This is part 2 of the battle, it's a double simultaneous release this time. If you missed part 1, please go back.

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The crackling flames lick over the dead bodies, illuminating the dusk. Fueled by body fat, the flames have been going on for almost a couple of hours now. The corpses scattered about have been gathered and piled up in the middle of the village, just outside the inn to be cremated. Wooden furniture have been broken up and placed over the streets, extending the radius of the flames. If looked from above, the center of the village looks like a giant bonfire producing thick, billowing smoke that covers the already darkened skies. Several combatants from the front line have been withdrawn to tend the flames, making sure that the fire does not spread out of its designated area.

It had been several hours since the first wave of attack from the monsters early that morning. The enemy had launched their trebutchets five more times within that duration. Their shots steadily got more and more accurate with each adjustment made, resulting in a higher number of corpses hitting the village. By their sixth shot of the day, they managed to shrink the margin of error to only a few hundred yards from the village. There is no doubt that they will fire off real heavy projectiles soon.

The defenders have used the time to its fullest by resting themselves after being reassured that the monsters would not be attacking until nightfall. They created shifts among themselves, to change the lookouts every couple of hours, allowing everyone to recuperate their spent energy. Most of them utilised their waking hours gathering the corpses and breaking down furniture as per Chase's plans. They all thought it was a crazy one when they were first told about it, but they knew that it would definitely work. After all, the great old White Devil is going to be handling the magic.

The non-combatants have been evacuated hours ago after lunch, it would be fatal for them should they stay nearby. They have brought along one week's worth of preserved food, enough to feed them for the whole journey to Ceylon and then some. Should they succeed, a member of the scouting group would go and inform them to double back. If not, they should carry on and pray that the defenders have managed to buy them enough time.

The sun slowly slips off the horizon, pulling down a curtain of darkness over the sky. A dozen small globes of white light weakly cast their shine upon the battlefield, revealing the entirety of the enemy horde. The monsters could not do anything to the light balls due to the light's intangible properties. However, they are like candles in a cave, their small numbers could not provide complete illumination of the whole battlefield. At least, not yet.

The defenders are already back in their former positions, with some of them relocated to new ones. The bowmen have already swapped to melee weapons. Their new strategy would require them to retreat long before the enemies enter the firing range of bows. Several spellcasters have vacated the rooftops and are standing with the close combatants, these are the ones with the affinity for Earth Magic. They are entrusted with deflecting enemy projectiles, or at least to minimize the damage.

Chase, Alice and Gillian still remain at their previous position. Gillian had changed into his old shabby grey robes which he had dug up in his attic earlier today. In his right hand he holds a finely polished steel sword, and on his left he wields a long wizard's staff. He truly looks impressive in his spellsword garb, the shabbiness of the robes only serve to enhance his venerable looks. The first impression he might give is that of a very wise and powerful wizard. No one would be paying attention to Chase at this rate, which is exactly what they want.

The blaring sound of warhorns being blown assaults their ears for the second time that day, accompanied by the war cries of the orcs and howling wolves. The horde charges forward, their true assault finally begins. The wooden beams of the trebutchets begin to pivot around its fulcrum and shot three giant boulders as their slings unravel. There are only three trebutchets left due to two of them breaking down.

"Oh sacred light of divinity, pierce the darkness and shine thy radiance upon these abominations!" Gillian points his magic staff at the battlefield, the point of it begins to shine and produces a light ball. Over fifty more light balls materialised themselves around Gillian thanks to Chase and darts off towards the battlefield. The globes positioned themselves all over the grasslands at varying heights, radiating enough light to render the darkness insignificant.

The flying boulders' trajectory comes into view as the darkness is blown away, allowing the Earth magicians some leeway in estimating their landing points. Two of the boulders were well off target, but one is heading straight to the front lines at a rapid velocity.

"Earth pillar!" The Earth magicians cast their Intermediate-ranked Earth spell aiming the front of the falling rock. Half a dozen square pillars of earth shot out of the ground, knocking the boulder backwards. Or at least, that was what they had planned to do. The boulder cracks and splits into two less gigantic, but still deadly halves and continue to hurtle towards the line of defenders.

