Chapter 24: Cornered!

The next day, Theo woke due to the approaching sound from the south. Anticipating the incoming 2-meter wave, Theo prepared himself and chanted a "Firedust" to quickly warm himself.

A short time later a 2-meter wave appeared from the south and continued to approach Theo, extinguishing the forest-fire leftovers in the process.

When the wave finally reached Theo, the height of the hill was enough to reflect most of the wave. As a result, the wave reached only 3 meters of the hill and continued its journey further to the north.

Theo sighed preparing for the new challenge this illusionary trial would send on him next.

Adjusting himself into the lotus position, Theo closed his eyes, waiting for the arrival of the new problems.

In fact, it didn't take long for them to appear. Several hours later, Theo heard distant voices that were coming from the north direction.

The more Theo listened to the wind that transferred the voices, the more things he was able to decipher. As a result, thanks to his luck with the current of the wind he realized that a huge group of people was approaching him from the north.

Understanding, that the people that would appear in this illusionary trial would most likely be his enemies, Theo created several earth walls below on the hill to have more potential shelters during the battle.

Draining half of his mana, Theo closed his eyes and started gathering mana that he would need when he would meet the new problems.

***

Several hours later, Theo opened his eyes after filling his mana heart to the brim and immediately looked at the north.

He continued to focus his attention on the north and tried to see any potential movements among the black and grey leftovers of the forest.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't know that more than a thousand strong warriors that were experienced in guerilla warfare have long ago noticed him sitting on his tower above the hill.

Now one of those warriors that looked like a scout was standing in front of another warrior in the heavy armor.

"Captain, the boy on the tower is just a 3rd adept, and he has survived the Great mage's spell," said the man with a bow in his hands, "Besides it looks like he has constructed many earth objects on that hill that can be used during the battle against the imperial forces,"

"I see, if it's just a 3rd rank adept, take a small group, and capture that hill. It would be good to use his efforts against our enemy," said the knight with a smile on his lips.

"Yes, captain," said the scout before signaling to his people.

A moment later, a group of 15 people that consisted of knights and several mages moved out in the direction of the hill.

***

At the same time as the scout from Great knight's side reported to his commanding officer, a similar scene was happening a thousand meters away from the hill to the north.

"Captain, our scouts have already found first traits of the rebel leftovers," said the man in the green and brown leather clothes with a bow in his hand, "Several of the scouting units met them a 1000 meters to the south near the hill. It looks like they anticipated that we would survive their counter-attack."

The man in the same uniform with a small silver griffon beast on the right side of his lightweight chainmail turned his glance from the forest and looked at the reporting scout.

"Have you seen anything else?"

The scout pondered for a bit before answering his officer.

"In fact, there is a quite fortified hill in the same direction at the south, one of the scouting units reported that there was a tall tower and many earth objects that can be used as a good defensive position in the battle with main forces of the insurgents."

The captain pondered for some time before turning and looking at the small groups of knights and mages that were standing behind him.

"I think a hundred knights and 20 mages would be enough to capture that point till the arrival of our main forces."

A moment later all the people saluted by placing their right hands near the heart and moved out to the south.

***

At the same time, Theo continued to furrow his brows more with each passing moment. His battle experience and intuition were crying at him that huge problems were approaching.

In fact, Theo made good preparations in case he would meet another climatic catastrophe or meet a bigger group of monsters, he even calculated the possibility of meeting the enemy in the face of humans and created more potential shelters for himself. However, as time continued to pass, he continued to feel more and more uneasy.

In fact, a short time later, he once again realized that he should have listened to his intuition when he saw a group of 15 men that was quickly approaching the hill.

Just a glance was enough for Theo to realize that those men looked like bandits, but the way they moved showed their professionalism, and it wasn't difficult for Theo to see soldiers and warriors in them. Besides, Theo also quickly realized that those men were mainly mages and knights against who Theo had few ways of struggle. Of course, he could kill or injure several of them, using a surprise attack, but he knew that they would eventually kill him regardless of all the preparations he made. Sometimes, individual strength played a more important role than preparations.

So, Theo quickly realized that he had few ways of surviving if he escapes and much less if he stays because those men most likely wouldn't chase after him if he leaves this position and hides in the burned forest.

When Theo started climbing down his tower from the south side, he threw his glance in the direction where he would flee and halted when he saw a much bigger group, approaching from that direction.

A moment was enough for him to realize his new situation and curse at the illusionary trial. The trial put him in the cornered position in which most of his arsenal was useless, and only extraordinary ideas could help him survive his situation.

Theo still had around 30-40 minutes before the 1st men would reach the hill, so he threw his glance at the objects around him, stopping at the surface below him.

In fact, Theo could move his personally created spells, and the earth walls he used to create this tower were his spells.

A moment later, Theo inflicted a portion of his mana, creating a small hole for himself to jump into while he moved the earth from the released space to strengthen the foundation of the tower. The tower was surrounded by many earth objects, and his enemies just couldn't see such small changes.

Theo continued to move, and 20 minutes later he was standing on the surface of the hill. Finishing the 1st part of his plan, Theo created small corridors, using which he could look at the northern and southern sides of the tower. Several moments later, he created several holes from different angles to be able to see the battle that would happen outside, he also created many small holes which could transfer air to him. The last thing, he did was to close the hole he used to climb down, using the new "Earth shield" just not to touch his other spells.

A short time later as he finished his preparations, a group of 15 soldiers finally reached the top of the hill and stopped in front of the tower.

"You two, go climb the tower, report if you see the enemy," said the man with a bow in his hands, "Others go and check the surroundings, there should be a 3rd rank adept that created this position for us. We don't know who it is, but we can't risk the potential enemy to learn about any information about us."

