The Arch-Mage

Chapter 7

After eating a delicious freshly killed ox with some ground vegetables, the four walked to the front lines. Since Miran had no idea where to go, he followed Sylvia closely to make sure he didn't get lost. They walked the whole afternoon. When night fell, they climbed the trees and made sure one person kept watch at all times. These forests might be peaceful during the day but weird creatures prowled during the night. Blood being the only thing that can sate their hunger. Nothing much happened during the night. They restarted their march to the front lines. None of them knew what they were going to do. The matriarch had given them a scroll that they would open when they reached the front lines. The instructions would be in said scroll. Miran wondered why they didn't just receive the orders and Sylvia explained that it was a way that would make sure that, no matter the difficulty, they would not retreat. Upon reaching the front lines, they ate and opened the scroll. The instructions were very clear. Miran would attack the army present in the valley and further while the three others would sneak behind enemy lines and destroy their magic academy. It was an extremely risky plan but it could slow down their magical progression. There are more human mages than elves so they always had a numerical advantage but this could cripple the magical part of the military. It was risky because the three of them would be attacking an area with who knows how many mages. Nevertheless, they all got ready for their mission. The three left Miran to himself. The mage waited a few minutes to make sure they didn't get caught up in the battle to come. When the waiting was done, he walked out of the forest and towards the human army. The soldiers looked amused at this development. One of the archers shot an arrow at him. It landed a few feet from him. Annoyed at their reaction, he summoned his guards in the forest and made them run out, swords out and screaming. One moment, there was no sound and then, the cacophony started. Thousands of human-like armoured creatures ran out of the forest like a bat out of hell while screaming. The human soldiers were clearly not expecting this. The archers scrambled to their posts and started shooting. All of the ethereal guards took dozens of arrows but didn't slow their run. If anything, they seemed more motivated. There begun the raid of Oka valley.

Footmen grabbed their weapons while archers tried shooting the army that didn't slow their approach. No-one expected the elves to attack. Not like this anyway. When everyone was armed, the footmen ran out at the soldiers only to be cut down by massive swords. Hundreds died in the first few minutes. Panicking, some retreated while others turned and fought. In 10 minutes, the military camp had been destroyed. His next target would be the fort an hour walking from his location. Not bothered enough to walk, he summoned a horse and rode it. The raid of Oka valley ended up being one of the biggest military loss in human history. It was also the biggest massacre in elven history.

After around twenty minutes, he reached the fort. As he had expected, the soldiers who retreated ran here. The gates were closed, drawbridge lifted and the archers were already shooting at him. Amusing, he thought. He summoned his ethereal guards and made them climb the fort walls. Before the first could reach the top, a lightning bolt struck him down. And then the one next to him and so on until they were all back to the floor. The smile slowly fading from his face, he turned to an approaching magical presence. Five mages wearing military uniforms were flying towards him. As a test of strength they sent dozens of lightning spears at Miran. Although difficult to master these spells were extremely powerful when it came to going through metal shields. Or magical bubble like shields. Whichever came first. Miran covered himself in black fire and shrugged off the hits. It took a lot for him not to recoil and scream in pain as the lightning had done some damage. A little worried, he gave 500 guards bows with flaming arrows while the other 500 tried climbing the wall. Now that they were preoccupied with blocking the arrows and stopping the soldiers from climbing the wall, which they did very quickly, they didn't pay too much attention to Miran. They must have thought that he was only a summoner so he couldn't attack them if they stopped his soldiers. A serious mistake on their part. Miran waited before attacking them.