Astrophos reached where the enemy was only to see them in a futile battle. The soldiers were attacking and yet the ogres didn't take any damage. At this point, they'll just exhaust their energy and strength.
He used his magic sense to cover at least a mile of the area. With his eyes closed, he tried to find the magic user controlling the monsters. He found them and there were two of them, one was currently fighting three soldiers while the other one was focused on using magic to control the ogres.
Using a short teleportation spell, he disappeared and appeared on the location with a spell ready on his hand. The moment he appeared, sharpened stones rained down on the magic user that was controlling the ogres.
The magic user was able to block the attack at the last minute but his control faltered and so did the ogres. Lieutenant Lisbon saw this so they did not waste time and attacked the ogres once again.
Astrophos saw that the enemy lost his balance for a second and when he was about to use his magic again, the mage immediately used rock grip to lock his opponent's legs then he followed it with his immovable prison which created chains made up of rock that coiled around the magic user's body and prevented him from moving.
Controlling a person or a monster needed precise control on mana usage and a lot of concentration. Once they're concentration is broken the control magic will also disappear. Now that the enemy was immobile, the lieutenant and his men were able to completely kill the ogres.
When he saw that his partner was subdued, the other one decided to escape. He thought of knocking out the soldiers with one blast and when he was preparing to cast the spell, Astrophos used a needle like stone to knock him out. The needle hit the man's forehead then he fell down on the ground.
The lieutenant came to where they were and saw that the enemies were already taken care of. Mages were really different from those who can't use magic.
"Thank you for the assistance, Grand Mage." Lisbon gave the man a bow. Astrophos responded with a small nod.
"What will you do with them?" He pointed at the two magic users they caught.
"Are you giving them to us?" Lisbon was surprised. Usually, if a mage caught these kinds of people, they would immediately contact the Magic Tower and the tower would deal with them.
"I'm too lazy to contact the tower, so you can have them." Astrophos shrugged his shoulders. He was not keen on contacting the tower since he was not sure of his current status in there. He did not want to risk it and have them coming after him before he could enter the capital.
Lisbon looked at how nonchalant the other was, then he sighed. 'The major was right, mages do tend to be willful,' he thought to himself.
"I'll leave them to you then, I'll go and burn those ogres so that no one can use their bodies again." Without waiting for an affirmation, Astrophos left, leaving the lieutenant dumbfounded.
After burning the corpses and making sure that there were no mana traces left behind, Astrophos returned to where the others were. The place was a mess with the trees around them damaged, the ground was full of dents and cracks, the grasses were scorched, everything was just a mess.
He could see the soldiers fighting against people who looked like bandits but their weapons were a bit better than those of the bandits they fought. There were also magic users mixed with the group and some of them were fighting Cygnus and the others.
Astrophos stretched out both of his hands and a gray magic circle appeared above them. The magic circle covered the entire area where they were fighting.
"Avoid!" He shouted. Cygnus and the others raised a shield around them. The soldiers went out of range just before needle-like rocks rained towards them. The enemies who weren't able to avoid the attack were pinned down and pierced through by the needles.
One of the hunters used fire magic and attacked Astrophos. The mage created a wall of rock to protect himself. Cygnus and Nina also took the chance to attack the enemies who escaped.
Ginehart and the others subdued those who didn't use magic. The mage hunters put up a fight and none of them backed down.
"They're already at a disadvantage, don't falter and attack them!" Ginehart commanded. His men once again brandished their weapons even against the magic users.
"Be careful!" Astrophos warned. There was suddenly a mana fluctuation not far from where they were. "They've got back up!"
Before they knew it, ogres came rushing to them from every direction as they roared in unison. These ogres were so aggressive that they used their bodies to tackle their targets. Their arms were also trying to grab and squeeze them.
"Scatter! Don't let yourselves be caught by those monsters!" The major commanded with his men instantly acting on it.
As the soldiers tried to get away from the ogres, they were suddenly blocked by different elements. The situation was slowly turning against their favor.
Nina placed her hands on the ground and mumbled a spell, several purple magic circles appeared in front of the elements blocking them followed by loud explosions. This created a cloud of smoke which served as a distraction to the enemy. Astrophos summoned mean looking stones while Cygnus summoned wind scythes.
Both attacks hit the ogres but they didn't wend down and their wounds closed. "Don't stop attacking!" Astrophos shouted. He then looked at Cygnus before returning his attention in the fight.
"I'll leave them to you guys," Cygnus disappeared from where he was standing and appeared in a hidden area where he saw five magic users. One of them was seated on the ground while the other four were surrounding him.
He whistled into the air then several wind scythes attacked the group of magic users but none of them were hit. "Who's there?" One of them asked.
Cygnus narrowed his eyes before stepping out from behind the bush where he was hidden. He slowly walked towards the group, like he owned the place.
"Sending those many mage hunters, it seems that we are not your target and when we die in this attack, the investigation will only say that the act was done by mage hunters." He recounted what he thought ever since the fight started.
"Clever but you'll die here," one of them wasn't fazed by the man. Even though there was a domineering aura coming from him, it was not enough to intimidate them.
"This is interesting, the major seems to have offended quite a lot of people," Cygnus chuckled. He untucked his hands and clapped them together.
The air around the place suddenly changed and a dense power came down on them. The mage hunters fell on their knees but the one controlling the ogres didn't feel anything. His eyes were still closed as he continued to control the ogres.