Chapter 7: Battle Between Mages
Nunemund, 3rd day, 217th known year.
In the meantime, Draego had returned to the edge of the forest and was looking at the group of warriors near the bridge. There were just nineteen left at this point in time, however Draego was loath to enter an open battle against them. He might be able to defeat either the mage or his soldiers in open battle, he doubted he could both at the same time.
So, he created another mana net and sent it at the mage. This time, the mage didn’t respond. With no exposed mana to siphon, Draego’s net itself was quite useless. Draego immediately changed his plans. He combined several mana threads together and sent it to the nearest soldier. The soldier sensed something gripping her leg and stomped and swatted repeatedly, to no avail.
Draego’s mana rope crawled up her body and finally wrapped itself around her neck. Then crisply, the threads untangled, dug into her skin, and slit her throat. The mage watched helplessly as one of his soldiers was slain right in front of his eyes. At the same time, the other soldiers watched the victim fall powerlessly to the ground, red gushing from her neck.
A moment later, a commotion spread among the soldiers. They picked up their weapons, and made groups, sending glances everywhere searching for the intruder. Draego took a deep breath as he split his mana threads further till they were, once again, light enough to float in the air, and then withdrew them while curling them.
Indeed, Draego took this chance when his opponent wasn’t reverse tracking him to expand his mana pool. Not because it was effective, but because the enemy mage could tell what he was doing. Simply speaking, Draego was taunting him even further. And the mage recognized this.
He glared at the corpse whilst gritting his teeth. Then, he drew his greatsword from its sheath and struck it into the ground. Cracks erupted and spread from where the greatsword struck the ground.
“Come out, you coward!” He shouted his challenge. “Show me your face, if you dare!”
Draego blinked and sent mana to his throat. At the same time, he spread his mana net around the people. Noticing this, the mage readied himself for whatever Draego’s next move might be. Draego took a short breath.
“You speak boldly for a loser.” His deep and impassive voice sounded strangely dismissive and mocking. To top it off, the voice was transmitted through the mana net and not his throat, causing the soldiers to be unable to figure out his location.
“And why would a coward show his face in the first place?” Draego added, apparently unaffected by being called a coward. The mage frowned upon hearing these words. Draego formed another collection of mana threads and wrapped them softly around another four soldier’s legs. The mage opened his mouth to say something when multiple screeches of pain cut him short.
The four targeted soldiers lost one leg each and fell to the ground. Although the wound itself was not fatal, the blood gushing out of their wounds would inevitably become so. To top it off, the shock and pain of losing a limb had already taken their consciousness and put them in a dangerous state.
The mage, seeing this, suddenly expanded a net of mana. He didn’t try to entwine it with Draego’s, but rather just spread it around him. Finally, he was resorting to the basic method of mana-net sensing. However, Draego couldn’t be found or stopped by such primordial means.
Immediately, his mana net entwined with and started snapping away the mana threads in the mage’s net. The mage, to his credit, duly replaced them with new ones. Frowning, Draego increased the number of threads as far as he could, and started pulling away the mage’s threads faster and faster.
A couple of minutes passed, and the soldiers could tell that a battle they couldn’t sense was being waged right now. Suddenly, the mage stopped using his net and withdrew it within himself. Draego withdrew the strands he had outside back into his body too. He could tell he was on the verge of breaking through to a proper tenth spell.
However, he had lost this round. The enemy had found his exact location out. Furthermore, he could tell this mage was an Amateur. He might lack skills in espionage and reconnaissance, but that didn’t mean Draego could take him lightly. In fact, his lack of skill might even indicate a greater focus on his combat skills.
To be honest, Draego had a choice to return to hiding, and avoid a frontal clash. But he chose not to do so. His clash with the group had already taken about ten minutes. Moreover, he had already disabled nine soldiers, leaving only thirteen fear-struck soldiers. As long as he played his cards right, he believed he could win.
Draego stepped out into the open. The soldiers looked puzzled for a moment. Without wasting another moment, he released a net of mana. The mage’s eyes widened in alarm upon seeing it. He channeled his mana through his greatsword and brought it smashing down on the ground. A wave of mana spread through the area, forcibly negating Draego’s net.