The other men and women nodded to his words and soon disappeared in different directions.

The man with a bow looked at his subordinates before taking several arrows and placing them on the bowstring.

Just as he finished preparing himself, an arrow, covered with battle energy hit the tower, killing one of the soldiers and sending another to the short flight towards the surface. The arrow attack was so strong that it easily pierced through the top of the tower, sending the huge portion of the scrambled earth to the ground.

"Chief, they are here! Imperial scums are attacking!," cried one of the scouts, standing on one of the earth walls Theo created on the hill.

The moment, the chief heard him, he adjusted himself before shooting at the air with 2 special arrows.

A moment later, those arrows reached a 200 meters distance above the hill when they exploded, creating a red signal that could be seen from the distance.

"Prepare to hold this position, use everything you have, make those bastards pay the price!" said the man with a bow, jumping at one of the highest objects after the tower.

When the chief stepped at one of the 1 meters walls, he quickly started inflicting a significant portion of his battle energy at his arrows, and moments later a ballista-like arrows moved out in the direction of the approaching imperial scouts.

Several moments later, more than 10 ballista-like arrows flew at the imperial forces from different locations on the hill.

Anticipating such a reaction, the incoming imperial forces prepared their own counter-attack by sending many energy slashes, ballista-like arrows, and 20 spells in the direction of the incoming arrows.

*Boom*

Both sides exchanged their first attacks, while the hill started shaking under the impact of the meeting forces.

Several moments later, the 1st groups of knights in the armor with a Griffon monster on their armor stepped on the hill and started to climb up.

However, as they reached the hill, another force in similar uniform as 15 scouts appeared from the southern direction and was quickly approaching the hill.

***

"For the Empire!"

"Kill the rebels!"

"In the name of the Emperor!"

The imperial forces reached the hill and started fighting against the small group of 15 scouts that made everything it could to slow down and damage their forces.

As the 2 sides started to exchange their attacks and spells, the battle started all over the hill, and Theo quickly felt the impact of their battle through the trembling earth. In fact, the more they exchanged their spells and energy techniques, the less protected he felt. However, he knew that it would be pure suicide if he leaves his shelter right now.

As if to support his thought, another huge impact passed through the ground, shaking the hill and his tower. The reinforcements arrived to help their scouts and initiated a brutal attack on the imperial forces.

At the same time as he continued to sit and look at the fighting forces from his small holes, he quickly realized that more knights and mages arrived from the south, and moments later they started the brutal battle, stopping imperial forces advance in the center of the hill.

Just initial exchange between them devastated most of the shelters and walls Theo created, transforming the hill into an empty and open space in certain areas. The more Theo saw, the more obvious it became that he would most likely die if he doesn't find a chance for himself to escape from this precarious situation.

The only way he saw was to use the moment of the battle when both sides would exhaust themselves and move to use their basic spells and energy techniques. Only at that period of time, Theo believed that he had chances to escape from this damned hill.

The time continued to pass, and after several hours when most of the earth objects he created were destroyed, and only the foundation in which he was hiding was still relatively intact, Theo saw a small chance when the number of fighting warriors and mages decreased significantly on both sides. Many corpses were all over the hill, and when the opposing forces moved to use their basic arsenal of spells or techniques due to mana or battle energy exhaustion. The battle was entering into its last phases!

It was the chance! Creating a small hole for himself, Theo left his shelter, and adjusted himself towards the east, and started moving in that direction.

Of course, the appearance of the 15-16 years old 3rd rank adept attracted attention from both sides, and it didn't take long for some of them to send several basic attacks at Theo just to get rid of the potential spy. However, both forces were in a deadlock and only a few of them could distract Theo just to get rid of the potential spy on the battlefield.

So, when Theo started running to the east, it didn't take long for some fire and wind basic spells to appear, approaching him.

Anticipating such a course of events, Theo was long ago ready, and a moment later the ice spell called the "Essense of Ice" appeared as a 1-meter wall, protecting him from the frontal and flang attacks.

It was just a defensive usage of the same spell Theo used to get rid of the fleeing wolf, he just concentrated his mana to form a thick wall of ice instead of the long icicle.

*Boom*

As a result, the ice wall blocked all the attacks, letting him reach a nearby area with several relatively intact earth walls that he could use to hide.

A similar scene happened along the whole of Theo's way towards east, both forces sent small and weak attacks just to get rid of him in the process of their battle, while Theo used all the ways possible to survive and move further.

Due to his efforts and skills, he eventually reached the edge of the hill on the east side, successfully evading most of the enemy attacks. However, he lost his left hand due to one of the enemy attacks.

Leaving the hot sector where the main battle was unfolding, Theo released a relieved sigh, holding his bleeding wound when he saw the last 50 meters distance before he would reach a relatively safe area in the burned forest..

However, the moment he started running, a shiver passed through his body, and his body stopped moving, making Theo fall to the ground, spitting the blood.

It didn't take long for Theo to realize what was happening, he, the 3rd rank adept was attacked by the pressure of the Great knight.

Raising his head, and spending a huge amount of his efforts, Theo saw a standing man, approaching from the south.

The man was dressed in the chainmail lightweight armor with a griffon insignia on his right side of the armor. He was holding a long spear in his hand.

"A weak 3rd rank adept on the battlefield of giants! Boy, you have to blame your luck for meeting me here," said the man in the noble outfit, raising his hand, and creating several basic energy slashes, "I doubt that the Sven family would give many merits for your deaths or imprisoning, so die for the glory of the Griffon Empire."

A moment later, Theo felt how energy slashes hit his body, and a moment later, he opened his eyes inside in an absolutely different place.