Boom!
A three-pronged assault closed in at once. Crimson-black, golden-yellow, and silver-white pillars of light crossed paths and crashed into the white giant in unison.
Shattered light patterns burst outward like stars exploding midair. The sea-born monster staggered, its massive body plowing through the waves and sending towering surges rushing toward the shore. On the walls of the Acropolis, priests and Magi worked frantically, reinforcing layer after layer of Magecraft barriers, barely managing to keep the battle's shockwaves from spilling into the city.
"Below the chest. The star core!"
Samael leveled his cross spear, calling out a warning to Athena and Themis based on his combat experience.
As their momentum rose, the Ether around the three deities boiled and surged. Drawn by their respective Authorities, it erupted into different brilliant hues that converged into a towering blaze of power, slamming again and again toward the white giant's star core.
"Laaaa!"
At the same time, a drifting sound rose from the sea. It was like a song, like poetry, like a call, like a whisper. Carried by the tidal flow of Ether, it condensed into visible golden-blue stellar patterns.
The rippling radiance spread at terrifying speed, instantly enveloping the white giant.
Amid an indescribable resonant tremor, the giant's pure white body was engraved with golden-blue star patterns identical to those on Sefar.
Then its features sharpened. Limbs, joints, and body contours solidified, becoming fully defined.
In its hand, a seven-colored light sword formed. With a single horizontal sweep, it forcibly blasted apart the combined attack from three directions.
Samael stared at the second Alien Vanguard before him. Its appearance was strikingly similar to Sefar's, and its presence was no weaker than hers. His expression changed instantly.
Celestial Sound Assimilation!
The abilities Sefar had acquired since descending upon Greece could actually be replicated onto other Alien Vanguards through sonic resonance.
Damn it. How are we supposed to fight something like this?
"Hm!"
As shock rippled through the battlefield, the second Alien Vanguard gripped its sword with both hands and plunged the blade into the sea. Rings of multicolored starlight emerged and gathered around its body.
At the same time, hundreds of golden-blue pillars of light erupted from the nearshore waters, shooting straight into the sky.
The sea churned violently. From within the gathering metallic particles, hundred-meter-tall monsters began to take shape. Each wielded a luminous spear, bronze bone spines etched with golden-blue star patterns spreading across their bodies, with tentacle-like wings of light extending from their backs. Step by step, they advanced toward Athens and the surrounding coastal city-states.
Behind them, deep-sea warships of all sizes surged forth, along with dense formations of Echidna Armory weapons and black-bodied, red-patterned humanoid combat units, all pouring out from the light pillars.
Damn it. They can even summon Colossi!
The Ancient Serpent felt his heart sink. Faced with the scale of the crisis, a growing sense of helplessness and frustration crept into his thoughts.
The Colossi advanced like living siege engines. Scattered islands along their path were either crushed underfoot or shattered apart by the deep-sea warships following in their wake.
When the distance closed to less than a kilometer, the star emblems across the Colossi's bodies flared brightly. Slowly, they raised their arms. The light spears in their palms tilted forward, their tips glowing ever more intensely.
Samael understood at once. They were gathering Ether, compressing it into high-density Mana beams, preparing a full-scale bombardment of the ground.
Before he could break away to stop their charge-up, a string of sonic booms tore through the air ahead. The Alien Vanguard, having synchronized Sefar's experience and abilities through [Celestial Sound Assimilation], was already swinging its seven-colored light sword down toward him, Athena, and Themis.
"Enemy attack! Defend! Defend!"
With no time to evade, Samael spun around and let out a piercing warning, his Divine Authority resonating outward.
In an instant, Orpheus temples across Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Iolcos, Arcadia, Calydon, and countless other city-states erupted in crimson light. Urgent echoes rang out as disaster bells wailed sharply, rattling eardrums and filling civilians with dread. One by one, the city-states activated their wartime Magecraft barriers.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
In the next heartbeat, thousands of crimson-black Mana beams erupted from the tips of the Colossi's light spears, streaking across the sky like a meteor shower racing through the heavens.
At the forefront, atop the Acropolis of Athens, thousands of Magi and priests raised their hands, chanting divine words as they drew in surging Ether.
Light rippled across the stone walls. Dense layers of Magecraft arrays rose in succession, guided by star charts and runes, forming twelve overlapping barriers that mirrored the Zodiac of the Areopagus.
Boom!
A massive crimson-black Mana beam, nearly dozens of meters thick, slammed down like a colossal battering ram, crashing into the semicircular protective barrier enveloping Athens.
Violent ripples spread outward from the point where the Mana beam struck, surging across the surface of the light barrier. The wave-like radiance that expanded in rings was beautiful, yet carried an unmistakable sense of danger.
As the divine patterns sustaining the barrier flickered between light and shadow, the Mana beam slamming into the light wall was gradually countered and neutralized.
But Athens was not facing a single Mana beam. It was facing hundreds.
The continuity and sheer ferocity of the barrage were enough to make one's scalp tingle.
Before the Ether shockwave bursting from one impact point could be fully dispersed, ten more beams, then dozens, then hundreds arrived in rapid succession, hammering different sections of the barrier with merciless precision.
In an instant, dazzling explosions of light erupted across the outer defenses. Shockwaves overlapped and intertwined, producing violent oscillations and distortions that refused to settle.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound was like shattering glass, ringing endlessly. The light wall fractured like brittle crystal, fragments breaking away and falling, only to dissolve midair into drifting motes of light.
Those hundred-plus savage Mana beams tore straight through three layers of carefully prepared Athenian barriers before finally dissipating.
At the same time, portions of the divine rune formations engraved into the Acropolis' stone walls—crafted from rare materials such as crystal dust and divine-beast blood—began to peel away and fade.
The defenders watched the Colossi advancing across the sea, wrapped in towering waves. Their expressions darkened, hearts sinking toward despair.
If the frontline intelligence was accurate, this weapon known as the [Ichor Cannon] could continuously compress Mana and fire at high frequency.
Yet the Acropolis' main defensive system consisted of only twelve barriers. Even if additional ones were erected in haste, their rate of depletion would never match the enemy's consumption.
Looking farther along the coastline, Corinth, Thebes, Iolcos, Arcadia, Calydon, and other city-states with limited preparations fared even worse. After being struck by only scattered beams, their Magecraft barriers were already flickering weakly, their defensive strength falling below critical thresholds.
The areas caught in the collateral damage were nothing short of catastrophic.
The earth had been plowed open into horrifying trenches. Melted soil flowed like lava. Mountains collapsed, vegetation burned and withered, and undefended villages were reduced to scorched wasteland. Thick black smoke rolled endlessly into the sky, devastation stretching as far as the eye could see.
Had the coastal wall not been constructed earlier, buying two crucial hours for the city-states to gather their citizens and enter emergency readiness, this single barrage alone would have resulted in casualties numbering in the thousands.
One Alien vanguard already possessed the power to contend with an entire pantheon. Two pushed the situation to the brink.
The window for a swift victory was gone. Ending this quickly was no longer an option.
The Colossi had to be dealt with first.
Samael, Athena, and Themis steadied themselves. Seeing the ruined villages and city-states behind them, they could only grit their teeth, abandoning—for now—the attempt to finish off this Alien vanguard and turning instead to clear the battlefield.