Chapter 364: Phryne’s delusion

Compared with Apollo who was completely in despair, Ishtar appeared slightly calmer.

It was only by a small margin.

A closer look at her stunning face revealed that her usual seductive charm had completely given way to shock.

The legion had smashed through the first line of defense formed by the Ishtar familia, crushing every adventurer beneath the city wall and sending Ishtar’s heart sinking into a pit of despair.

The combat power far exceeded expectations.

Beyond their defense, their destructive power was equally terrifying.

"We haven’t lost yet. They only broke through the outer wall, and the true elites of my familia are guarding the command post," Ishtar muttered, taking a deep breath to force herself to stay calm.

"That’s our main force. As long as they coordinate properly, we can still turn this around."

Turn it around? Indeed.

What was once an easy victory had turned into a desperate prayer for survival.

The shift from complete dominance to near defeat was as vast as the distance between gekkai and tenkai.

For the pleasure seeking gods watching above, the sudden twist was almost too dramatic to believe.

"If this keeps up, things are going to end badly for them."

"It looks very likely. The Ishtar familia cannot hold their ground at all."

Inside the hostess of fertility, the adventurers who had been watching the war game grew excited.

"Those fools in the Ishtar familia are completely useless!"

"The battle barely started and they are already crumbling. Ais and Mahiro, have not even joined the fight yet."

"It doesn’t matter whether they fight or not. With those terrifying beasts around, neither of them needs to lift a finger."

"Damn it, I just won some coins betting on the Apollo familia, and now I’m going to lose it all!"

"Keep going, Hestia familia! Wipe out the Ishtar familia in one fell swoop!"

Some adventurers groaned in frustration, others cursed the incompetence of the Ishtar familia while many shouted in excitement over the incredible performance of the Hestia familia.

The atmosphere in the pub quickly reached a fever pitch.

"I didn’t expect him to hide a trump card like this. He had us worrying for nothing, nyaa," Anya said, nudging Syr next to her.

"Syr, you can relax now. Mahiro-kun has everything under control."

"The battle isn’t over yet," Syr replied, her hands clasped in prayer, though a relieved smile softened her face.

At the twilight manor, a girl gasped in awe.

Tiona stared closely at the mirror, her eyes glowing with excitement.

"Incredible! I never expected Mahiro-kun to take full control of the battle so fast. He really is amazing!"

"I certainly didn’t expect the outcome to swing so drastically," Finn remarked while looking at the image in the divine mirror.

The turn of events had clearly caught him off guard as well.

"Hmph! What’s the big deal? A spell that takes that long to chant can be interrupted easily once anyone spots it," Bete grunted, refusing to admit his surprise.

He turned on his heel and walked out of the hall.

"Where is Bete going?" Tione asked, watching him leave with a puzzled frown.

"He’s just frustrated because of Mahiro-ku ," Tiona hmpfed.

"I bet he is sneaking off to the dungeon to train right now."

"It’s good for young people to be driven," Gareth said with a booming laugh.

Tiona turned her head toward Riveria, who sat beside her and whispered mischievously, "Riveria, if Mahiro-kun uses this spell, could he take on those stubborn guys back in the elven royalty all by himself?"

"Be quiet and watch!" Riveria snapped.

...

Word that the outer wall had fallen quickly reached the command tower.

"I knew I shouldn’t have trusted Aisha. I was only gone for a short time, and she already lost the wall," Phryne laughed.

Although she was displeased by the loss of the wall, Phryne felt more gloating satisfaction than anger.

As the commander assigned to defend the wall, Aisha bore full responsibility for allowing it to fall so quickly.

Beyond being a major spectacle for all of Orario, a war game was an opportunity for prominent familias to display their might.

Aisha’s poor command had humiliated the Ishtar familia before the entire city.

While other deities might have let it slide, Ishtar would never forgive such a failure.

A defeat caused by incompetence would ruin Ishtar’s reputation in Orario, cementing the perception that she was inferior to Freya.

"I will deal with that wretched woman Aisha once this is over," Phryne muttered.

She walked over to the observation window of the tower and peered down, only to freeze at the sight below.

A sea of golden beasts raged through the streets like a tidal wave.

Down below, the defenders were scattered, injured or fleeing for their lives.

Aside from a handful of high tier adventurers who managed to withstand the onslaught of legion, the majority could do nothing but run.

"Where are the mages? Are they all dead? Get over here and chant your spells!" Phryne barked furiously.

At her command, the familia’s mages lined up along the windows and began chanting their incantations, filling the air with surging mind.

Shielded by the structure of the tower, these elite mages were far more capable than those on the wall, allowing them to finish their chants uninterrupted.

Moments later, a barrage of rain, lightning and concentrated beams rained down from the command tower.

The destructive power of magic far surpassed ordinary arrows, shattering dozens of beasts into fading arcs of electricity upon impact.

"So that’s where they were hiding," Mahiro remarked from atop his lightning pterodactyl, looking down as he sensed the surge of mind from the command tower.

He raised a hand, gathering dense mana before releasing it directly into the structure.

A massive blast of energy struck the command tower, causing the entire building to collapse in seconds.

The adventurers inside had not anticipated such a direct attack on their headquarters and those unable to flee in time were crushed beneath the rubble.

Meanwhile, the legion redirected its charge toward the collapsing tower.

"Curse you! How dare you humiliate me like this!" Phryne screamed in rage, swinging her twin axes to shatter the debris burying her before hauling her massive body out of the wreckage.

As Ishtar had noted, the forces within the command tower were the true elites of the Ishtar familia.

Dozens of adventurers climbed from the rubble, every one of them at level 3 or higher led by Phryne herself.

Mahiro’s attack had destroyed the structure itself, but high tier adventurers were durable enough to survive the fall unharmed.

Following Phryne, dozens of fighters emerged from the dust.

Standing atop the shattered remnants of the tower, Phryne glared up at Mahiro and Ais.

"I am going to tear you both apart!" she roared.

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