Leonidas pressed his palm outward, a strong, gushing strength manifesting as the wind pressure alone forced their hair and clothing to whip backwards.
Benet shot forward. Cutting across at an angle, he appeared to the side of the grand hall in the blink of an eye before becoming a blurred line of black that targeted Leonidas’ group directly.
At the same time, Averit and Oudin’s expressions changed.
Oudin rose his hands, bringing out his flute and releasing a long, sustained note once more.
Averit took a step, pressing a palm onto his brother’s back and casting several Second Winds in quick succession.
Under their tandem, the 20 or so Level 3 Paladins were all buffed one after another, their strength rising as they shifted into formation.
They were originally prepared to deal with a Deacon like Bruthers, why should they fear Leonidas?!
At the moment Leonidas’ Mana Sense enhanced Mana Hand reached the formation of buffed Paladins, Benet’s daggers flashed with a silvery light, prepared to slice Anabel’s throat in two.
It could only be said that Benet was intelligent, cunning, and battle-hardened.
He immediately saw through the fact Leonidas had accumulated all his Mana into one attack and wouldn’t be able to form another of that caliber anytime soon. At the same time, he realized that if he wanted to get to Leonidas, he should first cripple his guards.
With his speed, he had nothing to worry about.
Unfortunately, his enemy was Leonidas.
Leonidas sheathed his saber, his Mana flourishing.
In the blink of an eye, a Mana Shield appeared in Benet’s path. But, rather than being toward his blade, it appeared in the path of his leg the instant he cross into Leonidas’ Mana Sense range.
BOOM!
The foundation of the estate rocked, the ceiling threatening to collapse as Leonidas’ Mana Hand crashed into the formation of Paladins.
A powerful shield of gold formed under their combined might, their teeth gritting as they fought back.
But this sight had become nothing more than a sideshow.
Leonidas’ timing was impeccable.
His Mana Shield, and the collision of Mana Hand and the Paladins, were combined with a swing of his tail against the ground.
Another Mana Circuit was completed in Leonidas’ irises, forming the Level 2 Blessing, Tremor.
The three events fused into one, shaking Benet to the point he had almost no choice but to lose his balance.
Benet’s eyes widened in shock. He, a Level 3 Apostle, on the Thief Class path no less, had lost his balance?
Anabel’s gaze flashed as Benet fell, skidding forward until he was at her feet.
She swung down with all her might, the light of a radiant blue Breath blazing in her irises.
CLANG!
Benet was still a veteran. Despite the change, he crossed his daggers to protect himself, his rib cage vibrating under the strength of the impact.
“Full Counter,” he barked.
Anabel felt her strength reflecting back at her. But, to Benet’s shock, she only took a single step back.
A Level 1 Paladin had just resisted his Level 3 Blessing? That was one of his trump cards!
Benet rolled to the side, not letting his shock slow his reaction.
By the time he had done this, though, Leonidas had shattered Mana Shield and gathered the Mana he used to form Tremor, casting Mana Blade and sending the paper-thin Blessing right toward Benet’s throat.
“Burst!”
Benet exploded from the ground, his strength and speed doubling in a small instant as he used yet another Level 3 Blessing.
He sent a palm toward the marbled flooring, abandoning one of his daggers to hop to his feet and dodge Leonidas’ magic.
The moment he landed on his own two feet, his body erupted with a dense green Breath that made Anabel’s seem like child’s play. However, before he could do anything, a shriek sounded to his back.
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Benet’s head snapped back as he quickly retreated, only to find that the Mana Blade he had just dodged had actually curved upward, slicing off the head of a Paladin near the edge of the formation blocking Leonidas’ Mana Hand.
Seeing such a scene, Benet’s eyes couldn’t help but widen, his heart shaking.
Since he was young, almost everyone around him had had the dream of becoming a Mage, only for that dream to be crushed. He never understood it, having always found assassins to be cooler.
But, seeing Leonidas right now, he felt like he finally understood.
To face so many enemies and yet still have such control over the situation, this was the true might of a Mage!
Leonidas rose his other hand, his Mana flourishing. One could almost see the glow of his heart through his tunic, the radiant blue being too much even for his flesh to hide.
The golden barrier shook after one of its supporting Paladins fell, but Leonidas’ next actions were the final nail in the coffin.
He released his control over Mana Hand, causing the Mana to instantly become unstable.
He calmly watched as his creation self-destructed, casting several Mana Shields and fusing them together under the might of his Mana Sense.
Mana Hand wasn’t a Blessing designed for attack. At its root, it was designed to lift and move large objects.
Due to this, the Mana cost to attack-prower ratio was atrocious, something Leonidas knew well after performing several tests.
So, why had he formed it to begin with?
There were two reasons.
First, as a Level 3 Blessing, Mana Hand’s capacity for containing and controlling large amounts of Mana was far better than any of Leonidas’ other Blessings.
