“Soldier, bring them to the mid-grade mage towers!”
“Yes, my lady!”
“Fifth-Grade Magicians, step forward!”
“Soldier, bring them to the low-grade mage towers!”
“Yes, my lady!”
In the blink of an eye, a good half of the students Dirk Norway had brought here were led away, leaving behind only about a dozen Fourth-Grade Magicians who hadn’t received any instructions yet.
Amongst them were the fully-armed Hart dressed in a suit of golden armor—he was fully and completely wrapped—and carrying a golden magic staff, the expressionless Abbe, as well as the porcelain-skinned Dragon Person teenage girl, Tanna.
Fatty Hart and the others looked at Marchioness Cesia in anticipation, hoping that she’d arrange for them to enter the mage towers too. However, they were sorely disappointed.
Marchioness Cesia said, “One must be a Fifth-Grade Magician at the minimum in order to control the mage towers. All of you are too weak, so you can only fight against the enemies at the top of the city walls.”
“...”
Fatty Hart and the others exchanged looks in silence.
As Magicians, they naturally knew of amazing tools like the mage towers. They had just been thinking of going in to take a look and broaden their horizons, but little did they expect that things would turn out like this...
However, Marchioness Cesia didn’t have the leisure to be sensitive to their feelings because the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants covering every inch of the wilderness had already come engulfing toward them like a red deluge.
One couldn’t see to the end of the flood of ants, nor could they see the edges. They stretched on for several hundred kilometers!
There was no end to them, whether from the left and right or from the front and back.
At the sight of the ant tide’s terrifying scale, Dirk Norway’s countenance was extremely grave. “Marchioness Cesia, the ant tide is actually invading with such a fearsome momentum? It’s more terrifying than any of the past beast tides!”
Marchioness Cesia’s pretty face was dark and somber as she replied, “The area that the ant tide covers has probably already exceeded 300 miles. In addition, there is still an endless stream of ants on their way here. I’m afraid...”
She didn’t voice the rest of her thoughts, but anyone could tell what she meant—”I’m afraid it bodes more ill than fortune. It’s going to be hard to defend the pass!”
“We won’t be able to defend the pass?”
Fatty Hart and the others tensed up at once. The ant tide army surged toward them like seawater, emanating a baleful aura that rocketed to the skies. The sight of them made chills run down their spines. How would they still have the courage to fight against them?
“Can we really fight against that many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants?” Blood drained from a few of the students’ faces, and they turned as pale as sheets.
“What nonsense!”
Dirk Norway barked coldly, “As Magicians guarding the pass, how can you let fear consume you before you’ve even begun to fight? Listen well, all of you are Magicians that my Fire Dragon Magic Academy has groomed!
“No matter where and no matter when, you mustn’t forget your identities as Magicians! Nor can you bring disgrace to the academy!
“So what even if you’re weak? You can still enter the battlefield and take out the enemies! Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts, so as long as you can kill even just one, you’d have performed beyond expectations! Do you understand me?”
“Understood!”
A severe jolt went through Fatty Hart and the others, and the fear in their eyes faded slightly.
Dirk Norway nodded lightly. Then, he instructed, “However, killing the enemy aside, all of you must take utmost care to protect yourselves. I don’t wish to bring any of your corpses back! Do you hear me?”
“Yes!”
“Good!”
Dirk Norway let out a breath of air. All strong experts started out weak and feeble. Who hadn’t been nervous, scared, and fearful before?
The key was in adjusting one’s frame of mind and overcoming their fear, as well as to muster one’s courage after having a sense of shame and then strive to be better.
That way, they would definitely become powerful experts.
However, if experiencing just a bit of setback could frighten them so badly that they lost all of their courage and ended up becoming overly cautious, then no matter how wonderful their talent was, they would never amount to anything.
“Hear my orders! Arbalists... Fire!”
Upon seeing that the ant tide army’s vanguards had already charged right up to them, Marchioness Cesia waved the huge sword in her hand and gave the order to attack.
Boom, boom, boom!
Various ballista bolts with lightning, flames, storms, and ice frost circling around them shot out viciously and exploded with deafening booms among the ant tide. At once, the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants suffered a great number of casualties, and quite a few voids appeared in the boundless ant tide.
“Alright!”
“Nice!”
Upon the sight of this, Fatty Hart and the others couldn’t help but become greatly enthused. Did they even need to worry about being unable to exterminate the ant tide with efficient weapons like these?
Unfortunately, the ants weren’t affected in the least. They stepped over their comrades’ carcasses and continued to surge toward them. The voids created by the explosions were filled in no time, and the situation returned to what it was like before.
“This...”
Fatty Hart and the others were stupefied. The deaths of so many Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants hadn’t actually had any impact on the ant tide at all? Weren’t they afraid to die?
“That is what makes ant tides more terrifying than ordinary beast tides.” Dirk Norway explained in a deep voice, “The beasts in beast tides are afraid to die, so it’s hard for them to become united. However, the ant tide is fearless and marches on courageously unless you exterminate all of them. Otherwise, they’ll never retreat!”
“Why is this happening?”
