Without a second thought about Jura's safety, I lunged toward the closest group, causing the numerous dark mages surrounding us to attack the two of us, along with the four strongest, though they separated into a two-man team to deal with each of us. However, I didn't try to change directions and face them in direct combat; I was still trying to live despite my reckless actions, and I knew that without taking down the nearly forty dark mages in the background, I would be swiftly defeated by their non-stop attacks pelting me from a distance. 'I can't get distracted with the leaders, not yet.'
Narrowing my eyes, I glanced at Jura, who tried to follow, but the four leaders landed between us, keeping us separated, which forced him to follow the same plan as me, as he ignored the two leaders and targeted the numerous dark mages in the back. Shifting my focus back to my enemies, the mages didn't hesitate to attack me once I got close, causing countless different forms of magic to head my way; though I didn't try to block or evade the attacks, I couldn't risk slowing down and letting the leaders get closer. Besides, with my strength, I could ignore most of their attacks as they could only leave scratches on my body; the only ones I needed to concern myself with were the ones that obstructed me.
Leaping over a large pit that suddenly appeared, I landed in front of the group and violently kicked the ground, launching small rocks at breakneck speeds into the numerous mages, injuring several while others were able to defend themselves in time. Still, this allowed me the opportunity to dash into the fray of mages. Nearing my first prey, who summoned a sword from nowhere and tried attacking me, though using my nails, I slashed right through the sword before reaching the mage's neck, ripping it to shreds and staining me in blood.
Clutching the dead mage by their torn neck, I tossed them at a couple of other mages while swiftly dashing at another, stabbing my hand right through their chest before violently kicking another, breaking their ribs into their lungs and hearts. "D-Dammit! I can't attack!" "He's too close! Spread out!" Seeing the mages quickly try and spread out so they could use their magic, I stomped on the ground, breaking and shaking it, causing everyone to lose balance.
With swift attacks, I killed seven more mages before they managed to regain their bearings and spread out, causing me to click my tongue as I quickly dashed after the closest one, only for two bullets to lodge themselves into my arm while the force pushed me to the side. Flipping backward, I dodged two more bullets, only for a whitish aura to suddenly envelop me, followed by me being slammed into the ground, allowing another bullet to hit my shoulder, causing me to hiss in pain as I resisted the air that bound me. 'Tsk, they caught up.' Raising my head, I glanced at the two leaders; one was far back with a long rifle, while the other was floating in the air with an outstretched hand.
Feeling the force of the air strengthen, I swiftly glanced at the sniping mage, watching as the barrel flashed with bluish magic while a blue projectile speedily headed right for my chest; however, with the heavy air pressure hampering my movements, I was barely able to evade the attack. Side-stepping, I slowly ran towards the floating mage, who was enveloped with a whitish aura, the same one that surrounded my body; while approaching the mage, I was shot at, and although most didn't hit me, a few managed to dig into my chest, stopping just at my muscles.
Stabbing my hand into the ground, I infused it with my magic power, causing a large chunk to shimmer gold as I ripped out a massive boulder that dwarfed me before throwing it at the floating mage, who stopped it by surrounding it with a whitish aura just before it reached him. "Projectiles mean nothing to air mages." With a push of his palms, the dark mage flung the boulder back towards me, prompting me to break it with a punch, only for another bullet to lodge itself into my shoulder, dislocating it, though I quickly fixed it.
Grunting in annoyance, I changed my focus from the air mage to the gun mage; with him floating in the air and easily handling whatever I threw at him, I knew taking him down would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Charging towards the gun mage in the distance, I glanced at Jura, who was having an equally rough time as me against his many opponents; though I was lucky as I could mostly ignore the weaker mages, still, their numerous attacks were slowly beginning to add up;
'Tch, my body is breaking down quickly.' Even without looking, I knew precisely the extent of my injuries as well as my body's condition, and I knew I wouldn't last long like this; I was just taking far too many attacks. Spitting blood onto the ground, I knocked away a random fireball while raising my arm, using it to block a volley of slightly weaker bullets; still, they were able to gouge their way deep into my arm.
As I got closer to the gun mage, she was promptly enveloped with a whitish aura before floating into the air, though I had expected that; stabbing both hands into the ground, I grabbed two large boulders and tossed them at two dark mages with enough force to demolish a row of houses. However, unsurprisingly, they were both stopped by the air mage, though, as I had expected, the immense air pressure that bound me had weakened, prompting me to leap toward the gun mage, landing atop the floating boulder before swiping my hand, clawing through her clothes and leaving behind four gashes across her torso. "Argh! B-Bastard!"
I would've tried to attack again, but the air mage violently slammed me into the ground, causing me to cough blood as I fought against the resistance. "Tsk, I was hoping for more." Grunting, I slowly stood up, gazing at the gun mage, who was furiously gnashing her teeth, causing me to smirk, which only served to piss her off. "Alright, fucker, how do you like this!" Furiously, the gun mage shot at me again, though, unlike this time, her bullets were slightly different, and as I narrowly dodged, the bullet slammed into the ground at my feet before exploding.
Crashing across the ground, I quickly stood up and tried to evade the next attack, but one of the weakling mages managed to lock one of my arms using earth magic, allowing one of the exploding bullets to slam right into my chest, breaking a few ribs and causing my skid across the ground like a rag doll. Quickly standing up, I raised my arms, narrowly blocking another exploding bullet that sent me even further back; violently coughing blood, I raised my head and grinned at the gun mage before dashing towards her.
Another exploding bullet slammed into my shoulder, breaking it and burning my skin, but I pushed through the force of the explosion, increasing my speed as I continued near the mage. "W-Why isn't he stopping!?" In both anger and fear, she continued to shoot at me while glancing at the air mage, who pressed harder, causing the air pressure I was resisting to increase yet again, though it wasn't enough to stop me as I continued to charge at the woman.
While running to her, I grabbed several stones and infused them with my magic power far past their limit before tossing them at the air mage, who stopped them, but they exploded in his face, momentarily causing him to lose focus. With the heavy air pressure surrounding me suddenly vanishing, my speed exploded as I pushed off the ground, cracking it while I swiftly reached the gun mage, though just as I was about to kill her, an exploding bullet hit my head, knocking me unconscious, though not without having managed to break her rifle.
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Dark Mage POV
Groaning in pain, I slowly sat upright while rubbing my head in pain, only to wince as I quickly clutched my bleeding chest. "Tsk, f-fucking Beast, nearly killed me." Glancing at the smoking body of 'Beast', I suddenly felt pressure on my chest, causing me to hiss as I looked at Staffon, who landed beside me, causing me to grunt. "It shouldn't have been this difficult; it was just one person." "We underestimated 'Beast'; thankfully, we increased our numbers when we learned he was teaming up with Jura from Lamia Scale." Nodding with a gunt, I slowly stood up while approaching my broken rifle, which had saved me from being grievously injured.
Cursing under my breath, I sat on the ground while looking at how the other team was handling Jura, though seeing as he was being imprisoned with magic sealing cuffs, I heaved a sigh of relief while handing Staffon a pair, prompting him to float them towards him before cuffing 'Beast'.
"Good, now let me rest."