Joining the Battle (4)
"Hey, at least try to tell friend from foe when you shoot!"
Hector was charging in, literally spraying magic in every direction. A single Wind Cutter from him cut down three imperial soldiers. For all his total lack of combat experience and his sheer stupidity, he was still a 4th Circle master—his spells packed real force. But those same spells made it impossible for Ellen and his platoon to hold any kind of formation.
"We scatter from here. Stick with the teams we set up earlier. I'll support you as much as I can, so don't push too far out."
"Yes, sir."
At Ellen's order the troops broke apart, each man keeping to his assigned group. That idiot's going to make our losses even worse. Every single one of these men is a valuable asset. Ellen widened his view of the battlefield. Allied and enemy forces were already tangled together; wide-area magic was off the table.
The spells Master taught me will be the most efficient here.
He shifted his grip on the staff until he was holding it like a bow.
"O root of the earth, show me your majesty before my eyes. Stone Edge."
A pillar of rock erupted from the ground and punched straight through an enemy soldier's chest. The moment Janette finished casting and stood briefly exposed, another soldier lunged at him with a spear.
"May thy fortitude stand as a bulwark against all threat. Shield."
Carrick's barrier flared into place at exactly the right instant, catching the spear with a sharp clang.
"Nice one, Carrick!"
Janette's relief lasted only a heartbeat. His eyes went wide as an aura-wrapped blade shattered the shield outright.
"Damn it—"
The sword never wavered; it swept straight for Janette's neck. The instant he felt certain his head was about to leave his shoulders, a sharp whistle cut the air.
"Guh—!"
The knight who had been swinging the blade toppled over. Janette's gaze followed the afterimage of the flash he had glimpsed for a fraction of a second. Ellen stood at the far end of that line, already casting again without pause. He looked for all the world as if he were loosing arrows from the staff. The bolts of light that left it punched clean through even the thick plate of knights.
Magic Missile? The feel was similar, yet far more lethal than ordinary impact magic. Janette had never even heard of a spell like this.
Whistles of light kept streaking out. They're holding up surprisingly well, Ellen thought, pulling a small pill from his belt and swallowing it dry.
-Aren't you pushing yourself a little hard? You know that stuff has side effects.
Proveng's voice sounded inside his skull.
I know. I can live with them. This fight matters more.
The pill dissolved the moment it hit his stomach. Its stored mana flooded straight into his mana heart. Feeling the sudden fullness, Ellen poured the power into even faster barrages of light. The number of soldiers he had already dropped climbed past thirty.
-The formula's fairly complex, yet you're firing it off at that speed.
I've been drilling the modified Magic Missile formula nonstop.
Elsewhere Hector was making an equally spectacular mess.
"I shall seize and purify all things—Burning Hands!"
Flames engulfed five men at once; one of them was an ally. Hector did not even glance their way.
"Strike him down from above—Strike!"
A mounted knight tumbled from the saddle as if swatted by an invisible fist.
"Kahaha! I'll kill every last one of you! Burn them all—Fireball!"
Half out of his mind, Hector kept hurling magic that made no distinction between friend and foe. Then someone casually sliced one of his fireballs apart mid-flight.
"You must be the commander of this unit. I have my doubts about a commander who has already lost his reason, but I, Dirk, will face you myself."
Dirk closed the eight-meter gap in a handful of strides.
"W-what—?"
Hector had never once crossed blades with a knight; he had no idea how to fight one. He barely managed to start the word "Protect—" before steel parted his neck. His headless body took two stumbling steps backward and collapsed.
"You lacked even the most basic qualifications for battle. Your death was only a matter of time."
Dirk left Hector's corpse behind and charged the Prode lines, pale-blue aura wreathing his blade.
That's the one.
Ellen watched the swordsman cut a path of carnage across the field. He knew exactly whose death would tip this evenly matched slaughter.
"Daz, you and Hordy cover the platoon in my place."
"Yes, sir!"
