Mages tended to be treated with more respect than knights and swordsmen. Suzanna was a native of this world and she knew better than Anfey, which was why she was more nervous than him. She had summoned all of her combat power from the moment she drew her sword, because she knew they needed to get into the city as fast as possible. However, the defenses around the city were too well positioned. The closer Suzanna got to the wall, the harder it was to get through the defenses. Even though the wall was right in front of her, several bright sword radiances forced her to stop.
A master swordsman’s combat power was very powerful, but it was not powerful enough for Suzanna to be able to just ignore attacks from senior swordsmen. Her combat power would break if she ignored them.
Anfey knew now was not the time to stop. He gripped his fire sword and waved it in wide, sweeping motions at the swordsmen behind Suzanna.
A sudden surge of magic swept across the battlefield, and the stone under Anfey disappeared, replaced by a pool of lava.
Anfey had very quick reflexes, but this change was too sudden even for him to react in time. However, he did not panic. His body twisted and summoned a large wind blade with a wave of his hand. He pushed off of the wind blade and used a levitation spell to push into the air. He had already spotted his opponent. It was an old man. The mage had a red wand in his right hand and was holding onto a mercenary in his left.
The mage raised his wand again, and the tip of the wand burst into bright red light. A column of fire shot out from the wand towards Anfey.
Suzanna’s eyes widened. She recognized that it was a senior level spell called fire birds. Even though it was not as powerful as a meteor spell, it was much faster. What was even more shocking was that this mage could summon fire birds without spending any time chanting the spell. It was clear who this old man was.
Anfey raised his left arm and blocked the attack from the fire bird with his shield. The column of fire turned into a huge fire bird and crashed into the shield. The bird and the shield both broke into fire elements, and the impact of the crash sent Anfey stumbling towards the ground. The mage waved his wand again, summoning a pool of lava where Anfey would land. He hurriedly summoned a wind blade to prevent falling into the lava, but it was impossible to prevent himself from falling right into the bubbling lava.
Suzanna’s eyes widened as she moved towards Anfey, trying to save him. The swordsmasters around seized this opportunity and attacked her at the same time.
Seeing that he couldn’t get out of this situation any other way, Anfey clenched his fist and disappeared. A moment later, he appeared behind one of the swordsmasters around Suzanna and slashed at him with his sword.
"Suzanna!" Anfey called loudly. He knew that the best plan wasn’t teleporting behind the swordsmaster. He should have teleported to the mage and fought the mage, but he couldn’t teleport that far. Now that he had teleported once, he had to wait another day to teleport again.
Suzanna waved her sword and it burst into light. The sword radiances around her disappeared in the light and she dashed towards the swordsmaster whom Anfey had just attacked.
The swordsmaster had just taken a hit a few moments ago and could not move out of the way in time. Suzanna stabbed the man through the chest with her sword, then jumped back and dashed towards the others.
"Stop her!" the old mage ordered loudly. "I’ll take care of the boy."
The remaining swordsmasters surrounded Suzanna, preventing her from getting away. The soldiers around them formed a circle to stop Suzanna. Even though Suzanna could take out several soldiers with every sweep of her sword, there would be more waiting for her. A dozen mages blocked her path, as well. They rained fireballs and lightning down on her, stopping her. Michael said he wanted to take care of Anfey, and the mages had no other option but to attack Suzanna.
Anfey lunged at the soldiers in front of him, gripping his sword tight and holding it out in front of him.
Michael frowned and raised his wand. He did not know why Anfey was acting so brash, but he couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.
Anfey’s body twisted and he waved his sword, striking the lava before it fully formed. The lava wavered and shattered into loose fire elements.
Michael frowned. Even though he was a top level power, he still could not shrug off the effects when a spell backfired. He stumbled a little, dropping the mercenary, and backed away.
Anfey bellowed as he dashed towards the soldiers in front of him.
Hearing his voice, Suzanna dispersed an incoming sword radiance and began pulling her combat power back to increase her defense.
Anfey pulled his longsword out and waved it, summoning lightning down on the swordsmasters and soldiers around Suzanna. Everyone around her, including Suzanna, disappeared in bright, crackling lightning.
Serial lightning was as close to a forbidden spell as possible without actually being forbidden. The soldiers around Suzanna all fell to the ground due to its effects; and even the mages were affected. The swordsmasters and Suzanna were all temporarily numbed by the lightning.
Anfey dashed towards the falling mages, sweeping his sword. Suzanna had overcame the numbing effect and slashed her sword at one of the swordsmasters. The swordsmasters could not move and couldn’t defend themselves against Suzanna.
Suzanna’s sword sliced through the combat power of one of the swordsmasters and sliced off the man’s arm. She pulled her sword back and stabbed at another man close to her.
The remaining swordsmasters only overcame the numbing effect then. They hurriedly drew back, avoiding Suzanna’s attack.
Michael spat angrily and waved his sword. A large fire dragon appeared in front of him. Michael waved his wand again, sending the fire dragon flying towards Anfey. Normally, a spell backfiring was enough to disable a mage, if not killing the mage. But Michael was a top level power, and he was strong enough to cancel out the effects by just using his own power. The best option for him was to hide and rest, but now he had no time for that. He had to attack and fight back.