Betrayal

Yegson

This bitch is too good at defending; nearly as good as the aegismancers.

Her information had said she was an average generalist mage. In the past battles, including that of yesterday, she didn't show any abilities as she is showing right now.

If she had. I would have been better prepared to deal with her.

BANG!

My spell crashed against her shields and cracks appeared on them, but as always, it was unable to break them.

She is good, a fast caster. As fast as me, responding quickly against my spells despite coming from so close.

I cast another spell while taking another step forward toward her.

She defended before gulping down a bottle of potion and casting shields again to defend against another attack.

She is defending, but not without a cost.

Every shield spell she is using is powerful, and she is casting at least two defensive spells at once to defend against each of my attacks.

Those spells use a lot of mana.

To supplement it, she had drunk four mana potions. They are the reason; she is even alive.

If they were normal potions, she would have the mana burn, but they are not. The potions she is gulping down one after are not normal mana potions.

No, they are mixed potions. Regular Mana potions with drops of mana potion of emotion essence mixed in them.

Depending upon the quantity of emotion essence- mana potion mixed in them. She could easily burn two or even three times the number of normal potions before she would feel the burn.

These damn potions of emotions essence are one of the reasons we have lost, the battles. Normal armies didn't have those; only after earning a great merit were those bestowed.

Here, nearly every powerhouse above Lv. 30, has them.

I sent another spell to her and activated Mana Siphon. Immediately, the dark mana begins to come to me and fill my reserves.

I have the skill to absorb mana from the undead. It is more efficient than the spell; very few necromancers of my level have this skill.

The skill is one of the reasons, why I have survived tens of battles, while those stronger than me have died.

It is fast and efficient, but it couldn't provide me with unlimited mana. There is a limit to it and also the cost; the immediate one being, the undead getting weaker.

I could see, enemy soldiers getting an edge over my undead as they got weaker.

I am not too worried about it; I will deal with them after I deal with the mage and the orc.

They are going to die soon. There is no way for them to survive.

I am using a time-tested method to kill them. It has helped us win many battles and it will help us win this one too.

…

Osward

BANG!

Another big bone finger clashed against me and nearly broke the shields.

The finger was more powerful than the first one, but I was able to defend against it.

However, there is no joy on my face regarding it.

He had already launched another spell while moving even closer to me. He is now less than a hundred meters away from me and I wanted to run away.

His spells are so fast that I am at my limit.

I am pushing myself, which is extremely risky. If I didn't cast well, the spell would collapse and that would be the end of me, given how powerful his spells are.

As the spell crashed on my shield. I cast a glance at Asit and Urag, both of them have come close to me.

There are less than twenty meters remaining between us.

'What is he planning?' I thought, looking at the necromancer. It is a question I am asking myself repeatedly. He is planning something, and I wanted to move away and create a distance.

That would be the wisest choice, but one wouldn't consider me a wise person, seeing the questionable decisions I took in my life.

I do not have a death wish. There are reasons for me staying.

The greatest being, that I felt like; Asit and Urag would be safer with me closer to them than far away, despite Yegson planning something for us together

Minutes passed and spells became faster as he got closer.

I am casting the spells as the enemy attacked. There is no delay of even a fraction of a seconds. If it happened even once, it would cost me my life.

"The bastard had planned something," said Urag as she reached me.

He is dealing with two of his enemies; there are injuries all over his body, while his enemies look better, because of being two of them.

One could drink the potion, while the other person fights. Though, one of them is pale with big hope in his armor. Urag had likely injured him.

Asit is in much better condition than Urag. He seemed to have injuries, but nothing serious.

The enemy is fighting is completely blooded, but the injuries don't seem to slow him down.

He is a little further than me, but it won't take him, long to reach me.

Aeryn's Wall. Garion's Curtain X 2.

He launched the Spectral Blades again, but their numbers seemed more than doubled than the last time.

I cast the spells as the last time but made the two layers of it.

Bang Bang Bang!

It was a wise decision, as the spectral blades had broken through the first layer of the shield. The second layer had stopped them, barely seeing the cracks that had spread all over them.

He didn't stop with those spells and attacked again and again.

I kept summoning the shield to defend against his attacks, and soon, my mana had reached below 15%.

Immediately, I took out the potion and drank it.

It was my fifth potion. I had never drunk more than three potions in any of the battles, over two potions with drops of emotion potion.

In the last battle, I didn't drink any, but here, five are already finished.

My heart pains seeing it; each potion is extremely expensive. People kill for it, but here, I am drinking one after another, without care.

I have five more, but I could only be able to drink three more before I would start to suffer the mana poisoning.

That would be bad.

