The black drops of the oily liquid fell down from the sky under the power of Layn's skill. But what others could consider a disaster for all the crops that were planted around the camp was a measure necessary for everyone to finally see their enemies.

This time, it wasn't the Slavian's that Layn was seriously worried about encountering. That is unless this mythical tribe had a hidden power of turning into eight-legged monsters roughly the size of a bear each!

"They are coming,

" Layn said weekly, tired from slightly overexerting his mana potential. Even though the trade with the overlord to the north ended up going through and supplying him with enough material to create several mana-sucking artifacts, their output was way smaller than the amount of energy required to cast such a massive kind of spell.

"Can we go ahead?

" Al asked, approaching the archmage from the back.

"If you feel confident of fighting those things... Feel free,

" Layn replied, resting his weight on the shoulder Irea instantly offered to him. But before his ancestor could shout out in joy and rush to the fight, Irea raised her free hand.

"I'm sorry for not just listening, but I don't think it's a good idea,

" she said, raising her hand towards the approaching horde of monsters.

"How about we cast all the wide-range magic we can?

" she proposed before glancing at the man she was supporting.

"We will be unable to do so once our people mix with those monsters,

" she said, slightly trembling from the fear of potentially crossing Layn's trust by not following his orders right away.

"That's actually a good idea,

" Layn replied, shaking his head.

"I guess I'm too tired to think straight,

" he added, biting his lips.

"Markus!

" Layn shouted, struggling to turn his head to the side.

"I get it,

" Layn's old friend didn't even need to hear what the archmage wanted to say. The two of them knew each other for long enough to be able to simply feel the other's intention.

"All those capable of using long-range and wide-area attacks, on me!

" Markus shouted, taking three steps forward himself.

Both Layn's mercenaries and the people that Markus brought himself didn't hesitate when it came to following the order. As one man, those who were capable of the feats that Markus requested rushed to the front, with those only capable of fighting at a close range following close behind.

In less than a minute, a group of three that first noticed that something was wrong turned into a proper frontline with people ready to either fire their attacks or defend their position to the last man.

'Or rather, that's how they look,' Layn thought, staring at the group. 'I wonder how long they will last when the real fighting begins,' he thought, making sure that his small knife, the only personal weapon he ever carried on himself, was safely tucked behind his belt.

"On my mark!

" Markus shouted, taking the leadership position without even a second of hesitation. He raised his head, staring at the monsters rushing towards them.

"FIRE!

" Markus shouted.

Roughly a fourth of the entire group released their attacks. Some invoked magic. Others made use of their cultivation techniques. But while the magic appeared to be the most effective weapon on this kind of battlefield, it was simple arrows that made up the majority of the ranged attacks.

"Can you bring me closer to the front?

" Layn asked Irea politely, grasping at the handle of his small knife. Even though the girl didn't pull him away from the fight, the eagerness of the others made them stand in line with Markus, who stepped forward a moment ago.

"You are too exhausted to fight,

" Irea countered, tightening her hold over Layn's arm.

"I'm sorry, but this is the one thing I won't agree to,

" she added, clenching her teeth as she continued to throw fireballs from her hand.

"I'm too tired because I don't have enough mana to fight right now,

" Layn replied, taking his arm off the girl's shoulders. Even though only a few moments lasted since he used his massive spell, the artifacts hidden in the pockets of his outfit managed to recover just enough mana for the archmage to be able to stand on his own.

"I'm sorry,

" Irea replied, grabbing Layn's arm and pulling him back. Her eyes were all teary, likely from how worried she was about disrespecting Layn's direct wishes.

"I'm sorry,

" she repeated, openly crying while she continued to lob the fireballs over the heads of the men in front of her.

The battle has already started. While the monsters had yet to reach the frontline, the ranged attacks of Markus and Layn's people started to rain down on them.

Fireballs would fall and then explode, spilling their liquid guts all over and setting fire to the plain. Sadly, unless the monster would receive a direct hit, the fire itself didn't seem to faze those monsters at all.

The arrows fared no better. Those that missed the monsters didn't even serve as a deterrent. Even those that managed to find their targets seemed to only inflict light injuries on those monsters. As such, the natural stopping effect of the ranged attack didn't come.

"NOW!

" Markus shouted again as if he hadn't given the order a moment ago.

'What the hell does he do?' Layn thought, although holding this kind of thought to himself. Now that he relinquished the order to his friend, he wasn't going to introduce chaos by forcing people to listen to him instead.

After all, undermining the authority of the commander on the battlefield was one of the crimes that was considered high treason no matter the age. Not because it deprived the ranks of the necessary authority, but because it introduced potentially devastating chaos to the chain of command.

But soon, Layn's worries proved to be wrong.

With the monsters just a few meters away from the frontline, the cultivators that filled nearly a third of the group's rank used their techniques.

The attacks were greatly varied. Some brought forth powerful gusts of wind; others covered the area ahead of them with dense fires. There were even some that somehow managed to pluck huge chunks of earth and rocks right from underneath the monsters, only to throw those like boulders at the approaching enemy.

In a sense, each of these technique attacks was either too weak to hurt the monsters at all or just barely enough to inflict any serious damage on them. But when a huge amount of those combined in a chaotic manner, what was a weak attack before, turned into a powerful if not genocidal onslaught in a mass.

The gusts of wind fanned the flames. The liquid flames covered the boulders, effectively turning them into cluster bombs. Even the icicle spikes combined nicely with the fiery attacks of others, first putting themselves into the bodies of the monsters only to introduce a rapid temperature change when the fires reached them a moment later.

Effectively, what Layn considered to be the least important part of their group's strenght turned out to be the attack that managed to stop the horde in its tracks.

Those cultivation techniques worked only for a slight moment. But by stopping the impetus of the charge, they did more than anyone expected from them.

Or rather, they did way more than Layn expected all those techniques would ever amount to.

'Was I wrong about all this cultivation thingy?' the archmage thought, sucking every last drop of mana that his artifacts would provide. At the same time, he couldn't help but notice that his girl, outside of still trying to pull him to the back, was reaching the limits of how much magic she could throw.

"Calm down,

" Layn said, grabbing Irea's hand and pulling it down.

"You did enough already,

" he added, pulling her into a deep hug.

"No!

" Irea cried out.

"I can still do more!

" she protested, trying to wrestle herself free from Layn's hold.

"Listen,

" Layn lowered his head, putting his forehead against the top of the girl's head.

"Just like you are worried about me, I'm worried about you,

" Layn said, ignoring the metallic sound coming from the front. This sound announced that despite the devastating effects of the techniques, the horde finally entered the close combat range with his people.

"My life would lose its meaning if you died to overextension here,

" he said, caressing the girl's back.

Then, Layn let go of the girl, taking a step back to look at her whole.

"I recovered enough of my strenght to take part in the fight,

" he said in a calm yet determined voice.

"I know you are worried about me, but there is one thing that I absolutely have to do,

" he said, reaching with his hand to caress the girl's cheek.

"And what is that?

" Irea asked, raising her teary eyes at Layn.

"It is to look cool in front of the girl I want to spend the rest of my days with,

" Layn replied before pulling his dagger out and turning around, only to head straight for where the line of Markus men already started to cave in under the pressure of the monsters horde.