The bombardment ensued and the area where the bewildering trap formation was set up was immediately blasted away by the Dire’s 3 airships’ cannons and magic cannons.
It was a relentless bombardment that leveled nearly every building in the area of the formation. It killed most of the enemy forces within the formation that were lying in ambush, but at the same time, the bombardment also took the lives of the friendly soldiers that were unfortunately stuck inside of the formation.
The bombardment kept on going until the bewildering formation finally collapsed and the fog surrounding the area where the formation occupied dispersed from the battlefield, revealing a rather tragic scene once everything was clear.
The tall buildings that once occupied the area had been completely leveled to the ground and there wasn’t an intact building anywhere. Everything had turned into ruins and only a select few buildings remained standing, though it was only their first floor.
“Our allies are inside of those buildings! One squadron from each division will stay behind to conduct a search and rescue! The rest, keep on pushing! We’ve almost completed our mission! Press the attack and push our enemies towards the castle!” Ash howled, relaying his command to everyone on the ground.
“Yes sir!”
“Quick, there is someone here!”
“Help me remove the rubble over here!”
“I’ve got a survivor here! Where are our healers?!”
Not everyone from the Dire that was trapped inside of the trap formation survived the airships’ bombardment, but a few groups managed to survive by taking refuge inside of the buildings and reinforcing themselves with defensive skills to endure the buildings’ collapse.
Maria’s enemies didn’t believe that Maria would sacrifice the lives of her soldiers just to destroy the trap formation, so the enemy forces that were waiting inside the formations to ambush their enemies all died within them.
Not a single one of them lived through the bombardment and if any of them did manage to survive by the skin of their teeth, the Dire’s soldiers that were sweeping through the area of the trap formation quickly dealt with them.
The order Maria gave was quite merciless and no one–not even her enemies–believed she would’ve given out such a command. They were banking on this fact to hold the Dire’s forces back for a while because Maria seemed to be compassionate.
Unfortunately, for her enemies, Maria was willing to do whatever it was that was necessary to ensure that her plans were a success–even if it meant sacrificing a few of her people.
Thankfully, her soldiers all had complete trust in her and they were smart enough to try and do something about their dire situation rather than just accepting their deaths inside of the formation.
Due to their determination and trust, some of the soldiers were able to live through the bombardment. When they were pulled out from underneath the rubble that buried them, they were immediately brought back to receive treatment.
“Mary, don’t you think that what you just did was rather…cold?” Maria’s brother, Gerald, asked.
Maria gave her brother a brief glance before replying, “I did what needed to be done. If we didn’t deal with the formation array fast enough, those entrapped soldiers wouldn’t be able to survive at all once the enemy got to them.”
“...I see.”
“I did what was necessary to ensure that some of them would make it out of the formation alive…though it was indeed a little extreme, but I’d rather lose a few than lose all of them.”
There was no hesitation in Maria’s answer and she didn’t give her brother a random excuse. Maria believed that her decision was the correct answer to the situation at hand and she wasn’t going to show regret over it.
Gerald sighed and didn’t say anything more about it. He instead looked at his minimap and said, “This should be their second or third defense line. If we push a little bit more, we should have them all cornered inside of the castle soon.”
“It’s almost over. Just a little bit more and then we can put an end to this entire war,” Lizzy spoke up from behind them.
“Mhm.”
However, just as Maria was hoping that everything would go smoothly after destroying what she presumed was the Lycan’s trump card, a loud explosion was heard and it came from the sky.
“Mayday, mayday! This is the Resolution! W-We’ve been struck by…by a spear!" The captain of the Resolution said in complete disbelief after he heard the report from one of his crew members that saw what had struck the hull of their ship. "One of our engines is down! We have to execute an emergency landing! Please clear the area!”
Maria and the rest who were connected to the Dire’s communication channel heard this and they quickly turned their attention to the airship that was slowly descending with smoke coming from one side of its hull.
“Something broke through the air ship's hull and struck one of the engines?!” Gerald exclaimed in shock.
