Chapter 304 All for Elimination

Someone spoke. After checking their belongings once more, they drew their cloaks tight and activated Support Spells, swiftly moving toward the area controlled by the Mage Guild. This time, the Sixth Tier White-robed Cleric also joined the battle. As in battles long past, she silently followed behind Shaoke, ready to cast Support Spells on him first.

The mages marched swiftly, arriving in the area controlled by the Mage Guild in less than half a magic hour. Here, the battle had already begun—the war launched by the Blue Feather Empire had started.

Hundreds of spells clashed furiously. At this point, they had forgotten to spare the dwellings of ordinary people. Warriors, clad in heavy armor and erupting with Aura, charged forward rapidly. A few Archers, positioned ahead of the mages, suppressed the enemies at close range. Infiltrators appeared and disappeared, each time leaving a dead warrior or careless mage behind. However, these Infiltrators soon vanished from the battlefield, for as more people joined the fight, they inevitably got injured or killed by their own allies. The Archers stood behind the mages, firing arrow after arrow. In this chaos, few mages could sense arrows imbued with special Aura, so their low-tier Defensive Spells were easily torn apart, and they fell dead on the streets.

Victory or defeat in a war is decided by tides of blood. This was a battle without ordinary Soldiers; both sides lost a great number of professionals in the night's fighting. Even the Archers suffered heavy losses when confronting the enemy. At least six or seven of the dozen-plus Archers from the Blue Feather Empire who joined this war perished under the enemy's attacks, causing deep grief among some Rulers.

The White-robed Cleric rapidly cast Support Spells for the mages one after another. Despite being accustomed to high-intensity Spellcasting, her face turned extremely pale. Moreover, she had to dodge attacks that could not be intercepted in time, guided by Shaoke's warnings.

The battle continued. A silver-white light shield suddenly intercepted a sixth-tier spell Shaoke had cast. The powerful mental lock instantly excited Shaoke, making him feel as if he had returned to those war years.

Following the opponent's mental lock, Shaoke quickly spotted a Spellcaster over a kilometer away and locked onto him. Without any hesitation, a yellow smoke swiftly coalesced from the hand signs he formed, then rapidly transformed into a butterfly-shaped spell under his manipulation. Under the caster's control, it flew quickly toward that mage, constantly shedding tiny yellow specks along the way. These specks fell to the ground and slowly disappeared into it.

On the way, though many mages or warriors tried various means to intercept the spell, the butterfly-shaped spell, controlled by the caster, swiftly reached its target.

The mage locked by Shaoke made no attempt to dodge, for as Shaoke's attack was about to arrive, his own spell was ready. A small white cage flew out from the tip of that mage's staff, rapidly expanded, and enclosed Shaoke's spell.

Then he swiftly moved his body, leaving his original position. However, at this moment, he abandoned control over the white cage and began preparing an attack spell instead.

After that mage of the Mage Guild trapped Shaoke's spell with the cage, Shaoke felt his control over that seventh-tier spell weakening. Judging by his mental perception, he decisively abandoned the butterfly and prematurely ended the spell's attack.

The spellcaster made several strange hand gestures. As a faint yellow ripple shot out from the tip of Shaoke's staff, the butterfly trapped in the cage suddenly exploded. Moreover, the yellow specks the butterfly had scattered earlier burst into flames, emitting a large amount of yellow smoke. The butterfly in the cage, after shattering the cage with its explosion, also released a massive cloud of yellow smoke.

The appearance of large amounts of yellow smoke quickly caught the attention of both sides fighting in the area. Everyone knew that smoke released by a spellcaster was never benign. Of course, though many noticed in time, some failed to evade the yellow smoke's coverage. Some felt safe due to their Aura, while others simply didn't pay attention.

