After Nick killed off all the skeletons, he looked at Rabial.
“These skeletons are weaker than usual. Should we go inside, or should we wait here for the necromancer?”
Rabial nodded. Having now somewhat adjusted to Nick’s genius levels, Rabial had already started planning their next steps before going inside. As an experienced mage, he knew that necromancers were cautious and smart. Chances were that the necromancer must have placed several traps inside the cave.
To venture into the cave without a mage proficient in discovering and neutralizing trap-like spells was just asking for death, he thought.
“We will wait here. What is the range of your spell?”
When Rabial asked about Sonic Bullet’s range, Nick thought a little before he answered.
“More than 200 meters, but I have to see the target clearly. As long as I can see the target, the spell will not miss.”
“Hissss!”
Rabial hissed and smiled. He then evaluated, while looking at the cave’s entrance.
“I suppose the spell you used still consumed a moderate amount of magic energy. So, my plan is simple.”
Nick looked at Rabial with interest and started listening.
“I have a summon spell on me, so I will be not alone. I want you to find yourself a position, from where you can easily see the entrance of the cave. We will first wait here and hunt the necromancer when he or she goes outside. If there is no movement, however, I will attack the cave and draw their attention. You can then find the right opportunity to target the necromancer.”
Nick nodded and got up from the ground to a sitting position. He started looking around for an apt location that would give him a vantage point to the Underbroom Cave.
—
On the Anderium Forest road at about this time, two carriages moved towards the Blue Tear City. The carriages were neither simple nor too luxurious. The carriages were accompanied by more than five people who were in mage garbs or were strong-bodied warriors. Just from the external appearance, one would assume that a middle-level nobleman or a rich man was riding in the carriage. As the procession moved forward, one of the mages suddenly alerted everyone.
“Stop, there are more than 15 undead creatures in front of us. Prepare for battle!”
The mage who spoke was a middle-aged man with a simple blue book in his hand.
At this time, a woman who looked to be in her 20s eyed the approaching undead skeletons and exclaimed.
“I had heard that the Anderium Forest had natural undead creatures, but these many are unusual. There must be a necromancer around here somewhere.”
The other mages and warriors who heard the woman’s words, nodded in agreement, indicating that their thoughts were also on the same lines.
After about 15 seconds, the mages positioned themselves and everyone cast a basic spell in a simultaneous attack.
“Fireball”
“Lightning”
“Energy Ball”
“Wood Spear”
“Fire Energy”
As the spells were cast, the sound of battle filled the perimeter of the road. Most of the spells can kill a basic ‘Level 1 Undead’ without any problems. Even Nick, who was still a new mage in spite of his extraordinary genius, could ascertain a creature’s level just by looking at it. The warriors had stationed themselves to protect the carriage and the mages from any physical or long-range, projectile attacks. Within seconds, the mages cast another set of simultaneous spells to destroy the undead creatures completely.
In less than a minute of encountering the mages’ attack, the undead skeletons were down on the ground. This instance was indicative of why mages were considered to be so strong. Even with their simple spells, they could easily destroy 15 undead creatures without any problems or any help from the warriors.
After the event was over, the middle-aged mage with the blue book looked around and took a deep breath. Before he could relax however, he felt that something was not right.
—
Nick who had climbed on a big tree by now, was looking at the cave entrance without losing his focus. He had heard from Rabial earlier that the road was close to them, and now he could clearly hear battle sounds coming from the road. Nick turned his head in the direction of the noise and watched the battle unfold.
He was fortunate, as the road had no trees covering it. The Empire had cut down most of the plantation here to avoid ambushes or other threats posed by undead creatures or bandits.
Nick made a basic gun sign with his hand and took a deep breath. He controlled magical energy on his hand to locate the battle position and watched more closely. These simple applications of magical ability did not even need an algorithm. As long as Nick can control the magic energy, and supplement it with ‘imagination’ and ‘knowledge’, he may do most of the things that he wanted to. Of course, magical power was energy, and hence it needed to be strong.
Watching the battle end, Nick had a scornful look, as he whispered.
“It appears that I don’t like humans at all.”
As he was watching them, he had the urge to attack them all, without even knowing what kind of people or mages they were. Just like that, he had the intent to kill.
At this time, Nick noticed a middle-aged mage with a blue book in his hand, who was looking around as if something was amiss. Not even five seconds later, a large, weird creature, that looked like an ox but walked on two legs like humans and Werfurs, showed itself.
Nick or the other mages on the road had not even felt the presence of this creature until now. Nick thought that this creature looked too familiar.
“It’s a minotaur of a height of about four meters. Its level should be around ‘3’ or ‘5’. What are they going to do against this creature?”
As soon as the minotaur joined the battle, it swung its arm that was as thick as a human body and killed the closest mage with one simple attack.
The mage that died under the attack, a young man in his 20s, did not even have the chance to block or escape, let alone retaliate in any way.
The mages and warriors were still experienced and battle-hardened; they quickly steadied themselves in a different formation and looked at the huge minotaur.
At this time, Nick smiled and wondered to himself.
“I want to see whether my Sonic Bullet can kill this creature from 500 meters.”
Yes, Nick was separated from the battle scene by more than 500 meters. But of course, Nick was not about to tell Rabial that the range of his magic ability was more than 800m to 1km.
