Although his entry appeared overbearing and dramatic to the members of the Talons, Lith was actually quite desperate, and so was Solus. The moment the snarky man had revealed his presence, he knew that he had just went from the frying pan into a volcano.
Whoever those guys were, they had mastered the discipline of spatial magic to the point of making it an art form. Lith could only run or fly, but against an opponent that cold bend space, Blink or Switch it was useless.
His only option was to get in and kill them so fast they would not even understand what had hit them. It was time to test the limits of his new body.
- "First thing first, we need to kill the Warden." Lith thought, not knowing it was his intended target's head that he was throwing to the nearest enemy, making both heads burst open for the violence of the impact.
"Our only hope is to find him before he casts another array, otherwise we are screwed. The only silver lining is that Warden's spells are slow a*s."
"You focus on the killing." Solus replied.
"I'll collect as much intel as I can about our opponents. If I see the slightest hint of Warden magic, I'll tell you." –
Sadly, the Talons unit was comprised only by veterans, hence as soon Lith beheaded Seephit, it took them barely a second to recover and regroup. The one Lith had killed with an unconventional headbutt, was simply too close to dodge the projectile.
Farion Negal, the General, instantly issued coded orders, that his men were ready to execute. The element of surprise was already lost, and Lith had yet to face nine more people.
"Black two! Red three! White four!" Despite the target was just a kid, Negal employed an extremely aggressive tactic. His creed was that no matter the opponent, never underestimate, never relax, never talk until the kill was confirmed.
The two most skilled melee expert would kill him, o worst case scenario, keep him busy while three mid range specialists would cover for them and stall enough time for the four long ranged spellcaster to put an end to the struggle.
Cursing his bad luck for the umpteenth time since he was born back on Earth, Lith prepared to face his incoming enemies. First, he pushed his mana core to the limit, emitting a light cyan aura that enveloped the space around him with a mana so dense that the air started to crackle.
Then, he infused his body with all the six elements, while casting one of his new spells as fast as he could. The two Talons were a man and a woman, the first using a sword and shield combination, the second twin swords instead.
Bloodlust and madness twisted their features, to the point that not even Yurial would have wasted time pondering if she was hot or not.
- "Beware! All their equipment is on par with the corps! Even their tattoos seem to be enchanted." Solus warned him.
"Just my luck. I need a damn weapon to block enchanted blades, but I still can't afford the academy's prices!" –
A chunk of the tattoos disappeared, boosting their speed like a high grade potion and allowing them to reach Lith before he could finish casting. They placed in opposite directions, forcing Lith to create a blind spot in his visual field.
Much to their surprise, he didn't even try following the movements of them both with his eyes. Instead, he turned his back on the shield man, focusing only on the double wielding woman.
Nonetheless they didn't lose focus, executing a two pronged attack where each strike was meant to corner the prey, by making the attacks coming from the partner harder to evade. Yet Lith dodged them all flawlessly, even those coming from his back.
The first exchange was more than enough for Negal to understand what was happening, forcing him to violate his creed already.
"What are you doing, you idiots?! That's Full Guard! Red, white fall back!" To prevent their target from escaping, Negal started weaving the anti air magic array.
For a split second the Talons froze, thinking their General had gone mad.
Full Guard was a common Mage Knight spell, that created a spherical blue aura with a radius of 1.65 meters (5.41 feet) all around the caster.
Thanks to Full Guard, a Mage Knight had no blind spots. Whatever entered the sphere would be detected, allowing him to counter attack and dodge with surgical precision without even looking.
What Negal said didn't make sense, though. The cyan aura surrounding their target had a radius of over twenty meters (66'), something every one of them knew by experience was impossible.
The spell range, even at tier five, was supposed to cover only the length given by the arm plus weapon length. When their instinct and discipline kicked in, making them obey the order, it was already too late.
Lith had previously ignored the earlier football coach gibberish, but now, violating his creed Negal had exposed himself.
- "Warden at three o'clock!" Solus shouted the moment she recognized the energy pattern. –
Lith exploited the opening, darting toward Negal while extending his arms, with a motion that made no sense to his enemies. At that distance, any spell coming from a ring could be easily avoided.
The red and white team moved backwards, without stopping their chants, trying to keep the distance from the prey while the black team was in hot pursuit. Their problem was twofold, though.
Lith was too fast for his chasers, and no one in the Talons knew of spirit magic's existence.
Fast like a snake, tendrils of pure, invisible mana travelled the space between predator and prey, coiling around Negal's head. Spells rained on Lith from all directions.
Some he managed to dodge, others he had to tank in order to not lose focus, letting the combined effects of earth fusion and his uniform to block most of the damage, while light fusion regenerated the wounds as soon as they were opened.
With each step he took, Lith's magical force became strong enough to overcame Negal's enchanted protections, horribly deforming his head before popping it like a balloon.
Spirit magic's range had already reached fifty meters (54.7 yards) back when he had saved Count Lark's family.
Now it could hit as far as Lith could see, yet the farther he was from the target, the weaker the effects.
- "Okay, the Warden is down. Eight more to go. With a bit of luck, the shock from my use of spirit magic should stun them for a couple of seconds, giving me plenty of time to evening the field." –
Yet, luck was a fickle mistress. What Lith ignored, knowing nothing about military except what he learned from the movies, was that in such tight knitted units there were two only two kinds of generals.
The ones whose death would destroy the morale, turning them into sitting ducks, like he had hoped, and the ones whose death would turn his soldiers into battle frenzy demons unafraid of death.
Farion Negal belonged in the second category. Most of the members of the Talons were either psychopaths devoid of empathy or cold blooded killers, they didn't care about anything but themselves.
Killing Negal was the equivalent to cutting their lifeline, they had no idea how to survive outside the battlefield without him. A few were even grateful to him for having rescued them before their execution.
Each and every one of them took it personal.
To make things worse, Brigadier Phita Beruit, second in command, quickly regained her cool, avoiding the situation to devolve into chaos.
"Black four! Red two! White two! Don't let the General's death go to waste. F*cking kill him!"
Brigadier General Beruit was an ex member of the Queen's corps. It was thanks to her knowledge about the corps' protocol and equipment that the mission had gone so smoothly, up until Seephit's death.
Unlike the others, she had already seen someone moving so fast. Once, Beruit had been a member of the Queen's detail, witnessing her inhuman speed. During an ambush, she had killed three assailants before her bodyguards could even move.
In her mind, now everything finally made sense, all her questions had found an answer. Why six members of the corps had been sent to protect an insignificant commoner. Why the pay was obscenely good, even for the Talons' standards.
"The f*cker is a member of the royal family!" She shouted.
"We have to make this quick, before they send someone looking for him!"
Everyone in the Talon had heard Beruit's tale at least once. No one had ever believed her, thinking it was a self-delusion from when she was still a rookie. But now things had changed.
Beruit couldn't believe that Negal had hid from them such a valuable piece of information. She knew not even the General took her story seriously, but being so meticulous that act of carelessness seemed so out of character.
- "I'm what?!" Lith couldn't avoid to inwardly sneer at that rubbish.
"First, I'm the bastard son of Count Lark, and this time of the Queen?"
"Two more enemies coming up close!" Solus warned him.
Lith could only sigh with relief.
"Just what the healer ordered." –
Then, he activated the spell he had previously casted, turning the world around him dark.