The accident caught them unaware as one half smashes the ground and squashes a few people. A bloody arm pokes from underneath the stone, twitching for a moment and then falling limply as its owner dies.

The other half of the boulder hits the ground behind the front line and rebounds towards a building. The impact causes the walls of the building to crumble, knocking it off balance and bringing down the men stationed above it. Two of them dies from the fall while the other two lost their lives as the falling debris flattens them. The defenders suffer their first casualties for the battle. The trebutchets would take quite some time to be reloaded before they are used again.

As they have predicted, the horde begins to break off to the sides in an attempt to flank their defenses. Unfortunately for them, the defenders were well prepared for their actions.

"By the power of the Sacred Phoenix, we command the burning flames to bar the path of our enemies, Fire Wall!!!" two towering walls of fire erupt on the enemies' sides, inhibiting them from carrying out their plans. The spellcasters imitated Gillian's gibberish chant, believing that it would boost their magical power.

Obviously, it did not do anything of the sort. It induced a placebo effect on them instead, allowing them to strain themselves and keep the fires ablaze. Left with no choice, the horde returns to their straightforward charge. The Blood Counts however, are out of the fires' reach. They begin to veer off course over the walls of flame.

"Spirits of the dead, extinguish the life of thee enemies with ye ethereal forms" Gillian's chant continues to scale up in terms of ridiculousness as he spins his staff around. Alice's face is painted a bright red due to the embarrassment she is suffering from and not because of the effort she put into maintaining the fire wall.

She would most likely refuse to acknowledge her grandfather in front of anyone once this is all over. The 'spirits of the dead' or more commonly known as smoke, begin to glide through the skies in a westerly direction towards the horde.

The smoke had been held at a semi stationary position above the village up until now. They have been slowly pooling up for the past couple of hours. Chase have finally released his hold on them and directs them towards the enemies. Thanks to the natural air currents moving west, he did not have to spend much mana to move the clouds of smoke.

The smoke encircles the Blood Counts, forming vast thick black walls and ceiling which threatens to choke the life out of them. Chase quickly lowers the smoke, forcing the Blood Counts to reduce their flying altitude lest they be strangled. The light balls that were placed high up follow suit and descend towards the ground.

'80 feet, 70, 60, 50!'Once the Blood Counts reach 50 feet, Gillian begins to chant. Chase sends off large amounts of mana towards the battlefield, imbuing them into the air flowing in between the horde.

"Oh, Father of Heavenly Might-"

"Hurry up!" Alice hisses at her grandfather, the monsters have almost reached the 2000 yard mark. They would have to move onto the next step of the plan soon, and Gillian is not really being helpful at the moment. The defenders have already looked away and covered their ears anyway so no theatrics was needed.

"Flashbang!" Gillian heeds his granddaughter's advice to shorten his chant and immediately crouched on the ground to cover his head and eardrums along with Alice and Chase. Chase had originally named the spell of his 'Flashboom' but Alice told him it sounded stupid, hence the change in name.

The globes of light which had already descended to 20 feet above the ground instantly raise their intensity, causing a blinding flash of light that produced the same effect as staring at the sun with a telescope. The flash is simultaneously accompanied by an extremely loud ringing sound produced by the rapid vibrations of air particles caused by Chase's mana which were injected earlier.

All of the monsters capable of hearing and sight are disoriented by the spell. Chase had initially only planned on using intense light to blind the enemies but Alice had suggested adding in sound as well. The idea had originated from the loud and annoying buzzing sounds emitted by the Blood Counts.

Chase let it go on for a few seconds and then lowers the intensity of light back to normal while also stopping the ear-splitting noise he was making. At the signal, all of the defenders raise their heads and returned to their previous stances. A faint buzzing noise is still playing around in their ears, the sound was just too loud for them to block out completely.

On the battlefield, most of the enemies are twitching painfully on the ground. The hyper sensitive wolves and Blood Counts have already fainted and are being trampled to death by the temporarily blinded and confused Orcs, Ogres and Treants. The Vine Snakes which were dangling from the Treants have fallen towards the earth and are biting every single creature that approaches them. Snakes have a tendency to get nervous and edgy when exposed to loud sounds. The Flashbang produced a far greater effect than Chase had initially expected.The only unaffected monsters were the Arachnid Kings who continue to march forward, unfazed by the spell.

