Chp.30: The battle at the academy

Hara parried yet another blow from one of her attackers with ease, but before she could counterattack one of the others grabbed the woman and pulled her out of his range, allowing her to dodge his blow. That situation had been going on for several minutes now and didn't seem to stop.

Hara knew she had to hurry, since not only the academy but also the royal palace was under attack; even though Thornag would technically go to fix the situation, she didn't know if a third attack would come from elsewhere in the city, so it was imperative to stop those opponents immediately. But no matter how hard she tried, it was clear she wasn't going to be able to finish the fight quickly. Those four women had come there very prepared.

She didn't know how they'd wiped out her mana, but it was causing her quite a few problems. Even though 99% of her strength came from divine power, Hara still used her mana as support in battles, such as to keep her balance or to generate magical barriers, and she used the rest of her power exclusively to attack. Also, a good deal of her attacks relied on normal mana-using spells that were then amplified with divine power. But without her mana, that was no longer possible. If normally a legendary level was equivalent to at least 100 level adamantium soldiers, now Hara had dropped to just 70. Surely sooner or later she would be able to recover the lost mana, since she didn't perceive changes in her body and therefore it would absorb the mana into her surroundings as it always did, but it would take a long time, maybe even days.

To make matters worse, the four women had disposed of her wyvern. While it was only a mount for Hara, its absence and the disappearance of its mana meant that now she could only use her divine power to keep herself airborne. This meant that at least a third of the divine power at her disposal had to be used just to keep her from falling. Even so, her strength was equivalent to at least 50 level adamantium soldiers… but the real problem came from concentration. She constantly had to divide her mind between keeping herself in the air and fighting the four women. Basically, she could wrestle with only 50% of her normal concentration. And considering that she was a mage, and as such had to rely heavily on concentration to cast magic, this debilitated her quite a bit.

Finally, there was also the numerical and strategic difference. To begin with, Hara was a mage and the four women were warriors; this meant that while she needed time, even just a few seconds, to cast her spells, they could attack her repeatedly without worrying about a thing and using very little concentration. Their strikes clearly did nothing to her, as Hara still had the body of a legendary level, but their quickness of attacks and their speed allowed them to dodge any of her counterattacks. This also forced her not to use too powerful spells, since they needed more time to be cast and every time she tried, the four women attacked her breaking her already low concentration. Finally, it was four against one; even if attacking all together they wouldn't have been able to hurt her, using a specific combination of attack and retreat they could keep her occupied and prevent her from reacting.

The basic rule among newcomers was that in a one-on-one fight, the one with the higher strength level generally won; while it was possible for a lower-level person to defeat a higher-level one using tactics, experience and strategy, this gap increased as the strength levels got higher. While it was possible for a level gold to defeat a level diamond, this could not happen if the two challengers were a level mithril and a level adamantium. But if there were more than one opponents, then everything changed. Using sheer numbers and the right strategy, a group of level mithril could defeat a single level adamantium.

Hara was legendary level, so it would normally take at least 100 level adamantium to bring her down; debilitated as she was, 50 would have been enough. Her challengers were only four, so they couldn't kill her; but the problem was that their goal was clearly not that. They wanted to keep her busy, and since there were four of them they could constantly change position and method of attack without her being able to do anything to prevent it. They had surrounded her on all sides and every time she tried to move away a little and be able to get them all into her field of vision, they forced her to stay in the previous point. They couldn't hurt her… but she didn't know how to hurt them.

If only she could have had the time to use a high-powered spell, then she could have wiped them all out at once, but the four women evidently knew this and still wouldn't give her a moment's break to do so. They were like extremely annoying flies that as soon as she tried to concentrate they attacked her ears and started buzzing insistently. Even if they couldn't hurt her, it was still enough to distract her.

Hara had hoped they would get tired sooner or later, but these women didn't even seem to feel any pain or fatigue. They continued to attack her with the same intensity with which they had attacked her in the beginning. It almost seemed as if they couldn't feel the muscular effort, as if their bodies were completely numb. Normally, a normal person after such an intense fight would have already suffered several muscle tears and would have been on the verge of a heart attack. But those women didn't seem to care at all about the problems of their body, almost as if they didn't care about them.

'These beings are clearly not humans or any other race I've ever seen! I don't know what runs in their veins, but I seriously doubt that it's blood!' she thought gritting her teeth. 'I have to finish this quickly, but at this rate it will take me hours! I just need a moment to hit them… something to distract them…'

She looked down. All of the teachers of the academy were passed out or dead and couldn't provide her with any support; the four women had been clever and had eliminated any possible help before she arrived. But they had made a mistake: some were still able to move and fight. Hara's wyvern, despite the force of the fall, was still alive and able to fight, although it could no longer fly due to damaged wings. But then again, it didn't need to fly for what Hara had in mind.

