Chapter 580: Sky Eye ( 580 )
Javier let out a sigh, his breath drifting calmly in the wind. Then, slowly, his expression grew serious.
His eyes narrowed sharply.
âI donât understand why some people put their brains on their knees,â he said, his voice tinged with irritation and disdain.
âDo they not value their own lives?â
Then he stepped forward, raising his handâfingers stretching toward the sky. The cold wind brushed past his coat and made his hair ripple.
âVery well,â he said, his tone sharpening.
The air around him began to tremble.
âKnightsâREADY!!â Javier roared.
Across the stone walls of the fortress, the puppet knights manning the anti air mana gun moved perfectly in sync. The anti-air mana guns locked onto their targets.
Mana cores throbbed with power.
Gears clicked as they activated.
Blue veins of energy crawled up each cannonâs barrel, pulsing with life.
Meanwhile, the 200 wyverns charged through the clouds like black arrows streaking across the sky, their riders glowing with prepared spells and magical auras, ready to attack from above.
Javier watched their reckless rush with sharp eyes.
His hand dropped.
âFIRE!!!â
A deafening blast tore through the air.
All twenty mana turrets fired at once, unleashing streams of concentrated mana rounds. These bright blue tracer-like blasts streaked through the sky like furious lightning.
The first wyvern in the front was cut in half mid-flight. Its body burst apart as three mana rounds pierced its armor, blood splattering across the clouds. The rider was gone before they could scream, disintegrating in the air.
The second and third wyverns caught fireâone exploding after a mana bolt hit its magical core, the other spiraling downward with shredded wings.
The line of fire moved swiftly, tracking every movement perfectly, taking down wyverns one after another.
Explosions shook the sky.
Wings folded as fallen wyverns crashed in large numbers.
Riders screamed, plunging down like burning meteors.
Some tried to turn backâbut it was too late.
The puppet knights continued to fire automatically, tracking every breath, every twitch of muscle of the fleeing wyverns.
More bolts screamed into the sky.
One wyvern tried to climb higher, but three shots hit it in the neck, chest, and wing. It spun once and then burst like a balloon, raining charred flesh.
Within seconds, the front third of the attacking force was destroyed. The rest turned around, panic-strickenâbut the sky was already a deadly trap.
Smoke and falling corpses blocked out the sun.
The air reeked of burning mana and blood.
One by oneâ
the 200 wyverns charging toward the fortress fell.
They dropped so quickly it was impossible to count.
So fast, there was no time to react.
Like flies swatted from the sky, their majestic roars cut off in mid-scream as mana bullets pierced wings, armor, and flesh.
The sky, once darkened by their imposing presence, now rained with burning debris, shattered saddles, and lifeless bodies.
Below, behind the inner battlements, the dwarves stood utterly frozen.
Eyes wide with shock.
Mouths agape in disbelief.
They had seen wyverns beforeâthey feared them, respected them as the top predators of the air. But nowâŠ
Now they watched in stunned silence.
âB-By the forgeâŠâ one dwarf whispered, clutching his helmet.
Another strained to count the falling monstersâthen stopped. It was impossible to keep track.
They were falling too fast.
The proud guardians of the skyâreduced to ashes.
Their fire, their strength, their ridersâ magicâall meaningless now.
âIs this⊠magic?â
âNo. This is⊠something else,â someone muttered.
The sound was deafeningâa relentless, violent scream of mana rounds exploding from the anti-air gunsârhythmic and unstoppable.
The ground trembled beneath the shockwaves.
From atop the wall, Javier remained unmoved.
He stood steady, watching silently.
No smile. No boasting. Just cold calm.
Because thisâ
This was war.
The wyvern commanderâs eyes widened in pure horror.
One moment, he was arguing with his troops.
The nextâ
His entire right flank was wiped out.
Bright explosions and smoke lit up the sky like cursed fireworks, and the high-pitched shrieks of dying wyverns filled the air.
âFALL BACK!!â he roared, his voice trembling with panic.
He jerked hard on his reins, spinning his mount around.
âBEFORE WEâRE SHOT DOWN TOO! MOVE!!â
The remaining wyvern ridersâthose who hadnât yet chargedâimmediately followed, forming up in tight formations. Their wings sliced through the wind as they hurriedly retreated, not daring to look back at the chaos behind them.
Down below, Javier stayed perfectly still on top of the wall, his sharp eyes watching the retreating figures in the sky.
He slowly raised his hand.
âCease fire.â
The anti-air mana guns stopped firing.
A heavy silence settled over the fortress like a thick blanket.
Smoke lazily curled from the weaponsâ barrels. The air was thick with the smell of burnt scales and mana residue.
A dwarf nearby muttered in disbelief,
âThey ran⊠The wyvern unit actually ranâŠâ
Javier simply stepped down from the wall and quietly said,
âNext time, think before testing the unknown.â
Inside Javierâs mind, his thoughts moved calmly as he stepped down the stone stairs from the stronghold wall.
Next targetâhalfling reinforcements.
His expression remained unchanged, but his eyes narrowed just a bit.
âI wanted to test the mana missile system nextâŠâ he mused, âbut I havenât finished setting up the satellite relay yetâŠâ
He paused briefly mid-step, then a small smirk appeared on his face.
Maybe I should send out the Sky-EyeâŠ
That was the name he had given it. A high-altitude drone of his own creation. Light, silent, enchanted with cloaking spells and layered with illusion magicâsomething the world had never seen before.
It hovered far beyond the range of sight, scanning the terrain using compressed mana pulses and transmitting tactical data back to the ground units. Not quite a satellite, but more than enough for now.
Letâs see how many they send this time, Javier thought.
His foot gently touched the last step.
From behind him, the wind stirred his cloak.
I wonât waste my best weapons on weak opponents⊠but if the halfling kingdom wants to challenge me with numbers againâŠ
His gaze grew cold.
Iâll show them what true modern warfare looks like.
( End Of Chapter )
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