Princess's Struggle for Survival-Chapter 562: Holy Light Manifestation Torrent of Light

Under the cold muzzle of a cannonhead glinting with steel-like chill aimed directly at his forehead, even a Church Knight wielding sword and raising shield couldn’t avoid the threat of death. Yet as a powerful wave of light rippled above everyone, the frontline Siege Knights were enveloped by blazing light shields, and the psychological state known as fear quickly dissipated, replaced by fearless courage.

Peak tier Magnus light-element magic, [Dome of Holy Light].

This spell constructs a defensive circle using purely refined light-element particles, simultaneously strengthening those beneath it, granting both physical and mental enhancement, and dispersing negative emotions to a certain degree.

Seeing the slow effect of their area-of-effect magic, the powerful mage hidden within the army formation switched from offense to defense, decisively abandoning further attacks on the city wall and instead focusing entirely on protecting the troops.

The next moment, the fixed city-wall mana cannons erupted with brilliant flashes of fire. Several streams of mixed magical energy, packed with explosive force, slammed into the ranks of the Church’s knightly army below. The air itself was heated by lightning and fire elements, visibly distorting to the naked eye.

Then, cannon fire collided with the light barrier. The tremendous noise seemed ready to shatter everyone’s eardrums. Soldiers operating the city-wall mana cannons were nearly blown off their feet by the backwash of wind, forced to desperately grip the rear control lever to stabilize themselves.

Rolling waves of light rippled through the air, and the dazzling brilliance from the collision of multiple elemental particles made it impossible to look directly at the explosion site.

At the command center, Lyra, linked to the town’s defensive circle, used the magic circles inscribed on the walls to rapidly reconstruct the result of the bombardment within her mind.

The city-wall mana cannons had failed to break through [Dome of Holy Light]. This was a Peak tier Magnus level spell, specialized in defense, far too powerful for their current mana-based weapons to penetrate easily.

At least, a single volley of their cannons wasn’t nearly enough.

"Continue firing, and don’t stop deploying plasma bombs."

Through her mental perception, Lyra observed the city defenses being gradually eroded by [Holy Radiant City]. Although reinforced by craftsmen, the damage rate was much slower than during the Liya Tower Fortress era, but if left unchecked, the wall would eventually be destroyed by overflowing light elements.

Her lips tightened slightly. Her two long, stockinged legs, emerging from beneath her shorts, standing quietly upright. Lyra manipulated wind-element particles, allowing her voice to carry to the designated positions.

"Our elite forces are to cease standby. Immediately locate the Mage in the enemy formation responsible for casting [Dome of Holy Light] and carry out a precise decapitation strike."

The people of the Kingdom of Velys weren’t fools. They knew how to exploit their strengths against the enemy’s weaknesses. While their research into mana-based machinery lagged behind Valeria Empire, their individual soldier quality was exceptional. The configuration and overall strength of the Church Knight Order far exceeded that of the defending army, this was their absolute advantage.

The most significant difference lies in the number of Peak tier Magnus level individuals.

When a Peak tier Magnus interfered, it meant mana-based weapons temporarily lost their effectiveness. The Valeria Empire had to counter with equal-tier force to have any chance of turning the tide.

On the city walls, elite troops receiving the commander’s orders activated their elemental vision, analyzing magical fluctuations and elemental density in the air.

Mages could conceal their forms with arcane or light magic, but the presence and intensity of elemental particles could never be truly hidden. As long as they were channeling elements, residual magical fluctuations on the particles will always leave a trace.

Charles’s personal guard, a knight-captain adorned with a silver honeysuckle medal, stood on the wall, drawing his bow. The arrow, charged rapidly with energy from the bowstring, released a sharp shot as it flew.

Sunlight poured down. The arrow’s dark-blue, sturdy shaft cuts through the light, reflecting a cold, dim hue. The slight wobble of its fletching improves the air, moving too fast for the human eye to track.

The dazzling light barrier was pierced by the specialized arrowhead the moment contact was made, creating a tiny hole. Then, carried by wind-element particles, the entire arrowbody surged through. The torn light-element particles only reformed and filled the gap after the arrow had passed completely.

