Level Up Machine 068: Siege of Talion Fortress (3)
“Commence bombardment!”
At the center of the wall, a woman with waist-length blue hair raised one hand high. She was Park Sia, guild master of Leviathan Guild, bearing the mythical title of the sea monster from legend.
The voice, infused with dense mana, spread across the entire two-kilometer wall. The summoners gulped at the overwhelming power they felt in her words. Just hearing it sent a chill through their bodies, as if they were freezing solid.
Rumble rumble rumble!
At her command, all the ranged attackers unleashed their magic and skills in unison. From palm-sized fireballs to three-meter-long spears of lightning. Spells and arrows gleaming with brilliant light rained down on the monster horde.
Boom! Rumble rumble!
-Kraaaah!
The intense shockwaves reached the wall, shaking the plains. Monsters caught in the massive explosions writhed in agony, letting out pained roars.
“Push harder!”
Park Sia scanned the battlefield with calm eyes and shouted. Her words ignited the summoners' morale. It was the activation of her buff skill, Water God's Blessing.
“Ice Spear!”
“Triple Shot.”
The Salvatore Guild members on the right section of the wall followed Park Sia's lead, unleashing ranged attacks. Mana gathered at the tip of A-ra's staff, forming a massive spear that hurtled toward the monsters.
Following A-ra, Hwang-hyeon nocked three arrows into his longbow and murmured the skill name in a low voice. The three-pronged arrows struck dead center in a cluster of monsters' teeth.
“Grasp of Restraint.”
A ominous skill name slipped from the lips of Han Tae-young, the boy with a slightly cocky air. Dark red claws erupted from his left arm, clamping around an ogre's neck.
-Kraaaah!
The ogre, throat crushed by the dark red claws, let out a bellow of pain with bloodshot eyes.
Han Tae-young possessed the hidden class Fallen Priest, which allowed him to use shields and curses simultaneously. Unlike typical healers, he couldn't use healing skills except for shields, so Chae-rin teased him as a "half-assed healer." But his curses were specialized debuffs that rivaled even those of black mages, so it wasn't that simple.
“Don't use up all your mana on skills. You'll run short when things get dire later.”
Tiriya said softly to those bombarding from afar.
A-ra, Hwang-hyeon, and Tae-young nodded and continued attacking, sipping mana recovery potions in between.
Yeong-sik narrowed his eyes, glaring at the monster horde.
Still none.
He grew even more tense at the ominous feeling he'd sensed when he first spotted the monster unit.
The core force of the monster horde—Dragonians. Aside from a few, most were nowhere to be seen.
Planning to use their breath attacks?
The biggest reason the first Northern Borderline had fallen so easily was the Dragonians' breath. But the subjugation force wasn't dumb enough to fall for the same trick twice. They'd layered multiple powerful magic barriers over the wall. It wouldn't fully block a Dragonian breath, but breaking through would require at least twenty Dragonians blasting simultaneously.
The subjugation force actually hoped they'd overextend with breaths. Right after using breath, Dragonians' stamina plummeted, so strike teams were ready to pounce. Centered around White Sword Kang Ha-rin and Warlock Park Sang-jun, they were poised to charge the moment breaths fired.
If not breath, then why aren't they showing in the siege?
Dragonians had human-level or superior intelligence. Such smart monsters wouldn't ignore the defenders' advantage in a siege.
Yeong-sik turned to survey the horde. Over a thousand high-level monsters, with the highest proportion of elites: giant-type monsters. Even one ogre took heroic effort to fell. Yet the horde included even stronger minotaurs and cyclopes in numbers.
They're definitely powerful... but...
Yeong-sik glanced at the summoners firing magic from the wall. About five thousand participants, mostly low-level 30s and 40s. But that many attacks formed unignorable firepower. Outnumbered and defending a wall, the tide naturally favored the summoners.
They couldn't have failed to predict this.
Yeong-sik's eyes sharpened as he thought that. Dragonians weren't stupid; they knew skipping the siege would lead here.
“Something wrong, Yeong-sik?”
Yuna, with no role as a melee fighter, asked him.
Yeong-sik replied to her with deep, sunken eyes.
“Something feels off.”
“What? Aren't we winning big?”
Yuna tilted her head in confusion.
