Chapter 40 (2/2)

The pupils of the mercenaries shrank in size at the horrifying sight before them; they were simply dumbfounded.

In their eyes, they saw the tough Archers drop one by one like flies, like rows of wheat cut down by the scythe of the God of Death himself, each death insignificant and meaningless.

Was this how magic really was? Was this how powerful Magicians truly were?

Even though Link had explained that if he was given two seconds to cast his spells he could eliminate all of their strongest enemies, they still weren’t prepared for the gruesome sight. It left a huge impact on the three mercenaries. It was just dreadful!

“Go! Charge forward!” Link whispered urgently. In his head he was thinking about how tedious low-level spells were. With higher level spells, such as a Level-4 Lightning Storm or a Level-4 Flame Blast, facing that many opponents wouldn’t be an issue.

Jacker charged forward without thinking, Lucy and Gildern followed him. Like the bandits, they were scared out of their minds.

The bandits quickly came to their senses, however.

“It’s a Magician! Take cover!” someone amongst the robbers shouted. But just as he finished his words, a dim glass orb shot through and hit the bandit’s face, leaving a beautiful but deadly trail of light.

Bang! The crash was so loud that it could topple over a large tree. Just like that the bandit’s face was blown clean off.

Without a sound, the bandit fell to the ground.

The other robbers were so shocked they were stunned motionless. They covered their faces with their shields and cowered themselves away from Link in terror. Some of them ran towards the huts, some towards caves in deeper parts of the cove, all to escape the terrifying attack.

The events went just as Link had expected. He had chosen to use the spells to scare the bandits and make them panic.

In two seconds, he cast 40 glass orbs, each one hitting its target accurately. Link felt tired from his mental exertion; his head started to ache, so he had to decrease his spellcasting speed.

But even so, in one second he still managed to cast seven to ten fireballs.

To ensure that his mental fortitude wasn’t damaged any further, these fireballs were only aimed to hit the body of the bandits, rather than using more energy to focus on headshots. Even if it didn’t kill them, that was okay because the orbs could deal some serious damage, enough so to render them motionless.

Gildern would then shoot an arrow at them, finishing off the already injured bandit.

The panicked robbers did not retaliate much, instead, they were too busy frantically hiding and attempting to escape. But no matter how fast they were, their feet couldn’t match the speed of Link’s spells. Having already lost 40 of their Archers, there were just 35 of them left.

Five seconds later, the last bandit running towards the cave fell as the back of his neck was hit by Link’s glass bead, and his head was blown off his shoulders.

The cove quickly returned to its normal calmness. A gentle breeze flowing through the air bringing with it the heavy stench of blood. The whole cove had become a mass grave.

Jacker gulped nervously, and Lucy was silent and deep in thought.

“Just what kind of creature have we gotten ourselves mixed up with here?” Gildern muttered under his breath.

They had been mercenaries for many years, so it’s not that they’d never seen a Magician cast spells before. In fact, they had worked with a wandering Magician’s Apprentice once. They’d relied on him to open locked doors, but that Magician needed at least three seconds to cast a simple spell like Candle Light. At that time, the Flamingo Band of Mercenaries thought that this was how all Magicians worked. But now, their initial impressions had been turned upside down.

Link’s skills in magic were so powerful that in the moment it took to utter the words of the spell a life was instantaneously destroyed. It was unnervingly fast; it churned their stomachs in fear.

Could I ever survive being hit by such an attack? the three mercenaries asked themselves.

They were sure they couldn’t, not even if they were prepared for it.

As he saw the three standing idly at the mouth of the cave, Link furrowed his brows and said sharply, “What are you waiting for? Get inside the cave before Viktor escapes!”

“Eh? Ah, right!” Jacker quickly snapped out of it and was the first to storm into the cave.

Link followed him, and then Lucy and Gildern.

Link had sensed their fear of his magic, so in a low voice, Link said, “I’m a bit tired right now, I need to rest for a few minutes. I’ll leave the rest up to you all.”

Showing your weakness at the right time can calm others.

As expected, the three mercenaries noticeably relaxed as soon as Link said that. Their clumsy movements had become sharper.

He’s just a normal person, after all, the three simultaneously thought.

Nonetheless, this did not make them respect him any less, in fact, they respected him even more now. Not only did he eliminate the biggest threats of the mission at the cave entrance, he had also geared them up with magic buffs. If they still couldn’t deal with the bandits in the cave, then they’d better not call themselves the Flamingo Band of Mercenaries anymore.

They’ weren’t too shabby themselves after all!

……

Just as the shadow avatar stormed into the cove, the crystal in Viktor’s room glowed with a dim red light. The magic crystal that Viktor had spent a fortune on had worked just as expected.

Red light, that meant intruders. The light was very dim, signifying that the number of intruders was small, probably less than ten.

Some mercenaries too greedy for money to fear for their lives, probably, Viktor thought amusedly.

Viktor didn’t bother to move from his chair, he just sat there and continued to sort out his papers.

As the leader of a big brotherhood, he was too busy to deal with trivial matters like that. He would just have to leave the intruders to his underlings. He was sure they would bring the attackers to him in a moment.

Whether they brought in a living body or a corpse, it didn’t matter to him.