Normally, warriors and mages communicated telepathically with their mounts, giving them precise orders through some kind of mental contact. However, such contact required concentration, concentration that Hara didn't have at the moment. But Hara had never been a fool and, consequently, she had long ago trained her wyvern to respond to certain commands and sounds, precisely in view of a situation in which she couldn't communicate order with her mind. So, she moved her lips and let out a long whistle.

The four women didn't seem to notice, but the sound was still perceived by the sensitive ears of the wyvern even in the midst of battle. The animal immediately snapped and opened its jaws, and it spat a jet of blue flame at one of the women who, unbeknownst to Hara, was Kotaru. She noticed the attack and obviously dodged before it could hit her, but that single moment of distraction was all Hara needed. 'Now!' she screamed in her mind, and she cast a spell as fast as she could. Kotaru barely had time to look back at her before a blast of light energy hit her in the face and blew half of her head up like a balloon.

'Well! And now... urgh!' Hara's thoughts were interrupted by yet another series of attacks by the three remaining women. 'What!? Aren't they upset that their companion just died?'

Hara expected the other three women to be shocked by what had just happened, or angry, or desperate; after all, she had clearly heard them calling each other 'sisters'. She was sure they would have a reaction that would distract them enough for her to eliminate them all one by one. Instead they were continuing to attack her, and not in a furious or vengeful way, but in the same strategic and calculating way they had used in the beginning. It was as if they didn't give a damn about their companion's death…

But then she noticed something. First of all, Kotaru's body flickered for an instant, as if she were an image reflected in the water; then, the missing half of the head had started bubbling and reformed within seconds. Hara's eyes widened speechlessly. Such a thing was impossible! Even if there were creatures capable of regenerating themselves so quickly, they would have died once their brains were damaged! And she had clearly destroyed a large part of it!

"Uuurgh... getting your beast to attack me from behind? I expected a little more honor from a legendary level" Kotaru grumbled as she brushed her head as if she was checking that everything was okay. "Although... technically speaking, you did exactly what we would have done too. After all, in a battle there are no rules, only winners and losers"

A bead of sweat fell from Hara's forehead. "What kind of monsters are you? Do you have at least bodies still alive?"

"Do you dare to ask us such questions? As if you didn't have a body out of the ordinary and a power devoid of any logical sense!" Kotaru retorted in an angry voice.

"I'm not a freak of nature who doesn't die if half of my head explodes!" Hara replied. "And by the way, don't think I haven't noticed. You are using illusions to hide your true appearance! You speak of honor but you hide behind masks!"

"I never said that I give a damn about the honor or respect of the opponent. These are pathetic human constructs. I just said that I expected you to respect such constructs more, since you are human and legendary level too" Kotaru said with no emotion in her voice. "And by the way, it took you a long time to realize that we were using an illusion. Or perhaps you were too busy defending yourself against our attacks to accuse us?"

The veins on Hara's forehead throbbed visibly. "Cut the crap! Stop stalling and show yourself to me! I want to see what kind of monstrosity I'm facing!"

"Why do you continue to call us monsters? As you were beautiful!" Tikka snapped behind her. Technically Hara wasn't an ugly woman, but from a dragon's point of view she was just an almost completely bald, tailless and hornless animal, thus devoid of any kind of physical attraction.

Kotaru seemed to think about it, then she shrugged. "As you wish. I don't see the reason to continue not showing you our true appearance, it's too late anyway"

Hara didn't know what Kotaru meant by 'too late', but she didn't have time to ask: the illusion in fact vanished and she was finally able to see the true appearance of her opponents. She felt a pang of disgust as she saw four hideous corpses, with long claws and protruding teeth, a long tail, completely deformed facial features, and four dragonfly-like wings on their backs. Their bellies were ripped open, and now she understood why their innards had never come out before. But despite her disgust, her reaction was very subdued. "These are clearly not live bodies... are you remote commanding them? Are you necromancers?"

"Do you understand that? You truly deserve to be a legendary level mage" Kotaru said. "If you figured it out, however, you already know that we won't feel tiredness or pain no matter how much we fight, and that even if you destroyed these bodies, it wouldn't make any difference to us! You can't kill us!"

Hara knew that was true. She didn't know what kind of necromancy these women were using, or where their real bodies were, but regardless of the answer, she couldn't do anything to them. Even if she destroyed their avatars, they wouldn't suffer any damage. However, it could at least prevent them from doing more damage to the capital than they had already done.

Kotaru smiled (or at least, she seemed to smile, since her long, protruding teeth made it almost impossible to understand her expressions) and lunged at her again. "Enough talking! Let's continue!"

And in an instant the sky was again full of sparks and deadly blows.