Though they were formidable, their movements were relatively slow, so trolls could hardly be expected to perform as well as ogres.
With soldiers in the vicinity swarming in en masse, the three trolls soon became corpses chopped into several pieces.
“Hah. Hah.”
As the soldiers gasped roughly over the trolls’ corpses, a cold voice rang in their ears.
“Everyone, move aside.”
The soldiers, knowing what that meant, scattered aside and opened a path.
Through them, an enormous fireball, accompanied by tremendous heat, was unleashed. The fireball split the air as it flew, then struck the very center of the orc troops.
Kwa-kwa-boom!
An earth-shaking explosion erupted, and the lives of countless orc warriors vanished within the flames.
That blow was enough to break their morale. Hundreds of brave warriors had been annihilated by a single magical attack. They no longer had any way to stop the human mage.
“Chiiik. Re-retreat.”
Having already lost more than half of his warriors, the orc chieftain finally gave the order to retreat, unable to hold out any longer. It was a decision he made because if they lost any more warriors, the very survival of the Sakata tribe would be in danger. Accordingly, the orcs of the Sakata tribe began to withdraw from the battlefield like the ebbing tide. By the nature of their race, the retreating orcs had no thought whatsoever of recovering their wounded. They merely withdrew from the battlefield in a disorderly, frantic mass.
Since time immemorial, the moment when results on a battlefield are maximized is when pursuing a retreating enemy.
For that reason, the Eighth Corps immediately began its pursuit. A pursuit force was quickly formed around the cavalry and light infantry, and Marquis Hauzen, the corps commander, shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Pursue them! Follow them to the very ends of hell and wipe them out!”
The orcs fled with their tails between their legs. The pursuit force stuck close behind them, determined not to let them escape.
Their figures soon disappeared from view. And those excluded from the pursuit force immediately set about cleaning up the battlefield. Their assigned duty was to finish off the wounded orcs who were still breathing.
Of course, that too was no easy task. Though they were wounded, there was no way the orcs, incarnations of fighting spirit, would die meekly. But no matter how much they struggled, fate would not change. Soon, the mournful screams of dying orcs rang widely throughout the field.
“Is it over now?”
The mage lightly wiped away the sweat streaming down like rain and let out a long sigh. Through the hem of his robe, skin ravaged by terrible burns was faintly revealed.
He was none other than Doyle. The magical attack that had displayed such terrifying power had been his work.
After catching his breath for a moment, Doyle moved his feet and approached someone. There stood the very person who had felled two ogres, his eyes gleaming.
“You did well, Damon.”
The identity of the figure who had displayed monstrous strength was none other than Damon. As if proud of him, Doyle patted Damon on the shoulder. First, he hurriedly withdrew the magic he had cast over Damon’s body. If he did not dispel the magic quickly, there was a risk that Damon’s body would age rapidly. In truth, the reason Damon had been able to perform such feats was because of Doyle’s tremendous assistance.
“So, it seems the Power-up Gauntlets were effective.”
“Yes. Thanks to your help, Master……”
Damon bowed his head respectfully. In truth, if Doyle had not cast various spells on his body, he would never have been able to achieve such results.
First of all, the reason Damon had performed so brilliantly was because Doyle had cast haste magic on his body. It was a spell that maximized agility by making time flow faster for the caster. When the speed granted by haste was added to Damon’s already nimble movements, his offensive power truly surpassed imagination. This could be fully understood from the fact that even the agile ogres had been unable to catch him at all.
Furthermore, the gauntlets Damon wore were the Power-up Gauntlets that Doyle had poured his heart and soul into creating. Of course, there was no reason Doyle, who had spent thirty years locked in an underground prison crafting magical armaments, could not create something like Power-up Gauntlets. With just these two things, Damon had been able to achieve the battle result of bringing down two ogres. It was something that, under the same conditions, any other soldier would not have succeeded in doing, yet Damon had done it. Doyle’s eyes shone silently.
‘But this is something no one but Damon could have done.’
All of it stemmed from the fact that Damon possessed the ability to gather mana.
If he had not had the ability to control mana, then no matter how skilled Doyle was, he would never have been able to cast haste on Damon’s body, and the Power-up Gauntlets would not have been able to display their true power……
Thinking of the process, Doyle inwardly clicked his tongue in awe.
‘Perhaps among all the mages on the continent of Trubenia, the only one to have reached the stage of gathering mana in such a short time is Damon.’
He looked at Damon with a gaze that was both amazed and deeply proud. And with good reason. His disciple Damon had managed to gather mana in only six months. Though he had grown rather cheeky these days, Damon was still his proud disciple. Before he knew it, Doyle was recalling what had happened six months ago, when he had arrived here with Damon.
After two days of travel, Doyle and Damon were able to arrive at the battlefield where the Eighth Corps was stationed.
The soldiers who had come with them were soon deployed to appropriate positions, and Damon was formally appointed by the commander of the Eighth Corps as Doyle’s guard. Five additional guards were assigned to Doyle as well, but that posed no problem.
As if it were only natural, Doyle placed Damon as the leader of the guards. Of course, among those guards there was surely a spy meant to monitor Doyle’s every move, but Damon was more than capable of blocking their eyes and ears. Having once led hundreds of subordinates through countless battles, Damon had enough ability to pick out a spy. Doyle could now teach Damon magic with peace of mind.
If one were to choose the most leisurely post in the army, mage would undoubtedly be at the top.
Under normal circumstances, mages were often mobilized only for large-scale battles. This was partly out of consideration for mages, who had comparatively weak defenses, but the decisive reason was the intention to maximize the power of magic.
