“Aklon, why are you trembling with fear?”
“Damn it! Was everything you showed us just an act?”
“You're just realizing that now? Pretty foolish, aren't you.”
Thanks to my persistent cultivation, my magic stat had reached 1214. If I hadn't focused my resources on magic, I wouldn't be able to use it so freely now.
“Aaaah! Damn it! How high are we going to go? Spare me, please!”
At that moment, Aklon and I were soaring endlessly into the sky. The Fly spell consumes 20 points of magic per second. We had been ascending for 30 seconds already, consuming over 600 points of magic. Thankfully, my diligent cultivation had brought my magic stat to 1214. Without investing heavily in magic, I wouldn't have been able to use it so liberally. Taking into account Aklon's magic stat, which was only 428, there was a nearly threefold difference despite being the same class.
As the altitude became excessively high, Aklon broke into a cold sweat. On the ground, soldiers who had been in hiding marched out, fiercely attacking the allied forces, who had been hit by landmines. With Rakis' forces joining in for an attack from both the front and side, the allied forces began to retreat. From the moment the landmines exploded, nearly 1000 allied soldiers met a sudden death, not even having a chance to escape the densely laid mines.
Those who survived were as good as dead, having lost all will to fight and were in a state of semi-consciousness. They were too busy scrambling to escape, dragging their companions behind them as they desperately fought for their lives.
"I think this should be enough."
At that moment, I released Aklon's collar.
"Huuuaah!"
Instantly, Aklon's body began to plummet. I halted the Fly spell, focusing solely on Aklon as he fell. My first choice of attack was a 4th-class spell, Ice Storm. A spell from the ice series that makes an opponent freeze all at once. I threw a choice at Aklon. Now he had to decide: either slow his fall with the Fly spell or put up a shield to counter the Ice Storm.
'Fear is the immediate threat.'
As expected, Aklon chose to erect a shield. In the face of a 4th-class spell, it was an understandable choice. At that moment, I dissolved the Ice Storm spell I had gathered and increased my speed to wrap around Aklon.
"Da-damn it... Damn it all!"
Aklon screamed. He was genuinely terrified.
Normal magical battles often occur with elegance – although there's nothing elegant about dying. Normally, both sides maintain distance, exchanging spells to gauge the enemy, and once understood, they close in for a fierce attack. This was the standard. Close combat for a mage was risky due to the difficulty in responding to unexpected variables and the ease of missing rapidly flying magic spheres.
‘Is this guy crazy?’
Aklon was utterly flabbergasted. Jared had completely twisted the common methods known among mages. He intentionally closed the distance, disrupting balance by suddenly soaring into the sky with Fly magic, making it impossible to cast spells properly. Then, reached the high point, he retaliated while falling from above. Falling itself was dangerous, but if one were to freeze mid-air, they would be completely helpless, forcing Aklon to respond with a shield. Anticipating further magical attacks, he made his shield thicker.
But again, he was caught off guard. Jared abandoned his stance to chain spells together and instead embraced him tightly, leading to an inevitable fall. Being so closely entwined, any magic Aklon would cast could risk harming them both. He managed to conjure a Magic Missile, but it went wildly off-target.
‘Is this some kind of double suicide plan? I don't see what he would gain by killing me in such a way.’
Aklon thought calmly. Jared's actions seemed reckless and desperate, with no apparent follow-up plan. It was nonsensical; what lord would sacrifice himself with a mage for the sake of a territory? What would be the fate of a territory losing its lord?
Right then. Jared, who appeared to be embracing him, was busily manipulating his hands, forming a different sign. Turning his head slightly, Aklon saw Jared’s intention.
‘Dimension Door, huh!’
4th-class spell, Dimension Door. A spatial manipulation spell that opens a portal as an entry point and then sets an exit point in any location within 100 meters. Even mid-fall, it allowed one to make a leap back to higher ground by setting the exit at a high place.
‘Planning to let me fall while using Dimension Door to save yourself? I thought he was just a 4th-class mage by appearance, but turns out he's also good at applying his skills.’
A sinister smile spread across Aklon's lips. Realizing the enemy’s hidden intentions, he finally understood the confidence and boldness shown until now.
‘If Jared opens the portal, he intends to use it himself. If I enter this portal first, he won’t be able to follow. He’ll face my counter as soon as he follows.’
Aklon calculated the distance. If he continued to fall straight down, he would be sucked into the portal perfectly.
Soon, the sign Jared made with his hands lit up as a fiery orb began to flicker and burn brilliantly.
“Do you think I’ll fall for that?”
Using all his strength, Aklon swung a fist empowered with Strength magic towards Jared.
Smack!
“Ugh!”
A significant sound was heard, and Jared groaned, losing his balance mid-air, starting to veer off course.
“Hahaha!”
Aklon thought about returning the favor with a Fireball. The fall trajectory was precise, and it posed no problem in targeting Jared. The intense fireball flew straight at Jared.
“Dammit!”
Jared frowned, quickly erecting a shield to block the Fireball. Consequently, Jared started falling in another direction, leaving the Dimension Door’s portal for Aklon to claim.