The group of newbies was frightened by the scene before them. However, what happened next told them that this was only the beginning.
“Fire!”
Boom, boom, boom!
The ballistae launched attacks in a frenzy. Dozens of bolts exploded in the center of the ant tide, yet there wasn’t even a bit of effect at all.
Wave upon wave, the ants continued to advance endlessly.
Even after killing the ones at the front, there were still those behind them.
There was no end to them at all, and it practically filled one with hopelessness.
“So this is what an ant tide is?”
Fatty Hart and the others sucked in a breath of chilly air.
In this instant, they finally understood a few things. For example, why the kingdom had issued a special-class beast tide warning, why the academy had assembled the seniors on a large scale to resist the ant tide, and why the kingdom was in an uproar as if doomsday had come.
With an ant tide as terrifying as this, what difference was there between this and doomsday?
Chapter 105: Death Tempest, Give The Order To Withdraw
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As though churning waves, the red ant tide stretching on for several hundreds of kilometers attacked the Great Dragon Blood Wall in a frenzy.
Ballista bolts hurtled through the air, arrows shot and flew through the air, and spells bombarded the ant tide.
The guarding militants fought on desperately in the bloody battle.
Countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were sealed in ice, burned into ashes, electrocuted into charcoal, impaled like hedgehogs, slashed into ribbons...
However, it still couldn’t stop the crazy ant tide. They advanced wave upon wave, endlessly, fearlessly, and with no end to them.
The attacks didn’t have any effect on them!
They were getting near now!
The ant tide got nearer and nearer, about to flood the North River Pass any moment!
“We can’t stop them!”
“We can’t stop them at all!”
“We’ll be ripped into shreds!”
A few students broke down at the sight of this and began to scream and shout like lunatics. They were hysterical and had lost their marbles.
“Shut up! Don’t affect the soldiers’ morale!”
Upon seeing this, Dirk Norway glared at them viciously.
Boom!
As though a heavy hammer had struck them, a spiritual attack that had physically manifested knocked out those few students, and they collapsed limply on the ground.
With a wave, Dirk Norway barked in a low voice, “Bring them down!”
“Yes, sir!”
A few soldiers hurriedly carried the students away. Dirk Norway let out a faint sigh as he gazed at them from the back.
He knew that those few students were now useless for good. Even if they woke up, it would leave behind serious psychological trauma in their hearts. It’d be very tough for them to amount to much in the future.
However, Dirk didn’t find this a pity.
Students like them were psychologically fragile by nature. No matter how good their magic talent was, there would surely be a limit to their future achievements, so they wouldn’t have amounted to much anyway.
“Remember this!”
Dirk Norway’s gaze swept across Hart and the others. “Do you think you can become strong just by relying on your talent? That’s nothing but just a daydream! Talent is just a prerequisite! Hardships and setbacks are an expert’s real trials and tribulations!
“True experts must undergo trials of blood and fire. They must undergo innumerable battles and setbacks, and they must endure hardships and pain that ordinary people find hard to even imagine!”
Dirk Norway’s gaze was cold and frosty. “Excellent talent doesn’t count for much. Neither does having a sham of a cultivation realm. Breaking down the moment you enter the battlefield? You’re still a good-for-nothing all the same and will bring harm to others and yourself!”
Awe and reverence filled Hart and the others. They couldn’t help but lower their heads, not daring to meet Mr. Dirk’s eyes.
Dirk Norway’s gaze swept across every one of their faces one last time. Then, he turned and got on top of the parapet and began to launch attacks.
“O’ the omnipotent wind fairies, with air as your bow and light as your arrows, please accept the power of my will and cut across the skies in the far distance... Death Tempest!”
Buzz, buzz!
The Wind Elements in the universe began to converge in a frenzy, and a black tornado completely made up of wind blades and measuring several hundred meters wide, and thousands of feet tall quietly took shape.
Ninth-Grade Spell... Death Tempest!
Boom!
With a devouring power that could destroy the heavens and earth, Death Tempest landed in the center of the ant tide in an instant. Amid earth-shaking explosions, countless Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants were devoured by the tempest and wrung into dust.
“Spin!”
With a wave of Dirk Norway’s magic staff, Death Tempest began to spin around in the battlefield, appearing in one spot one moment and another spot the next.
Everywhere it passed by, the ants were reduced to nothingness.
“That’s so awesome!”
“The mighty Mr. Dirk!”
“That’s so impressive!”
“As expected of Mr. Dirk!”
Hart and the others’ spirits were greatly roused. The shadows looming over all the soldiers were swept away at once, and they began to see the hope of victory.
Death Tempest’s destructiveness was too fearsome.
In just a short breath, it’d already killed almost 10,000 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants. If he could unleash a few more Death Tempests, wouldn’t the ant tide be reduced to dust?!
“Everyone! Let’s charge, too!”
“Mr. Dirk is right! Even if I must bite them...”
“Kill!”
The students were greatly encouraged, and all of them stepped onto the parapet. They imitated Mr. Dirk and also began to chant magic incantations.
For a moment there, all kinds of magic elements converged around them.
The horrifying scene continued on...
A thick, dense bloody aura shrouded the battlefield!