It would take quite some time for the effects to wear off. Chase retakes his control of the smoke and directs it towards the trebutchets, forcing the Ogres to abandon them. No further projectiles would be shot on this day but the smokes of the dead have yet to accomplish their final task. He still has enough mana to carry out the rest of the plans, his clever choice of using Wind magic was worth it. Wind magic consumes the least amount of mana compared to the other three basic elements due to air being almost weightless.

"2300, 2200, 2100, 2000 yards!" Chase exclaims the distance so Gillian could coordinate with him.

"YOU- SHALL NOT- PASS!!!!" Gillian slams the bottom of his staff on rooftop, emitting a small spark at the top end by clever manipulation of light. He had taken Alice's earlier advice to heart and shortened his chants.

Chase draws up the groundwater to the surface of the earth, turning the soil into a quaqmire which gives way underfoot. He could have drawn out the moisture from the air and wet the land from above ground, but it requires less mana to move what is already there.

Minimum input and maximum output, the concept of efficiency which the Blackstone family have always adhered to.The Arachnid Kings and some of the creatures which have blindly wandered forward are caught in the area. The soggy soil did not prove to be much of a problem for the tall Treants and Ogres but the Arachnid Kings and Orcs are half submerged and unable to move.

Being the devious predators they are, the Arachnid Kings immediately found a way to escape their predicament. Thick, white strings of web are shot from their mouths and stick to the walls of buildings. Their large bodies enable them to shoot webs at a far wider range compared to household spiders. The defenders immediately try to cut off and burn the threads, but their vain attempts could not do anything to the iron-hard webs.

The Arachnid Kings propel their bodies out of the quaqmire by using their threads like bungee ropes. In an instant, large amount of spiders land on the ground, walls and rooftops of the village. Clicking their fangs threateningly, they begin their attack on the defenders. The close combatants finally get their piece of the action.

Aaron weaves his body skilfully, avoiding the webs shot by the spiders with minimal movements. His hard earned 'pinpoint precision' ability allows him to eliminate any unnecessary motions while fighting. The spiders helplessly try to pin him down, but to no avail. For the first time in their lives, they become the prey.

Aaron's twin daggers blur and stab the spiders in vital spots without missing, causing instant death with each attack. There is no need for any flashy movements, what truly matters in a battle is making every hit count. Such is Aaron's creed and that is why he wields daggers as his main weapon despite them being sidearms. The lightness and versatility of daggers allow him to perform deadly lightning fast jabs and throws. He does not even wear armour because they would only slow him down.

An Arachnid King jumps onto a wall to find easier prey. Never in its wildest dream could it imagine that the human would be running up the wall to chase it. Aaron's feat is only made possible by his monstrous leg strength that was built by countless hours of training. He thrusts one of his daggers and pierces the side of the spider's belly, drawing out blue blood.

With a powerful kick, he rebounds off the wall in an arc and performs a backflip in midair while still holding onto the spider's carcass. He safely landed as he crashed the spider on top of another Arachnid King below him. The Arachnid Kings do not stand a chance against Aaron, but sadly he is only one man.

The others are not faring as well as Aaron, some have already lost their lives in the skirmish. One of the defenders got hit by the web and is stuck to the walls. The spider did not waste any time to skitter over and devour him. Even in war, a spider's gluttony is terrifying.

The teams stationed on the rooftops are struggling to fend off the Arachnid Kings which have climbed up the buildings. The spiders have cleverly blocked off the stairs leading down with their webs, forcing the humans to fight in the small area. The spellcasters are still maintaining the Firewalls and could not lend their assistance. Left without a choice, the melee fighters battle for their lives.

"Burning Blade!!"

"Wind Thrust!"

The melee fighters call out their skill names as elements wrap their weapons. Chase could not spend any mana on fighting the monsters at the moment, so he looks curiously at the spectacle from a nearby rooftop.

"Gillian, what are those?" he had never seen those techniques before. As far as he knows, magic and weapon skills are completely separate things.

