Chapter 48
Azek layered several layers of mana and compressed it into a small bullet.
Cold sweat covered his whole body.
He had a hunch but the amount of mana getting gathered into core was not small.
He directly attempted to stop the mana converging into core.
His voice sounded laboured when he shouted.
"Put protective shields. He has a black magic bomb in his core."
The discovery was new — almost feeling foreign — but the meaning behind the words made Doris spring up from his seat.
Sebastian and Ainsworth were already surrounding the man and had lodged the axe hilt into the man's body, cutting apart flesh till bone. They imbued mana into their swings, instantly disintegrating flesh upon contact.
The whole group of 2nd grade magicians were already busy casting protective shields everywhere.
Doris was gesturing while casting a spell and simultaneously shouting as well.
"Cast triple barrier shield on the whole building. Check for other black magic traces in the building as well. Two people head to the town gate immediately to check for a monster trigger attack."
The magic knight brigade was trained to follow orders under any condition. Their coordination was seamless as everybody burst into action. Although some still hadn't realized the gravity behind Azek's words, Doris was knowledgeable enough to gauge the situation from that single word.
They had walked into a trap.
Spell after spell was written, and the whole building was surrounded with protective barriers.
Doris cast a complicated spell which surrounded the mage's feet. The fire started burning his soles and leapt upwards, incinerating flesh slowly as it surrounded his whole body.
The support mage had politely asked Layana to remove her spell, so she let go and stood to the side, observing with sharp eyes.
Azek was concentrating harder than ever,
attempting the spell he had practiced during the exam.
A metal bullet was hovering in front of him.
Mana continued gathering inside and when it completed,
he opened his eyes.
"Stop." The Margrave brothers retreated immediately.
"Get ready to pull me back."
Sebastian shot a metal chain with his axe, which bound itself to Azek's waist.
The mages casting shields got ready.
He signaled with his hand.
The mana bullet shot through the core, lodging exactly in the middle of it before detonating the excited mana inside his heart.
At the same time, Azek was immediately pulled away from the black mage and landed on the ground.
The muffled sound of explosion started going on nonstop.
Shield after shield was being cast and was being crumbled simultaneously.
After what felt like an eternity, the shields stopped crumbling.
Doris, who had continued his spell throughout, slowly let go of the mana.
The shields were removed.
A grotesque mass that was once a heart still lay inside writhing in ashes, giving off a nasty stench.
The priest immediately caved (or doubled over) with nausea.
But he still managed to get a hold of himself and cast a holy fire spell over the heart, and Doris ignited the mass again and again till nothing but only ashes were left behind.
"Haaaaaa," someone sighed and directly sat on the ground.
It hadn't been even a day since their arrival, and they were already exhausted.
---
Doris walked through the town gate, inspecting everything.
The attack on the Northwest front was premeditated with a black magician's involvement. And they might very well be prey walking into a nightmare without any knowledge.
The claim Azek had made still needed to be verified. But even if there was a one percent chance that it was true, the whole town would have been gone in an instant beyond recognition.
There was only classified information regarding the magic bomb, as things were still only at the level of hypothesis and under investigation.
But the word held immense weight behind it, as this was the reason the Ronian kingdom was forced to abandon its land and take defensive measures. Although they put a tight lid on any information related to it, some things still leaked out. And coupled with the death toll it had suffered, it wasn't hard to hypothesize the reason.
He had looked through every corner personally presiding over the whole investigation in the following hour. The reconnaissance team had already been ordered to return immediately instead of engaging in combat, as there was still a chance that they might get entangled with other black mages.
Bishop Cassion immediately headed to the Northwest front after an urgent communication and would be arriving soon.
This was an urgent matter which needed to be dealt with the top most secrecy and priority.
Till now, they had only fought monsters and black magic. But now there had been progress to find out who they were actually fighting. Now for the first time, things were becoming clear, and they couldn't rest easy as previously hypothetical things were becoming reality.
Azek looked out the window and saw the scene in the town market.
He was currently standing on the top floor of the town hall.