As soon as a full-fledged human turned into ashes, Elic and Avir, along with Arimo, Verantil and Lilly understood what transpired. These were the leaders of the Deep Water Organization, each one of them was a Prive level mage — they had experience and power on their side.
They knew that this cave, glowing with the red light, was the spot where the enemy who killed their members had taken refuge. The situation was self-explanatory.
Elic whispered her observation to the other leaders.
“The cave is protected by some sort of lightning element shield.”
Avir nodded and shouted out.
“Naruv, come here.”
On his call, a middle-aged man donned in the same garb as other Deep Water Organization members, showed up. The night was at its peak, and the forest was silently witnessing unprecedented events unfold. More than 400 mages, stationed on plain grounds, eyed the cave in the Anderium South Mountains, with murderous intent in their eyes.
Naruv came to Avir’s side and bowed down a little, waiting for Avir to speak.
“You are the most experienced here with shield-type magic. What is your reading of this?”
Naruv used his magical energy to inspect the cave’s entrance. As his magical energy attempted to enter the shield, it vanished and burned. This indicated that the magical shield guarding the cave was capable of not only burning humans and livings beings but also the energy of magic spells.
After testing the shield in different ways, Naruv reported to Avir.
“The shield’s element is ‘Lightning’. The shield is most likely created by a strong mage who has extensive knowledge of shield magic. The shield was capable of burning my magical energy. This means the spell of Imper Level mages will not be able to damage or bypass it. The best way to target this spell is to use excessive force that the shield itself cannot burn or destroy.”
Avir and Elic listened, as Verantil started talking.
“The shield makes it clear that the enemy is prepared for us to hunt him down. I suppose a shield of this level was created here even before the enemy attacked us.”
Lilly whispered.
“This is basically his life-saving retreat or hideout. But what can he do, hiding like this?”
Avir added.
“I believe if the enemy was smart or powerful enough to kill hundreds of mages in just two to three hours, and capable of creating a shield like this, he or she most likely has some kind of an escape plan in his mind. He or she would not most likely block all his way out.”
Elic listened to their comments and started talking.
“All the leaders, be ready to use your Prive Level spells to destroy the shield. Naruv, as we finish our attacks, check whether the shield was destroyed or not and we will then enter the cave. The other members who are not leaders spread around the cave. The ones who have mounts head towards the other caves. It is possible that some caves are connected and after we break the enemy shield, he would most likely try to escape.”
On Elic’s orders, all members started moving. Naruv inspected the shield, trying to figure out any leads to circumvent it.
The leaders, Avir, Lilly, Arimo, and Lilly, prepared their offensive spells and went to Elic’s side, waiting for her orders to cast their spells on the shield.
The mages and warriors who had mounts or were employing magic to be faster moved towards the other cave entrances. If the enemy escaped and the shield was broken, they would be the ones to confront the enemy.
–
Nick watched all this unfold from the cave. The cave was dark, and he was hidden behind a rock. He could see others, but they could not him. Nick also had another advantage. The magic shield was created using his magical energy. Due to this, the shield recognized his magical energy, allowing the energy to pass through it. Here was his fighting chance.
Nick did not watch anymore and targeted 10 more enemy members with Sonic Bullets.
“Those who want me dead will be the ones to die.”
He whispered to himself and cast the spell. In less than a second, Sonic Bullets shot out. Without the members, except the leaders, noticing, the heads of 10 more mages exploded, and their bodies dropped to the ground.
Elic saw the hostile spell firsthand this time. After noticing how capable it was in killing lower-level mages with just a single attack, at a speed that even she could not fathom, she admitted to herself that she was a little terrified.
The death of 10 members shook the hearts of other Deep Water Organization mages. But right now, they were already at the enemy’s door. They continued with their work without losing morale.
Soon, 10 more whispers of lights exited the cave and shot the heads of another 10 mages. With this, the once-500 strong count was down to 395.
The whole scene took place in a matter of seconds, resulting in 20 dead mages who once again neither had the chance nor the time to defend themselves.
The leaders had defensive spells protecting them. This was also one of the points that differentiated the Imper Level mage from a Prive Level Mage.
Almost all Prive Level Mages were capable of using some form of defensive shields that protected them against spells and physical attacks. On the other hand, Imper Level Mages’ magic energy reserves were not enough to allocate magic energy to both shield and attack. Basically, they were just a little stronger than ordinary humans; an arrow shot by a strong and capable bowman was capable of killing them.
Elic gave the next order without delay.
“All under-Prive level members, who have no magical shields, get away from the cave’s entrance.”
With her order, almost all mages backed down and put a distance of 100 meters between themselves and the cave. There were only Elic, Avir, Lilly, Arimo, Verantil left standing at the entrance.
They were the only ones capable of taking Nick down.
Or so, they thought…
