8 Vulgar Display of Power

Orlilin put herself between The enormous Wizard and Mars the moment he had appeared. She could not understand him but realized his murderous intent.

"Mars! What did he say?" Orlilin looked more worried than angry; this guy was undoubtedly powerful she could see he was an incredibly dangerous Lvl-20 being. Orlilin was a world-class power herself; she was not looking to die either.

Mars looked to Orlilin with a reasonably calm expression considering the situation."He said he should be declared the winner of the tournament, or he will just kill everyone."

Orlilin nodded and quickly pulled out another of her "Comprehension of Languages" scroll and activated it. She figured this would be too important to rely on the translations of Mars.

"You better watch your tongue, you big-toothed freak. Who do you think you are?" Orlilin glared as she posed the question. While she only feigned anger.

This guy did not look the slightest bit human. His teeth were enormous, too big to be a man's. She had never seen such a largemouth on any Human before. His beard also appeared to be made of smoke, indeed not a human trait. He looked as if he were from the Abyssal plane.

"I am the Greatest Wizard, Aze. Now move aside elf." His expression was hard to read as his face was inhuman, but he seemed oddly jovial. Aze was a legendary Arch Wizard who'd not been spotted in over 300 years and was Human. Had he become a sort of Lich? It did not appear so. Everyone had considered Aze long dead.

The enormous Wizard pulled out a lodestone and iron filings from his component pouch and chuckled as he spoke.

"Mea Inversa." A transparent wave of energy quickly expanded outward and passed over everyone Standing around Aze.

Everyone in a 50-foot radius around Aze began to rise into the air at free-fall speed. The adults screamed in terror, while some of the children laughed, not realizing the situation. They continued to fly upward for a hundred feet. Everyone just floated up there, helpless. Except for Aze, he was laughing to himself. He pulled out his pipe again and puffed away as blue and white smoke emitted from the bowl.

But then he saw Orlilin holding Mars and Hagar with one hand. Her strength far exceeded the delicate impression her body gave.

She would save just three people, including herself.

She quickly cast a spell with her free hand. "Sehan oth!" a luminous violet circle of Elvish writing enlarged around the ground where she was standing, just as before. Mars, Hagar, and Orlilin disappeared.

Aze had miscalculated, and he instantly turned furious, he extended his spell duration by breaking some strange green crystal "Extendit contra Veni." He then cast Fly upon himself. He slowly moved away from the crowd of people in the air.

He had raised about 20 feet higher than them when he pulled out his pipe. He smoked casually for a few moments more and calmed his nerves. The smoke continued to puff from his pipe.

"Many of you are scared right now, and you think you are in the most danger of the town ." Aze lifted his right hand to his teeth and produced an ear-shattering whistle before continuing."But I will give you a show; you're the safest in the town right now."

There was total silence, on the ground and in the air. Everyone stopped moving. Many citizens had watched that Elf mage run off with Mars and Hagar. Now they would pay the price, or something like that, right?

The people on the ground looked around in confusion. Then they began to hear the same screams and laughter they had heard from the 300 plus citizens suspended in the air.

Fifty-Three Leucrottas had made their way to the people. Aze organized them to wait around the perimeter of the Skagi. He probably would have let them kill everyone regardless of whether or not he'd gotten Mars. The difference now, he was annoyed.

He would take his frustration out on the innocent. He gritted his teeth and tried to fake a smile. No one who witnessed him felt any semblance of happiness coming from him. As the Leucrottas tore apart the land-bound citizens, he felt minor relief.

Aze truly hated this town right now. He had a quick temper, and when he did not get what he wanted, he would rage internally despite his best efforts to contain his feelings.

The floating citizens watched in horror as their loved ones were torn apart beneath them. Fear continued to build, and many people were fully panicking. Everyone below was being eaten alive. A few good men were putting up a fight, but it was not nearly enough. They ultimately all fell victim to the hybrid beasts' stomping and biting. These vicious beasts would not only kill, but they would taunt and mock their victims with pitch-perfect replications of the screams and begging for mercy.

Aze distracted himself from his failure with his cruel ways. After the Leucrotta pack had ripped everyone apart, he stroked his smoky beard and looked at the 300 floating people.

"Now, what should I do with you?"

The people stayed there, and it had been over an hour now, they were freezing. All of a sudden, a young man of 19 years old started to drop as fast as he had raised. He screamed down and died the instant he made an impact. Everyone else just watched in terror.

The Leucrotta's began to tear at his flesh and pull him apart. They fed off of the terror of the people above, not the meat of the dead man they were chewing.

The man's wife, Annveig, yelled out towards Aze. "Why are you doing this!? Please stop this. We haven't done anything to you!"

Aze quickly tossed what looked like a small caterpillar cocoon into the air and made a circular motion with his left hand. "Polymorph" The woman who'd yelled at Aze, Annveig, was transformed into what looked like bits of strange blue tobacco. He motioned with his hand, and the now changed woman was pulled toward the Wizards pipe and filled its bowl. He inhaled once more and produced more blue and white smoke. The crowd could faintly see Annveig's face in the smoke writhing in pain and agony.

Everyone continued to shiver and wait in fear. Some were developing frostbite from being up high in the cold winds for hours.