Albrecht pulled out another spellstone and promptly crushed it. This one was noticeably bigger than the last two had been. It was probably the one he had produced with Will's assistance.

"Spellstone! Big one!" The unnamed enemy mage shouted. Mihatake abandoned his current spell and put both hands out, palms up, just like the other mage did.

Albrecht's eyes started to glow in blue, and his robes started to flap in a rapidly descending air current that was centered on him.

"That's..." Mihatake began. "Stop him!" he barked a command as his own hands started to move again.

The other mage obeyed within a slight delay, while both of them weaved some spell.

Will chose to cast another Magic Arrow, seeing as the opponent's guard was down. The glowing projectile soon raced forth, and while Mihatake saw it, he could only twist his body and step aside in an attempt to avoid it.

It wasn't enough. Accuracy was the best thing about Magic Arrow. Fully dodging it seemed to be nigh impossible given how the spell simply corrected its course like a guided missile.

The arrow struck his upper arm. The wounded man's face twisted, but his spellcasting didn't pause even when one arm now did its task much more slowly and clumsily.

In the end, Will didn't manage to stop the spell that was building up.

Mihatake flung out his spell, and a large fire engulfed Albrecht. The next second, the other mage whisked forth another large sphere of fire, adding more flame to the pyre that the man next to Will had become.

The flames died out in just a few seconds, revealing a man with some serious burns. Albrecht's originally yellow robes had blackened and turned into smoldering, hole-ridden patchwork.

The shimmer of his previous shield had disappeared, although it must have born the brunt of the flames, or the man doubtlessly couldn't remain standing upright.

Suddenly, a strong draft of wind hit Will's back, forcing him to put one foot forward to keep his balance. The soldiers in front of him were affected even more. Two of the enemy fighters were pushed down, while a few on Will's side fell on top of them.

The unnamed mage had thrown himself on the ground and grabbed at a root in order not to be blown away.

The most unfortunate one was Mihatake, who was immediately lifted off by the violent wind and thrown high up in the air. He flew into the nearby forest on a high trajectory that must have reached some four hundred feet.

Albrecht clumsily pulled out a red potion from his robes and downed it at once.

"He might not die," he spoke after gulping the liquid down. "We need to push our advantage," he explained weakly.

Will nodded and stepped in front of the older man. His own energy shield was still good to go. He was soon rewarded for his bravery by a little fireball to his face, but it was still fine.

He was barely halfway through casting the next Minor Lightning, when the old man stepped forth again, with a new shimmering shield around him.

Another icy spear shot forth momentarily. It looked somewhat smaller than the previous ones, but it was still clearly a threat. It got intercepted by the defensive spell as usual.

Will got hit by one more fire spell before he finished his own. A line of brilliant lightning flashed briefly, and he was rewarded by a pained expression immediately appearing on his target's face.

The foreigner's defensive spell was helpless against Will's lightning magic, but the damage it dealt just wasn't what it should have been, given how the man remained functional.

With a grimace, the fire mage, who now faced two opponents, pulled out a small spellstone of his own, crushing it immediately. A shimmering shield sprung up around his body as well.

He had pocketed his wand and switched to two-handed casting. Will felt his own protective spell draining even further when his opponent decided to target him again. Perhaps the newly activated shield on Albrecht dissuaded him from focusing on the older mage.

Will wasn't too worried. His opponent had no idea how decent Absorb Elements was, as there was still some forty percent remaining in it. It would go down pretty soon, but Will should easily have the time to recast it.

A minute and three of those shitty local fireballs later, Will's shield was finally on its last legs. He simply dismissed what remained of it with a thought even as he finished the new trigger sequence.

A few sparkles here and there around Will heralded the refreshed absorption spell, which was otherwise invisible.

He began to smirk at the enemy but felt his expression twist into something less confident when two more fighters on their side were struck down almost at the same time. Even with their superior numbers, they had only managed to take out two opponents on their own.

