City of Sin

Book 2, 2

A Mishap(2)

A soldier who was fully covered in glistening silver armour emerged from the shrubs to the tune of booming laughter. He took wide steps, followed by dozens of others who rushed forth in order. They divided themselves evenly, flanking Flowsand and her knights in an arc.

However, a burning fireball suddenly shot out from the forest, heading for the soldiers furthest away. This ‘Sir Kojo’ exclaimed in shock, “Damn it, they have a mage! Defensive mode, now!”

With the spell being launched from so close, it was definitely too late to make any adjustments to their formation. Running wildly would only make them active targets for the opponents. Thus, they could only make use of the time between the mage’s spells to adjust their positions, deciding whether to retreat or advance.

Crouching behind one’s shield was an effective way to withstand fireballs. Those without could only pray for luck. Kojo kneeled at once, his body hunching as he buried his sword into the ground in front of him. The wide blade and his arm served to cover most of his vital parts, as he gathered energy for a defensive layer around himself.

However, a second fireball shot out from the depths of the forest before the first had even landed in place! The knight’s hands trembled at once— there was another mage! There was just a second between the fireballs, two mages had to be casting them around the same time.

There wasn’t much time for him to think, with the first fireball already having exploded loudly. Blazing waves of heat surged through the area, engulfing him and nearly half of his troop.

Kojo heard a chilling voice sound from amidst the ringing of the explosions, “I really must thank you, Sir Kojo. If I didn’t know your position, I would not be able to determine your power.” The opponent was talking in common tongue, but his pacing was monotonous and his tone completely flat. This was a typical language comprehension spell. Indeed, they were invaders from a foreign plane!

Kojo roared in fury, but two more fireballs were shot out of the jungle at the same time. All four were placed in a square around Kojo, with him at the centre of the converging blasts. Such control was extremely good: the earliest fireball had landed the farthest, while the last was closer.

In a mere two breaths of time, the entire area was set ablaze. The soldiers who were originally the farthest and fastest to set off rushed out of the fire, but even they were burned by the enchanted flames. They rolled on the ground, leaking long howls.

As for those near the centre, there were no signs of struggle from them.

Right at the centre of it all, Kojo bitterly endured all the heat waves engulfing him one after the other. Four surges of heat assaulted him less than a second apart, depleting almost all of his energy.

When the final blast passed him, the knight disregarded the excruciating pain of his burns and struggled onto his feet. Just as he raised his head, he saw Richard taking large strides towards him, sprinting with another fireball conjured in his hand. He moved close until he was less than twenty metres away.

“You wretched lunatic! Curse you!” Kojo was so alarmed that his hairs were almost all standing. He no longer had time to consider how many mages there were exactly in the jungle. This was the first time one was charging towards him directly in the battlefield, and this one had a lethal spell in hand!

Richard slightly shoved his hand forward, causing an unavoidable fireball to zoom over towards the knight. Kojo let out a bellow of rage, drawing on his energy once more as he raised his enormous sword up high, bringing it down in a flash to strike the spell coming towards him.

The fireball exploded, the force of the impact flinging him up in the air. The energy radiating from his armour flickered a few times, before eventually dying out completely. Attacking a fireball directly only slightly decreased the damage it could do, unless they had enchantments or were using enough energy to weaken the magic. Warriors still had to rely on their armour and shields to withstand the heat waves.

Kojo fell heavily to the floor, his helmet falling off to reveal a face that was already burned black and red. His lush beard and hair had long turned to cinders in the high temperature.

Despite his skill in battle techniques, the knight hadn’t been able to withstand Richard’s five consecutive fireballs. The only reason he was still alive now was because of his excellent energy reserves, which was in part due to his superior armour.

He struggled his way up once again. He glared at Richard like a wounded lion, only his left eye open as his right bled profusely. He barely managed to steady himself, saying with a sardonic smile, “Insignificant bastards from a foreign plane, don’t get too ahead of yourselves! You’ll all die very soon, alright!”

Richard lifted his hand, making a slash in the air as he said coldly, “You’ll be first.”

Kojo seemed like he wanted to say something else, but Waterflower’s graceful figure had already appeared from the woods in a flash. Her movements were quick yet soundless, the 45-degree angle her body made with the ground making her look like a ghastly bolt of lightning. She moved behind Kojo at once, the Shepherd of Eternal Rest flashing in her hand.

Kojo’s head suddenly flew up high, forming an arc of blood in the sky. However, his body stood up straight as before, refusing to collapse even as blood spurted from the neck.

Waterflower herself staggered for a moment upon performing the blow. That stunning move earlier had used up more than half of her own power. Just as she began to recover a bit, she heard Richard’s sudden roar, “GET BEHIND COVER!”

Years living on the edge had given her the experience to leap instantly. She flipped a few times, making her way behind a large tree quite quickly. Two short spears whizzed by, burying themselves into the ground that she’d been standing upon but a moment ago.

“There are still enemies here! Kill them all!” Richard roared loudly, choosing to charge forward instead of retreat. He forged ahead, taking large strides towards the soldiers emerging from the jungle. As he advanced, he had already begun to chant his spells. When he brushed past Flowsand, Richard pointed his right hand to the front. An intense pulse of magic ran through the area, before four brutal boars were spawned in the forest, charging towards Kojo’s soldiers ferociously.

The four creatures weighed more than a hundred kilos each, but they sprinted wildly, with frightening energy. They had long fangs and sharp bones on the back, all deadly weapons. Their hooves, harder than rock, caused the earth to rumble like thunder as they charged across the forest.

Even Kojo, were he still around, would have to take these boars seriously. With the remaining soldiers being around level five or six, they couldn’t even take them on one-on-one. When they collided with the boars, they suddenly discovered that these magical creatures were more difficult to deal with than they had expected. All of the brutal boars were sparkling, covered by a faint divine radiance. They’d completely transformed into a whole new level of threat after a blessing had been cast on them.

Flowsand remained silent, having cast the blessing with a mere wave of her hands. She hadn’t chanted any spells aloud from the start. It seemed like all of her spells could be cast silently, and her reserves seemed endless.

As Richard saw the four brutal boars disrupt the enemy’s line of battle, he finally let out a breath. Everything in front of him went black at once, causing him to nearly fall. A warm, soft, yet strong body supported his weight. Soon after, an icy streak of spiritual power was instilled in his body, letting his drained mana recover faster.

Grade 3 spell, Vitality. It had come just in time.