30 Using the Force of Nature and a Blade

Saiph, currently sat upon the crown of the dirt tower, figured that a good defense was a good offense. As of now, his team was passively receiving the onslaught and not striking back. That had to change.

He hopped to his knees, starting to prepare a Zap Spell to deter the beasts through a show of esoteric might. After calling forth the necessary arrangement of Runes in front of him, Saiph hopped to his feet and looked down over the lip of the tower.

Below, a plethora of beasts ran amok in a frenzy of chaos and gore. The sheer amount of beasts took Saiph by surprise, causing him to almost accidentally dispel the Zap Spell.

Gritting his teeth in an effort to maintain his concentration on the Spell Circle, Saiph waited for a key moment to unleash it.

There!

Saiph spotted an oncoming beast and let off the Spell.

ZAP

The beast immediately went limp, smashing into the side of the dirt tower harmlessly. Soon, other beasts found their way to its defenseless body and started to rip the poor creature apart.

Saiph fell back on his butt, carefully keeping his face away from the periphery of the tower.

Although the Restriction was certainly working, seven feet wasn't very tall for many beasts that exhibited physically strong traits. If the Restriction wasn't up, some of these beasts would be able to clear the entire mound with relative ease. That was true in both senses- leaping and demolishing.

Saiph looked over to Enzo and Velvet, both of whom were trying to deal as much damage as they could through their various spells. Enzo was shooting off fire pellets and Velvet was using the much slower Cut Spell.

Worried that a moment of distraction could lead to peril, Saiph focused back on himself. Deciding that he could achieve the most casualties in the least amount of time using Zap, Saip started repeatedly flinging Spells over the lip.

Few beasts were that interested in them, Saiph found much to his surprise. They were too busy fighting amongst themselves, leaving themselves open to the bombardment from the three sprouting Mages.

Saiph had to hand it to Enzo; the guy was right.

Although the beasts weren't too keen on attacking him, Saiph still feared a sudden sneak attack that would take off his head in an instant. He stayed low to the lip and seldom looked at what he was firing at.

Hence, Saiph didn't really know if there were Ember Wolves out there. He certainly picked out the snarling of wolves a few times, but those could have been any breed. Hell, Saiph wouldn't have known even if there were Blaze Wolves out there.

Blaze Wolves would have been a complete nightmare. For example, a Blaze Wolking, a Desolate Beast and a hegemon of Arches, would barely be a better fight than a group of the more ubiquitous Blaze Wolves. A pack of Chaos Beast-level creatures would spell utter disaster for Saiph's group, but the odds of them being attracted to such a feeble bait was low, thankfully.

After many brutal, grueling minutes of barraging the beasts below with myriad spells, the fires of battle finally settled down. The fierce crying of unjust deaths echoing throughout the periphery died out, leaving only a few desperate gasps for life resounding out of the few surviving beasts.

Saiph finally deemed it appropriate to take a proper look over the edge of the earthen tower, gazing down onto the utter carnage below.

Tens of beasts -- both Common and Carnage -- were littered across the area, blood pooling up around them.

After a few seconds of inspection, Saiph also picked out a few standing beasts: Ember Wolves. He sighed and laughed bitterly at the reveal.

Although, he had to admit, it made sense. Ember Wolves were very intelligent creatures that would use pack tactics to negate a vast majority of their own casualties, especially in such a chaotic environment.

"You see 'em too?" Enzo asked suddenly.

"What a pain. They don't even look that injured. Plus, they're probably going to flee if we don't crush them immediately," Saiph groaned in reply.

"You sure?" Velvet interjected. "This is a ton of food for them."

"Whatever. Either way, we only have one option."

Saiph drew up the many Runes needed to perform the Cut Spell in front of him. Zap would be too short-ranged to hit the wolves that were a few tens of meters away, so Cut had to suffice.

"Eugh!" he grunted as the Spell went off without a hitch. The incorporeal blade zoomed through the air, connecting with one of the hesitant wolves. The blade cut deep into its neck, bringing the creature to the ground.

