One thing people forget about formations is that they often tend to have a completely different set of rules from any other form of magic.

One such difference that people forget about is the rule on the projection of mana. The more that you try to emit your mana on the battlefield the more that you need to pay for it. if I were to use every single bit of my mana from my reserves for an attack by the time that it reaches this place, it would be enough to maybe be equivalent to a breeze of wind.

Such restrictions do not exist with a formation or more precisely do not exist with such intensity. For every ten bits of mana, I would lose for projecting mana myself, I would lose one bit of mana if I were to make use of a formation to do so.

There are many theories for why this is the case, which is something that I have no desire to get into. It is such a significant threat that most formation mages are separated from their formation when they are not in combat.

As for why I am suddenly discussing mana, it is for a pretty simple reason. The method that I am using to destroy this so-called tunnel system of the ice beasts is by making use of mana projections.

Right now the problem with the formation base is that it is presently containing mana that is roughly ten times the amount that would be enough to make me explode to pieces. It is not a very accurate measurement but such accurate measurements would require tools that the snowwinders do not have.

Anyway, I am about to project all of that mana into the only receptacle other than my body that will be able to handle that much mana for a few minutes at the very least. That would be the formation core of the vine armor. It is for this reason that I am sitting at the location presently trying to rig my latest invention into the ground.

The location that I have chosen to undertake this particular task is the location to the best of my knowledge where the center of this particular mine tunnels should exist. According to my estimates this particular location once it loses its stability will cause all the other tunnels in the area to become unstable and collapse soon enough. That is the reason that I have undertaken this particular task.

I am surprised that we have even managed to come here. With the intensity with which we were being attacked, I would have thought that we were charging into a green Goblin dungeon.

Anyway, now is not the time for me to be distracted. After all, we have to defend this location until I set up the formation core.

On that thought, I look at the people behind me. The location that I have chosen might not have been the wisest choice after all. This location has three main entrances. One location, that is the one from which we have entered. Presently it is the safest location.

The other two locations are being guarded by Anton and another soldier in one location and the remaining three at the other location. Both the tunnels are swarming with ice beasts, almost seven on one side and ten on the other. The five soldiers have only been able to hold their own because they are using the tunnels to their benefit. Maybe a couple of minutes at the most.

Thinking that I have to get back to the task at hand. Right now I am tweaking a few of the basic runes of my formation. These spells that I inscribe into formations tend to have many runes focused on limiting the flow of mana that can enter the formation core. It is done to prevent situations like the propulsion formation to occur in a given formation. I have to get rid of these limitations before I attempt to link the formation base to the vine armor.

Well, these runes exist in a spell for a reason. Once I establish the link, the mana will rush into the class nine formation. The result of pushing mana meant for class eight formations into class nine formations will lead to very explosive results.

Once it does occur you do not want to be standing in this place. Well, that will happen if the erasure occurs as quickly as possible. It is not as easy as I had assumed it to be. Burning the runes is quite easy. All I have to do is form a mana string into the shape of the rune and push a lot of mana into it. That will cause the rune to destabilize and disappear, especially for new formations like mine.

The problem is that this way of removing runes might destabilize the formation and I need the remaining components to remain intact if I don't want to go out in the blaze of glory personally. The remaining runes should be enough to make sure that the formation does not immediately explode and give us about five minutes to escape the tunnel. This would not have been a problem in rock, where such a kind of destabilization would occur in terms of days, but in the snow, I am expecting the effect to be more immediate.

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Well, while I have been doing this I have managed to complete the necessary modifications. Now all that is needed for me to inscribe a rune into the base is to allow the formation base to recognize this formation for the transmission process to begin. With the formation base already active, it will take moments for the process to begin. I begin inscription while screaming.

"Soldiers, prepare for retreat."

While I complete the rune, I can feel the soldiers retreating from their position which is going about as hard as I was expecting it to go.

