Chapter 87: Ambushing the Boulder

Maintaining their spellcasting for so long had exhausted the mages. After the other two mages gave up on killing the enemy warriors, they urged Shaoke to sit down and meditate to recover. "Mage Xueye, ignore the outside for now. With those third-rank warriors on watch, there shouldn't be any big problems."

Shaoke glanced at those warriors once more, nodded in agreement with the two mages, and hurried to meditate with them before the potion wore off. At that moment, the mages summoned a soldier to stand before the window, so he could wake them promptly if anything happened, allowing them to make decisions.

Just as Shaoke felt his mana was nearly restored, he heard someone urgently calling to him. He immediately stopped meditating and noticed the soldiers inside the stone tower were gone. The other two mages were watching him with tense expressions. "What's wrong?" Shaoke asked, bracing himself against the wall as he stood and cautiously peered outside.

Outside, the slaughter had grown even more frenzied. The enemy sent team after team of warriors charging onto the battlements, locking in combat with warriors of equivalent rank. Some soldiers lifted corpses from the ground and hurled them down like stones, thinking it would both crush the enemy and clear the ground to avoid tripping during the fight. This thinking made throwing their comrades' bodies down a little less shameful.

One mage also observed the situation outside, licking his dry lips before saying, "Mage Xueye, after this assault wave, we'll be in a more dangerous situation. You should be prepared."

"What kind of dangerous situation?" Shaoke asked, puzzled. He didn't know what could possibly threaten the mages hiding in the stone tower—unless it was higher-ranked warriors?

The mage pointed outside at the fighting and said, "When these warriors disappear from the city walls—and we needn't discuss *how* they'll disappear—" he said, carefully scanning the wall, "the enemy's large catapults haven't even been deployed yet! Those catapults are what pose a danger to us."

Shaoke grew tense at once. He didn't believe the earlier mage's claim that the stone tower could withstand massive stones falling from the sky. He felt it could only block ordinary flying debris; if a huge stone landed directly on it, he felt sure he'd be turned into a pulp of flesh and remain there forever.

The enemy forces outside the city walls stopped sending warriors to support their dwindling comrades, instead leaving them to be killed or to flee back.

"Here they come," one mage said nervously to Shaoke. "Mage Xueye, we must go outside—well, it's best to hide behind the stone tower. We'll have a much better view from there."

Shaoke obediently followed the two mages to hide behind the wall outside the stone tower. At that moment, massive catapults hurled huge boulders and showers of smaller stones from several miles away. For a moment, Shaoke felt as if the entire wall were shaking.

"Thud... thud..." The sound of massive impacts echoed continuously, accompanied by a shrieking noise that filled the sky above the fortress.

The common soldiers on the wall, with nowhere to hide, were shouting themselves hoarse. Some vainly tried to fend off the stones with their shields, as if the thick wooden planks could offer safety. Quicker soldiers swiftly hid in the inner garrison tunnels, where they at least didn't have to worry about the wall collapsing and crushing them into pulp.

The relentless barrage lasted for half a magic hour. Shaoke noticed the huge stones tended to land in the vicinity of these stone towers, while the scattered debris fell randomly on the walls and inside the city, inflicting massive casualties on the common soldiers.

As the barrage gradually subsided, one mage pulled Shaoke back into the stone tower and solemnly told him, "Mage Xueye, right now is the most dangerous moment for us on the battlefield. If you see stones falling toward us, you must wake us from meditation so we can avoid the impending tragedy. What do you think? We all do this."

Shaoke nodded. "Will the catapult attacks continue? Aren't they afraid of hitting their own people?"

The mage shrugged. "Life holds the least value in this world—whether it's mages, clerics, warriors, or even those with rare professions. Besides, to avoid breaking the rules and achieve the goal of hunting mages, some necessary sacrifices can be made." After saying this, the mage hid by the window. "I'll take down the first one. Let's hope we're lucky."

After the stones became sparse, the soldiers on the wall didn't rush to tend to the wounded. They had to quickly form an effective defense to withstand the enemy's impending attack.

First-tier warriors, under the officers' orders, swiftly moved to the front to assist the ordinary soldiers in their defensive tasks. Second-rank and even third-rank warriors leaped out from the garrison tunnels and stood at the rear, ready to join the battle at any moment.

