The Archmetamagician: The Weave Collapses Again

Meteor Swarm was a fire-and-forget spell. Once cast, it required no further concentration to maintain.

Anser knew full well that the first wave of attacks would be the most effective, and that he only had one chance!

So after briefly confirming that the meteors’ impact points wouldn’t affect the city, he didn’t stop. He continued casting, focusing his mind with intense concentration.

Innate Sorcery + Metamagic: Enhanced Quickened Spell, Enhanced Distant Spell, Maximized Spell + Meteor Swarm!

Four enormous balls of fire rapidly took shape, hurtling toward the ground ten thousand meters away from different directions and angles, one after another. Their fiery tails stretched longer and longer behind them, swaying in the wind.

With his extraordinary Charisma approaching 30, his control over 9th-level spells had reached an astonishing degree. Combined with Metamagic and the Spirit Net, his casting speed was incredible.

Who would ever think he was casting 9th-level spells?!

Anser felt his scalp tighten. He paused briefly to recover, then cast again.

Third cast, fourth, fifth... eighth!

In just a few seconds, thirty-two gigantic balls of fire transformed into meteors and plunged from high above. Propelled by the spells, they fell far faster than they would under gravity alone.

Looking down from high in the sky, Anser saw everything bathed in red light. The sight was truly spectacular.

He pressed his fingers against his temples. Firing off eight 9th-level spells in such a short span really was taxing. It felt like the blood vessels in his brain were about to burst.

After taking a moment to recover, he converted some of his Magic Power into sorcery points and continued casting.

After throwing out another four Meteor Swarms, he decisively stopped.

Ten thousand meters was simply too high. Even now, the first meteor was still at least two or three thousand meters above the ground.

As their speed increased, so did the air resistance.

Once their terminal velocity surpassed a hundred meters per second, their acceleration slowed, but that was already more than enough.

...

Suzail.

Shamar froze for a moment after seeing the messages in the group chat. He pushed open the window and swept his gaze outside, but saw nothing unusual.

Chegba was equally baffled and sent several question marks in succession.

Only Maddox seemed to realize something. He immediately ran out of his room, stepped onto the square outside, and looked up at the sky.

There wasn’t a cloud in sight today, and the sky was bright and clear. But ten thousand meters was far too high. He could only vaguely make out a tiny black speck.

”Is that him? That’s way too far away.”

He thought it was impossible, yet he still couldn’t put his mind at ease.

”Don’t do anything crazy!”

His message sank without a trace. There was no response.

After a brief silence, several faint red dots appeared in his field of vision, barely noticeable.

If he hadn’t been staring at them, he might have missed them entirely.

As more and more red dots appeared and drew closer, their brightness soared. Large and crimson, they gradually became impossible to ignore.

”Meteor Swarm. That really is Meteor Swarm!” Maddox was shaken to his core.

”No, wait. Why are there so many?!”

Not one, not two, not three. There were far too many to count, as though they truly had come from beyond the heavens.

His pupils dilated, and a chill ran down his back.

It was already too late to take shelter. All he could do was hope Anser’s aim was accurate enough not to hit the city.

At the same time, Shamar, Chegba, and a small number of civilians also noticed the anomaly in the sky.

The sunlight was still bright, somewhat interfering with visibility, and ordinary people didn’t have particularly keen eyesight. At first, they thought it was a flock of birds. Only later did they realize something was wrong.

”A meteor shower...”

”Meteors! Those are meteors—”

”Run—!”

Shrill cries rang out, causing countless people to look up at the sky.

Countless enormous balls of fire descended from the heavens, trailing long tails of flame behind them. They filled the sky like world-ending meteors, as though doomsday itself had arrived!

Countless people stared blankly at the sight, pupils dilated and chilled to the core. Terror seized their bodies, leaving them unable to move.

Meanwhile, the orc encampment outside the city remained eerily quiet. Only a few dozen goblins, gnolls, and half-orcs stared stupidly at the sky, unable to understand what was happening.