Meanwhile, the moment that I complete the rune, the effects on the armor are immediate. I can feel the vine armor growing almost like a spring.

Meanwhile, the soldiers and I made our way to our escape route and began to retreat as quickly as possible. Thankfully the growing formation has attracted the attention of most of these creatures. There are only three of them that we need to deal with.

As I see one of the soldiers getting ready to deal with them.

"You idiot, focus on retreating", I scream "We do not have long."

Well, things went smoothly until we reached the opening of the cave. It is almost instinct that I flood my back with mana, defending me against the bolt of ice.

The force of the strike is enough to nearly blow me to the ground. It feels like somebody hit my back with a hammer.

"Scatter soldiers.", I scream as I begin to push mana into my legs. At the distance, I notice the source of that particular spell. It is an icebeast with mana fluctuations that rival me.

For a moment I do not understand how this happened. After all, I should have sensed them, shouldn't I?

The answer came almost immediately, the formation base at full strength might have caused the ice beasts not to sense us, but I had not expected the beast to be smart enough to use the blaze of mana to hide their presence too. (One basic point about mana sense is that it is like a sense of smell. Smell something strong and you find it clogging your senses for quite a while.)

I give another move to the beast while lost in all of these thoughts as it comes closer to me. The beast will win if it comes too close. Thankfully the other two troop leaders are still in the tunnels at the very least. This one seems to have left to scout the fort and return on noticing the commotion here.

Well, the problem is I do not have any method of attacking from a distance, especially since I lost the armor. I assume that roughly five minutes should have passed in the process of retreat.

That means the only way that I can win this fight is to confuse the beast and something shocking is going to happen at any moment. I have all of these thoughts as the beast comes closer to me.

Focussing mana into my legs, I jump back dodging a full force charge of the beasts. It is close though, as I can feel the claws of the beast just inches from my chest. I swing my sword upwards to block another ice bolt from above the beast's head.

For the next ten seconds, I can feel myself and the beast attempting to predict the other's move. This is thankfully exactly what I wanted. Finally, the formation core has begun to overload as I hear a massive boom.

At the moment the two of us are disoriented, especially when the tunnel next to me begins to break apart as If a giant was crushing it in his hand. The ice beast was not expecting what was happening at its base.

The collapsing tunnels often are a silent affair or at least somehow the sound does not seem enough to visualize what you see. It almost feels as if the very world is falling away. The ground shakes as if you are going through an earthquake, though other than that you often cannot tell much more, but this creature's senses must be more attuned to the elements of this region. It can understand the full horror of what is happening down there.

That gave me a single moment of doubt, of confusion and on the battlefield that is enough, especially when we are at striking distance from the other. Pushing nearly a tenth of my mana, which is the highest that I dare to push at that instant, into my arms I swing my sword.

The sword is going so fast that it is barely under my control. At the moment it is almost like I am being pulled by my sword as my sword enters into the skull of the creatures. I am sure that I have pierced the beast's skull.

At this moment I would have expected that the creature is dead, but turns out that is the case as I feel mana begins to gather in the creature's mouth as it bites into my arm.

Right now, my body is hurting everywhere due to the side effect of my body strengthening. The instant that creature bit me I did not feel pain, if anything it was the opposite.

My entire body seems to have numbed down as if somebody had just put me in a block of ice, which might not be an exaggeration In this case. Thankfully the other soldiers must have returned to the base, which means they can handle any survivors from the enemy base.

Right now I am in a pretty risky position. If even one more troop leader is alive now would be the time that they will attack. This attack of mine was made under the assumption that they would be defending their base when they assumed their enemy would be throwing a spell at them. That was a stupid assumption to make.

I don't think that is the case, since the one that I fought had no reinforcements. For now, at the very least, the fort will give me some peace of mind. After all, with the formation base drained even that place is not particularly safe.

I can feel my thoughts slow as I stumble to the base. I don't even remember who it was that helped me out of my armor and put me in the medics room before I completely lost consciousness.