The weak morning sun lit up the forest as a group of cultists stood a few miles away from her waiting for the signal from the smugglers who must be inside the forest.
And for the operation to succeed, the smugglers led by Akin personally are in the forest, they even made an improvised camp in it, surrounded by the carriages that carried the materials and squeezed between the trees of the forest. Mages really are amazing when they're trained not to be idiots.
The forest does not appear to have been touched by humans, but in it is a very narrow road that is turned into a royal road by the hand of a skilled earth mage. People can be very inventive when money is involved, this route is several times more professional than the lower-level smugglers I chased when I was still being led by Ana, Akin's group are professionals but still idiots.
A light flickered just below the forest at a frequency agreed upon earlier when the cultists hired Akin. After a few minutes the trees in front of the forests were calmly moved by the green core mage who is part of the smugglers, a few minutes later Akin leaves the forest leading his men and two carts that contain the resources.
On the side of the cultists who already had two wagons with them, they started taking some chests out of them that are probably full of other or precious materials. Akin seems to have asked for some high-level materials and cores as a form of payment, and it was easier for him and his men to escape later into the city carrying precious and small materials than a massive amount of gold even turned into cards they would have had to carry several chests. big ones full of papers to give the value of the materials.
That's an impressive amount of wealth, I hope Raven can actually subtract some of it to be distributed to those involved in the operation after the smugglers are killed. I doubt there are any participants in this operation who wouldn't want a gift or souvenir to commemorate the success of the operation, as most of all the riches recovered and learned during the operation will be from the realm.
That's a very sad thought, all this wealth goes to those who already have a lot and not to poor warriors who are risking their lives to take down the cultists.
As the groups approached, I prepared to pour my aura into the rune arrangement I'm holding, Mia's aesthetic is truly unique. I'm holding a big circular ring, this shape was used because this runic arrangement can release different types of frequencies because of the hollow and curved wood, and really something very inventive, but I still don't really like this aesthetic especially the color of it, it seems that I am holding a religious ornament.
The meeting between Akin and the death element mage seems to be going well, as they let their guard down while talking and the warrior cultists were removing payment for the smugglers I activated the signal, an extremely low sound came out of my hand but this sound nothing more than a side effect of this arrangement signaling that it is working the true signal is inaudible to human ears and to the feral tribes that are famous for their acute hearing.
It didn't take even a few seconds for the group of cultists to be attacked from all sides, the ground was breached by several warriors who ran towards the cultists and behind them the offensive mages and archers attacked the cultists who were concentrated on the warriors that appeared from the ground.
The arrows that flew through the air were few as there were only three archers in the entire ambush so they went towards the strongest targets among the cultists which was the cult mages, but the amount of magic in the air was impressive it would not only cause damage to fighters and mages as you would hide arrows so they have a better chance of hitting cult mages.
In the air there were several fireballs, arrows of wind and spines of lightning crossing the air these innumerable projects were not weak. The mages had plenty of time to prepare them to be able to unleash high level spells and multiple targets, this was possible because of the cover that hid their presence underground.
Facing these multiple attacks, the cultists didn't panic, well most no longer I think there were one or a few green core warriors who hesitated during the defense which was to hide rather than face the enemies, but they aren't that important anymore. that this kind of enemy shouldn't cause any problems for Raven.
Cult warriors will enter a weak formation but it is stable and well distributed, those with shields are positioned in front of the spells to block them, their archers prepare to attack the enemies while the close warriors are positioned behind the shields to attack the enemies. warriors who ran against them.
This was an impressive reaction from these warriors who are not the elite of the cultists, the cultists can be crazy but they are not the least bit stupid and unprepared the warriors who formed the defense will not hesitate in the slightest to face their enemies to protect the leaders who are the death element mages and the plague mage who are located in the center of the group to be well protected.
But even retreating back the death mage didn't get defensive he without hesitation attacked Akin who was close to him. This mage is not weak or stupid he easily noticed that it was his group being targeted and adding to the fact that it was Akin who set up the meeting in this new route, he deduced almost instantly that Akin had betrayed them.
Without missing a chance, he unleashed a black wave against Akin that hit his aura armor that was formed over his body in an attempt to protect him from the element of death, but after this unfocused attack a black and concentrated ray came out of the staff of death. mage who retreated backwards piercing aura armor and possibly his normal armor.
I could see the dark energy entering Akin's body as he was fleeing the death mage, I don't think this attack could have mortally wounded Akin, but I'm sure it's not a simple wound. The death element energy didn't disappear but attacked Akin's organs which were protected by a large amount of aura, I don't think he will be able to attack the cultists before he gets rid of this death element energy.
Leaving something like that in your body is the same as asking to die, we can't forget about the plague mage who was already protected by the formation when the death mage was approaching her after releasing a few more death rays weaker than the first one. towards Akin who was able to dodge this time.
The plague mage unleashed a glowing emerald green wave towards the smugglers who were attacking the cultists from afar and trying to protect their leader. As they didn't have the element of surprise or the possibility of delivering their blows against the cultists, the smugglers and wizards and warriors could only try to protect and lightly attack the cultists.
The earth element mage tried to accumulate mana to create a barrier between the two groups to try to protect his comrades while the two army units led by Raven arrived at them. If they attacked now, they would be the focus of the cultists after they defend the elemental projects that are coming to them now, that would be suicide for most of them so it was impossible for them to do that.
Raven may have intended to sacrifice these guys during the operation, but they're not idiots to kill themselves so easily now. They will only attack together with Raven's forces and not before to serve as a distraction so Raven can attack the cultists when they are in my fight with the smugglers.
A few arrows and weak fire weddings flew towards the cultists who weren't able to pay any attention to the smugglers' attacks, they are completely focused on the magic attacks that hit their defensive formation.
This blow wasn't weak and how their formation was very spread out because only attacks were coming from several different angles. Mia's lightning bolts that were faster than the other spells won't arrive first than the other spells, in fact they arrived at the end piercing the defense on the right side of the cultists' formation.
She was able to harness the penetrating power of the lightning element to break through the defense of defensive cultists, at the exact moment that their auras and some who had their elemental energy in a defensive form because their attack was not at a right angle. The purple spikes that she released traveled a route that was shaped like a parabola and this allowed her to hit the most important moment of the attack.
The defensive warriors on the right side of the formation were destroyed by Mia, those who left with less injuries after blocking spells had their main arm crippled.
No one on the right side was able to successfully block Mia's lightning spikes, all shields were destroyed, but unfortunately only two that were weaker than the other green core warriors were seriously injured when the lightning element energy pierced their bodies. stomachs throwing them to the ground.
The smugglers' attacks were barely able to injure a few cultists, but by the time they ended the warriors led by Raven were close enough to attack the cultists who found themselves without a defensive formation on the right side that was the focus of the mages' attack.
Raven was leading the attack on the right side personally, her goal being to go straight against the two most complicated mages to deal with among the smugglers, but her targets weren't defenseless for long. Now that the element of surprise is gone and the cultists have started to show their offensive, they won't be captured or killed easily.