Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

The attacking groups spread out into a semicircle around the Forest Grove defenders as they prepared their siege weapons, forming the two attacking groups into one larger one, but widely spaced, so they wouldn't be as brutally victimized by the Cluster Grenades spell again.

Not far enough that the spell wouldn't lead to multiple casualties with every shot, but far enough that the number shouldn't be in the dozens.

The attitudes of the humans in the attacking group changed as one of their weapons was set up, and Wolfe took that as his cue to begin their retaliation.

"Now." He instructed, and a hail of gunfire slammed into the shields around the attacking force, causing them to flicker, and dropping a number of the human mages to their knees in exhaustion as they forced themselves past their limits to keep the barrier active.

"Those two broke through under the strain. I want them alive for study." The ancient Elven Prince announced, to which the Fae gave a resounding cheer.

Those who did unexpected things were always valued by the Fae. Not as equals, even if they earned it, the Fae were a bit preferential to their own, but since this one was powerful, he would be an incredibly valuable research subject for their studies of magic.

The mages in question had broken through to Rank Six and Rank Four respectively, so they wouldn't be too easy to subdue, but the Fae were well versed in that. They had shackles that nullified magic and could hold even a Witch Saint, so surely they could deal with a human mage.

If the attackers noticed that the direction of the attacks subtly altered so that those two in particular were not the direct targets of the attack, they didn't show any signs. They just frantically worked to get their weapons online while the assault continued.

The barriers were close to falling, but the assembled Demons and Fae had decided that they would play with the humans a little longer. They had slowed their attack rate down just enough that the barriers didn't collapse, but not so much that anyone had any mana left for other activities.

The tactic was exhausting all the enemy magic users, while conserving ammunition and helping those who had never fired a rifle before to work on their aim.

While Wolfe would have preferred that this was over and done with more quickly, the skills they were practising would be invaluable later in life, or tomorrow, depending on the tenacity of the attackers.

Once the barriers began to crack, the enemy infantry charged, and their siege weapons began to fire clusters of rocks at the defenders.

The two Rank Eight elders erected a barrier over the group, while Wolfe added a layer of gravity magic outside it to slow and deflect the projectiles that weren't magical. Then the guns were turned on the infantry, which were now relying on their own magical armour to keep them alive.

If they hadn't understood the full horrors of magical artillery before, they certainly did now, as the explosions threw dirt high in the air, along with dismembered limbs, loose weapons and anything else that survived the heat.

For a moment, a wall of fire blocked Wolfe's vision of the attackers as everyone fired at the same time, then a thick black smoke began to cover the battlefield as the wooden frames of the enemy siege weapons began to burn.

The archers fired a single volley before they too were engulfed in flames which flickered against the shield that had been erected over them by an exhausted mage, then Wolfe raised a hand to bring a halt to the attack.

[Invading troops, we give you one last chance. Lay down your weapons and return to your homes. We will not show mercy to any who continue this attack.] He warned them in an amplified voice.

That grim certainty, the level of confidence that although the humans still had more high ranked mages alive, they posed no real threat, was enough to break the morale of the troops.

They fled, running back into the Frozen Wastes, and leaving their exhausted Commanders behind.

"Well done, Patriarch Noxus. You got rid of the fodder, and now we can just pick the mages that we want." The ancient Elven Prince declared.

"I thought that you might appreciate that. But they're running the wrong way. I don't want them bothering the other villages in the Wastes, so we will have to warn everyone that there are human deserters on the run.

Some villages will likely take them in, but keep them under surveillance, while others will kill them on sight as an invading army. It's all about the mentality of the locals, but I don't want anyone mistaking them for refugees, who are usually harmless." Wolfe agreed.

Risa shook her head and tapped at an earbud in her left ear. "We have a plane in the sky somewhere, and they say that the humans aren't just running, they're all running to the same spots. They have some sort of retreat orders, or a plan for being routed, where they will assemble some distance behind the lines and meet with their comrades.

I don't think that we have to worry about them interacting with the villagers for the moment, unless they go far enough out that they stumble across one of the village entrances."

A group of Fae surged forward and shackled the few remaining living mages, two Rank Seven and one Rank Six, while the Rank Four mage had fled with the others.

"I will get our other subject." One of the Fae Saints, a brute of a troll with skin that seemed to be made of shards of stone, whispered, then he seemed to melt into the ground.

The Elven Prince smiled at Wolfe. "Rock Troll. If you can't fly, it's nearly impossible to get away from them. They look slow, but underground they're nearly as fast as your airplanes. Well, the smaller ones anyhow, that big one is quite the marvel of magic."