Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

Defending

Disnalor, an elf magician specializing in massive attack in area, didn't understand why the leader had given him such strange orders. He understood that the logical action was to use all his power to cause the maximum number of casualties. If they were going to die, at least they had to weaken their enemy as much as possible, to help those who would come later.

It is true that his attacks in area are somewhat telegraphed, and that a general, capable of moving his troops from one side to another, could minimize the damage suffered. But it was much worse to be casting minor spells.

Caranlín had ordered him to keep his mana, and to only cast those which consumed little, those who weakened the enemies, but few of them each time. She had told him to be ready to cast Armageddon at her command, a massive spell that required almost fifteen seconds of preparation. The main problem is that it is very easy to interrupt. A simple light attack that dazzled him could make him lose his concentration, thus losing his chance and mana.

Personalized support is needed to launch it, the protection of other mages, something that was now impossible. They were busy preventing the shields from falling, and all of them dying. It seemed an absurd order, but he had known the leader for years. She wasn't stupid, and she knew perfectly the pros and cons of the spell. He wondered what she had in her sleeve, but there was no time to ask or explain. For now, he could only obey and trust.

Meanwhile, Dafkra and Dakgror looked far away with a very serious, solemn face. They could distinguish three silhouettes among the enemy army, three silhouettes that belonged to beings of their race. Or, rather, beings who had been of their race in the past. That reinforced their resolve to survive, at least until returning those three corrupted giants back to the stone, from where, according to their traditions, they could be reincarnated, they could return to the cycle from which they had been ripped off.

The second line had become thinner and more dispersed, as they often had to take the position of the wounded, who were taken to the center of the formation to be healed. It wasn't a problem yet, healers had more than enough mana left, but, as the battle progressed, they would have to start consuming potions.

Eldi was helping a little in his area with Regenerate, but he could neither spend too much mana nor reach a wider area. He would have liked to use the Area of Defense or Attack, rise some Burning Walls, or even prepare to invoke Sanctuary, but he couldn't afford it.

He looked helplessly at the thousands of losts around them. For now, they endured well, but sooner or later they would start to get tired, to make mistakes, not to wield their weapons strong enough, to back off. They couldn't kill everyone, the trap had been perfectly planned.

A kind of buffalo with the skin as hard as a rhinoceros flew off, taking with them the lost ones behind it, and disintegrating with a couple of them. It had been fully struck by a Dual Strike, a terrible skill executed in coordination by the two giants. They had killed three enemies and damaged four others, but soon the gap was filled by new opponents. They had barely enjoyed a few seconds of truce.

"Rest in peace," an elf muttered at another point in the defense circle.

He had finished off a corrupted elf, whose skills were on par with his. However, the corrupted elf didn't have his allies support, which simply were waiting behind or even pushing, while the one who was alive was receiving support from the second line. Or from those who were at his side, if they had a break.

Nor did he have more than a moment to catch his breath before facing a poisonous snake, whose attack was stopped by raising his shield again. His arms still could hold it, but the effort was beginning to take a toll on him. Soon, he would have to ask for a relieve to rest, even if only for a few moments.

Many spells could be seen again and again over the army of losts, such as Fireballs of different sizes, or Lightning Storms of larger or smaller area. It was impossible to fail, there were too many of them, but they didn't always have the effect desired. There were enemies capable of neutralizing them or quite resistant to their power, although that wasn't the worst. The worst part was that, even when they were fully effective, the result was irrelevant comparing to the magnitude of the enemy forces.

The archers shot very carefully, aiming well, knowing they couldn't waste their arrows. Not that they had few, but insufficient to what was in front of them. Some were able to create arrows with mana, and alternated with normal ones, but neither were their mana reserves infinite.

It could sometimes be seen as the arrows seemed to multiply, or some kind of networks came out of them, or exploded upon impact. They were attack destined to reach several enemies at once, although less effective than those of the mages.

They thanked the visitor who had left there as many arrows as he could, a few hundred, but still they were only a small part of what they needed. And the curious and small kind of fairy, which occasionally brought some used ones, was also totally insufficient.

All of them, warriors, archers and mages, were watching with concern as the magic domes that protected them were losing power. Despite the regeneration potions, the wizards who were holding them had less and less mana left.

The two giants got up earlier than expected. They had been replaced to let them rest, to let them catch their breath. What they didn't expect was that their human friend transferred much of his energy. No warrior had that skill, and only some members of the armies of nobles or kings used to have it. These were exploited by their bosses in order to get extra energy, such as a recharge battery.

But who had given them the energy had more than proven his competence. However, he had decided that it was more important that the giants were standing, and he could limit himself to helping from behind, spending as little energy as possible.

It is true that it wasn't enough to recover all that the giants lacked, but it was an aid that allowed them to return to the front a little earlier.