I wished that the necromancers didn’t wear hooded cloaks, because I would have loved to see their expression of shock as we started to levitate with a great speed. “Be ready to cast a shield, even if it makes you fell unconscious,” I advised the girls, even as I started gathering my remaining mana for the next step of our little adventure.

I only now tried to use an air-elemental to escape, because it was only through the necromancer’s strategic mistake that it was possible. Most of them committed themselves to defend the remaining two death knights after I easily got rid of the third, unaware that I had depleted my reserves just to have that opportunity.

It was not something I could replicate, and even if some of them suspected it, I doubt it would help their determination to protect the remaining two death knights. With that, Zokras already lost six death knights that represented years —maybe decades— of work. Naturally, his henchmen tried to protect the remaining two.

Pity that it gave me the second I needed to work undisturbed to stretch my capabilities to the limit as I created a ward-breaker, slamming it into the wards, depleting my mana back to single digits in the process.

[-330 Mana]

Under normal conditions, the mana I had spent was far from enough to destroy a ward comprehensive enough to cover a city, not even close. But I had several advantages. The first was the distraction of their spellcasters as they hurried to protect the death knights.

The second was the fluid state of the wards. They were initially designed to defend an attack coming from the outside, only to try and forcefully change after my surprise appearance. And, considering barely two minutes passed since my arrival, they were barely halfway done, allowing me to cut through the wards.

We were barely out of the wards when an impressive number of ranged attacks started following us, from easily ignored arrows of skeletons to death bolts throbbing with necrotic energy. “Try to keep your shields closer to the elemental, I’m going to try to dodge the most,” I said even as I tried my best to avoid their assault.

Thanks to the mobility of the air elemental, we managed to avoid the majority of the attacks in the first salvo, while the rest peppered against the shields of the girls. But before we could leave the range, the second salvo followed, with even more impressive numbers.

And this time, things didn’t go as smoothly. Some of the attacks were as easy to dodge as the first —skeleton archers seldom had the intelligence to position their attacks strategically to cut off my path— but for the second salvo, the necromancers relied on a different approach. Their attacks got bigger, and some targeted possible escape routes rather than targeting us directly.

I could have avoided them as well, of course, but only by significantly extending my escape route. “Try to hold on, it’s going to be rough,” I said to Helga. Cornelia, unfortunately, was on the edge of the collapse after the first salvo. Funnily enough, Helga’s earlier collapse under the assault was working for her benefit.

I grabbed Cornelia and pulled her behind as I turned to face the salvo, watching as every hit exhausted Helga visibly. When the third death bolt made contact with her shield, it flickered before disappearing, just as Helga collapsed. She would have fallen off the elemental if it wasn’t for my reflexes, pushing her next to Cornelia.

And I was far too close to collapse than I wanted to count.

[HP: 1477 / 6324]

[Mana: 83 / 7595 ]

Despite my dodging attempts, the second salvo continued, forcing me to defend without any mana. A crackling black bolt came nearer and nearer, three others chasing it from a close distance, but moving the elemental would keep us in range for the third salvo, so I had no option but to take it to the chest. Unlike the girls, it wouldn’t kill me.

Hopefully.

But when the first one made contact with my chest, it reminded me once again why the necromancers were scary enough to be hunted.

[-541 HP]

The damage was certainly significant, and that was with my vitality limiting the damage. I couldn’t survive three others…

“Idiot,” I suddenly murmured as I raised my hands. I would have slapped myself if it wouldn’t have cost me the precious second I needed to keep all of us alive.

[-14 Mana]

I transformed my mana into life energy before letting it coat my hands like a glove, just in time as the second bolt arrived in front of me. Then, I punched the bolt to the side, hopefully not about to receive another jolt of necrotic energy that might as well kill me.

[-119 HP]

[-21 Mana]

“Excellent,” I murmured even as I thickened the mana glove around my hands based on the feedback, just in time to bat the next two bolts, receiving even lesser damage.

