Chapter 2049: Fluttering

2049 Fluttering

The seas rumbled as the light of dusk grew lower and lower.

First Nova had split his forces into two, trusting Vega to command the seas while he charged forth on land. As a result, they had done quite well. Although Third Nova believed that he was in the best position, relying on Orinik to take over the seas for him, his plans had been crushed by Leonel. Due to this, First Nova suddenly found himself to be in the best position.

Vega was, obviously, under quite a lot of pressure from her family. She had actually suddenly decided to abandon her responsibilities and join a man of the Morales family. It might have been fine under normal circumstances since Adawarth was, indeed, outstanding. However, given the weight of these matters and the political weight behind them, her choice was truly much harder than it seemed on the surface.

Her actions were akin to willingly standing on the side of a man who might very well soon take over a family that had the spears of the whole Human Domain pointed at it. This was a choice that took a great deal of courage, she might never be able to return to her family again.

There was no doubt that in order for her to do this, her love for First Nova was not shallow, and the amount of effort she had put into making certain that he would succeed was not a small amount.

Not only had she formed a Gold-Grade special ocean territory, but she was just a step away from being prepared to challenge the Heir-Grade.

However, just when she felt that she was about half a day or so away from her preparations being complete, her gaze flickered as she was alerted to a large movement on her territory map. When she checked, her brows furrowed.

There was an army of about a million moving toward her direction.

A million would have been a large number during the first few days of the Heir Wars, but a million now was nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Just the number of individuals she had scouting out her territory and clear dungeons and the like exceeded this number.

Even so, Vega wasn't a fool. Anyone who could make it to this point wasn't an easy opponent to deal with. There was no longer any fodder remaining in the Heir Wars, they had all been wiped out in the first few days. Now, all that remained was the cream of the crop.

Vega calmed and the first thing she did was alert Adawarth. Then, she gave out a series of commands.

...

Leonel nodded toward Aina and allowed her to take the helm. Since she wanted to act, he didn't mind. Maybe before all of these things happened, he would have insisted on taking the most efficient route properly. He had been in a serious state since the start of these Heir Wars, and he was meticulous about every detail. But right this moment, he felt more relaxed than anything else. It was difficult for him to take anything too seriously right now...

It was as though the entire world was in the palm of his hand. Even if something didn't go absolutely perfectly, he could just slide the misplaced levers back into place, adjusting for victory regardless of the circumstances.

When they finally crossed into the territory, Leonel's gaze flickered.

Harsh winds kicked up, and they began to come across large numbers of whirlpools. The closer they got, the more numerous and dangerous these whirlpools began. The stingrays, whose numbers were no more than a drop in the bucket given the size of the ocean, had no choice but to split up to continue avoiding these whirlpools.

Leonel realized immediately that this had to be something related to a special ocean territory, and this one used natural disasters of the water. If it was anything like the Lotus Territory, then they would also have to be prepared for the possibility of one time, large scale attacks that could be levied in exchange for a large number of points.

The good news was that most of his army was made up of oceanic creatures, but that didn't mean that they were immune from these disasters. If their formations were forced to become too small, then their armors would become less useful.

'Interesting...'

At that moment, Leonel finally spotted the city in the distance.

It was in the Gold Grade, as he had expected. However, other than this, it was quite unique. It floated upon a thick, grey cloud that rumbled from time to time. This cloud was at least ten or so meters above the surface of the ocean, and beneath it was an enormous whirlpool that rotated like the blades of a saw.

Just looking at it, Leonel's gaze couldn't help but flicker. He knew immediately that the stingrays couldn't even get close to the city, at least not through the water. The defenses of this city were quite exceptional.

'If the balance is proper, since this territory has so many powerful areas of effect abilities, the odds that it has other powerful upgrades is minimal. It's a lot like the Water Lotus Territory in this regard.'

At that moment, a beauty with fluttering blue hair appeared on the city walls. Although there were many others as well, it was simply too difficult to ignore her. When she looked down and saw Leonel and the others, her gaze couldn't help but flicker. Of all those she had expected, Leonel and Aina were definitely among the last.

Soon, her expression returned to normal and she waved a hand. At that moment, several ballista units on the wall took aim.

Leonel's army was already greatly spread out. Due to the whirlpools, the largest group gathered in any one location was only a few hundred in number. At the same time, there was much room to maneuver.

While on the one hand, this made it more difficult for a scatter shot to cause a lot of damage. On the other, it made it easier to target more powerful threats.

However, Leonel didn't do anything as he fell into silence.

At that instant, a vortex of volatile, swirling energy appeared to his side. As for Aina, who had just been in that exact location, she had completely disappeared.

When she appeared again, she had already appeared above the city, her speed so fast it might as well have been teleportation.

She raised her ax into the skies, her hair fluttering wildly as she swung down.