The guardian knights finally entered the Zhaji Mountains. This day was a very strange day to them, because no one had set off any alarms the entire day. This was simultaneously a relief, yet at the same time, caused stress among the knights.
Above the tight ranks of the guardian knights were the griffin knights. The griffin knights were much better scouts than normal soldiers, but too many griffin knights had been lost in the past few days. This forced the griffin knights to change their tactics and their formation. They stopped joining in on battles and were only responsible for setting off alarms. Unless Anfey chased after them, they would not go after him.
The griffin knights had a much better view of the sky than the knights on the ground. After the guardian knights entered the Zhaji Mountains, one of the griffin knights spotted two dark specks in the sky. Griffins were intelligent magic beasts, but they are were intelligent enough to communicate with humans. However, the griffins could recall Anfey. They recognized one of the dark specks and screeched to warn their riders.
"That's Anfey!" one of the griffin knights called, setting off the alarm.
The two squads of griffin knights quickly changed their formation. They circled around, then turned to fly toward the opposite direction.
"Great," Jacob said, shaking his head. "Now they're spooked."
Jacob was powerful enough to set up another magic array to conceal Anfey and himself, but he needed the Totem of Fire God to be as powerful as possible, and they needed to be discovered by the knights for that. Jacob was counting on the knights banding together in the face of a threat. Now they were too scattered.
The Totem of Fire God was a very special kind of forbidden spell. It was very powerful and almost nothing could protect a man from its effects. For anyone who was not a top level power, getting hit by a Totem of Fire God spell meant certain death. Even a top level power would be injured.
"Should I go and get them closer?"
"The Totem of Fire God won't know the difference between friend and foe," Jacob said. "Let's wait."
The scouts did not want to approach Anfey and Jacob, but they had an order. They approached him slowly and carefully.
"This is the only way," Jacob said, seeing that some of the scouts and a few griffin knights were within range of the spell.
Jacob waved his hand, and suddenly, a fiery cloud appeared in the sky. The cloud formed into a fiery cyclone, swirling in the air. The cyclone burst into blinding light and divided into four smaller cyclones. At first, all four cyclones stayed close together, then the cyclones began spinning very fast before then pulling apart slowly. Meanwhile, the cyclones' spinning speed was increasing as well.
The cyclones became so fast that their edges became blurred. The light became so blinding that it was impossible to look directly at the cyclones, and the lights made the four cyclones look like they were one, despite their distance from each other. Everything the cyclones touched--trees, armors, riders--was all turned into ash within a few seconds.
The cyclones were so hot, even the air around them became scorching in temperature. The grassy ground were turned into a burnt crisp, the forest around it was set on fire. The Totem of Fire God spell's direct range of attack was very small, but its collateral damage was much larger than one would expect. Many of the scouts were on fire before they could even properly react.
In the distance, the knights summoned their combat power to protect themselves. However, their horses were not so lucky. After losing their horses, the knights did not hesitate in turning around and running away.
The Totem of the Fire God was a forbidden spell, and they knew Anfey couldn't use forbidden spells. This meant that Anfey had brought someone who could use forbidden spells. It was impossible for common knights to fight against an archmage.
The scouts were the lucky ones. They were closer to Anfey, and so were out of the range of the forbidden spell. However, they couldn't do anything because they did not want to provoke the archmage and Anfey. Their horses did not care for their riders' fears and were desperate to get away.
"Well," Jacob said. "My work here is done." He found two scrolls from his dimensional ring and handed them to Anfey. "Use these well."
"Teleportation?" Anfey's eyes widened. The scrolls were very useful, even though he could teleport with his own magic. "Do you have any more?"
"Don't be so greedy," Jacob said. "This is all I have."
"When will Hagan learn how to make serial lightning scrolls and teleportation scrolls?"
"He's young, and so are you," Jacob said. "Be patient."
Anfey frowned and scratched his head. Unlike Ernest, Jacob almost never gave a clear answer.
"How long do I have to wait?" Anfey asked. "Ten years?"
"It's better to use your own power than to use someone else's," Jacob said.
"You mean…"
"If you provide me the crystal, I can provide you with the scrolls," Jacob said.
"Yes!" Anfey said with a wide smile. "I have more crystals than I can use."
"I know," Jacob said. "I know how many crystals your League is hiding. That's why I asked."
"I just got a whole lot of crystals from Shansa Empire," Anfey said. "We'll talk more after." He jumped up and dashed toward the scouts. The scouts tried to get away from him, but he didn't start his massacre immediately. The scouts didn't know who was using the forbidden spell and did not want to rush into action.
Jacob watched from afar with a small smile. He had always been jealous of Saul for finding someone as talented as Anfey, but now he realized that he was wrong. Without Saul and Ernest, Anfey would have never trusted anyone. Without Saul's students, Anfey would have never learned what friendship or family meant. Without Yolanthe and Burzuryano, he would have never achieved what he had achieved. It wasn't Saul who was the lucky one. Anfey was the lucky one.