[-61 HP]

Then, we were out of their range, and flying toward the school. I would have loved to go back to the town Titania was defending, but I wasn’t convinced that the plan to hunt me was anywhere near its completion. But regardless of the time, I still had around fifteen minutes to arrive at the destination.

Just enough to refill my reserves, ready to meet any nasty surprise they might have hidden. However, before I could relax on my elemental mount, I noticed several bone dragons falling down the sky, ready to chase me down. It wasn’t the domineering flying army I had defeated earlier when they tried to ambush Titania, but a dozen bone dragons, carrying necromancers on their backs was certainly not the easiest opponent to deal with.

Especially not when their arm was to slow me down before the rest of the army caught up with me.

The weirdest race of my life had begun as I tried to resist the combined assault of twelve necromancers with close to no mana, my hands moving faster and faster as I slowly get used to the technique, limiting the contact, so that each touch only consumed a few points of mana, and nothing else. Of course, the ease I was parrying their attacks helped greatly by the difference in stats.

I certainly couldn’t replicate it against Zokras with such ease, for example.

The next minute passed in relative comfort as I easily batted down their attacks without suffering from any damage, allowing my mana to recover significantly.

[HP: 1477 / 6324]

[Mana: 683 / 7595]

So, I cast a detection spell just to be on the safe side, only to notice a lot more enemies than I was expecting. In addition to the bone dragon squad, the whole undead army left the city, charging toward my direction, though with a great distance between each element as they prioritized speed. The presence of the death knights surrounded by necromancers, was at the front, while endless skeleton armies were creating a long line, their maximum speed varying based on their bodily structure. Meanwhile, another, the smaller army was spreading in front of me, ready to cut my path.

It was the army that was chasing the refugees that managed to avoid their massacre, I noticed, happy that the problem was solved before I bothered to make a move.

“Impatient idiots,” I murmured even as I changed my plans. The only reason I escaped them was that I couldn’t deal with their cannon fodder and their elite combatants together in my current status. And they were not only giving me time to recover, but also an opportunity to retaliate.

Who was I to reject such a nice gift?

The first thing I did was to slow my elemental mount, which looked like I was out of mana, meaning it took me three whole minutes to actually arrive at the first ambush point, giving me around two thousand points of mana.

[Mana: 2542 / 7595]

I could have used that mana as an anvil to smash the army, of course, but where was the fun in that. Instead, I leaned forward and caught Cornelia’s lips, helping her recover just enough mana to defend herself in an emergency before repeating the same action for Helga, bringing them back to the land of consciousness. It took three-quarters of my mana, but it was a necessary investment to split the undead army further without.

[-1793 Mana]

“We’re alive,” Helga gasped in fascination.

“You girls did well, defending us against the attack,” I said. “We managed to get away.”

“We recovered quite a bit,” Cornelia commented, but rather than happiness, I could feel the desire for battle in her tone. She clearly understood that if I managed to get enough mana to help them recover, I had to have an offensive reason, and she was more than happy to join that battle.

“Are you girls up to play bait in another trap, but this time to flash-fry some undead?” I offered. Their matching grins left no doubt about their response. “Excellent,” I said. “You don’t need to do much, just stay out of the range of these nuisances for about five minutes,” I said, making a sweeping gesture toward the bone dragons that was trying to do their best to catch up, unaware that they were only able to close in the distance because I allowed them, “and after I give the signal, turn back and eviscerate them.”

“I like that plan,” Cornelia grunted, her eyes burning with a passionate fire as she looked for a way to make someone pay for her earlier defeat, even that was against a superior opponent with an actual army behind.

Looking at her passionate expression, her red hair wild with the wind, I was sorely tempted to stop the plan for a fun interlude, but after a second thought, I decided against it.

A fun celebratory fivesome was a better idea anyway.

[Level: 31 Experience: 489893 / 496000

Strength: 46 Charisma: 58

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 1477 / 6324 Mana: 847 / 7595 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Arcana [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [100/100]

Expert Speech [75/75]

Expert Craft [75/75]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (1/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia – Level 21/25]

[Helga – Level 17/21]