Yeong-sik turned to explain the missing Dragonians—
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Monsters that pierced the ranged barrage slammed the wall with brute force. The 20-meter Talion fortress wall shook violently.
“Our turn at last!”
Yuna, bored of watching, drew her twin blades with a cheerful shout.
Yeong-sik set aside his doubts for now and turned to the monsters.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Monsters are climbing the wall!”
“Melee summoners, defend the wall!”
True to their giant monster name, ogres, minotaurs, and cyclopes climbed crudely. They jammed hands into the sturdy stone and scaled the 20-meter height.
Warrior-class summoners drew weapons and stepped forward.
Whoosh!
“Time to loosen up!”
Yuna, who barely fought properly in the prior palace raid, grinned and thrust her twin blades at a climbing minotaur's head. Fierce flames from the swords engulfed it.
The minotaur roared and plummeted.
“Focus fire to keep monsters off the wall!”
At Tiriya's call, Salvatore members moved. Park Cheol-tae smashed his enormous greatsword down on climbing monsters' heads. They couldn't withstand and fell.
On flat ground, even high-level Park Cheol-tae couldn't dispatch them so easily. But from above, terrain advantage left them helpless.
Grrr rumble!
Warrior summoners desperately blocked climbers. But they couldn't stop all.
A cyclops atop the wall bellowed savagely, swinging massive arms.
“Blade.”
Click.
With Yeong-sik's low murmur, a 30cm blade sprang from his left wrist.
The cyclops charged toward A-ra and Hwang-hyeon.
“Uncle!”
“Got it!”
Yeong-sik called Gil-su. Gil-su thrust his Radiant Shield forward, firing a shockwave.
Boom!
-Grrr rumble!
The cyclops's gaze fixed on Gil-su. Its basketball-sized eye gleamed with madness.
“Urgh...”
Gil-su froze under its stare. At level 45, the cyclops was too strong for him.
Shooo!
Boost flames ignited at Yeong-sik's feet. His body rocketed forward.
“Draw Blade.”
Slash!
-Kraaaah!
Before the cyclops, Yeong-sik spun half-turn and slashed down. The blade extended to a meter, slicing deep.
-Grrr rumble!
The cyclops eyed Yeong-sik and swung a fist bigger than a man's torso.
Its massive mace-like fist targeted him.
“Spirit's Blessing! Divine Shield!”
Han Tae-young's magic enveloped Yeong-sik. A translucent barrier formed, boosting speed and strength. Priest buff activated.
Boom!
Empowered, Yeong-sik twisted aside, dodging. The fist pulverized the wall, sending stone shards like bullets.
Ting ting ting!
Shards ricocheted off his shield. The missed cyclops left a huge opening. Yeong-sik's eyes sharpened.
“Shotgun.”
Click.
His right hand dropped, revealing dual barrels. He fired at the cyclops's huge eye.
Bang!
-Kraaaah!
The eye exploded. The cyclops thrashed blindly, arms sweeping wildly. But Yeong-sik, more agile than level 90 warriors, evaded easily with a relaxed expression.
“Rift.”
Yu-jin, watching, targeted its neck with space magic. Space warped, severing the head clean off.
“Watch out! More monsters topping the wall!”
Yuna shouted, soloing an ogre.
Yeong-sik nodded and charged another climber.
“Heavenly Light.”
Then, a beautiful voice whispered in his ear—Tiriya's, now familiar.
Yeong-sik turned toward her.
Hummm.
Brilliant light shone from Tiriya's right arm. She slowly extended it forward.
Whoosh!
-Kraaaah!
Three ogres touched by the light incinerated to ash instantly.
Yeong-sik let out an admiring whistle at her single strike wiping level 70 elite monsters.
That's the power of Tiriya using Grace of the Archangel.
He'd heard angel-empowered Tiriya rivaled rankers untouchably, but seeing it chilled him.
At this rate, we can clean them easily.
He couldn't check everywhere, but Salvatore's right wall perfectly repelled the assault.
Time to bag a Dragonian as planned.
Yeong-sik scanned for one—
Kaboom rumble rumble!
A massive explosion and red beam of terrifying mana shot out. Dragonian breath.
“Wait!”
Yeong-sik's face hardened.
“Why is the breath coming from there...”
The breath wasn't fired from outside toward the wall. It came from inside the fortress city of Talion they guarded.