“Can you handle directing the elemental and maintaining an illusion of me at the same time convincingly while maintaining the distance?” I asked Helga. “It’s better if Cornelia focuses fully on defending in case the necromancers get too close,” I asked Helga. When she nodded, I transferred the control of the elemental to her.

“Now, drive through the ambush,” I said, pointing toward the small forest the bone dragons trying to direct toward without being too visible, then turned to Cornelia. “Cast a huge fireball, but don’t waste your mana. I just need the bright light and some smoke. I’ll do the rest.”

Before the undead hidden in the forest could lash out, the air elemental dipped low and the fireball exploded, followed by a light spell from me, creating a convenient corridor for the girls to escape.

I used biomancy to hide my life signature even as I created an illusion of myself, and when Helga took the responsibility of maintaining it, I jumped off to the ground.

[-63 Mana]

Another flare of mana allowed me to control the ground before I could touch it, turning it into a quicksand, no different than water. Before the smoke cloud of Cornelia’s spell had disappeared, I had already disappeared underground. Once I moved several feet down, I let out a relaxed sigh, aware that I was safe momentarily.

I started moving in reverse, glad for my connection with the girls allowed me to feel their status in great detail from the current distance once I properly focused on that.

Luckily, the girls were capable enough to drag the necromancers farther and farther without risking themselves, giving me a leisure opportunity to slowly move back underground, passing the necromancers and death knights and finding myself in the middle of the fodder army.

Meanwhile, my mana recovered significantly, and I even managed to heal myself significantly. All the while, the undead army was willing to play our game, because from their perspective, defending against their attack while maintaining an air elemental was a desperate last stand that had given the victory to them.

Ten minutes passed just like that…

[HP: 3141 / 6324]

[Mana: 5412 / 7595]

Not only I had recovered, but also their army had stretched further and further helplessly as they chased me. I let both the necromancers and death knights get away as much as possible, because under the circumstances, targeting the fodder army was the better idea.

I cast the first spell, another undead bane, focused on maximizing the area effect rather than direct damage, perfect in decimating hundreds of zombies at once.

[-128 Mana]

Light magic was making it very cost-efficient to get rid of weaker zombies. No wonder their first move was trying to get rid of Titania.

I repeated the spell twice as I ran toward the death knights and the necromancers, acting like I was trying to intimidate them once again. If I had done that the first time, they might have retreated, but after getting bluffed twice by the same tactic, they believed that it was just another trick from my end.

The army started to disperse, trying to avoid my area attacks, while the death knights and the necromancers changed their direction sharply, trying to catch up with me, or at least, forcing me to retreat and protect their army.

Pity that more than half of the army had been already decimated before they could get into range, but the rest were dispersed. More importantly, their approach took more than two minutes, more than enough for me to actually set up a field of explosive runes underground and charge them.

[-1421 Mana]

Trying to face a high-level mage with just an army was truly a suicidal affair, especially with the force multiplier of my ridiculous regeneration. “Come on, boys, let’s finish this little game,” I shouted gleefully, no different than a barbarian warrior, mostly just to confuse them.

Unlike the army, the death knights and the necromancers approached me in a modified diamond formation. Death knights were on the tip, necromancers stayed behind, fully focused to counter my spells to give enough time for their invincible warriors — or what was supposed to be invincible warriors — to close the distance and prevent me from casting. Some necromancers spread to the wings, ready to lash out with death bolts to provide cover fire. Overall, it was a simple yet effective strategy.

Too bad that I was much better at setting ambushes. Once again I cast an undead bane, focused on the range, forcing the necromancers to counter it. They did so, and the spell melted before it could reach the death knights. However, as they did so, they committed their focus to the threats from the sky.

[-613 Mana]

Then, the runes exploded.

Most of the necromancers evaporated in an instant, undead bane burning through their existence as efficiently as death bolts damaged living creatures. Some tried to defend themselves, but without collaborating with the others, they lacked the power to actually succeed thanks to their low level and weak stats — to be fair, compared to me, not many people could brag about their stats.

