After 2 hours, Harvey with his men along with Rowan arrived at the west city gate. And what they saw shook them to their core.
The entire west outer wall was destroyed, some of the buildings near the wall were up in flames, shouts could be heard as soldiers were fighting the growler hounds to the best of their abilities. But there was something strange about some of these growler hounds there were strange glowing markings all over their body, and they were shooting spells out of their mouths. They were also not as aggressive as before, showing signs of intelligence. The bigger hounds were at the front and the magic-using hounds were at the back, shooting down tier 1 spells with quick succession. Harvey knew how they were able to do that.
"A mutation orb. So this is a full-blown invasion and not a random portal tear." Harvey said as he was closing in on a man at the back, guiding the troops and occasionally using healing and buff spells. This man in light leather armour was Nelson, the captain of the west gate guards.
"Warriors! Help your brethren and strike down any filthy mutts your swords can reach. Mages! At the back start focusing on arrays instead of normal spells, I want to see a tier 5 spell hit at the middle of the enemy formation as soon as possible. Healers! Join the medics and heal up any soldier with a minor injury and send them out quickly! " Harvey shouted and at his command, his soldiers did as they were told.
"So, what's the situation, Nelson?" Harvey asked with a dejected look on his face.
"F*cker used a mutation orb right after I sent the messengers to the other guard captains," Nelson said, his eyes still on the soldiers as he was weaving a buff spell.
"So where is the General?"
"Up."
"Up?" Harvey asked with a confused face as he looked upward and couldn't see anything, but then he sensed something and activated [Eagle Eye] a perception enhancing spell that improves eyesight and allows the user to look farther away.
And there he saw a tall man covered in a black cloak, his hand outstretched and a long glowing pen on his right arm as he was writing something in the air.
"Is he....?" Harvey was about to ask something, but Nelson cut him off.
"Trying to break the barrier? Yes." Nelson answered his own question.
"You didn't try to stop him?" Harvey asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Of course I tried and got the marvellous sight you see before you as an answer. And he did it with a single spell by the way and that took him a few minutes to cast." Nelson said as he gestured to the broken wall and the burning building.
"And judging by that he got the codex info from the Arcadians it won't take him long, but I did something sneaky, so that should buy us some time," Nelson said with a wry smile.
"So you figured it out too, huh?" Harvey asked.
"Of course. I suspected something when I saw him open up the barrier, and it was confirmed when I saw the speed at which he was breaking the barriers code, so I put some bullshit codes in the mix, so it will take him some time to breach. Don't worry, I sent a message to the capital as soon as I found out."
"I think that thing is planing something because I am sure that with its magical prowess alone it could take the city in no time since it could have already entered the city as soon as it opened up the gate, but it didn't. And I also think its plan requires the barrier to be down, and I am also sure that it sent the growler hounds to keep us busy so that we can't interrupt whatever the heck it's doing." Nelson said as Harvey blocked a few spells directed their way and used [Fire Bolt] in the direction the attack came from.
"Thanks. Can you buy me some time? I need only a few minutes to finish this spell." Nelson said as he went quiet and started concentrating on the spell he was weaving, not waiting for Harvey to answer.
Harvey nodded and rushed toward a few hounds that were near him and slashed with his two-handed sword, cleaving 4 of them in half.
After a few minutes, Nelson with his hands outstretched shouted "[Pheas blessing]!"
A huge magic circle appeared above the soldiers head, and they started to glow with a yellow hue. As he did that Nelson fell to the ground tired and blood coming out of his nose.
Seeing this, Harvey rushed towards Nelson.
"What do you think you are doing using a tier 5 blessing spell without an array?! You wanna die!?" Harvey shouted as he helped Nelson stand up.
"Stop bitching alright! I'm out of mana and I already have a headache, I don't want another." Nelson said with annoyance.
"Why didn't you set up an array with the help of the other mages? You know you will literally die using a blessing spell meant for 2 to 3 people on 300 soldiers, no matter how strong you are. We can't lose a 5th circle mage at this crucial time." Harvey said with a worried tone.
"Look around you Harvey, do you really think we stand a chance? I already tested my powers against that thing and I know... I know I don't hold a candle to that thing." Nelson said pointing at the General in the sky still writing in the air.
"We may be able to defend against the growler hounds but as soon that thing breaks the barrier it's all over. So we need as many mages as we can get, and I am the only one that knows a tier 5 blessing spell. Also, I focus on healing and buff magic I won't be able to help anyway in a direct conflict. We need mages to help the remaining citizen to evacuate." Nelson said getting wobbly feet.
"What of the nobles?"
Nelson scoffed as soon as he heard that.
"Those bastards already fled to the capital using teleportation scrolls, but I am sure the king is waiting for them with open arms to welcome them after they abandoned their appointed city." Nelson said sarcastically.
"Only the Baerold and Kelors family are still here, they're at the south and east gate helping to evacuate the citizens since this side is compromised."
"I see well it's not surprising as the new laws that the king was about to enforce would reduce their power immensely. I am surprised they didn't start a revolt as soon as the king took away half of their military." Said Harvey.
Hearing this, Nelson scoffed again.
"No it's not like they didn't, it's that they couldn't. What do you think would happen if by some miracle they take over the kingdom? The people love the king and the new changes he brought in after he started ruling, if they revolt and succeed they would be at the receiving end of a revolt in no time. The population is the soul of a country and that soul stands with the king."
"Well, you are right if it wasn't for the king I wouldn't be in this position I am," Harvey said as he was shooting tier 2 spells at the hounds that were giving a soldier some trouble.
"If it wasn't for the king me a half demi-human and a son of a slave no less would have been killed long ago." Harvey said with a sigh.
"Although I am eternally grateful to the king, the changes he brought in my opinion was too fast. Because even you know that as soon he passed the law about the demi-humans, demons and some monster races almost all the kingdom who we had a non-aggression treaty with, nulled the treaty, some even turned hostile. People fear changes and unlike our kingdom where the king personally gave speeches all over the kingdom making the people understand the reasons behind such changes, the other kingdoms would of course fear that the ideals of the Auriel kingdom would spread to their kingdom as well. Normally this kind of changes would take 2 to 3 kings to be brought, but I don't know how, but somehow the king did it." Harvey said with a sigh and sadness in his eyes.
{After an hour.}
Harvey was again in the front soaking in the magic spells shot out by the growler hounds and letting the soldiers finish off the growler hounds. Then suddenly a thunderous sound could be heard, as soon as Harvey heard that sound he knew what has happened.
'Shit! The barrier broke, I hoped for it to last at least another hour. And there is still no news from the other gates. We still don't know if the citizens have been safely evacuated or not. What'll happen if the general joins the fight now?' Harvey thought as he looked up at the sky, the general was still there writing in the air, and then at Nelson who was sitting cross-legged in the ground.
'At least the general seems to be busy with whatever he's doing, guess breaking the barrier was not his main goal, don't know to whether to be happy or afraid. Nelson's still recovering, and I don't know if the mages here can even block one spell from the general if he joins the fight.' Harvey thought as his frustration was overwhelming him.