“Ardent Rampart!”

With my finger, I traced a line, aiming far beyond the wall, where the foreign enemy stood.

A wall of flame erected from the ground, stretching far and wide, scorching not only the earth but also the beasts that trampled it.

Contrary to common sense, these creatures stood tall, withstanding the blaze. Their thick steel cuirasses were almost melting on their fur, but they sustained only minimal damage.

“As expected of monsters from the dense mana zones, their resistance to magic is phenomenal.”

“Nyahaha!” snickered Élise, in her usual annoying tone. “Poor Lynch, your magic has no effect on them. It must be sooo embarrassing!”

“Shut up, you worthless elf! I was only testing them, you hear? Testing them!”

**Fire magic is ineffective, so I can assume that water magic is ineffective as well. Let’s try earth magic, then.**

“Abyssal Fall!”

I aimed my next spell using the same motion as the Ardent Rampart. The mana activated where the soil was still smoking, and the ground opened up.

A fault ruptured the earth, diving deeply into the abyss and wide of many paces. The mutants that survived the flames earlier were swiftly engulfed in this bottomless crevasse.

“I’m not done yet! Glacial Rampart!”

This time, a gigantic ice wall was erected a fair distance behind the rupture, trapping the mutants between the wall and the fall.

Then, with a gesture of my hand, I compelled this wall of mine to progress toward my Abyssal Fall.

Slowly but surely, the mutants were pushed toward the edge of the precipice. Some of them succeeded in climbing the wall, though most of those who tried fell when they slipped on the glistening ice, only to be trampled by their compatriots after. A few brave ones even attempted to jump over the abyss and cross to the other side, but they failed. The mutants that were neither climbing nor jumping were now fighting amongst themselves, saving me some trouble.

The wall continued its advance until it fell in the rupture, shoving the numerous panicked mutants into the void on its way.

Afterward, the Abyssal Fall closed, and the ground recovered its integrity.

While enjoying the monster’s delightful dying screams, I noticed a dark cloud far toward the horizon. It closed in rapidly, revealing a swarm of over a thousand giant bats.

“Oh looks like Astaroth wants to be part of the show. He’s gracing us with his brand-new arrival of battle bats! But you chose the wrong side, buddy!”

“Conflagration!”

A massive fireball the size of a carriage materialized in front of me and dashed forward. Right next to it, an arrow flew by at tremendous speed, bypassing my Conflagration spell.

The arrow buried itself between the eyes of one of the giant bats. It fell to the ground, dead.

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“First blood is mine! Nyahaha!” cackled Élise, puffing out her chest.

“What are you talking about? I’m pretty sure I just killed a few thousands of them already with my Abyssal Fall.”

“They only fell into a hole, so we don’t know if they’re dead, do we?”

“They fell in a fault leading to the very depth of the lower crust, and it fucking closed on them! Your kind should stop eating bird seeds it’s affecting your brain.”

I sighed, exasperated, and turned my back to her. I had more important stuff to do than arguing over who killed the first mutant.

My fireball was floating in the red sky, heading toward the giant bat swarm. When it clashed with the first creature of the mass, the Conflagration spell exploded violently, blasting away most of the swarm, and scorching them with soaring heat.

“I’m leaving the other bats to you and your archers, Élise.”

“Sir, yes sir!” she replied mockingly. “I shall not disappoint you!”

She took a deep breath and shouted, in the loudest and high-pitched voice she could pull out, “Alright guys, it’s our time to shine. Show me that this last afternoon of intense archery training turned you into veritable snipers!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“I can’t hear you! Say it louder!”

“YES MA’AM!”

“Humm, Élise?” I called. “The bats, they’re here already. I don’t think you have time for that pep talk.”

“Oh, sheet! I’m on it!” She turned around. “FIRE! Give it everything you’ve got, guys! Aim straight for that large swarm of scattered bats over there!”

Élise, fire in her eyes, was beaming while shooting arrows in rapid succession. Her squad, however, was not doing so well. Their arrows were plummeting to the ground before reaching the targets.

“Come on, guys. Aim higher, and put some backbone into it, you faggots!”

I started preparing my next spell. My spells didn’t actually need preparation, but I wanted them to fit the atmosphere and be aesthetic in general, so I was currently planning the colors and shape of my next spell.

“Hey, Élise,” I called once more. “The bats, they’re getting awfully close, aren’t they?”

“Shut up! I got this!” She put her hand to her quiver, and suddenly, her expression froze. “Eeh, you won’t believe this, but I’m out of arrows.”

“No shit.”

She spun and glared menacingly at a young rookie archer that looked like he had just entered puberty. Seriously, why was a kid even on a battlefield like this? Were we that desperate? Didn’t humanity have career archers?

“Hey, you! Give me your quiver! It’s not like you’re hitting anything anyway.”

The poor kid dropped to his knees and cried while Élise tore off the quiver from his back.

She resumed her fast-paced shooting desperately. She was now handling three arrows simultaneously on her bowstring.

“Lynch, I might need some help here. I can’t take them all down by myself…”

“I don’t know... I think you’d be better off dead, to be honest, after what you did to that kid. Puberty is an important moment in a child’s life. And you just ruined it by crushing his confidence for the next decade.”

“Hey, dumbass, what are the minstrels going to think about you if you can’t even protect one feeble maiden?”

“You’re right, Élise. I should throw you off the rampart while they’re not looking.”

“Wait, no, please! Lynch, the bats…! They’re almost on me!”

For some reason, the bats were charging right at her. There were only fifteen or so left. Just enough to turn her into something that wouldn’t bully anyone anymore. Forever.

“Lynch! Help me! HEEEELP!”

When she launched her last arrow, she gazed at me like an abandoned puppy, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her voice became feeble, “P-pleaaase, save meeeee!”

“Fine, fine, but you better apologize to that kid later.”

She bounced back to her feet, beaming. Her innocent smile had forgotten that mere moments ago, she was begging for my help. She immediately walked to another archer and took his quiver. This time, however, she did it politely. Well, at least she didn’t insult him while tearing off the quiver from his shoulder.

“Soul Arrows!”

Multiple blueish arrows emerged from thin air. I had ten arrows ready to fire. Yet, there were fifteen bats left. And no ally that could take them down before they reached the wall.

**Damn it! I won’t have enough Soul Arrows for all of them on time!**

“Lilliana!”

She understood me without having to spell it out clearly. She was a lot more reliable than that childish elf. Lilliana was ready before I even spoke.

“Got it! Starshield!”

The bats about to clash with the defenseless soldiers on the wall suddenly collided headfirst with a translucent yellowish barrier.

Profiting of their dizziness, I summoned four extra arrows and promptly launched the ethereal projectiles. At point-blank, I had no trouble hitting them between the eyes. The last one was brought down by Élise with a borrowed arrow.