Another minute passed and Asit, too, had reached me.

There are three enemies really close to me. All they would need is a single attack to finish me off.

Warriors usually do come so close to the mages. It reduces their chances to dodge our spells, despite it being the only way, they could finish us off.

I clearly have my thoughts and focus on the enemy, who is only ten meters away from me.

I was ready to cast defensive shields as always, but a second passed and no spell came.

"Last chance, surrender, Mage Osward," he said, the first time taking my name.

His words have gravity, that I felt my heart skip; I knew he planned something and could kill me.

One part of me wanted to accept his offer, but I quickly crushed that part.

"I would never surrender to the undead," I replied.

"Since it is the death, you desire. The death you shall have," he said and sighed dramatically.

There might be a drama in action, but I felt like, the offer was genuine, and I had just lost the chance to save my life.

It may that be, but I do not regret it. I detest Vris'alud and what they are doing in the Mayhurst Island. I could never be part of that, even to save my life.

The spell came, sooner than I had expected.

It was those bone fingers; they appeared in the sky above once again.

There are three of them and they are twice as big as before, and the fire burning on those sharp nails is also much denser.

I shuddered as I looked at it and knew I could not let even kindle of it touch my skin.

"Die!" Yegson said in a raspy voice; the spell is not without a cost.

I did not care about that, instead I started to cast the spells. It is not just my life in danger, but also of the two people, beside me.

The enemy seemed to plan for it, as they jumped back a moment before the spell appeared.

Asit and Urag didn't follow. Instead, they came close to me. which is wise as there might have been a trap for them, and he would have tagged them individually.

Closer to me, the safest, but also the most dangerous, place.

I cast as I never did in my life; I forgot all the precautions and cast as fast as I could, not caring about failure.

Failure would kill me, but failing to defend would also kill me. So, rather choose the option, that gives me a chance of survival despite the risks.

Hatsal's Defense X 3.

I was able to cast three layers of Hatsals Defense before the fingers reached them.

I know it is not enough, but nine spells seemed to be my limit, which is double my usual speed. It also made me extremely tired, that I wanted to collapse and let myself fall in a sweet embrace of death.

"Huge Shield!" shouted Urga and the shield he raised above us became bigger.

Seeing that, I felt relieved, before turning to massive bone fingers crashing on my defensive shield.

BANG.

Loud bangs round out as the first layer is crushed to pieces by the fingers.

I could see pieces of plates and chains scattering around before dissolving. Though it was able to dim the fire covering those sharp nails.

BANG!

The second layer shattered the same, but it made that dangerous fire completely disappear.

It made me feel relieved. That fire was extremely dangerous; it needed six defensive shields to whittle it away.

The huge bone fingers crashed into the last layer but unlike the two layers. The fingers couldn't shatter it immediately, but the cracks began appearing on plates and chains immediately.

A moment passed when I saw faint cracks appearing on the massive finger.

BANG!

It pleased me, but the next moment, that feeling vanished as the last layer shattered, and the fingers moved toward the massive shield of Urag.

I cast Stone Aegis on the shield.

It nearly made me faint, but it least, I could do with the time I had. It is not as strong as a single layer of the Hatsal's Defense, but it will offer some protection.

BANG!

The fingers crashed on the shield, breaking the defensive spells I had cast.

I could feel Urag shaking, nearly falling with the stone beneath his feet cracking and him bleeding through all his orifices.

"Ahhhhh!"

Despite that, he didn't fall down, instead, he roared as bore the fingers.

The cracks spread on the fingers, till they had fully covered them.

I wanted to help him, but I didn't. Instead, I turned to Yegson. Who looked as tired as me or even more.

Despite that, he is alert, ready to attack me.

BANG!

A second passed, and the first exploded, seeing that faint relief appeared in my heart.

BANG!

The second exploded right after and when the third exploded a second after that. I finally heaved a sigh of relief and a small smile appeared on my face.

The plan of the bastard was amazing.

He pushed us together and tired me out with constant attacks of spells while coming closer before finally using his most powerful spell.

Thank the gods, Urag had excellent skills and enhancement from his shaman, or we will never be able to survive.

I was smiling with relief when suddenly my Dangersense blared.

It blared with such intensity; it had never been in my life. Not even when I had come close to death before.

It overwhelmed me, but I controlled the feeling, looked at Yegson, and saw him with a smile when I felt the attack.

It didn't come from his staff as I had been expecting but from the back. The sword had pierced through my chest and came out the front.

I could see it, blooded with my blood.

I looked at before turning and saw the man holding a blade. A man I considered a friend, a man I had gone through life and death and trusted with my life.

That man had just pierced his blade through my chest.