The Collapse of the Millennium Ancient City
Preparing the grand magic in the Millennium Ancient City was far from smooth sailing. In the first place, casting such a large-scale spell alone was an incredibly daunting task, even for an S-class hunter. Back in the Other World, it would have been flat-out impossible for anyone who wasn't an out-of-this-world genius like Liselotte. Fortunately—if you could call it that—the Daehyeon Guild's raid party had two mages, which barely made the casting possible. I made up for their lack of numbers by using my buffs to boost their magical output.
But preparing the grand magic was only the beginning; there were other problems to worry about. There was no way the True Bloods and their subspecies would just sit idly by while we openly gathered such massive amounts of mana. The moment the magical resonance began to take physical shape, hordes of monsters swarmed us to disrupt the casting. The Daehyeon raid party and the S-class hunters quickly took up their defensive positions to hold them off.
By the way, I had wondered how they were going to conjure such a massive block of ice... and it turned out to be a method quite similar to weather manipulation. The S-class mage froze the moisture in the air and levitated the ice, while the other two mages used their mana to continuously supply moisture, rapidly expanding the frozen mass. Because they were forming the spell high above the castle, the distance was great and the mana loss was significant, making progress painfully slow.
I kept a close eye on our surroundings and acted accordingly. Whenever someone got hurt, I healed them from a distance, and during the brief lulls in combat, I consecrated holy water to distribute to the front lines.
"Huh. You can even conjure water?" the Vice Guild Leader of Daehyeon, Kim Young-chol, asked, staring at me with wide, astonished eyes.
"It's nothing special," I replied casually.
Of course, it was far from ordinary water. It was holy water, thoroughly consecrated with my divinity. Since it was highly toxic to vampires, I was thoroughly looking forward to seeing what kind of amusing results would occur once that massive block of ice crashed down.
"Tsk, they're swarming us like crazy."
An hour had already passed since we began preparing the spell. The block of ice had reached a decent size, but the relentless interference made it difficult to grow it any further. This was exactly why highly intelligent monsters were such a pain to deal with. The True Bloods and their subspecies, who had initially rushed in to kill us, quickly realized we weren't easy targets and began to retaliate with magic from a distance. They either fired spells to disrupt the ice block... or launched attacks directly at us.
It was a tactically sound decision. Unfortunately, our raid party was severely lacking in long-range damage dealers. If we broke our formation, we risked being ambushed; if we maintained it, we would be overwhelmed trying to block their incoming spells.
The iron-walled tanker, Park Young-shik, was drawing the enemies' attention with long-range taunts, but there was a limit to how many he could pull. Meanwhile, our master archer was disrupting them with ranged attacks, but their mana wasn't infinite. Having realized that keeping their distance was highly effective, the vampires refused to draw any closer.
"We can't hold out like this!"
The situation had deteriorated to the point where such desperate cries were breaking out. It wasn't as if the spell was anywhere near completion, either. The interference was so severe that we were lucky just to keep the existing ice block from being shattered.
"The Daehyeon raid party will hold this position, and the S-class hunters will move out to eliminate those bastards."
There was no other choice. That was the consensus.
"No, leave this place to me and all of you go on the offensive."
I stopped consecrating the holy water.
"What are you planning to do?"
"Sword Saint, you saw it back then, didn't you?"
"The barrier... is it that?"
"Yes. I'm going to hold the line with the same barrier I used to block that bombardment."
I'll hold them off, so wipe out the enemies in the meantime. That was what I wanted.
"I understand," Namgung Min replied. "If it is indeed the same defense that withstood that torrential downpour of magic, we should easily be able to hold out for dozens of minutes."
"Can we really trust this?" those who hadn't witnessed that event asked, their faces filled with anxiety.
"Remaining here like this is equally perilous. If so, should we not at least attempt something?"
At Namgung Min's words, everyone realized there was no other way.
"Seohui? You go too."
"Sister? Are you going to be okay?"
"Yes. It'll actually be safer once those damn vampires are taken care of."
Knowing she couldn't argue with that logic, my sister wore a reluctant expression.
"Alright, the signal is the moment I deploy the barrier. Get ready."
I gathered my holy power. Then, I pulled out a few pre-drawn talisman arrays from my pocket. Tossing them into the air around us, I channeled my divinity to cast the divine art.
Absolute Protection
True to its name, it was the ultimate defense to safeguard a designated area.
"Go!"
The range wasn't as massive as last time. It was a barrier just large enough to fit about ten people.
"This is..."
Now, let's see how fast our raid hunters can clean them up...
The Daehyeon raid party and the S-class hunters formed temporary sub-parties and scattered in all directions. Regardless of their movement, blood magic and various other spells came raining down on our position. However, they couldn't pierce the divine barrier that had already been deployed.
"Aaaagh!"
Of course, there was one guy who couldn't trust the barrier and let out a scream like a frightened toddler...
"My, what a wonderfully adorable scream. Just like a little boy's," I smirked, throwing a sarcastic remark his way. The man's face instantly crumpled in embarrassment. Watching his reaction, I burst into a fit of giggles.
"I can easily maintain this for over thirty minutes."
On top of that, the number of incoming spells was already beginning to dwindle, meaning I could probably hold it even longer. After ten minutes, the magic targeted at us had almost completely ceased, and the spells aimed at the giant block of ice had also decreased significantly.
"Whew, my mana is running dangerously low."
"Is that so?"
