It was a strengthened version of the earth fire eruption spell!
The spell wasn’t the best choice to deal area damage, mainly because it required too much time to cast.
At first, one had to condense magic power beneath the ground and heat it, until the flames and magma erupted from the soil.
It was extremely powerful, but during the long period of magic power concentration, anyone who wasn’t an idiot would sense the magic power below as well as the rising temperature of the ground.
Then they would flee.
This spell could be used to deal with immobile targets, such as buildings.
But that was only if the enemy had no Mages, because the concentration of flames required delicate magic control that could easily falter if someone disrupted it.
Therefore… The spell was mainly used to deal with military garrisons that had no Mages, or huge buildings in the enemy’s possession.
However, under normal circumstances, every place that could afford a troop was usually protected by a Mage.
For that reason, the eruption of flames could only be used against weaker enemies, such as bandits who had set up a nest on a mountain.
Most Mages only learned this spell to expand their collection of spells and practice their control of magic power.
However, Roland found that this spell had an excellent advantage: it was powerful, very powerful!
Also, it didn’t cost too much mana.
If the long-time preparation for the spell could be skipped, it would be a very powerful AOE spell.
So, Roland had spent a lot of time optimizing the model of this spell.
However, he failed to find any way to optimize it after working on it for a month.
The creator of the spell had already optimized the model.
Even though Roland could further improve it with the database he established with math models, he couldn’t cause any qualitative changes. Then, Roland changed his mindset. Since the spell model had been internally optimized, he could strengthen it with external methods.
What if it was embedded into a magic array?
Later, Roland combined them and created a Volcanic Eruption Magic Array.
It was more powerful and had a higher eruption speed and a greater coverage.
But it had shortcomings too.
He had to set up the magic array beforehand, and a ruby gem was needed as a catalyst to boost the reaction of the fire elements.
It was much more costly than before.
But it was all worth it. The pillar of flames with a thirty-meter radius rose to the sky and shivered like a fountain.
The eruption didn’t stop until twenty seconds later.
Red masses of lava were everywhere on the hill.
Fire was spreading.
Roland put on a smile.
From the picture that the magic spiders sent back, he saw that a dozen Druids were drowned by the flames and vaporized without even letting out a scream.
Aslan was the only exception. Because he was the strongest, and thanks to the shocking intuitions as a wild Druid, he jumped aside and narrowly dodged the eruption.
But because he was too close to the source, the unbelievably high temperature of the flames ignited his magic robe. He was so scared that he rolled on the ground to extinguish the flames. Then, he turned into a purple leopard and rushed to the top of the hill frantically.
The leopard that a Druid turned into was stealthy, but it would still be revealed when running at a high speed.
Roland floated in midair and looked at the hill that had been set ablaze.
When the purple leopard rushed amidst the flames that were as bright as day, it was as obvious as a flea on the head of a baldy.
Because he was too afraid, Aslan didn’t notice at all that someone had locked onto him from the dark sky.
He was scared, very scared.
As a spellcaster, he had recognized that the spell that killed his partners was earth fire eruption.
He wasn’t capable of casting the spell, but he knew its mechanism, features, and effects.
Everybody who was associated with spells had a “Magic Common Sense” rating.
It wasn’t a perk or ability, but simply one’s knowledge and understanding of the magic world and spells.
It revealed how many spells one could recognize so that one could avoid them.
If you know yourself and your enemy well, you can’t lose a single battle.
If you know a lot of spells, even if you don’t know how to use them, you can still infer what spell an enemy is going to cast based on his gestures or magic power flow; then you will be able to react in advance to counter it, which will give you an edge.
Aslan knew magic quite well. If the full mark of “Magic Common Sense” was a hundred points, he could get at least 75 points.
The moment the flames erupted, he had already determined the name and effects of the spell.
But he didn’t understand why this spell released no magic waves whatsoever when it was prepared, or why it was so powerful and had such a huge coverage.
That was uncanny!
Who was trying to kill him?
A near-Legendary evoking Mage?
That was possible!
Only such a big shot could’ve possibly cast the spell in such a weird way.
But he didn’t remember ever pissing off such a person!
The only person that he had pissed off recently was… Roland.
Was Roland backed by such a strong supporter?
Could it be his teacher? The more he thought about it, the more surprised Aslan became. He ran at full speed in the leopard’s body.
In any case, he had to escape the flames and then hide with the stealth talent. He could then slip back to the Elf Forest and ask for his elven teacher’s help.
If that guy called for reinforcements, so could he.
Besides, he had already sent a message earlier. A hundred Druids were already coming to Hollevin at this moment. If he joined them, not only would his life be secured, but he could also launch a counterattack on Delpon.
He would not believe that a hundred Druids could not conquer a small city of human beings!
However, exactly at this moment, he sensed a concentration of abundant magic power in the high altitudes behind him.
He turned back his leopard head, only to be too frightened to move.
An overwhelming number of Arcane Bullets were descending on him like rain.
Each of the Arcane Bullets was as huge as a fist.
“Who is it! Who is it exactly?”
The black leopard desperately shouted in human language.
Even though the leopard was fast, it could not run away from the dreadful ocean of Arcane Bullets.
It could only watch the Arcane Bullets falling toward him in despair and consternation.
The only thing it could do was to try to widen its panicked and desperate eyes.
The storm of Arcane Bullets hit the ground and caused consecutive explosions.
Countless pieces of broken stone flew in the airt. At the very center of the explosion, the stones were stained with red blood and purple furs.
