Chapter 23

The sun was slowly rising from the east, its rays pierced through the darkness and illuminated the forest, yet a new source of light came about.

The defending knights glowed bright as the morning sun, the bandits felt as if the knights grew larger and instinctively cowered and halted once again.

"drink the potion! drink the potions you useless dogs!" a man in robes barked from behind.

The bandits who heard the shouting quickly pulled out a blood red potion and quickly drank them.

Their face showed a pained expression but only for a brief moment as they suddenly glowed red, their facial expressions changed aswell. They showed anger and they were breathing as if they were possessed.

They stared at the knights without fear and charged again, they showed signs of extreme aggression, their strength seemingly increased and their speed almost doubled.

They also ignored their wounds and in one occasion, a bandit who lost an arm still fought on like it didn't bother him.

"come you worms!" The magic knight, started casting his own magic as a response.

Maximise Great offensive magic, Wyrm's breath!

A portion of the battlefield turned into ashes and flames, the bandits that were caught in the explosion turnes into ashes while the ground turned black. Yet the bandits pushed on.

Multiple groups of elite like bandits striked suddenly at several weak points. The Knight leader who led the order managed to stifle their quick advance, the faltering defence caused him to step out and personally deal with those elite bandits.

Two groups numbering about 20 each converged at his location, he quickly jumped forward, completely ignoring the other bandits and slammed his great sword at the ground.

Imperial Strenght!

Imperial Speed!

His body unleashed a suppressive aura that quickly travelled from the core of his body into his sword before smashing into the ground.

The ground shook as the sword crashed, a strong earthquake came from the spot and just as quick as it shook, the ground opened, a wave of might washed over the 40 or so bandits.

Those Bandits suddenly fell to the ground before a gaping hole followed the wave. The bandits fell and was soon crushed by the dirt and rocks the fell.

"Wraaah!"

The Knight leader started spinning while letting his sword cut through the bodies that were in the way. Unlike the other knights, his sword was much larger and longer, almost comparable to a two handed great sword. His shield was almost as tall as a tower shield yet he could easily bash it around like he's carrying a round shield.

Many of them didn't know what was coming and before they knew it, they were suddenly cut in half.

It took awhile but the Knight leader cleared an area, the ground around him were scattered with minced and bloody remains of the bandits who were too slow to run.

The Knight leader now had to retreat and deal with the other places that needed reinforcements.

Even with the help of the Knight leader, the knights were still being pushed back, the lines visibly shrunked as a result the magic knight stepped forward and unleashed his raw strength for the first time.

He suddenly multiplied and his copies moved on different locations.

Each locations that he moved to had bandits who had their own leaders or were overwhelmed with the newly arrived elite bandits. They were striking at several key locations that could definitely deal a heavy blow to the knights if they ever succeeded.

Each copy performed almost exactly like a strengthened tier 3 magic knight or a weakened tier 4 magic knight. Their performance varied but it was enough to repel the bandits that were being led.

Yulis was currently watching the battle in a mirror, a magic item that had the functions to display the surroundings of the carriage that she's in.

The battle was a complete stalemate, the knights were clearly stronger individually and they're a tier above the bandits, even if they were few in number, they were still well equipped and have rich battle experience supported by mages and priests from behind plus the barrier that helps repel incoming magic or projectiles.

The bandits were a lot weaker but the potion that they drank had somewhat closed the gap, they also numbered almost in a thousand. Making it 8 against 1.

Without the barrier and the various support the knights had, then it was more likely that the defence would have crumbled the moment the bandits drank the potion.

Of course, the bandits weren't the only one who had potions but the knights are still hiding theirs as one of their trump cards.

The stalemate however didn't last long, the bandits suddenly brought out a tier 4 magic scroll.

The mana seeping through the scroll alerted the magic knight and decided to rush forward in an attempt to stop the mages who were casting the spell.

The Magic Knight flew forward in an incredible speed, yet halfway across the battlefields the mages completed their spell and summoned a large fire shaped like a bird, it flew forward completely ignoring the magic knight.

The magic knight tried to counter it by sending his own spell but he didn't have enough time to cast a powerful spell and was forced to use weaker ones in order to repel it in time.

He launched hundreds of missiles made out of ice and water to target the flying bird yet to no avail it continued to fly towards the barrier.

The magic knight decisively ignored the bird and decided to go after the mages in order to prevent them from using another scroll.

