Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

Wolfe looked over the enemy camp and considered their strategy for this battle.

“Christa, you wait here with the gear and intercept anyone coming for the road. Ella, circle to the right and come in from the city side of the camp. Take care of them how you please, but remember that there are prisoners in the camp.

Grok, you’ve got the guard dogs, and I will put a Gravity Field over the camp before we enter so that only those with exceptional strength or magical assistance will be able to fight back properly.” Wolfe decided.

Christa didn’t look too happy about being told to stay with the luggage, but there was a huge chest full of cash right next to her, as well as all the stored food that the secondary camp had, so Wolfe definitely had a point about someone needing to keep an eye on their stuff.

“Alright, let’s move,” Wolfe instructed, and Ella took off at a jog to get around the far side of the camp before she was noticed by the patrols, which were returning to defend their base.

Wolfe grabbed one of the rifles from the fallen bandits and put a basic [Fireball] enchantment on it. If these were soldiers from the Grand Dutchies armies in disguise, then they would definitely recognize the fireball-spewing rifle.

It was practically legend among their troops by the end of the winter, and it was all over their military radio channels on a daily basis, with all the villages Wolfe had traded them to.

If they weren’t soldiers, any survivors that he missed would report the incident as a matching event to the attacks in the Frozen Wastes, which should confuse the army for a while or make them think that the Snow Demon was coming for them.

They hadn’t shown any reluctance to abandon the Witches and other prisoners when he attacked before, though they did try to kill them before ditching them a few times.

But that was why Wolfe had started using the Gravity Array. It kept the prisoners safe as he attacked. He didn’t really mind if some of them fled to spread the word of a terrifying attack on their people. It would make things easier when he attacked the next one if they just ran away and left the prisoners as a gift for him.

The sound of rapid barking let Wolfe know that Grok had the attention of the guard dogs, so he slammed the Gravity Array down over the entire Camp. He could sort the innocent from the guilty later, and keeping the prisoners in their cages, for now, would keep them safer than letting them run through whatever attack Ella had planned.

Wolfe changed outfits to the snow camouflage that he used all winter, as it covered his face, and was quite recognizable in the forest, then used [Levitate] to lift himself up over the clearing so that he could shoot down into the camp at his leisure.

The screams of pure terror let him know that the people below had seen and recognized him, but with the gravity array in place, there wasn’t much that they could do about it.

Then a shot rang out from down below, and Wolfe noticed that one of the guards at the cells had managed to get himself to the bars. The Witches inside were bound with Null Stone bracelets, suppressing their aura but also spell effects in the area.

Getting close enough to them had reduced the effect of the Gravity Array enough that he could raise his rifle and fire an anti-magic bullet at Wolfe.

[Ella, be careful. They have the null stone ammunition.] Wolfe informed her before the Witch could come into the open.

Not that her armour was more likely to fail, as he had cast them both, but something about having them shoot at her rubbed Wolfe the wrong way.

Wolfe turned to look at the guard who had fired at him, then slowly turned back to the center of the camp and fired an explosive round into the command tent, which had over a dozen people pinned down in it. They were all on the floor after their chairs had collapsed, so it was some sort of meeting.

If they were in an official meeting, there shouldn’t be any innocents.

The explosion levelled the tent, and the guard howled in anguish while the prisoners in the cages laughed at his misery.

The guard fired wildly up at Wolfe, who was watching more guards attempt to crawl to the cages and get free of the gravity array.

Again Wolfe slowly and deliberately targeted his shot, picking out the group closest to the cages and turning them to ash.

The guard didn’t notice that he was no longer alone. One of the prisoners had taken the initiative to crawl to him and snatch the keys off his belt while the man was distracted with firing at Wolfe.

The innovative Merchant was quickly unlocking the shackles from the Witches, using the heavy sleeves of his travelling cloak to hide his actions. The Witches were waiting as Wolfe taunted the guard and fired another round into a cluster of soldiers inside the barracks tent, which had collapsed when Wolfe set the array.

“Stop, please, just stop. We will leave and never come back. Take what you want. Just let us live.” Someone shouted from down below, just before a field of vines spread through one side of the camp and began crushing bandits to death.

Wolfe tapped his chin as if considering the prospect for a moment, then nodded.

“We will play a game. I will lift the barrier, and you will run. If you make it out of sight, you can live. If you don’t, you die. How does that sound?” Wolfe asked, then lifted the Gravity Array to only double gravity in the area.

The bandits got to their feet in terror, not even noticing that the array wasn’t completely gone, and began hacking at the vines Ella had created. They hacked and slashed their way toward the edge of the camp while Wolfe lazily targeted the largest groups for [Fireballs].

At this point, he was pretty sure that he couldn’t be called the good guy, but the prisoner cages were now unattended, as were a number of people sprawled on the ground in terror.

They weren’t dressed as bandits, so they were likely prisoners who had been outside the cages for one reason or another. He would have to question them when this was done.