Aside from Drannor and Erean, who were hidden inside the first mine, everyone else and Zaos were waiting for the assassins to pass by them. Once they do that, they will attack them from behind. They only had twenty soldiers on their side, and Zaos just noticed that the assassins numbered one hundred… that would be hard. Even a surprise back attack won't cause much damage, at least not fast enough. That was why Erean and Drannor would also attack them when they focused on Zaos and the other soldiers.

Since Zaos didn't recover all his mana even after all that time, he had to be careful about how he spends his mana. Enhancing his sword with so much wind magic in order to make electricity appear was out of the question. Even though he might be able to make the energy last longer just by delivering direct attacks, it wouldn't be enough. Besides, Zaos's arms and shoulders couldn't withstand how much all that magic bolstered his attack speed.

Although none of the soldiers had any experience in hiding their presence, Zaos gave them a few tips. He also wasn't good at doing that either. Still, he knew the enemy could do things that always made them be noticed earlier by Magic Perception. The assassins finally were so close to Zaos, and the other soldiers had them within their range. Only two steps and a sword swing would be enough to attack them. Still, the sons of a bitches divided themselves into groups of ten. He spread around the area… all in order to surround all the targets and force them to stay in a kill zone. On the bright side, the soldiers have spread around as well… they just had to kill five assassins in a few seconds each, and then the problem would be solved.

In the end, it seemed the tension gave away their presence. After holding back their killing intent while the enemies were so close by, it was only obvious that something like that would happen. The assassins stopped their advance because they finally noticed that things seemed way too suspicious.

Zaos enhanced his arms and legs with wind magic, so he hit the first group even before they could react in any way. After swinging his big sword in a huge arc, five enemies were split in half. He did the same with the rest of the members of that group, and the other soldiers finally followed his lead after hearing the sound of flesh and bones being destroyed.

Your Swordsmanship has reached level 50

Your Magic Swordsmanship has reached level 39

The other groups around pointed their rapid-fire crossbows toward Zaos as if they had imagined that something like that would happen. However, the soldier's attack made them hesitate for a single moment. Should they kill that monster holding the big sword or kill the soldiers who approached them? That hesitation granted Zaos just enough time to decimate another group of assassins. 

Once they realized that even if they succeed, most of them won't live to see another day, the assassin pointed their crossbows toward Zaos. They need to take down at least that monster in human flesh. Zaos didn't imagine that so many of them would try to take him down, so he used his sword to protect his front and then enhanced the other parts of his body to protect his vitals. 

Dozens of bolts hit his body in a single second. In the end, he didn't have enough mana to protect all of it, so the bolts pierced him all over. Fortunately, the projectiles aimed at his vitals never caused any real critical damage. That being said…

Your Pain Resistance has reached level 37.

Your Pain Resistance has reached level 38.

Your Pain Resistance has reached level 39.

Your Pain Resistance has reached level 40.

Little by little, the number of projectiles decreased, and while Zaos was fighting against the pain, at some point, Drannor and Erean joined the night and focused on attacking the assassins that focused on attacking Zaos. 

In the end, much to everyone's surprise, the assassins had been killed in less than a minute… if they didn't know any better, they would think that their orders were solely to take down Zaos no matter what. 

"Zaos!" Drannor shouted and then approached.

Drannor opened his eyes widely when he saw Zaos's body filled with the bolts. Somehow, they didn't pierce his flesh all that much to hit bones and damage bones. Despite that, he was bleeding too much.

"Oh, shit…" Erean reacted the same way as he approached. "You will have to heal yourself… as fast as possible."

"Can't… I used all my mana to withstand the attacks," Zaos replied.

"It would be weird if you had some left despite using your mana to endure all that," Erean said. "Anyway… we will have to make you lay down. You will need to calm down in order to calm down your heart beat. That way, you will lose less blood. But first…"

"Just pull them all out," Zaos said.

Zaos knew that at least the bolts on his back would have to be pulled down. That was why he had prepared himself for it. Fortunately, he wasn't alone, so he didn't have to worry about damaging himself even more.

"We will need someone to close the wound as soon as I pull the bolts," Erean said. "We also need some clean clothes and water."

"I don't have much mana, but I think I can stop the blood loss," Drannor said.

"Oh, great…" Zaos rolled his eyes.

"What? Do you have any better ideas?" Drannor asked.

"I said that because I don't have a better idea," Zaos said. "Whatever, just do it."

Instead of letting Zaos be more nervous about the pain, Erean just followed what he said and then pulled the first bolt. Fortunately, not much of his flesh was damaged on the way back, and Drannor alleviated the pain as soon as the bolt was pulled. Although Zaos stopped teaching him, he still got considerably faster since them at using healing magic. Still, Zaos knew that things were going to be difficult for him since he noticed his eyesight getting blurred, and then eventually, he lost consciousness.