The eight superior agents were smirking mockingly, but they still didn’t underestimate James’s spell. The concentration of mana and darkness was creating vortexes throughout their rooms as they were fueling their barriers with all their might, awaiting the attack.

The swift red Javelins didn’t take long to find their targets. James had infused so much power into them that they were leaving crimson trails through the sky, seemingly piercing through the veil of Darkness permeating the city.

As much as James believed in his own power, he still found himself involuntarily waiting with his breath drawn, anxiously pacing around.

A lot was riding on this one attack. The whole course of the battle could be dictated by it. He’d either take out half of the superior agents, thus dealing a huge blow to their forces. Or they’d be doomed, having to face not only the fifteen superior agents and Garantep, but their rank and file subordinates too.

At first, James could monitor the situation from the feed that Denmac was projecting into his mind.

But as soon as the Javelins hit, he couldn’t see anything but dust.

Suddenly, what felt like the eruptions of several volcanoes was echoing through the city. The Javelins had flown far throughout the city in all directions, and yet the sounds were so loud that the group felt like something was exploding right into their years.

Bacchus swiftly cast a few runes to dampen the sound, because several people already started to have nosebleeds from the shockwaves alone.

It felt like they were hit by an earthquake. The vibrations and noises from the impact were enough to knock some of the ordinary agents of their feet. The entire city was shaking. A storm of dust and debris was ravaging throughout the city, intensified by the crumbling of various buildings who couldn’t resist the sheer forcewaves caused by the impact.

“That’s all from your spells, James? My God.” Denmac was staring at the chaos with his mouth agape.

The dwarves were equally as stunned, to the point that they forgot to keep fueling the barrier for a few seconds as they were staring at what looked like the apocalypse. Not that it mattered, because the agents had stopped their bombardment as well, watching in awe and terror at the infernos that were ravaging through the city.

“I hope they didn’t survive that.” Helios laughed awkwardly. “Cause if anything can survive that kind of attack, then we’re absolutely screwed.” He chuckled nervously.

James didn’t say anything. He couldn’t see throughout the incessant storms of dust and mana that were ravaging throughout the city, that were even blocking even Denmac’s divination.

“Denmac, since sight is no good, can you sense them through any other means?” James asked.

“No.” He shook his head disappointedly. “There’s just so much energy in the air that I can’t make out anything. It’s not even just the Darkness, the energies flying around are as obfuscating as the dust is.”

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter either way.” James replied with a clear sense of urgency in his voice. “Everybody, get to your positions. No matter if the targets are dead or not, the ones who are alive are bound to retaliate. Knowing that I can do such things from afar will just spur them to attack with no holds barred, since they can’t just stay safe in their lairs anymore.”

They all nodded and quickly shuffled back to their battle stances, ready for the incoming attacks.

James had sacrificed an immense amount of mana for all those Javelins, by a normal person’s standards. For him though, it wasn’t something he couldn’t regenerate in another few minutes.

He couldn’t fight fifteen superior agents though, no matter how much mana he had. He wasn’t exactly sure what the hell a superior agent was or how powerful they could get, but he was sure that he couldn’t handle of all them at the same time.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He had used his one chance to strike at the enemies that were hiding before they would retaliate all at once. And he had used it to target the weakest of the strong ones, preferring an almost guaranteed small victory, compared to an unlikely big win.

And yet, with this storm, he wasn’t even sure if he had succeeded. Even though he was infinitely stronger now than he was just months ago, he found himself more anxious than ever. What if these superiors turned out to be so strong that none of them died from his attack? Then they’d all be dead for sure. Countless anxious thoughts were running through his head.

No matter how much mana he pumped into his eyes, the clouds of dust wouldn’t stop interfering with his sight. But his answer eventually came through other means.

All of a sudden, he could feel seven energy signatures near him, each stronger than the last.

“They’re here.” Lunaris shouted.

“I don’t feel Garantep among them, though.” Helios added.

“What incredible greed! Even now, after James displayed so much power, he’s still not willing to come out! He’s probably waiting for them to wipe us out, then reap the rewards for himself.” Lunaris replied.

“Or he’s just scared! Either way, it just means we’ll have kill him later.” Helios smiled. “Isn’t that right, brother?”

“That’s right!” James replied as he cracked his knuckles. “And the fact that there’s only seven of them is fantastic!” James was smiling from ear to ear, all his worries melting away for a second.

The energy signatures of the seven superiors were much more imposing than the eight he had killed. But that didn’t matter to him right now. The fact that the first eight died gave him all the confidence he needed.

“Aye.” Helios nodded while smiling. “You sure did a number on them, brother.” But even Helios couldn’t help but trembled as he looked towards the energy signatures that were getting closer. He could barely see or sense anything through these storms of dust and volatile energies, but the energy signatures that were nearing them were loud and clear. “Seems like the remaining ones will be quite troublesome though.”

Before James could say anything more, he heard a crack.

Instantly, his Crimson Barrier had almost shattered! He didn’t even sense who attacked him or how he was attacked, but the results were clear.

He quickly sacrificed his health again, activating a new Chaos Barrier right away.

While spinning through the air as he was flung by SARM, he threw two Chaos Javelins towards the energy signatures he was sensing.

He still couldn’t see anything through the raging dust storms though, and they only seemed to be getting worse by the second.

However, as quickly as the storms appeared, they suddenly began to vanish. What was a raging storm just seconds ago, somehow stopped in an instant.

But instead of the dust dissipating randomly, it all seemed to gather in one place.

As odd as the development was, at least without the dust blocking their vision, the group could finally see their foes.

Seven entities were walking towards them, each more steeped in Darkness than the last. The weakest one still had some discernable human features, but the strongest entity seemed almost like a rip in space and time. It looked like the pure blackness of the void was walking towards them on a pair of legs, holding in its hands what was an increasingly dense ball of dust.

The strongest entity was not only gathering all the dust, but all the volatile energy in the surroundings was noticeably congregating in its hands, making the ball of dust glow and spark as it grew in size.

The group didn’t need any other warning. As soon as they saw the ball, the dwarves and Denmac strengthened the big barrier, Helios raised his shield, and James prepared a few Javelins.

But before James could even flick his wrist to strike with his Javelins, the entity released the energy that it had been gathering.

The volatile and unstable ball of dust and energies was definitely bad news, that was clear for everyone. For a while now, the energy in the city had been so chaotic that it made it hard to even see or sense anything. And now it had all been gathered into one concentrated attack.

Instead of attacking the seven agents, James decided to send his Javelins directly into the ball.

He was hoping he could knock it off its course, but that didn’t happen. Instead, each Javelin seemed to disappear into the ball without any effect. He sent three whole Javelins into it, and yet that didn’t stop it.

The ball struck the group’s barrier before James could conjure anything else.

And it shattered right away.

Suddenly, the group was left exposed. They could conjure another barrier, but that would take a few seconds.

And in battle, each second was an eternity. These agents weren’t about to let that opportunity go to waste.

Instead of attacking James, the seven agents immediately targeted his friends.

As they leaped forward, James noticed it in their trajectories that they weren’t targeting him. Which was a lot worse for him than if he had been the target.

He needed to stop them until the dwarves could erect another barrier. Worse yet, the rank and file agents had also restarted their bombardment. Which wasn’t a problem when they had a barrier, but now the entire group was exposed to any attack.

He only had to buy a few seconds, but that seemed like his hardest task yet.