The fog blocked all senses of the Nikkokuni Dynasty's soldiers, making them unable to find their enemies.
Although the soldiers didn't know what the others were doing, they all started casting simultaneously after exactly 1.5 seconds passed since the fog swallowed them and managed to pull off team spells successfully.
The team spells blew the fog away, clearing the area. The soldiers quickly assessed the situation around them to figure out what happened.
"AHH!"
At that moment a lot of screams echoed in the air; the assassins used this special blast and fog to infiltrate the ranks of the soldiers and kill as many as they could with the element of surprise. At that moment, at least half of Platoon 3 got wiped out.
"Platoons 1 and 2, kill the assassins. Platoon 3, regroup!"
The commander shouted and everyone followed the order. The regroup order was to use only defensive spells and not attack back.
Platoon 3 cast huge walls around them, protecting themselves from further harm. The platoon's deputy commander used this time to rearrange the teams and the squads. The dead soldiers weren't all from the same teams, so he had to combine teams and even squads.
"Platoon 1, cast Zone of Light!"
In every platoon was a squad of specialized Light Mages to deal with the troublesome sneakiness of the assassins. The specialized squad cast a huge, combined Light spell, illuminating the whole area as if the sun came down from the sky.
All shadows were wiped out instantly and all the hidden assassins were revealed where they stood.
"Kisuke, Taeko, we can't participate in this fight. We aren't in sync with the soldiers and the enemies here are mostly at the Advanced Mage Stage or higher. Let's step back and fight the ones in the True Mage Stage or lower."
Hanako spoke to the two men and pulled their arms backward, distancing them from the messy battle.
"All right, I can take the role to sense the assassins if they come near us. But it's dangerous, what if one of the stronger enemy mages slips through the defense of the military and targets us?"
Kisuke voiced his opinion on the matter.
"We are standing at the back of the troops, so there's the same risk by staying where we are. If a Darkness Mage at the sixth stage ambushes us here, the military won't be able to react in time and save us. Since we are taking a risk by staying here anyway, it's better to raise it slightly to gain some merits by killing assassins, or The Empress will look down on us for hiding behind the soldiers."
"All right, I guess we can survive if we are ambushed by a fifth-stage mage. Let's do it."
At that moment, powerful darkness that could only be described as black light was projected from the ground. It was another layer of defense in the base, and it was the countermeasure against the Zone of Light spell.
The darkness covered the whole central part of the base, and it would hold on for at least 10 minutes. The light could still pierce through the darkness, but it was only enough to negate some of the darkness, not entirely remove it.
"Platoon 1, work together to destroy the magic circle, Platoon 2 and 3, fight the assassins!"
Although the assassins could fight again using the darkness, they lost the element of surprise they gained by blowing up their building earlier. Thus, they were at a disadvantage while fighting the soldiers.
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm The commander of Platoon 1 quickly gave orders to complete the mission he was given.
"Squad 1 cast defenses from the front, Squad 2, cast defenses from the back. The rest of the squads, destroy the magic circle!"
The platoon changed its formation; one squad took the front and cast a powerful squad spell to defend the platoon. Another squad took the back and cast a spell as well, covering the whole platoon with tight defense.
Although the assassins would be able to break through those defenses if they attacked, it'd take time.
The thing they lacked the most was time; they were getting attacked by the other platoons and couldn't divert mages to deal with the first platoon despite hearing the enemy's orders.
Huge blasts resounded in the base as the squad spells tried to destroy the ground and get to the magic circles hidden under it, but there was another magic circle intertwined with the one that created the darkness.
The second magic circle was a defensive type. It prevented attacks from both within and outside, and it was perfect to defend another magic circle that only worked on charged coins.
"Keep attacking! They can't have that many charged coins!"
Each blow easily burnt the mana stored in 5000 charged coins. Since three squads were attacking, the cost of maintaining the magic circle was 15,000 charged per 3-4 seconds.
Every minute the attacks continue would cost the assassins over 250,000 charged coins. Although the organization had billions of it, it didn't mean a small base had such a huge budget.
The moment the magic circle would be destroyed the assassins that couldn't leave will be doomed.
The military worked efficiently and cast spells to prevent the assassins from running away. They put emphasis on keeping the fifth-stage and sixth-stage mages trapped, so a few assassins from lower ranks managed to escape.
Most of those who managed to run away were true mages, as magicians couldn't survive the blasts of the horrifying war of the mages.
Meanwhile, Kisuke tracked down assassins at the True Mage Stage and let the imperial siblings deal with them. Although his stage was limited to the fourth stage by the device, it couldn't take his SSS affinity or his status as a Higher Ruler.
When he concentrated on the Darkness Mana around him, even advanced mages couldn't hide from his perception.
'I can sense one advanced mage that managed to get out of the military's encirclement. Let's retreat.'
He thought to himself and told the siblings to follow him as he ran in the opposite direction to avoid that assassin. The trio kept hunting true mages and a few magicians while the battle went on in the previous area.
"Having someone with Darkness affinity is a huge benefit. Unfortunately, Akito also has it, and his affinity should also be at the peak of the SS rank. As an advanced mage, he should have an easier time than us."
Inwardly she was rather surprised by Kisuke's efficiency in finding the assassins despite being at the same stage. Although she leaned on him because he had a better affinity than the assassins and his Intermediate Elite Human status, she didn't think the difference would be that big.
She couldn't sense the assassins at all when he flashed them out from hundreds of meters away.
While Kisuke and his group were hunting for runaway assassins, the battle was still ongoing in the center of the base.
"Platoon 1, keep attacking the magic circle, it can't hold on for much longer!"
2 minutes passed and the first platoon was still attacking the magic circle. The commander estimated that there were enough coins for the magic circle to hold on for a maximum of another two minutes.
It was a small base and most of the coins were used to support daily activities like training and fulfilling the daily needs of the assassins living there. They couldn't have a huge stash of spare coins.
Besides, they must have burnt a lot of coins in their first engagement, as well as even more coins to maintain the magic circle that created the darkness.
The squad spells were powerful, and if the soldiers attacked separately instead, they'd take at least thrice longer to break through the defenses of the magic circle.
Over those 2 minutes of fighting, the assassins managed to kill a few more soldiers from the third platoon. Since that platoon was the weakest now, they aimed to kill it off.
The military wasn't just taking a beating silently; they already killed around 20 expert mages and 60 advanced mages from the enemies.
If it wasn't for the difficulty of being the ones to attack and deal with the magic circles, the assassins would be wiped out long ago.
Although those 2 minutes sound like a little, they were a lot of time for mages. During this time Kisuke and the others managed to kill 13 true mages from the enemy side.
"Hanako, be careful, an advanced mage is heading toward us, and we can't avoid him. Be ready to engage him in a fight."
Hanako and Taeko instantly raised their guard and were prepared to defend themselves from an ambush. Although the three of them were true mages, they all were Elite Humans with affinities at the top of the SS rank.
If the enemy was an average advanced mage, they wouldn't fear fighting him 1v1, and when it was 1v3, they could win even if he was a genius if he wasn't an Elite Human himself.
"Ok guys, 30 meters away from us, will be here in a second."
Kisuke sent a huge firestorm in the assassin's direction. The assassin was a close-combat fighter who wielded 2 daggers in his hands.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Although the Order was an international organization, it seems that the local assassins were fond of fighting with weapons just like the residents of the Chijakor Empire.
The assassin vanished from his spot to avoid the firestorm, but the light from the fire allowed anyone who was looking for it to see a dark silhouette.
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