As everyone’s attention remained focused on the city wall ahead, this arrow pierced the holy iron shield held by a Church Knight. The tremendous force wrenched the impacted wrist at an extreme angle. If the Mage chanting [Dome of Holy Light] hadn’t also been a Magnus, the sheer momentum of the arrow would have been enough to shatter a normal person’s hand in a compound fracture.

The next moment, the arrow slipped through a gap in the armor and struck the caster in the abdomen, drawing a spurt of blood, the arrow, having been weakened and deflected many times, could only reach this far instead of its original target, the heart.

With the elite knight exposed, more shields clustered around him. Healing spells instantly descended. As the caster collapsed, all he could see was a sky filled with holy light and shields.

The battle raged on.

Inside the command room, Lyra sensed the mental feedback provided by the magic circle, the entire battlefield laid bare in her mind.

The new mana-based weapons had indeed effectively reduced casualties among the wall defenders. The noble guards delivered by Amalia were elite troops capable of fighting High level Church Knights. Combined with veterans from the Liya Tower Fortress retreat forming the backbone, even newly trained soldiers seeing combat for the first time could contribute to the battle.

The only remaining issue was they still had no way to break [Holy Radiant City]. A large-scale area spell involving so many participants meant the quantity of elemental particles involved was unimaginably vast. Even an Arcanist Mage couldn’t guarantee an easy disruption.

Not to mention... The Valeria Empire absolutely could not be the first to deploy Arcanist Mages...

This was Duke Charles’s explicit order. The current Empress had already struggled greatly to consolidate these Arcanist Mages. Mobilizing them for active combat carried far too great a risk.

Regardless of the nation truly facing the brink of extinction, the nobles will never agree to such a life-or-death gamble. Otherwise, no matter how outstanding Amalia’s abilities were, taking the initiative to escalate the war by using Arcanist Mages would provoke massive discontent, possibly even triggering internal unrest within the empire.

Kingdom of Velys had to be made to lose patience...

In other words, their conventional forces had to gain the upper hand.

Feeling the consumption of the magical runes on the outer wall, Lyra gently touched the silver-white scabbard at her waist, intricately carved with small flowers. Her blue eyes reveal a glimmer of determination.

.............

Twenty minutes later, the magical reflections on the city wall’s surface weakened. A massive amount of light-element particles filled this gray-black defensive line.

With a blizzard approaching, the Church of Light’s operational plan had shifted from the Liya Tower era’s goal of exhausting enemy forces as much as possible, to breaking through White Maple Town and capturing Losterling City, the important commercial hub behind the frontline.

Moreover, the frequent deployment of plasma bombs had enhanced the formation of [Holy Radiant City]. Combined with the city walls being specially reinforced by craftsmen, they could no longer use area magic to destroy outer structures as easily before. Instead, under the light shield, they continuously chanted incantations to shape the land, forming slopes suitable for climbing.

As the outer layer of mud-softening magic dissipated, the Church Knights began attempting to manipulate the most difficult element, earth. Among all elements, earth-element particles were the least active and hardest to alter in physical properties.

While usable for forming elemental shields, forcibly extracting and elevating them to form earthen walls required greatly reduces more mental energy than other elemental magics. With very few Church Knights possessing affinity for earth elements, practical application only results in twice the effort for half the result.

[Holy Radiant City] remained merely a phantom in the air, while the ground beneath was firmly compacted by the knights’ iron boots. [Dome of Holy Light] not only effectively blocked attacks from above, but also prevented the mages on the walls from affecting the earth-element particles below through the ocean of light-element particles.

They were about to scale the battlements and engage the defenders in close combat.

Realizing the exact situation, Lyra increased her mental energy output. The corners of the wall, covered in frost, became extremely slippery. Prepared in advance by the defenders, boulders and long logs were simultaneously dropped.

Blazing fire, lightning, and light; freezing ice, water, and wind, mixed elements intertwined and neutralized, producing steam that became the battlefield’s dominant theme. A faint scent of scorching and rust hangs over White Maple Town.

Until now, though the Kingdom of Velys seemed to have threatened the city wall, in the broader context of the entire battle, Valeria Empire’s defensive circle remained unbroken. Projectiles and arrows pose no real danger to the defending soldiers, merely exhausting Lyra, who controlled the defense network, and several other core mages mentally.