It was now five fighters on their side versus three on the enemy side.

Will ignored the mage for now. He absolutely couldn't afford to have those scary fighters overwhelm his own bodyguards.

He cast for a minute again before a blood-red ray was released from his finger that pointed at one of the enemy fighters. The man was visibly taken aback with what he was seeing and feeling.

It was a level-one necromancy spell by the name of Sap Strength. What it did was simply lower the victim's physical strength for a short while.

"Press him! He's weakened!" Will shouted out, and the two men closest to the target obeyed and started to dish out punishment.

However, the other three soldiers on Will's side were thoroughly shafted. Even though they only had two opponents, they were too exhausted to make anything happen.

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By the time the two men overwhelmed and stabbed their weakened opponent to death, another man on their side got a sword through his neck.

The melee had become four against two.

Will was occupied with another compulsory casting of Absorb Elements in order to keep dealing with the constant fire spells.

An ice spear from Albrecht finally cracked the blue shield around the hostile mage, who immediately switched back to casting his little fireballs with just one hand.

A pyrrhic victory was tentatively in sight.

But then the missing mage came back.

Mihatake rushed out of the nearby thicket and immediately started casting spells, even as he was still making his way back to his original position.

His clothes were muddied and broken in places, but he was surrounded by a shimmering blue shield of his own. He didn't look wounded at all.

Given how the hit Will had previously scored on his arm didn't seem to affect his casting at all, he must have drunk a healing potion.

Mihatake whisked a fireball at Albrecht, whose new shield didn't waver.

"You certainly put up a fight, but it's time to end it."

"He's got a new shield!" the other mage warned. "We should take the boy out first!"

Mihatake glanced at his two remaining fighters and shook his head.

"No. We must end this now," Mihatake said and pulled out a big spellstone—almost as big as the one Albrecht had used on him.

"Congratulations for pushing me so far, Albrecht," he said. "Our promotions are racking up quite the cost."

With that, he crushed the stone, and Albrecht was instantly encased in an obsidian-like, black crystal that materialized from thin air.

Will watched the newest development with his mouth open.

A head went flying when a two-handed sword punished a soldier who had become distracted.

The three remaining fighters broke. They turned their backs to their foes. It turned out to be a foolish decision, given how they were too exhausted to run. Two were struck down immediately by a sword and a warhammer, while the third was boiled in his armor by a small fireball.

"Fuck this shit," Will spoke to himself as he watched the situation go fubar.

Minor Spell Immunity (IV) triggered.

Minor Physical Immunity (IV) triggered.

He felt a little lightheaded after casting two level-four spells in a row.

Fireball (III) triggered.

When he threw the glowing ember in between the enemy mages, Will almost stumbled when his vision briefly swam.

"So this is what Limul was talking about," he murmured. Three relatively high-level spells within three seconds was apparently pushing it.

The ember landed, and a proper Fireball bloomed to its full size. The conflagaration almost reached Will himself. It engulfed both of the mages and also hit the two warriors, but the latter were clearly off the epicenter, so they wouldn't be fried too deeply.

Will summoned his stolen quarterstaff from the inventory even as his head was quickly returning to feeling normal.

Primitive Power (II) triggered.

Good.

He had taken a brief break as he watched his Fireball go boom. Triggering the 2nd-level spell was as easy as lifting a finger.

His body immediately grew stronger due to the spell's effect.

The fire had receded, revealing two fearful mages and two screaming fighters. While nobody had instantly died, the shimmering shields on the mages were gone, and the fighters clearly hadn't escaped unscathed, either.

Will walked toward the closest fighter who was running in his direction. The large man was certainly a respectable opponent, given how he was visibly in pain but knew to prioritize taking out Will.

Normally, Will would have no doubt felt timid at seeing him approach with a raised, two-handed sword, but he had tested Minor Physical Immunity previously, and he knew it was pretty damn strong despite the moniker 'Minor' in its name.

