BXBX NOVEL Chapter 494 161 - Perserios territory - part 5 - Countering the plan that was thirty years in the making (part 26)
Chapter 494 161 - Perserios territory - part 5 - Countering the plan that was thirty years in the making (part 26)
Streams of disgustingly corrosive liquid made their way through the snow, splitting into multiple branches while encircling the village of the North Talon Tribe, each aiming at a different totem.*KHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*
"What in the...?! SOUND THE ALARM! THE ACID MAGICIAN HAS REBELLED!"
Clouds of thick irritating smoke were unleashed into the air as the mana-blocking curse objects began melting – they were only one-fifth of their way there when the alarm was raised – the biggest surprise was that the soldiers disguised as the tribe members correctly identified the threat without any doubts or confusion.
"They must have been aware that their curses can\'t last with the acid attribute around."
"So efficient that it\'s annoying."
Zoemi muttered to Burushi who nodded with a bitter expression.
"They had a lot of time to prepare – does it look like they are putting more people in front of a particular building, or evacuating someone?"
The black-haired boy smirked before his expression turned serious again and he asked out loud, directing the question towards the camouflaged sentinels surveilling the village from above.
"(No one is evacuating, but the house right next to the biggest building is getting reinforcements.)"
One of the sentinels reported keenly.
"(It looks like they are panicking, they are taking out some equipment... still, it doesn\'t look as if they have any response to the acid magic.)"
Another one added their own take.
"Hmph. I bet their failsafe to Roiso and Mirienne, and Metavicero\'s betrayals is George and his star power. They will not be risking losing his mother."
Zoemi scoffed, anxious but also satisfied that things were working out just as they assumed they would.
"If they know that the acid magician betrayed them, they definitely know that she would try to rescue his mother though..."
"That\'s when Miriette comes into play."
The blond girl wasn\'t too sure about their plan, getting cold feet moments before she and the black-haired boy were supposed to take action, but Zoemi reached out and patted her shoulder reassuringly without taking his eyes off of the building his sentinels were sharing the top view of.
As he said that...
*WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH*
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!"
As the troops disguised as innocent villagers were preparing to fight the acid magician, they were suddenly hit by an emerald tornado descending on their settlement from the skies above. The most unfortunate person who was slightly to close the spot where the arm of the cyclone reached the ground was sent flying and was flung into the air with a pitiful cry of disbelief.
"SHE BROUGHT AN UNIDENTIFIED AMOUNT OF ALLIED MAGICIANS WITH HER! ATTEMPT CONTACT WITH METAVICERO AND GEROIZOEN!"
The person who must have been a commander, or at least disguised himself as the village chief, roared, trying to shout over the howling of the wind – but it was rather doubtful that he was heard by more than a few dozens of troops out of hundreds stationed there.
*WHOOOOOOSH* *WHOOOOOOSH* *WHOOOOOOSH* *WHOOOOOOSH* *WHOOOOOOSH* *WHOOOOOOSH* *WHOOOOOOSH* *WHOOOOOOSH*
For the soldiers from the Barbariaca nation, the next sight that they saw must have been a scene straight out of a nightmare.
Eight more cyclones reached out their arms from the sky surrounding the village, making it more than obvious that whoever is doing that is not willing to let them evacuate and regroup with a different camp.
"Pelt them with stone barrage – make them explosive – oh, but try to make it look as if they are being shot from afar, please."
"(As you wish, master~!)"
Zoemi commanded after watching the struggle the command had with reaching each and every soldier and made a calculated ecison to make things even worse for them – to which the sentinel agreed without any second thoughts whatsoever.
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
Only a few short seconds later first projectiles began to appear – the initial wave didn\'t even reach the village, exploding on the road leading to it, giving the attack an appearance of people taking their time and adjusting their aim.
And just as it was intended, the unfortunate enemies had no practical way to respond – they had cursed gear and weapons, but could barely use them.
A cursed armor could protect its wearer from more than a few spells or physical hits, but while being showered with a barrage that could turn a house into a pile of rubble in a heartbeat, there was very little difference between wearing it and not wearing it at all.
Similar to weapons – there were bows, crossbows, and even some mele weapons that could be thrown – but where they were supposed to be thrown at?
No one could actually pinpoint the location of the enemy.
