Chapter 209: Horde Leader

Leila

“Found it,” said August.

Immediately, my expression changed. Not only me, but also of everyone who had heard it.

It had been nearly two hours since the battle had begun, and I had been searching for it, using every sensory spell I had, but the bastard had evaded me.

I am talking about the horde leader; the monster who is controlling it all. Once it got killed, the whole horde would disperse.

‘Frost Whips,’

I activated the spell, and twelve sharp frost whips came out around me. Killing half of the surrounding monsters.

Only the strongest were able to dodge on time.

I hadn’t used this spell till now and for a good reason. The mana expenditure of the spell.

I used this opportunity to move toward August, killing any monster, coming into my way with Frost Daggers and Frost Spears, and defending the attacks with the Frost Shields and Ice Walls.

Puch Pachak Bang!

Finally, I reached August, who was dealing with monsters of his own and I started helping him.

A minute and a half later, Major Jarvis appeared, and half a minute after that, Mage Alva and Thaddeus Stone.

“Legs go,” said August as we all reached him. We nodded and moved, wasting no time.

‘We are leaving,’ I sent the message to all and could a moment later, within a few seconds, our offense intensified against the monsters.

We had already planned how we would deal with the horde leader. The first step is finding the leader.

The second is surrounding it, and the third is killing.

Our group is formed for that.

The five of us are not the strongest. Baron Harrods and Ignatius with his artifact are the strongest among us, but five of us have suitable abilities. We were also chosen because others are integral in dealing with monsters.

If someone like Ignatius, who is leading the attack against avian monsters, or Baron Harrods, who is dealing with Grade 3 Monster, joined us.

It will affect the battle adversely; they need to stay there, to keep the monsters at bay.

Among the five of us, Mage Alva had her defensive spells. Major Jarvis was a soldier of experience and war skills.

Thaddeus Stone is Remus’s man, a giant blood with impeccable battle skills.

I have seen him against bandits. He was amazing.

Looking at him, one would think, he is all brawn, but he is an experienced warrior and Baron Harrods himself suggested that he would join the horde leader hunting group.

There is then me.

I don’t like to tote my horn, but I am a good Spell Sword, with a considerable number of defensive spells in my arsenal and experience to use them.

The last one is August. He is Ignatius’s man. A friend he had made during his travels.

I don’t know what he is.

While he is fighting with the spear and seems quite experienced in it. It doesn’t feel like he is a spear.

It is why Major Jarvis and I wanted Baron Harrods to lead the hunting group, despite the cost, but Ignatius said August would be a better choice than Baron Harrods.

I am having a hard time believing in it. Seeing he is even weaker than Major Jarvis. The only thing that kept me from objecting was Ignatius’s confidence in him.

Pachac Puch Bang!

We are moving fast, killing everything that came in our path. It is important that we reach the horde leader before it discovers us.

It would be troublesome if it discovered us before that.

We have taken an important gamble in choosing to go after the leader.

With us leaving, the pressure on the others had increased tremendously and many people would die, but if we didn’t kill the horde leader.

The entire army would be slaughtered by the monsters.

They have now started dealing with the enemies against their full power, using everything they have.

It means they will tire quickly. We need to finish the job before that happens and that won’t be easy, given the sheer number of monsters.

It turned out our scouts had been a little strong in estimating the number of the monsters. If Captain Jorah’s skill is to be believed; there are around six thousand monsters that have attacked us.

If we knew the monsters had such numbers; few people would have dared to fight against them.

It would have been especially bad for me and Baron Harrods. Our territories would have been the first targeted by them.

I don’t think even a single brick would have survived their assault, much less the people in the keep.

It is why we need to kill the horde leader and defeat the horde. There is no other choice because they will not leave after they are done with us. They will target the baronies, with mine being first.

ROAR!

Four and a half minutes passed, and the horde leader roared, just when we were about to approach it, and ran away.

“It discovered us. Don’t hold back, used everything you have,” said August.

Just as he said that, more than half of the monsters fighting around us, turned and attacked us.

“Fuck!”

I cursed loudly, without caring for my station.

What I had feared had happened; the horde leader had discovered us before we reached it.

The memories of Nyker Island came back in front of me. There I had fought another horde a few years ago and my group was unlucky to be close to the leader when the hunting group approached it.

More than half of my group had perished in that battle. I had to join the hunting group to kill one of the leaders.

It was during that battle; that Alaric and I had crossed the second capstone. Reaching Level 20.

Frost Mist. Ice Bullets.

I cast two spells simultaneously. One clouded their vision while numbing their movements, and the other pierced through their bodies.