“Your Majesty, news from the front line! The Lycan King has appeared on the battlefield! He was the one that attacked the Resolution!” Elizabeth reported.
Maria smirked and said, “I was wondering when he was going to make a move. I’d be pretty disappointed in this so-called king if he continued to hole himself up inside of his castle.”
After she said that, Maria quickly spread her wings open and took to the skies.
“Ash, give me the location of the Lycan King and tell everyone else to back off! He’s mine!”
“Quick, chase after Her Majesty! We can’t let her go by herself!” Carmilla said as she hastily took off and chased after Maria, who was already quite far away now thanks to her incredible speed.
“Sir Gerald, I entrust the command of the soldiers to you!” Elizabeth said before taking off and chasing after Carmilla.
“Big Brother Gerald, we’re going too! We’ll go help protect Mary!” Lizzy said as she turned to her friends and nodded.
“Right, let’s go!”
“Hurry!”
Emily and Amanda replied in unison before the 3 girls began running in the direction where Maria had left. Their battle-frenzy friend couldn’t just sit back after knowing that the enemy’s leader was out on the field and actively taking part in the battle.
Gerald was left behind on the spot and he raised his hand at them before letting out a defeated sigh and said, “B-But what about me? I wanted to go too…”
The Imperial Guards, who were once again left behind, didn’t know what to do. If Gerald was now acting in place of their Empress, then that meant that they needed to guard him, but then who was going to guard their Empress? The Imperial Guard Captain was then reminded of Ash's words of disappointment from earlier and quickly made a decision.
“Y-Your Highness, we’ll be going now to fulfill our duties…I’ll assign a few people to protect you!” The Imperial Guard captain said before he too left the area with all of the imperial guards except for one squadron.
Gerald was lamenting why he was put in this position when he should also be out there actively fighting on the battlefield. He was the Guild Leader of one of the guilds that were participating in this war under the Dire’s banner.
He should be out there on the frontlines and fighting, not sitting in the backlines like he was doing right now and taking over his sister’s position whenever she suddenly decided to ‘disappear’.
“Well, whatever. I’m her ‘good’ brother after all.”
Ash gave Maria the Lycan King’s coordinates after his subordinates were able to pinpoint where he was. Maria bee lined her way over to the Lycan King when she got it and marked it on her minimap.
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Since she was flying and knew the general direction of where her target was in, Maria was soon able to spot the Lycan King amid the chaotic crowd of enemy soldiers and her soldiers that were caught in a melee.
The Lycan King was much larger than the other Lycans and he had a golden mane and fur, so it was very easy to spot him.
Maria smiled in excitement, showing her pearly white teeth, as she upped her speed and shot towards the enemy king.
The Lycan King seemed to have detected Maria’s hostility and he quickly swung the spear in his hand, pushing back the enemy soldiers in front of him and taking up a defending stance as he looked up in the air towards the beautiful figure that was charging towards him.
“It’s you again! The Dire’s Mad Empress!” Beowulf, the King of the Lycans, roared.
When Maria heard those words, she landed a few meters away from the Lycan King and started cackling, "Ahahaha, Mad Empress? Shouldn't a Mad Empress have a Mad Dog serving her then?"
Beowulf’s eyes immediately widened in anger as he roared back at her, "You bitch!"
There was a smile on Maria’s face as she responded to the Lycan King’s hostility towards her, "Did you miss me, Beowulf? I hope that scar on your face hasn't kept you awake at night~"
“Last time you were lucky! This time around, I’ll slit your pretty little throat with my claws!”
Beowulf let out a howl and pointed his spear at Maria. This was something new because, as far as Maria knew, her opponent’s weapons were his claws–the natural weapons of the lycans–so seeing him wield a weapon other than his claws was rather surprising to her.
From her point of view, Maria understood a little bit why Beowulf was now using a spear and not just his claws. He had learned his lesson from their previous fight where Maria fought against him and continued to hold the upper hand throughout the battle due to having the reach advantage of her weapon.
Her sword, Zantetsu-R, and transformable weapon, Calamity, all had longer reach than Beowulf’s claws. It was so bad that Maria was able to toy with him to an extent and leave him with an injury across his face.