Aklon turned his body back and looked downward. The portal was still there, unchanged.
"Your tricks have failed!"
Wearing a satisfied smile on his face, Aklon swiftly entered the portal. Since it was the exit made for Jared to escape, as long as it didn't close, he assumed there would be no problems.
He passed through smoothly! Aklon's body went through the portal, emerging at the exit on the opposite side of space. At that moment.
Thud.
"......?"
Aklon felt a cold, metallic sensation in the middle of his forehead, as if a glacier had struck him.
“Ah… Uh? Uh?”
He wanted to say something, anything, but his mouth wouldn’t move, not obeying his mind. Aklon slowly raised his gaze upward, believing something terrible had occurred near his forehead.
At that moment, he sensed someone landing on the ground behind him, making a noise as they cut through the air. Although he couldn't turn his head to confirm, it was obvious who it was. There was only one other who could use the Fly spell freely, Jared.
“I came down to hear what trick you think I missed.” Jared’s calm voice sounded exceptionally vexing to Aklon.
An enraged Aklon tried to slightly tilt his head back. But that moment.
“Ughhhh...!”
An indescribable pain began from his forehead. A sensation like a hammer striking echoed throughout his brain, freezing his nerves from the back of his neck to his spine.
“There’s a saying, a chance that’s so obviously good isn’t actually good because it’s seen by everyone.”
“Za, Za… Jared!”
“On behalf of all your victims, I shall severely punish you for your countless misdeeds.”
Jared grasped the back of Aklon's head. Then, gripping the spike violently lodged at Aklon's forehead, he pulled his head downward with force.
In the next instant!
Splat!
A chill-inducing sound rang out as blood oozed out from beneath the spike lodged into the tree.
“…….”
Aklon’s life was snuffed out. With his brain practically split in half, survival was not an option.
[Level up! Achieved Lv. 8!]
[Quest 'Tiger vs. Dragon’ completed. Intelligence increased by 15 as a reward!]
“What’s with the 'Tiger vs. Dragon’ nonsense? He couldn’t even scratch the robe I’m wearing.”
Jared chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief.
Thus ended the lives of two 3rd-class mages and one 4th-class mage dispatched from the Majorca territory. Each significant force had perished.
‘When someone is convinced they’re smart, they end up overestimating themselves.’
Aklon’s downfall lay precisely in that. He had utterly failed to see through the fact that the Dimension Door spell left by Jared wasn't for escape but as a trap. Anyone would have assumed the Dimension Door spell was a sole escape means from the fall, but in reality, it was a perfect disguise. As a result, Aklon paid the ultimate price with his life. Nicely put, his guard was down, bluntly, it was a foolish death.
“Shall I pursue them?”
Jared turned his gaze. Left now were the fleeing allied forces from two territories and the two lords who gazed into the battlefield dumbfoundedly. The war was not over yet.
They fled. They truly fled without turning back.
The moment Aklon met his end at Jared's hands, Horgus realized all had gone wrong. The allied army of 3000 he brought had been halved. Not from minor injuries, but dead or at least severely wounded. The mines Jared had planted were devastating, claiming the lives of soldiers who never understood what hit them. The survivors who lost their resolve were practically hollow, with their spirits crushed.
“Horgus, you idiot! With so many scouts sent, how did you not detect such traps?”
Bartman, who exchanged pleasantries mere minutes ago, turned on Horgus, berating him relentlessly.
“The territory's guards were overseeing the villagers planting trees and plowing fields! It seemed unnecessary to suspect them!”
“So, you didn't know those horrendous traps were hidden on the side paths?”
“You dumped the scouting on us, so why are you losing it now!”
Respect vanished, replaced by furious shouting. Any chance of salvaging the situation was gone.
Criavia’s army chased the retreating allied forces relentlessly. During this frantic flight, those who became the rear force not by choice fell like autumn leaves.
“Please spare us! We surrender unconditionally!”
“Surrender! Surrender!”
The few soldiers who died fighting managed to burn their last flames, but they were just a handful. Most threw down their weapons and begged for surrender when they fell within the pursuit range of the lords' army.
“Damn it!”
Horgus felt his mind go blank, at a loss. This scenario hadn’t even been on his mind with a 1% chance. The score he saw now was a crushing defeat. In a few minutes since starting the retreat, a third of the forces evaporated once more. Only about 1000 remained.
At this divide, the allied forces split, heading to the Majorca and Ronella territories according to the lords leading them, with fewer than 500 remnants around Horgus. Right then.
Wooooooooom!
“Heeeek! A mage!”
“It’s Jared!”
Terrified soldiers shouted, pointing upwards. Despite pointing behind him initially, Jared swiftly flew overhead and overtook their path ahead.
And then, Horgus experienced a chilling terror more frightening than any tale.
“My lord, I hope you've been well?”
“Heeeek!”
The voice he dreaded hearing! it was Jared, flying at eye level while whispering softly beside him on horseback, making his voice nothing short of terrifying.