They had never seen anything like this before.

Dozens of seconds passed.

The meteors closed to within a thousand meters, traveling at astonishing speed. Their trajectories and impact points gradually became clear.

”Don’t panic—!”

”They’re not aimed at us! They’re aimed at the orcs...”

”...”

The chaos inside the city was finally brought under control. Fortunately, the city gates had been sealed. Otherwise, anyone who ran outside might have been caught in the attack.

The orc allied army outside the city belatedly realized what was happening. Shouts erupted everywhere, followed by widespread panic.

Even the dumbest person could tell something was terribly wrong when meteors were hurtling straight toward their heads. They fled frantically, abandoning weapons everywhere.

Instinctively, they chose to run away from Suzail.

But Anser had anticipated that. The first wave of attacks had been aimed precisely at the outer perimeter of the encampment.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!

Meteors descended from the sky, slamming into the ground one after another and exploding with deafening force, shaking the earth.

Flames and shockwaves swept through the surroundings. Dust billowed, shattered rocks flew everywhere, and small mushroom clouds rose one after another.

Every living creature within a radius of sixty to seventy meters from an impact was tossed through the air like a rag, burning and coming apart in midair before falling as mangled, charred corpses.

Under an attack of this intensity, ordinary creatures were even more fragile than porcelain. At least porcelain could withstand high temperatures.

The flames ignited tents, hides, and dead branches and leaves. Fire spread rapidly, mixing with the dust filling the air and causing visibility to plummet.

The explosions around the perimeter forced the fleeing orcs back toward the camp. Most couldn’t make sense of the situation and could only stumble around like headless flies, instinctively shouting meaningless syllables and making the chaos even worse.

The meteors gave them no chance to catch their breath. They continued raining down one after another, their impact points unpredictable as thunderous explosions rolled on without end.

Faced with meteors falling from the sky, there was no good solution except to gamble on luck.

Only Professionals who were sufficiently alert, calm, and powerful had any chance of predicting their trajectories and dodging them.

[Target killed. Gained 50 experience points.]

[Target killed. Gained 735 experience points.]

[Target killed. Gained 3,980 experience points. Level up!]

Meteor Swarm’s maximum damage exceeded 250. Anyone who could take a direct hit and survive was already formidable.

Anser silently appeared atop the northern city wall. Looking no different from an ordinary soldier, he watched the visual spectacle through the battlements while snapping sets of photos and posting them to several group chats.

”Pretty, isn’t it?”

The group chats were dead silent. No one could answer.

Anser smiled soundlessly, feeling absolutely thrilled inside.

He could have hidden after casting the spells, but he hadn’t. He wanted to admire his masterpiece up close.

The earth trembled. The entire city of Suzail shook, along with the civilians’ hair and clothes, while concentric ripples spread across the moat.

The soldiers defending the walls and those who lived in tall buildings were treated to quite the spectacle. A fireworks show on this scale wasn’t something one got to see easily.

But most people’s minds had gone completely blank. They were already too stunned to think about anything else.

All forty-eight meteors finally struck the ground, and the thunderous explosions ceased. Yet the chaos outside the city only intensified. Wails, roars, the crackle of burning flames, and the howling of violently disturbed air continued without end.

’With results like this, why am I even bothering with an alliance? What a shame. The coverage still leaves something to be desired.’

The orc allied army’s encampment covered an enormous area, and a few dozen Meteor Swarms were nowhere near enough to cover it completely. The intimidation effect far exceeded the actual destructive power.

Most of the orcs hadn’t been directly hit at all. They had simply been scared into fleeing.

As Anser was thinking this, he suddenly sensed undisguised malice.

He swept his gaze around and immediately met a pair of blood-red eyes.

It was a half-orc. His teeth were bared, his face filled with resentment and fury on the verge of erupting.

The orc allied army was finished!

And his mission had failed as well!

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