Time slipped by bit by bit!
Unknowingly, an hour had gone by!
Despite every single soldier fighting desperately, the ant tide showed no signs of decreasing at all, and their momentum didn’t weaken in the least. On the contrary, more and more of them showed up, and their momentum also became stronger and stronger.
This was even under the circumstances where Dirk Norway, a Great Ninth-Grade Magician, was fighting desperately against them. If he hadn’t been here, the North River Pass would have fallen a long time ago.
“We can’t hold them back! The ant tide’s momentum is too strong! If this goes on, we won’t be able to defend the pass at all!”
Marchioness Cesia had an awful look on her face. “Where are the reinforcements? How long more before the fastest reinforcements reach us?”
A soldier quickly replied, “My lady, an hour!”
“An hour? If this goes on, we won’t even be able to last half an hour, much less an hour?” Marchioness Cesia gritted her teeth. “Urge them to hurry! Tell the reinforcements to hurry here with everything they’ve got! Get them to speed up!”
After she spoke, she strode up to Dirk Norway and asked somberly, “Mr. Dirk, even at the earliest, the reinforcements still need at least an hour before they can arrive. How long more can you hold out?”
His countenance solemn, Dirk Norway replied, “Ninth-grade spells are too taxing on my magic power, so I can’t hold out for an hour. It’s possible if I cast sixth- or seventh-grade spells the whole time instead, though!”
“There’s a limit to sixth- and seventh-grade spells’ destructiveness. North River Pass will fall in less than an hour!” Cesia shook her head repeatedly. “Mr. Dirk, how long can you hold out for if you keep casting ninth-grade spells with a scale like Death Tempest’s?”
“Half an hour at the most.” Dirk Norway gave her a resigned smile. “The amount of magic power large-scale ninth-grade spells like Death Tempest consume is terrifying. If I continue this for another half an hour, all the magic power that I’ve accumulated over my entire lifetime will be exhausted for sure, and I’ll need a very long time before I can recover.”
“Half an hour...”
Cesia fell silent.
At that moment, a soldier approached while panting heavily. “My lady, this is terrible! The ant tide 30 miles away is attacking the city walls!”
“My lady, the city gate tower 100 miles away has been occupied by the ant tide!”
“My lady...”
More than 10 soldiers hurried over in succession, yet the news that they brought rammed heavily against everyone’s hearts like a hammer. Everyone’s faces were deathly pale, and hopelessness arose within them.
19 areas of the city walls had fallen to the ant tide—that was a whole 19 areas!
Would more and more fall after this?
“Are we ultimately unable to defend the pass after all?” A dazed Marchioness Cesia murmured, “To be honest, in the instant that I saw the ant tide’s scale, I knew that it was impossible to defend the pass. I’ve ultimately still underestimated the ant tide’s might... Sigh!”
Dirk Norway also let out a sigh and stayed quiet.
The ant tide stretched on for 300 miles, which meant that more than 300 miles of defense line were simultaneously under their attack.
How much military manpower did the North River Pass only have? And how many Magicians?
Without any reinf
orcements, breaking past the pass was inevitable.
Cesia said solemnly with a sigh, “Mr. Dirk, while the ant tide hasn’t reached this area yet, hurry and leave with your students. They are the kingdom’s future. Nothing must happen to them!”
Dirk Norway closed his eyes, a look of affliction and struggle surfacing on his face. He knew what withdrawing signified and also knew what the falling of the pass meant.
Lives would be plunged into great misery and suffering.
Countless lives would be lost.
But there was nothing he could do.
There was nothing he could do about it.
He was ultimately just a single, lone person.
He couldn’t stem the raging tides and save the world from a crisis.
In the end, after a long internal struggle, Dirk Norway waved his arm and brought out a magic airship anyway. He ordered, “All students, board the airship and withdraw at once!”
“Mr. Dirk, are we going to give up just like that?” Hart couldn’t accept such a conclusion. “If we leave and the ant tide breaks past the pass and surges in, what are the people in the city going to do? They’ll be exposed to those sharp teeth of the ants.”
“There’s no other way. There’s nothing I can do!” There were tears in Dirk Norway’s eyes as he said, “The ant tide is invading with a vengeance, yet our line of defense is heavily damaged. It’s like an old ship in the great ocean that’s leaking in every corner. There isn’t even any way to block the holes. There’s really nothing I can do about this!”
Hart fell silent at once upon his response.
“There’s ultimately a limit to a person’s strength. How can anyone possibly oppose a natural disaster?” Dirk Norway wiped the tears from his eyes and instructed, “Let’s go. There’s nothing we can do to help even if we stay here. Let’s leave as soon as possible!”
“I understand, sir!”
Hart and the others hung their heads and boarded the airship one by one.
Dirk Norway looked at Marchioness Cesia and asked softly, “Marchioness Cesia, what are your plans now?”
“We can only withdraw!” Marchioness Cesia had a complicated look on her face. “It’s just that I’ve guarded the North River Pass for over 10 years. Today is the first time that I have to abandon the city. I can’t accept this!”
Picking Up Attributes From Today c1-406 Page 56