When I returned to our mana bulwark, I didn't run through the tunnel immediately, instead I observed. Under Zolast's command, things were still under control despite his lack of a Command skill.
I had tried to find one through the black market, but a decent command skill was hard to find, meaning he could only use his Charisma as a blunt object. Perhaps I could have obtained one had I been able to visit Oniphia directly, but that was still not something I could achieve.
Even without the convenience of instant order delivery, however, Zolast managed to find a workaround. I could see that the army had been split into two groups. The first one was the Baron, commanding his hundred elite soldiers directly with his command skill, moving around the battlefield to join where the enemy presence was the thickest, cleaning the area before moving to the next.
He might be a terrible politician and a pretty poor strategist, but he made a pretty excellent troop leader, leading his group with fervor.
In a world where the most common threat was waves of monsters, I could see why his type was treated as the quintessential leader.
The second group was more interesting. Rather than keeping the guild members and the soldiers separate, Zolast had split them into small squads. Each squad consisted of six or seven guild members and one soldier. Zolast used magic to deliver orders to the group leaders, who then passed those orders to the small group under their command.
I doubted I could manage all of this. Giving real-time orders to eighty different groups was absurdly difficult, even without the responsibility of constantly healing people and repairing the wards. Zolast was able to do so, because his awakened Intelligence improved his ability to multitask greatly.
There was an interesting little detail in the way he had built the groups. In every single group, guild members were wearing different colors, showing that no group had two members from the same guild.
It was too uniform to be accidental, showing that Zolast did it intentionally. Had he kept the guild members together, they might have fought better — not by much considering the fact that they were truly the bottom-of-the-barrel members. Not worth the risk of them being encouraged by the presence of their friends and deciding to ignore the orders of their group leaders.
It was a good trick, once again confirming what a pleasure it was to work with competent people. I couldn't even imagine the situation I would find myself in if I had left someone like Baron Maell in Zolast's place.
Probably a pretty good reenactment of the charge of the light brigade. Into the jaws of Death…
Since everything was in order and Zolast was able to hold the line without even a single casualty, I stayed on the outskirts, near the cave, waiting for an opportunity to make a difference. Naturally, I sent him a signal to tell him that I had arrived and was ready to intervene.
Surprisingly my enemies were smart. Surprising since my allies in such a tricky situation were … stupid at best.
It was not the most comfortable of circumstances. Zolast was able to keep the people from dying and helped them recover quickly, but that didn't prevent the screams of the wounded. Even the weakest touch of destruction mana left a unique pain that was impossible to ignore.
I knew that feeling first-hand.
Yet, I watched as the weaker cultists died one after another, our side slowly recovering from our great disadvantage in numbers. But, none of the armored cultists joined the battle, content in observing for the time being. A few times, they tried to summon something, but Zolast was ready, and he managed to prevent that with a blast of mana, using the wards he set up to great effect.
I also watched Zolast, using my first opportunity to see how a truly capable magician fought, looking for weaknesses exhibited by him that had the potential to be exhibited by other mages. It was better to discover them first, because, watching Zolast's performance of easily keeping back a superior military force with a bulwark he built up in a couple hours was inspiring, yet terrifying.
Still, even as I took notes on the finer aspects of the magical combat, the bulk of my attention was on the enemy forces, carefully watching their movements as the siege continued.
My sharp attention was why I noticed a robed figure appear at the hilltop immediately. He didn't look particularly different from the other priests, wearing a red robe decorated with silver lines. However, the way the other cultists reacted to his presence suggested he was a high-ranking member.
The few armored figures that were still at the hilltop, observing the battle, rushed toward him, bowing in respect, while the lesser cultists pulled back with abject fear, suggesting that not only was he a leader, but he didn't possess a particularly good reputation. I didn't even want to imagine what it took to get a bad reputation among a group like them.
But I had a feeling that I would learn soon … whether I liked it or not. I watched as he raised his hand, and grabbed a dozen closest escaping cultists, not even stopping to speak while he let out an angry speech.
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He was too far for me to catch what they were speaking — even with Perception, lip reading had its limits — but it wasn't particularly hard to guess. He was unhappy about the horrible performance of the commander in the siege, and he wanted to make it go faster.
As for why cultists tried to escape his grasp … I didn't need to imagine hard to guess what was about to happen — some kind of spell, either a devastating attack spell or a summon to break our defensive line.
First, I dropped the pouches that held the destruction mana, and then I started to move closer. I didn't want to approach a cultist priest — a strong one from the looks of it — carrying destruction mana. I'd rather not test the concealment runes in such a dangerous situation.
As I moved, I sent a signal to Zolast, asking him to stay alert. I didn't know what exactly the spell would do, but the closer I was, the higher the likelihood of me intervening. At the same time, I tightened my grip on my bow, ready to intervene from a distance if necessary.