The first time they battled, it was during a skirmish before the other players had arrived on Vanhal. Maria had just arrived in Vanargand and encountered the werewolves who were hostile towards her.
She naturally killed them since they bore their fangs at her and this prompted Beowulf to take action to repel the continent’s invaders. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t turn out so well for his side and they were forced to retreat.
That triggered the full scale war that happened afterwards and that war was momentarily halted only because of the emergence of the players. Once the chaos that ensued due to the players’ arrival calmed down a bit, Maria continued the war.
Maria had pushed her forces all the way into the heart of the Lycan’s territory and finally, she was able to meet with Beowulf once again to settle the score.
“It seems that during the time when the war was suspended, you were learning some unnecessary tricks,” Maria said with a playful tone as she eyed the spear in her opponent’s hands. She was obviously trying to tease Beowulf to get him all riled up.
“Hmph, don’t think that you and your race of people are the only ones who can use weapons!” Beowulf growled back. Even though he did show signs of being angered earlier, he had quickly calmed himself down and was glaring at Maria with cold, calm eyes. “We are Lycans! A warrior race! We can easily pick up a weapon and learn it to a masterful degree within a short time!”
“Oh really? From where I’m standing, it looks like you’re just pointing a toothpick at me though?”
“Grrrr, my spear will be enough to deal with you! You’re going to die today, wench! Just wait until I gouge your heart out and lift your decapitated head in front of all your precious soldiers!”
“You really are just a dog, all bark and no bite~ Come on, keep on barking for me, doggy~”
“You’re dead!”
“That remains to be decided, oh dear Beowulf. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the dead man walking right now.”
Maria's subordinates and her friends all began arriving one by one in the distance and they listened to her exchange with the Lycan King. Ash and the other 2 vampires that were there didn’t pay too much attention to the conversation. They were vigilantly watching the area to make sure that there were no ambushes or traps nearby.
Lizzy, Emily, and Amanda, on the other hand, were rather surprised by how savage and irritating Maria was towards her opponent. They never knew that their friend could have such a venomous tongue.
“We’ll see about that! GRAAAHHH!” With a battle cry, Beowulf lunged towards Maria with his spear and stabbed at her.
In the split second this happened, Maria had already changed her Calamity’s form into its spear form and easily struck the head of her opponent’s spear, deflecting it to the side.
“Hmph!”
Beowulf twisted his body and performed a sweep with his spear and Maria narrowly dodged it.
After a single exchange, Maria had already gotten a grasp of the properties of her enemy’s weapon. The dimensions, hardness, flexibility, etc. Since she also used the spear at an expert’s level, Maria could see that despite all of his boasting, Beowulf’s techniques weren't at the master-level at all.
It wasn’t that his techniques were amateurish or anything. He was right about saying that his race was a race of warriors that could master any weapon they picked up. They had only stopped the war for a few months at best and, even within those few months, Beowulf was able to obtain expert-level spearmanship and fight with Maria on even grounds.
However, to say that his spearmanship was all he needed to defeat her was definitely just empty boasting.
There’s just no way that Beowulf’s spear could kill her if that was all he could show. Maria wielded a variety of weapons thanks to her weapon’s transformation ability and this made her a master when it came to observation and training.
Since she had a lot of weapons that she needed to master, Maria learned how to wield everything to at least an expert-level. Things became way easier for her to learn all of this within a ‘short’ time, since she could learn it inside of the game.
Maria weaved through Beowulf’s storm of spear attacks expertly and just barely dodged every single one of his attacks. She wasn’t struggling or anything, but Maria was doing it all on purpose.
Right now, she was trying to master the method of using all of the muscles in her body to an extreme degree where she wouldn’t have any wasted movements in the way she moves her body to attack, defend, and evade.
This was naturally something extremely hard to master and, apparently, the best way to learn how to do it was through actual combat.
