"Too bad… It seems Katerina wasn't able to stop the Hero Caesar from summoning his army, and it's clear that the Hero considers her an extremely dangerous opponent, given that he decided to raise an army ten times larger than the one he used against General Ativ," said Luvrio, resting a hand thoughtfully against his chin as he observed the massive magical army created by the Roman dictator.
"But brother, I don't think this is an insurmountable problem for her at all," replied the former queen in an excited voice, her eyes sparkling brightly. "Katerina is certainly much better suited to fighting entire armies by herself than Mr. Ativ was. Besides, I trust Katerina completely, which is why I'm certain she already anticipated the possibility that her initial strategy might fail."
A gentle smile appeared on Luvrio's face as he looked at the joyful expression of his older sister.
Meanwhile, Lucas remained completely silent.
The level of concentration with which he was watching the battle had reached its absolute peak, this was a match in which he didn't want to miss even a single second.
Above all, because the previous night, just before returning to her room, Katerina had promised him that her match today would become a spectacle worthy of his attention, and because of that promise, Lucas had vowed not to look away for even an instant.
The magical army now standing before Katerina was not only enormous—occupying nearly half of the entire arena—but also incredibly diverse.
Among its ranks, one could see magical soldiers representing aevery category of the six Original Magic. Even soldiers created from the same magic type varied greatly in weaponry and physical size.
Yet despite this diversity, the army Caesar had created in mere moments appeared neither chaotic nor unbalanced.
Katerina's beastkin instincts told her immediately that every single soldier had been created with a precise purpose in mind. Nothing within this army had been left to chance.
The maid spent several seconds silently analyzing the Hero's forces.
But naturally, Caesar hadn't created this army merely to stand around protecting him.
"Advance!!" exclaimed the former dictator.
At once, two hundred soldiers detached themselves from the enormous army and charged directly toward Katerina, placing her at an overwhelming numerical disadvantage.
However, before even a single one of those soulless magical soldiers could reach her, the maid calmly shouted,
"Trees Fortress!!"
A massive magic circle glowing with dark-brown light instantly spread beneath Katerina's feet.
In the next moment, trees erupted violently from the arena floor around her, immediately halting the advance of Caesar's magical army. Several soldiers who had already stepped into the range of the spell were crushed and destroyed outright by the enormous trunks bursting from the ground beneath them.
The lerge trees created by Katerina's Derived Magic rapidly intertwined with one another, their branches twisting and merging while portions of the trunks shifted shape entirely.
Only a few moments later, a small yet seemingly impregnable fortress made entirely of wood stood proudly in the arena, its massive trunks appearing far sturdier than steel itself.
At first, Katerina vanished completely within the structure.
But after several seconds, she reappeared atop what resembled a balcony woven from countless branches extending from the upper portion of the fortress.
Then, in a calm but firm voice loud enough to reach Caesar on the opposite side of the arena, she spoke.
"From what I understand, Mr. Caesar, you were a renowned general during your lifetime, so I imagine you possess considerable experience in conquering fortresses. After all, I doubt this is your first siege."
Though respectful and professional, the maid's tone carried an unmistakable hint of provocation.
Caesar smiled faintly upon hearing her words.
"Indeed. This certainly would not be my first fortress conquest, and I would not mind repeating another Alesia… However, I highly doubt that the fortress you created can truly be compared to an ordinary one."
As he spoke, Caesar raised one hand and sent two Earth Soldiers directly toward the fortress's massive and seemingly indestructible wooden gate.
The moment the soldiers approached—
Numerous roots burst violently from the ground and impaled both magical soldiers without warning.
Their bodies instantly crumbled apart, collapsing into nothing more than piles of ordinary earth.
"Mr. Caesar," Katerina replied firmly. "Attempting to analyze the defenses of the fortress I created while sacrificing as few soldiers as possible is certainly the strategy of a wise commander. However, I hope you do not truly believe I intend to allow you to continue your investigation without resistance!"
Then, raising her voice so loudly that it echoed throughout the arena, she cast another spell.
"Impaling Cannons: Explosives!"
Viewed from the outside, the fortress created by the maid resembled a small castle constructed entirely from trees. It consisted of four towers—the two positioned at the front were shorter than the pair standing in the back—surrounding a square-shaped central structure whose roof was covered in leaves like the natural canopy of a massive tree.
Each of the four towers possessed an opening similar to where a window would normally be located, though these openings had clearly been left empty intentionally.
The moment Katerina spoke the words of her spell, the muzzles of enormous cannons made from thick tree trunks emerged from those openings. In addition, two more cannons materialized beside her on the balcony formed from intertwining branches.
The muzzles of all six cannons quickly filled with gigantic sharpened stakes made entirely of wood.
Without changing the calm expression on her face, Katerina shouted,
"FIRE!"
Immediately, all six cannons—except for one, which fired with a slight delay—launched their projectiles simultaneously, unleashing the massive wooden spikes with explosive force.
Four of the six projectiles slammed directly into the platoon of two hundred soldiers Caesar had separated from his main army to assault Katerina's fortress.
The instant the spikes struck the ground, enormous explosions of dust erupted outward, and each projectile shattered into countless smaller stakes, annihilating roughly fifty magical soldiers apiece.
As a result, the entire platoon was practically wiped out in an instant.
The only survivors were ten Water Soldiers, whose bodies made them naturally invulnerable to most forms of physical damage.
The fifth spike crashed into the group of soldiers standing directly in front of Caesar.
Just like the previous shots, it obliterated roughly fifty magical soldiers.
This time, however, the survivors were not Water Soldiers—since none had been within the attack's range—but rather two gigantic Earth Soldiers wielding equally massive shields forged from compacted stone and earth.
