Battle

Everyone knew that Ray was right, they had to fight now to survive. A few of the knights who brought their swords stepped forward and charged towards the mayor.

After seeing the knights actually attacking the mayor with swords, Zay finally looked like he was taking things seriously.

The mayor took the time in which the knights were distracted to decapitate the other two men who initially charged him. Even after killing three men with his own sword, he showed no hesitation, as if he had done this his whole life. This is a key difference between the mayor and the knights. The knights are regular citizens who were randomly selected by the mayor to become stronger.

Very few of them had actual experience, they couldn't properly use their power. Not to mention the poison in the food which is starting to show its effects.

Three knights, all harnessing sleek silver swords charged towards the mayor while the rest of the knights went behind them. Ray also joined the fray to mix himself in with the crowd. He wouldn't reveal his identity as a mage until he had to, otherwise he would lose the element of surprise.

The best time to try to kill the mage is when his shield is broken and his body is vulnerable. Seeing as how Zay is a level 4 apprentice mage, it would be stupid to think he doesn't have a shield protecting him right now.

One of the knights with a sword yelled, "You will pay for that! That was my friend, I won't let you go until I see you die with my own hands!" He charged forward; ahead of the rest, then swung his sword with all his momentum onto the mayor.

It was at this moment that the poison's effect started really started showing. The knight who was yelling started wobbling a bit, his speed slowing down slightly. It wasn't a big visible difference, but when your opponent is a high level knight, any small thing can be used against you.

After seeing the effect of the poison, the mayor's face turned into a grin. He expertly swung his sword underneath the knight's sword and cut his torso in half as if he was cutting butter.

The knight's reaction was too slow to counter the Mayor since he was physically weaker than the mayor, and the poison was affecting him.

The other two knights grimaced a bit at the sight of their previous comrades' now dead body. Seeing your friends inside is always an unpleasant view. But the rush of adrenaline combined with their desensitization from seeing other knights brutally murdered let the knights only hesitate a little before rushing towards the mayor again.

Unfortunately, when you're fighting against a swordsman as experienced as the mayor, this little hesitation is all the mayor needs to kill you. They weren't too far behind the dead knight, so the mayor immediately lunged for one of the other knights with swords right after killing his knight friend, as if he anticipated their reaction.

This move seamed stupid in the eyes of the other knights. Although lunging for one of them would surely kill one of the knights, the other one can easily use this opportunity to take a shot at the mayor.

Sure enough, the unfortunate knight died, but the other knight immediately capitalized on his friend's death to stab the mayor.

As the knight's sword moved towards the mayor's torso, everyone thought he was done for. But right before the sword would pierce the mayor's skin, the same spike that killed the knights who tried to escape rose from the ground and went straight through the knight's heart.

'So he does care about the mayor,' Ray thought. "At first I couldn't tell if Zay even cared whether the mayor lived or died, but this confirms he won't be letting him die. Thats probebly why the mayor did such a stupid move, he knew Zay would save him'.

Zay snorted, "Smart guy."

The mayor didn't have time to respond to Zay, as the rest of the knights only hesitated momentarily before rushing the mayor again.

Ray calmly watched near the end of the group as the knights rushed forward to the mayor. Nobody approached the mage, it was as if they had unanimously decided to go after the mayor first. They all knew the mage would instantly kill any of them, the risk wasn't worth it!

The next wave of knights quickly descended upon the mayor. This time they didn't have swords to fight with, so they were very hesitant to approach him. But a couple brave knights led the way while the rest followed behind them.

The second the knights came close, the mayor's sword came swinging down giving them no chance to advance. Most of the knights dodged, but one unlucky fellow couldn't react in time and had his arm chopped off.

"AHH!" He screamed in pain.

Everyone ignored him, they had bigger things to focus on, like not dying.

Nobody dared to get very close to the mayor since they didn't want to die, so the battle quickly turned into a game of cat and mouse. The mayor ran after the knights, and the knights dodged out of the way.

Zay wasn't leisurely watching the fight anymore, he got another spell ready to cast upon the knights. A ball of darkness started to form within his hands; it wasn't very big at first, but everyone immediately noticed it. They were all extremely wary of Zay afterall.

"Be careful, he's doing something with his hands." One of the knights shouted.

Everyone scattered upon seeing it; the mayor is scary, but a mage casting a spell is 10 times more scary. Ray however, was happy upon seeing the mage cast a spell. He already had a shield on, so he wasn't worried about instantly dying. He was still yet to test out the ability of reflecting attacks, so he was looking forward to getting hit by Zay.

Of course the main reason he was happy to see Zay casting a spell is if you are casting a spell, you need energy for it! The less energy Zay has, the easier it will be for Ray to kill him later on.

After a few seconds the dark ball in Zay's hands increased to the size of a small tennis ball, then he threw it straight toward the largest concentration of knights.

Without his mages vision, Ray couldn't predict where it would go. It was going towards the group he was in, but not towards him, so it didn't matter anyways.

In a blink of an eye, the dark ball went from Zay's hand to the opposite side of the room. It crashed through several walls before fizzling out. Only after seeing the after effects of the ball did the knights become aware of its main targets.

5 knights fell to the floor at the same time. They all had a tennis ball sized hole through their chests, while their flesh near the wound was corroding at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The rest of the knights didn't say anything after seeing the sight; they were all thanking their lucky stars it wasn't them that got hit.

While everyone was vulnerable from their shock of seeing multiple knights die at the same time, Ray shouted, "We have to kill the mage! He must be low on energy after casting that spell, now is the perfect time to get rid of him."

Ray was pulling these words out of his ass, he had no clue if this was the 'perfect time'. But right now he needs them to focus on draining the mages' energy, after all he can always deal with the mayor later.