Assault Core Seventeen reached Ammor and the battered remnants of his team before the dust from Sonya's boulder had settled.
Ammor was still staring at the short Kragh when a sharp metallic hum came from Frostveil's second terrace.
Simon looked up.
One of the artifact cannons had turned toward them. Blue-white light gathered inside its crystal-lined barrel, dragging frost from the metal around it. The air along the split ridge became painfully cold.
"Fire!" a human shouted.
The cannon discharged.
A thick beam of freezing Aether descended toward both assault cores.
Sonya waved one hand, and the ground in front of her rose with a violent groan.
Stone folded over stone until a wall several metres thick stood across the ridge. Dense demonic energy spread through it a moment before the beam struck.
BOOOOM!
The entire road trembled.
Cold exploded across the wall. Frost buried its front, and cracks spread halfway through its surface, but the defence remained standing.
