“Captain! The evil knights just captured the miners here!”
While trying to find more clues, an advanced wizard named Brent suddenly called out.
Wizard Hog cried out and cursed, “No! Wizard Beecham is too greedy for his own good! This is the second row, not the frontline! The Wizard Union is not supposed to send their miners here!”
In the past, specialists were used to dig magic gemstones in the second row. It was different now. Since the gemstones in this mine were not diamonds, the holy crusaders targeted the miners as well. It would serve their cause well if they captured them back to repopulate their empire. It was handy in damaging guardian wizards here, too. The Wizard Union had tried to stop this act by not sending miners to dig up magic gemstones, but Wizard Beecham was too greedy for his own good.
Wizard rRam shook his head in disappointment, “I think, well, Captain, maybe Wizard Beecham had it coming to him. Maybe them getting attacked has nothing to do with us.”
After doing so much research over the years, the Wizard Union was starting to understand that the Holy Crusaders’ power came from the divinities that they worshipped. As for the source of where the power of these divinities came from, it came from the faith of their worshippers. The more the population, the more faith there was. In that way, the population was the very source of power for the nation of evil. It was pretty much why they’ve been on such a rampage to steal people from all over the place.
To prevent the nation of evil from stealing regular people, the Wizard Union crossed the battlefield into one to three rows. There was a frontline, a second row, and a third row. There was also a remote battleground for long-ranged attacks. The descriptions are:
The frontline was supposed to be the most dangerous location of all. As dangerous as it was, one had to prepare for fighting at almost all times. The Wizard Union regarded this as the most important spot. To defend against any direct offense on the nation of evil’s side, they’ve had their most powerful defensive row line set up there.
The second row was just a bit far away from the nation of evil, where the Wizard Union had pretty much all the people that they could evacuate gone. There were some resources that they couldn’t move away from left, so they did their best to keep doing their regular patrols there. In the past, one had to go there by the teleportation portal of the nation of evil that could hold up to ten advanced crusaders in total. There was the option of teleporting through what was known as “extreme teleportation,” which would cost a heap of faith power to get across.
The third row was a designated area that was even further away from the nation of evil. The Wizard Union couldn’t evacuate everyone who lived here as wide as it was. Instead, they deployed many of their advanced wizards to stay posted in many major cities. The nation of evil could come here through regular teleportation portals, and these were almost always the ones with lower capacity. The maximum would usually be around three advanced holy crusaders, and that’s really if one was trying to push the limit. If they really tried to send three advanced holy crusaders here, the teleportation portal itself was bound to sustain a lot of damage from all kinds of technical malfunctions. A lot of faith power would also be wasted.
As for the remote battleground, it was an area that was a lot wider. The Wizard Union had no real ways of estimating the furthest it could get. Still, from what they’ve seen in the past, the furthest of where the nation of evil would put their teleportation portal was in the middle of the big cities and not the ones with smaller population size. Because of this, the Wizard Union would respond by having at least one or more advanced wizard guardians in each of the major cities, which usually was quite effective if other occupation holders were also put in the equation.
Back to the scene. This time, the fire element magic stone mine had suffered a lot of damage. The circle base was broken, and it would take at least about a month for everything to be repaired back into place. There were also the captured miners that they had to worry about. It’s almost certain that Wizard Beecham and his entire team would be punished for letting this happen.
Soon, an advanced wizard came to them. He made a list of all the damage that must be compensated for. This was when Wizard Hog suddenly connected his power of Will to everyone in the third squad.
“Everyone in the team, come here! Codename 1!”
Codename 1 was the most dangerous signal of all. It was an emergency defense signal which was supposed to indicate a powerful enemy. A powerful presence above rank twenty was very, very close to them.