Se
The explosions lasted almost ten seconds. Looking at the dust and smoke on the hill, Roland waved his hand and extinguished the fire in the woods. He then stepped on a white cloud and floated away.
Roland returned to the Magic Tower and spent some time with Vivian.
Andonara had gone to the capital of Fareins to protect Stephanie, so Roland could only come to Vivian to relax.
me
After studying low-level spells for two days in the Magic Tower, Roland returned to his manor to check the growth of the Immortal Phoenix’s Blood Grasses.
But he discovered, to his surprise, that Lady Bluebird was in his manor.
Roland was stunned to see her. Then he remembered that he had indeed teleported Stephanie, Andonara, and Lady Bluebird from the capital of Fareins to this place.
But a few days earlier, he only sent Stephanie and Andonara back to the capital and completely forgot Lady Bluebird.
Roland covered his head and apologized. “I’m sorry, Lady Bluebird. I almost forgot that you were still in my manor.”
Because Lady Bluebird was incapable of fighting, she volunteered to hide in the basement in order not to burden Stephanie and Christina when the manor was surrounded by the Druids.
That was safer for all of them.
But because she stayed in the basement, both Andonara and Stephanie temporarily forgot her.
Andonara only saw Roland in her eyes. She didn’t really care about other women.
Stephanie, on the other hand, was shocked by the Light Goddess’s actions and too busy considering how to deal with the mess in the capital of Fareins. She forgot Lady Bluebird too.
Lady Bluebird stayed in the basement alone and lived on food and fruit wine for two days. She slept and ate, ate and slept, until she couldn’t hold back anymore and ran out of the basement.
Then, the maid told her that Andonara and Stephanie had left for the capital, and she had been left behind.
She was so depressed that she almost burst into tears.
At this moment, she was staring at Roland with self-pity. “It’s fine, Mr. Roland. I’m an ugly woman anyway, and I’m not as charming and easy to notice as the First Princess or Ms. Andonara.”
Roland said with a bitter smile, “I’ll send you to the capital immediately.”
“That will be unnecessary.” Lady Bluebird waved her hand. “I’ve been away for days. If I go back now, my husband will probably beat me to death after he finds me. I might as well stay here until the First Princess finishes handling the affairs of the royal family. She’ll probably have everything planned out for me.”
“You’re really not going back?” asked Roland.
Lady Bluebird shook her head. “No. I hope I won’t outstay my welcome here.”
“Sure.”
Roland knew the marriage of nobles very well. Under most circumstances, they didn’t care where their spouse had been, and they only cared whether or not their spouse would bring benefits to their family.
There were couples in love among the nobles, but their number was too small.
It would be great if one in ten couples was actually in love.
Since Lady Bluebird was going to stay longer, Roland would have to entertain her, but Roland didn’t want to waste time on her.
Weren’t Anna and Vivian good enough for him?
Wasn’t magic study satisfying? He didn’t have much research time in the first place. If he had to entertain a noble lady, he would have even less time. He thought for a moment and invited the old mayor’s wife and daughter, asking them to help entertain Lady Bluebird.
The two of them loved afternoon tea and chit-chatting. They were suited for the task.
As expected… Lady Bluebird soon made friends with them. They stayed together every day and went shopping once in a while. Their lives were quite happy.
Then, Roland was fully devoted to magic studies.
Days went by quickly when he was fully concentrated on research.
He made fast progress in his studies without being disturbed by women and trivia.
On the fourteenth day, a clerk from the Guild of Mercenaries came to update Roland.
“Mr. Roland, we’ve found some leads on the matter you asked us to investigate.”
“Oh?” Roland gave half a bag of gold coins to him. “This is your payment. Tell me about it.” “A hundred spellcasters have left Palvasi for Delpon. They’ll probably reach the suburb by tomorrow morning.”
After killing Aslan, Roland went to the Guild of Mercenaries in his spare time and released multiple missions. One of the missions was to look for spellcasters who were likely Druids and moving toward Delpon. He offered copious rewards for the missions.
The Guild of Mercenaries accepted those missions and had been paying attention to the Druids.
This world was dominated by human beings. While the Druids could live easily in the wilderness, they had to purchase a lot of resources they needed from the human world, such as salt and some magic materials. Not everybody had a talent that allowed them to cast spells without materials.
So, if they dared to enter the human world from the woods, they might be discovered.
When the Guild of Mercenaries in Palvasi noticed the Druids, they informed the Association of Mages in Delpon with magic immediately.
Then, a clerk was instantly sent to inform Roland.
“Thank you for your intelligence.” Roland pushed a bag of gold coins at him.
The clerk of the Guild of Mercenaries picked up the bag elegantly. “Feel free to come to the Guild of Mercenaries if you ever need us. We can do anything you want!”
Then, the clerk left with the bag of gold coins in delight.
Roland was a super generous guy in his eyes. He didn’t think that this piece of intelligence was worth so much money.
Roland was never a passive man who waited for the enemy to come to him. He would rather take the initiative.
After inferring the Druids’ possible location with the intelligence he acquired, Roland simply flew out.
He planned to keep the danger out of the city.
Using the magic cloud, Roland had been flying for only an hour when he noticed a mixed stream of magic power moving in the woods below.
“Gotcha.”
Roland threw three magic spiders from the sky.
Those spiders were too small and light to be hurt by the fall.
Besides, there was plenty of foliage on the ground as buffers… Very soon, Roland saw the Druids clearly in his mind.
“There are a hundred of them. They’re not concentrated. Also, there are thirty more over there.”
