Chapter 253 : Chapter 253
Chapter 253. Air Raid
As the tiny black dots on the horizon grew larger and larger, not only Fulan, but everyone else present also realized that those black dots were heading straight here.
At the same time, Gillian’s expression suddenly changed, and she said,
“Run... no, raise the shield.”
She had originally wanted to flee at once, because she had heard the black dots in the sky slowing down, and at the same time, violent spell fluctuations had begun to spread from above.
Gillian had encountered this kind of flying unit from the Alliance’s Battle Mage Corps before, out at sea.
Even now, she still remembered that after approaching like this, that flying unit had slowed down and then unleashed a powerful spell attack.
But she glanced around and knew that if she were alone, she might still be able to make a run for it.
Behind her, however, were all the followers of the Goddess of the Currents. No matter what, she could not abandon them and flee by herself.
Just so happened that her team had already completed its preparations for the Collective Prayer, so she made a snap decision to raise a shield and resist in place.
While the crowd surrounding the castle still had no idea what was happening, the forces of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents quickly raised their shield.
Looking at that azure barrier, Patrick only had time to shout, “Run...”
Then he immediately rushed out of the crowd, and some of the mercenaries had long since sensed that something was wrong, so they had already started running.
Even on the beastmen’s side, Benedict swiftly directed everyone to move closer to the forces of the Goddess of the Currents, hoping to use them to withstand at least part of the damage.
There were still many people who had not reacted at all and remained standing there in a daze, not knowing what to do.
Were you not confronting the mage inside the castle just a moment ago? Why had a shield suddenly gone up? Why were the people behind me running too?
As the scene descended into complete chaos, the flying unit’s attack finally came down.
Because the information Fulan had passed to the flying unit was that the castle was under siege by enemies, Zane, who was commanding the unit, took one look at the ring of people surrounding the castle and decisively gave the order to attack.
Naturally, at a time like this, the flying unit had to use Group Casting to strengthen the power of the spell.
Since they were in the Northern Frontier, where the ice element was most active, the spell they chose was the second-tier spell [Blizzard].
Of course, not everyone in the flying unit knew that spell. As long as a small portion of them did, it was enough. The others could at least pour in their Mental Power.
In short, under their Group Casting, a powerful wave of spell fluctuation moved through the sky together with the flying unit.
As the commander of this flying unit, Zane knew the situation described in the report: everyone outside was an enemy, and the item they needed to find was inside the castle.
The people outside the castle could clearly sense their arrival, so their first strike would also be their most effective one.
Under such circumstances, he did not order the entire unit to continue strengthening the spell. Instead, he directly shortened the casting time, and after a mere five seconds, he released [Blizzard].
Gillian lifted her head toward the sky, focusing all her attention on the spell strike that was about to descend. She clearly felt that the horrifying spell fluctuation had stopped moving. That meant the spell had already been released.
“It’s here!” she warned everyone to brace for the impact and not let the shock interrupt the prayer state.
In the next instant, everyone present felt the sky dim slightly. When they looked up, they could clearly see that a vast mass of white had appeared out of nowhere above them.
This “curtain” did not cover the entirety of Snow Bear City. It only covered the area around the castle. Even so, those who saw it still felt their hearts tremble.
The “curtain” plummeted downward at terrifying speed. Almost in the very next second, it had covered all the areas surrounding the castle.
From another angle on the ground, it looked as though the castle had been wrapped in a layer of white matter.
Those white masses poured down from the sky so densely that outsiders could barely see what was happening within.
That white deluge cascaded downward like a waterfall, with no sign of stopping.
At the same time, Gillian, who was supporting the shield, saw that scene as well, and her pupils contracted.
“The mages’ Group Casting is still this powerful.” Feeling the shaking of the shield, Gillian could only feel helpless. This mission of hers was most likely going to fail. Those Alliance mages had truly arrived.
She looked at the crowd outside, those people who still did not understand what was happening.
The moment the blizzard descended, they were bent double by its force, and then the true nature of the blizzard—the ice elements within it—began to reveal their real power.
She watched as the people outside were almost instantly frozen into ice statues. Then the continuously crashing blizzard shaved fragments off those statues.
If they were fortunate enough to thaw out later, they would find that parts of their bodies were missing.
That was the power of the ice element. Once a person had been frozen into an ice statue, if the statue was shattered rather than thawed with fire, the person would break apart along with it.
Under the spell’s amplification, those ice elements had become incomparably ferocious.
Gillian looked beyond the shield she had raised. That was where the beastmen were. They had huddled together, using all of their bodies to drive away the ice elements.
They were trying desperately, but the effect was obviously minimal. She saw frost already appearing on several beastmen, and she shook her head. If the blizzard continued, not a single one of them would survive.
This blizzard was also a burden on the flying unit’s mages. Once Zane estimated that the spell had reached its planned duration, he immediately ordered it canceled.
Their mission was to retrieve the azure chest inside the castle. That was the task the Modification Society had assigned to them.
There was also the order from the headmaster: protect that Fulan whom he had personally introduced.
When Zane had prepared the spell, he had already sensed the mana identification plate on Fulan inside the castle. Only then had he felt at ease casting the spell.
A mana identification plate was a kind of plate into which only specifically authorized people could inject Mental Power, allowing it to serve as an identifying marker.
Mages used this method on the battlefield to distinguish friend from foe.
Zane directed the flying unit to gather at the castle gate. Because of the chaos just now, the area there had already been cleared into an open space.
Only the shield raised by the Church of the Goddess of the Currents still flickered with light.
The moment the battle mages landed, they swiftly activated the magical devices on their bodies.
Countless flashes of spell-light flickered across them, causing several beads of cold sweat to run down Gillian’s face.
Zane looked toward the interior of the castle. Although he had deliberately avoided the castle when casting the spell, some of the blizzard had inevitably spilled onto it.
As a result, one corner of the castle had already collapsed, and the space through which the main gate could be passed was now only half its original size. Through the gate, however, Zane could see Fulan standing there.
That let him breathe a sigh of relief. It was good that the person he needed to protect was unharmed. And with Fulan standing there intact, it also meant that the item still had a very high chance of being inside the castle.