Abel and the other advanced wizards made an immediate response by teleporting next to Wizard Hog. Soon, the ten advanced wizards all formed a defensive formation together. Since Abel couldn’t be a part of it, he stayed at the side and used his senses carefully to search around him. It was not like he could feel anything dangerous with his power of the Will or his head knight commander senses, but he knew that Wizard Hog was not going to joke about these kinds of things.
Wizard Ram asked with a serious look on his face, “What did you find, Captain?”
Wizard Hog responded with a look just as serious, “It doesn’t feel right around here. Is it the same for you? There is a strong oppressive force that’s jamming my wizard crystal body.”
That’s not good news at all. Wizard Hog was at the peak of rank twenty. All he needed to become law-defying wizards, at this point, was to have a grasp of the “laws.” It’s not going to be an easy process, of course. To begin with, the success rate was not so high, so many advanced wizards had no choice but to remain stuck at rank twenty till the very end of their lives. Still, it was what made becoming a law-defying wizard such a praiseworthy thing, to begin with.
Now that Wizard Hog’s wizard crystal body was under a state of suppression, there was pretty much only one condition for this. It was a law-defying wizard that caused it to happen.
Wizard Hog yelled, “Please, whoever you may be, show yourself! We are the third squad of the lightning clan! We’re currently on our way to fulfilling our mission on behalf of the Wizard Union!”
His voice cracked when he said that. It was clear. This must be an enemy that had the guts to challenge him so openly like this.
“Ja ja!” laughter resembling that of a night owl came over. It didn’t speak, but it made WIzard Hog’s expression change by a whole lot.
Wizard Hog spoke softly, “Make your way to run, everyone. This is a very well-known law-defying wizard that we’re dealing with. I’ll be at the front to stall him while you make your run for it. Remember, don’t hesitate at all.”
Given his understanding of the law-defying wizards, Wizard Hog knew very well what kind of being the opponent they were facing. The sound gave it away. It was a wizard that had lived for countless years, that’s for sure. While even law-defying wizards had a time limit on how long they could live before they die, they did possess special ways of prolonging their lives. The methods varied, with some being, well, rather painstaking for most to even know about.
So what could some of these methods be? The most famous ones would consist of using research the priest did to learn about death. Taking body parts in exchange for the death spirit, for example. Some used the puppet techniques of the dwarves by changing themselves into part man and part puppets. There was also the hybrid version of using spiritual beast body parts. Basically, to live a bit longer, the law-defying wizards tried to use everything to increase their years, even if some of them seem rather mad or simply counterintuitive. As for why they would go this far, it all had to do with the myth that if they persisted with their training over the course of extra years that they’ve gained, they would eventually reach a point where they would gain the power to restructure their entire bodies no matter what they’ve done to it. This way, they could always come back as stronger human beings that were stronger than they’ve ever been before.
Like the rest of the team, Wizard Ram was very resolute, “We’ll do this together, Captain. The lightning clan never abandons their mates!”
Wizard Hog was not appreciative of it at all, “What foolishness! Just run for it, all of you! Who’s going to let the organization know about this if you’re all staying?”
The hidden law-defying wizard suddenly spoke, “I’m only here for Wizard Abel, Wizard Hog! As for the rest, get out of my face!”
Wizard Hog replied with a scream, “Hey! With all due respect, why are you trying to be such a pain in the ass to a rank sixteen wizard?”
The law-defying wizard sounded like he was about to lose all patience, “I don’t want to cause too much trouble for the lightning clan, but if you don’t leave right now, I warn you, whatever’s going to happen next is on you!”
Abel spoke softly, “Captain, just go with the rest of them.”
Wizard Hog scorned back, “You shut your mouth! You’re a member of the lightning clan and a member of the third squad! We’re not leaving you behind even if all of us are dead here. You got that?”
Wizard Ram gripped his staff tighter, “Yeah, we’ll do it! If you’re asking me, I was getting about what it’s like fighting a law-defying wizard!”
