As the ground erupts with explosions from a single man's magic, every trap created by hand and magic were destroyed in an instant.
But because of that attack, that man was left vulnerable as it was such a huge attack that had an obvious drawback of magic drain and exhaustion.
Seeing that, front line fighters who just recovered from the shock immediately rushes towards the man with their weapons out of their sheaths.
Before they could get even near him, one of them jumps in front of them with her shield up and a magical barrier encloses them.
"Brace for impact!"
As she had warned, a long green line on the air appears and hits their barrier with a loud bang. It was the attack of another enemy.
"Attack!"
The moment the new female enemy called out, another six emerges from the forest. One of them have irregular weapons and the others had bows and swords.
"Spread out and raise shields. Don't let them get through our line."
"Yes ma'am!"
As the acting leader of the team gives out her commands, she looked around with full caution. She knew something was off.
"Their numbers are only half of ours. What is this uneasy feeling?"
The man who initiated recovered and ran towards them with the man who had claw weapon.
"Spear-users, out!"
"Yeah!"
The moment the red haired man got near the shield, spears came out of the gaps and tried to poke him, but it seems that he anticipated that move and jumped a bit diagonally and used the momentum to rotated really fast.
As he pulled out his sword, he swings it with the rotation's speed and slipped it through the small gap in the shield and hit one of the shield user's shoulder. Opening a large gap in the shield formation.
Since he faltered from the pain, it was an opening for the enemy. Who out of nowhere, shot a fireball on the ground.
When the dust settled, the man was nowhere to be seen.
"He's in the sky!"
Everyone looked up when someone pointed it out, but that was a fatal mistake.
As they have forgotten the other man who ran with him, that man was given the chance to attack as their guards were down against him.
Since their spears had been pointing up, the moment that one of them noticed a silvery hair move under them, his spear was frozen in place and couldn't move as if something was holding it.
His allies also noticed it, but it was already too late for them to react.
Using his claw weapon, he pierces his stomach and then kicks him away. Using his body as a foothold, this attacker jumps to another shield user and slashes his side as he was able to avoid slightly.
With this, their number was down a member.
This opened up a bigger opening in their formation and forced the acting leader to change the plan.
"Ma'am, watch out!"
One of her teammate called out to her, and immediately, she saw a glint at the edge of her vision and slashed down an arrow that was flying towards her.
"Wrong direction!"
"Should've kept your mouth shut!"
The moment she lifted her shield on her blindside, a loud metal clang rings in the air. When she looked, a swordswoman was there with her blade pressed against her shield.
"I watched your duel a few days ago. I'm a fan."
"That's flattering, but now's not the appropriate time for that."
Out of nowhere, the woman suddenly kicked the shield's lower base and made the shielded woman raise her shield up.
"
With a roar, the swordswoman's voice got amplified to cause a sonic-like explosion in front of her and the shielded woman who lost her stance couldn't protect herself in time.
She was blasted away a bit, but while mid-air, she lets out a similar roar and countered the push of the air.
To the swordswoman's surprise, the shielder was also the same as her, a wind magic user. She used her own magic to negate her roar attack.
The shielder immediately kicks the ground upon landing and charged towards the swordswoman.
This made the swordswoman sit in a defensive position as the shielder's blows were heavy despite being slow.
Even if she could slip in some counter attacks, all of them were useless when the shield was up.
On another side, another battle was happening.
"That Red head is annoying! Someone take him down!"
It was unknown who cried it out, but it was obvious as to who they were referring to.
Despite their overwhelming numbers, they couldn't corner this one enemy who was able to run around their formation.
He was quick and nimble. But the most annoying thing about him is that nobody could predict his move. Not only that, he was receiving assistance from the archers on their side.
But the did not realize that he was merely a distraction.
"From the back!"
One by one, their soldiers were falling and dwindling.
This was caused by another attacker who slipped into their formation. Not only that, it was raining arrows from the distance as well. Both made of magic and real arrows.
One of them looked at their acting captain for orders, but she herself was preoccupied by a swordswoman who seemingly has matching pace.
