"This is hopeless!" Allesiah turned on a shield spell as a couple of bombs are thrown at her.
The fight has already begun but, unlike what Allesiah thinks, this encampment is actually a lot bigger than the first one. Zeke didn't tell this to her knowing that she'd back out before even trying. Because, what this means is, there are more bandits. And, a higher chance for stronger enemies.
"I need to conserve my mana." Allesiah thought, shifting the angle of her shield so that the bomb will be deflected to another enemy.
This created enough momentum for Allesiah to activate [Shadow Orb], a spell that allows three orbs to float around her. These orbs are sustained by Allesiah's mana. The mana cost for casting them is high but, the sustained drainage of mana is quite low. Thus, Allesiah can even maintain these for a whole day. That is, if she doesn't cast any other spell.
Allesiah began manipulating the orbs, with each fighting a different enemy. The spell requires that the caster control them manually. At her current level, Allesiah can only control three orbs but, it is said that 10 orbs can be controlled simultaneously by a spellcasting veteran.
With the continuous assault of Allesiah, the three bandits lay lifeless on the ground. All around her, she can also hear the goblins doing their best but, for the most part, they are the ones that get killed.
"This isn't going too well." Allesiah thought to herself, as a new set of bandits found their way to her.
An explosion was immediately made ah she was caught off guard. This chunked away a part of her already weakened shield as she is flung to the air. She thought of how these enemies are too much for her but then, she remembered the words of Zeke:
"The moment you think you are underhanded, you already lost." The words kept nagging her, automatically irritating her and, causing her to move immediately.
Seeing one more bandit with a bomb in hand, Allesiah fired an orb at the bandit, causing an immediate explosion. This instantly killed two other bandits who stood near the first one. An arrow is then shot at her, deflected again by her shield and causing her to point all her orbs at where the attack was made.
"I just want to get this over with." She said, now a bit irritated.
The fights took her longer than Zeke. Allesiah has always been used to the idea that a spellcaster only needs to stay in the backlines and provide support. She has never seen or heard of a mage doing a whole raid all on their own.
"Hey how are things going there?" Zeke said through the communication channel.
"What do you think?" Allesiah said, all grumpy as she took down two melee – weapon bandits that came for her.
"I think there are still a lot of enemies to go around." Zeke answered sarcastically.
"Don't you think you should help if that's the case?"
"Nah, you can do it. Besides, you're almost at their settlement." Zeke replied.
"AHHHHH!" She shouted, making more bandits know her location.
In all her years as being a female sorceress, she has never met someone like Zeke. Someone who'd be willing to put a woman on a life threatening situation all on her own.
"Idiot!" She shouted – making the orbs fly out and meet up to where the rustling of the leaves and the sound of twigs breaking are coming from.
Soon enough the orbs have met their targets, killing off more opponents in the process. Allesiah reactivated her shield, clearing out all the dents and walking cautiously toward the camp. But then, something bothered her.
On the direction of the camp itself, there is nothing but silence. On other occasions, she'd love this peace. But right now, all it does is make her even more nervous.
"Why is it so quiet?" She thought to herself.
Then, as she took another step, a magic circle glowed on the ground where her foot is.
"Cra-" An explosion soon followed, with multiple magic circles floating above where she is. These started shooting out earth bullets at her as the smoke from the explosion rose.
"I was worried at who our kind intruders might be." One person said. The figure floated at the air, stepping on what seems to be his sorcerer staff.
"And here we are, shocked to find a single sorceress picking a fight." Another sorcerer said, coming out from behind the trees.
As the smoke rose, they fired another set of spells. One seems to be an expert on explosion spells while the other focuses on earth manipulating spells.
"Earth golem!" One of them said, creating a monster made of earth. It immediately went inside the cloud of dust, with the sorcerer bandits making sure that their enemy cannot escape.
"Field Mine." The other one said, spreading multiple land mines all over the area where the explosion happened. As he did, he floated up on a tree, ensuring that he won't get caught in any explosion.
Sure enough, more explosions happened making it difficult to see through the area. Three more blasts were made. This made the explosion mage laugh at the sight.
"Hahaha! That's right! Keep on trying to wriggle your way out." He said. Then, five more explosions came, thickening the cloud of smoke that has already formed.
"Wait. Something's not right." The floating mage said, trying to get a closer look on what's happening. Then, in a swift moment, something hit his staff which made him lose his balance.
"GOLEEM!" He shouted, wanting the monster to catch him before he drops to any mines. But then, the golem didn't respond.
In a state of panic, the mage tried to cast another spell but, without his staff, he couldn't create anything more. The other mage wasn't able to diffuse the mine because, the smoke prevents him from seeing what's going on.
All he knows is that his partner shouted and that…another explosion came. Then, without a moment's delay, there were two more explosions, making a figure shoot up towards his direction.
He tried moving away again but then, another thing came which flew even faster. It went around his area a couple of times until his limbs and his staff all got broken. The large figure that flew finally reached him at this point and, with it coming close, the mage saw that it is the sorceress, still alive.
Allesiah then hit the orb on his opponent's windpipe, stopping him from chanting any more spell.
"You know, when I imagined that men would come hitting on me at one point in my life, this isn't how I picture it to be." Allesiah has her clothes all torn, with her legs almost being left bare. Her shirt is also in pieces and, there are various wounds on her body. Fortunately for her, she was able to concentrate the mana of her shield on the ground. This left the other parts of the shield vulnerable but, prevented her from dying due to the first explosion.
There were the rocks that followed of course and, she took quite a beating from these as her shield completely vanished. But, with the orbs still with her, she spun them around making them hit some of the earth bullets. This prevented any fatal damage being made.
As the smoke from the explosion rose, she stayed in the middle of it all, hearing the next spell being made. She stayed at her spot, knowing that explosion spells can't be placed at the exact same location twice within a short interval.
Then, she saw the golem coming for her. She easily dismantled the monster, pointing all of the orbs on its foot and, making it step on a lot of mines. She followed this by making her orbs hit even more explosive mines, thickening the cloud of smoke even more. Then, just as it did, she measured out where she heard the voices of her enemies.
She quickly followed through by attacking what seems to be a floating enemy – as the voice just came overhead. Luckily, she was able to hit him at one go and, with this spellcaster's golem completely destroyed, he fell into the minefield, being a victim to the explosions in the process.
The next one is easier. She simply made a thicker and larger shield – pointing it at the ground. This caused an explosion with enough strength to propel her. As the explosions happened, the bandit thought that his enemy is getting battered and, this has created the scenery we now have.
"You thought I'm an easy target huh?" She said, with the enemy not being able to fight back as he cannot even fire any spells now.
"If you like explosions so much, then you should go try them yourself." At this, Allesiah pushed his enemy to the ground. This created two more explosions and, as the dust cleared, Zeke was already there, witnessing the victory of his slave.
"Look at you." He said, with a wide smile on his face.
"Honestly, I didn't think you'd have it in you." At this, Allesiah lost consciousness. The battle took too much from her, mentally and physically.
Zeke caught her from the fall and immediately clothed her with a cloak that one of the bandits had.
"You did good." He said, carrying her on his back again as they proceeded to the camp of the enemies.