That fifth projectile had served a very specific purpose:
To clear the path for the final and sixth spike, the one aimed directly at the commander of the magical army himself.
But although Katerina's aim had been flawless, the two colossal Earth Soldiers moved with astonishing speed despite their size. Like loyal guards shielding their emperor, they stepped in front of Caesar and raised their enormous shields one behind the other to protect him.
The final spike collided violently against the first shield.
Unlike the previous projectiles, however, this one did not explode upon impact.
It was the same type of spike Katerina had used during the tournament's first day against Angre—the type designed specifically for penetration rather than explosive destruction.
The giant projectile pierced through the first shield without much difficulty, though the impact significantly reduced both its speed and momentum.
Still, the spinning spear had not stopped.
If the Earth Soldiers holding those shields had possessed flesh-and-blood bodies, their faces would likely have been red from exertion, with sweat pouring down their skin from the effort required to keep the massive shields in place.
Their feet carved grooves nearly ten centimeters into the arena floor as they resisted the projectile's force.
The tip of the spike managed to pierce both shields before finally stopping only two centimeters away from the face of the utterly impassive Hero.
But in the end, it failed to completely penetrate the final defense.
Katerina's attack had been stopped.
"A truly magnificent display and an exceptional power, Lady Katerina…" Caesar said in his regal voice while giving a brief round of applause.
Then he slowly lowered his hands, extended one arm forward, and opened his palm dramatically.
"In that case, it is only proper that I answer with something equally spectacular."
Excitement could clearly be heard in the Hero of Leore's voice.
Then he gave his next command.
"Archers—fire!!!"
The soldiers obeyed immediately.
At once, more than four hundred Fire Archers within his army released the blazing arrows they already had prepared within their bows of living flame.
In the next instant, a massive rain of fire descended toward the fortress of the lynx woman.
The sight was breathtaking.
The flaming arrows glowed more brilliantly than any daytime fireworks launched during the opening of the main tournament.
Most of the burning projectiles targeted the mistress of the fortress herself, who remained standing openly upon her balcony of branches, seemingly exposed to every attack aimed at her.
And yet—
Katerina did not move even a single step.
She remained completely impassive atop her balcony.
But just before the flaming arrows could strike their target, the branches forming the balcony's railing suddenly began growing at incredible speed. Twisting and intertwining tightly together, they rapidly formed a protective dome around both the balcony and its creator.
Most of the flaming arrows aimed at Katerina failed to penetrate the newly formed barrier of living wood and scattered in the air upon impact with the dense branches. A few arrows managed to embed themselves within the wooden dome, but even those failed to come anywhere close to reaching the Hero's opponent.
The remaining arrows, however, had been aimed not at Katerina herself, but at the lower sections of the fortress, with the intention of igniting the structure and reducing the entire stronghold to ashes.
Unlike the arrows aimed at the balcony, most of these projectiles succeeded in piercing the wooden trunks at the base of the fortress, albeit only superficially.
Caesar narrowed his eyes slightly and focused additional mana into his vision while carefully observing the flaming arrows embedded within the structure.
Ten seconds passed.
And although he had expected this result, the outcome he desired still failed to occur.
None of the spots where the arrows had struck showed even the slightest sign of catching fire.
The dome protecting Katerina slowly unraveled, returning to its original form as a simple balcony and once again revealing the queen's personal maid to Caesar.
In her usual calm voice, Katerina immediately "apologized."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Caesar, but flames of that level are insufficient to ignite my Fortress of Trees. The wood and leaves composing it are naturally filled with moisture, which makes them extremely difficult to burn."
Though her tone remained composed and confident, that confidence was far from absolute.
'While his Fire Archers were launching their attack, Mr. Caesar already recreated every single soldier I destroyed… and he still doesn't show the slightest sign of nearing exhaustion.'
Katerina analyzed the situation carefully.
'It's normal for Heroes to possess far greater reserves of mana than ordinary people… but Caesar is on an entirely different level. By now, I'm certain his mana far surpasses the amount Her Majesty Alberia possessed while she was alive, and he may even be approaching the level His Majesty Lucas currently has… which is already double that of the mage with the greatest mana reserves on the entire continent…'
The maid's thoughts continued.
'Who in the Kingdom of Leore was capable of creating a homunculus with such absurd magical capacity?'
However, it didn't take Katerina long to arrive at the answer herself.
After all, there was only one person in the world who could possibly create a homunculus of that caliber.
Still, this was hardly the time to dwell on such thoughts.
Even if the situation before her was certainly discouraging, that didn't mean Katerina intended to surrender without a fight.
Her pride as the queen's personal maid simply would not allow it.
For that reason, the beastkin's expression remained calm and confident.
Caesar answered Katerina's subtle provocation with a brilliant yet gentle smile.
"I see. In that case, Lady Katerina… what do you think of this?"
His regal voice echoed throughout the arena as he cast another spell.
"Fire Soldiers: Mastodonic!"
Two enormous magic circles glowing with crimson light formed beside the Hero.
From within them emerged two gigantic Roman soldiers composed entirely of flames. Each stood over four meters tall and wielded an enormous pointed spear made completely of fire, even taller than the colossal soldiers themselves.
Katerina's eyes widened slightly at the sight before her—an exceptionally rare reaction for the normally expressionless maid.
The two titanic fire soldiers immediately assumed throwing stances, preparing to hurl their massive flaming spears.
At that same moment, as though suddenly remembering something, Caesar calmly spoke another single word.
"Vidi."
Five minutes had now passed since the beginning of the battle between Caesar and Katerina.