Out of desperation, he takes the role and shouts out a command.
"Everyone, Aegis Formation! Someone create a barrier!"
The moment he gave the command, the remaining members with shields gather and created a wall in circular formation. Because of that, the attacker with claw weapons was exposed.
Immediately, the new acting captain saw that opportunity and raised his spear to cast magic.
"Spirits of Destructive Authority, lend me the might of your fury!
From his spear, a flow of electricity made of magic bolted out towards the attacker in a form of a claw-like arm.
The attacker tried to run, but the bolt was simply too fast and his magic couldn't catch it. In the end, he was captured and shocked till he was our of commission.
"Prat!"
The red headed man shouted at his ally.
But despite the loss of an ally, for some reason, the red head didn't look shaken. Rather, he was smiling.
"Archie!"
The red head called out a name.
From over their head, the sky turned a different colour. From a twilight purple, it suddenly turned into green.
From the sky, there was a man falling holding a bastard magic sword clad in cracking green electricity.
But what made it much more intimidating was the man holding it.
Everyone could recognize such hulking form holding the sword. It was one of the strongest Force Arte that was risky to use, the Juggernaut Drive.
Everyone braced for impact, but when his sword landed on their barrier, the force was so strong that everyone inside the barrier felt a strong tremor enough to intimidate some of them.
"Don't falter!"
Their leader tried to control the group's mental state, but it was for naught when the hulking attacker decided to penetrate the barrier with his sword by poking it with all his strength.
Once a tear was made, the red head jumped behind him and focused his magic into the tear of the barrier.
Seeing that, the captain issued a new command.
"Scatter!"
In a panic, everyone immediately spread out and jumped out of the barrier.
When fire was blown into the tear, most of the members already got out, but the unfortunate ones got burned and their pendants deploys a barrier and stasis to keep then safe as they have already been out of commission.
Seeing that their team is down to 10 members, the former acting leader gets distracted by the spectacle created by the Red head and the hulking man.
"Class E sure lives up to its name as Battle Maniacs."
"I didn't know we had that title."
"You guys kept using the Training Area for mock battles."
Despite getting distracted, the shielder continues to deflect a torrent of attacks from the swordswoman like it was nothing.
"Compass Breaker!"
"Storm Bulwark!"
Though different magic, since they are of the same element, their class created a cyclone-like effect in the battlefield. As the giant tornado continues to chip away on the black cloud that is forming a shield, thunder explodes and lightning sparks fly everywhere across the field.
They were evenly matched.
They couldn't afford to take their eyes against each other, or at least that's what the shielder thought.
As she was busy, shielding herself from the magic tornado, she felt something off from behind her.
In an instant, she lets go of her shield and jumps away. And she has predicted, something was aimed at her and was able to predict it at the right time. As she had let go of the shield, she dodged the tornado and the surprise attack from behind her.
Buried in the ground just below her, a long sword had struck the ground. It was covered in a film of red light making it obvious that it was enchanted.
But despite the lack of wielder, the sword pulls itself off the ground and points the tip at the shielder.
Immediately sensing the follow up attack, the shielder lifts her left arm to recall her shield towards her. And like it had a mind of it's own, it lifts from the ground and flies towards her.
However, to her surprise, the sword wasn't aimed towards her, but her shield instead.
"Thanks Vivian!"
As the shield was deflected away and pinned on the strap by the sword, the shielder is now vulnerable. At which the swordswoman took the chance to attack.
When she put the sword back into the sheath, the now shieldless fighter recognize her stance. Bracing for impact, she gathers her magic upon her sword and fortifies her bare self with protection magic.
But even though she did all that, she knew that the incoming attack would still go through as long as she doesn't have her shield.
She closed her eyes to brace for impact.
As she felt the magic in the air become disturbed, she surrendered her body to what was supposedly an attack that would have blown her away.
Although she believed she was, when she opened her eyes, she found herself in the arms of a familiar face.
"You may have failed, but you tried your best. Well done."
"Solvan!"
It was the Second-in-Command of their team, Harvey Solvan.
-End of Chapter-