However, that movement was large, and threw the mage’s stance apart. Draego had already closed the distance between him and the mage in the time taken, and slashed at the mage’s left side. The mage dove to his right. Draego’s blade slashed through a leather strip within the crack of the armor, and it swayed and clanked as the mage moved.
At the same time, the dive had forced the mage to let go of his greatsword. Draego took this chance and attacked the soldiers. By the time the mage picked himself to his feet and grabbed his sword again, another five soldiers had fallen to the ground, crippled or dead. Out of the original twenty two soldiers, only eight stood.
The mage rushed straight at Draego. His greatsword was indeed useful for defence, but its real strength lay in its unblockable offense. Draego watched the mage’s movements and prepared himself. The mage swung his greatsword in a sideways slash at Draego’s neck, his left to right. Draego lowered his neck and let out a counter slash at the mage’s left side.
The mage pushed off of his left leg, and borrowed the momentum of his greatsword to leap clear of Draego’s counter. As he landed on his right leg, he used it as a fulcrum, rotating his entire body once to end up facing Draego again. The greatsword spun with him, and the mage used the momentum to leap at Draego once again.
He’s nullifying it. The greatest disadvantage of using a greatsword was its weight, and the resultant lack in mobility. However, the mage was effectively using the weight of the greatsword to pull his body in the direction he wanted. It wasn’t something just anyone could pull off, and would not be easy to deal with.
Draego sidestepped the overhead swing the mage sent towards him. Immediately, he felt mana surge down the greatsword from the mage’s hands. Instead of launching a counter, Draego immediately channeled mana into his own legs and leapt backwards. The mage turned and swung the greatsword towards Draego, a good part of it still buried within the soil.
Massive chunks of rock and dirt swung towards Draego. Draego let out a sharp slash with his jet black sword, splitting the wave into two. The mage wasn’t someone he could deal with easily. Although he managed to cut off the strap of armor on one of his first attacks, that was because of an element of surprise, timing and luck.
To top it off… The wave of rock and soil sailed past Draego, and he saw two soldiers approach him from his flanks. He channeled mana through his body and shot towards one of them. Noticing Draego’s movement, the soldier raised her sword and somewhat parried the attack. Draego wanted to press his attack, but the mage had recovered and was almost on top of him with his new attack.
Instead of pressing for the attack, Draego took several steps backwards, releasing a mana net at the same time. The net sensed the other six soldiers around him, and gave him a direction to move in. The mage slashed at Draego, from Draego’s left shoulder to the right side of his hip. Draego leapt back to avoid it.
The mage followed that up by completing a full rotation leftwards and bringing the sword upwards at Draego in an uppercut. Dreago took a step back and leaned slightly to the side, letting the attack sail by him. He had started getting used to the mage’s movements. The mage took a slight leap as he prepared for his last strike, an overhead.
In retaliation, Draego stepped in, much to the mage’s confusion. With Draego almost right under his nose, both his sword and Draego’s own became temporarily unusable. Draego watched as the greatsword started falling, and with precise timing, just as the mage was about to move, he smashed his left palm into the mage’s jaw.
The mage removed one hand from the greatsword and blocked Draego’s palm. But that delayed his next attack, and that was all Draego needed. Draego spun once, circling around the mage, and rushed straight at two soldiers behind the mage. The soldiers couldn’t tell what happened, while Draego had known their position all along.
The mage tried to turn around to protect his underlings, realizing Draego’s intentions. But a quick tug from one of Draego’s mana threads boosted the greatsword’s forward momentum, slowing him considerably and somewhat throwing off his balance. He grit his teeth as he watched Draego slice the necks of two more soldiers.
Draego, having cleanly slit the necks of his two opponents, turned back to face the mage again, when he felt mana run down the greatsword. With the distance between them having increased to a little over eight meters, even a greatsword’s direct swing wouldn’t reach him. Draego took a couple more hops backwards, increasing that distance to about ten meters.
The mage brought down his blade with great momentum. A bluish hue shot from his greatsword, creating a gash on the ground as it rushed towards Draego. Draego straightened himself, and ran mana down his own sword, held by his right hand being brought to his left, across his chest. The mage charged at Draego, just as his spell was about to reach Draego.
