Chapter 358: Alarms Outside the Barracks (2/2)

His friends called him to go and play... but he had refused because he was too busy pouring over the scroll.

A girl invited him to train with her… but he had refused because he was too busy pouring over the scroll.

As time passed, these scenarios dwindled.

And so did the number of people by his side.

“In life, there are many things which cannot be obtained by force. One must know when to give up.” Leonardo exhaled slowly as the sorrow in his heart subsided.

“Yes! I will give it my all!” Ayrin roared as he pumped his fist in the air. He carefully put away the scroll.

At this moment, his gaze abruptly landed upon the vast wreckage which had used to be the fourth district.

“The arcane teams which eradicated this Corps killed their way through from there? So many piles of debris and ruined clockwork puppets. What a fierce battle… even now, I can hear refusal to accept their defeat… Mister Leonardo, Mister Clancy, now that everything is over, can we go over there and dig around?”

“… Kid, can’t you see that I am still in the middle of reminiscing! How can your attitude change so quickly? Or do you not understand what I am feeling?!” Leonardo exclaimed as he nearly tripped over his feet.

“Of course you can,” Clancy said with a smile.

An old saying appeared in his mind: Life is so short, one should not waste time regretting.

But only youths like the ones before him would keep rushing forwards without looking back.

……

“All of the structures in this line have been turned to dust… what strength… of course the defenses didn’t do anything. Perhaps numerous six gate arcane masters gathered here and attacked simultaneously?” Ayrin muttered to himself as he stood near the center of the ruined district and looked around.

On either side of him were two mountains of debris and wreckages of clockwork puppets which had reached several meters tall.

A path snaked through the middle. It was covered with countless familiar golden limbs and broken springs.

“I bet that the arcane masters of this Corps never imagined that all of their clockwork puppets would be defeated and piled up here like rubbish…”

As Ayrin looked at all the wrecked puppets, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pity.

An image of extremely powerful arcane masters invading like a raging tide and destroying everything in their path arose in his mind.

He could see the helplessness of the Corps as they tried to defend. Wave after wave of clockwork puppets threw themselves at the invaders, yet they were smashed as easily as rotten wood.

Eventually, all the clockwork puppets were destroyed.

“Just how large and powerful were Corps back in the day? Even tens of thousands of clockwork puppets would not result in such a wreckage?” Moss exclaimed in pure astonishment.

“This is why the War of the Dragons started by the Evil Dragon King is also known as the War of Extinction. So many powerful empires and kingdoms all fell. In the end, not even a tenth of creatures survived.” Rinloran was extremely solemn as the scene before him reminded him of the larger invasion which had destroyed the ancient Elven Kingdom.”

“Were there any arcane masters as handsome as me back then?” Stingham interrupted as he rubbed his chin.

“Idiot!”

Sick of Stingham’s antics, the five of them prepared to press Stingham down and give him the beating he deserved.

But at this moment, the sharp sound of space being torn rang out at the end of the ruin where the entrance to this barracks was located.

Sirens and whistles began going off everywhere.

The sky darkened as a cluster of clouds covered the sun.

“What’s happened?”

Everyone’s eyes widened as they looked around for a clue as to what had occurred.

Several figures who were rapidly approaching them abruptly appeared in their vision

“That’s?”

Looks of disbelief emerged atop their faces.