And to make things worse, when a couple of squads decided to try their luck and actually attempt to launch a counterattack, the projectiles they used were caught in the wind and redirected by the powerful wind to turn against their allies.
It wasn\'t a situation where normal strategy had a chance of working.
*KSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*
...and when the acid magician reminded Barbariacca\'s soldiers about her presence, by sending her acid and beginning to melt down the first house that was visible to people arriving from the south, things got even more troublesome.
"Little ones, visual cover, please, and thank you."
Zoemi breathed out in relief and called out to his sentinels again.
"(On it!)"
"We can go."
The sentinel who was not in charge of the explosive stone barrage decimating both the buildings and enemies called back at their master, thanks to that the black-haired boy nodded at the blond girl and rushed forward without confirming whether they were actually invisible or not.
"...!"
Burushi flinched, pale as a ghost, but her worry and hesitation didn\'t last long since she did not want to be left alone in a place like that, even though it was relatively safe for the time being.
*WHAM* *CRACK* *SLAM*
Zoemi was not joking around either – with his strangely refreshed after being almost frozen by the snow attribute magician back in the Far-South Tusk Tribe, he ran in and was taking out the soldiers one by one with his bare hands, not augmented by even a speck of magic.
Punching throats, breaking arms and legs, cracking heads if they were unguarded – the black-haired boy was not hesitating from anything to assure that the path for Burushi to follow was open and not obstructed in any way.
|Take out the ones around the house our target is! Just be careful not to hit the house itself!|
"(Leave it to me, master~!)"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
In order to not compromise his or rather Burushi\'s position, Zoemi thought the next command, instructing the enthusiastic sentinel – who launched the next barrage perfectly around the most secured building.
A series of explosions sounded like one massive one, leveling a few surrounding structures while leaving the important one intact.
The way up there was now completely uneven and hard to run on – especially because various pieces of the enemy soldiers and their equipment sprawled all over the place, but it was leagues better than fighting all the way through all the enemies.
"..."
Zoemi stopped on the porch, looking over his shoulder waiting for Brushi to catch up.
"...wasn\'t there a better way...?"
The healing magician certainly had a problem with a copious amount of death surrounding them and did not keep quiet about it.
"Nope. Follow me."
Zoemi shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent expression and motioned at the door.
As he opened it...
"WHO IS THERE?!"
A panicked young soldier cried out, aiming his cursed sword towards the outside – but he could not see a thing as Zoemi\'s sentinel did not stop using the optical illusion spell even for a second.
*CRACK*
"AAAAAAAGHH...?!"
*STAB*
"...y-huah...?"
The black-haired boy grabbed the young man\'s arm, breaking it with ease and ending the pained screamed hat followed by stabbing the weapon through its owner in one swift motion.
"...Zoemi...!"
Burushi gasped, actually getting teary-eyed from being so upset.
"What? That certainly wasn\'t George\'s mother."
The black-haired boy knew full well what the blond girl meant, but decided to dismiss it regardless.
*thump*
He pushed the skewered body to the side and it slid down the wall, scratching it with the bloodied sword sticking through its back, and went inside cautiously looking around, careful about more enemies.
And indeed, there were more of them – the thing was, they were painfully unprepared for the invisible enemy who had no intention of taking prisoners as the Perserios family would usually at least attempt to do.
"Burushi. Please, do not try to heal the enemies."
"...!"
Zoemi didn\'t even have to turn around and check on the healing magician to know what she was up to, causing her to audibly flinch.
*WHAM*
"!!!!"
...and then, also without looking back, the black-haired boy kicked down with deadly precision, burrowing the short spear deep enough into a fallen soldier\'s body to finish the other one behind her in one go.
"Is there a reason for doing things this way or are you secretly a psychopath?"
The healer magician clenched her fists and asked, a step away from open defiance and refusal to continue with the plan,
"Miriette\'s life is in danger. Your life is in danger. Hell, even my life is in danger. I cannot assure the survival of anyone who uses magic and mana in an encounter with a star power user like George, and I will not take any chances. Call me whatever you want, as long as people important to me aren\'t dead, I don\'t care about anything else. If you want to turn back, go on. My sentinels aren\'t as proficient with healing magic as you are, but they should brute-force their way through most of the sicknesses."
"...!"
Zoemi answered without pulling any punches, causing Burushi to open her mouth just to close it back while looking away in embarrassment, biting her lips.