At the same time, Draego let out a single-handed sidecut from his left to the right. The sword hit and pushed the spell to the side while letting out a blue-colored arc aimed at the mage. The mage’s eyes widened as he kicked the ground, turning his leap forwards into a roll sidewards. The blue arc sailed past him harmlessly, as he regained his footing and saw Draego having already taken a distance from him.
Difficult. Draego thought to himself. Although it felt like Draego had an upper hand in combat, that wasn’t really the case. As of this moment, Draego could reliably use eight more spells. It didn’t help that any chances Draego created were easily neutralized by the soldiers. There were only six remaining, but taking care of them would cost him another couple of spells.
Although his opponent had also used two spells, he could tell he was reaching his limit faster than his opponent. Can’t go for an all-out. Numbers were against him. He couldn’t afford to pay a steep price to take down the enemy commander. Must endure. Draego decided, his face as impassive as ever.
He took his stance. The mage took his own. The soldiers, having witnessed the battle so far, seemed shaken, but not broken. They quivered, but watched Draego attentively. A quick glance around him showed Draego that the ones he had crippled had already succumbed to shock and blood loss.
Draego turned his gaze to the mage once again, and charged at him. This time, the mage didn’t attack, instead, he held his greatsword ready for defence. Since his opponent wouldn’t take the initiative, Draego took it instead. He let out a slash at his opponent’s shoulder. The mage raised his greatsword to block Draego’s slash.
A dull ringing sound echoed across the flatlands near the bridge as his sword clashed with the greatsword. The mage raised his greatsword above his shoulder, its point aimed a bit to Draego’s right, and its length parallel to the ground. Draego’s slash glanced off of the greatsword. The greatsword, thanks to the force of the blow, now pointed directly at Draego’s neck.
The mage, not letting this chance where his opponent was off balance while he was in a perfect striking stance, lunged at Draego’s neck. However, as the sword approached him, Draego twisted sharply to his right, stepping a bit to his left at the same time. The greatsword pierced nothing but air as Draego avoided it by a hair’s breadth.
At the same time, his body span naturally, increasing the force behind the side-cut to the mage’s side. The mage reacted quickly, he twisted his hands to turn the greatsword sideways, and launched his own side-cut at Draego. Draego ducked under the greatsword as it came at him, while letting his slash loose on the mage’s torso.
A piercing screech resounded across the clearing as the two separated again. The two skidded to a stop about five meters away from each other. A long scratch was etched along the mage’s armor, while Draego didn’t have a scratch on him. However, both warriors had an impassive expression, as though the exchange was completely even.
Draego charged back into the fray the instant he stopped. The mage held the greatsword with both his hands, standing defensively. Draego started this round with a slash opposite to the one he had used earlier. The blow was blocked once again, but this time, both sides were better prepared.
Draego took a step back, letting his arm swivel around, before stepping back in for another blow. At the same time, without losing his patience, the mage reverted to his original stance, to defend against the next attack. The next attack was a side-cut at the mage’s waist. The mage blocked it by bringing his sword to the side, pointed upwards.
Draego took the recoil from the block and pushed himself backwards once again, creating enough distance to react to a counter. Without letting him remain on the offensive, the mage made a large side-cut with his greatsword, aiming for Draego’s chest. Draego brought his sword to meet the greatsword in an upper-cut, while ducking at the same time.
The greatsword, half deflected by his sword, and half dodged by his duck, flew by harmlessly above him. The mage took a step back, unwilling to push in too deep and fall for a trap. Draego immediately went on the offensive again, letting out three quick light jabs at the man. The man turned the greatsword and blocked the jabs using the flat of the blade.
Finally, Draego stepped back before leaping in for an overhead strike. The man raised his greatsword high, blocking that again. Then, Draego, suddenly turned, swinging his sword all around him. The soldiers who had started approaching the incredibly dangerous fight backed off again. Combat skills, about even. Draego evaluated.
No. He is a bit better. Draego realized. I can react since I’m faster. His edge lay in the fact that he was just marginally faster than the mage in front of him. On the other hand, by reducing his own movement, connecting one movement to another and timing himself between attacks and counters, the mage was evening out this difference.
