After finally defeating the special Magic Swordsman brigade, the dynamic on the battlefield shifted. Raze and the others had decided to fight together as a single, cohesive unit as they moved up ahead toward their objective.
Now that his group was attacking together, they were faring much better than before. They were able to move as a unified force, covering each other's blind spots and dealing with so of the more troubleso mages that stood in their path. However, despite their improved teamwork, things weren't as easy as they would have liked.
The enemy mages were desperate. They were working together, utilizing their items with a frantic energy. Their fear had placed them firmly in survival mode, making them unpredictable and dangerous.
As soon as Raze's group got close to one squad of enemies, the mages would quickly use an item that allowed them to teleport away to a safer distance. They refused to engage in close combat, knowing they would be overwheld.
While so retreated, others were able to trigger traps, causing the buildings from underneath the protagonists to explode. The ground shook violently as masonry and dust filled the air.
Raze tried his best to mitigate the damage. He used his magic to shield the group from the large amounts of explosions that destroyed the building structures around them. But the mont they landed on the ground, the enemy mages were able to launch a full-scale attack on the area where Raze and his team had landed.
Spells of various elents rained down on them—fire, ice, and lightning converged on their position.
"Dark edge sword formation. Pulse strike!"
Raze pierced his sword forward, driving the tip into the air. A mass amount of Qi and magic dispersed everywhere from his blade, creating a shockwave of dark energy. The pulse expanded rapidly, destroying all of the magical attacks that were coming their way, neutralizing the bombardnt in an instant.
It gave them a brief mont of respite.
His team knew they needed to pick up the slack. They didn't want Raze to use his power in the first place, hoping to save his strength for the final confrontations. But he was using it, and he was doing so mostly to protect them.
The least they could do was be his firepower. They concentrated their magic, eliminating a small group of mages that had been exposed by Raze's counter-attack.
"There's a lot of them!" Kelly shouted.
As she spoke, her arm got zapped by a streak of lightning from one of the mages. She flinched, but thankfully it didn't hurt as much as it should have. She had the enchanted item equipped that solidified her body, turning her skin as hard as rock for a split second to absorb the impact.
Gritting her teeth, she retaliated. She cast a wind spell, the air swirling violently around her. She picked up a large chunk of the debris from the ruined building and flung it with trendous speed towards the other group of mages, crushing their cover.
anwhile, Liam had utilized his speed to pop up behind one group of the mages. He swung his fad "all-cutting sword" in a deadly arc, aiming to finish them in a single strike.
But before the blade hit, he saw it crash against a shimring, translucent barrier.
Clang!
His sword was deflected back with a force that rattled his bones.
"What the heck is this thing?" Liam yelled, staring at his vibrating blade. "I thought my sword could cut through anything, but it's not working against this barrier?"
Alen, who could see this struggle from a distance, decided to assist. He fired out a powerful fire spell, aiming for the center of the barrier where the mages were hiding.
However, when the flas hit the barrier, they didn't explode. Instead, a fire spell was thrown right back at him with equal force.
Alen's eyes widened. He quickly braced himself as he was hit by his own magic. Flas washed over him, but thankfully, due to the enchanted item he wore, his body had survived the backlash without sustaining critical damage.
"I think one of them has a reflective enchanted item," Alen shouted, analyzing the situation quickly. "It's not that your all-cutting sword can't cut through it, Liam. It's almost as if your attack is cancelling itself out upon making contact with the barrier."
Alen wiped soot from his face. "I would be careful. If you keep using that sword against it, who knows? Maybe it would end up cutting itself."
Liam gulped audibly. He had already lost one of his prized possessions earlier in their journey, and he really didn't want to lose another one. The thought of his "all-cutting sword" shattering made him hesitate. He was afraid of attacking the place again.
But if his sword couldn't get through, then how were they ant to break through the defense and take on the mages hiding inside?
"Ignore them for now!" Londo commanded, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Deal with the ones we can deal with. That's just what we are going to have to do. We will figure out a way to handle the barrier one way or another, but don't waste energy on it yet."
Londo was quite accurate in his assessnt. He knew they needed to move fast before they were surrounded. As they were being attacked from other angles, Londo was busy deflecting a large number of spells targeting their rear.
It was a unique way he had always used magic, even while he was back at the academy. He didn't just block; he dismantled.
He was able to guess and predict the exact amount of magic that was being used in an incoming spell. By matching it perfectly with his own output, he could fling the opposing spell right into the ground and disperse it harmlessly. This was the technique he had used to win his fights so far, preserving his mana while nullifying his opponents.
He was an extrely talented mage, and he was happy to help the true Dark Magus with the goal ahead.
He dispersed another volley of ice shards, shattering them into harmless snow. That was when he could sense sothing. It was a subtle shift in the atmosphere, a vibration in the air itself.
When looking up, he could feel a mass amount of mana that was starting to be stored sowhere nearby. It was heavy, oppressive, and growing rapidly.
What he was looking at was one of the tall towers that lood over the battlefield. The structure was radiating with magic that was booming in one concentrated place near the spire.
"That magic..." Londo stamred, his eyes tracking the glow. "That's too powerful for to stop. Is it being directed at us?"
Londo was getting ready to inform Raze and the others imdiately. They weren't too far apart, but they might have to co together in a tight formation to stop the attack if it hit them.
But that's when he noticed the true scale of the threat.
The energy build-up wasn't just happening at one of the towers. He scanned the horizon frantically. There were eight of them spread out around the vicinity, forming a massive circle around the battlefield.
All of them were booming with unstable energy, the lights at their peaks glowing brighter by the second. They were ready to attack.
"RAZE, The Towers!" Londo scread at the top of his lungs.
At the exact sa ti, a burst of energy fired. Like a concentrated beam of destruction, lasers from all eight of the towers shot out simultaneously, converging directly toward the group.
*****
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