Thanks to General Scoll's quick thinking and his command that made the combatants subconsciously follow his orders, the Alliance of Kingdoms managed to land a powerful combined attack on the Tribe of Death's forces. Scoll wanted to push the advantage, but he knew that it wouldn't be possible, and he simply watched as the Tribe of Death's forces reacted and responded in kind, either by defending or counter-attacking.
With the waves of attacks going back and forth, the war devolved into complete chaos as all inhibitions were off.
The battle had just begun, and most people were trying to conserve their strength and protect themselves. However, Scoll's command put an end to that as everyone used their full strength during the surprise attack. The Tribe of Death's forces naturally had to do the same if they wanted to defend and survive the attack. And when they counterattacked, it was only obvious that they would use their full strength.
As the cycle continued, the situation quickly escalated, and humans and beasts dropped like birds during a plague.
But the commanders of both armies weren't unprepared. It had just happened a little earlier than the initial calculations due to the vortex of mana that appeared over the Fortress of Death.
And one of the things that both sides had prepared for when the battle broke out was ritual magic. Naturally, since they were in the middle of a battlefield, they couldn't use the most elaborate and time and resource-consuming rituals. But even smaller and quicker rituals were usually one step above spells in terms of power.
Scoll didn't even have to give the order before smaller groups of mages spread out behind the backline started chanting and amassing mana in order to cast their joint spell. Most of the spells were simple spells that had been modified so that several mages could join together and exponentially increase the power of the magic.
It didn't take long before the first salvo on either side was ready. The humans had more variety and sent spells of the most common elements. Fireballs the size of tables, trees and roots sprouted from the middle of the battle and entangled the enemies, showers of icicles rained down from the sky, and meter-wide blades of wind swept through the battlefield and cleaved apart everything in their paths.
The humans' volley of ritual magic was met by the Tribe of Death's ritual magic. Bone spurs jutted out of the ground and impaled whoever was in their paths, giant phantom skulls spewing black flames that ate away at all living things, and contagious curses that crept through the battlefield, eating away the life force of everyone on it.
General Scoll's gaze shifted between the battlefield and the slowly swirling vortex of orange mana and black demonic attribute. It almost looked like the center of the vortex had started gradually drooping downwards toward the ground.
"Do you guys think that thing might be a mana storm?"
General Scoll looked at Cooper, Merr, Derada, and his secretary, Riella, after he asked his question.
Although Derada's appearance was hidden behind a cloak and hood, her disinterest was more than obvious, and she continued fiddling with a mechanical device, unbothered by the general's question.
The other looked to be in thought, and eventually, Cooper was the first to tentatively answer the general.
"Um, no. I don't think so, sir."
"Why not?"
The short-haired scout looked toward the Fortress of Death before answering.
"Because mana storms are rare natural phenomena that occur after intense and drastic changes in nature. And there haven't been any such changes. Sir."
General Scoll kept looking toward the vortex with a thoughtful look.
"It doesn't have to be changes in the landscape, you know?"
"Sir?"
"It can be in the mana as well."
"O-oh?"
Although Cooper still looked like he didn't quite understand, General Scoll didn't have any intentions of giving a further explanation.
"Let's assume the worst and say that the vortex that showed up shortly after Braxton and Seich should have arrived is a mana storm. Will it affect our plans, Derada?"
"No."
Derada didn't even look up or hesitate as she answered, but neither the general nor any of his other subordinates cared.
The general's gaze was still trained on the vortex as he spoke again.
"How's it going on that front, by the way, Derada?"
This time, Derada hesitated a few moments before answering.
"Meh."
Her answer was vague, despite the time she spent giving it. But the general understood what she meant, and he turned toward the battlefield with a graver look than usual.
The people and beasts dying en masse was an uncomfortable sight, especially when everyone who died, died so violently. But that wasn't why the general was so grim. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do about it if he wanted to win the war.
"Cooper, can you tell the status of Braxton and Seich?"
Cooper closed his eyes for a few moments before answering.
"No, sir. The signal got a little fuzzy when they got halfway across the battlefield. And now it's completely gone."
"Gone as in cut off, or as in you can't sense them?"
Cooper answered the general's question with a grave face.
"Cut off. Sir."
Cooper's words made the other bodyguards' and Riella's expressions sink. But they maintained their composure.
Cooper's magic getting cut off either meant that the target he had marked had managed to sever the marking by themselves. That was what Toz had done. But it wasn't something most people could do, and Braxton and Seich couldn't do it.
That meant that the other, the more common method of severing his tracking magic, had been put to use, which meant that Braxton and Seich were probably dead.
It wasn't impossible that someone else had interfered and severed the tracking magic, but it was highly unlikely, especially when compared to what could happen to them during their mission. They infiltrated the Fortress of Death, after all.
"let's make sure their sacrifice wasn't in vain."
The general's words didn't console the others, but they helped them push their feelings to the side as they focused on the war.
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