A good part of the forest around the mountain was on fire when Zaos finally stopped attacking the enemy army. While he spent almost half of his mana, he was confident that he had killed a few dozen enemies. Not to mention, he didn't have to worry them about attacking at night since many more soldiers probably were suffering right at that moment with burn marks. After making the enemies retreat for five more hundred meters, Zaos began to meditate.

----- -----

Somewhere in the forest below, a group of men was checking the place that Zaos had attacked. Although pretty much everything was on fire, they still could check what happened. At least they were trying since the reports seemed wildly inaccurate.

"What do you think happened here?" Ferdinand asked to the mages that he had hired for the mission.

"According to the vestiges of the attacks and the points where they landed, some high concentration fire spell was used on your men," The leader of the mages said. "It seems your enemies, sir, have a very talented mage among them."

"They don't have a mage. They have a kid that can use unusual magic," Ferdinand furrowed his eyebrows. "Rather than that, tell me how I can make my man avoid this type of attack."

"Well… usually after using two or three attacks of this level, any decent mage would run out of mana," The leader of the mages said. "Still, since he fired dozens of times, we can assume that he has a large number of mana potions on his disposal. If I remember correctly, there is a small group of Sairus kingdom among the enemies, am I correct? Those people fabricate a good part of the potions that are negotiated over the world."

"You still didn't answer my questions," Ferdinand said, visibly impatient.

"The only option is to force them to use all their mana potions or cast spells all over your army that will decrease the strength of magic attacks," The leader of the mages said. "Still, unless you have at least three hundred mages, you can't protect an army of this size."

"Are you saying that a single mage, my soldiers can't protect themselves?" Ferdinand asked, visibly angry.

"They can use their shields. They are sturdy enough," The leader of the mages said. "However, their arms will get burned since their shields will heat up. That will protect their lives, but they will have to sacrifice one of their arms if the enemy keeps attacking like this. Considering that they have a large range and have the higher ground, there is nothing else to do. No… there is something else that you can do."

The leader of the mages pointed to the sky, but Ferdinand didn't understand why he did that. Only after a while, he understood. Why he didn't think of such an easy solution before?

----- -----

Zaos couldn't help but frown when the next morning came. There was no sign of the enemies moving or preparing any attack. He knew that they would be cautious after his attacks, but waiting for him to recover his mana was just plain stupidity.

"Do you know why they didn't attack, captain?" Drannor asked.

"Maybe they decided to see if we will get impatient with our supplies of water and food," Erean said. "Still, this time even I think that they are behaving oddly… I can feel that their plans seem a bit different this time."

Nothing happened for who five days. Zaos got sick of waiting and decided to kick some asses at some points because he didn't have time to waste waiting for cowards to start the battle. In the end, Ameria and the others convinced him to calm down. Still, they knew that Zaos could only withstand that situation for so long.

In the afternoon of the fifth day, Zaos finally discovered why they waited until now to attack… they were waiting for the rain. A storm was approaching, and his bolts enhanced by fire magic wouldn't be that effective.

"What a group of coward idiots," Zaos said while he was clenching his teeth.

Even if they considered the civilians, they were at least outnumbered eight to one. The odds were in the favor even though Zaos could make a mess out of the enemies with magic… so why the hell did they have to wait for the weather to change? That was just too pathetic. In the end, Zaos could easily electrocute dozens of them by firing bolts enhanced with a lot of wind magic, but he decided not to do that. He couldn't wait for these dumbasses any longer. He had to go home, and he would, even if he had to open a path through that army himself. 

"Zaos, they are planning to use the storm to nullify the effects of your fire attacks," Erean said. "Can you fire those lightning bolts that you used on your sword but this time on your bolts?"

"I can, but I won't," Zaos replied.

Erean and everyone else around sighed. They knew why Zaos wouldn't do it, and in the end, none of them could force him to do it. Truth to be told, not even Erean was putting much trust into that kind of strategy. After all, unless they are hit directly, the soldiers won't suffer lethal damage. At best, Zaos will slow them down a little bit and buy some time, but just that.

"All right, let's prepare for the battle," Erean said. "Those responsible for throwing rocks, stay inside the cave and wait until we decide to charge toward the enemy. Meanwhile, the others who have crossbows will use them the very moment the enemies began to climb the mountain."

Aside from the guards, only fifteen or so people had decent aim to use the crossbows, so only they would fire. That being said, another small group behind them would load the ammo boxes for them when the time comes. Everyone would do everything possible to help, but even though everyone worked hard to craft as many bolts as possible, they only had enough to fill three extra ammo boxes. That wouldn't last even a single minute…