Even with the clear hostility the envoys had been displaying, I hadn't expected things to take a turn for the worse this quickly. At this point, whether there was something I could do to slow things down was inconsequential.
My first target, the spell that was gathering power behind me, was hidden behind their shield. I had no idea what that spell was, but from the shape of mana, I could see that I only had seconds to break it. Yet, in front of me, I had a full squad of spearmen, already moving toward me with their shields locked.
"Distract them," I ordered Rosie. I would have loved to give a wordless signal, but one of my hands was occupied with the blade I was holding, while the other was covered with a ball of mana, ready to lash out with a pseudo-spell.
Just as Rosie disappeared, I slashed my blade down, letting out a horizontal mana attack that slammed against their shields, one that managed to hit hard, but not hard enough to breach their enchantment.
Good, I decided. Even at this point, I wasn't sure I wanted to kill them. Not due to any ethical concerns — their diplomatic identity didn't matter when they had committed violence — but if possible, I would have preferred to keep them as prisoners.
They were worth more alive than dead.
For that reason, a fraction of a second later, I waved my left hand, sending a thick cloud of decay that impacted their shields. Surprisingly, the moment the decay hit, I could see the shields beginning to corrode, suggesting that my decay abilities synergized surprisingly well with my newest skill.
It looked like I owed Leona more than I expected.
One advantage of fighting together with Rosie, I had no doubt about how she would operate, so I was confident to turn my back to the spearmen and dash toward the mages from Vessalia. With the mana they were seemingly committing to their spell, I had no intention of letting it be completed.
As I rushed forward, I found myself facing a dilemma: just how much of my ability to display. Show too little, and I might fail to stop them in time. Show too much, and not only would it reveal my hand for the future, but it could also alert the Asterions.
However, as I found myself at the edge of the mana shield they erected, a surprised smile bloomed on my face. Their shield was only a half-sphere, not blocking the ground, likely because it was solid, enchanted metal.
Too bad for them that it was metal I had created, and I knew exactly how to break it as well. I slammed my foot on the ground, parting it just enough to create a tunnel, and a second later, I was inside the shield.
The carriage was strong, radiating mana, but nowhere as strong as the shield they had. More importantly, as a moving device, some parts were weaker than others, like the hinges of the door.
A burst of decay was all I needed to rot them before I pulled the door open, coming face to face with four robed mages gathered around a circle, casting some kind of combined spell, the patterns confusing and magnificent at the same time.
One of the four had turned away from the spell, doing his best to react to my presence, leaving the other three to control the spell. From the way their knees buckled, I could see that it was not an easy spell. Used in any other situation, without the great hurry they had shown, it could have been devastating.
It was a good lesson for me as well. The backlash from clever strategies could be equally devastating.
The mage that left the formation was already gathering his mana for a quick spell, but I had sparred with Maria enough times to know not to miss such an opportunity. Moreover, the way he moved showed he had neither Dexterity nor Strength. I closed the distance, a punch to the sternum was all that was needed to break his concentration, sending him down, coughing desperately.
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Then, I pointed the same hand to the center of their spell, and pushed more decay mana to the center of the formation. Intelligence-based spells were devastating and wondrous, but their complicated construction wasn't the only way they resembled computers.
They were also fragile enough to be devastated by a burst of decay mana right at the center, particularly since they were trying to balance whatever spell they were trying to build.
The spell fizzled while they started vomiting blood, showing the cost of failure.
As much as I wanted to return to support Rosie immediately, I could not leave four mages, even seemingly neutralized, alone. So, instead, I threw all four together, used a discarded blanket to wrap all four into one bundle, and carried them out.
Altogether, it wasn't even ten seconds before I returned, but it had been enough for the battle to develop. Of the ten spearmen, three lay on the ground, blood flowing out of their necks as they desperately used their Health to recover, but the wound resisted the recovery efforts.
One of them was their leader, who Rosie probably took down first, removing Charisma from the board. It was hard to command people with a bleeding neck.
The other seven tried to circle Rosie, yet despite their best efforts, Rosie was circling around them, her daggers finding the weaker parts of their armor as she ducked under their spears and reached around their tower shields.
"Tag," I called Rosie, pointing at the mages.
"Perfect," she called, pulling back as I moved forward. I could have killed them easily. Instead, I focused on their shields and weapons, shattering them one by one by using Blade of Radiant Flame, mixed with decay attacks.
"Surrender, or die," I declared.
At this point, their leader had somewhat recovered. I felt the pressure from Charisma once again as he struggled to stand up. "We'd rather die than surrender —" he started, but he found out that a boot smashing against his chin, breaking the majority of the bones on his face was a good way to silence him.
"Anyone else having that opinion," I said, swinging my blade again. The attack didn't hit anyone, but it left a thick gash on the metal floor, stretching almost a hundred yards. "It can be arranged."
One by one, they threw their weapons down.
"Can you give me some chains," Rosie asked.
"With pleasure," I said as I touched the metal floor, creating several thick, reinforced chains, perfect for restraining enemies. I even added some mana-repelling patterns for the four mages, three of them still vomiting blood, still struggling after the backlash of their spell, one of them bad enough that Rosie fed him some food to recover his Health.
I watched alert while Rosie tied them down, making it impossible for them to move, but I didn't feel victorious. The enemy we faced was not strong enough to be a threat even before my latest legendary skill made things easier.
Unfortunately, the same didn't apply to the power that they represented; capable of erasing us from existence if they wished, with their capabilities as the only thing in question.
While Rosie finished tying them, Leona reacted, accompanied by his soldiers as they rapidly closed in the distance. "What happened here?" Leona asked. I said nothing, just passed the scroll to him. His eyes widened as he read as well. "This is a travesty," he said angrily as he looked at the imprisoned Drakka leader, pressure radiating off him. "How dare you act !"
Despite his bloody state, the Drakkan diplomat responded with a dark grin. "Do you think it's your place to react , young lord? Don't your family have enough problems on the other side without mixing in with our business —"
That was all he was able to say before Leona's oppressive aura focused on him. In his wounded state, he wasn't able to resist it, fainting as a result. However, behind him, I could see his guards surprised as well. Whatever had been declared, it was not good news.
"I will bring them with me to Asterion for interrogation," Leona declared. "But, I'll leave some of my guards to help you secure the town until I return."
His determination to protect the people of my town was more appreciated than his universal decision-making.
"It's better if you bring them with you," I responded. The last thing I needed was an arrogant guard who would try to meddle with the town while spying on me. I might have reacted differently if Drakkan diplomats hadn't written off Asterian involvement so quickly, but under the circumstances, having an observer-spy-guard was not a worthwhile trade.
"I don't —" he started.
"You have prisoners of war with you. What if someone attacks to assassinate them. It'll impugn on your honor," I delivered, hoping his concerns on his honor would be enough to take the guards with them.
"You have a point," he said, then paused for a moment. "Until we meet again," he said. Organizing his soldiers so that they departed in quick order with the prisoners took only a few minutes, eventually leaving Rosie and me behind.
"That was messier than I expected," she said, trying to inject some levity in her tone, despite failing spectacularly.
"Understatement of the century," I said while I turned my gaze to the only thing that was left behind.
The carriage the mages had used…