As nervous as everyone else seemed to be, none of them said anything that indicated they wanted out of this. It had mostly to do with their current status, before anything. Since they had the lightning clan’s heritage, it’d be very hard to promote their ranks if they betrayed the disciplines of the lightning clan right here. Unlike the freezing and the fire clan, the lightning clan could only push themselves forward before making it to the next stage. It was pretty much why the atmosphere among the group was always so friendly, by the way. Their entire livelihood existed around working with each other to make it to the next rank to them. Without this goal, their lives were pretty much just pointless.
Abel watched the people around him and realized how determined they all were. He didn’t know what to do about it. Since he didn’t want to put his own burdens onto those whom he considered friends and brethren, he decided to first put all of his valuable items into the Horadric Cube on his right arm. It was everything. The transformation necklace. The portal beast ring. Everything else that he could not afford letting the others get. He didn’t know what was going to happen to the Horadric Cube if he was to die here, but as far as he was concerned, it’s the safest thing he had from the very start.
On him, there were suddenly just two portal bags. He had everyone else beside him completely fooled. Not even the law-defying wizard had thought that he was thinking about his belongings even at a time like this. In the eyes of the law-defying wizard, as long as Abel didn’t run, everything Abel owned would eventually be his.
Abel quickly backed away to perform an ‘Instantaneous movement, “Captain! Everyone! If I make it out alive from here, see you all again!”
“Wizard Abel!”
Wizard Hog screamed as he realized what Abel was trying to do. Abel was not trying to escape on his own. Rather, he was hoping to trade his own life for the lives of everyone else.
Right now, Abel’s doing everything that he could to teleport himself away as far as he could. He was doing 500 meters with each “instantaneous movement” because 500 meters was his maximum range. After going for one minute, which covered him about several tens of miles of distance, he started to feel confused as to why the law-defying wizard did not come after him.
Just as he was about to think that he was away from danger, an earth-trembling force came from all directions. Even the “instantaneous movement’ rune in his hand could not be activated as his wizard crystal body was already jammed. The rune disappeared like bubbles before he could move any further.
A grey-robed wizard suddenly appeared in front of him. This wizard spoke with a voice that was very unbearable to listen to, but it was a voice that spoke in a gentleman-like tone.
“Greetings, Wizard Abel. I am Wizard Malon of the Blizzard clan.”
Abel spoke after calming himself down a little, “Sir Wizard Malon, are you not afraid of revenge from the lightning clan? My conflicts with the Blizzard clan have already ended with the last wizard war. You can confirm that with the Wizard Union if you want.”
Wizard Malon didn’t seem to care, “Do you know what the Blizzard clan is like to me, Wizard Abel? I’ll tell you what it’s like to me. It’s the provider of the training resources that I need, but now, I’ve found someone that’s even better. I don’t care if the Blizzard clan is destroyed now, really.”
Abel felt fear when he stood in front of Wizard Malon because the law-defying wizard in front of him had a still face. Like, it was completely still. The mouth didn’t even move when he was talking. It was like the skin was nothing more than a face mask.
Wizard Malon was getting quite talkative for someone who didn’t seem like he’s had a good conversation for a while, “Wizard Abel, are you not curious as to who provided the resources?”
Abel didn’t want to ask. As far as he was concerned, he just wanted to run from this place. Right now, he’s got a few “instantaneous movement” scrolls in his portal bag, but those couldn’t work since he had no ways of using his mana. Actually, even if he could teleport himself away, it just didn’t seem plausible to really outrun Wizard Malon in a game of cat and mouse.
Wizard Malon sounded strangely excited, “Did you know, Wizard Abel? I’ve suspected that it was a stone giant. Ah hah ha… that you had when Maltz told me that you got a metallic giant monster with you. And you know what? Ja ja ja… when I received news that you appeared in this area, I went to the mining district that you’ve all stayed patrol at. It turned out that there was not a single magic gemstone left there. And that, that’s all I needed to know that you’ve got a stone giant with you!”
