Zeke had to admit that his plan was a stroke of genius. Though only at the time.

Now that he was up in the air, with only his barrier as the platform and dozens upon dozens of projectiles coming to end his life, he was starting to see some holes in his planning.

It sounded so good in his head, but in reality, there were a lot of flaws. First, while he did lower the mana consumption greatly, the added stress of a projectile being strong enough to break his barrier and end up crushing him only made it more tense. That would make his casting flimsy, and would just as much break apart if he doesn’t focus enough.

Second, he had forgotten one major fact–he was abysmal in anything physical. His stats proved precisely just how bad he was. An example of this was when a projectile came after him, a giant boulder he swore he never saw coming,

As usual, he conjured a weak barrier to stop the impact, hoping for gravity to stop it afterwards. But the boulder easily broke through his weak barrier, still having momentum to crush his remaining barrier platform.

Thankfully, Zeke had the foresight to actually move out of the way, but his steps fumbled about from the sudden movement, and he only just managed to summon another working barrier platform before falling on his face like a duckling that recently hatched.

But it didn't stop there. It kept going over and over again. In the end, not only was his Mana draining, but his Stamina dropped too while trying to avoid being bombarded with debris.

Fortunately, the second effect of his crazy plan was working perfectly for everyone else. The weakened and injured soldiers were evacuating, the ramparts were now safe from any unnecessary attacks, and the soldiers below were taking advantage of the sudden projectiles falling over the enemy lines.

But then he caught something in the distance, and he grimaced. Another horde was coming, and this time, there were more powerful enemies coming.

His Identify figured out that some of the enemies were in fact higher level than him, showing nothing but question marks every time he used it.

There’s no way this is natural, right? So… is it because of us?

He truly wondered whether the three visitors from another world might have affected this outcome, but he put that idea aside. There were too many variables to instantly assume that them showing up is the reason why everything was going to shit. They said that the hordes were coming even before they arrived. And it was even stranger that it took this long into them arriving that they would all come out of the woodworks.

But he stopped thinking as he realized something bright and hot was coming his way from his peripherals. His eyes turned as wide as saucers before finding a flaming ball of death coming towards him. Needless to say, he fell on his ass once or twice before jumping out of the barrier platform and landing on another conjured platform a few feet below him, dodging a giant fireball that headed straight for him.

“Shit!”

He looked over, realizing that some of those higher leveled monsters were in fact mage variants usually found in video games. He even noticed something that looked like a goblin, a tall one who had a gnawed looking wooden staff.

Then he spotted another monster, this time what looked like a dog person wearing a brown, almost stained and frayed robe with a similar looking staff. Zeke figured it was an actual kobold before realizing that the same kobold was shooting what looked like a giant spear of ice heading straight for him.

Worse yet, those spells had a long distance and were coming at him from his side, rather than from below. He had little choice but to keep dodging each one, his Stamina only getting worse and worse by the second.

“Shit. I think I just made it worse!”

He said, though he knew deep in his mind that this would be dangerous. He knew, yet the plan helped the others survive better. He looked down to find Val fighting the monkey. She soon finished it off with a well-practiced slice across its neck and beheading it.

He just had to keep it going, just like the soldiers below. If what he’s doing is helping them just a tiny bit, then he’ll be the bait. Though he did consider spending points into Dexterity the next time.

If there is a next time.

After a few minutes of dodging for his life, the horde came in. The other soldiers were faring well up to this point, but when a new horde came in, despair settled in their eyes. Zeke can’t blame them. He also hoped that it would be over soon, only to be met with a front row seat for the upcoming fights. Val didn’t seem all that disturbed, though she grimaced when she kept fighting.

While he was distracted with all this new information, he failed to see something hurling towards him. It wasn’t all that bad, just another boulder coming his way. Normally, he could see those things from a mile away.

But this boulder came up faster than before. He didn’t even see what threw it, but he sure as hell knew that it wasn’t an ordinary beast. It was ramping up speed, way faster than he could even have the time to muster up a response.

His instincts came in and he summoned several weaker barriers to disrupt the flow of momentum. As each one was summoned, the last one he could cast right in front of the incoming attack, the boulder crushed through them all.