A large number of soldiers quickly filled the losses, but the occasional falling stones still caused heavy casualties among those stationed near the mages' stone towers. Although they had grown accustomed to and tried to stay away from the towers during this time, the pre-arranged defensive formations didn't allow them to move freely.

From time to time, huge stones landed around the stone towers. While casting spells, the mages not only had to observe the enemy warriors on the battlefield but also be wary of the threat posed by the falling stones.

Shaoke didn't intervene when facing first-tier and second-order warriors, and neither did the other mages. As the number of third-rank warriors increased, the defending side's third-rank warriors couldn't fully stop the enemy. It was then that Shaoke began to take action.

The second-level 'Blazing Ray' was quickly prepared. Shaoke focused on a third-rank warrior engaged in combat with one of their own, locked onto him with his mental energy, and fired a red beam as thick as an arm straight at the enemy's head.

The enemy warrior, entangled with a warrior of the same rank, couldn't dodge in time. He could only erupt with aura, condensing the already thick aura into a dense white mist around his head to block Shaoke's spell ambush.

In the end, although the third-rank warrior didn't die from Shaoke's spell, the interference gave his opponent an opening. A refined spear infused with aura pierced his chest, and he was then hacked to pieces by the swarming soldiers.

Watching one enemy third-rank warrior after another die under the mages' interference, Shaoke couldn't help but sigh. Generally, second-tier mages' single-target spells could only slightly disperse the aura of these third-rank warriors, but Shaoke used a second-level spell comparable to a third-tier single-target spell—and one with the greatest penetrating power. The spell's rapid flight made even cautious warriors frustrated by Shaoke's peculiar preference for targeting heads.

Shaoke had no idea how his fellow mages in other sections were faring, but he felt his own situation was quite dire. Continuously casting second-level spells and locking onto the heads of third-rank warriors forced him to expend more mental energy to satisfy his peculiar preference.

Finally, when one of their own warriors dispersed a layer of aura from a seemingly inexperienced third-rank warrior, Shaoke seized the opportunity to release his prepared spell. With the enemy's aura weakened, the spell accurately struck the terrified face.

"Mage Xueye, stop admiring your handiwork. We must leave here immediately," said one mage who had just cast a spell, pulling Shaoke and his other companion and ignoring their questions as he rushed outside. "A huge stone is about to fall."

Following them outside, Shaoke saw the panicked soldiers and momentarily didn't know where to go. Fortunately, the mage kept dragging him. "Quick, follow me to the garrison tunnel!" In their haste, the mages leaped onto the platform on the inner wall and hurriedly ducked into a dark hole.

Some soldiers behind them, disregarding the mages' pace, shoved Shaoke and the others to the very back. Shaoke heard a tremendous shrieking sound, felt the entire wall tremble, and then a loud "thud..." echoed, followed by frantic screams that kept reaching his ears.

The soldiers who had squeezed into the garrison tunnel quickly grabbed their weapons and rushed out. They knew that if they didn't leave, warriors would force them out with swords—because they were soldiers, not ordinary civilians.

"I think our hiding spot is done for," said the mage who had dragged Shaoke to the tunnel, shrugging with lingering fear. "Luckily, I heard the shrieking in time this time. Damn it, the stones they launched this time were much larger than before. This isn't in line with the rules."

Shaoke looked at his agitated companion, unsure how to remind him to adhere to the mages' etiquette. Fortunately, they were on the battlefield, and the mage's coarse language didn't attract the soldiers' attention.

The short stone tower where Shaoke and the others had been was gone, replaced by several huge broken stones. Shaoke noticed that the shattered stones weren't much smaller than the ones the enemy had launched earlier. The soldiers directly crushed by the massive stones were fortunate, as they didn't have to suffer like those lying on the ground, injured by flying debris and still alive, wailing in agony or even being trampled to death by their half-crazed comrades.

The soldiers on this section of the wall grew frantic under the accurate strike of the super-large stone. Some soldiers, unable to bear the terrifying scene, ran wildly across the wall, but they were quickly dealt with by their calmer comrades. Allowing them to run amok would only further disrupt the already chaotic defense.

————Many people say it's too verbose, but I can't help it. I just want to convey certain things through actions and behaviors. Remove it? I've already cut about a hundred thousand words from the draft, which is why the mages suddenly appear impulsive. Sigh! It seems the issue lies in my writing style!