Bombarding the mages from above they stood no chance and couldn't even counter attack, fiery missiles burned them to ashes, archers tried to shoot him down but they too suffered the same fate of the burnt mages.

While the knight were busy eradicating the mages, the phoenix like being struck the barrier with great force that it shattered like glass.

Pieces of the barrier began falling like snow and the bandits finally had their chance.

In the bandit camp, a messenger reported to a group of what looks to be their commanding officers. They all had different armors and insignia, signifying that they were from different groups.

"sire, the barrier was successfully removed but the imperial dogs sent a flying knight after our casters, we can no longer support our men from behind like planned!"

"grrrr! no matter, how goes the task forces that we sent?"

"they too were routed by the same knight, it seems he can cast some sort of magic that can create copy of him and not only that, their chief knight took care most of them aswell. The support of the knights from behind has started to take effect on our troops, and we're worried that the potion may not last long enough. "

" damnit! were already losing our men and now we have to deal with a magic knight!" the leader of the group spoke before looking at a robed man." You! you never told us that we have to deal with a magic knight! we need proper compensation for our loses and a way to deal with him! the pay you're giving us is obviously not enough! "

The robed man spoke calmly. "don't worry, your pay will be doubled as long as you kill the princess, and we've already predicted something like this. So we've prepared another trump card for you."

The robed man then pulled out a summoning scroll. "This is a tier 3 defensive golem, have it march towards the carriages and have your team of assassins strike when the opportunity arises!"

Carefully receiving the scroll with both hands, the messenger smiled wickedly before speaking. "aye boss, with this we will have no problem breaking past those knights!"

"Hurry you smuck! before the local Lords soldiers arrive to reinforce them!" The robed man snarled.

The messenger rushed out of the tent, leaving behind the leaders who returned to their seats.

Not far from the battlefields, several hidden figures watched the battle, they were close enough to watch the battle in detail but are far enough so that the magic knight doesn't detect their presence.

These men wore clothes that hid their bodies, and some were patrolling the area around the battlefield. These assassins had the job of making sure that no interloper would disturb the battle.

The messenger ran towards a nearby tree while panting, "t-they.... wanted to.... use this....." A figure jumped down before inspecting the scroll.

"Alright men, if any of you are stupid enough to die or be captured then i'll personally come and kill you off before they could even torture you."

"yissir!"

"aye!"

"sir, yissir"

"will do cap'n!"

"aye aye baws"

In the midst of battle a huge earthquake suddenly shattered the middle of the battlefield, most of the knights looked at their leader only for him to reply.

"wut? iz nut me!"

Boom! Another shaking occurred but this time a tall 12 meter high rock giant suddenly came from out of nowhere. The giant slowly but surely marched towards the carriages with a steady pace.

A loud cheer once again erupted at the battlefield, some bandits even tried to ride in the foot of the giant only to be squashed.

The knights watched in horror as it shrugged most of the magical attacks by their mages like nothing, A direct hit from the head failed to do any real damage other than staining it with soot from the fire ball.

All of the magic attacks from the defending mages suddenly switched targets lessening the burdens that the bandit army was receiving.

With the broken barrier and the incoming giant, the knights had no choice but to slowly give ground and slowly step back, inch by inch they slowly came closer to the carriages that they were protecting, step by step the giant slowly moved forward.

The magic knight stopped attacking and hovered just above the battlefield, his eyes were closed and he was muttering some incomprehensible words. His sudden disappearance in the battlefield caused some of the bandits to cheer.

Yet before they could relax, a sudden deathly feeling washed all over them. They all couldn't help but stop and look up, they couldn't see anything but they could feel an incredibly uncomfortable feeling that they couldn't help but shiver.

The knight opened his eyes to reveal two burning orbs instead of his eyeballs, the blue flame made him look creepy.

Some mana sensitive individuals sensed a terrifying amount of mana slowly forming just above the battlefield. The magic knight finished his long incantations and multiple magic circles started forming above the giant.

"Don't underestimate me scums!"

Maximise Great Offensive Magic! Frost Nova!

A loud boom, much greater than that of before when the giant spawned echoed throughout the forest, followed by a crisp sound of freezing as a cold and heavy mist engulfed the giant.

The birds nearby flew to the sky, the leaves from the trees shook and some fell to the ground.

The bandits stared at the giant in awe, as it was encased in ice! A tier 4 magic spell! some unfortunate bastards were found frozen under the giant, they had a terrified expression frozen in their face.

