I think she’s the mage from early, why is she back? This is a very dangerous and risky move she’s pulling.

Aren’t these mages very callous and calculating?

If she dies here as well then that means we’ve only got two mages left up here, not to mention that she’s risking her own life.

Despite my expectations about her imminent death she manages to just wave her hand and divert the slow death spiral up into the sky with what looks like minimal effort.

I was fully expecting her to be obliterated by it followed by me and the battle mage I’m protecting.

Of course, I’m more than happy my expectations have been subverted, there’s no time to really celebrate unfortunately as I have to quickly manoeuvre myself to face the next oncoming attack.

I manage to get into position just in time to block an incoming glob of acidic green goo.

While not as dangerous as the death spiral, it still splatters all over me and burns through a great deal of my appendages.

Then, just as the acid loses its power and stops being a threat, I witness a mana surge and watch as half a dozen new spells start formulating into existence all at once.

Either the mages down there downplayed just how injured they were by that metaphysical sound attack, or they just all recovered at the same time, or perhaps one of them used a spell to negate the effects of the sound wave spell.

The amount of spells they’re casting is ludicrous, so far all these mages, with the exception of the lightening mage of course, seem to be of a lower quality than the Arthian mages but quantity is a quality in and of itself.

I’m tempted to go in front of the male battlemage to try and keep him safe from any incoming spells but it would almost certainly be a futile effort and might actually make things worse since he won’t be able to fire his own spell at the small Rover horde.

So instead I just decompress myself and wait by his side, in between him and the female battlemage. There’s not a lot I can do other than just wait.

It’s not like I can shoot a bow, and the cohort is still just ever so slightly too far for me to hurl the small boulders at.

What even is this cohort aiming for?

There’s no gate or entranceway to the keep on this side, I’ve looked down below and checked.

Is this maybe just a distraction effort? Or an attempt to divide and kill the defenders?

Actually, do they even need an entrance? That glob of acid for example could easily just burn a giant hole in the stone and let them all get inside.

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Then the initial series of spells begin getting launched in my direction, or rather his direction, forcing me back into the present and making me focus on my possible, imminent demise.

Thankfully, the female battlemage manages to defend us against this initial volley, waving her hands and causing entire spells to dissipate.

The ones she doesn’t manage to disperse bounce harmlessly off of a hastily erected barrier, I’m assuming she’s the one who made it since he’s still busy casting his spell.

Just what is it he’s casting?

This is the longest spell I’ve ever witnessed and he’s so vulnerable while casting it.

I guess he’s just confident in his friends or my ability to protect him, or maybe he’s wearing a couple of very good protective artefacts?

I do doubt that he’s got any protective artefacts because if he did he shouldn’t have been so scared of the bolt, then again I think a shield of some sort stopped the magic plate but let the arrows through, so I guess he could have some artefacts that only affect magic spells?

Ignoring that complicated possibility, I ponder what it is he’s casting, it’s obviously an offensive spell otherwise he would have done it in the centre of the keep where it’s safer.

I wonder what sort of spell it is?

Coralet can or at least could cast a few low level water spells but evidently he has access to spells of a far higher quality.

Will he be able to wipe out this whole cohort with it?

They seem to extremely fearful and aggressive with their attacks so I’m guessing the answer is yes.

The spells they fling out may be weak individually but the sheer volume of them forces the female battlemage to focus solely on defending and even then an attack or two gets through occasionally and hits me.

At this point, I must have lost at least ten tentacles and forty tendrils defending this man, who, for all intents and purposes, is basically just a statue right now.

The Rover sharpshooter also tries to take him and her out with three well placed shots but each time they just bang off of an invisible shield.

Which is confusing because I thought that the reason the arrows had slipped through the Rover shield was because it only worked on magic and that’s also why he was so scared of the bolt.

It doesn’t really matter, I’m just focusing on random things to ignore the situation I’m in, being a meat shield isn’t a very nice feeling.

None of this has been nice, it’s just been dull and humiliating, I’ve come up here for nothing, I was sent here to deal with rival summons and I’ve yet to even so much as see one.

I wish I’d just stayed with Coralet for a little while longer.

Finally, after nearly a solid minute of casting his spell, the male battlemage is done.

And the moment he unleashes his spell everything just stops, I can’t see anything, I can’t hear anything, I can’t feel anything.

It’s all just gone and then in an instant it returns and it burns.

I see every single speck of dirt, smell every drop of blood, hear every heartbeat.

For a singular second, I am nearly omniscient within a radius of thirty yards and then I’m back to normal.

My mind has stopped burning and I am myself again, everything is bland and my perception is now pathetic.

However, It’s not so bad that I don’t notice the entire Rover horde spasming and frothing at the mouth.