Add to that the fact that he probably had better reserves of stamina and strength than Draego, that tables would turn if he continued for too long. Let’s mix it up. Draego let out his net of mana threads. The mage realized what Draego was trying to do. He gathered his mana and kept it ready within himself.
Draego charged in once again. He started with a left uppercut, while using mana threads to grip onto the mage’s greatsword. The mage released the mana he had been holding in, forcibly pushing away the mana threads Draego was using. In a flash of inspiration, Draego’s mana threads wrapped themselves around mana which was released and dragged it towards Draego.
At the same time, Draego stopped his charge and took several steps backwards, creating a distance between them again. He also felt his mana increase substantially as the mana threads were reeled back in. The mage’s expression changed a little as he frowned. The soldiers also noticed this change as they tensed slightly.
The mage went on the offensive this time, charging at Draego. Draego laid out his mana net. Immediately, the mage deployed his own net, and started pulling at Draego’s threads. The nets ended in a stalemate. Draego only needed another moment to outmanoeuvre the mage’s net and break it off, when the greatsword was swung down at him in an overhead.
Draego parried the swing by diverting it to his right with his sword and stepping away from the new course of the greatsword. The mage immediately connected into a new attack, focusing more on speed of attacks than strength. He swung a quick side-cut at Draego, who easily blocked with his sword.
As the mage’s greatsword bounced back from the recoil, the mage’s mana net grew. He had a larger reserve of mana, making it easier for him to create a generally stronger net. However, Draego was by far his superior in terms of mana control. He used the instance the mage took to strengthen his net, to cut off several of the mage’s threads and reel them in.
The mage pressed on with his offense. He swung several overheads at Draego, trying to wear his defense down using brute force. Draego kept mechanically parrying and deflecting them with his own sword, using the brief moments of respite in between to use his mana threads. As half a dozen exchanges were made, Draego’s threads had cut off over half the threads the mage had made.
Reeling them back into his body, Draego felt mana surge through his entire body. 5th Class. Draego felt his body quiver slightly as it got used to the influx of magic. Without restraint, Draego channeled the newly gained mana into his body, reinforcing it. He deflected another overhead swing, and pushed it away, sending his opponent off-balance.
Seeing the chance, Draego immediately prepared to make another strike at the man’s chest, this time with his blade infused with mana. The mage gave out a loud cry and a massive surge of mana was released from his body, pushing Draego back. Draego, who had been in stance to launch an attack, forcibly had his balance broken.
And the ones to follow that up were the other soldiers. They had charged in the moment Draego looked like he was about to attack. The nearest one slashed down at Draego with her axe. Draego barely dodged her attack by leaping sideways. There, another soldier swung a mace at his head.
Having just landed, Draego didn’t have the time to duck. He forcibly raised his sword to block the attack and was sent staggering back. Two more soldiers pointed their swords at Draego, trying to run him through. Draego spun on one foot even as he staggered and let out a horizontal slash. A blue arc rushed at the two soldiers and split them in two from the waist.
At this moment, the mage came in with a massive swing of his greatsword in a sidecut. Draego just barely regained his footing, and only managed to raise his sword to block the blow before it crashed into it. The strength behind the blow sent Draego flying through the air for a good eight meters before he finally landed.
Draego’s body was dragged for another two meters before it stopped. Draego picked himself back up to his feet and gave a quick glance around. He had taken down two more soldiers, leaving only a measly four survivors other than the mage himself. However, the price he paid for it was not small.
The back of his shirt was shorn, and his own back had long scratches. To make things worse, even though he won the battle for mana between the nets, using up a spell and reinforcing his body for the duration of that exchange lost him a lot more mana than he had gained. His opponent looked like he could still use several dozens more spells. Draego could barely use six or seven more at best.
Draego took a deep breath as he readied himself again and looked at the five opposing him. Then, he took his stance once more. His shoulder and arm throbbed slightly due to the strain caused to it when he blocked that last attack, but the throbbing receded rapidly. Just then, a blue glow coated the mage. He had finally started using his own Body Reinforcement spell. … He wasn’t using it till now?