an: you know, it was supposed to be Alicia and co. go to Coastline Bell branch -> humiliate noble -> get evidence -> give evidence to king and king punish that guy -> problem solved! Next chapter. How did it end up like this?
Fourth day of Spring Break over Kaomagi Earth
“So, according to this report,” Jonathan began to explain. “There will be an ambush of a hundred and three dressed as bandits.”
“A hundred and three, is that necessary?” Alicia asked.
“Yes,” Jonathan nodded.”Her highness’ guards consist of thirty knights each worth three men and five mages which consist of two support and three attackers with each attack mages capable of taking down five men at a single spell if left alone.
“Also, those guys are indebted to the princess, they had trained hard to protect her,” he commented.
“You said as if you knew them personally…” Alicia noticed.
“Five years ago,” Jonathan explained. “The kingdom was in chaos after the previous king died alongside the crown prince. It got intense with all of his thirteen remaining sons offing each other for the throne. Naturally, as the resident of Coastline I got involved.”
“So you have met the princess then,” Alicia concluded.
“What led you to that conclusion?” Jonathan asked in a straight face.
“She’s right, you know,” Owen said.
“It’s on the report,” Will added. “YOUR report.”
“…”
“So!” The pixie pop-out again. “Does she like you!?”
“Voice!” Alicia scolded.
“Well, it’s pretty obvious the receptionist lady is quite smitten over you and-“
BONK
“The super-duper cute pixie Voice is blasting off againnnnnnn!”
TING
“Since you and the princess know each other,” Will continued. “We’ll go like this…”
“Y-You are…!” the princess gasped.
“Your highness, open the door. Now,” The man in the beat-up cloak told her emotionlessly, yet stern, slashing another bandit that tried to attack him from behind.
By then, four bandits were defeated by the knights.
98 bandits left.
“A-Alright then…” Cautiously, the princess CLICKed opened the door, “eek!” and screamed as the severely wounded driver was thrown into the carriage.
“Heal that guy,” Jonathan said to the occupant of the carriage before.
“You go to where the carriage is and fend off any enemy that comes close to it. Since you were acquainted with the princess and her knights, let them see your face so they would not attack us,” Will explained.
Jonathan then shut the door and gave an Order.
SHAK SHAK
“Guagh!”
“Aah!”
On the other side of the carriage, a green thorn-like structure erupted behind a bandit prying open the door. The formed nature maneg pierced through the back of the neck of the bandit. The bandit died instantly. This shocked the handmaiden holding down that door.
97 bandits left.
The beastfolk knight, Alfred, after cutting down three bandits that were in his way hurried to the carriage and recognized Jonathan.
Two bandits were defeated by some knights.
92 bandits left.
“Sir Jonathan!” the knight cried, “You’re here!”
“There are four more of my OC comrades going to attack the bandit’s rear,” Jonathan said, unconcerned. “Three of them are dressed in brown and one in black. Tell your men not to attack them.”
“A-Ah,” Alfred gaped. “Got it!”
“Once you have told the knights to not attack us, send a [Telepathy] and we will strike the enemy in the back,” Will continued.
I’ve told them, you’re clear to attack. (Jonathan)
“You heard him,” Will said. “Let’s go.”
The four of them were hiding behind the rocks where the bandits had passed by. Alicia, Owen and Will were hidden behind a brown-hooded cloak that covered their entire body.
On a side note, Owen apparently didn’t like wearing the robe because it was too heavy and uncomfortable for him. He always tried to use his ceremonial cloak at every chance possible in a given mission. Usually, he was allowed to do so when facing less intelligible foes such as those skeleton goblins at Kaomagi.
The ceremonial cloak was the same color as their element color and usually, most Court Wizards of the same element tend to possess the same element color. If the enemy knew about Court Wizards, then the cloak would scream their element. Furthermore, against Court Wizards with different colored cloaks, each Court Wizard will be distinguishable. The enemy could keep track and identify every enemy Court Wizards which would be disadvantageous.
So this time, Owen had to wear the robe, much to his dismay.
The Dark Guardian simply used his Guardian privilege to veto against wearing a robe, preferring his current gear at the moment – though that could change depending on his mood and whatever circumstance. The Air Guardian, however, didn’t mind wearing the robe.
