers.
The Kingdom forces fared little better, taking horrendous casualties. Intimidated by the firepower, the griffin knights dared not approach the city buildings or enemy ships too closely. Their main weapons being melee arms, keeping this standoff range negated their combat ability.
The situation looked increasingly grim, on the verge of defeat. Turning back to Reed, I urgently asked,
"But you said reinforcements were coming - where are they? I don't see any at all!"