About two hundred meters from where they had come from, the ground had begun to rise, followed by the appearance of hundreds of underground corrupted beings. They were cutting off their retreat, something that became more evident when more and more enemies began to appear on the flanks and the front. Suddenly, the situation had become very dangerous.

“There is a general nearby! Form a defense perimeter! Ask for reinforcements!” ordered the expedition leader.

Everyone’s heart sunk, but they were veteran warriors, so they knew what they were exposed to. Without hesitating for a moment, the preparations began, while a burst of magic rose over them to ask for help. Everyone expected to be able to endure until reinforcements arrived. If not, they would make sure to die in a way that they couldn’t be corrupted.

Immediately, the warriors formed a circle around the group, in the first line those of greater defense, in the second, the most offensive ones. Behind these two lines were the archers, and in the center of the formation, mages, whether specialized in healing or in different types of damage.

Eldi was in the second line, near the giants, with his heart pounding heavily. The intense flow of mana around could be perceived, caused by multiple spells that were cast one after the other, either to prepare the attack or the defense. The domes that covered the group were especially powerful. It was required large amount of mana to create them, and couldn’t be moved, but they were able to protect all of them from ranged attacks.

One of the dwarfs spent all his mana to harden the ground they stepped on, preventing underground attacks. It is a spell that is usually used in the construction of buildings or stabilization of tunnels, which doesn’t mean that it wasn’t priceless in a situation like that.

The losts advanced from all sides at the same time. Though, even if they were more, they couldn’t attack all at the same time, being hindered by their own allies, and the defensive line, as long as it didn’t break. The rest had to wait behind their opportunity. It was, therefore, essential holding their ground. If an area failed, and they were unable to reorganize, they would be doomed.

Several large groups of enemies stopped and began to launch their ranged attacks, be they spells, thorns, stones or poisons. Unfortunately, these could attack all at once.

“Shit, there are too many ranged ones,” cursed the leader, an elf woman with unusual fire red hair called Caranlín. “Be ready to defend. When the shield breaks, they’ll attack with all they have.”

A cold sweat ran down their backs. They knew what that meant, that they were doomed. It was a tactic used by some of those sinister generals. While their enemy were busy and their movements sealed, they weakened their defenses from a distance. When those defense fell, they launched a total attack to annihilate them, using all high-level spells at once, and forcing all physical ranged attacks.

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It is true that, if it failed, they would have lost a lot of offensive potential, but, how is it possible to protect from something like that? Even with defenses at peak condition it would be impossible. If they weakened them, they were doomed. But, despite that, they were going to fight until the last breath.

Then, Eldi approached Caranlín, whispering almost in her ear.

“I can protect all of us for twenty seconds. I’ll need all my mana, and, after that, I’ll have none remaining.”

The leader opened her eyes wide. If he had been any other person, he wouldn’t have believed him, but that human was a visitor, recommended by Melingor himself and with the nymphs’ favor. A defiant smile and stare replaced the face determined to die fighting. Maybe, they had a chance.

“How much time do you need to prepare it?” she asked. It was essential to know all the possible variables.

“A couple of seconds.”

She nodded, pleasantly surprised.

“What will they see?”

“Thousands of stones spinning around us. They won’t be able to see us in the meantime,” replied Eldi, who had tried it outside the current camp, with the help and stupefaction of his teammates.

“Range?”

“I can make it cover the whole the group.”

“Anything else you need? Anything I should know?” she continued questioning.

“No. But…”

Eldi then took out several potions of mana regeneration, others of energy, healing and resin ones, showing them to her.

“I also have some lower level ones,” he offered, putting them on the other side.

Caranlín was surprised again. This gave them more chances to endure, more chances to survive. The situation remained critical, but no longer impossible. If they hold during enough time, reinforcements could find them alive.

She would have spent an hour thanking him, but at that time no good manners were needed, only to make decisions.

Eldi returned to his position in the second line, with the order to spend as little mana as possible, while the leader ordered the distribution of mana potions to magicians, and those of energy, healing and resin to warriors, including instructions on when and how they should make use of them.

It is true that almost everyone had some potions, but not enough to endure a siege, so those extra high quality ones were a huge help. The most surprising thing was that Caranlín was giving them instructions for after the total attack of their enemies. They had no idea how they were going to survive that attack, but now they hoped to do so.

For now, the domes were still enduring, and the first melee clashes began. The blows of both giants with their huge hammers were terrible, which were also blessed with Burning Touch, Vampiric Touch and Your Energy is Mine. Eldi had empowered his friends, who were also the most powerful warriors.

The rest of the warriors might have more resources and agility, but in terms of brute force, there was no comparison, and therefore his improvements were more effective in the stone giants.

He was helping from the second line using a spear, sometimes with Javelin, sometimes with Perforating Impact, and on other occasions simply by piercing into the approaching enemies, thus helping those in front of him. In fact, all those with affinity with a spear were in the second line, as they were suitable for that task.

And, from time to time, a little fairy appeared on the battlefield to pick up a lost spear.