The two men fell back at once. Confirmed, Ellen loosed a Magic Missile straight at Dirk. The Sword Master, about to finish a fallen soldier, felt the killing intent and twisted aside; a streak of light scorched the ground where he had stood.
"Was that you?"
Even at a distance Dirk knew. The entire complexion of the fighting around that boy was different.
"It seems this battle is not unfolding as expected—because of you."
Everything had gone according to plan: the magic barrage, the minimized losses, the shift into close combat. By now every formation should have collapsed and the enemy should have been in full retreat. On every other front the imperial forces were indeed pressing the shattered Prode ranks. Only one place had refused to break, and from that single firm point the Prode army had begun to recover and counterattack. At the heart of that stubborn stand stood the boy.
Dirk decided he had to be removed if they were to win the day. His sword hummed; the aura coating the blade thickened.
I'll have to burn every scrap of mana I've been saving.
Ellen drew power as well. Mana surged from his heart through every limb; his body felt suddenly light. Dirk moved first, driving a thrust straight at Ellen's chest.
I have to keep the mana I spend on defense to the absolute minimum.
Ellen twisted, letting the blade whistle past. Dirk's eyes lit with interest.
"Those are not the movements of a mage."
"Do you really have time to talk?"
Vines erupted from the earth beneath Dirk's feet; he sprang upward just in time.
Cone of Ice.
Sharp lances of frost streaked toward the airborne swordsman. Both feet off the ground, Dirk could not dodge. Instead he gripped his sword in both hands and swung in a great arc that shattered the ice mid-flight.
"Tch."
Ellen had not expected a 4th Circle spell to be batted aside so cleanly. The brief exchange had already told each man enough about the other. Even the soldiers fighting nearby began to watch the duel.
"You are a formidable opponent. I shall show you proper respect."
The air around Dirk changed. Where he had been a still lake, he now became a raging sea.
"Even so, nothing changes. In a mess like this there's no point hiding what I can do."
Grease.
Ellen struck first. Dirk kept his footing—until successive layers of the spell finally stole his balance. Ten Magic Missiles screamed toward him. Dirk used the slick ground, falling deliberately so that he both slipped under the bolts and closed the distance. Ellen threw himself backward; the sword whistled over his head, then instantly changed course as if Dirk had known he would dodge.
Shield.
Ellen stacked barriers and caught the blow. Almost simultaneously an invisible blade of wind—nearly impossible to see—lanced at Dirk. The swordsman sensed it and twisted aside.
Entangle.
The moment Dirk shifted left, vines shot up and seized his left arm.
Lightning.
Ellen fired the fastest spell he had. Dirk yanked the trapped arm inward, severed the vines with his blade, and used the forward momentum to roll. A stone pillar erupted in the path he was about to take.
He predicts every move. Has he fought countless knights before?
Dirk could not even find an opening to counterattack; pure defense was all he could manage. Ellen seemed a half-step ahead of every action, and the magic came at an impossible rate. One Fireball was knocked aside only for an Ice Spear to take its place; dodge that and Lightning waited. All the while the vines kept reaching for him.
Just how many spells is he casting at once?
Dirk had never faced a mage like this.
"What the hell is going on over there?"
"Is he even chanting?"
"Say the chanting's too far to hear—how is he calculating that many formulas on the fly?"
Anyone who understood magic was left staring in disbelief.
An Aero Bomb—4th Circle compressed air—detonated right in front of Dirk. The blast slammed into his chest and staggered him for a single critical instant. Vines seized every limb.
"Haa…"
Ellen sucked in air. A little longer and mana exhaustion would hit.
Still not enough mana. In the end I'll have to go to the Tower of Intellect, won't I? Well… at least this is finished.
"A fine match. It has been a long time since I felt so powerless."
All strength gone, Dirk accepted his defeat.
"Hold no grudge."
A Wind Cutter flashed. Dirk's head left his shoulders and struck the ground with a dull thud.
"Waaaaah!"
The soldiers of the Prode Kingdom roared at the sight of their victory.