Hearing Lilly’s analysis of the enemy mage’s power and attack style, Elic and the rest looked at each other thoughtfully. They did not expect these insights from her words but when they thought about it, they realized this was all, in fact, on point.
Elic couldn’t help thinking that this enemy was tougher than she had imagined. Their adversary was invisible, unreachable, and capable of killing their members like a sharp hunter who was laughing at the prey’s futile attempts.
The able leader that she was though, she still had a plan in her mind. She turned to Avir and Arimo and instructed.
“Avir and Arimo, I want you two to cast the ‘Tail the Deathbringer’ spell.”
The people in the room, including Avir and Arimo, gasped when they heard this.
There were some spells, with basic names and uses, that almost all mages knew. The ‘Fireball’ spell, for example, was a novice-level spell that combined the fire element with the energy bolt to cast a fireball in an attack.
Almost all mage students and mages knew such spells.
Then there were ‘Unique Spells’. These were created by strong and mysterious top-level mages. Not many mages had the capability to learn these unless they came from strong backgrounds and had the means to procure the spell-book.
The ‘Tail the Deathbringer’ spell needed the energy of at least two Provec Level mages. It was said to be created over 1500 years ago by a dark mage, who was avenging his daughter’s death.
The spell itself was simple and easy to cast but it needed strong magical power and control.
Once the spell was cast on a recently killed person, the time gap being no longer than three hours since death, the killer would instantly glow in red light.
While this would draw attention to the killer, the spell itself had two caveats. First, the red-light energy would stay activated for only two hours. In time, the light would grow dimmer and then completely extinguish. Second, this was literally a one-time-one-target spell. After the first use, even if the spell was used on the other victims of the same killer, it would not work.
The spell had its advantages, but most mages still did not know it as they seldom needed a spell such as this. On Elic’s order, Arimo and Avir left the tent to find the most recent killed members. Within 10 minutes of search and intelligence gathering, they found a young mage’s corpse. The body, still not buried, had not gone cold yet.
Even if this was their fellow member, Arimo and Avir looked at the corpse with indifference. It was not that they did not feel rage towards the enemy or grief towards their organization’s members. It was just that they were accustomed to death in missions like these.
Their world was not peaceful by any means. It was true that most mages were rich and lived a good, respectable life compared to commoners and even nobles, but this came with the perennial risk of dying at the hands of an enemy or a dark mage. When you want something good from the world of magic, you will be risking your life each second.
After inspecting the headless corpse, which they understood to be a young man from his clothes and skin, they took a deep breath, looked at each other’s eyes, and whispered.
“Tail the Deathbringer”
“Tail the Deathbringer”
As soon as Arimo and Avir cast the spell, two red-light, bulb size, energy balls manifested in front of them. These two red-light balls hovering in air gave of strong blood and dark energy to onlookers and Arimo especially Avir
One of the red energy balls entered the young mage’s body and the other one hovered in the air. As soon as the first red energy entered the body, the second red ball vanished.
—
Nick, who was inspecting the camp and had noticed Arimo and Avir’s actions, saw the system display a string of sentences as he became enveloped in red-light energy. In the dark night, he was as radiant as the sun itself.
“The user has been cast with the unique spell ‘Tail the Deathbringer’.”
“The user will shine in red-light energy for two hours.”
“The user cannot block the spell because of the level difference between the user and the enemy casters.”
“The user cannot create a spell to remove the spell because of the level of the spell itself and of the casters.”
Nick gulped and smiled awkwardly. Right now, the enemy could spot him bright and clear.
As the red-light ball hovering in the air vanished, all Deep Water Organization members saw red-light energy glowing in the dark night.
Avir and Arimo yelled at the same time.
“The red light we see is the enemy of ours who killed our friends and members. Go and hunt him down. Do not leave anything of his or her corpse. Go, avenge your friends! Tail the Deathbringer.”
“The red light we see is the enemy of ours who killed our friends and members. Go and hunt him down. Tail the Deathbringer!”
Arimo and Avir’s words were not due to their accumulated anger in the last few hours or even to motivate their members. These words had to be shouted using magical energy as part of the spell itself. If not, the spell would lose its effects immediately.
If these words were not shouted in unison using the keyword ‘Tail the Deathbringer’, the spell would deactivate in under five minutes.
Even so, this was enough to stimulate the Deep Water members into action. As they heard their most-respected captains, Arimo and Avir’s voices, they charged towards the red light. Some of them used magical items to go faster and some used magical beast mounts to catch the enemy first.
Their motivation was not as noble as avenging their friends alone. They also believed that should they defeat the foe who had murdered more than 75 of their friends, they would be rewarded.
In the end, humans, especially mages, were selfish beings who sought profit. Most of them already forgot how their friends and members had brutally died. They just wanted to kill the enemy for profit and for a higher status within the organization.
