Chapter 211 - The Final Push II

The meeting continued for a while longer.

The units for both attacks were organized, and after eight days of fighting together, Leif and I were once again assigned to different tasks.

Lela and Leif were joining Captain Petrae and taking part in the assault from the western gate, with the goal of killing the Tier-5 wind mage.

I, on the other hand, was assigned to the unit responsible for securing the reinforcements.

The meeting ended, and we made our way out of the command building. Once outside, Leif, Lela, and I stopped instinctively.

Leif looked at me and smirked. “Don’t screw up out there without me.”

Regrettably, this assignment reminded me of our mission during the grand beast tide.

Back then, much like today, Leif had been part of a special unit that faced higher-tier dangers, while I had been part of a unit handling normal-tier enemies.

And he had suffered terrible injuries because of it.

I shook my head, stopping myself from thinking about the grand beast tide.

While Leif had suffered injuries that time, I had lost more than half of my squad.

And I prayed that none of those outcomes would be repeated today.

I tried to match his smirk but failed.

“You had better focus on your own ass. I hope you don’t end up half dead like last time,” I said, offering him my hand.

We clasped hands, pulled each other close, and bumped shoulders.

Then I looked at Lela and said, “Take care of him out there.”

She simply nodded, then narrowed her eyes at me.

“You are not going to tell me to take care of myself?”

I smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of my head.

In all my worry over Leif, myself, and my squad, I had completely forgotten about Lela.

There was also the fact that, as a sniper-like archer, she and her unit might be among the safest of the soldiers leaving the protection of the town walls. Their job was to pin enemy formations in place, prevent them from freely repositioning, and support the mage units.

“You take care of yourself too,” I said.

Then, looking at both of them, I added, “Support each other out there however you can.”

After that, I shook hands with Lela as well.

Then the three of us continued our walk toward the wall, where our units were still keeping guard, and briefed them about the next mission.

3rd Person POV

After instructing his squad and spending the next two hours replenishing their mana, Edward and his squad made their way to the southern gate, while Leif and Lela remained where they were. Their current position was close to the western gate, and all the soldiers would assemble nearby.

Standing at his position and facing east, Leif waited for the soldiers to arrive. But before he spotted any soldiers, he saw Captain Petrae riding his house’s guardian beast. More surprisingly, the Captain was not wearing his traditional armor. Instead, his body was completely covered in obsidian-like armor similar to his beast’s skin.

If not for his sensitivity to earth mana and his ability to distinguish the Captain’s mana from the beast’s, Leif would not even have known that the Captain was standing atop the beast’s head.

Then something even stranger occurred. The Captain jumped down from the beast’s head, diving into the ground as though it were made of water, and the beast followed suit. Both of them disappeared beneath the ground.

For a few seconds, Leif could still sense them moving deeper underground and toward the western gate, but then they vanished from his senses.

When Leif looked ahead again, he saw soldiers arranged in neat formations making their way toward them, with Senior Lieutenant Torquatus at the front, flying a few feet above the ground.

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Once the formation was close enough, Leif and his squad made their way to Captain Roscoe, whom they would be supporting in today’s battle.

Leif’s squad saluted Captain Roscoe. He nodded and addressed them. “Most of the soldiers here are students, and if not for our dire need, you would not be participating in such a high-risk battle. For many of you, this will also be the first time you have been this close to a Tier-4 opponent. When two Tier-4s are fighting, make sure to protect yourselves by forming a thick layer of mana around your bodies. Even if you feel that your superior is losing, do not attempt to participate in the battle unless you are at the peak of Tier-3.”

Leif nodded. This was something he already knew. As part of the Vanguard, he had taken part in battles where even people like Sergeant Cole would remain behind and defend. Those experiences, along with his participation in battles involving multiple Tier-4s during the grand beast tide, had taught him when to attack and when to focus on saving his own life by avoiding the attention of opponents far above his level.

“Student Leif, guide your unit properly. You are the only one who has taken part in real combat involving Tier-4 opponents.”

“Yes, sir!” Leif saluted and joined the formation.

Just behind them, Lela and her squad also made their way to the rear of the formation and reported to their superior, Senior Lieutenant Scaevola.

Slowly, the Aegis Array’s film of wind mana disappeared from around the town, and the western gate of Velkar Town opened wide for the soldiers to pass through.