Realizing that they were once again played for the fool, the death knights tried to retreat. Unfortunately for them, while they were strong enough to resist the explosives — though not without further damage — their bone dragon mounts weren’t as lucky, turning into dust under the explosions.

And without their mounts, they had no chance of escaping. Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved them to actually try it, because picking them after demolishing the rest of the necromancers would have been much easier. Death knights might be strong opponents, but ultimately, they were designed to be the perfect swords and shields for an even stronger spellcaster, or at worst, to work as an overwhelming assassin from the shadows.

Facing me in an open field while their supporting necromancers struggled to stay alive — or maintain their unlife state — wielding a combination of light and life magic that cut through their spell resistance like a hot knife through butter, they were out of their depth.

If they weren’t horrific constructs of unlife that probably spilled enough blood to fill a lake, I would have pitied them.

Instead, I raised my hand, and threw three consecutive undead bane, area effect spells centered on the death knights. Some of the necromancers managed to show an impressive ability and actually managed to dispel my first spell, but they were helpless against the second and the third, exploding among them.

Nor they managed to counter the sudden rain of light arrows, reaping them helplessly, burning their undead energy, and evaporating them completely.

And just like that, two death knights lost all their coverage.

I expected them to escape, trying to make contact with their master. Or, at least, launch one desperate defense to take me down.

I didn’t expect them to fall into a defensive state, to limit the effects of my spells. If it was done by a living person, I might have assumed that they were doing one last irrational desperate attempt to stay alive, hoping to outlast me, but that didn’t work for death knights. For all their power, they were little more than sentient weapons, working for their master.

A bad feeling rose in my heart. I had taken too much time dealing with the army. I was expecting Zokras to come back, trying to save his remaining death knights before retreating. After all, he was a centuries-old lich, so I would have expected him to pull back before things had become too bad.

The desperate attack of disposable armies was understandable. Using the death knights at an ambush was also understandable. It was risky, but it could have allowed him to hit a soft spot, at least weakening the school significantly before retreating.

Using the death knights on a chase made little sense, and using them just to deplete me made even less.

Unless he didn’t want me to be anywhere else.

I decided to take them down as quickly as possible, without wasting any more of my mana. It was not the time to hide something, I decided, as I rushed toward them with full speed, and before they could properly change their formation, I was in front of them, with a glowing sword of light in my hand.

[-121 Mana]

The light sword trick might consume a decent amount of mana with every passing second, but it was certainly better than trying to pin them from a distance when they were trying to

Still, I was extremely glad for deciding to improve Titania’s Companion process during our last time. The light magic had provided me with the distinction between victory and death.

The death knights realized that their formation against spell damage left them vulnerable for melee attack, but it was already too late. I swung the sword with a speed that surpassed the flaming eyes of the death knight’s ability to follow it. It spun, avoiding a vital blow to its chest, but it cost it an arm.

In the distance, I could see the squad of necromancers that was trying to pin the air elemental turning back, but it was already too late. The second death knight managed to move forward before launching a hastily coordinated attack. I ducked between them, avoiding their lightning-fast attack that would have decapitated a lesser warrior.

I swung the sword again, this time costing the second death knight an arm.

[-93 Mana]

They tried to counter-attack, but they swung above me as I ducked, missing my head by inches. The sword of light flashed again, this time costing the first one a leg, and as a bonus, its balance.

With the first one struggling not to topple, and the second one barely able to swing properly with one arm, the battle was almost over. I didn’t even bother finishing them before wrenching the control of the air elemental from Helga and making them move toward me with full speed.

Then, I conjured a second sword before spinning mercilessly, and half a second later, two death knights collapsed in pieces, the unholy magic that was holding them together. The swords evaporated.

[-183 Mana]

It was ironic that their attempt to waste my mana enabled me to take them down much easier.

Before the elemental could arrive, I used another undead bane, destroying the flying necromancers with a volley of light arrows.

[-294 Mana]

“Is everything okay?” Helga asked even as I jumped on the elemental, forcing it full speed toward Titania’s town, hoping that I had misread Zokras’ intentions wrongly.

Or if not, I would be able to reach there in time…

[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]