"What? Oh, those are sword skills! Well, actually the name depends on the type of weapon you use... basically you just wrap mana all over your weapon" Gillian answers in a calm tone, anyone who is not looking at him would think he was drinking tea.

Gillian is leisurely talking while he and Alice are roasting off the spiders which crawled onto the roof with the Intermediate ranked Fire spell, 'Inferno'. A steady stream of fire pours forth from the tip of his staff. Although there are magical staffs which enhances the wielder's magical abilities, the one Gillian is wielding is just a worthless stick with a hand-drawn magical diagram at the top to provide a very slight mana reduction while casting spells.

"How come Aaron never taught us that?!" Alice wrinkles her brows. She does not like the fact that Aaron had not taught them such a wonderful thing.

"Hmm.. well you see.. Woah!" Gillian stops in the middle of his sentence to dodge a thread of web and retaliates with a spell, burning off the spider and causing it to roll down the building onto the streets below. They are steadily reducing the number of Arachnid Kings which have invaded the village.

"You see, those skills are actually unorthodox. Aaron banned his squad, which includes me of course, from using them back in the days. He said the skills are useless which is partially true, but I think it's just him being butthurt because he cannot use them. You know, his terrible mana control and all..." As Gillian explains, the burning sword of the defender next door snapped off. The fire had caused the metal core of the sword to soften, causing it to break. Such is the price for using flashy but useless skills.

Chase did not ask any further questions, he might accidentally distract Gillian too much and cause a fatal slip. The time to retreat is drawing closer, the stunned monsters are slowly recovering themselves and would resume their attacks soon. The Arachnid Kings are quite problematic, they would be a deterrent to the defenders' withdrawal from the village. They need to kill the spiders fast, or the plan would fail.

Fortunately, Aaron is jumping from roof to roof while exterminating the spiders and carrying down the people who are trapped on top of the buildings. Like a pestilence, he rapidly mows down the Arachnid Kings.

The stunned horde finally recover themselves enough to march towards the village. The only ones which are in any fighting condition are the Orcs, Ogres and Treants. The Orcs have begun to slowly wade through the mud while the Ogres and Treants trudge ahead by taking gigantic steps. It is time to retreat.

"FALL BACK! I REPEAT, FALL BACK!!" Aaron shouts the command to withdraw. The two children and one elderly citizen jumped off the roof and slowed down their fall with Wind magic. The rest of the surviving spellcasting teams had already been carried down by Aaron. They had stopped supplying mana to the Firewalls, just in time before their mana pools are drained completely.The remaining few Arachnid Kings are being dealt with at the moment. Those who could not move were given a ride on top of the scouting group's horses, the other defenders simply ran on foot. They need to get as far away as possible from the village.

The monsters have already made their way through the quaqmire and the pitfalls have taken the lives of their first victims. Some of the ogres stepped into the invisible holes, driving hardened earth stakes into their feet. They let out tumultuous cries in response to the unexpected pain.

"Go on first, I'll be with you later!" Chase tells the others to retreat before him. He needs to stay for a bit more to execute the final step. Drawing out his mana reserves, he calls back the cloud of smoke from the other side of the battlefield towards the village. The black smoke swirls against the air currents and flows through the wave of monsters to cover the top of the village. Having accomplished what he needed to do, Chase begins to retreat. However, something caught his sight and stopped him in his tracks.

A lone Arachnid King had survived the sweep and had pinned down the Stump Geezer to a wall. His horse is whimpering nearby, too scared to move. The spider rapidly scurries over to kill him off, but did not manage to do so as a sharp spike of earth pierces its body. Chase hurriedly runs over to rescue the old man from his plight.

"Hold on, I'll get you free!" Chase grabs the sticky web with his hands and pulls with all his might. The web did not even budge.

"Leave it boy, this is where I bloody die! Go and end this damn battle!" sensing the futility of Chase's effort, he shoos him away. He had lived a long and satisfying life, there is no need for a youth with a bright future ahead to sacrifice his life to save him.

"NO!" Chase refused to leave. He broke the taboo of not revealing his 'Paramount Mana Manipulation' ability in front of anyone as his eyes turn silver in front of the old man. A frigid wave of energy froze the webs, making them fragile. Chase elbows the web, causing it to break, freeing the Stump Geezer.