Glass shattered in his ears as the boulder eventually crushed through his platform. Thankful that it slowed down for even a second, Zeke managed to step away in time.

But not entirely. His right leg was caught in between, the rocky surface grazing by. It was enough to shatter the bone and twist his leg in an odd angle.

Zeke roared in pain, but realized that he was caught in the air falling to the ground. Without hesitation, he conjured another barrier, but that didn’t bode well for his hurt leg as it ached from him landing on it.

He knew this by experience, just like when his arm landed on that pile of gold coins. His leg was broken, though the pain didn’t seem as intense as before. Realizing that it was his Pain Resistance at work, he forced himself to stay focused as he saw another boulder coming his way.

Figuring the obvious, he opted for a stronger barrier in exchange for higher Mana consumption. He couldn't move anymore anyways. The boulder was instantly stopped, falling straight to the ground. It fell and landed on one of those giant creatures, actually killing it.

Zeke might say that he had angled the barrier slightly to get at least one of those bastards. He had enough of just being bait. But he put those petty thoughts aside as he looked at the damage. His right leg was aching badly, and without any armor protecting him from the impact, the defenseless robe couldn’t help him avoid having it in an odd angle. Thankfully there was no bone, though he wasn’t entirely sure whether that was a good thing or not. A broken leg is a broken leg, and he sure as hell can’t move it.

Worse yet, he can’t even heal it with Recovery. He needed to use all of his mana to make barriers, and he wasn’t sure just how much mana he needed to fix this leg.

He could also hear someone yelling out his name. It was Mikella. He looked back through his transparent barrier to find her nearly gawking at him in the distance, her mouth gaped and her face paling.

That’s when he saw the reason why she was blanching. Another attack was coming. And it wasn’t some giant boulder this time.

He wasn’t sure how, but he could see one of the giant creatures doing something with the mana around them. Zeke could sense the mana forming around the top of the giant creature that looked like a minotaur. After a closer look, it wasn’t so much of a cow, and more like a yak–more fat than muscle.

But he knew that yak monster was different. It was actually controlling mana, particularly something that Zeke knew was of the earth affinity. It formed around the top of its sharpened horns, creating a look alike of a boulder… but he knew that this boulder was condensed.

Mana seemed to flow out of it as though it was ready to burst from that boulder, and it kept getting larger and larger, eventually shortening it to a smaller size at the same time. Zeke didn’t have to guess that the damn monster was compressing the boulder-like attack, and its demonic looking black eyes were staring right at him.

Before the soldiers realized what was going on and were ordered to attack the yak, it was too late. It launched the boulder magic right at Zeke. It was faster, stronger, and if Zeke could make a guess, way more threatening than a simple giant rock.

He didn’t even see that the yak monster die straight afterwards thanks to Val going in, but she was too late as the attack was heading straight for Zeke.

He knew then and there that with his lacking Mana, pitiful Stamina, and low Health, he wasn’t going to survive taking this blow of an attack. He didn’t even have to guess that it would easily break his barrier down and kill him outright if it hit him.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

He closed his eyes. He didn't give up, not yet. He remembered this feeling before, right around at the end of the tower.

Didn’t he go through the same thing as before? When facing an incredibly powerful attack which he knew he can’t defend against, what did he do?

It was simple. He redirected the attack.

His fingers tightened into fists as the boulder came right at him. He didn’t even think, he just copied his plan from earlier, but with a little bit of a workaround.

If he learned anything about stamina and mana, it is that the two could work together. By using his Mana Perception, he could infuse the front layer of his barrier with the ‘intent’ of absorbing the flow, and the back layer filled with nothing but the ‘intent’ of transferring kinetic energy.

Intent. That was the word that Cloud said which is the hallmark of spell casting. It isn’t just allowing the spell to work as the system dictated, but helping the mage learn how to use it at first. Then, with their intent and willpower, shape its very foundations to the core. That was how it was possible for mages to help evolve or advance their magic spells, or any skill one has if they put in enough effort.

Usually, the lower the level, the more difficult it is to put in your intent. The first time he did it, he barely thought of it, figuring that his death would be interesting if he did something cool. But now he realized that with his last breath, he forced his intent into his spell, allowing him to shift its properties to fit his needs.

