"How're we gonna do this?" Walt rolled his shoulders.
"Scarlet and I will force a path open, Ebony help us repel them with gravity magic and freeze the path. The others watch our back." Athena's arrow-like stakes crackled.
"The ice will break easily if I need to make gors-long path." Ebony didn't have the mana to conjure a fully protected road with Imperishable Frost Scales that stretched for hundreds of kilometres.
No matter how they go about it, once they got past the majority of the 150,000-strong army they were going to bump into Commander Wil's battle. Their presence there would be a problem for the elites of both ally and enemy. The militia would put their commander in poor condition if the King Classed Troll took advantage of their presence.
"Doesn't matter, It's just a guide for the others. Oh, and you can do that horizontal pull thing to drag everyone through."
"Like a train track? Interesting, I'll do it." He was intrigued by the idea, he could propel everyone like a maglev train. His control over gravity mana had improved drastically and he was testing out all sorts of usages for it. Although he didn't make a new spell, it was because nothing felt like it would turn out extremely useful. The one he used most often now was an extension of Guided Path, instead of a thread of gravity mana connecting two points it was simply enlarging this 'thread' to be able to swallow up giants and repel or attract them.
The other application was simply a ball of condensed gravity mana. After a certain point, the gathering of gravity mana starts to stick together instead of struggling to return to the planet. As if they knew they could not escape his mental grasp. They would form an isolated pull towards their centre naturally and he only needed to keep them in place, pulling in more gravity mana strengthens it. It was quite easy, he experimented with conjuring gravity mana but he wasn't able to do it yet.
Ning Xin on the other hand, got irritated because she was getting closer and closer to conjuring blood. If she could conjure her own blood, she would get another jump in utility and power. She didn't share much about it with him but he could guess she was planning to further push her Core Skill or fire-based enhancement. She wouldn't have to worry about evaporating all her blood if she conjured them at the same rate. She put so much focus on conjuration that her manipulation over it didn't really improve much.
They waited for the militia, academies and Imperial soldiers to gather. It gave the four of them time to rest. They caught their breaths and regenerated as much mana and stamina as possible. Leaving the work of helping people gather and get into whatever formation they thought was the best. The soldiers were the most efficient and it got through to the militia that they were better off following the soldiers' advice. They got a solid twenty-minute break, the soldiers had to save quite a number of students. 'Students' that were older than they should be but students all the same. As a rear brigade, they were mostly archers and mages but these soldiers were well trained unlike the unnamed academies rangers units that were helpless when an opponent got close to them.
The mace wielders were a little weaker than the arcane warriors but they had much better stamina and sustainability. Apparently, those present were all fourth-year students or something. They had a more comprehensive range of skills, some weren't even identified as warriors as it might be their Sub-Class. Observing so many people helped Ebony form a clearer picture of the Empire's average strength.
The archers were out of arrows and they didn't have many earth mages to conjure arrows for them. They didn't have any wood or stone mages either. None of the conjurors would waste their mana for others in the current situation so it didn't really make a difference. A few archers were luckier as they were mages themselves and had elemental mana ores to form arrows.
Many archers asked if he could make a quiver that produces arrows but that was way out of his expertise. It wasn't exactly a rare piece of equipment for them but those smiths that could make them charge a ton. The arrow quality was usual at the bottom of the barrel but it was better than nothing and richer archers carried that as a spare quiver that had wood or metal mana ores maybe both.
"What'cha waiting for!? We're ready!"
"Piss off, you wanna go ahead?" Athena spat back towards the crowd.
The mace wielders had been working hard to protect the four of them as they rested.
"Thanks brothers, it's our turn." The arcane warriors stepped up to take the mace wielders' place.
22 Glacial Models were holding back 1 squad of Grandmasters. It wasn't easy to cast so many of them when he drains his mana dry every single day. They were getting stronger and destroyed less so he managed to accumulate them. He had a feeling that his 'Will' was beginning to thin out with 20 of them, a few more and they might not have their complete capabilities. At least they were tough enough to survive hits even without Stalwart Endowment.
One of the Models sacrificed itself in a bang, releasing the rest to back the arcane warriors up. The Grandmasters were frozen in a thick layer of ice but they weren't dead. They had plenty of lifeforce augmenting themselves to prevent the misty blast of ice mana from digging deep into their bodies.
"Useful trick." Athena still believed that his domain was just multiple areas of effect spells. He never fought her so they didn't know the specifics of each other's skills.
She was only amazed about his Glacial Models, each one could fight an arcane warrior around level 200. The Models would lose due to the loss of energy if he was out of range but his range with them increased a lot with the level of the skill. The mace wielder wasn't a match because most didn't have a good resistance against the occasional ice spell. Their weapons would break or get sliced as their weapon reinforcement with mana was poor and couldn't counter the sonic vibrations.
"Ready?" Athena didn't wait for a reply and shot forward. Ning Xin reflexively burst away with a fully charged pulse of her heart.
