They were making progress in front and defeated many of the enemies but before they could even celebrate, they heard roars coming from behind. And just as the major expected, ogres of different sizes were running towards them.
"This is bad! Really bad!" Astrophos used another spell to create a wall of stone to stop the monsters from coming and squashing them all. He did not hesitate to spent more mana and reinforced the wall with several walls in hopes of buying them time to kill everyone at the front and make a run for it.
"Someone really, really hates you major," Cygnus could not help but exclaim once he was beside the major. "If we manage to survive, I think we will be fine on our own."
The major chuckled before hacking one of the enemies who tried to sneak from the side. He watched as Cygnus also fought hard and tried his best to engage in a close combat fight. He was even impressed that Cygnus was holding his own against the enemies. He could also see that there was a distortion around the man's hand and whenever he hit someone, a swirling power would destroy the enemy's clothes and mark their skin with something similar to a spiral shape.
The master was doing his best to defend himself and attack at the same time, even though his steps were a bit unstable he was still able to beat some of the enemies who tried to kill him. After the last one who came after him fell, he decided to get away and launch an attack but before he could do that someone blocked his path.
A man wearing a mask stood in front of him and before he could even blink a lightning struck where he was. He was lucky that he dodged the attack but he was still injured. Cygnus hissed at the burning pain on his arm and saw that his jacket was burned and his skin turned red.
He was still finding his balance when the enemy appeared a few inches from his right with his hand that was covered in lightning was already centimeters away from his face and he could only watch with wide eyes as the fast attack was about to hit him.
Ginehart saw that Cygnus was facing a magic user beyond his capacity so he decided to intervene. He ran towards them and before the enemy's fist could hit Cygnus, he jumped up with his sword in the air as he went for a downward slash.
The enemy felt the attack so instead of going for Cygnus, he twisted his body and let his fist hit the major's sword which propelled them away from each other. Ginehart was knocked back while the enemy hit the ground but he got back up again.
Ginehart looked at Cygnus who got away from the scene while clutching his arm. "Why don't you go ahead?"
Cygnus nodded then he turned around and left. The masked enemy did not care about Cygnus since his real target was already in front of him. Ginehart calmly faced the enemy who shifted his whole attention to him.
"It looks like I am really your target," the major commented but the masked man did not answer. The enemy instead rushed towards him with his body covered in lightning. Sparks started to rain on the area where the two were fighting.
With the speed of lightning, the masked man was hitting Ginehart fast and accurate. There were also times where he would suddenly disappear and appear above, behind or from the major's left or right side. He managed to evade and defend against all of it though.
Cygnus watched from the side with squinted eyes, he could not believe that the major could hold his own against a magic user of that caliber when he could not even see the attack coming. A subtle smile bloomed in his lips but after that it was already gone.
The major lunged forward at the right moment and stabbed at the man's chest but the man was able to avoid the sword as he shifted his body to the side. The masked man then opened his fist and brought it down in a slicing motion towards the sword. The collision of the magic and the anti-magic sword created a fiction that resulted in both of them being thrown away.
The master who was watching on the side took that chance to send wind scythes towards the enemy who had yet to land. The invisible wind successfully hit the masked man which pushed him to the ground. Several wind scythes followed the first one which pinned the man.
Ginehart who got his balance back did not hesitate to follow-up the attack of Cygnus as he ran as fast as he could towards the masked man and in a one swift motion, he jumped and angled his blade horizontally then stabbed hard at the man.
He then twisted his sword to make sure that the man was dead. He stood up and pulled up his sword then flicked it on the side to remove the blood that was on it. Ginehart looked at the direction of Cygnus and gave him a nod.
They looked around and saw that the number of the enemies were slowly dwindling down but the unmistakable cracking of the stone walls that Astrophos created could also be heard amidst the noise of the battle.
"Move!" The major suddenly shouted and those who had their horses yet regrouped in a spear formation to pierce through the remaining enemies. The others followed and used the abandoned horses to escape. Ginehart remained in the rear to defend against the attack together with Astrophos and Cygnus. Mr. C and Nina together with the lieutenant were at the front supporting the formation.
'Boom!' The sound of the rocks falling on the ground as the wall gave in was the signal that more enemies will be coming after them. The ogres that were trapped for only a few minutes were already enraged with their faces and bodies turning red. Their movements were faster than the first ogres they fought. They only took five steps and yet they already caught up to them.
The ogres started to swing their arms without worrying about the arrows that were piercing their skins. All they could see were the enemies who were running away from them. A loud and rumbling roar came from the ogres as some of them started to run faster then they launched their big bodies towards the group who were trying to escape.
Even without the major's command, the soldiers scattered and tried to avoid the bodies that were trying to squash them to death. Astrophos used piercing rock to prevent some of them from directly landing on the soldiers but the other ogres that were still running bulldozed through the piercing rock and continued with their mindless attack.
"We won't be able to stop them if we don't kill the magic users who are controlling them." Astrophos gave the major a look. He could not leave to find the magic users since his hands were full but he can't entrust that task to Cygnus because he was afraid that something bad might happen again.
