Jonah could hear the Bishop's teeth grinding as they saw the weapons of the Church enter the sea of snakes that had suddenly appeared in the air.
"The TriCobra sect. I should have known! They always did have a nasty streak of poking their scaly heads into things that didn't concern them… damn them! They won't be getting away from this easily!"
Hearing her, he almost turned to see whether he could read anything of her thoughts from her face, but he stopped himself when he heard the loud, unconcealed command from his disciple.
Just a second after his voice rang out, tiny pinpricks of Energy could be seen from all over the land. The Bishop had noticed this, too, as she raised her hands to control the image so that they could zoom in and see exactly where they were coming from.
Some of these pinpricks were from groups of Heroes who had been distributed all over Angaria, but the majority… were from groups of men and women who looked ordinary.
Even though they couldn't perfectly scan everyone due to the defensive measures being used by the continent, it was obvious from just the sheer number of people who were present in each group that it was impossible for them all to be talented in a path to power. This was the first time that Jonah was seeing anything like this, but surprisingly, the Bishop seemed to already know what was going on.
"So it seems those pipsqueaks were right…they really did figure out a way to concentrate their power. It's a pity. If they were an advanced continent with people whose power level was higher across the bar, it would have made a lot of difference…but because many of them are so weak that ants on the Mainland could crush them easily, the power that they can output is that of a Peak Champion, most. I'm using the terms that you lot use, so of course, on the Mainland… they would be less than nothing."
The Bishop was making every effort to sound confident, but her inner feelings were exposed for all to see when she instantly changed the image to show the weapons of the Church again. The countless snakes that had all assaulted the second wave were slowly being destroyed, so at the moment, all of the weapons that had been deployed so far were vulnerable.
"Individually, they can't do anything…and because we expected to fall into a trap, each weapon is powerful enough to defend itself until a proper retreat is called. So what will you do?"
It was obvious that the thoughts in her mind were spilling out of her mouth, but no one really bothered much as they were all waiting to see where these attacks would strike, and whether they would be effective.
The answer soon came to them, and when it did, everyone present in the room sighed.
Jonah was happy, though…as this sigh was that of someone who was resigned to their fate, no matter how bad it was.
Among the fifty weapons of the Church in the front, only three had had their primary Energy reserves completely depleted due to being attacked by the snakes for a prolonged period of time. During the moment of impact, all of the weapons had been spread out so that the scene of the headquarters exploding would not repeat, and hence, when the snakes had come into being, these three were the ones who had been unlucky enough to be the closest to most of them.
Among these three, one weapon that was in the shape of a being that looked like a lion with three heads lay exposed in the air. It would only be so for a second before the backup defensive resources that were present enveloped it in a barrier again, but for the space of that second…it was unprotected.
That was when they struck. The millions of Angarians who were all standing on the land below had been separated into a hundred or so groups, and the attack that left each group was in the form of a brilliant ray of pure, red-hot Energy. Each ray met at a particular point in the sky right below their target, and at that instant, the continent-wide formation that they had seen before came to life once again.
It did two things. First, it stopped reinforcements from leaving the makeshift base of operations that had been established in the sky above Angaria. Only a part of the attacking Artifacts had been deployed, so now, the other part could only look on from where they were.
The second thing it did… was focus the rage and power and hope of millions into a single, devastating attack that cleaved through the weapon as if it was nothing.
The reinforced metal of the lion was instantly broken into a thousand pieces. The thing was as big as a five-story building and its shape had given it a menacing air that would scare anyone, but now, it had been reduced to rubble.
There had been ten members of the Church inside to control it, but all of them had managed to live. Only, just as they began to breathe a sigh of relief, the snakes that were of various colors and shapes and sizes which were hungrily flying around while looking for prey found them in a heartbeat, and were upon them before they could even think about going to the nearest weapon to hide.
The snakes were much more effective now, as they didn't have to go through the exhaustive resources present in each weapon. In barely the span of a few seconds, each of the priests was ripped and torn to shreds before being eaten by the starving serpentine beings that each grew in size when they ingested the flesh and bones and blood of these unlucky soldiers.
After witnessing this gory sight, Jonah turned around to see the reaction from those in the room. He knew that he was supposed to be happy that the strategy of Angaria was working again, but something just felt off.
Sure enough, the Bishop looked angry, but she was nowhere near as affected as she had been when the Tenebrous Knights had been killed. She simply looked like she didn't like what she was seeing, but it seemed that it didn't really distress her that much.
What are you waiting for?
This question came in his mind, and soon, it was answered when the Bishop looked to a few commanders in the room and nodded.
He saw these commanders take out wooden disks and send messages that he could not hear. Unease filling his mind, he turned back to the battle where nothing had changed.
The coordinated attacks of the citizens had brought down four weapons of the Church so far, but the situation was not as dire as it had seemed before. Due to the preparations that had apparently been made before, each weapon was much more sturdy than what could be expected if this was a normal assault. Hence, with the help of the attacking weapons behind them which were unaffected by the sea of snakes, the forty-six Artifacts in the front were slowly escaping from the trap they had fallen into.
It still looked like all of the weapons of the Church were just present there, in the air, vulnerable to all attacks coming from below, but suddenly, the Bishop slapped her fist down on her chair while giving a silent order.
At the same time, half of the Artifacts in the air…suddenly changed.
So far, the main reason behind the plan of Angaria working was that these fifty barrier-breaking weapons all had limited attacking capabilities as they were meant to break through things instead of being able to send forth targeted attacks. Hence, they had had no option but to rely on the attacking weapons behind them to get rid of the snakes which also injured them, in the process, and so, it had looked as if Angaria had made the perfect move.
Now, though… all of that was moot, as it seemed that the Bishop had taken great pains to defy all expectations.
Due to Angaria's plan, it had looked like the Church had unwittingly given themselves up as a sacrifice. After all, if all those fifty weapons were left without a barrier to break through, they could only sit there and wait to be destroyed, but on her command… instead of being the sheep that they were supposed to be, they changed into wolves that had managed to get inside the defenses of a weak village.
Instantly, the battlefield turned to favor the Church. Before any reaction was possible, catapults, harpoons, and crossbows all turned in Angaria's direction and sent forth devastating attacks that were able to break through the last of the defenses in the air as they were nowhere near as strong as that of the continent-wide formation.
"I knew you would do something if it looked like I was still following the normal rules of engagement…but because I already know that you know all of the main tactics of the Church, why would I still use them? You wanted to destroy all of the barrier-breaking weapons by letting them in. You thought I was falling into your trap…but you fell into mine! Haha!"
The Bishop's short bark of laughter was accompanied by the dazzling attacks of the Church flying to the land of Angaria and making impact on the millions of individuals who had been attacking until now. Not all of the land was protected, so a lot of it that was empty was soon destroyed beyond recognition.
The only consolation was that the defensive measures of the groups of Angarians had held, but they were all clearly shaken. A calm mind was required to work together to attack, but due to this sudden change in the battle, this was what had clearly been disrupted.
At this moment, Jonah and the Bishop coincidentally did the same thing. They both sought out the part of the image that showed Daneel, and from his expression, it was obvious that he was displeased with what was happening, but not wholly devastated.
This was a bad sign for the Bishop, and when he opened his mouth and gave a single command that they could not hear, the smile that had appeared on her face left instantly.
After he spoke, millions of Angarias began to retreat, and at first, it looked like that was all he had ordered.
The second volley of attacks from the weapons had already been launched, and it looked like they would meet with more success.
Only…that was when they appeared, and with their coming, everything changed once again.