Chapter 1672 - 233 - The Storm Hits (4)

"We are far away, and they can still throw missiles at us from their own backyard," I muttered while watching another missile streak across the sky.

The weapon disappeared into the darkness before another explosion erupted against the Guardian.

"Shall we hit them back?" Lilia asked as she looked toward the distant horizon. "If we return fire, we could probably make a fairly significant dent in whatever forces they're using to launch these attacks."

"Let's do it," I answered without giving the matter much thought.

Lilia nodded toward her men, and they immediately began moving into position.

The magic knights started forming a massive formation in front of us, arranging themselves into several carefully organized lines that gradually took the shape of something resembling an enormous magical cannon.

At first, I wasn't entirely sure what they were attempting to create.

Then the mana started gathering.

One magic knight after another began pouring their power into the formation, causing an enormous magic circle to appear in the center of their arrangement.

The circle continued expanding as more mana flowed into it, with several layers of magical symbols appearing around its outer edges.

The amount of energy being gathered was honestly ridiculous.

Even from where I stood, I could feel the pressure building around us.

The air itself seemed heavier, and the ground beneath our feet began vibrating slightly from the sheer amount of magical power being concentrated in one place.

A massive ball of fire gradually formed in the center of the magic circle.

It wasn't simply an ordinary fireball either.

The thing continued growing larger and brighter until it looked like a miniature sun had somehow been stuffed into the middle of their formation.

The heat coming from it was intense enough that several soldiers instinctively stepped farther away.

I couldn't really blame them.

Standing beside something that looked capable of burning through half the battlefield probably wasn't the smartest way to spend an afternoon.

Lilia looked toward the formation and gave her next command.

"Open the Guardian."

The Guardian Version 2.0 responded immediately.

Rather than lowering the entire barrier, a small section opened directly in front of the magic knights.

The opening was only large enough for the attack to pass through.

That was obviously intentional.

Lowering the entire barrier just to fire one attack would have been a spectacularly bad idea, especially while the Republic was still launching missiles at us.

The enormous fireball was finally released.

It shot forward with incredible speed, passing through the temporary opening in the Guardian before continuing into the distance.

The moment the attack completely cleared the barrier, the opening closed again.

The Guardian returned to its previous state almost immediately.

"It would do them no good if they insist on acting like cowards and attacking us from wherever they're hiding," Lilia said with a faint smirk.

I remained quiet while watching the fireball gradually disappear into the distance.

Based on its speed and trajectory, I thought there was a very good chance that it would actually reach the Republic's forces.

Of course, whether it would actually hit their launcher was another matter entirely.

Still, considering the sheer amount of power packed into that thing, I certainly wouldn't want to be standing anywhere near its intended target.

After a while, the bombardment against the Guardian 2.0 suddenly stopped.

The silence that followed felt strangely noticeable.

Lilia watched the distant horizon for several seconds before smiling.

"We hit them," she said confidently.

I glanced toward her.

She looked rather pleased with herself.

For a moment, it seemed like the situation had actually worked out in our favor.

Then, after a little more time had passed, reality decided to ruin the mood.

A much larger bombardment suddenly appeared in the distance.

Missiles began streaking through the darkened sky one after another, flying toward us at incredible speed before descending upon the Guardian 2.0.

There were far more of them than before.

They poured down from the sky like some horrifying rainstorm made entirely out of explosives, with one missile after another crashing against the barrier and producing enormous explosions.

The surrounding area repeatedly lit up from the impacts.

The sound was deafening.

Several soldiers behind me immediately became nervous.

I couldn't really blame them for that reaction.

From our position, we could see the explosions happening just outside the barrier, and the sheer amount of heat produced by every impact was enough to make the surrounding air feel uncomfortable.

If the barrier somehow failed, everyone standing here would be exposed directly to those attacks.

Considering the amount of destructive power being thrown at us, surviving would be extremely difficult.

Several soldiers began looking around nervously, while others tightened their grips on their weapons.

Some of them were clearly trying not to show fear.

Agneis noticed their reactions and immediately stepped forward.

"Relax, all of you," she said calmly.

Agneis was our military engineer and the person responsible for designing the Guardian 2.0, so there probably wasn't anyone present who understood the barrier better than she did.

"It was designed using principles similar to Leon's Guardian," she explained. "The structure is practically indestructible unless something capable of completely defying the laws of nature manages to hit it."

Several soldiers looked at her.

I could understand their hesitation.

Calling something practically indestructible sounded reassuring, but hearing that statement while hundreds of missiles were exploding outside the barrier was another matter entirely.

Still, Agneis sounded completely confident.

That confidence seemed to help.

The soldiers slowly began calming down, and the nervous expressions that had appeared across their faces gradually disappeared.

They needed that reassurance.

Having soldiers lose their morale before the actual war had even properly begun would have been disastrous.

History had proven countless times that an army could collapse from fear just as easily as it could from an enemy attack.

Sometimes, the most dangerous thing on a battlefield wasn't the weapon pointed at you.

It was the thought that you were going to lose.

While I continued looking toward the battlefield, Lionel and Reilhahand eventually approached and stopped beside me.

Both of them stared toward the distant explosions for a moment.

"It seems like it's about time we started taking this seriously," Lionel said. "It's been quite a while since I last participated in an actual war."

His voice carried a strange mixture of excitement and seriousness.

"The last time we went to war together was ages ago," Reilhahand replied. "That was when people from the other side of the continent were trying to destroy the Great Forest."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"We had our differences back then, but despite all of that, we still managed to fight together with honor."

"We still have our differences," Lionel said.

He wasn't trying to deny that.

Their history was far too complicated for something like that to disappear simply because they were standing on the same battlefield.

"But I understand that this isn't the time to make those differences obvious," Lionel continued. "Besides, this situation is different from what we faced before."

Another missile slammed into the Guardian.

The resulting explosion illuminated both of their faces for a brief moment.

Lionel watched the impact before continuing.

"This war actually feels like one where I could die."

Reilhahand remained silent for several seconds.

Then he gave a small nod.

"We might die," he said calmly. "But if that happens, we'll die protecting our country."

Lionel looked toward him.

The two of them remained silent for a moment as the explosions continued around us.

"Aye," Lionel finally replied.

They were standing surprisingly close together considering their history.

For quite some time, the two of them had been enemies.

They had fought against one another, disagreed over countless matters, and spent years standing on opposite sides of conflicts that had nearly torn the Great Forest apart.

Yet here they were now, standing beside one another while the Republic attacked us.

Their differences hadn't disappeared.

Neither of them had suddenly forgotten everything that had happened between them.

They probably wouldn't forgive one another overnight either.

Still, none of that mattered as much as it once had.

Right now, they were fighting on the same side.

They had the same enemy standing in front of them, and they had the same country behind them that they were trying to protect.