A large group of the invading humans were fighting against the entrenched elves defending the tree and the shelter below. I deployed my arcane eyes and spotted not only a dozen adults but many of my fellow apprentices. With or without a class, they were fighting nonetheless.
The humans numbered in the dozen but they were much better equipped and had the support of several mages at the back. Said mages were firing spells at the barricade and buffing their companions as well. Archers used suppressing fire to keep the elves from targeting their advancing warriors.
From our vantage point on a roof, I used the same technique as last time to target two of the mages. The supersonic arrows managed to eliminate them but it also brought the group's attention towards us. We were immediately targeted by several archers and mages. Vel and I had already moved from our position.
I used Shadow Evocation to lob several projectiles towards the plaza. The first burst mid-air and created a rain of poisonous gas down on the attackers, the following ones were full of acid and paralyzing spores. I was very thankful I had copied all of the contents of the spell book into my mental library.
Vel had thrown her own projectiles and the terrain was being slowly overrun by plants. Unfortunately, at such a long distance, she couldn't control the plants directly and had to rely on the instructions she had implanted into the grenades. Several flowers bloomed and released their own poisonous spores. Vines were attempting to entangle anything they touched which forced the humans to deal with them or be immobilized.
Not all of the humans were affected equally, the ones with the strongest willpower or toughness managed to shrug off the effects but a lot of the physical combatants were affected. One of the mages summoned a large purple orb above his head, the amount of mana I felt from it was staggering. This one was extremely bad news.
I focused my attention on the channeling mage and unleashed a powerful lightning bolt at her, another mage stepped in to protect her but they were sent flying from the sheer force of the impact. This gave the mage just enough time to finish her spell.
The large orb flew towards us at a leisurely pace. Anything it touched was reduced to nothing. It would have been easy to avoid except it followed us. Our only option was to abandon the battlefield and hope the spell would run out of energy at some point. This also meant abandoning the village defenders.
"Fuck," I swore.
I had no answer to the spell. No counterspell or way to dispel it, it was too overwhelming. It forced Vel and I to retreat and a small force followed us. This was bad, we could deal with one or two if we had the element of surprise but five, not a chance. The mage who had cast the ball of doom was among them as well.
Our only option was to try to lose them in the village but I had a feeling it was lost from the start, the two archers with them most certainly had tracking skills at a much higher level than our stealth ability. Even Obscuring Mist was not enough to lose them.
But, I wouldn't go down without a fight. Vel and I unleashed everything we had on our pursuers. Lighting, ice, fire, pure arcane energies, poisonous thorns and paralyzing spores, acidic secretions, and more. Neither of us spared anything and several houses were completely obliterated in the back and forth.
The warriors looked battered from the rain of spells and the archers were running low on arrows. The mages on the other hand, didn’t look any worse for wear. The stalemate would end when one side ran out of mana, and it was us that did first.
We were far from the Mother Tree, into one of the many village gardens, encircled. It was the end of the road.
Or maybe not. A massive obsidian blade fell from the sky and bisected one of the warriors. A second later, the mages were forced to defend against a bright beam of concentrated fire.
Out of the blue, Breknir had flown in to save our bacon. He landed on the ground next to us. His armor was battered, likely from the duel with the mage in the sky. Had he won? An instant later, Lorathana landed behind a ranger and cut him in two with a blade made of radiant golden light.
At the arrival of the two heavy hitters, the two mages became visibly weary.
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"Teacher," I said with relief.
"My apprentice," he said and coughed a glob of blood on the ground.
I tried to heal him but he stopped me.
"You must go," he continued, "go to Nis and warn them. The village is lost, their forces are too powerful and too numerous."
"What about you?" I croaked out.
It couldn't be. Niu couldn’t fall. Vel took my hand and I held onto it like a lifeline.
"I will hold them off," he said solemnly, "and prevent them from following you."
Lorathana put a hand on my shoulder. She had a sad smile on her face.
"Do not worry," she whispered to me, "all is not lost."
From the sky, I saw a masked mage descent towards us. He radiated so much mana that it was almost blinding.
> [Human (Level ??, Rank ?; Mage)]
Our rescuers tensed up at his arrival. Breknir looked at us with a soft smile and with a wave of his hand, cast a spell. A wave of black engulfed us and I felt the ground under my feet slip away.
"Teacher!" I cried. "Breknir," Vel shouted.
The darkness lasted only a second at most then I fell to the ground. Vel and I landed in a heap on the dirt floor of the jungle. My head slammed into a branch and I saw stars.
What the hell had happened?
I pumped Rejuvenation through my body and stood up after Vel and I disentangled ourselves. We were somewhere in the jungle, through a gap in the canopy I saw the Mother Tree in the distance. I could see spells being exchanged in the air around it, Breknir had resumed his duel it seemed. But from the look he had given us before teleporting us away, he knew how it would end.
"We have to go," I said as I looked away, "we can't stay here."
"We need to warn Nis, like Breknir told us."
"Yes," I said as I firmed my resolve, "he gave us a chance, let's not waste it."
The village of Nis was around two days of travel away if one went through the beaten path. I had a feeling we were very far off, Breknir wouldn't have dropped us where these humans could find us easily.
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 185, Rank 6; Sword Master, Shield Adept)]
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 186, Rank 6; Sword Master, Shield Adept)]
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 184, Rank 6; Sword Master, Shield Adept)]
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 181, Rank 6; Archer, Tracker)]
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 182, Rank 6; Ranger, Assassin)]
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 195, Rank 6; Arcanist, Blood Mage)]
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 194, Rank 6; Psychic, Blood Mage)]
> Experience gain reduced by 60% for fighting with a group
> Experience gain reduced by 50% for low participation
> Experience gain increased by 200% for highly dangerous encounter
> Experience gain increased by 600% for fighting an enemy above your rank
> Essence Absorption collected 42 ES
>
> Reached Level 82 (Rank 4, +18 levels)
> Gained: 112 ES, Class Specialization Slots
I looked at the system notification that had just appeared in my mind, it looked like some people had finished off at least some of the invades we had fought.
"Let's get away from here in case they can trace the spell," I said.
"We'll need to find somewhere to rest," Vel said, "I'm low on … everything."
"Yeah, me too. I don't think a few hours will make a difference."
With the strength of the enemy we had faced, if they set their sights on Nis next we were already too late. We were only two healers who had just passed their trials, and maybe the last survivors of our home village.
I shook my head. Lora has said that not all was lost and I believed her. There was only one way and it was forward.