The big sword came down, but the man wielding it was too close to his last legs. His movements were sluggish. Will dodged the slash easily with his buffed dexterity and brought one end of his quarterstaff up. It connected with the other man's unarmored chin with a crunch, benefiting from Will's buffed strength.

Will sidestepped the falling man and continued forward with swift stides, knowing that his protections would only last for a short while.

Two spellstones were crushed by the foreign mages, and relatively powerful fire spells pelted Will's form.

Minor Spell Immunity reigned absolute against their puny fires. Will slowed down his pace only because his eyes were briefly filled with billowing flames. When he could see again, he ran ahead.

He did a quick juke around the remaining warrior, who was a bit too slow to keep up. Will felt his careless approach punished with a strike from the man's warhammer, but the hit felt like nothing more than a vibration on his skin. All of its force had been drained away by his spell.

He reached Mihatake, who was standing still in shock. Will took a quick swing.

The mage managed to step back to dodge the staff but fell down on his butt. Will moved past him to accost the other mage, who was still up on his feet and whom Will deemed the weaker spellcaster.

Wisely, the mage turned around to run.

Acid Arrow (II) triggered.

Sadly for him, it was far too late to run.

Will saw the green arrow connect with the man's back and heard him scream. Assuming that he was a goner, Will turned around to face Mihatake again. Will had already seen what the acid did to wooden planks. Human flesh should melt even faster.

Another meaningless splash of fire greeted him, and Will raised his staff even before his vision cleared again. When it did, he brought it down on the mage again and again.

While putting Mihatake down, Will felt vibrations on his back. He ignored them until he couldn't. The last fighter shoulder-checked him using the mass of his whole body, and the protective spell just couldn't help against that.

Will realized he wouldn't be able to regain his balance, so he chose to fall into a graceful roll. When he felt the ground again under his soles, he jumped right back up on his feet and turned around.

He saw two soldiers running away in different directions.

Will cursed silently. He had loaded his spell slots while thinking almost exclusively about escape and survival, so even these tired foes were giving him a serious run for his money.

Swift Retreat (I) triggered.

Well, he'd just have to catch them, didn't he? Despite the biased name of the spell, it simply allowed him to run faster. He could pursue just as well as retreat.

Will ran after his previous assailant, who seemed to be a little faster than the one he'd hit in the chin.

Flaming Hands (I) triggered.

The man died screaming, and Will turned around. Sadly, he felt that his protections only had several seconds' worth of juice left, while the other warrior had run pretty far already.

Fuck it! I'm not gonna risk my hide in the slightest!

Minor Teleport (IV) triggered.

Will appeared right in front of the other running soldier and surprised him with another blow in the face.

It was a complete overkill to spend the precious fourth-level spell like that, but he could still fly away while invisible if he must, so it wasn't necessary to preserve the redundant escape measure.

Will kicked the downed man's helmet off, then raised his staff high into the air to drive a crushing blow into the man's skull.

While the retreat spell was up, he hurried to both of the downed mages to repeat the blunt treatment just to be sure they weren't getting up again.

That left the master of the tower within his crystal prison. Will didn't know whether it was a survivable spell or not.

As he watched the chaotic scene, he took a moment to think.

Finally, he pulled two of the friendly fighters' corpses next to the mages and proceeded to give them some burns with a fire cantrip.

He picked up a sword to give the mages a few gruesome slashes here and there before sitting down next to the obsidian block.

Would his efforts pass closer inspection? Not at all. But there was no way anyone could guess how things actually panned out, even if they went full CSI on him.

They would have to settle on some less outlandish explanation.

The crystal cocoon spell ended after a ten-minute wait, and it turned out that the old man still lived.

"Wha-- What's going on?!"

"It's pretty bad, as you can see," Will replied tersely.

"We won? How?!"

"You had some good men. I had to spend my sole life-saving spellstone to help them. And then... it was a messy fight, but I was able to avenge them."