On top of Heim City's wall, Hel stood with dark circles under her eyes, looking very much like a panda—and very unamused.
Her expression grew darker still as she gazed out at the vast, surging tide of beastmen soldiers rolling in from the horizon.
Ever since the last time that small beastman army was completely annihilated, only scattered groups had dared approach.
Those few skirmishes were easily handled with the city's first-tier magic cannons.
But today—today was different.
From the top of the wall, she could see countless beastmen beyond the distant hills—an army stretching as far as the eye could see.
This time, however, they didn't charge recklessly like before.
Instead, they camped on the far slope, clearly preparing for a long siege.
Time passed.
The sun sank lower, painting the sky gold and red, until dusk gave way to the deepening twilight.
Only then did the beastmen army begin to stir.
The smaller beastman units at the front parted to open a road.
From behind them emerged a group of beastmen wearing noticeably better equipment.
Compared to the small beastmen Hel had burned to ash before, their animal features were much less pronounced—still inhuman, but with a faintly humanoid outline that might make a furry enthusiast squeal with joy.
Clearly, these were elites—at least extraordinary-rank individuals.
They spread out before the army, forming a long line.
Then, raising their hands in unison, they began to chant softly.
A moment later, thin black serpents slithered out from their shadows, crawling swiftly toward Heim City.
But when they reached the moat below the wall, they stopped—then slowly retreated back into the ground.
Hel frowned.
"What are they doing?"
She had been ready to counter some massive spell—maybe even prepared to use one of her trump cards—but instead, they'd just… stopped?
Puzzled, she turned to Lili beside her, but Lili only shook her head.
"Lord Hel," Vivian, standing nearby, spoke up quietly,
"That's most likely a basic Shadow-element spell—Serpents of Darkness. It detects magic fluctuations within a certain range, allowing them to scout for traps or enchantments."
"Shadow magic, huh?"
Vivian continued her explanation,
"Light and Shadow belong to the same reality-based branch as Elemental magic. But unlike Light or Elemental, very few humans awaken Shadow affinity.
Most who do… are among the beastmen."
"Shadow spells…" Lili murmured, frowning slightly.
"When I was stationed at Watchwall, I saw beastmen using Shadow magic too—but their energy felt completely different. More… violent. Twisted."
She paused, thinking for a moment before finding the right word:
"It was like their spells were made of pure resentment."
Vivian nodded.
"What you saw was Shadow magic tainted by Corrupted Magic Stones.
Ordinary Shadow spells are mainly for control or support—not much raw power.
But once amplified by corruption, they become devastating area attacks. On a battlefield, that can completely turn the tide."
"I see…"
Lili nodded, saying no more—she wasn't a mage by trade, so that was already more than she needed to know.
"Looks like they're still spooked from the last time," Hel muttered, watching the beastmen army below.
They were spread out widely, advancing cautiously—clearly terrified of hidden traps.
"So careful now… Where's that bravado from before?"
At this rate, she thought bitterly, even a full barrage wouldn't be cost-effective.
But she couldn't complain.
The lack of manpower was showing.
The enemy clearly intended to drag this out—to exhaust her forces and supplies through attrition.
Fine.
If they wanted a war of endurance, she'd give them one.
Heim's walls were now lined with magic cannons—six hundred of them, one per soldier—and her stock of elemental crystals was more than sufficient.
They could absolutely afford a prolonged standoff.
So the two sides bombarded each other through the night, until dawn tinged the sky pale gray.
At last, the enemy's patience ran out.
The tide broke.
A vast swarm of small beastmen charged, with the more powerful beastman elites pressing forward behind them to drive them on.
They knew that a slow advance would wear down Hel's crystal reserves more effectively.
But the logistics of maintaining such a massive army were crushing.
If they didn't capture a city soon—didn't seize its food supplies—they would start starving.
They had been eating their way across the land, consuming everything in their path.
Grain, grass, livestock—anything edible in Heim's domain had long since been devoured.
Calling them locusts would hardly be an exaggeration.
Now, with nothing left to eat, the beastmen weren't about to share their rations with the smaller beastmen in the front lines.
But neither did they want them to simply die off.
There was only one solution—
Send them to die in battle.
That was the fate all small beastmen were born into.
Not once in history had one ever rebelled against it.
It was etched into their very souls—an inherited submission to their destiny.
Hel, for her part, respected their fearlessness…
But that didn't stop her from slaughtering them.
That was war—kill or be killed.
Tens of thousands of small beastmen charged headlong toward Heim City.
At last, the defensive line began to waver.
When the cannons couldn't keep up with the sheer speed of the assault, the first wave reached the moat—
and crossed it.
They threw themselves at the walls, stacking atop one another like living ladders, trying to climb up and over.
The defenders rained death from above—logs, boulders, boiling oil, molten gold—all the classic tools of a siege.
The preparations paid off, but the enemy's numbers were overwhelming.
If this continued much longer, Heim's fall was inevitable.
"…Guess it's about time I stepped in."
Hel rose slowly from her chair, gazing down at the sea of beastmen below.
Then, with a small, tired smile, she snapped her fingers once more.