Ebony allowed Walt to chase them with his weird mana enhancement. If his senses were right, the man was running mana in two different directions in his body. Sadly, he wasn't able to sense the internals of the arcane warrior but the other students and teachers didn't have the mana flow as weird as Walt's.
"We will be moving at a fast pace but you guys are running for your lives. Don't pick fights." Ebony told the leaders of each group. Especially the militia under Ayla and Channah, those guys pick a fight whenever Trolls call them cowards in their slang.
He no longer spooked them out when he disappeared from the spot without much of an impact. No ground cracking, no shockwaves and complete silence. He thought up a nifty trick to reduce the air resistance and that was to suck all the air ahead of him with a ball of gravity mana, using sound magic he was able to soundproof the suction. Treading Stride already hit level 331 and his manipulation over essence has gotten far better causing Waning Presence to be partly effective even when he was moving.
Turns out when a stealth skill around 150 was to hide him from thousands of creatures a rank above him, it would skyrocket in level. Waning Presence already hit 288 in such a short time and it even refined once.
Waning Presence - Blending yourself into your surroundings to stay out of sight. Ability to withdraw and match surrounding essence to remove your presence increases by 80% + 2.5% per level. Ability to stay out of plain sight while stationary increases by 2.5% per level.
The base percentage used to be 50% but it increased to 80%. It was essentially a 12 level improvement, now he understood the importance of every refinement. The skill said nothing about hiding his presence when he was on the move but after his evolution, his senses for 'skill' activation heightened. This perception of a 'skill' should be what told a person whether they hit their natural limit for the skill or not.
He caught up to Walt who already got surrounded. Athena and Ning Xin were so far ahead that the Trolls took the chance to trap the solo arcane warrior.
"To them!" Walt called out.
'He'll be fine.' Ebony knew that Walt could carry his own weight.
The two vanguards hit a wall. The surprisingly effective tactic the Trolls loved to use against strong individuals. One Troll would lie in wait for the attack and jump right into the weapon, stakes and longswords in this case, then they flexed their muscles and sealed it with their life force to prevent the user from moving. If the Trolls had a good position they could use one arm to hug the person to death but their massive size made it difficult to hug a tiny human. If not, the rest of their squad would eat or attack the person.
Ning Xin's longswords couldn't be grabbed so easily; their muscle-locking technique couldn't stop the chef either. Two Trolls would wait for her to thrust her sword in a piercing motion before catching it with their palms and grabbing onto her arms. It worked in the past but she never made the same mistakes.
This time, she was stopped because one Grandmaster balled up and hugged his squad member's arms, turning the arm into a flesh club. The Troll was a meat shield with an immensely thick life force focused on its back. The wielder aligned its ally's spine to catch her blade and it was strong enough to take milliseconds for her to free it. With 4 duos using their buddies like that, she was caught in between them.
Athena was being beaten down by 5 squads far higher level than anyone present. She was only level 302 and a new Grandmaster, so she was actually doing amazing. Walt was a level 300 Master arcane warrior but he was dealing with an entire horde behind them.
Two of those squads were definitely over level 400, Ebony was sure since they were his designated opponents every single time he appeared. He was forced to protect himself while chilling the hell out of them every single time. He did manage to kill one of them so they didn't have full squads of 8.
The mark on him and Ning Xin had gotten stronger as they killed more Trolls. This mark didn't have a visible physical form but they could feel its presence on their upper left arm. It wasn't something that his mana could touch either so he was helpless. Fortunately, Waning Presence still made it hard for them to pinpoint him.
At the moment, it appeared like only Grandmaster Trolls can perceive the mark while other Trolls simply knew better than to pick a fight with them. The slower Glacial Models went to assist Athena while he personally went to the only person he actually cared about here. The closest enemy smacked his meat shield ally at him. It helped since Guided Path already linked Icicle's tip with his buddy's spine and his own arm. He just had to adjust his feet and arm position a little and the Trolls would stab themselves.
These guys were Ning Xin's designated opponents, she already killed the other squads a few hours ago when their operation just started. It was too bad it turned into a different operation mid-way due to Midnight Sheperd's scouting team. They did not know about Ebony's skills and he took advantage of them, freezing both of them solid.
Taking this duo off from the fire swordswoman broke their combo and she sliced the other 3 duos apart with reasonable ease. She was still saving his blood for a more opportune time instead of recharging earlier so they weren't in a bad position yet.
"Go back to keep the path open." She didn't even look at him.
"Mmm."
He had his domain out but weakened it so that he could raise its range. He constructed a thin sheet of ice at the edges of his domain and left the ground alone so no one slipped. Walt was almost done but more squads were rushing to him.
Ebony made it rain flaming petals without overdrafting his mana. The surface of the thin sheet of ice burst into flames, even if they broke through they would catch on fire. Walt crushed his opponents and went to support Athena. They haven't gotten much ground yet so he had all the arcane warriors move forward to solidify their hold smack dab within their enemy's territory.