There were 40 bandits hanging back the rear as reinforcement, ready to switch out with their exhausted comrades so they can rest. However, their backs were completely exposed for the dark elf assassin to sink into the ground and slip between the unsuspecting bandits. However, he did not kill them and simply let them be.
He had another target to hunt.
Ten mages in the bandits’ side were bombarding the knights with fireballs and the like.
“Again!” One mage shouted.
“””Oh Fire. Like raging inferno. Strike the enemy with your ball of flame.”””
WHOOSH
“Fire-”
SLASHSLASHSLASHSLASHSLASHSLASHSLASHSLASHSLASHSLASH
But before they could even finish their incantation, a gust of wind interrupted them.
“Alright then. Will, you disable the mages,” Jonathan said.
Ten heads suddenly came rolling down, tumbling down the rocky terrain.
“How will he disable them?” Alicia asked.
“He will have to kill them,” Jonathan said.
“…Is that necessary?”
“They can cast spells as long as their conscious, knocking them out only works short them. We can’t risk it once they wake up.”
Two bandits were killed by some knights by this time.
80 bandits left.
“””Oh Fire. Like raging inferno. Strike the enemy with your ball of flame. Fireball!”””
WHOOSH
This time, it’s the mage knights turn to hurl their own Fireball.
It was larger than their own bodies. Ten times larger than [Fireball] that Alicia ordered for the first time.
BOOMBOOMBOOM
“Guagh!”
“Eargh!”
“Aagh!”
Three gigantic balls of flame were hurled in an arc that passed through the defensive line of their fellow knights and blasted the clump of bandits pushing through. Twenty bandits were caught in that blast head-on and were burned into a crisp. There were nine bandits just outside the blast, injuring them severely.
60 bandits left.
“Dammit!” one bandit groaned. “What happened? What are the mages doing?”
Had the bandit mages finished their spell, their Fireballs would have crashed against the mage knight’s Fireball and canceled each other out.
“C-Commander!” another bandit shouted. “All of our mages are dead! We are being attacked in the rear!”
“W-What!?” the bandit, who was the commander exclaimed. “How could this happen? No one else is supposed to know this route!”
“I-I don’t know commande- Gorkh!”
Blood gushed out of the bandit’s mouth. A black blade stuck out his neck in a gruesome manner. Behind him, was a man with tanned skin and a pair of elongated ears in black. A dark elf.
59 bandits left.
The dark elf shoved the dead man aside and began approaching the bandit leader.
“A-Ah… Kill that elf!” the bandit leader ordered nearby bandits to attack the dark elf. Five bandits surrounded the elf brandishing their swords to lunged at the dark elf together.
The dark elf simply clenched his free hand as the bandits are closing in.
STABSTABSTABSTABSTAB
And five black-long stakes erupted from their shadow, each impaling the five bandits from the bottom jaw. Their bodies hanging lifelessly.
STABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTABSTAB
Then more stakes burst out of the ground, desecrating the deceased even further. Such action strike fear to those who witness such a thing. And the dark elf simply walks closer towards the commanding bandit.
54 bandits left.
“A-Ah… Stay away!” the bandit leader cried.
But the Grim Reaper crept closer with somehow materializing another black dagger in a slightly different shape in his other hand.
SLASH
With that dagger, he sliced the throat of one bandit bravely rushing to his side.
53 bandits left.
Unable to say anything else in fear, the bandit leader shakingly lifted up his longsword and tried to swing at his adversary.
CLANK
The approaching adversary, however, simply swatted the longsword with his dagger as if it were a fly. The longsword lost the hold of its wielder.
THUNK
A strike from the pommel of the dagger knocked the bandit leader on the forehead. Then, the cloth was pulled before he could see the sun in the clear afternoon sky.
He looked at the dark elf, fear silencing his tongue. The dark elf did not say anything.
“Darc will capture the leader to break the chain of command, alive,” Will added.
Suddenly, everything else aside from the dark elf went upward. No, he was going downward.
“Aa… Aaah!”
Once he realized he was sinking into the rocky ground, it was too late.
He, his consciousness, along with the dark elf disappeared into the murky black shadow beneath.
1 bandit subdued.
52 bandits left.
“He… He disappeared!”
One bandit yelled.
