No one pursued him. Of course, that was quite obvious that mages wouldn’t put much effort into killing one escaped soldier from the militia. He wasn’t a main target. He wasn’t dangerous or valuable. He was nobody. However, this suited Robert in the best possible way as the absence of attention could keep him alive. How the global situation was developing showed that this world soon would become an even more dangerous place.
Two out of five Dukes were already engaged in direct confrontation because of the mine. Now, as Robert thought again – rumors said that precisely the mages were the ones who had found deposits of rare crystals. With their sudden attack right at the best possible moment, Rob wasn’t sure now if it was true in the first place. They could easily made that up, deceiving Dukes and pushing the highest nobles into the war just to weaken both sides before revolting themselves. It was a pure assumption, although a logical one. However, even if the truth was revealed, Dukes might not stop the war between themselves as blood was already spilled. The enemy of my enemy could be still the enemy. Moreover, three other Dukes wouldn’t stay still when their world order was on the brink of falling. Knights would definitely fight to continue their rule. Therefore, more battles would follow. The chaotic ones.
Hm… could it be that new ability from God is related to new powers of mages? As far as I could remember, they didn’t have enough power to cast spells without very long preparation or even special equipment. But the ability gave only an increase in mana regeneration, making it forceful and unfiltered. Is it sufficient to compensate lack of mana capacity? How new staff with engraved spells are related to it? Or it was made before this God’s “buff” and they just started to use it now, when finally got enough energy to charge it fast enough to directly use spells in the battle. Questions, questions… And how did they even manage to cast the fucking meteor rain?
The answer to this was suddenly seen by Robert with his own eyes when he went through the first row of trees. Emerged in his thoughts, mentally exhausted and with constant suppressed pain, Rob was too late to notice robed figures behind the greenery. The latter were also busy with gathering their things, completely missing his sudden appearance. Both parties caught the sights of each other almost simultaneously, creating an odd pause in all actions for long five seconds. That gave Robert plenty of time to observe the surroundings.
There were five different mages in a huge clearing. From the obvious signs, it was man-made and was prepared beforehand to use its destructive spell in the heat of the battle. Robert couldn’t see how an enormous circle with hundreds of runes and complex patterns of pathways between them was possible to create in a few hours. Taking into account that it was made by using some kind of lead, which was melted down to form a magical structure, it was indeed worked for days. A few tens, placed on the edge of this glade, together with a full cart of different instruments only confirmed his assumption. Everything was carefully planned.
The next thing, Robert did, was to focus on his inevitable opponents. Despite similar clothes, the colors of it differed. From close, Rob could finally see those odd symbols, pictured on a plain fabric. They looked like a mixture of runes and writings in an unknown language, but all had the same image, which was centered around others. Huge silver sun with tentacle-like rays. Three mages in dark green robes had only one, while the middle-aged woman in brown had two of them, almost touching each other with its horrible sprouts. The last person present was the young man with three suns on a dark red background. He was holding a strange glass bottle with blue-purple liquid in it and was in the process of drinking when Robert emerged.
Others also didn’t wander around. Two younger green mages were carrying boxes to the cart, clearly gathering things after the attack. The last one, an old man with a face full of wrinkles, was standing on guard with familiar fireball staff. Unfortunately for him, he was looking in the wrong direction, facing the center of the battlefield, while Robert came from the side. The dark-haired woman in a brown robe was in the process of exiting the tent. Nobody was ready for the sudden appearance of Rob, which gave him a chance.
Good. They have neither experience in battle, nor in spells. Their sorcery takes time to charge. Only one is armed right now, but fireball isn’t as dangerous as stronger spells like that chain lighting. And I bet the more suns – the more power they have. Need to carefully choose the order of attack and act quickly!
His thought process ended together with this odd pause. Simultaneously everyone started to move. The leader shouted “Dereck, stupid idiot, attack!”, while running to his own staff, placed on the small chair on the edge of the clearing. The woman quickly hid in the tent. Both mages with boxes dropped them before rushing to Robert, taking out the knives. The old man started to charge his spell, making his staff shine from the energy. However, Rob wasn’t idle as he was already rushing to the mage.
Robert wasn’t in peak condition, but the old man was really old, which led to a slow reaction. He was clearly not fast enough to cast the spell in time. Still, his panicked mind just continued to do it, while he was standing in the very same place. The feint swing of Rob’s axe made him close his eyes before the impact, which gave Rob enough time to grab the shaft of staff and kick the old man in his chest with all his strength. He heard the sound of something breaking before the weak body of the mage was thrown away. The next moment Robert had to turn around and quickly duck under the knife’s blade. Making another step backward, he thrust with staff, aiming directly at green robed belly. The owner of the latter was in the process of following the attack at this exact moment, and therefore almost jumped on the metal tip, hurting himself even more. Before he managed to recover from the pain, Robert’s axe broke his temple, ending his life.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Indeed no melee skills. The absence of protective gear helps too, but spells…
His short inner comment made him focus on the leader again, who already managed to grab his spell-casting weapon and was pushing the energy in it. Ignoring the third green mage with a knife, Rob couldn’t find any better solution than just to throw his own trophy staff. Having a form, that was completely unsuitable for a projectile, it immediately started to spin. The lack of Robert’s experience didn’t help either. In the end, the staff ended right in front of the leader’s feet, not even touching the boots of the mage. However, that still helped as the young man made a step backward from fright and his spell missed Rob. But only Rob, as an ice shard, which was surprisingly formed in a fast manner, made the green-robed mage scream in pain. Robert didn’t turn around to see the outcome as he was running directly to potentially the strongest opponent.
