Maria and those guarding her were nearly knocked out of the sky from the resulting shockwave that came from the massive, nuclear-like explosion. The soldiers on the ground that were getting ready to charge at the gate had to quickly take cover because of the shockwave.
“W-What the heck???” Maria shouted as her retainers quickly surrounded her and carefully escorted her down to the ground.
“My Queen, please take cover behind us!” Ash said as he shielded her behind him while Carmilla quickly ordered the generals, “Everyone, Barriers up!”
The heatwave from the explosion, whose temperature was akin to a small sun, was dealing damage to everything within a few kilometers from the blast, so everyone had to put up a barrier to protect themselves while also seeking shelter. Thankfully, Maria’s soldiers hadn’t been too close to the wall, or else they would’ve been caught up in the explosion and died.
Maria had stacked the effects of her [Sin of Greed] and [Unholy] which depleted any targets HP that they hit for 45% and 20% respectively, before layering more damage on top of that with [Nephalem’s Eye] and with [Unholy]’s aftereffect, it was likely that those caught within the explosion were dead or close to being dead. The HP reduction of her skill was also applied to buildings and structures so Wall Victoria’s durability had at least depleted by 70-80 percent after being struck by her combination technique.
Once the explosion settled, Maria wanted to see just how much destruction she caused with it. The system didn’t register the technique as a proper ability but that was fine. She didn’t want to combine those 3 skills into a single skill because they each had their individual uses in battle and to use the skills in a combination required Maria to use up nearly all of her Divine Energy, leaving her vulnerable to her enemies.
Maria also received a backlash from combining those skills and using her [Energy Manipulation] skill–the evolved version of her [Mana Manipulation]–to enhance their powers. She received 4 debuffs called [Energy Reduction], [Energy Coagulation], [SP Depletion], and [SP Lock]. The first debuff reduced her total Divine Energy count to 10 percent of its original value while the second debuff completely halted her Divine Energy regeneration, be it from natural regen or through items.
The 2 final debuffs were the worst, however. [SP Depletion] meant that her SP would be at its lowest value for a while and [SP Lock]’s effect was as literal as its name. The debuff prevented Maria from using her SP even after it had regenerated to full and without being able to use her SP, she couldn’t fly, cast spells, execute skills, or even swing her weapon.
Even running or walking became a nigh-impossible task since she couldn’t use her SP. The first, second, and last debuffs lasted for an hour while the third debuff only lasted for 30 minutes, but during this time, Maria was in her most powerless state where she literally couldn’t do anything.
Once the explosion had settled and only the large mushroom cloud was left rising further into the air, Ash and the others undid their barrier. He quickly picked up Maria and moved to a more secure location while Carmilla and the rest went to survey the condition of their soldiers. Even though Maria didn’t mean to, her own forces had been caught up by her technique’s effects. Greed’s Unholy Eye combination was dangerous for both herself and her allies so she decided to seal this technique and not use it again if she didn’t have to–or at least learned how to control it's effects before ever using it again.
“Maybe I should have tested the combination first before I used it here…”
“The effects were unexpected, my Queen, but the results were just like you wanted. Look,” Ash said as he pointed in the direction where his Queen’s technique had exploded on Wall Victoria.
The smoke began to clear up and everyone on Maria’s side of the battlefield was able to see that a large portion of Wall Victoria had been torn down thanks to her explosive combination. Some parts of the wall that was a few tens of meters away from the impact radius were also showing signs of collapse and with the big opening that she created, her soldiers began chanting praises for Maria and shouting that victory was theirs now.
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“My Queen, let Carmilla and the others take care of the rest. I will guard you here until you’ve recuperated,” Ash said.
Maria nodded before saying, “Tell Carmilla to have our soldiers scale or fly onto the wall and not go through the opening. The explosion has just subsided so the heat and radiation are probably deadly right now.”
No matter how much Unitale simulated reality, Maria didn’t actually need to worry about her technique’s aftereffects on the land. Although the radiated heat was a little unbearable, it wasn’t at a level where her soldiers couldn’t withstand it nor was it toxic like nuclear radiation, so she actually didn’t have to worry about a thing.
