Still, the intel regarding the Kingdom of Helius wasn't as outrageous as, say, discovering that they had hundreds of Holy Cannons - this was still a relatively good piece of news. Benjamin took comfort from it, took a deep breath, then began casting.
Not just him, the hundreds of mages above the city began casting as well, conjuring more and more spell shields behind the Defense Rune, just to be safe.
"Rather than preparing those things... shouldn't you all begin counterattacking?" Benjamin fortified his ice barrier and turned to ask.
"They were not within range, they need to come closer, only then can the traps we prepared be used to their full potential," the president focused his efforts on casting defensive spells and replied sharply.
Benjamin heaved a sigh once more.
Rock City was situated high above the mountain peak, an advantageous defensive position for them. The Kingdom of Helius, on the other hand, had decided to launch their assault; if they were limited to bunkering down to defend against it, then they were left with little choice.
They could only brace themselves against the incoming enemy cannon fires, similar to a defendant awaiting the jury's decision — in the event whereby the Defense Rune couldn't withstand the Holy Cannon's attacks, they could very well be blown away in one fell swoop!
But aside from defending, they couldn't do much else...
"Director, bad news, the people below are causing a ruckus, they want us to dispel the Defense Rune to let them leave," suddenly, a few mages tasked with maintaining the rune came up to them and reported in hushed voices.
"To leave the city now would be impossible. Pay them no mind," Benjamin replied nonchalantly.
"But... among them are government officials, their ranks aren't exactly low. Also, many troops are under their command, there's no possible way to ignore the uproar."
Benjamin listened with his eyebrows furrowed.
These bastards….. what do they know aside from escaping with their tails between their legs?
After giving it some thought, he turned around and flew down from above the city. There were enough mages defending above already, his presence without change much. But if the situation within city became chaotic, it would only complicate things further.
He soared towards the crowd that had gathered near the city gates.
"... We can't remain here, once the huge cannons are fired, everything will be destroyed! That group of mages wants us to perish with them, but why should we die alongside them in the first place? The Church is charging at them, not us..."
As soon as he approached them, Benjamin heard various comments. They were not discreet about it either, acting as if they were making a speech.
His expression darkened at that instant.
"Your Excellencies, didn't I promise the safety of all of you? And now you're all in a hurry to get out of the city again, what is the meaning of this? Do you really look down on the Academy of Magic's capabilities?"
Soaring down from above, Benjamin's voice carried the coldness of a blizzard, sending shivers up the present officials' spines.
— Needless to say, the most riotous bunch were the few advocates for surrender. In that instant, they turned around just to see the person which they were bad-mouthing; their expressions were awkward, to say the least.
They immediately snapped out of their dazed state, however. One official coughed a few times and coyly made his way to Benjamin, "No... you misunderstood us, great director. We just feel that staying here does nothing for either of us, so won't we just be dead weight to you lot? Better for us to return to Regina, to calm the citizens, yes?"
"Calm the citizens? From my perspective, it looks like you are the ones stirring unease in the citizens." Benjamin gave a cold snort, turned around and faced the mass before him before saying, "No need to panic everyone, as the director of the Academy of Magic I will gladly offer my life for the cause and stand here with all of you through thick and thin. Do all of you really believe those cannons will easily breach our defenses?"
"Will Rock City... really not fall?" Amongst the crowd, a voice asked doubtfully.
"Of course not." Benjamin answered without faltering, "If the city falls, I will be the first to die. Think about that when you consider whether or not the Rock City will fall."
In reality, he wasn't too sure himself, but right now, he can't afford to show even an ounce of doubt.
"You're... you're a mage, after all, equipped with various methods to protect yourself." The official suddenly spoke, "With just a wave of your hand you can fly away, but once the city is breached, we're just normal civilians, what do we do then?"
Benjamin didn't argue with him, but rather spoke in a calm yet unquestionable tone, "Rock City will not fall."
"There are so many Holy Cannons! If they fire simultaneously, can you guarantee that this place will not become a barren wasteland?"
"Of course, I said it myself, Rock City will not fall."
"Where do you get that confidence….."
The expressions worn by those officials suddenly became restless, as if they had seen the enemy's might for themselves. Their survivals instincts threw out all form of respect they had for Benjamin as the edge of their tongues became sharper.
However, at this instant, a loud boom rumbled across the clear sky.
BOOM!
Everyone turned around in shock.
Before they realized what happened, a barrage of concentrated booming of sounds erupted. As if a thunderstorm had suddenly rolled in, countless barrages reverberated simultaneously, their deafening sounds numbing their eardrums.
The officials stood where they were, their entire bodies trembled.
"It's... it's all over, they fired... they really fired!"
Realizing what was happening, regret spread across their faces.
The advancement of the Kingdom of Helius' troops was too fast, they originally planned to evacuate before the army appeared, but in the end, they had mistimed the attack and were now due to be buried along with Rocky City under the cannon barrage!
Lifting their heads, they could see the skies above them now filled with more than ten blinking dots. From afar, they looked tiny, shimmering brightly, looking something like brilliant diamonds.
Those specks of light came from the enemy army, mapping out a parabola in the skies; soon enough, they were beginning to fall toward Rock City.
However, the size of the glowing specks constantly expanded before everyone's eyes. Before long, the officials could ascertain that the "glowing specks" were all actually as big as a house.
Humongous and shimmering balls of light were definitely greetings from the Holy Cannons.
Icor once utilized Holy Cannons…. the officials were well aware of the destructive potential of these things.
They were going to die here...
In the midst of despair and terror, they shut their eyes as tight as they could, dipped their heads and crouched on the ground, their basic "fight or flight" instinct screaming at them that they couldn't outrun the inevitable doom.
It was likely only one sentence was repeated in their heads.
I don't want to die... I don't want to die... I don't want to die...
As they were in this state of despair, the concentrated Holy Cannon rounds in the skies above quickly rained down upon Rock City.
BOOM!
At that moment, as if time itself had stopped. The hearts of everyone in the city skipped a beat. Immediately after, the dazzling lights blossomed, even as they shielded their eyes against the ground, their inner eyelids brightened until they saw hues of red, as if the entire city was enveloped in the horrifying, intense lights!
The officials felt like they were in hell.
So much so that that they suspected that if they did not close their eyes in time, they would've already been blinded.
Because of that, terror gripped their further and they tried to bury their head deeper underground, like an ostrich. Their entire bodies trembled, mind drawing nothing but blanks. It was as if they were willing to be in this state for the rest of their lives, unwilling to open their eyes and face the cruel reality before them.
It was because of fear that they lost all sense of time, clueless as to how much time had passed.
Then, Benjamin's voice snapped them out of it.
"See? I told you Rock City will not fall."