Regarding the sudden emergency evacuation order issued by Princess Menna over the past few days, although most civilians and even the army didn’t understand its significance and privately grumbled and slandered her, Ashibern’s keen sense as a legendary warrior and his foresight gave him a different perspective.
He knew that someone capable of overnightly destroying a poaching gang that had been entrenched in Demon Suppression City for hundreds of years, and who took control of the situation with lightning speed, sending Taylor Tulls directly to prison while boldly appointing his daughter, could not be the capricious and willful person the rumors claimed.
For the princess to insist on evacuating the people despite such immense pressure, any intelligent person could see there was more to it.
Though Ashibern didn’t know what exactly was going to happen, he was highly vigilant these days, not daring to slack off even for a moment.
To be honest, he did not resent the appearance of Princess Menna and her friendly attitude towards magical creatures.
Ashibern’s opposition to other races was initially to protect humanity, as magical beasts were often fierce and violent, seeing humans as prey. Historically, there had been many conflicts at the kingdom’s borders, and various incidents of magical beasts harming people domestically.
However, Princess Menna’s policies had significantly reduced and alleviated these border disputes, promoting peace among the people. As long as this trend continued, Ashibern was willing to support the young but determined princess. After all, as a legendary warrior, political power struggles rarely affected him.
Today marked the third day since the sudden heavy snowfall. Although Princess Menna had allocated considerable manpower and resources to deal with the snow disaster, the thick snow still caused significant inconvenience across various sectors.
In the current Demon Suppression City, there were not many civilians left. Most of the several million civilians had already been evacuated to larger cities further south. What remained were only essential personnel maintaining the city’s operations, over 200,000 elite troops, and individuals with sufficient combat power such as adventurers and mercenaries.
Adorned in the iconic full-body armor bearing the emblem of “Hero’s Sword,” carrying a large sword on his back, Ashibern walked atop the city walls covered in thick accumulated snow. He looked at the soldiers around him, their faces pale from the cold but standing firm, and couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
The weather over the past week or so had been unusually abnormal. It began with more than a week of continuous heavy rain, followed immediately by heavy snowfall. Coupled with the seemingly inexplicable royal order for mandatory evacuation, everything seemed to indicate an impending storm to Ashibern.
“Stay alert! Don’t slack off! This is an extraordinary period, keep your guard up!!”
“Yes, sir!!”
After pondering for a moment, he could only shout loudly to motivate his soldiers. After all, even Ashibern himself didn’t know what would happen next.
After completing his routine patrol around the city walls. Ashibern prepared to temporarily leave.
As a precautionary measure, he had been staying in an empty residence not far from the north gate for the past few days.
Every day, he would make several rounds on the walls, but each time, everything remained calm. This brought him a momentary sense of relief, but also raised some confusion and pressure due to the uncertainties that lay ahead.
However, this time, something seemed different.
“Hey! Look over there! What is that!?”
“?”
From somewhere came a panicked cry, just as Ashibern reached the stairs leading up to the city wall. He was about to turn back and rebuke the soldier who had overreacted, but in the instant he turned around, he froze in place.
A black abyss cracked open in the sky, and a meteor-like rain of flames began to fall.
It wasn’t aimed specifically at Demon Suppression City, this fiery rain burned across the sky, descending in a flurry of rapid and intense explosions on the ground.
“Enemy attack!!! It’s an enemy attack!!! All units, be on high alert! Fire signal flares!!!!”
After a brief moment of shock, Ashibern, a legendary figure, was the first to react. His roar instantly snapped most of the soldiers out of their stupor caused by the catastrophic scene. Bright signal flares burst in the sky above the city walls, but compared to the fiery clouds overhead, they seemed insignificant and unnecessary.
“Prepare for battle!!!!”
Ashibern drew his greatsword, assuming a defensive stance, and his commanding presence inspired the soldiers around him. They shouted and raised their weapons, ready to face the imminent threat.
Then, massive fireballs plummeted from the sky, crashing heavily onto the walls of Demon Suppression City.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Hard granite shattered and flew in all directions amidst the explosions. Some soldiers, unfortunate enough to be directly under the fireballs as they landed, were blasted backward, crashing into the walls and spitting blood. Even worse off, some fell straight down from the walls.
“Aaaaah!!!”
The soldiers’ screams echoed in Ashibern’s ears. Though he felt sorrow in his heart, he dared not be distracted because the true terrifying enemy had already revealed themselves from within those burning fireballs.
That was a terrifying creature he had never seen before. Its interior was rock-like, but its exterior surged with unquenchable crimson flames. Its body stretched out from the charred black crater, and the scorching heat rapidly spread outward from its center, melting the snow and chilling cold at an astonishing visible rate.
“What... What kind of monster is this?!”
“The creatures are turning against us again! Are they launching another attack?!”
“Calm down!! Stay calm!! This is no ordinary monster or beast! It’s an otherworldly enemy from the far reaches of the sky! Princess Menna evacuated the people and organized our defense because she knew they were about to invade!!”
With a roar, Ashibern immediately suppressed the frightened and anxious soldiers, and swiftly initiated an emergency mobilization.
“Pick up your weapons! We are the kingdom’s first line of defense, and behind us are our unarmed loved ones and children! Don’t panic, unite together! Humanity cannot be defeated! Hold the line!!! Slay the invaders!!!!!”
Among the officers, someone immediately responded loudly.
“Lord Ashibern is right! Why fear? Let’s just kill them all!!!”
“Kill!!!!”
The elite warriors left in Demon Suppression City, carefully selected by Princess Menna herself and the finest of the Human United Kingdom, had already escorted the civilians to the inner regions. With Ashibern, the leader of the Greatsword, even facing such a terrifying enemy, after a brief moment of panic, the defenders rallied. They shouted and charged forward without fear!
“Roar!!!!”
Flames wrapped around its body, the stone giant towering several meters high showed no fear. After a thunderous roar, its fan-like gigantic hands wildly swung, and with each motion, several soldiers were sent flying backward, engulfed in red flames, leaving no one able to contend with it for a moment.
“Monster! You shall not rampage!!”
Ashibern’s figure appeared in the sky, his greatsword like a waterfall. Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the fire giant’s reckless flailing among the soldiers, Ashibern struck decisively, severing its hasty defense left arm with a single blow that cleaved straight through from its head down, splitting it in half!
“Bang!”
The split flame stone giant crashed heavily to the ground, shattered into pieces. The crimson flames that had surrounded it gradually extinguished, and around him, excited cheers erupted from the soldiers.
“Lord Ashibern is mighty!!!”
Only Ashibern, standing with his sword, looked down at the scattered stones beneath him, then gazed towards the sky almost turned into a sea of fire, with countless flames still falling.
He concealed his hands, which were trembling slightly from the aftershock, his face now solemn.
“This... doesn’t look good.”
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