Chapter 214 - The Final Push V

Western Battlefield

Despite catching the Tier-5 wind mage by surprise and having an elemental advantage, Captain Petrae and Onyx started getting pushed back as the battle dragged on.

The armor created by Captain Petrae’s [Stoneheart Avatar] could provide only a limited amount of protection, especially when each wind blade was sharper than the last.

By the time the mana cannon became active, both Onyx and the Captain were riddled with injuries.

Thankfully, a massive wave of dust rose toward Onyx and Captain Petrae, signaling that one of the northern territory’s anti-wind-mage experts had dealt with his opponent.

Captain Roscoe.

If not for his lineage and nature, he would not have been stationed in such a remote location. Many great houses had wanted him to become their retainer, but his choice to remain independent had come at a cost.

Captain Roscoe was more of a knight than a mage, with far less mana than Captain Petrae, but he had developed his own unique style of earth manipulation, earning him the title of the Dust Knight.

Riding a wave of swirling dust filled with dense earth mana, Captain Roscoe rapidly closed the distance between himself and the Tier-5 wind mage.

Then, propelling himself high into the air, he converted part of the dust into a massive hammer and another part into a shield.

He swung the hammer toward the wind mage’s head.

But as had happened again and again during the battle, the mage’s superior speed came to his rescue.

In the blink of an eye, he moved out of the hammer’s path and fired three wind blades, each aimed at one of his three opponents.

Roscoe defended himself with the shield, but at the same time, he converted the hammer into a cloud of dust that surrounded the wind mage.

The wind mage quickly created a sphere of rapidly rotating winds around himself.

But the dust cloud was not meant to harm him. Its special property came from being infused with Captain Roscoe’s mana, allowing it to interfere with the sensory capabilities of anyone caught inside it.

That gave Onyx and Captain Petrae a chance to pounce.

The mage released a powerful wind blast, clearing away the dust cloud.

At the last second, he tucked his legs up, saving himself from Onyx’s bite.

Captain Petrae formed a spear from his obsidian armor. For the first time since he had started battling the wind mage, the Captain managed to leave a shallow wound on the mage’s thigh.

Captain Roscoe, who had been falling, converted his shield into another cloud of swirling dust and used it to keep himself afloat.

Floating in the air, he circled the wind mage, dodging his attacks while gathering more dust.

As Captain Petrae and Onyx took responsibility for protecting Captain Roscoe, Roscoe’s expression changed.

He sent a transmission to Captain Petrae.

Scaevola has sensed the cannon activating. It could hinder Gaius. I will distract the mage. You take care of the cannon.

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Captain Petrae nodded.

He was the only one in the battle with an attack powerful enough to damage the cannon from this distance.

Also, Caeso had already been forced to enter the battlefield to save the formation from the cannon.

If Gaius was delayed or injured, they might put one of the best healers in the kingdom at risk.

Roscoe wasted no time.

This time, he sent something resembling a tsunami of dust toward the wind mage.

Then he dropped lower and, with a punching motion, sent out multiple pikes hidden within the dust, all aimed at the wind mage’s vital points.

Seeing the opportunity, Onyx swung his tail, sending one of the obsidian bones in it flying toward the cannon.

The wind mage released a massive blast of wind, deflecting the pikes and clearing away the dust cloud.

But Captain Roscoe had been ready for that.

This time, he was already above the wind mage and sent out another cloud of dust, blocking the mage’s senses again.

Yet the difference in tiers revealed itself here.

The brief interval between the wind mage blasting away the pikes and Captain Roscoe blocking his senses again was enough for him to sense the cannon, the obsidian bone, and the threat it posed.

A moment later, he sent a wind blade after the obsidian bone.

This time, when the wind mage emerged from the dust cloud, he sent Captain Roscoe flying.

A smirk appeared on his face as he turned toward Captain Petrae.

But then Captain Petrae raised his hand and clenched his fist.

Then he smirked.

Only then did the wind mage realize that one half of the obsidian rock had changed direction at the last moment and broken the mana cannon’s supporting structure.

The smirk vanished from the mage’s face, and he looked at Captain Petrae with undisguised killing intent.

“I should have killed you on the first day of the invasion.”

“You should have,” Captain Petrae replied.

Just as the wind mage was about to attack Petrae once again, another dust cloud surrounded him, increasing his anger even further.

He let out a frustrated roar.

“ARRRGH!”

This time, the intensity of his attacks increased.

It was as though he had abandoned both reason and the pretense of being a good military leader. His attacks were now aimed at Avalon’s lower-tier soldiers, even when they caused collateral damage to Frosthallow’s own forces.

Sensing this, Captain Petrae ordered the lower-tier combatants to retreat.

That would allow the higher-tier combatants to fight more freely and stop Frosthallow’s Tier-4s from leaving the western battlefield and joining the battle in the south.

Even then, two Frosthallow Tier-4s still managed to disengage and head south, bringing the number facing Gaius and Caeso to four.

That forced both of them into defensive roles.

Seeing all their efforts failing, with the soldiers on the southern side already halfway through their retreat and those on the western side almost at the western gate, the Tier-5 gathered a massive amount of mana.

He poured a large portion of his remaining mana into a single attack and created a concentrated cyclone with so much power that, without help from Tier-4 combatants, Avalon’s entire formation could be wiped out by one strike.

Worse, when the cyclone descended, it struck Frosthallow’s own soldiers first, killing dozens of lower-tier soldiers on impact.

Captain Petrae and Captain Roscoe had no choice but to abandon their now-weakened target and protect their soldiers.

Activate the Aegis Array, Captain Petrae ordered Senior Lieutenant Scaevola.

Scaevola immediately passed the order to the command personnel inside the town using the rune device he was carrying.

Captain Petrae then created a small hill in the path of the cyclone, while Captain Roscoe took over Torquatus’s opponent.

Senior Lieutenant Torquatus moved toward the cyclone and started heating its center, forcing it to expand.

The hill provided only a small barrier, but as Torquatus heated the cyclone’s center, its volume began to grow.

By the time it reached the formation, the cyclone had lost its shape and much of its wind speed.

Even then, it still caused damage. On its way across the battlefield, the cyclone had picked up swords, pieces of armor, and broken weapons, injuring multiple lower-tier soldiers as it passed through them.

As the cyclone subsided, the Aegis Array deactivated once again, allowing the soldiers to enter the town.

Even after the formation was inside Velkar, the Tier-4s from both sides held their ground, each one focused on their opponent.

Captain Petrae and Onyx also stared at their enemy—the Tier-5 mage.

The Tier-5 wind mage was the only person on the battlefield who could stop everything.

Yet his focus was no longer on the Captain.

Instead, he was looking toward the southern battlefield, as though waiting for something.

Then, just as the last cannon attack failed and Lieutenant Gaius stood in front of the formation, allowing it to retreat more safely, the Tier-5 finally turned around.

Frosthallow’s Tier-4s followed him.

A moment later, retreat horns echoed through Frosthallow’s lines.

One by one, their formations began pulling away from Velkar.