Only after more than half the army had safely withdrawn behind the walls did Ophis allow a faint smile to touch her face.
Hmm… Have I been so busy lately that I've neglected Enkidu's request? she wondered, faintly uneasy.
In the distance, Merlin was still toying with the demonic beasts, arranging them into various amusing formations. At this point, it ought to be safe enough, right?
Thinking that, Ophis finally let herself relax a little.
Unfortunately, she didn't know...
After everything settles down, such thoughts are fine.
But to start thinking that way before it's truly over—that's the textbook way to raise a flag.
"Siduri, next—"
Turning, Ophis began to assign Siduri her next task, but before she could finish, a chorus of shrill whistles split the air.
"My King!"
At Siduri's urgent cry, Ophis looked up to see countless crimson needles raining down, each packed with tremendous magical power.
Their target was the smaller half of the army that had yet to make it through the gates.
Frowning slightly, Ophis flicked her hand. A violet gale of energy surged out, met the needles head-on, and blossomed into a string of midair explosions.
Even as she deflected the volley, several crimson lances speared straight toward her.
So I'm the target, hm…
Ophis understood at once.
"Siduri, be careful."
"My Ki—?"
Before Siduri could even ask what to be careful about, Ophis rather casually—kicked at her.
Siduri crossed her arms on instinct. The kick barely hurt, yet its force sent her skidding backward until she was knocked clean off the wall.
"Waaah!?"
Newton's laws finally asserted themselves as Siduri let out a short scream and dropped straight down.
Ignoring her plight, Ophis used the recoil from the kick to vault off the wall as well.
An instant after the two left their positions, crimson spears slammed into the spot where they'd been standing and blasted a large section of the parapet apart.
"Raise your shields!"
Abrupt as it was, the soldiers below were well trained—and used to their King's odd orders. They obeyed at once, lifting shields high to form a solid platform for Ophis's landing.
The moment her feet touched down, Ophis spotted a tiny red gleam on a distant hill.
Silver Chains of Heaven snaked from her sleeves, coiling into her palm and turning transparent, crystalline. She set that hand before her chest.
A tightly focused crimson beam arrived a heartbeat later, slamming against the chain in her palm and throwing off a shower of sparks.
At the same time, dozens more lance-like beams appeared—not at Ophis, but at the Uruk soldiers around her.
"So that's your real goal?"
With her free hand, Ophis formed a pistol with her fingers and pointed toward the distant hill. Behind her, magic circles—equal in number to the incoming lances—flared to life, spitting violet bolts that erased each crimson shot in turn.
Meanwhile, the sniping beam hammered steadily against the chain in her palm.
If she dodged even a little, it would punch through the wall and rip into the forces sheltering behind it.
But…
"I don't really get sniping, but shouldn't you at least change positions?"
On an intact stretch of wall, Arjuna had already drawn his bow to the limit. A dazzling blue arrow of dense magical power rested on the string, aimed straight at the source of the beam.
Ophis's earlier gesture hadn't been for show—it had been an order to Arjuna to ignore defense and counter-snipe.
"Master, your command."
"Fire."
"As you wish."
Arjuna dipped his head and intoned, quiet but firm,
"Beneath the karmic flames of Agni, God of Fire, scatter like dust—[Agni Gandiva]."
His words fell, and the blue arrow screamed through the sky, striking the far hill dead-on.
A burst of blue flame swelled into a blazing sphere, devouring more than half the hill like a second sun. Heat washed all the way to Uruk's walls, and the irritating beam pinning Ophis vanished without a trace.
Several dozen breaths later, when the azure sun finally faded, every soldier with a clear view of the hill drew in a sharp breath.
What had been a solid hill now stood hollowed out at the center, as if chewed by some colossal beast. Blue fire still crawled across its flanks, with no sign of dying out.
What was certain was that any demonic beasts on the hill had been reduced to barely a tenth of their former number.
"Hero Endowed by Heaven"—perhaps not purely praise, but undeniably a testament to Arjuna's overwhelming might.
"Lord Arjuna is incredible…"
"So this is Lord Arjuna?!"
"Lord Arjuna!"
"Lord Arjuna! Lord Arjuna! Lord Arjuna!" voices echoed.
Shock lasted only seconds before Uruk's troops erupted into cheers, chanting Arjuna's name.
Terrifying as the sight was, it wasn't beyond belief.
After all, the legends told how the goddess Ishtar once marched into Mount Ebih, growing stronger with every step until she tore off the mountain's peak, pierced the earth's heart, and destroyed it outright—never mind that her temple now sat cozily inside that very mountain.
With such precedents, Uruk's soldiers accepted Arjuna's overwhelming strength—and cheered all the harder that it stood with them.
"Phew, finally wrapped up over here too, huh?"
By then, Ophis had leapt back onto the wall, and Merlin had somehow appeared at her side.
"Good work."
"Yes, yes, terribly exhausting—tedious, messy chores, only for my spotlight to be stolen at the end. In a novel, this would be a catastrophe, you know—the protagonist completely upstaged by a supporting character!"
At Merlin's ridiculous complaint, Ophis could only sigh.
He could gripe all he wanted—she hadn't exactly had much chance to shine on the battlefield either.
Still, the army had made it back intact.
With the wall complete, things should be much easier from here.
If that's settled, it's time to prepare the next step.
Because the war… has only just begun.