NOVEL WEB Chapter 448: Defend
The news team from the Global Broadcast Center had finally passed through the wall of water and entered Stage Two, and as soon as they saw the sky and land floating far below them, the anchor woman gasped with wide eyes, her voice already picking up energy like she knew this was the biggest scoop of the decade.
"Camera is back!" the cameraman shouted, adjusting his headset and tapping buttons quickly. The signal reconnected.
"Fix the angle! Point it now—point it at the Celestial Guild! Hurry!" the anchor ordered, her heart pounding from both excitement and pressure.
The camera lens focused and zoomed in on the guild floating midair, held by wind magic, and in that moment, the anchor spoke into her mic with the practiced calm of a pro, but the thrill in her tone couldn't be hidden.
"Reporting live from inside Stage Two… Yes, you heard me right, we have entered the second stage of the global quest, and what we are seeing is truly—unbelievable!"
She took a breath and continued, her voice loud but steady.
"Right now, the Celestial Gate Guild of the United States is hovering safely midair thanks to none other than Lauren Hamilton, the top 3 ranked awakener in the U.S!"
The camera moved in closer on Lauren, still floating beside Isabella and their guild members, her hands glowing softly with wind mana, her hair swaying with the breeze.
The anchor kept going.
"We currently have no clear information on how she got here. According to reports, Lauren was not with her guild when Stage Two began."
Then she glanced at the screen showing the location of the guilds, and noticed something strange—their positions were moving lower and lower.
She turned quickly to the camera crew and pointed at the screen.
"They're… they're nearing the ground. The guilds are about to land—prepare for a close-up!" But before she could say another word, the cameraman suddenly gasped, his voice shaky but urgent as he pointed the camera downward with wide eyes.
"Wh-Whoa, fly high! Fly high, fly high now!" he shouted, panic creeping into his tone.
The anchor blinked in confusion, her hand frozen in the air, but when she leaned out slightly and looked down from the side window of the chopper, her eyes widened with horror.
"Oh my god… Fly! Pilot, go higher now!" she screamed, clutching the microphone as the wind rushed in from the open side of the aircraft.
On the camera feed being broadcast live around the world, everyone could now see what she saw—millions of dark dots on the horizon, all moving upward.
For a second, it was unclear what they were.
Then the camera zoomed in, and the answer came.
"Arrows… those are arrows! And spears! And rocks! Something's firing at the guilds!" the anchor cried out as the screen shook.
Gasps filled homes, schools, marketplaces, and war rooms across the globe.
Some people stood up in shock.Others covered their mouths with their hands.A few even screamed at their screens.
In Korea, one young girl watching shouted, "They're being ambushed!"
In the U.S., a group of guild supporters shouted, "Get out of there! They're not even on the ground yet!"
The camera struggled to focus as the helicopter swerved to avoid getting hit. But they managed to capture a clear view for a second—a sea of arrows flying up like a black wave, with spears and flaming rocks mixed in.
And even scarier—tiny figures moving below, some riding horses andsome on siege weapons.
"Who are they?! Why are they attacking?!" the anchor yelled as the feed shook again.
And right before the signal cut briefly, the anchor shouted one more sentence that echoed across the world,
"This isn't a welcome—this is a battlefield!"
The moment the first wave of arrows came flying, multiple guilds quickly reacted, shouting commands and casting barrier spells to protect themselves from the deadly storm above.
Light blue shields, golden domes, and magical auras flared across the sky like bubbles trying to hold back a hailstorm.
Some succeeded.
But not everyone was lucky.
A loud cry pierced the air as one guild member from a nearby group got hit directly on his elbow by a thin arrow.
At first, it seemed like just a regular wound—until his scream turned into choking, and his arm began to twist unnaturally.
"W-What's happening to him?!"
His skin around the wound turned dark and pulsed violently, and strange violet vines started sprouting from the arrow wound, crawling up his body like living snakes.
Someone shouted in panic, "The arrows have poison! Vines! It's spreading!"
"Don't let anything hit you! Shield tighter, go full defense!" another guildmaster commanded.
The panic grew worse when a cannon-like blast fired from below—it wasn't a normal projectile. It exploded midair with a purple-colored smoke that quickly spread like fog.
From the distance, Alexa gritted her teeth as she saw the gas cloud spreading toward them.
She raised her voice, waving her arm to her teammates.
"Cover your mouths! Don't breathe it in—it's poisonous gas!" she shouted.
Her guild members obeyed immediately, pulling up scarves, masks, and using magic to form air barriers around their faces as they continued descending from the sky.
They could now see where all the attacks were coming from.
Below them, right outside massive stone walls, there was a fully armed kingdom with rows of guards and knights.
The soldiers wore shining armor, some had bows, others had long spears, and a few stood behind large net launchers, aiming at the incoming guild members like hunters catching wild birds.
Even more terrifying was the group of horse-riders, galloping across the outer fields—each rider wore plated armor, and their horses were armored too, metal glinting in the sunlight.
At the front of them, one rider stood out.
His horse wore gold plating, and he raised a long sword up high, pointing it toward the sky as if ordering the attack.
His voice thundered—though far away, the guilds above could still hear the cry.
"Enemies from the sky! Defend the kingdom! Don't let them touch the ground!"
Another cannon fired, another blast of purple smoke went up.