Night—deep and silent.
Across the vast expanse of the Clearwind Plains, the air was pure, untouched by the faintest trace of pollution. Few clouds marred the heavens, and the stars shimmered in countless clusters, adorning the night sky with breathtaking brilliance. Their radiant glow revealed, in startling clarity, a small squad of figures cloaked in black, gliding stealthily toward the encampment of the Silver Wolf Legion. The camp itself lay shrouded in darkness—save for a single tent faintly illuminated from within, the rest was as silent and sinister as a haunted realm.
In stark contrast, the camps of the three other lords' private armies blazed with light and chaos—raucous laughter, drunken quarrels, the shrill laughter of women. The entire place was a mire of noise and disorder, and even the sentries, drooling as they stared back toward the revelry, seemed to have forgotten their duties.
Above the Silver Wolf camp, the black-robed intruders hovered. Brilliant streams of colored light flared in their palms—they no longer concealed their power, instead conjuring their most formidable spells. Yet just as their incantations neared completion, a hoarse, aged voice gave a sharp command. A volley of massive steel bolts whistled through the air, each over two meters long and as thick as a man's thumb, piercing through the frail bodies of more than a dozen high-ranked mages like eggshells. Their shrieks tore through the night as they plummeted from the sky, and the violent backlash of their own magic caused their bodies to swell grotesquely before bursting like flaming shells.
A pale yellow barrier flared around their exploding forms, muffling the thunderous sound and confining the blast's force within a narrow sphere.
Far beyond the camp, a surprised exclamation echoed, followed by a deep, resonant voice:
"Splendid, Silver Wolf Legion! Balu—you truly are worthy of being one of the Empire's Five Beast Generals… Attack!"
At that final word, the earth trembled beneath a thunder of hooves. From all directions came a deluge of fireballs, water orbs, and spheres of light raining down upon the Silver Wolf encampment.
The Silver Wolf camp erupted into brilliance, while the three private armies' camps fell abruptly dark. Then, a hazy golden dome shimmered into being above the Silver Wolf lines, meeting the onslaught of magical projectiles. In a cacophony of explosions, the shield shattered—but it had absorbed every last spell.
The charging Smart Empire heavy cavalry surged forward—only to be met with a storm of arrows and bolts. Horses screamed, collapsing mid-gallop, flinging their armored riders to the ground, where they were crushed beneath the hooves of their own ranks.
Another wave of magic followed, another yellow barrier rose to meet it, and again, the clash tore the night apart. After the third exchange, more than thirty Smart Empire high mages, led by Carlin, ascended into the air—hovering safely beyond the reach of crossbows.
Carlin's voice rang out, mocking and bold:
"Which decrepit sorcerer from your Vant Empire hides in that camp? Come out and greet your better! Is it Gibbs—or perhaps Dalgeo? No… your Silver Wolves could never afford such lofty company. Show yourself, old man!"
Meko, drenched in sweat and pale as parchment, floated upward to face him. His voice trembled with restrained fury.
"You are Carlin?"
Carlin laughed, tossing aside his cloak to reveal his mage insignia.
"Ah, so it's Meko. I've seen your portrait—you're counted among Vant's finest, aren't you? Still, compared to us, you're barely scraping by. No wonder our magic bombs failed; your power must rival a fourth-tier Diamond Dragon mage. A decent defense… but hardly unbreakable."
Then, muttering to himself—but loudly enough for Meko to hear—Carlin sneered,
"The old man's not half bad-looking. I wonder what his daughter might be like? If she's beautiful, perhaps I'll take her as my mistress."
Meko trembled with rage, shouting an incantation. A hundred-meter-long water dragon surged forth, but Carlin only laughed, summoning a colossal fire dragon to meet it. The beasts collided midair, their explosion scattering the Smart cavalry below.
Carlin withdrew, still laughing.
"Balu, you sly old fox—sending ragtag archers to deal with me? A pity, I'm wearing chainmail!"
Meko's face darkened. A mage floating in heavy armor? The sheer magical power required was staggering. Who was this Carlin—and under whose tutelage had he trained? No one in the mage world had ever heard of him before.
Meanwhile, two companies of archers crept toward Carlin under the cover of night, but he and his mages had already withdrawn. A thousand Smart infantry swarmed in, cutting the archers down mercilessly. Yet even in death, the archers' counterattack felled over two hundred Smart soldiers—their ferocity left the survivors shaken.
A deep voice roared an order—the bloodied heavy cavalry wheeled back, retreating in disarray. The heavy and light infantry regrouped, forming tight assault lines as they advanced toward the Silver Wolf camp once more.