The Extra is a Genius!? Chapter 612: Against the Horde [VI]

Viewing the chaotic battlefield from his vantage point, Noel saw Roberto begin his advance and realized the gravity of the situation instantly.

The brief lull was over.

Previously, Roberto had merely observed, allowing the conflict to escalate as the world struggled to withstand the onslaught. Now, his movement completely shifted the stakes for everything unfolding below.

"We are moving too," Noel declared. "I must reach him before the destruction becomes too great."

Beside him, Noir responded without wasting a single word. Her human guise vanished in an instant, shifting into her lupine form. She was no longer the small pup from before, though not yet the colossal eight-meter beast she could manifest. She appeared as a lean, dark adult wolf, with purple markings tracing her fur and sharp eyes locked onto the carnage beneath.

Selene glanced at him. "Are you planning to utilize 'Shadow Step' to traverse that distance?"

"That seems like the optimal choice."

Then, the mana hit them.

Noel’s expression hardened immediately. The monsters trailing Roberto were vastly different from the waves the defenders had thus far endured. They were stronger dragons, unique monstrosities, and heavier presences stacking one after another until the very atmosphere felt distorted. He assessed them quickly, and the realization only soured his mood.

They were Archmages. Nearly all of them, most clustered at the apex of the rank.

Archmage Elites.

"Damn it," Noel muttered, the curse escaping before he could restrain it.

Everything had changed. If these entities breached the main line, the front would be shattered before he ever had the chance to properly confront Roberto. He turned his attention to Selene and Noir.

"Buy me five minutes." They listened without interruption. "After that, I will head for Roberto. But first, these monsters must be halted—or at least sufficiently slowed so they cannot annihilate everyone below."

"Understood," Selene replied without hesitation.

Noel remained stationary. Mana coalesced before him, condensing into a sphere of shadow. Small at the start, it gradually expanded as black flames folded inward with extreme density. "Dark Sun." It was not the inferior version; it was five full minutes of accumulation at the Manacode level.

Below, Selene and Noir dove toward the fray. Above, Noel continued shaping the spell, the orb of darkness growing heavier and more intense with every heartbeat.

The next wave fully engaged a few moments later, and the impact was instantaneous.

The previous monsters had been dangerous, but these were catastrophic. Their collective presence swept over the ranks like the barometric pressure of an approaching storm, so intense that even the ordinary soldiers and lesser mages grasped the danger instinctively. It was no longer a battle they could realistically influence; remaining in the path of these creatures meant certain death.

Orders echoed rapidly. Retreat where possible. Create room. Let the strongest serve as the vanguard.

The formation shifted, harsher yet more refined. Lower-ranked fighters withdrew in ragged but disciplined movements as the true wall stepped forward. Daemar joined the line, composed like a man who had already accepted the grim reality. Marcus arrived from the flank, sword drawn and blood staining his armor. Garron strode beside him like a siege engine given form. Laziel followed, pale and tense, yet still moving forward. Elena and Clara claimed their spots nearby. Redna joined the fray, mana already swirling around her. The personal imperial forces of Alveron IV surged forward, accompanied by the other Archmages on Noel’s side.

A war within an war had commenced.

The apex monsters collided with this new defensive wall almost instantly. Dragons swooped low, while massive beasts tore into the front, the force of their impact shaking the earth. Swift monsters darted between their larger kin in search of fatal blows, only to be met by high-rank spells, tempered steel, and seasoned warriors capable of repelling them.

Then, Selene and Noir struck.

They descended rapidly from above, cutting into the vanguard just as the pressure threatened to become insurmountable. Noir hit the ground, and without losing momentum, she shifted into her true adult form. Standing eight meters tall, with obsidian fur and flickering purple streaks, she was large enough to make the soldiers nearby pause in sheer relief. Beside Noel, she was a reinforcement. Against Roberto’s monsters, she was an apex predator.

Selene moved until she found her position, then stopped.

Her wand, carved into the likeness of solid ice, rose into the air. The atmosphere shifted before her spell even manifested. The wind grew thin, and breath vaporized into thick white mist. The cold arrived first—silent, profound, and absolute—as if winter had descended in a single heartbeat.

The temperature plunged so sharply that the battlefield felt the change before they understood the cause. Every exhale froze in the air, creating a pale, heavy fog. The biting wind took on a glacial tint, turning sluggish as the surrounding area was dragged into a winter of unnatural intensity. Even the rushing monsters hesitated; some slowed instinctively, while others snarled as frost encrusted their scales, bone, and claws long before the spell fully activated.

Selene navigated this freezing expanse with 'Gravity Step.' Her frame darted in impossible trajectories—one moment on the shattered earth, the next gliding over barricades, then twisting in defiance of gravity. She wasn't just advancing; she was positioning herself with surgical precision, evaluating the density of the encroaching wave and the structural integrity of Noel’s line until she reached the point of maximum tactical impact.

She raised her wand fully.

"Frostfall Requiem."

The battlefield was transformed. A shockwave of freezing mana erupted from Selene like a silent, white heartbeat, followed immediately by overwhelming destruction. The cold did not creep; it arrived with total finality. A colossal blizzard crashed over the incoming wave, burying dragons and giant horrors under ice so dense it appeared as though a fragment of the sky had collapsed. The wind howled. Microscopic ice needles filled the air, piercing scales, armor, eyes, and joints, freezing targets from the inside out where durability was useless.

Hundreds of monsters were incapacitated simultaneously.

A dragon swooped too low, its wings crystallizing into white waste before it plummeted, crushing two smaller beasts beneath its mass. One ten-meter titan tried to push through the blizzard, only to have layer upon layer of frost seize its bulk until it cracked and shuddered to a halt. Faster creatures, once weaving between the heavier mass, were swallowed by the storm and spat out as ruined, frozen mounds.

This was far beyond the 'Frostfall Requiem' she had used in the past. Selene had evolved significantly. The storm she conjured now felt less like a spell and more like a localized cataclysm—a pocket of absolute, frozen death forced into existence.

Noir ensured that few survivors remained standing.

She slammed into the outer edge of the frozen wave like a shadow-clad avalanche, shattering half-frozen monsters and rending flesh with brutal efficiency. When a dragon, barely alive, tried to rise, Noir pounced on its back and ripped through its neck before it could turn its head.

The effect on Noel’s side was immediate. The Archmages exploited the chaos. Marcus and his companions pressed their advantage, while Redna’s magic pulverized the staggered survivors. The imperial troops surged behind the vanguard, executing the crippled beasts that would have slaughtered them moments ago. Even everyday defenders found their spirit renewed upon seeing dragons brought low and giants frozen in place.

That section of the battlefield, seconds from collapse, suddenly began pushing back with lethal force.

Far above, Noel remained still.

The black orb of 'Dark Sun' continued to grow, the singularity folding inward with such density that the surrounding mana felt corrupted by its presence. Larger. Darker. The concentrated black fire was dangerous in a way that defied normal magical laws. He maintained his focus, casting without pause while the world below was conquered by Selene’s winter.

As the 'Frostfall Requiem' subsided, the aftermath was unmistakable. Frozen corpses and mangled monsters littered the field like the debris of a white apocalypse. The morale surge through the ranks was nearly tactile, powerful enough to turn paralyzing fear into aggressive momentum.

And far above them, Noel waited, hand raised, standing before the rising black sun that had yet to be unleashed.