And, second, this was the only way for Leonidas to control such a large amount of Mana outside the range of his Mana Sense.
Simply put, he wanted to make his Mana go boom.
And that it did.
BOOM!
The roof blew off, the walls of the house shattering as everything was razed to the ground.
The Paladins were blown away. The unluckiest of them were shredded to pieces, while even the luckier ones still found themselves lethally injured.
Benet tried to block the after-effects, only to find himself being blown toward Leonidas’ group, while in the distance, Maw became the last line of defense for both Averit and Oudin.
The common Rardins who were neither Knights, Paladins nor Apostles, had long since run away. They could only watch in horror as the home they had known for all their lives was blown to pieces.
In the center of it all, the only group that remained unscathed was Leonidas’ own.
How could Leonidas be harmed by his own Mana? The moment the blast entered the range of his Mana Sense, he converted it, fusing it into his Mana Shield which had now grown so large that it curved around them, enveloping the group of four.
Leonidas reached out a hand, another Mana Circuit forming in his pupils as he cast Mana Hand once again.
The residual Mana in the surroundings was so abundant that his Mana Hand gripped around Benet’s entire body, forcefully halting his momentum.
Benet struggled but found that he couldn’t move. A ghastly injury covered his back, a sickly fusion of torn skin, blood and fabrics fusing together.
Such an injury, if it wasn’t treated, likely only meant death.
Benet grit his teeth, his cold eyes locking onto Leonidas.
“Apostle Leonidas,” he coughed out, “you still have time to turn back. You’ve yet to kill any Apostles, this can still be resolved.”
Leonidas ignored Benet, his gaze shifting to the distance.
Averit, Oudin and Maw had, indeed, been able to survive.
Unfortunately…
CRACK!
Benet froze. In his final moments, he felt every bone in his body shatter, skewering his inner organs through.
Leonidas released his Mana Hand and Mana Shield, gathering up all the Mana in the surroundings once again as he took slow steps forward.
While Averit, Oudin and Maw had survived, their states were sorry. Fear marred their expressions when they realized Leonidas was standing over them, but there was little they could do.
Leonidas stomped a foot onto Maw’s head without a word. With a single cast of Tremor, her brain vibrated to mush, blood and brain matter flowing out from her ears, nose and eyes.
Averit and Oudin tried to crawl back, but their bodies were weak.
Both had poured their everything into strengthening their warriors, but Leonidas had been far too strong.
It was only now they realized the difference between a Level 4 Fighter and a Level 3 Mage. They had been ready for Deacon Bruthers, but Leonidas?
That was a monster they couldn’t prepare for.
Just when Averit and Oudin thought they were finished, Leonidas suddenly unsheathed his saber.
A glow of Mana took form as he struck outward, sending a blue scythe streaking through the air.
In the distance, Milon, who had been trying to run away silently, froze.
His body collapsed, falling into two pieces, one whole, and the other missing an arm.
Leonidas calmly looked back toward the two Healers, his arm casually swinging a few times.
Outcries of pain filled the night sky as Averit and Oudin lost their limbs, blood slowly leaking out from their bodies.
“Heal them,” Leonidas spoke.
“I can’t reform their arms, I can only reattach them.”
“Don’t reattach them, just heal them.”
Eve’s gaze flashed with understanding. After a breath, she cast Level 3 Heal twice.
Skin quickly formed over their bloody stumps, leaving the two men crippled, but very much alive.
Leonidas sheathed his blade. Looking down on the two people who held the most power in this town that used to oppress him so much was a feeling Leonidas couldn’t quite describe. But, right now, he was as calm as a spring.
In the distance, a commotion sounded as the Bruthers family seemed to finally be making their way over, something Leonidas was sure wasn’t a simple coincidence. There was maybe no one else who wanted the Rardins and Leonidas to fight more than Deacon Bruthers himself.
When he was present, he still had to maintain the facade of impartiality.
However, it had been a convenient time for him to be “slow” to respond.
When Deacon Bruthers and his sons laid eyes on the result of their tardiness, though, their hearts couldn’t help but skip a beat.
This wasn’t the result they had been expecting at all.
The Rardins… were finished.
Leonidas didn’t say a word to anyone, not the Rardins, and not even the Bruthers.
He reached out a hand after sheathing his blade, a Mana Circuit forming in his irises as Mana Hand was cast once more.
This time, a shivering man was brought out of the ground.
The rancid scent of piss and shit had already destroyed his pants. But, after seeing what happened to Milon when he tried to run, he hadn’t been able to find the courage to take a single step.
This man was none other than Gauteron, the man who had forced Leonidas to face maybe the greatest humiliation of his lifetime.
Deacon Bruthers’ brows furrowed. “Mage Leonidas, are you still not satisfied? Do you take my Bruthers family and my existence as something you can trample over as you please?”