"Boy, was that.."

"No time! Grab your horse and let's ride out of the village!" the monsters had almost passed through the pitfall area. They would have been in the village earlier if they had not been taking great care in watching where they tread. The fires burning in the village had already begun to spread due to not being kept in check.

Stump Geezer calmed his horse down and pulled himself up. Chase jumped onto the back of the horse and it immediately gallops through the streets towards the eastern exit of the village. A wooden beam falls on the ground in front of them but the old man showed his amazing equestrian skills by making the horse jump over it.

"Faster!!" Chase is beginning to panic, the monsters have already entered the village. If they dally for too long, the horde would pass through the spell's range and everything would fall apart.

They finally reached the eastern outskirts of the village, the rest of the defenders could be seen to be running a few hundred yards ahead of them with light balls glowing overhead.

"Stop, this is the farthest we could go!" the Stump Geezer pulls back the reins on his horse, causing it to raise its front legs while kicking the air. The horse snuffles heavily, it had been running at top speed for an extended amount of time now. Chase had to stop short of his ideal distance because the monsters are already too close to the exit of the village. The Treants and Ogres walk over the buildings, trampling them under their foot. The Orcs and Treants are careful to avoid the fire.

"Earth Wall!" Chase erects a thick and sturdy wall of earth in front of the old man and his horse, shielding them from what is to come.

"Earth Pillar!"A square pillar of earth extended vertically from the ground with Chase on top of it. Gaining a bird's eye view on the village, Chase executes the final step of the plan. Sending off his mana towards the smoke churning over the village, he swiftly brings it down to ground level while forcing the air out of the village. The smoke begins to occupy the air space of the entire zone causing the flames to shrink. The Orcs begin to cough and choke due to the lack of air in the environment, but that is not what Chase is aiming for.

"TAKE COVER!!" Aaron who had been observing the situation from afar knew that it is time to protect themselves. The devastating final stage of Chase's strategy is about to take place.

"Earth Wall!" Multiple cries are heard as the spellcasters hastily erected defensive walls of earth. The defenders huddle together closely behind them, making sure everyone is protected. Gillian did not even bother to act anymore, everyone is too scared and tense to be paying any attention.

Clawing out the dregs of his mana from within, Chase takes control of the air flow and directs it towards the smoke filled village.

"Goodbye, Thanes" Chase mutters sadly, no building will stand unharmed from this.

He hurriedly jumps off his Earth Pillar and slows down his fall with Wind magic conjured from the remnants of his mana reserves. Stump Geezer reaches his hand out and pulls Chase behind the Earth Wall.

The reintroduction of air breathes new life unto the flames, causing them to flare violently as well as inducing a massive explosion. A deafening roar resounds over miles of land. The shockwave from the explosion throws the thousands of monsters in the village all over the place.

Shrapnel and flying glass decapitates a portion of the orcs, the collapsed walls and buildings crushing some but the majority are burnt to cinders by the violent flames. The Treants were not spared, the flames have caught onto their bodies and is speedily turning them into giant chunks of charcoal. Ogres were protected from severe injuries thanks to their tough hide, but the blast caused them to lose consciousness.

The flames continue to burn and spread uncontrollably while greedily devouring everything in their paths. The wind resulting from the explosion is so strong that sprays of debris are blown out in all directions. The air ripples turbulently as chunks of buildings fly toward the defenders, missing them by several feet.

Chase did not think about what would happen after the backdraft explosion when he planned for it. As a result, the sea of flames are slowly gaining on them as it spreads over the grasslands. Having spent all of his mana, he has no means of putting out the massive fire.

"RUNNN!!!!"

Stump Geezer grabbed Chase and pulled him on to the horse. With a snap of the reins, the horse starts to gallop towards the East,away from the village. The entire area is filled with grass, the fire would most likely spread and burn everything. The rest of the defenders have already resumed running away.

"Three-quarters of the enemies dead, my ass!" Aaron curses loudly as he remembered Chase's words. The fire is so big that it would even kill the defenders, they would have to outrun the flames or risk being cremated alive.

