Chapter 208: Return to the City’s Temporary Base

With the help of the surrounding blazing fire, Shaoke discovered that among the three-thousand-strong cavalry, only a few hundred remained. Of the three knights, only one had arrived; the other two were still missing. The knight who had sent the signal sat pale-faced atop his magical beast, having lost not only his lance but also his heavy armor. His scarred upper body was exposed to the biting wind. However, the sleazy officer beside him wasn't too badly off, though his already dirty uniform had become even filthier. Yet the Blizzard Warriors around him had dwindled significantly.

When he saw the mage appear, the Sleazy Officer struggled to twist his lips, trying to put on his usual crazy act but completely failing. The knight nodded slightly at Shaoke, signaling him to wait aside.

Shaoke didn't say much, instead he felt around for where the mages had been fighting. Only after sensing that those mages had left did he dispel his Defensive Spell, pulled his cloak tighter, and stood by, waiting for the others to return.

As time passed, scattered cavalrymen gradually gathered at the rendezvous point. Then one knight returned, looking pale but otherwise unharmed. With him came a few hundred cavalrymen, also unscathed. This sight somewhat relieved the knight who had sent the signal, as he hoped the other knight's situation might not be too dire.

But after waiting almost another magic hour, Shaoke scanned the area again. Yet he no longer sensed any significant presence of Aura. This made that knight's face turn ugly. According to this inference, the other knight couldn't be alive anymore.

"Leave this place," the Sleazy Officer suddenly gave the order after a long silence. However, both knights were strongly against it, wanting to send cavalry into the woods to search. If the knight was merely injured, he could still be rescued. Faced with their insistence, the Sleazy Officer reluctantly agreed. The restless cavalrymen, after this period of rest, had calmed down a lot and obeyed the command, charging back into the woods on either side, beginning a swift search. Fortunately, the big fires had mostly gone out, so the search was not overly hindered. After nearly half a magic hour, the cavalry came back, only bringing back a few severely wounded comrades and nothing more. The other knight was nowhere to be found. According to the cavalrymen's accounts, aside from numerous deep craters and scorch marks along the knight's escape route, there was no other trace.

The severely wounded cavalrymen were killed by their own comrades' hands. The military-issued medicine could not treat massive internal organ ruptures or extensive bodily losses. Facing the reality that they couldn't fight anymore and couldn't even live as normal people, these cavalrymen readily agreed to this request.

The group set off again, but this time without the cheerfulness they had when they came. Instead, a heavy weight hung over everyone. Fortunately, the wounded who could hold on didn't slow down the march for too long. After two days, they returned to the city they were guarding.

Although they had learned some news from merchants along the way, the current state of the city still shocked Shaoke. Large stretches of the city wall had disappeared, replaced by countless deep pits. Countless residents were busy in the snow, either carrying away corpses or clearing roads. The situation inside the city was even worse: vast areas of houses had disappeared, replaced by frozen zones or areas littered with massive boulders. This scene astonished both the mage and the other senior officers, who had not expected the city to be so severely damaged.

Patrolling Soldiers quickly reported the return of Shaoke's group to the Legion Commander. Thus, the commander ordered Shaoke and the officers who had carried out the mission to see him. The small castle was gone, leaving only a dark, deep hole in the ground. The commander's temporary residence was beside this hole, a crude wooden hut built from logs.

"Welcome back," the Legion Commander said, glancing at the group missing one knight. His already grim expression worsened, but he quickly composed himself and began inquiring in detail about what had happened on the road.

"The result of a conflict between top-tier mages and warriors," one knight replied, standing at attention and saluting before answering the commander's questions. After the commander raised a few more points, Shaoke and the others answered each one.

When the knights were about to leave after the commander's inquiries, Shaoke brought up a peculiar situation the group had encountered. "Commander, during our mission, a group of bandits disguised as soldiers from the Esuoer Empire attacked us." Seeing the commander frown and listen intently, Shaoke elaborated on the encounter in detail, finally mentioning the information provided by the duke-city's lord.

After hearing Shaoke's explanation, the commander frowned deeply, his thick hand constantly moving along the saber at his waist. He occasionally closed his eyes in thought before finally saying, "Hmm! Mage Xueye, thanks for the information. Now collect your reward and return to the mage camp to rest. I think you urgently need it." He then signaled the two knights and the now-serious Sleazy Officer to stay. As Shaoke turned to leave, the commander started chewing them out for missing such important info despite their specialized training, expressing deep disappointment.

Shaoke paid little attention to what happened behind him. Following the commander's instructions, he quickly found the mages' temporary camp. On an open, empty space stood dozens of large, crude wooden houses built from logs. The roofs were covered with a thick layer of earth, and some had turf carefully laid on top to prevent melted snow from leaking inside.

After asking a soldier who was patching cracks in one of these crude houses, Shaoke soon arrived at the area where Female Practitioners resided. His worries were unfounded: although he did not see Female Mage Roman or the other mages, he ran into a strange Female Mage who was just leaving a room. Upon inquiry, she told him what she knew. Mage Roman and the others had not been harmed, and most mages were also safe. Only the northernmost mage camp had suffered severe damage, but casualties were light, mainly Second Rank and Third Rank mages killed by the battle's aftermath.

Learning that the mages were busy working, Shaoke followed a soldier to a newly built crude house. Fortunately, there was plenty of firewood, so despite some gaps still unsealed with mud or animal hides, the interior was warm thanks to the blazing fire. Soon, soldiers brought tents, and a small tent was set up over the wooden bed and fire pit, finally blocking the wind completely.

In this strange dwelling, Shaoke began to rest. After the sudden battle, the big whirlpools that had been spinning in his meditation space had all disappeared, giving him temporary relief. Upon asking the Sixth Tier Mage, he learned that low-tier mages and warriors would not experience such effects after taking medicine, as those below Seventh Rank could not fully absorb the potion's effects. This unusual occurrence made him suspect that the silver light in his meditation space had caused the full absorption.

After taking the prepared Fourth Rank medicines, Shaoke fell asleep. He had not slept like this for a long time, so once lying on the bed, his usual vigilance vanished. Fortunately, he was in the military camp. Had he not encountered the battle of top-tier professionals, he would have remained safe. Even though the situation looked dire, under the commander's organization, the soldiers carried out their duties orderly.

This sleep lasted half a day before Shaoke awoke. The firewood in the pit was nearly out. Suppressing his body's aches, he added more wood, then began his usual exercises to relieve the soreness. After checking the weather outside, he returned to his room to continue his studies. Rebuilding the city was not something he could do now, as there were enough professionals for that task.

Removing the white cloth covering the makeshift writing desk, Shaoke took out his spell record and began documenting the events of the past few days. Finally, he described the fluctuations of the high-level Spells he had sensed that day in Chinese as best he could, for future reference and memorization.

As we have often mentioned, a mage's life is mostly monotonous: reading magical books, memorizing Spell Structures, reciting incantations and Gestures, and Meditating. This time, Shaoke added copying books. He aimed to produce enough copies of the texts he had brought from the Death Station within a year to exchange with the Sixth Rank female mage for medicinal fruits.

However, Shaoke also wondered if the battle of the top-tier mages might have destroyed that small city. He quickly dismissed this seemingly absurd thought. Based on the information he had gathered, that city had existed for tens of thousands of years. If it could be so easily destroyed, the empire would not have set up such a crucial strategic location near the border millennia ago.