Somewhere near the place where the citizens ended and the defensive line began, Norcet, his son and the Mage were all standing in a personal barrier that reduced the risk of them being injured in case a stampede broke out.
The defensive line, which had actually come into existence just a few minutes ago, was comprised of Fighters from all the Kingdoms combined.
Norcet was keeping his son"s eyes closed, so when everyone around them started to scream when they saw the golden mosquitoes shoot forward to attack the citizens, his son started asking what was going on.
Yet, although everyone was scared thinking that the flimsy barrier wouldn"t hold, Norcet just said, "It"s fine, son. The King has a plan. And he won"t fail."
Indeed, he now dumbly believed in the King, just like his son during the event.
He had actually managed to get in touch with Luther before for a brief amount of time, but he had been told that he would get an audience later, when the problem with the mosquitoes was resolved.
Now, seeing the thousands of s.h.i.+ny insects which all seemed to have ravenous eyes that wanted to devour everything in front of them, Norcet understood that what he had to say might wait.
"Nor-Norcet, are you seeing this?!"
"What?"
He had been focusing his attention upward, so Norcet was slightly startled when he was nudged by the mage whose jaw was hanging open with shock.
In response, the mage simply pointed in one direction.
Before the defensive line had been set up, the millions of citizens of Angaria had been split into large barriers, which were all provided by Eldinor.
Apparently, their idea had been to advertise these barriers during the event if they got the chance.
Each barrier held around 100,000 people, but the problem was that it wouldn"t stand even a few seconds against attacks from multiple mosquitoes.
From above, right now, it looked as if multiple bubbles had formed on the ground inside each of which there were people huddled together, scared.
They had been told that they would make easier targets if they moved or made a lot of sound, so everyone was trying to keep their mouth shut and their body still.
What the mage had pointed at was one such bubble, outside of which there was a defensive line of fighters like the one in front of them.
However, in front of this defensive line was a team which was currently in battle against a horde of mosquitoes which were attacking them.
"The mosquitoes must be attracted to live bodies which are easiest to obtain. By staying outside, they made themselves the easiest target."
As the Mage said this, Norcet realized that it was true.
But the main thing that had caught both of their attention and had made them drop their jaws wasn"t this.
It was the way this team was fighting, and its composition.
The strongest mages were in the front, regardless of the Kingdom they belonged to. In one team, there was even an Axelorian and a Lanthanorian standing side by side, who were working together, even though they did not seem to be happy about it at all.
In another, Elves and humans were working seamlessly after putting aside their differences.
Their job was simple: make a funnel-shaped barrier which led all the attacking mosquitoes to one place: a slaughterhouse.
And this slaughterhouse was made up of the strongest Fighters from all 5 Kingdoms working together to slash apart all the mosquitoes which flew through.
If any got through, they would face the final line which was comprised of the weaker Fighters.
Each Kingdom had their own strength, so seeing them all work together while covering each other"s weaknesses was a sight to behold.
Especially, it was the Black Raven Fighters and mages who were very impressive, as it seemed that the Ravens always had pinpoint accuracy when pursuing the mosquitoes. Their beaks would pierce right through, and they would look around while working with the Black Raven Fighter and mage to guide and help them in their task.
More and more of the people in the bubbles started to focus on the soldiers, and as they did so, they felt their fear leaving them.
Was this how effective something would be if it was done by all the Kingdoms in Angaria?
They were mesmerized by the effectiveness, and they felt the urge to cheer once again.
Of course, they held that urge in.
Yet, there was one thing that puzzled them.
The barriers they were in were sound-proof, so they couldn"t hear anything from the outside.
Everywhere they looked, the soldiers were all getting more and more exhausted by the second.
Each and every slash and spell cast they were doing was tough, and it was clear that it was really testing their endurance.
However, they seemed to be shouting something again and again that kept giving them the energy to go on, no matter how tired they felt.
Some, who were good at lip reading, finally figured out what it was, and when they did, they couldn"t help but ignore the instructions and shout it out themselves, as they felt their blood boiling when they said the words.
"FOR ANGARIA!"
Indeed, everyone was working together for THEM, for the citizens of this continent.
This beautiful, unprecedented sight of unity had all been made possible by one man, and although he wasn"t letting anyone forget this fact by having his face plastered on multiple display trinkets around the location, no one minded.
Because something like this deserved to be appreciated.
It wasn"t clear who it was that took up the shout, but after it started, it couldn"t be kept down. It was as if the people no longer cared if the mosquitoes attacked due to their cheering, as they seemed to be so confident that the man whose name was on their lips would definitely protect them.
"HAIL KING DANEEL! HAIL ANGARIA!"
Inside the globe which was now visible to everyone as the mosquitoes were no longer surrounding it, Daneel was watching everything with a stoic expression.
He had already disposed of the bottles with mosquito blood as they were no longer necessary, so his hands were folded while Ca.s.sandra, who was standing beside him, was busy maintaining the communication eye on his face and the spell that was keeping them in the air.
Daneel"s eyes were flicking everywhere and checking the reactions that the people were having, and when he saw them begin the cheer, he heaved a sigh of relief.
He had achieved his goal, but he couldn"t shake the feeling that he was manipulating everyone for his wishes.
Still, there was no time to think about it now.
[Ready for final mating process. Targets have been identified. Red-gold strain mosquitoes are on standby.]
As the system sounded this notification in his mind, Daneel replied, "Wait for my mark."
He needed the people to see. He needed the soldiers to feel it.
Right now, he could deploy all of his mosquitoes and get rid of the threat.
However, the effort that the soldiers were putting in right now was critical.
Things still weren"t at the stage where people would start to die, so Daneel felt that it was worth it.
For instance, in the team where the Axelorian and Lanthanorian were together, the two actually no longer had frowns on their faces.
They forgot the allegiances of those they were working with, and only focused on being in as much sync as possible.
In parallel, it was also slowly being instilled into the minds and hearts of the people how effective it would be when all 5 Kingdoms joined hands.
This was what he wanted. To show everyone a dream that they wouldn"t forget-all so that they would support him later on when the time came to make that dream a permanent reality.
And, he also had to show everyone that HE was responsible for it all.
Basically, he was building his brand, and so far, it was going well.
"Team 6, focus on the left side, you have some mosquitoes congregating there. Switch to vertical slashes, they seem to be vulnerable to those. Mages of Team 8, switch to using solid funnels in whatever elementary particle you are familiar with, the concentration of mosquitoes near you is low. Team 10-"
In this way, he kept giving instructions, and even the top talent of all the Kingdoms slowly started to get used to the idea of taking orders from someone other than their ruler.
The genius of his mind in handling this entire situation and the effectiveness of each and every tip he gave wasn"t lost on them, and their admiration for him only grew.
Finally, 5 minutes after the globe collapsed, Daneel saw the first soldiers collapsing with exhaustion.
Well, it had been incredible while it lasted, but it had to suffice.
Giving the order, he watched as his, yes, HIS red-gold mosquitoes all started to a.s.sault the remaining golden mosquitoes.
Barely a minute later, it was all over.
As silence fell over the large stadium which was only punctured by the tired panting of the soldiers, everyone looked up at the man who had saved them all.
He was standing in the air with his hands behind his back, and the dragon on his robes shone in the sun in all its glory.
As the barriers faded, one shout resounded again, everywhere.
"HAIL KING DANEEL! HAIL ANGARIA!"