Ardan Wayne

‘Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,’ I counted as more of the bastards have revealed their strength.

‘I am going to kill the bastards at the intelligence department!’ I cursed, seeing the number. One of the reasons for the last defeat was an intelligence failure. So, when I took command of the horde, I made sure to press for more intelligence.

We didn’t have the robust intelligence network here as we have on the island, but we have money and we spent quite a lot of it.

The department had told me that intelligence is solid and there would be only a slight variation in it, but there was no variation.

There was a fucking difference.

There are over twenty-five Level 30+ powerhouses, I am sensing. Twenty-two on the battlefield, while over five on the wall, and they all are fighting against our powerhouses.

It is a good thing; I had hidden some of mine. I have one more than them. Twenty-three. However, it would be trouble if those on the wall decided to enter the battlefield.

I am not going to give them a chance. I will keep them busy with the undead, till the battle is over.

“You have planned well,” I said to the elder-blood and swung my saber in the air, sending waves of fire at him.

At the same time, he was attacked by Mage Darya, with the Mud field and Earth Lances. The attacks, he had crushed through with his halberd, covered in the bronze energy.

“Thank you. It wouldn’t have been possible without your intelligence failure,” replied the Elder Blood with an irritating grin, and attacked with the bronze energy arc.

The gem on my saber lit up and flame walls appeared. Mage Darya had also put her Earth Wall in between for better defense.

Fire is good at many things, but defense isn’t one of them. Especially when defending against the attacks of the elder power.

Bang Bang Bang!

The bronze wave crushed through the shields by the time. It had reached the last shield; it had lost all its power, but right after, its halberd came and tore through it.

Thankfully, I had already moved away with the Flame Blitz.

I usually liked to clash directly against the enemies. It is why, I have become a spell blade instead of a mage, but the elder-blood bastard in front of me isn’t someone. I like to get close.

I had read the information about him. The battles he fought on the island and the enemies he killed.

He knew how to fight mages and killed many of them. He is experienced in dealing with us and now he has awakened the elder-blood power, which made him a dangerous enemy of the mages.

He is also controlling that power, far better than, I had estimated.

We had elder-bloods, and I have seen the time it takes for them to control their power to such a degree. It takes months, and he did it in a month, despite all the responsibilities he has as the commander.

There is that artifact that makes him even more dangerous. Even though it is broken; it is still an artifact.

It is why, I am not facing him directly, but he is going to die. I had planned for it before I entered the battle and started the plan, the moment, I had begun fighting him.

It is the reason why, I had chosen Mage Darya, instead of any necromancers. They would have been a much better choice, but she would be perfect for what I had planned for him.

Nearly all the preparations are finished. I would need, less than ten minutes to finish up the rest.

It will be a powerful attack; something even if it wouldn’t be able to defend against, despite the elder blood power.

I retreated once again as he moved for the attack and drank the potion, before sending another flurry of Mass Fireballs and cast the Flame Burst, but the bastard defended against them as he moved toward me.

The Stone Wall and Fire Walls appeared to stop him, but he crushed through them. The spells delayed him enough to provide me with a safe retreat.

I could see the frustration appearing in his eyes as he failed repeatedly to catch up to me. If it had been any warrior in my place; they would have been killed already.

Elder Bloods aren't simple enemies; only the mages could deal with them perfectly.

I didn’t let these small victories get over my head. I know how dangerous, these elder bloods are, and he might be hiding his power. I need to be careful every moment, till I burn him to ashes.

Minutes passed, and the battle continued without any change, when suddenly my expression changed.

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A smile appeared on his face.

Krugak died, killed by a single-arm warrior.

Anger couldn’t help but blaze in my heart. Krugak wasn’t just one of the powerhouses fighting the battle. He was my friend. We had fought countless battles together, and I was the one, who had brought him here.

Now he is dead.

‘I will avenge you, my friend,’ I swore and focused on the enemy ahead.

Now, it becomes more important, that I will kill him as soon as possible. Not only for revenge but also to finish the battle quickly.

There are two people in the battle that could make the whole battle collapse and provide us with a quick victory.

First is Remus Silver, and second is Thaddaeus Stone.

I had sent people to Silver, but there was resistance. They have planned it well; the Silver is well protected and what is going to be through the protection is being dealt by Silver.

He had turned out to be more powerful than the intelligence had stated. It seemed like, the last battle had given him a bigger advancement than I had thought.

It didn’t matter. In the grand scheme of things, he is only a small ant. As long as I kill the elder blood and powerhouse, the victory will be ours.

There is no question about our victory with the force we had brought, but there is a question of how many powerhouses I lose to attain it.

If I lose too many, the victory won't matter.

It won’t take long before we finish the battle. Our undead are pressing on their powerhouses. Currently, they are being protected, but they will get tired soon, giving the horde a chance, to go at powerhouses, which will be their end.

Hun!