“Don’t panic, keep the forma-”
SLASH
Another head rolled.
51 bandits left.
“Damn it! I didn’t sign up for this!” One bandit groaned. This one had a different gear.
“Men! We are retreating! We are out of here!”
“There are forty mercenaries hired. Once the battle seems to be losing, they will run.” Jonathan explained.
About thirty-four bandits, mercenaries, turned tail and tried to escape, leaving the others behind. Keyword: tried.
A short hooded figure stands in their way.
“Get out of the way!” the mercenary leader yelled.
The hooded figure, however, simply lifted his arms.
“He’s a mage!”
“Kill him before he finishes his spell!”
But that mercenary who said it didn’t even land his feet on the ground.
“Owen, you will capture them,” Will told him. “We can interrogate them for evidence.”
A cold sensation covered the mercenary leader.
He looked down and yelled, “What in the Abyss is this!”
And what the Abyss was was ice. A thick layer of ice entrapped their body from neck-to-toe. If you looked closer, it’s actually a layer upon layer of thin ice and more layers are being formed, making the ice thicker.
THUD
Something hit the back of his head.
“…?!”
Then his vision became red.
“Haagh! Augh!” He tried to gasp for air, but it felt like smoke coming out of a bonfire.
“Alicia, you will knock them out with [Burning Fist].”
He was suffocating.
He can’t breathe.
He doesn’t understand. He can still take in air, but he was still suffocating.
Soon after, the world around him became black.
35 bandits subdued.
17 bandits left.
On the other side, three bandits coming to the carriage were cut down by both Nature Court Wizard and captain of the knights.
14 bandits left.
“Men! The enemy has fallen enough! Capture them!” the half-animal knight shouted.
“””Yes, sir!”””
There weren’t much resistance left within the remaining enemy and the knights easily apprehend them.
Four out of nine bandits injured by the blast had succumbed to their wounds.
10 bandits captured.
0 bandits left.
Battle over. Emotions returned.
“Alright,” Jonathan said to the beast-folk knight. “Get your injured men, Master Darc will heal them.”
“Ok.”
“Well, the most important thing out of all, everybody in the knight’s side must not die. It will be detrimental to our next phase,” Will finished.
“Urk…”
“Are you alright, Alicia?” Owen asked in concern. “Rose said you puked after we fight the last bandits.”
“Y-Yes, I am alright, Owen,” Alicia assured him “I will have to get used to it, right?”
“…” Owen said nothing else afterwards.
Thus the end of the battle.
Commands
Commands are certain words in an order that Maneg Soul understands in the beginning. Commands are a product of centuries of learning from the Mother Soul using pre-fixed words over and over again until each Maneg Soul instantly knows what it is.
You have seen this on some Orders.
Some Court Wizards have their exclusive Command that only their Maneg Soul understands.
Commands are a central part in Orders. Two of the most used Commands are ‘form’ and ‘create’ and are in almost every Order regardless of element. Certain Commands only work on certain Elements.
Personal Skill
Any and every technique that would serve in missions that are not from maneg.
An example is the black stakes Darc shoots out. That is his own magic, not a maneg Order. Same for his shadow sinking magic, the maneg part simply creates a shadow for him to hop into. Dark maneg are not capable of creating stakes that could impale people. While you can form the stake, it would simply pass through its enemy.
an: an explanation about how each element works will come out.
Personal Skills are used in conjunction with Orders as support or the other way around, covering each other’s weaknesses.
Orders
[Ice Layer] forms a thin-layer of ice around the body. By forming multiple layers one by one, a thick layer of ice that can immobilize target and increasing Time Interval for Break-Off as long as possible is achieved simultaneously. Order: attach to body by x, form x thick layer on body of x exclude head area, form x thick layer on body of x exclude head area, form x thick layer on body of x exclude head area, …It is possible to give the Order to multiple targets at the same time under certain wording.
Owen Ruze’s Maneg Soul is currently the only one capable of carrying out this Order. He usually gives this Order as a progressive one.
[Thorn] forms sharp thorns akin to thorns of roses for Nature Court Wizards of plant side and ivory for Nature Court Wizards of animal side. Order: form cone x base diameter x height on x position, protrude in x angle horizontal x angle vertical from top to base.