Xilia was holding her little sister in one hand, and a stack of scrolls in the other. Her gaze was firmly locked to the beasts up front.
"I think we should be safe for a while," she said.
Igrit looked at her in disbelief.
"Was that you? You used a scroll?!"
"Yeah, why?"
Igrit looked at the stack of spell scrolls in Xilia's hand and then looked back at her, "You seem familiar… Do you come from a rich family?"
"No… Why would you ask such a thing?"
"Well… The scrolls… They are expensive!"
Understanding what she meant, Xilia smiled proudly, "Hehe, they are cool, right? Gerald gave them to us!"
"Us?"
Before Igrit could ask what exactly she meant, Sera and Elly also took out their scrolls, ready to fight.
"Dear God!" Igrit gasped in shock. That amount of spell scrolls were probably worth hundreds of gold coins if they were anything like the first one.
This type of combat was extremely wasteful!
"I remember you now! You were with that crazy guy that fought against our leader!" Igrit suddenly exclaimed.
Elly continued smiling warmly, despite the situation, while Sera made an embarrassed expression after getting recognized.
Only Xilia admitted to the fact, and even pushed her chest out proudly, "That's right! We are from the same group, the Black Onyx! And he is our…eh…leader?"
"Oh?!" Igrit opened her eyes wide in surprise, and her lips made an 'O' shape. "Black Onyx, you say? Never heard of you."
"You-!"
"Ladies!" a weak shout disrupted their chatter. "Stop talking already, now it's not the time!"
It was Riordian who spoke, he somehow woke up.
The blue-robbed young mage was currently slouched beside a wall, clearly in severe pain. And yet, he remained vigilant and 100% concentrated on the enemies outside.
"We need to find a way to fight back… We can't just sit here forever! The other group probably got ambushed underground and is expecting our help! We need to hurry!"
Crack!
The Ice Barrier started cracking from the attacks, clearly signifying it was going to break at any moment.
Xilia already took another scroll and prepared to use it.
"Wait!" Riordian grabbed her hand, "Let the barrier fall."
"Are you crazy?!" Igrit shouted, "They are going to kill us!"
Riordian shook his head and gestured to the rest of the warriors to step closer. He quickly explained his plan, and although skeptical, they agreed it was probably the only way they could fight back.
"Okay, get ready! When the barrier collapses you will have three seconds to attack. Don't miss the opportunity!"
Many swallowed their saliva nervously, while the mages closed their eyes to steady their minds.
Crack!
"Get ready!"
The archers nocked their arrows and nervously waited. The barrier was on the edge of collapse.
A few warriors lifted their shields and stepped forward.
The Orcs and Goblins outside were already severely irritated and in a bad mood since their prey kept hiding behind a barrier. Not detecting any danger, they came close and started pounding on the ice.
Each strike created a crack, and suddenly…the barrier collapsed!
"Do it now! Shoot them!"
At the same time, almost ten people shot out at once, both archers and mages, and about the same number of monsters fell to the ground soon after.
"Aah!"
"Close it!" Riordian shouted, and immediately Xilia activated the Ice Barrier once again.
The beasts outside were just about to joyfully rush in after the barrier broke when suddenly arrows and sharp stones shout out. And immediately afterward, the barrier reappeared.
Needless to say that they became enraged and attacked even harder. Bloodthirst could be clearly seen on their faces as they pounded on the ice once more.
The monsters outnumbered the humans about ten to one at the beginning, but the situation didn't improve much after the attack. Instead, it even worsened!
After the first barrier collapsed, the second one had to be smaller to avoid locking some of those filthy beasts in… And the next one will have to be even smaller than that.
They were in a dangerous situation.
"Medic! We got a wounded one here!"
In that short of a time window, one arrow found its way from the outside and struck a guy under the armpit. The wound was not life-threatening, but it basically disabled his right hand.
While they were taking care of him, the ice started to crack dangerously once more.
"Again, get ready!" Riordian shouted. "Two seconds this time! Do not hesitate to create a barrier no matter what!"
The barrier broke once more, the archers released their arrows and the mages shot their spells. Sera and Elly also helped and did the best they could in such a short timeframe.
Xilia in the meantime broke the seal and activated the spell scroll once more.
However this time, the enemy was ready, and three Goblins and a Hobgoblin managed to jump in before the barrier was completed.
"Kill them!"
The few warriors that remained on the surface quickly reacted and gave it their all to finish them off as fast as possible. The barrier was cracking once more.
"We can't keep going like this! I can't use magic so rapidly!" one of the mages shouted while panting. He was still quite young, and the tempo of battle was too high for him.
"Take a one-minute rest, everyone!" Riordian shouted after a moment of contemplation. "You," he pointed at Xilia, "Make another barrier before the first one breaks!"
And so, another layer was created so the mages could take a moment to rest their mind. However, the Orcs on the outside didn't quite agree, and they joined in the effort and attacked the barrier with their monstrous strength.
Boom! Boom! Crack!
The first layer was gone.
Boom! Boom! Crack!
The second layer collapsed as well.
"Fire!"
A hail of spells blasted the monsters back, and even Riordian joined in the effort with his Ice Lances even though he was already beyond his limit.
Both Elly and sera used five spell scrolls at once, and Xilia even used her Wind Blades before creating another barrier.
Boom! Boom!
"This is insane! We can't keep going like this!" Xilia shouted after the barrier was completed. It had to be shrunk even further and a few Goblins still managed to squeeze in.
"What are we supposed to do?!" Igrit turned to Riordian for advice.
"Oh…"
Riordian was laying down face-first on the dirt. He was unconscious! Again!
"Shit!" She turned to look at the remaining mages, and except for Gerald's four teammates, they all showed signs of Mana overuse. The situation was dire!
Boom! Boom! Crack!
"Ah!"