I was thinking that when I had sensed another death. This one is more costly than the Krugak.

‘Fuck!’ I cursed internally.

The necromancer had died. Killed by the Paladin. I hate those bastards.

I had nearly died at the hand of one, nearly a year ago. They are one of the classes that could deal with us mages and spell blades without any disadvantages.

I looked at Mage Darya, and she nodded.

We are moving our plan forward. There is a chance, that it might get discovered, but I need to do it. Two of the Level 30 powerhouses have been killed, which has started to affect things.

Especially the death of Necromancer Rivas.

It will also put more pressure on other powerhouses. Like High-Mage Karlis, who is in trouble, asking for help. The one-armed man had joined the battle against her, and she was having a hard time fighting against two powerhouses.

I wanted to send Lv. 30 powerhouses to help, but all of them were engaged in the battles.

I had sent a group of pre-Lv. 30, but they were stopped by another group of Lv. 30 sent by the enemy. I do not like the direction where the battle is going and would like to finish it off as soon as possible.

Time passed, and we kept fighting; the elder blood seemed to be getting better at dealing with our attacks.

At first, he mostly fought defensively, but after his hidden powerhouses revealed themselves. He moved to the offensive, which was getting more and more intense every second.

He is also getting closer to me, and Mage Darya than we liked. That halberd of his could cut through anything.

We wouldn’t want him to get too close to us; it would be a death sentence.

A few more seconds passed and finally, the preparations were complete.

I didn’t waste any time and acted immediately. The first thing, I did, was to give the order to the pillar, hidden among the undead, before retreating with Fire Blitz and Haste.

The combination gave me an amazing speed that made me even elder-blood surprised.

I am not the only one who retreated, but also Mage Darya who is already waiting near the undead.

Our sudden actions alarmed him, but it was already too late.

As we retreated into the undead. Twelve undead moved forward; all twelve had red crystalline red plates on their chest, with runes imprinted on those plates.

Those crystalline plates are Grade 4 flame crystals and the runes on them will make them even more powerful for my purpose.

The idea of this attack had come from the enemies themselves. Just, as they blasted the legacy to kill more than half of the undead; I am going to use those Grade 4 flame crystals to kill him.

As we retreated, I activated the runes. At the same time, I activated another spell. I have been laying its groundwork since the battle began.

As I did, the pillars of flame shot out of the ground. The same, Mage Darya on the other side cast, Rysal’s Dome.

Covering the whole fiery space.

The crystals had burst out with fiery power, turning the space inside the dome into a furnace. It is hot enough to turn the elder blood into the ashes.

I had checked in with my master and she had said the plan was more than enough to kill an elder blood.

He will die. In that dome, there is powerful enough to heal and kill me within a second. All the fire immunity, the protection spells, and the tools I have wouldn’t be enough to save me from turning to ashes.

Barely a second, had passed, and the dome had already turned bright red. It won’t be able to hold the fire for long, but it would be enough to kill him, long before that.

I wish I could have made his death longer and more painful to avenge the death of my friend, but it is a dangerous enemy.

The sooner it is death; the better it would be.

As for avenging Krugak's death. I am going there after the elder-blood dies. I will kill that, one-handed bastard before going after the rest.

We have won the battle already; it would take me an hour at most, to wipe away, all of them.

Bang!

I was thinking with sweet thoughts while watching the dome when I heard a loud bang and saw the elder blood blasting out of the dome.

He is covered in flames with his skin burned, but I can also see the dense bronze energy, which is fighting the fire.

He is injured, seriously, but he is alive, and he is moving extremely toward the Mage Darya, crushing through the undead, that came in front of him.

She retreats and begins to throw spells at him rapidly, but the arcs of bronze energy are crushing through them all.

Flame Blitz. Haste.

I reacted instantly and activated the Haste along with my speed skill, before releasing the Mass Fireballs, Flame Arcs, and Fire Burst.

I need to help her. If he reached her, she would die, and it would be terrible for the battle and me.

He dodged and defended against my attack without slowing down. He seemed to deal with everything I threw at him before finally reached Mage Darya.

The terror appeared in the woman’s eyes as she cast more spells to save herself.

“Stop, you bastard!” I cursed seeing it, swinging his halberd at her and ordered the pillar to blast the undead around them.

It is a useless spell in the circumstance given the time it took, but I want to do something to save her.

The halberd blazing in bronze energy moved swiftly and tore through the Earth Walls, before reaching the Mage Darya, who had layers of Earth Armor covering her body.

Pachac!

It was not enough; the halberd cut through the armor, before cutting through her body, diving her into two.

“No!” I screamed as I stopped in my tracks.

It wasn’t long ago, I was thinking victory was minutes away and now, I saw him kill Mage Darya.

I was watching when he turned and leaped toward me.

I reacted instantly, turning in the opposite direction. I am not his match; I need to get away from him or I will suffer the same fate that Mage Darya had suffered.