The bandits were frozen in their feet metaphorically and physically as the ground also froze trapping them to the ground with ice, the giant that was once proudly marching forward was frozen in place.

Although it looked like the giant was a complete waste, it did it's job. The magic knight temporarily halted giving enough time for the assassins to find an opening and sneak inside the knights defences.

The knights noticed their presence but it was too late, multiple figures raced towards the carriage in the middle of the makeshift carriage walls.

Several knights followed them but it was too late! one of them opened the carriages doors!

Yulis suddenly received an urgent quest.

[Emergency quest]

Do not die, Survive until the knights remove the threats nearby. Use any means necessary to live, failing to do so will halt any ongoing quests related to Princess Lisvian Askarte Vi Verdesia. because of your hidden identity as an immortal once you're dead, any relationships you had with the princess will be reset.

Yulis panicked, a single swipe could easily kill her, and since her employer is the Princess of an empire, it's pretty much impossible for her to get an audience with her once again. Sure she could visit again once she's strong enough but she would have to find her, a potential hidden character, once she reached tier 3 minimum.

The more time passes from her initial encounter with her the less likely she'll be able to meet such character again.

A maid who saw the assassin, didn't hesitate to throw herself in front of Yulis just to shield her and possibly buy time for the knights to arrive.

Yulis didn't hesitate to bring out one of her magic scroll.

Flame Javelin! Yulis fired a flaming spear towards the open door.

The assassin didn't expect a sudden attack and received the attack head on. The flame javelin is a tier 2 offensive magic spell and receiving it directly with his leather armor didn't gave him any chance to retaliate.

The assassin was only at early stage tier 3 so he was quickly pushed back, his subordinates saw the attack but still didn't hesitate to enter the door.

Yulis pulled another magic scroll.

Forked Lightning!

The lightning struck the assassin by the door and two more nearby, it momentarily stunned them buying time before several knights came and finally put an end to their attempts.

The assassins were killed on sight, Yulis was about to sigh of relief when the hair on the back of her neck stood.

She didn't hesitate to pull out another scroll, she quickly summoned a tier 1 golem just behind her.

When the golem materialised behind her a loud crack could be heard, the carriage collapsed as a large 2 and a half meter tall golem appeared.

Before it could move however a knife was suddenly embedded behind it, an invisible figure then appeared at the crushed rubbles of what used to be the carriage.

Several servants were also under the broken piles of wood, Yulis was one of them on top of her was the brave maid who threw herself at deaths scythe just to protect Yulis. A figure in black slowly crawled out of the debris only to be slashed by one of the knights.

The golem started to slowly clear away the debris, Yulis was pulled out by one of the knights, she was quickly escorted on the other carriage just besides the broken one.

The golem then walked in front of the door to physically block the entrance.

With the complete protection of the knights the assassins failed to kill their targets, however with some of the knights leaving the defensive line, the line slowly deformed before a hole suddenly emerged from one side.

A bandit wearing heavy armor and wielding a two handed hammer smashed a knight who was hiding behind his shield. The knight was pushed back creating a hole in which the bandits rushed in.

Like a domino, each knights who were beside the hole were either pushed back or were forced to make way lest they were trampled by the wave of bandits.

The magic knight wanted to return to the caravan yet his way was suddenly blocked by multiple late stage tier 3 bandits.

They all had unique traits, badges and trophies with golds and jewelries were scattered around their equipment. The Knight realised that they were probably the leaders of the bandits, he glared at them only for them to grin back.

He could fly back but he could sense that he would definitely recieve some sort of devastating attack if he ever turn his back on them.

"sorry princess but this will only take a moment" The knight muttered before chanting an incantation.

Yulis who was seated on the carriage once more recieved another quest.

[Survive II]

The assassins who sneaked in are mercilessly killed by the knights, this however caused the defence to weaken and collapse! The bandits made it through! The magic knight is busy dealing with another powerful force and the knight leader can't possibly stop them all. Survive until either of the two manages to secure your safety.

Yulis grimaced but this isn't the time to mope around and cry. Without any hesitation she used the two remaining summoning scroll, a tree who crawl with its root and a fiery being came out of existence.

With the lesser rock golem, lesser treant and lesser fire elemental, another form of defence came about.

The bandits however didn't slow down and rushed towards the carriage like a bunch of neighbourhood kids rushing at an ice cream truck, the servants peeked out of the windows and their expression showed fear like the expression of the sales person of the ice cream truck who saw death in the form of little children.