A few more projectiles were sent to Rob before he managed to get to the leader. He covered his face with his arm, so one just pierced it, getting stuck in gambeson. Others hit the top of the helmet, creating the bell ringing in his ears. The last one missed his face, going in a few centimeters to the right. The fourth one wasn’t cast as Robert rammed the mage, dropping him on the ground. Axe swing followed, but the leader managed to put the staff to block. The metals clashed, leaving a dent on the axe blade. Feeling the lack of time, Robert decided to change the tactic. Hitting one more time, he grabbed the shaft before pulling it up together with the mage. The suddenness of action left the young man open, so Rob didn’t waste an opportunity. The weapon’s blade cut the flesh on the thigh, making the leader weak from pain and dropping all defense.
However, Robert was interrupted by an angry woman’s roar ending the life of the main threat. He wanted to turn around, sensing an incoming danger but wasn’t fast enough. The sharp feel of pain overwhelmed his mind for a moment, halting his thought process until he coughed up a red liquid. Then enormous weakness embraced his body, leaving no strength for any action, even the tiniest one. He desperately tried to move in an attempt to avoid the danger but failed miserably as it was too late.
It took a couple of seconds more to realize that a huge stone spike pierced his back from behind, went through his stomach, and came out bloodied from his belly. The heat from the wound quickly turned into a real torment as he was slowly losing consciousness. Robert was impaled, and immobilized, but nobody wanted to finish him off. From the hazy surroundings, he noticed a running figure of a woman, which leaned toward the laying young man in mere meter from Robert. The leader didn’t look fine as Rob clearly cut one of the arteries, making him quickly lose blood.
“Richard, dear, hold on! Everything will be fine! Soon we will break our chains and will be free as you always dreamed! Just don’t give up! I can’t imagine the world without you!”
“I love you, Laura… wish we could see the rise of Magic Sun together…,” his words were weak, slowing with each of them spoken.
“Don’t leave me, please… I love you too... Derek, where, the hell, are you? I need your help! Now!” shouted the woman in panic.
“I tried to help John first, but an ice shard had pierced his left eye, and he is unconscious. My own ribs are broken, and I can’t move fast. We need bandages to stop the blood loss, or he will die,” answered with heavy voice the old man. Robert couldn’t see him as the sensitivity of his body started to fade. The same situation was with the surroundings – everything became unclear and covered with blur.
“Hurry! We don’t have much time… Richard, darling, be strong. We can overcome it! We will! We just managed to create our proper magic system, but it is only the beginning. There is so much to discover… so much to invent! Your drive pushed our Order to get God’s blessing, to increase our capabilities with mana-flowers, to give us power, to get rid of our slavery position, and to create a world for us that we deserve! But the way ahead is so long… I just can’t walk it alone, without you… can’t…”
“I believe in you… you can… it… love… Laura...,” last words were barely audible, but the wild scream of a woman, who lost something very precious to her, was thunderous. Before everything went completely dark, he felt as if someone grabbed his jaw. His unfocused sight managed to catch the tearing face of the furious woman. At this point, Rob couldn’t see much. Still, he heard clearly, as she spoke to him.
“I will let this world burn to crisps for what you have done to me! Only mages, wielders of genuine magic, will survive the cleansing as new higher beings. And you, lowly worms, servants of pathetic knights… Those idiots, who in their own arrogance killed each bright mind just not lose even the smallest portion of their power – all you will die. Inventively, without any treatment, without any salvation. All of you deserve such death! But you, you will get in the afterlife much sooner! Hope your next life will turn you into a filthy slug.”
With this harsh ending, Robert felt the knife, pressing against his neck. It deeply pierced his skin, drawing the blood, but in his current state, it barely made any difference. He had tones of thoughts to counter her logic or reasoning, but no real ability to speak. He wasn’t sure she would listen to him in the first place as he was indeed the killer of her lover. Rob didn’t feel any guilt – he was thrown into such circumstances and was not the one, who was responsible for them. With less luck, he could die immediately after appearing in this clearing by the hand of the same young man. Moreover, this group summoned meteor rain, which resulted in the death of thousands. Still, understanding didn’t help to settle his mind in peace. Before the blade pierced his throat, blackening the surroundings, he had one final thought.
What a shitty world! It is indeed not a bad idea to let it burn…