Saiph wasn't sure if it was dead, but that should have at least put it out of commission.

The group of now-five wolves, currently aware of the prowess of the humans assaulting them, split up and arranged themselves in a circle around the tower.

Enzo shot off fire pellets at a rapid pace at the wolves, only connecting once or twice to little effect. Ember Wolves' pelts had a strong affinity with fire, thus the pellets were mostly harmlessly bounced off of the beasts.

Velvet, meanwhile, kept up the rain of ethereal blades which also missed almost all of the time. There was an instance where she caught a wolf by the leg, cleaving it cleanly off and taking the wolf out of commission momentarily.

Saiph capitalized the provided opportunity and slammed his own ethereal blade into the squirming wolf, making it howl once in protest before going still forevermore.

There were now only four active threats. However, they were now all in the position to strike.

"Awoo," one of the howled. It was thereupon met with copious support by the other three.

"Awoo!"

"Careful!" Velvet warned.

Saiph nodded in silence, preparing another Cut Spell for the inevitable assault. He had his eyes on one of the wolves just in front of his location. It was currently hiding behind a tree but, the second it charged, Saiph would be prepared to cut it down with one blow.

Indeed, after just a few seconds, the wolf that Saiph was watching out for burst out from behind the tree and started charging the dirt tower.

"Cut!" Saiph grunted, unleashing the Spell.

The blade flew toward the charging wolf but was keenly dodged.

"Damn!" Saiph cursed and started to prepare a Zap Spell to meet the beast. He frantically assembled the required Runes and let the Spell off as soon as he was done.

The Ember Wolf had just barely started jumping off the ground when it was suddenly struck by a strong surge of electricity, sending it straight into the side of the tower.

Saiph didn't waste time finishing it off, instead spinning over to the other sides of the mound to fend off any of the other wolves. He saw that Velvet had seemingly dealt with her own wolf, as she was facing inward like Saiph was. Enzo had his sword out and seemed to be preparing to slash at the wolf charging from his side.

Remembering the fourth wolf, Saiph hopped over to the open side of the crown of the tower, looking down for a wolf.

SNAP

Saiph fell backward onto his butt as he barely eluded the vicious fangs of an Ember Wolf.

"Woah!" Velvet exclaimed, rushing to Saiph's side. "Did you get hurt?"

"...Don't think so," Saiph replied, in a daze and out of breath. He shook his head and hopped to his feet after a moment.

The wolf that had nearly grabbed him by the throat has hanging on to the lip of the tower with its forelegs, barely maintaining its balance.

"Hya!" Velvet grunted as she stabbed her short sword at the wolf's face. It dodged by letting go and falling back down to the ground.

Saiph spun around to look at Enzo, who was no longer on top of the earthen tower.

"Eh?" Saiph exclaimed, mouth open. He rushed over to where Enzo had just been and gazed down below.

Enzo was sparring with the wolf, exchanging a few slashes for a bite to the hand in just a few seconds.

It seemed like the wolf was a far worst matchup for Enzo than the Zap Ant Queen had been. Ember Wolves specialized in mobility and general physical characteristics, whereas the ant possessed a terrifying vitality and special ability in the form of an electric attack. Enzo was easily able to evade the ant's attacks and was able to sneak in his own, for the most part, but here his hand was already soaked in blood.

Saiph drew his shortsword and jumped off the top of the tower, hoping to impale the beast in one quick movement.

From Enzo's point of view, Saiph suddenly flew down from the sky out of nowhere and landed on the wolf he was fighting. Saiph rolled off of the wolf, dispersing the impact, and stood up with a sloppy smile on his face.

"I did it," he laughed.

Enzo, confused, looked over to the wolf he was just fighting. Embedded through its skull was a shortsword.

"Got mine," Velvet suddenly announced from around the tower. "Is that all of them?"

Saiph and Enzo looked at each other, nodding.

"Guess so," Enzo walked around the corner and said.

Saiph followed closely behind with a small smirk on his face.

It was time for the spoils of war.