Chapter 111 Post-war Handling

After Shaoke once again cooperated with a mage to burst a warrior's skull, he had to take medicine again to suppress the severe headache.

The changes within the meditation space had not stopped. Although it did not affect spellcasting, Shaoke felt uneasy at this moment. He worried that prolonged combat and excessive consumption might lead to other changes in the meditation space.

Fortunately, Mage Roman, relying on her third-tier spiritual power, managed to accurately pinpoint the master archer after some effort. A distance of nearly a thousand meters was beyond the spellcasting range of even third-tier mages. After discussing with the other two third-tier mages, Roman decided to first eliminate the two third-tier mages who had initially attacked them.

Shaoke did not pay attention to the battle between the third-tier mages. He only glanced at Roman during the intervals of his spellcasting and noticed that she was chanting spells with her eyes closed at an increasingly faster pace. In such weather, beads of sweat even appeared on her fair forehead.

The second-tier mages of the ambushers finally arrived. A dozen or so second-tier mages began covering their own warriors as they charged toward Shaoke and the others.

Casting spells in a numb, repetitive rhythm, Shaoke relied on his fast casting speed to intercept the enemy's spells time and again. However, after prolonged spellcasting, his already limited mana was running on fumes. At this point, Shaoke grew very anxious. He knew that if Roman and the others could not eliminate the two enemy mages on the mountain, once one mage stopped casting spells, the enemy would quickly charge over with their numerical advantage.

Shaoke was not the first to stop spellcasting. For reasons unknown, a mage suddenly failed while releasing a spell and then stopped preparing spells altogether. Instead, he leaned against a tree, constantly rubbing his head. It seemed the spellcasting failure had caused him significant distress.

The enemy warriors quickly charged forward, and some even switched to being archers or throwers, frantically hurling ranged weapons toward the mages' positions.

The few remaining warriors desperately blocked the enemy's attacks, but against attacks like javelins and hand axes infused with Aura, they could not completely hold them off.

The ranged weapons that broke through the defenses inflicted heavy damage on the mages who were focused on spellcasting. In an instant, five or six mages who were caught off guard were cut down. When a mage beside Shaoke was pierced through the chest by a javelin, the mages' ranks finally broke. Some mages fled recklessly toward the rear, trying to escape the enemy's slaughter.

'Rending Vortex'—a semi-targeted area spell—was unleashed by Shaoke in a desperate move. A black vortex rapidly formed between his hands, and then Shaoke hurled it toward the warriors using throwing attacks. The black vortex expanded swiftly in the air, eventually covering an area several meters in radius.

Several warriors were swept into it. Even though these warriors flared their Aura in desperation to protect themselves, they were still torn to shreds by the powerful vortex.

After casting this spell, Shaoke felt all the mana in his meditation space vanish, leaving him unable to prepare another spell.

Just as Shaoke began considering his retreat, Roman and the others, who had been exchanging spells with the two third-tier mages on the mountain, finally eliminated one of them and turned to assist Shaoke and the other mages and warriors in the battle.

For a moment, spells of various kinds streaked across the sky. Seizing the opportunity, Shaoke called out to the mages fleeing toward the rear. "The enemy's third-tier mage is already dead. We have three third-tier mages here. What are you worried about? We can definitely wipe out the enemy here. Do you really want to survive and advance to third-tier mage with the identity of a deserter?"

Fortunately, the wind and snow were blowing downward, so Shaoke's desperate shouts were heard by the fleeing mages. After hesitating for a moment, one mage still left, but those who remained did not return. Instead, they stayed where they were and began preparing spells.

The third-tier mages, who were busy eliminating the enemy's second-tier mages, quickly noticed this situation and accelerated their spellcasting speed. While dodging the enemy's close-range throwing attacks, they continuously unleashed spells with their abundant spiritual power and mana, cooperating to eliminate the enemy mages.

When the other third-tier mage finished off his opponent, Shaoke immediately sensed that the enemy's attacks had weakened significantly, especially those from the second-rank spellcasters. Under the powerful suppression of the third-tier mages, the second-tier mages who had not mastered the spellcasting technique were either eliminated or forced to abruptly halt their spellcasting at the cost of destabilizing their meditation spaces to escape the incoming spells.