By a stroke of luck, drops of water begin to fall from the sky onto the fields. Like a blessing from the heavens, it turns into a light drizzle and then heavy rainfall. The fires sizzle and hiss as the water slowly douses them. It was too big to be quenched immediately but at least it is no longer growing. The defenders breathe a collective sigh of relief after being spared from their fiery dooms.

Stump Geezer halted his horse nearby the defenders and dismounted with Chase. Aaron did not waste any time and rushes over to hug Chase but he was beaten by Alice who had arrived first. Chase is tackled onto the ground by a sobbing Alice.

*Hic* *Hic*

"I thought you were a goner..." Alice did not see Chase from the distance, her vision had been blocked by the Earth Walls before she could look. The massive explosion had struck fear into her very heart, she had thought that Chase did not make it and was caught up in his own magic.

Chase did not do anything and only looked helplessly at Alice. He wanted to pat her head, but his body is quite sore from the aftereffects of depleting his mana. Never use up all of your mana, that is a common rule for spellcasters. Having a dry mana pool would cause a backlash on the physical body, like what Chase is experiencing now.

Aaron walks over and lifts the two children off the ground, making them stand upright.

"Good job, Chase" Those are the only words he found appropriate at the moment.

The rest of the defenders are staring off at the distance, eyeing the dying flames. They have achieved the impossible, the odds were terribly against them, but they have won the battle. Despite their victory, no one is in the mood for a celebration.

The battle had been won but not without a hefty price. The village is gone and most of them had lost their precious comrades during the siege by Arachnid Kings. Even the heavens are mourning for them as the rain grows heavier.

The flames continue to dance under the rain. Tall pillars of smoke rise up towards the sky. The spirits of the dead are free at last.

Number of living defenders: 169

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INCOMING WALL OF TEXT FROM AUTHOR TL,DR version down below.

YEAH!! TOOK ME A WHILE BUT I'M DONE WITH THE FIRST SKIRMISH OF THE SERIES!!

Read this before asking about them:

Question: Are Flashbangs really that effective?

Answer: Yes, the ones in Counterstrike don't hold a candle to real ones. Google it up, they're pretty darn badass.

Question: Why weren't the Arachnid Kings affected by the Flashbangs?

Answer: Spiders have bad eyesight and can't hear. They hunt by feeling vibrations on their hairy legs.

Question: Why didn't the monsters just charge them with full force from the start?

Answer: As Chase had explained, the monsters were treating them as a warm up. Something like a military exercise for a much bigger target.

Question: Why didn't you make Chase kill everything with black holes or maelstroms or other shenanigans?

Answer: I'm sorry if I disappointed you but here is the reason. This story is going to be long and we are in the first arc, Chase is 11 years old. I don't think he should be that overpowered in the first arc, those type of MCs who muscle their way through everything gets boring really fast. So, taking Chase's logical personality into consideration, I let him do the planning. Yeah, that's right.. I had a bunch of plans when I was doing Chapter 11 but then somehow the characters were screaming NO!! in my head. The monsters were protesting as to why they were too dumb and Chase was nagging me about him not having enough mana for all the stuff I was going to make him do. No, I'm not crazy,I am speaking figuratively.

I hope I managed to make it OP and not too OP at the same time somehow!

Stuff that I have Googled about to write this chapter:

The distance of the horizon from the eyes of a viewer who is standing on ground and on a building

Wolves

Spiders

Snakes

Mosquitoes

Video of 'Over 9000' from DBZ

Average range of bows

Trebutchets and their mechanism

Time taken for bodies to decay

Time taken to cremate a body

Gandalf's outfit

Flashbangs

Concept of Sound and what makes them louder

Backdraft explosions

It looks like a bunch of unrelated stuff huh? Funny how writing a story can link all of these things, hahahaha :mowahaha:

I'll release the finale of the arc in 2-3 days! Yay, first arc coming to an end!!!

TL,DR:

Flashbangs are effective, spiders cant hear or see properly, monsters were conducting military exercise, Chase shouldn't be too OP yet, I googled a bunch of stuff, chapter coming out in 2-3 days.

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Outmaneuvered and OutnumberedArmusArc Finale

For The Curious Mind