And now, he willed his intent again to create a barrier solely for transferring kinetic power. He also felt that by messing with the barrier using kinetic energy, it actually drained him of his stamina and made him feel exhausted. Sweat poured down his brow and his breath turned harsh.

It was just as he expected. He unexpectedly used kinetic energy, just as Mikella did for her own attacks. Though it wasn’t quite exactly using direct stamina like how Mikella would use it.

He instead fused the energies together to create a magic base with a kinetic film over it, transforming it into something else.

Not to protect something from behind, but to transfer the power. He placed another barrier behind the first modified barrier, intending that one to protect him from any damage caused by the sudden force. The two barriers fused like pasting two pads together.

It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t supposed to be perfect anyways. It was just a workaround, based on his desperate need to survive with such middling resources.

As the boulder reached towards the newly formed twin barriers, Zeke could only hope that his intent was made clear. Soon, the boulder struck.

It didn’t break the barrier. But Zeke certainly felt it. It wasn’t just the impact he felt, but the very momentum that he tried to stop. It was coming at him in droves from his kinetic-charged barrier, like a waterfall forcing through his very being, his own soul.

It all occurred in a microsecond as the second barrier activated. The transference of kinetic energy succeeded and made it to the support barrier. Once that hit, all of that energy blasted through to the other side, but it transformed into nothing but a surging force of air.

That force sent Zeke flying straight to the stratosphere.

“Whoaaaaaah~!”

Zeke didn’t know how to react other than whooping like a psychopath after becoming like a rocket flying into the sky. He was flying several miles, perhaps farther than that, high into the sky. Wind crashed onto his face and body. He wondered when he’ll ever stop.

Until he eventually did. He reached the apex of his high flight, forcing his body to eventually slow enough to find himself floating just a smidge.

In that single moment, peace swallowed him. Well, as peaceful as flying through the air can get. But, much like with everything else he saw before–

What goes up must come down. In the end, nobody can control gravity. Not even him.

His body fell, his gut flying right up his chest and into his throat as he looked below. Everything below him looked like ants skittering across a greenish floor.

He knew that everyone would be too busy to save him during his freefall, even if the first instinct they got is to catch the suddenly falling barrier mage. Despite literally falling to his death, he still had the presence of mind to figure out what to do.

He was falling fast–like really fast. If he doesn’t stop soon, he will die, even if he was caught by somebody thanks to his piled up injuries. So, without really thinking about it, he created another barrier, using up the last bits of his mana from the twin barriers he created before.

Here is a lesson for those that were paying attention so far–What is going to happen if someone suddenly created an indestructible wall against something that was moving at an incredible speed?

That ‘something’ would collide in a powerful clash against that indestructible wall.

So one would think that Zeke knew this by heart. Of course, he didn’t.

He just summoned a powerful barrier to stop him from falling, and at the rate he was falling, he didn’t ‘land’ on his barrier.

He crashed into his barrier. His own barrier meant to protect him became a floor that nearly crushed his entire body. Ironically enough, it caused his arm to make a cracking sound from his crash landing on his left.

For a short moment, despite his ears aching and stinging from the long flight, he swore he heard a lot of wincing hisses below him when he crashed.

Pain became his existence a short while later as Zeke groaned out in pure agony. Only one thought ran through his mind as he felt pain ready to overtake him to its sweet embrace.

I’m such an idiot…

He wondered just how on earth he managed to stay alive so far. That has to earn him a title, right?

Oh wait, he already got that title.

…..

When Mikella saw a giant powerful rock spell going straight at Zeke, her heart stopped. That was it. Zeke was going to die, and there was nothing she could do.

Even as her body was bleeding all over, her limbs aching at the very thought of moving again, she stood there helplessly as her only trusted friend in this strange world was about to die right in front of her eyes.

Then he flew up into the sky the moment the rock crashed into his barrier, whooping like a psychopath. For another few seconds, it was as if the battlefield stood stock still to find the result.

And the result was spectacular. Zeke made up another barrier after falling from the sky and literally crashed onto it, prompting instinctive ‘ooh’s from everyone who saw the fall.