The Ice Bullets are not a strong spell, but I could use it in large numbers. It is especially effective at a close range and takes less than half of the mana compared to Frost Daggers.

We moved fast toward the leader. I started to burn more mana than I liked to, but there was no choice.

There are too many monsters attacking us, not to mention the bastard leader has also started to move around, seeing we are on him.

Thankfully, we have not lost it. August seemed to have tracking skills, which let him never lose the monster’s position.

ROAR!

Over ten minutes have passed since we are chasing the bastards and we have yet to catch them.

Many times, we have got closer to it, but it would always run away. It is intentionally doing that. I could see it in its eyes.

It is making us running run around it, while commanding its monsters to fight more frenziedly.

It is extremely challenging for us to fight through the monsters, but we have learned about each other’s abilities and used our spells and skills more in sync to lessen the pressure.

It also helps that now and then. We would receive help from mages and archers on the hill.

Though the instances are few; they are busy dealing with their load of monsters, who have become more frenzied at the command of their leader.

Bam Bam Bam!

I had just dealt with a monster when a group of blade snakes flew toward me. I activated the Ice Wall, making them crash against it.

Aurican Needles.

I activated another of my spells and a barrage of thin needles went toward the blade snakes, piercing their skin and killing them.

Hun!

I had just killed the group of Blade Snakes when I saw another monster coming at me.

A Fire Fur Wolf jumped from behind the dead blade snakes and came at me with those fiery claws.

If those claws hit me; they will tear me apart.

The Fire Fur Wolf is as big as me and that fire is powerful enough to melt my ice in seconds. It is not an opponent I would dare to underestimate, but it had underestimated me by attacking like this.

Minor Haste. Spring Steps.

I activated the Minor Haste spell and Spring Steps skill.

The combination of these two spells and skills gave me a speed that was faster than the leaping monster.

Pure Mage Classes couldn’t have skills. It is a restriction on them, but I am not a pure mage. I am Spell Blade; a mage and a warrior, which let me have the benefit of both.

However, it is also harder to level up with greater restrictions. They are worth it with the power it gives me.

I appeared to the left of the monster and brought down my sword hard. I didn’t even use the skill.

Pachac!

The monster sensed my attack, and fire flared under its claws as it tried to retreat in panic, but I was too close.

It would have been better for the monster if it had come at me instead of retreating.

Then it would be me, who would be retreating. Mutual destruction isn’t the thing I want.

Pachack!

My sword reached his neck and cut through it smoothly, dispute the burst fire coming out to stop the momentum of my attack.

It might have affected a common enchanted weapon, but it could forget about affecting my sword. It is a weapon, the closest artifact, and the family had paid a very high price to get it.

I had killed it when two more monsters attacked me.

I didn’t activate a shield or spells and just waited for them, before attacking them with my sword.

I wouldn’t usually take such risks, but I want to conserve my mana as much as possible.

A few more minutes passed, and we continued to chase the monster around the battlefield.

I even caught a glimpse of my brother fighting, and I have to say he was just as good against the monsters as he had been against the bandits.

I am still quite surprised that he came here.

In the past two weeks, we had held many meetings, and I had asked whether he would join the battle if the monster attacked, and his answer had always been a no.

Now, he is fighting.

A few more minutes passed, and we were still chasing the monster. I begin to wonder whether we would be able to catch the monster before these monsters slaughter us all.

“I got it! We have only five seconds to reach it,” shouted Mr. August suddenly, and I saw him suddenly increase his speed.

Seeing that, I increased my speed to match his, while once again thinking about his class.

He is Hunter?

It could be his class, seeing he was able to find the monster in thousands of them and able to track it for minutes, before using some sort of containment/hold-type skill on it.

ROAR!

My thoughts were interrupted by the monster’s roar; it was looking at us angrily.

It didn’t seem like a horde leader like August containing in limited space. He seemed to have used skills like Hunters Circle that keep the prey locked in a limited area.

Monsters came at us, but we tore them apart as we moved toward their leader at our greatest speed.

Cry!

Every monster around us trying to stop, including the avian. I could hear the loud cry of the Grade 3 monster from the sky, but Ignatius kept it occupied.

There are not only a large number of monsters, but there are also more powerful monsters than we had expected.

Four Grades 3 monsters; with the leader being the strongest among them.

It took us four seconds to reach the horde leader and used the last second to surround it.

I sent the area-wide message to all for the final attack.

Since we have surrounded the horde leader. All the monsters will target us, and I really hope the people will protect us while we deal with it.

It is the most dangerous part of fighting against the horde. The make and break a moment.

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