Maria was using her showdown with the Lycan King as a training session and not once did she try to retaliate against her opponent’s attacks. All she did was move around within a restricted area and dodge using minimal movements, making it appear as if she was just barely keeping up with Beowulf’s attacks.
This continued for a couple more exchanges until, finally, Beowulf noticed what she was doing.
“YOU BITCH!”
Maria’s words weren’t able to make Beowulf lose his cool, but her actions did. Since she was treating the fight like a training session, it was like she was purposefully trying to besmirch Beowulf’s honor as a warrior.
This snapped the remaining reason within Beowulf’s mind and he immediately went berserk. He raised the speed of his attacks and nearly landed a clean hit on Maria. The attack that almost struck her was parried, but the power that Beowulf put behind the strike caused Maria to be lifted up off the ground with a rather surprised look on her face.
Beowulf saw this opportunity and immediately seized it. He charged up an attack and stabbed his spear straight towards Maria’s head.
“DIE–”
Beowulf’s cry was cut short because he suddenly snapped out of his frenzy after catching a glimpse of the expression on his opponent’s face, a smile–a very, very evil smile.
Beowulf hastily tried to pull back his attack, but it was no use. He had already sent it, so there was just no way he could retract it.
“[Full Counter]!”
“GAHHH!!!”
Maria executed one of the swordsmanship forms from the Sundering Steel Sword Art that she directly learned from Odin, the Primal Allfather, and reflected Beowulf's attack right back at him.
Although he couldn’t retract his attack, Beowulf was able to quickly use one of his skills that mitigated a large portion of the damage from Maria’s counter attack. He used the momentum of the counter to create a distance between him and the cunning woman that he was fighting.
“Kehehehe~”
“You…YOU!!!” Beowulf snarled at Maria as he grabbed his chest, which was quite sore from his own attack that had been reflected back at him.
“Oh Beowulf, I’m going to have a lot of fun playing with you until you die~” There was a sadistic smile on Maria’s face as she said this.
If this was a few months ago, before the players had arrived, Maria and Beowulf might still have been on an even playing field, with Beowulf perhaps having a slight edge since he was now using a weapon.
Unfortunately, Maria had drastically increased her combat power during the lull in their war, much more so than Beowulf, who only learned how to expertly wield a weapon.
Even though he was supposed to be a boss monster, Maria was similarly at that level or even higher and this was with her being a player and not a monster or an NPC.
Maria was an extremely unique existence within Unitale. She was a player who was on the same level as a boss monster, so what would happen if she were to face off against a boss monster whose combat power was close to hers?
It was quite obvious that Maria would overwhelm them. All of the boss monsters in the game were meant to be killed by the players, one way or another, so the Lycan King was just out of luck since Maria also happened to be a player.
Maybe if she was an NPC, then the battle would’ve been more leveled and more dramatic. Right now, however, Maria was just toying with Beowulf and Beowulf himself knew it.
They continued with their battle and this time around, Maria began to swing the spear in her hand. Their STR stats were almost similar, with Beowulf being a bit stronger once he entered his frenzied state. As for their AGI, they were on the same level, but Maria was more agile and flexible with her movement, giving her a slight advantage there.
The VIT stat, or more importantly, the HP stat, naturally went to Beowulf, having an overwhelming advantage. Since Beowulf was an NPC, he received a large stat boost to his HP stat, giving him many bars of HP. All of this was due to the game’s correction system.
However, no matter how great Beowulf’s stats or combat AI was, it wasn’t enough to overwhelm Maria, who had the advantage of being extremely versatile with her movements and attack patterns.
It was nearly impossible for Beowulf to keep up with Maria’s ever-changing battle style. One moment she could be attacking you with an ax, in the next moment a spear, then in another moment dual swords or even a scythe, or she might suddenly back off and fire mana arrows at you with her bow. Even worse, she might even start using magic spells and bombarding you with them.
Thanks to her unique battle style, Maria was able to slowly overwhelm Beowulf in a one versus one battle between a Raid-class World Boss Monster and a Player.
Her crazy battle against the Lycan King was being recorded by her friends and some hidden players that were just watching the battle were livestreaming what they saw from afar.