Mikella just stared, hoping against hope that Zeke somehow survived. After another painstakingly slow second, Zeke moved like he was groaning across his platform.

He was so far up that it took all Mikella had to see him. She breathed in relief to find that he was still alive. Barely.

I swear that guy is going to kill me from stress…

She had plenty, perhaps dozens, of things to say to him if they managed to survive. As soon as Zeke’s fate was revealed, the battlefield restarted with the monsters roaring in displeasure at his survival.

Mikella wanted nothing more than to take down another monster, hopelessly trying to grasp her axe. She ended up using her axe when her sword blade got coated in monster blood, blunting the edge too much to keep using.

Her fingers ached from overuse, and her calluses on her palms were making it difficult to use the axe. Myra stopped her, a hand on her shoulder, catching her attention.

“Mikella, let’s retreat,” Myra said, pointing her chin over to where the captain was.

Mikella was fighting intently along with Myra, Val, and the rest of the soldiers. The distraction caused by Zeke was good enough to take some of them down, including the higher tiered monsters. But looking back now, she noticed Val turning her attention to the ramparts behind them, causing her to do the same.

At the top of the rampart’s walls where the mages once stood, a single man stood there. His blond hair swayed as he glared at the scene with striking blue eyes. She noticed immediately that it was Cloud who stood atop of the ramparts. It was then that she felt it.

Mana. Even for someone like her who was inept at sensing magical energy could feel mana bursting from the air itself around Cloud. Every fiber of her being was now yelling at her to get the hell out, even if she didn’t know at all what was about to happen.

But seeing Myra’s panicked look made it easy to tell. She forced her aching legs to keep moving, along with every other soldier who noticed it as well.

The battlefield was filled with blood, limbs, and corpses all about. It was a damn miracle that not a single fatality occurred on their side. Mikella was certain that it was thanks to Zeke’s barriers protecting everyone, including making himself out as bait.

But everyone was a mess. If they didn’t die, they certainly wished for death to come. Some looked so bad that bone was piercing through their broken limbs, their faces messed up and blue all over. Some even looked as though they’re just one hit away from death. But even then, the soldiers ran like the sky was about to fall down. Mikella yelled for Zeke to come, but at this point she might as well just shout to empty air. She could only hope that the massive distance between them was enough.

Then she heard something crack in the air. A powerful scent of sulfur filtered through her nostrils as she saw a pillar of golden flames bursting from Cloud’s position. She could barely see what happened next as she ran into the ramparts, Myra forcibly dragging her and her crew as they went inside.

Then, all hell broke loose.

…..

Zeke was exhausted, hurting, and he just wanted to sleep from the massive headache he was getting. But he couldn’t peel his eyes away from the transparent wall still plastered against his face.

From the safety behind his barrier, as the cold forced his body to shiver and shake from the lack of mana, he could feel heat around him, rousing him to stare down. But he knew that it wasn’t just the crazy amount of power coming out of Cloud who came in just a minute ago.

Mana was gathering all around Cloud, reaching high to the sky as the pillar of golden flames flew up. Even at Zeke’s height, the pillar seemed to keep going and going. It was so much mana that it condensed and made a vision for the eyes.

The magical energy was already filling his body, taking in the all that was being dispersed everywhere. Thankfully, he knew deep within that he was safe, so the only thing he could do was watch the flames summoned by Cloud envelope the entire battlefield, burning and flaying every monster that was left behind.

It was hell. What he saw just had to be a small snippet of Hell itself. The magical spell had so much power, he couldn’t believe that Cloud hadn’t done that sooner. But the more he saw the spell take effect, the more he realized why they left it as the last resort.

It burned everything. Not just the monsters, but the trees, the grass, the wood–everything that could be burned was burned. Even the air itself was being consumed by the flames.

Soon the flames dispersed, revealing the charred battlefield. There was not a single hint of blood or corpses in sight. Whatever was left was just the burnt remains of what once existed.

The heat died down, and the battle against the horde did as well. There was not a single living being underneath Zeke as far as he could tell, and he had a pretty large vantage point.

The battle was over, and Zeke could finally close his eyes. He was just too tired and too much in pain to think of anything else.