Luckily, Concealment worked against cultists, allowing me to get closer to them. I managed to arrive at the bottom of the hill and started moving uphill, slowing down to make sure I didn't trip some kind of magical detection.
That worked better than I had expected, their lack of discipline working in my favor on multiple counts. Not only did they not bother to renew the other wards once Zolast sabotaged their explosive trap, but they didn't even bother to post guards at the far side of the hill, their attention on our bulwark.
That allowed me to approach until I was half an elatriss away. I crouched behind a rock, and carefully activated a concealment ward, my bow in hand.
I didn't know whether I would use my bow first or charge at them directly, but either way, keeping mana fluctuations hidden while I prepared a big attack was helpful.
It turned out to be a good choice. Soon, I felt a wave of mana pass over me, soft and shapeless. A simple yet expensive detection trick, the concealment ward allowing it to wash over me. I tensed, waiting for him to notice the discrepancy between his mana senses and his eyes.
But he didn't even look back to check, confident that there would be no one behind him, confident that his forces controlled the hill. He followed up with a defensive barrier, similar to what Zolast had built, though this one was glowing red rather than blue.
I doubted it could last more than five minutes. The structure was already trembling like it was affected by an earthquake. However, that didn't make me think that he was a weak mage. I knew from experience just how difficult it was to control destruction mana.
Creating a defensive barrier instantly that could stay up for five minutes, I doubted he was any weaker than Zolast, at least, as far as raw magical power was concerned
I used my connection to send Zolast a message, asking him to make a showy attack, glad that the Heroic Party connection didn't create any annoying mana fluctuations.
Zolast received the message and sent a rain of mana bolts, each exploding against the defensive barrier. The attacks didn't damage the barrier significantly, but created a commotion nonetheless.
"Quick, prepare the sacrifices," the cultist priest ordered, and the armored soldiers acted, arranging the sacrifices into a circle before cutting their throats, letting them bleed.
I stayed, watching the priest move, waiting for him to start casting his spell. Even for the cultists, sacrifices done carelessly were tragic, but not tragic enough to make me jeopardize my position and waste my best shot.
Instead, I nocked my bow, and started to charge the arrow with ordinary mana. With the pouches dropped, I couldn't use destruction mana, nor would I use it against a priest who was clearly comfortable using it.
It didn't seem wise.
[-30 Mana]
The cultist priest started to walk toward the center, his steps hurried to show he was affected by Zolast's showy attack, but not enough to run.
I continued to charge my shot, trusting the concealment ward to keep me hidden.
[-30 Mana]
He stood at the center of the pattern, raised his hands, and started chanting a prayer in a language I didn't understand, but it still made my skin crawl.
[-30 Mana]
Red mana started spilling from his fingers, moving toward the first blood pool.
I continued to charge, starting to sweat. The ordinary mana was easier to control, but my sole skill wasn't as helpful in controlling it, stretching my capability to the limit.
I wished I had a sniper rifle. Maybe even a nice anti-material one.
[-30 Mana]
The red glow spread into the second pool, then the third pool, then the fourth…
[-30 Mana]
I waited, continuing to charge.
The red glow started to spread the fifth, then the sixth, the strain of the priest getting harder and harder.
And I released the arrow, aiming at his center of mass…
Despite the temptation to charge it even further. It was a difficult call. As his mana spread into the other pools, his attention would split even further, making it less likely for him to react.
But also, it increased the chances of the spell somehow activating.
I'd rather make sure to destroy the ritual he was conducting than make sure I had a certain kill. It was also the reason I aimed for the center of his mass, making it harder to avoid or deflect successfully.
I started moving forward, concealment suppressed once more as I raised my golden-blue glowing greatsword.
As I feared, the priest had noticed the arrow as it flew towards him, and raised his hand, creating a barrier … one that barely managed to deflect the arrow, costing him half a shoulder rather than his life. However, despite the wound, the red glow quickened its spread, burning the seventh pool.
At the same time, the priest raised his hand, creating a shield to protect himself, one that would hold until the armored soldiers could arrive to keep me away.
Unfortunately, he was not my target. I swung my sword to the nearest burning pool, creating a mana cloud ... but this time, I didn't dare absorb it. I wasn't afraid the priest would notice, but I could sense a subtle change in mana as it merged with the remaining Vitality in the blood.
I'd rather not test it.
"Heretic, freeze!" he shouted, and the second strongest Charisma blast I had ever felt slammed against me. I paused for a moment…
He started charging a spell, neglecting his barrier.
A mistake. After all, the strongest Charisma blast I had ever felt came from his precious god, and the gulf was still wide.
And, more importantly, I was much stronger. I rushed forward, even faster than I had revealed.
"You—" he said, which was all he was able to say before I decapitated him … then delivered a few more slashes just in case, slicing him into about twenty pieces.
Without his control, the ritual started to fade.
My mission was complete … leaving me right in the command center of a cultist army, surrounded by their elites.
It was very unfortunate … for them.