“It’s only a slight bit of heat, my Queen. I’m sure our soldiers can handle it. They’re not weak, after all.”
“...have only those at a high level go through the opening. Everyone else should just scale the wall or fly onto it.”
“I will relay your orders immediately.”
Ash used his [Telepathy] skill and connected his mind with Carmilla before giving her the orders from Maria. Once she received those orders, the Dire’s Army immediately began to mobilize after a short while as the heavy infantry, cavalry, and other high-rank and high-level soldiers began marching through the hole in the wall that Maria had created while the others flew or scaled onto the wall’s ramparts and secured the area and the weapons mounted on the wall.
When the smoke completely cleared up, Maria noticed that her explosion had affected a large strip of land behind Wall Victoria which attested to the frightening capability of her combination technique. The projection orbs that had their connections cut when the explosion happened soon reconnected and the other generals and officers that only saw what happened from afar were now able to see the devastation Maria’s technique had caused.
With the walls secured, Maria’s soldiers could now move freely towards the other areas on the walls and help the soldiers in those areas breach them. With only a single technique, Maria gave her army the push they needed to completely take down Wall Victoria.
Securing Wall Victoria lasted an entire day and Maria didn’t even need to step out again to help her soldiers. She just waited for the good news to come and after the wall had been secured, her soldiers began reinforcing the walls and creating stations on them to act as their forward operations base.
Maria moved to this base once it was completed and had her soldiers reinforce the walls to prevent any of the vampires in Transylvania from escaping. These people were determined to fight with her so she didn’t need them. Even if they surrendered, Maria wasn’t going to welcome them as her citizens. They were going to be put to use as laborers and if they didn’t accept this, she’d just have them killed and become EXP for her soldiers.
Now that they were inside of the wall, they had effectively breached Transylvania. The only thing left to do was breach the other levels of the city. The wall after Wall Victoria was called Wall Baobahn. All of the Walls were named after the Vampire Lords and Vampire Queens that had risen to power after the progenitor.
There had only been 4 Vampire Lords before, 5 with the new generation’s Siegfried, but with there being no need for a wall, he couldn’t have his name engraved in anything besides the Vampire Lord statue located at the heart of Transylvania in the Hall of Blood.
“Ash, don’t you find it odd?” Maria said while she was looking at a detailed map of the city.
“What’s odd, my Queen?”
“We’ve already breached Wall Victoria and our troops are already starting their attack on Wall Baobahn, but Siegfried still hasn’t made an appearance…why is that?”
“...It does strike as odd, my Queen, but the bastard was known for his arrogance, so this just might be him showing disregard to our presence. It’ll lead to his downfall once he’s gone past the point of no return after losing too many of the vampire nobles and their soldiers,” Ash replied.
“Perhaps…but keep a lookout. He may be the arrogant Vampire Lord but you did say that although he was arrogant, he was also incredibly witty and managed to defeat you after meticulously scheming against you. He might try something similar so be prepared.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, my Queen.”
Maria looked around and after making sure that no one was nearby, she pulled Ash closer to her and whispered, “Although I’d like to put my complete faith in my subordinates and not be an alarmist, but keep a close watch of your vampire bride.”
“...Do you suspect Carmilla to be working with the enemy?”
Although Maria was reluctant to put a little suspicion on her subordinates and not trust them, she needed to be extra cautious since their goal to unite the continent was now so close to fruition.
“I want to trust her, but we have to be cautious since I feel like she’s hiding something from us.”
“If that’s how you feel, my Queen…then I’ll follow your judgment though I too would like to still keep my faith in her,” Ash solemnly said.
“She’s earned my trust, Ash, but I’m only worried now since everything is proceeding far too smoothly...”
“I won’t let there be any mishaps, my Queen. If it comes down to it and your suspicions are true…let me be the one to cut my own bride down.”
“...”
Maria just silently looked at Ash who had his head bowed to her. She couldn’t see his eyes but the aura he exuded was one of determination so Maria eventually nodded and said, “I just hope that it doesn’t come down to that but when the time does come, I’ll leave everything to your judgment.”
“Thank you.”