Under the coverage of the yellow smoke, some wounded warriors or mages with fragile Defensive Spells were quickly engulfed and attacked. Fortunately, although the smoke was extensive, it did not spread, and its corrosive power was weak. Some warriors erupted with a surge of Aura to shake off the smoke from their bodies. Mages quickly left the area and used replacement defensive spells to remove the smoke clinging to their previous protections. Of course, there were some unlucky ones who, under the attacks of Shaoke's side, couldn't escape the smoke in time and were soon corroded into skeletons.

All this happened very quickly. Meanwhile, Shaoke paid no attention to the yellow smoke. Instead, he kept moving back and forth in front of the White-robed Cleric to dodge enemy spells or arrows. He also began preparing another spell of his own.

The seventh-tier Elemental Hand—though a common spell—proved very useful at this moment. A giant hand was quickly outlined in the air by the mage. After this roughly four-meter hand appeared, large amounts of yellow smoke, under Shaoke's control, merged into it. The originally gray hand turned deep yellow, and Shaoke manipulated this transformed hand to swiftly attack the mage who was targeting him.

The roaring attack terrified the Mage Guild mage who was in the middle of preparing a spell. He had never practiced this common spell, and his own spell was not ready, so he could only dodge. Fortunately, he dodged in time, and Shaoke's attack missed, the hand smashing heavily into the ground with a tremendous tremor. The attack did not end. After leaving a giant handprint on the ground, under Shaoke's control, the hand suddenly exploded. Hundreds of yellow smoke streams quickly formed into javelins, which madly slammed into some nearby professionals.

Most of those participating in this battle were professionals above the Fifth Tier. Though they had Aura or other means of protection, these javelins still pierced through some low-tier beings, smoothly taking their lives. Their bodies, under the influence of the yellow smoke, quickly turned into skeletons.

The mage who had been fighting Shaoke did not manage to dodge the numerous javelins this time. Fortunately, his defensive spell was also seventh-tier, so the javelins did not pierce it. However, the yellow smoke embedded in the javelins clung to his defensive spell and began slowly corroding it. Although slow, if left unchecked, it would still cause serious trouble for the mage.

Though he knew the effect of the yellow smoke, that spellcaster from the Mage Guild did not rush to clear it away. Instead, he continued preparing his own attack spell. A mass of red mist slowly appeared above his staff as his incantations and gestures grew more urgent. Then, under his control, the mist quickly flew toward Shaoke's side.

Of course, this time the flight speed was extremely fast, and the red mist rapidly expanded in the process.

The appearance of an area-of-effect attack spell quickly drew the attention of the alert mages in Shaoke's group. At their warning, the mages assigned to interception rapidly cast low-tier spells, relying on quantity to shatter the spell's structure. This effort was largely successful; only a small portion of the red mist fell upon Shaoke's camp. Only two or three unlucky mages, while dodging the red mist, were killed by enemy mages.

After calming his breathing a little, Shaoke again signaled the White-robed Cleric to cast Support Spells on him. Then he took out a few rune stones that reduced mental and mana consumption and suspended them above his head. After doing this, he quietly waited for the White-robed Cleric's help.

A golden beam as thick as a finger rapidly emerged from the White-robed Cleric's staff and golden book, merging into Shaoke continuously. Feeling the arrival of the Support Spell, Shaoke quickly began preparing an attack spell.

Rending Ray. Shaoke cast spells chanted in Ancient Magic Script. This time, he released the fifth-tier Rending Ray and Cutting Wave. Under the Command Technique, the power of these two fifth-tier spells more than tripled, while the consumption only doubled. Of course, this was mainly because the spells were low-tier and Shaoke had practiced them often. If he now used the Command Technique to cast sixth- or seventh-tier spells, the consumption would increase two or three times, or even more, but the power would also greatly increase.

Under the Command Technique, the spell attacks with no perceptible fluctuations easily reaped the lives of various enemies. Shaoke also gave up on fighting the mage from earlier. Now he wanted to weaken the Mage Guild's personnel as much as possible to reduce losses on his own side.