After losing the delay caused by the two third-tier mages, the enemy was quickly suppressed by the frenzied spellcasting of Shaoke's side. Just as Shaoke used the little mana he had recovered to prepare a 'Frost Ray' and struck a warrior in the face, the enemy suddenly retreated. The warriors supported the mages and, under the cover of the throwers, swiftly disappeared into the chaotic forest, just as they had appeared.

After the enemy retreated, Roman and the other two mages briefly discussed and decided to stay here to fully recover before determining their next move. The mages did not believe that the enemy, having lost the command of two third-tier mages, could organize an effective attack relying solely on the master archer.

With Roman and the others' permission, Shaoke and the remaining mages hurriedly took their most precious medicines and began meditating to recover from the spellcasting drain. Roman handed her 'frost crystal' to a mage to monitor the master archer and then hastily sat down to recover as well.

Working to calm his mind, Shaoke smoothly entered his meditation space. The diamond array in the mana space rotated several times faster than usual, with streaks of silvery light constantly flickering across the array. Occasionally, a burst of silver light would explode and land in the space or on a newly formed meditation array.

Stimulated by the occasional silver light landing on the meditation array, Shaoke felt his mana recovery speed was much faster than during deep meditation, and it showed a trend of gradually accelerating.

After an unknown period, when Shaoke felt he had returned to his peak state, he promptly stopped meditating and stood up, walking over to the two third-tier mages who were still on guard.

By then, several mages had already ended their deep meditation and recovered, gathering around the two third-tier mages.

"Here, use this tool to monitor the surroundings first. We need to recover," said the mage who had learned some basic information about Shaoke when reuniting with Roman. He then handed Roman's 'frost crystal' to Shaoke for him to check the surroundings.

After taking the auxiliary tool, Shaoke repeatedly scanned the surroundings. Although his spiritual power still could not compare to that of third-tier mages who had been promoted for years, it was significantly stronger than that of ordinary second-tier mages, allowing him to detect distances up to a thousand meters away.

The mages recovered one after another. Roman glanced at the other two third-tier mages who were still recovering and naturally reclaimed her 'frost crystal'. "Did you find that master archer?" Roman asked.

"No, perhaps my detection range was too limited," Shaoke thought for a moment and added, "Could it be that he left with the others?"

Mage Roman nodded. "Let me check first. I hope he has already left; otherwise, we'll be in great danger."

Shaoke and the other mages agreed with the mage's words. After all, mages couldn't continuously use spiritual power to probe their surroundings. If the enemy kept following and launched a long-range sniper attack, it would still cause immense panic in the team. Thinking of this, Shaoke couldn't help but shiver, reminding him of the mysterious snipers from his past life.

While Shaoke was lost in thought, Roman finished her detection. Looking at the nervous second-tier mages around her eagerly awaiting her answer, she smiled somewhat helplessly. Although she knew the master archer was a profession posing a significant threat to mages, she hadn't expected these mages to fear his presence so much. "No sign of that master archer. He has already left this place. After all, the Desas military wouldn't waste an archer here to doggedly harass us."

After hearing the mage's observation results, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. At least they didn't have to worry about being shot by enemy arrows unprepared.

The few warriors had not been injured in the previous battle. They quickly collected some valuable and portable items from both sides on the battlefield as loot. As for the numerous corpses, they didn't have time to bury them one by one. They only hastily placed their own fallen mages in the crevice and left it at that.

After glancing at the mages who had initially intended to flee but returned, Shaoke said to Roman, "One mage already fled from here earlier. Should we still search for him? He might still be nearby."

Roman shook her head and said to Shaoke, "Leave it be. We must cross this mountain today; staying on this side is still dangerous." She pointed at the two mages still meditating on the ground and said, "We'll set off as soon as they wake up."

When the two third-tier mages fully recovered, the howling wind and snow gradually weakened. With the help of the warriors, the mages began climbing toward the mountaintop again.