Due to the nature of magic, which used a limited amount of mana, mages never took part in small-scale battles. During that time, they rested at leisure. If they accumulated a great deal of mana during their rest period, they could display tremendous power in large-scale battles.
Because of that, the transmission of magic between master and disciple proceeded very smoothly. The one teaching gave it his all, but the one learning also received the instruction as if his life depended on it. And after only six months—more precisely, just a few days ago—Damon displayed the impressive feat of gathering mana by his own will. Doyle looked warmly at the disciple who had accomplished something utterly unbelievable and spoke to him.
“There is nothing to worry about now. Before long, you will become a 1st Circle mage. Then you will be able to form a contract with the Demon King, and once that happens, you should be able to raise your abilities without much difficulty.”
“I understand, Master.”
Watching Damon bow his head respectfully, Doyle nodded in satisfaction. At the corners of Damon’s lowered mouth, a faint smile also passed by. It was a smile of joy at the fact that the path to becoming a mage had opened before him.
That he had reached the stage of gathering mana in only six months was a result that stemmed from the fact that Damon had once been a martial artist who had attained an astonishing realm.
Although there was a difference in that warriors controlled the qi within their own bodies, while mages controlled the qi outside their bodies through will, Damon could begin from a far more advantageous starting point in that he thoroughly understood the movement of mana and its pathways. Of course, even though he had lost his internal energy, the methods of controlling and managing the qi inside his body were clearly engraved in Damon’s mind, and that experience became an enormous catalyst in learning magic.
Needless to say, Doyle’s excellent teaching based on his own experience and Damon’s will played crucial roles as well. Thus, Damon finally took his first step onto the path of magic.
The battlefield was more or less being cleared.
The wounded orcs who resisted sporadically did not last long before being annihilated. Seeing clouds of dust rising in the distance, it seemed even the troops that had gone in pursuit were returning after securing a tidy victory.
As Damon stared blankly at the sight, a soldier with a mustache approached him. He was a soldier named Lloyd, one of the guards assigned with Damon to protect Doyle. At present, a total of five guards were placed under Damon, and all of them were under his control. However, in Damon’s opinion, Lloyd was undoubtedly someone dispatched to monitor Doyle, so he had no particular desire to become close to him.
Damon swept his gaze over Lloyd’s body. Seeing that the steel armor he wore was dented here and there, it seemed he too had fought quite a fierce battle. With a worried expression, he addressed Damon.
“Captain. You worked hard.”
“It wasn’t anything worth calling hard work.”
Seeing through the fact that his friendly expression was largely affected, Damon merely gave a slight nod, then walked off with long, loose strides. Lloyd stared blankly at Damon’s back, his face slightly twisted. In truth, Damon thought that if not for himself, the position of guard leader would surely have belonged to Lloyd, so the feelings Lloyd held toward him could not be very favorable.
Because he had kept haste active for a long time, fatigue came flooding over him like a tide. But Damon paid it no mind at all. Perhaps it was because he had found an answer.
The study called magic could grant him sufficient power.
Because of that, Damon’s personality had changed greatly. In truth, ever since being betrayed by Sa Junhwan, Damon’s speech had dwindled to an extreme degree. Not only had he lost all the subordinates with whom his heart had been in accord, but he had also been cast alone onto the continent of Trubenia, where he could not even communicate, and had been forced to endure hardships for a long time. Because of all that, his mind was now in an extremely devastated state.
But unexpectedly, having met Doyle here, someone he could trust, and having regained a certain degree of power, he was able to recover his composure once more. He turned his head and swept his gaze over the battlefield, which was strewn everywhere with corpses.
“I suppose I’m not meant to live an ordinary life. To think a horrific battlefield feels more familiar to me……”
With a bitter smile, Damon went at once to find his master, Doyle.
Perhaps because he had consumed quite a lot of mana through the close battle, Doyle’s face was extremely pale. It was only natural. Recently, the orcs had been provoking them frequently, so there had not been much time to rest. The mana a mage could draw from his surroundings was strictly limited. Doyle’s mana, even the mana within his body, was now severely depleted.
“You seem very tired.”
Doyle nodded in a gloomy tone.
“A little.”
Damon grinned and spoke teasingly.
“Kekeke. That’s proof you’ve gotten old. I suppose you really can’t fool age. Maybe it’s about time you start preparing a coffin……”
“Hey! You brat?”
Doyle glared at Damon, who flinched.
“A coffin? For me, who can easily last another twenty years?”
“Don’t try to deceive me. Master, you’re already over eighty, aren’t you? If you’ve lived that long, then it’s about time you went. Yes indeed.”
“You little—!”
Doyle’s eyes widened. Somehow, the disciple he had gained late in life was trying more and more to tease his master at every turn. Of course, at first he had been an extremely obedient disciple. It would not have been an exaggeration to say he had served him with utmost devotion. Yet as time passed, that fellow’s shamelessness only grew. And now, was he not practically trying to treat him as an equal?
Thinking that he would absolutely not let this one pass so easily, Doyle put strength into his eyes and glared at Damon.
“Today, I will definitely fix that habit of yours. Follow me.”
Though he roughly turned away with an expression of great anger, there was some incomprehensible awkwardness on Doyle’s face. In truth, Doyle was not as angry as he appeared. He was merely acting furious in order to regain his authority as a master.
Of course, there was no way he did not know that Damon’s true feelings had not changed. He also knew that Damon was treating him without reserve because he felt close to him. However, Doyle too was someone accustomed to the harsh hierarchy of black mages, and because of that, he had resolved to firmly establish order on this occasion.
But Damon was only surprised for a moment, and soon regained his composure. As if there was nothing at all for him to fear, he trudged after Doyle. His manner clearly showed that he had prepared some kind of countermeasure.