The arcane warriors weren't dumb enough to have everyone charge, they spread out to guard the rear guards. The Imperial soldiers were the perfect fit for the job so the warriors had no qualms protecting them as they supported each other.
"We could really use the help of those self-firing bows…" Someone complained.
Sadly, those bows ran out of arrows and flew back to Arcta two days ago. Only a few hid themselves to stay with him and one with Ning Xin, they had about a dozen arrows that could instantly take down one of those currently fighting Athena left. The same arrow can also be used to cause large-scale destruction as the bows can change the effect according to the situation.
"You can be more useful too."
"Ell!"
Well, Ebony agreed with their sentiments. The archer students were just a burden here, only some of them could protect themselves with side arms but most of them were just wielding a dagger, knife or short sword for show.
"We don't have to kill, just keep them at bay!"
"Their huge bodies prevent too many of them from surrounding us! Keep them angry so that they don't allow their allies to 'steal' their prey.."
The soldiers shared their knowledge and the arcane warriors listened.
"Stay compact!"
Staying compact was the last thing the militia wanted in normal situations but it was the only way the limited warriors could protect the far larger number from the fire mage, scout and archer academies together with the almost 4000-strong rear brigade.
Ebony was the only mage present insane enough to cast large spells left and right without a care in the world. He was reducing the pressure on the warriors by cutting down numbers a distance away from their route.
"Stop there." He transmitted to his icy tunnel, the front had already closed up onto Athena's battle and the three of them weren't down yet.
He stepped on a tall frozen corpse's face and disappeared silently, reappearing where the 3 were fighting. The Trolls used their muscle enlargement technique and turned into larger giants attempting to step on bugs.
'These guys are really good at fighting human-sized opponents.' He was honestly amazed that their skill with a sharpened rock could accurately combat opponents that either reached their knees or hips. Those Master Trolls ranged from 4 to 6 metres tall and Grandmasters from 7 to 8. The size gained from their special skill had a wide range, probably largely dependent on their skill level. It could be an additional ton or more of muscle mass for all he knew. Their low horizontal sweep was a deadly strike that split a lot of people. He was always on the lookout when they bent their knees and dipped their elbows and shoulders almost parallel to the ground. This strike was so polished that he was trying to copy it. Then he rethought it as any strike would be good if he were to polish it over and over again.
The ones Athena was facing could kill all three of them if they got hit with this enlarged version's strike and he would be close to being smashed to paste. Mental Arithmetic was starting to calculate how damaged his body would be whenever it saw an attack.
"What's taking you so long?" He jibed.
He noticed that it had a good effect when members of the militia insulted each other so he tried it too. It worked on both Athena and Ning Xin. With him in the mix they broke apart the squads and didn't even take ten minutes to slaughter them.
The rest of their allies did a good job of keeping the weaker enemies off their backs.
"Ebony, protect them." Athena spat out before she ran after Ning Xin who didn't waste a second.
He was left with guard duty since Walt didn't have the skills that could reach or perception to take care of thousands.
"Call out if you're in trouble." He tapped his bracelet to inform them that he connected a thread of mana to them. He gave Athena and Walt a weak buff because they were not used to foreign mana intruding on their body and gave Ning Xin a slightly compressed version.
He flew up and watched the arcane warriors and mace wielders start to struggle against the growing number of enemies attempting to get rid of the invading army. Dozens of 'Icicles' formed at the edges of his 155-metre mental reach and he flew to the rear of the combined militia while conjuring more weapons. By imbuing a simple 'stay' command on his ice, they wouldn't fall even if he got out of range.
This 'Will' wasn't something Ning Xin or most mages he knew could use so it was far from simple but it was natural to him. He continued to compress the greatswords and conjure more. Enemies that wanted to stop him were gifted a few of them. The outcome was getting frozen solid if they get stabbed or getting frozen solid if they broke the ice sword. Dodging was impossible since the swords had Guided Path linking them, knocking them aside without breaking them only bought them time before the ice weapon readjusted its tip and homed back into them. The best they could do was continuously knock them aside or dodge and buy time. If they got hit by one, more would come to break them down or finish them off while they're frozen.
It was much less mana-expensive than frost flames and he could spend some on compression. He had a lot more time and there was no need to cast them in one go so he just watched the others fight for their lives and sent help to those that needed it. He unleashed a couple hundred of them whenever he reached the limit that his 'Will' could hold. Accuracy wasn't its strong point with too many projectiles but they didn't go to waste even if they landed on the ground.
He rained the rest of them down into the path that Athena opened, allowed the warriors back into the thin sheet of ice wall and landed to extend their tunnel. It had been 2 hours since he stayed to protect the militia and no strong opponent showed up. A 5-kilometre-long tunnel took him close to 10 minutes to prepare and he sent thousands of people zipping through it as gravity flipped horizontally.
'I can do something similar to our trailer, right? Oh crap.'
"Oops. Sorry about that." He forgot to flip gravity back and a couple hundred were sent shooting forward into a debris of corpses. Those vanguards had his rings and reacted fast enough, there weren't enemies around either but he had to apologize.