This time, there was no attempt to hide their presence. Instead, Senior Lieutenant Torquatus increased his pace and flew high into the air while concentrating mana in his hand. Once his spell took form, he punched toward the Frosthallow army, which was still trying to organize itself. Multiple large balls of fire shot toward the army, but before they could cause any damage, they were countered—some by walls of water, some by other fireballs, and some by walls of earth.

Just as two figures from the Frosthallow camp started flying toward Senior Lieutenant Torquatus, they halted their ascent upon sensing multiple Tier-4 enemies and a combined unit of lower-tier soldiers making their way toward the camp.

Multiple skills were activated at once, passing orders throughout the Frosthallow camp, while each Blood Chief and their elites made their way toward the assault unit. This attack had caught them off guard. Such a suicidal assault made no sense, especially when Velkar’s defensive array was far stronger than had previously been reported.

After the first attack, Senior Lieutenant Torquatus transformed himself into a ball of fire and descended like a meteor toward an eight-foot-tall, giant-like figure running toward Avalon’s formation. Even though Torquatus descended at an extremely high speed, the giant simply turned and stopped his kick with both hands. When Torquatus’s fire burned away his enemy’s clothes, it revealed a body that looked as though it were made of stone.

Grabbing Torquatus, the giant was about to smash him into the ground, only for Torquatus to release multiple darts of fire toward the giant’s eyes. The attack caught the giant by surprise. He flinched and took a few steps back, causing him to lose his grip on Torquatus’s feet. Torquatus then released bursts of fire from his feet, propelling himself away from his enemy.

The giant stomped the ground, and thousands of sharp earthen shards rose from it. Then he quickly turned and made a punching motion toward the formation.

With his opponent’s back turned toward him, Torquatus created a supercharged fire lance, concentrating most of the heat at its tip, and fired it at his opponent’s heart. This time, the lance was stopped by a wall of ice. A moment later, his danger sense warned him of something extremely cold flying toward him from the left. Without wasting any time, he flew upward and readied himself to face the ice mage.

At the same time, as the earthen shards flew toward the formation, Captain Roscoe extended his hand and spread his mana. As soon as the shards came into contact with his mana, they disintegrated and turned into a cloud of dust. But Captain Roscoe was not finished. Once all the shards had been converted into dust, he took control of it and, with another hand gesture, transformed it into a massive earthen lance aimed at the giant.

Within the next minute, almost all the Tier-4s from Frosthallow and Avalon were engaged in battle. But they were not the only ones fighting. The lower-tier mages and warriors were engaged in their own battles, which were interrupted whenever a massive clash between Tier-4s occurred nearby.

But when it came to the lower-tier battle, Frosthallow was at a slight disadvantage. Having been caught off guard by the attack, they had still not managed to organize themselves into proper formations. To make matters worse, even after ten days of encountering core bombs, they had not developed an effective counter against them. That, combined with Avalon’s units being made up mostly of mages, had rendered Frosthallow’s warriors ineffective in the battle.

As soon as Frosthallow realized this, the warriors were ordered to retreat, and the mages were instructed to surround Avalon’s formation.

All of this had given Avalon’s army a precious few minutes, allowing them to move closer to Frosthallow’s central command tent.

Four hundred meters from the central camp, Leif noticed that Senior Lieutenant Torquatus and Captain Roscoe, who were engaged with their opponents, suddenly lost control over their elements. Just one hundred meters from Senior Lieutenant Torquatus floated a figure Leif knew all too well. It was Frosthallow’s Tier-5 mage, who had kept Velkar trapped within his domain for forty-five days.

It appeared that, this time, his domain was not taking the shape of a dome but was instead spreading outward across the battlefield. Yet the mage had precise control over his domain: Avalon’s soldiers were affected, while Frosthallow’s forces were still able to use their elements. A sense of despair spread through Avalon’s ranks as they saw an ice lance pierce straight through Senior Lieutenant Torquatus’s left shoulder and Captain Roscoe take a direct blow to the jugular from the giant, sending him flying at least five meters from where he had been standing.

Thankfully, before either of them could be fatally injured, a massive hole tore open directly beneath the Tier-5 mage, and from it emerged Onyx’s obsidian head, his mouth open and ready to swallow the mage whole. Regrettably, the mage had faster reflexes and flew upward, only for the Captain to shoot forward from Onyx’s back with a spear-like structure protruding from the arm of his obsidian armor.

The sudden attack caused the Tier-5 mage to lose his focus and, with it, control over his domain. All the affected mages regained access to their mana and rejoined the battle.