The troops that had previously advanced without fear now began to waver before that threat. Everyone believed it would be an easy war, but they were completely mistaken. Seeing Silent up close, they began to understand why it was necessary to set the entire world against him.

  Arcanists of the Ancient Art School and guild archers, under Fiamma’s command, continued to fire relentlessly.

  On the ground, soldiers died by electrocution, although part of the army managed to withstand the first waves of attack.

  The explosions of the Ancient Arts were momentarily muffled. The arcanists had no way to maintain their Arts constantly.

  Silent ran and leapt, descending from above onto the soldiers. The moment his foot touched the ground, several electric beams shot out like lasers, exterminating the platoon in that area.

  Even using enchanted armor, reinforced helmets, and heavy shields, nothing stopped Silent from cutting through them like paper.

  He swept through the path ahead. His fingers pierced a soldier’s helmet, sinking his hand into the man’s head. Then the body was hurled away, knocking several others to the ground. An electric cannon carbonized an entire rank of soldiers.

  Arrows flew and struck Silent. Enormous Ancient Art constructs exploded. Earth and fire abilities hit him, making him disappear amid the attacks. Everyone stopped to watch.

  The eyes of a mercenary, amid the crossfire, reflected Silent emerging from the flames. He was unharmed. Nothing had affected him.

  The mercenary froze. He could not believe the madness of having agreed to take part in that war. Regret consumed him.

  Before his eyes, Silent knocked down and killed soldiers. His fellow mercenaries and adventurers were brutally torn apart.

  The mercenary wanted to run, to flee far away, but it was already too late. His eyes slowly closed. In the end, all he could do was cry bitterly, as Silent beheaded him.

  Many men had their legs broken by Silent’s spinning sweeps.

  The retractable claws of his feet and hands extended. Flexing his legs, he charged like a bullet toward the battalion of spearmen. His body trembled before vanishing. When he reappeared, the battalion was unrecognizable, torn apart without even feeling pain.

  Silent trembled and vanished once again. When they realized it, hundreds of beastmen bore puncture wounds across their bodies and collapsed to the ground without even understanding what had happened.

  Several arrows flew, but none struck him. Even so, Silent had to catch an arrow that nearly hit his head and that was a mistake. The arrow crackled and exploded.

  A beastman soldier charged and leapt, managing to drive his spear into Silent’s chest, but it failed to pierce him. Another beastman’s sword struck his neck, unable to decapitate him. Then a large human soldier rushed in with a heavy shield and smashed into him, knocking him down and creating an opening for further attacks.

  Silent was pressed and attacked on the ground.

  Then thick sparks of electricity coursed through his entire body. An electric pillar formed, visible even to those outside the city. The strike swept the area, shattering everything around it. It was so devastating that bodies turned to ashes. Many archers and arcanists were annihilated.

  The electric pillar vanished, but that was enough to leave Neani, Morgana, Reiki, Boris, and Fiamma completely stunned.

  At that moment, absolute silence reigned.

  ***

  An adventurer who narrowly escaped being annihilated had his body overtaken by severe burns. Without strength and without the courage to continue, he fell to his knees, terrified. Tears streamed down his face before he lost consciousness, but at that moment, a mercenary hurriedly carried him away.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Many soldiers were also injured, and many collapsed to the ground, suffering from muscle spasms and burns. Immediately, the arcanists’ Ancient Art of healing began to act upon the army, and those who did not rise after receiving the Art were taken away by the mercenaries.

  Outside the city, camps were set up to treat the wounded. Inside one of the tents, the same mercenary was seen placing the adventurer onto a bed, while a medic treated him hastily with potions and herbs. The medic, however, had no time to treat him as he wished, for he needed to aid another wounded person who had just arrived and was on the brink of death.

  Not far from there, another medic tied bandages around the body of an arcana. In another tent, yet another medic rushed in with ointments against burns.

  Mercenaries continued to bring in more and more wounded, leaving the medics even more overwhelmed.

  ***

  An archer positioned atop a building was not intimidated. Even after seeing that electric pillar, he set his bow, ready to fire an arrow at Silent.

  "..."

  When he released the arrow, his attack managed to hit Silent, but the arrow merely ricocheted and landed on the ground, causing no damage to the enemy.

  The archer looked at Silent, thoughtful.

  He didn’t even bother to dodge…

  But soon, he saw that Silent had to catch a crackling arrow. As he grabbed it, Silent was blown back, the explosion dragged him slightly backward and then he had to dodge another arrow and run, moving out of the explosion’s range.

  The archer’s eyes turned toward Fiamma, at the top of the tallest building, watching her prepare more arrows.

  The archer looked at Fiamma’s bow and then at his own bow.

  He almost threw his weapon to the ground, but his attention shifted to the other archers. All of them were silent and not raising their bows.

  Seeing this, the archer took a deep breath and gripped his bow more tightly.

  "Come on, everyone!"

  His fellow archers looked at him.

  "No fear!"

  "If we attack, the chances are low."

  "If we stand still, the chances are zero!"

  "Raise your bows and fire the arrows, any hit is already a victory!"

  Seeing their comrade’s determination, everyone adjusted their posture and, after a moment, found the courage to continue wielding their bows.

  ***

  A veteran arcanist from the school stood atop a more distant rooftop. That had been the order conveyed by their leaders, passed along through Fiamma’s commands.

  To him, however, remaining so far from the battlefield meant only one thing: watching the deaths of his own comrades. With his gaze filled with fury, he stared at Silent.

  "Unbelievable… you bastard!"

  His teeth clenched, and his fists tightened so hard that they began to tremble.

  "Damn it!"

  Soon after, tears began to fall.

  I need to be stronger…

  ***

  On the battlefield, part of the army came to a halt.

  Even seeing the archers resume their attacks and the arcanists invoking the Arts, the army hesitated.

  "H-He’s a monster!"

  "We have no chance at all!"

  I saw fear spread among my men.

  Boris stepped forward toward the soldiers.

  "Do not give up, my dear and loyal men!"

  "We will win this battle!"

  As I spoke, I raised my sword, making my intentions clear. Seeing my determination and feeling my strength, the soldiers answered my words and, without hesitation, ran once more toward Silent, swords and spears in hand.

  Explosions and attacks resumed, but the damned Silent responded in kind. Even so, we still had many arcanists capable of using the Art of healing, though the situation was far from favorable.

  My anger only grew as I watched Silent massacre my soldiers.

  All the rumors were nothing but euphemisms!

  It could not continue like this. With my sword drawn, I urged my horse forward.

  When I realized it, I was not alone. At my side, mounted on horseback, Neani, Morgana, and Reiki advanced together.

  The four of us were about to face Silent.