"I didn't expect the interference to be this severe. Especially their focus on launching spells at the ice block."
Apparently, because of the constant disruption, the results were rather underwhelming compared to the massive amount of mana they had expended.
"Well, even at that size, it looks more than enough to bring down the castle, doesn't it?"
"I'm not so sure. In my opinion, the moment we launch the spell, the enemies are highly likely to counter it."
When the mage pointed out that the other monsters had already done exactly that...
"Is that so?"
Indeed, it was highly unlikely that the True Bloods inside the castle would just stand there and take the hit like idiots.
After about an hour, the incoming spells had completely stopped, and the raid party returned.
"Good work, everyone."
I deactivated the protection and checked for any casualties. Some of the B-class and A-class hunters from the Daehyeon Guild had sustained minor injuries. There was supposed to be a healer among the Daehyeon hunters, but they had apparently been deployed to a different sector instead of ours.
"Come, show me your wounds."
"I'm sorry..."
To think they had gotten hurt despite my barrier... the battle must have been incredibly fierce. I reached out, placing my hand near their injuries. The divinity flowing from my fingertips quickly began to knit their flesh back together.
"No one got bitten, right?"
"Yes, we made absolutely sure to avoid that, even when we got hurt."
"Then that's a relief."
The hunters who had scattered in all directions returned one by one. The S-class hunters came back completely unscathed, while the B-class and A-class hunters who had sustained minor cuts and bruises were healed immediately. Fortunately, my sister didn't have a single scratch on her.
"You did great."
"Yes. We've cleared out a significant number of them, so we should be fine now."
"Indeed. I suppose it's our turn now."
The mages, their spirits renewed, began to channel their spells with vigor. Feeling guilty for having caused so much trouble earlier, they squeezed out every last drop of their remaining strength to ensure the mission's success. I simply watched from a comfortable distance.
By then, fifteen hours had passed since we entered the Gate, and two and a half hours had gone by since we initiated the spellcasting operation. We hadn't managed to grow the ice block to its target size. It was only about seventy percent of what we had originally planned, but this would be more than enough.
"All that's left is to launch it."
And let gravity do the rest...
"Go!"
The colossal mass of ice surged toward the castle. Unable to travel in a straight line, it traced a gentle arc as it plummeted. Because of the vast distance, I couldn't see the enemies' reactions. However, having spotted the ice hurtling toward them, the castle defenders began to bombard the frozen mass with a barrage of spells. They were probably panicking. I could tell even without seeing their faces.
And then, the ice collided with the castle. Although they had desperately tried to destroy it with magic, they had only managed to shave off a fraction of its outer layer before the colossal mass slammed directly into the fortress.
"Ahahaha! It's collapsing! It's falling down!"
The ice sank under the sheer force of gravity. Upon impact, the ice didn't even shatter; instead, it began to swallow the castle whole with its gargantuan mass. A violent tremor, akin to a massive earthquake, shook the ground beneath our feet, and everyone watched the spectacle in stunned silence.
Watching the True Bloods' castle crumble was an incredibly satisfying sight. I had wanted to tear it down like this back in the Other World, too... but we had ended up leaving it intact because of some nonsense about its "historical value," which had always secretly bothered me.
The ice, which had been carving its way through the fortress, suddenly ground to a halt. It was too far to see clearly, but a faint crimson aura seemed to envelop the area. The True Bloods were likely holding it back.
However, mixed within that ice was the holy water I had consecrated. Since it was frozen deep inside, it hadn't leaked out yet, but the moment it did, they were going to absolutely lose their minds.
"It's cracking..." Kim Young-chol, the creator of the ice, muttered with a look of regret as he watched the frozen mass fracture and splinter.
"I guess it wasn't enough after all."
He seemed to think the spell had failed because it was breaking apart before completely leveling the castle.
"No, this is where the real fun begins."
At that exact moment, the giant block of ice shattered. Shards of ice flew, rolled, and plummeted in every direction. The scattered fragments began to batter the castle once more. Given their immense mass, even the debris acted as lethal weapons.
And more importantly...
Among those shattered fragments was the holy water. Ice infused with pure divinity was mixed in with the debris.
"Now! Collapse!"
At my shout, the castle began to implode. The shattered fragments brought down the upper structures, and the collapsing debris crushed the lower levels, which in turn destroyed the foundations. It was a chain reaction, collapsing like a row of dominoes.
"Oh..."
Everyone stared, completely dumbfounded.
"Ha, I'd call this a resounding success."
Although we hadn't leveled it entirely, more than half of the castle had been reduced to rubble.
"It's definitely a success."
A vast number of monsters must have perished in the aftermath of that collapse. Now, all that was left...
"All that's left is to go in and finish off the boss."
The hunters, who had been resting while watching the castle crumble, picked up their weapons and stood up once more.
"Alright, let's go wrap this up."
Despite having fought for hours on end without a single proper break, their fighting spirit remained unbroken.
"Let's move."
"Yeah, I want to get this over with so I can go home and eat my wife's cooking."
"Hey, don't say that."
"Stop raising death flags, please."
Some of the Daehyeon hunters even playfully bickered with the S-class hunters. The atmosphere was remarkably warm and lively.
In them, I saw glimpses of the Hero's party—the comrades I had stood alongside on the battlefields of the Other World. I saw the light of people who refused to give up, fighting through the most grueling hardships without ever losing hope. A gentle smile naturally graced my lips.
They really are heroes, after all...