In other words, Kingdom of Velys’s casualties were growing, while Valeria Empire had only expended traps, landmines, some crystals, and mana weapons.

Human lives and material resources were incomparable, especially when these lives belonged to the kingdom’s elite knights, not idle ruffians.

Their existence, whether considered by the value of life itself or by the comprehensive evaluation of the entire battle, was priceless.

"Lord Bishop... Charles is well-prepared, their defenses strong. A direct assault isn’t advised..."

Knight-Captain Kales, closely monitoring the battlefield, had already noticed several injured knights, and it had only been about half an hour since the battle began.

Everything matched the intelligence they’d gathered. Empress Amalia Valeria of Valeria Empire had vigorously developed military strength, not only deploying pre-trained soldiers but also allocating massive funds from the treasury to support research and deployment of mana-based machinery.

Now, feeling the resistance of this impenetrable fortress firsthand, this slow, powerless death worse than the Liya Tower Fortress era had already left Kales deeply terrified.

The overwhelming power of mana-based machinery exceeded everyone’s expectations. Setting aside that fleet of mana-flying airships that had rescued thousands of defenders and saved the empire from a desperate situation, in just half a year, an ordinary town had successfully resisted [Holy Radiant City] through the deployment of numerous mana weapons. In the future, the gap in national strength between the two countries will only widen further.

More critically, what they were doing now was literally using human lives to fill the gap in mana-based machinery. Without resorting to unconventional forces, even if they eventually captured White Maple Town, the casualties would be utterly unacceptable.

Standing high above, the Bishop observed the battle, looking at the rows of muskets carefully embedded in the wall monitoring and at the phantom-like [Holy Radiant City] in the sky. After a brief moment of contemplation, he waved his hand backward.

"Two Knight-Captains, execute His Holiness’s Autumn Plan."

"You must capture White Maple Town and, behind it, Losterling City before the blizzard arrives, establishing them as our temporary holy city for spreading the doctrine next year."

Hearing the definitive military order and realizing the escalation was unavoidable, Kales cast a deep glance toward the distant knight formation, replied "Understood," and turned to leave.

The wind howled in his ears, mingling with the sound of cold iron striking stone tiles. The Bishop devoutly closed his eyes, still cradling an old copy of the New Scripture in his arms.

"May the Lord of Light protect His faithfulness, spreading light to every corner of the world."

At the same time, far away in White Maple Town, Charlotte, sensing the atmosphere growing tense, uncrossed her long legs, rose from her desk, and put on convenient short leather boots.

Meanwhile, Charles, closely observing the battle on the walls, wore a serious expression as his hand gently stroked the knight’s sword at his side.

Further away, the silver-haired Regent Queen, dressed in an elegant silk black dress, listening to the battle report delivered by her maid, her crimson eyes silently fixed on the pale pink flower by the window, brought by Lyra from the outskirts of Losterling City and placed in her residence.

At this rate, the kingdom will soon lose patience.

Outside, the wind swept into the room, gently swaying the curtains.

Astrid stood straight as well. Her long, silver-white hair cascaded down her back, fluttering in the wind like petals. The low-key yet modulated shimmering fabric of her dress danced in the breeze, revealing two long, delicate black-stockinged legs.

When that time comes, may Lyra and Lady Charlotte remain unharmed, and may the empire achieve ultimate victory with minimal casualties.

At the center of the battlefield, the sun, radiating light and heat, seemed brighter than ever before. Dozens of meters above, light-element particles, drawn by magical energy, gradually formed a clear line dividing light from darkness.

"What is that?"

"Is... is it some kind of magic?"

Many defending soldiers were drawn to it. Although a magnificent sight of dazzling light, it brought an intense sense of oppression, as if every single hair on their bodies stood on end.

Light-element particles continued to converge. In the blink of an eye, a magnificent river of radiance hangs suspended in the sky, its brilliant light surging like a waterfall cascading from high mountains, plummeting down with a deafening roar.

Mid-tier Arcanist Mage-level light-element magic, [Holy Light Manifestation Torrent of Light].