AN: Here we go, with the rest of the first phase of the battle for Trinity Highcrowne. I hope you enjoy what this is leading up to... :P

Chapter 90: Whichever Way the Wind Blows

The once beautiful green grassland was now reduced to a charred black wasteland. The flames of war claimed much of the only plant life left in the area outside of Trinity Station. Twisted metal frames and blast craters replaced the gentle rolling hills and wild flowers. Now the land looked far more like the wasteland beyond town.

The screech of metal on metal alerted Scott to his next opponent. His squad was engaged in the second phase of the reclamation mission, clean-up. The still surviving eldritch armor knights needed to be destroyed before the final phase of the operation would begin.

Scott used his new staff to cast Starlight Flare, thus granting area of effect damage to everything immediately around him. It was not long before he located a surviving knight. The energy effect only worked to cause damage to still active monsters.

Boomerangs flashed from his hands and arced lazily through the air. They slapped weakly against the armored beast, bounced away, and then span their way back to him. Heavily armored opponents were not good targets for a boomerang, but these were easy to hit and good practice.

While Scott’s celestial magic spell did its work, he used the time to train his non-magical skills. He was not the only one who did such. The other members of his squad routinely utilized similar methods in order to capitalize on the easy combat experience.

A woman who wore a low-cut bodice and a traditional peaked witch’s hat, cast air spells that blasted the armored for little to no damage. Whenever her mana ran out, she would approach the barely moving target and beat them with her staff. After a while, she would move back and begin the process all over again.

One of the other squad members, a squilanti mind-bender would merely stare at an opponent for a time and it would start slapping its own helmeted head. Whenever Scott saw it, he wanted to say, “Stop hitting yourself,” as it seemed like something he would see a bully doing on television.

The other members of the squad were a gunner and a spearman. Both utilized low-end weapons to do lessened damage to their opponents.

Scott, however, was not merely thwacking his opponents with simple strikes and celestial magic. He also paid special attention to the mage. Whenever she used her wind spell, he would check the way that the mana flowed together.

Hours of fighting in that way, lead to a realization on Scott’s part. The pattern that she used was quite simple, and similar to one that he’d seen in one of the books at the library.

In order to use his powers, he needed a clear visualization and the will to empower it. The words would act as a means of reinforcing the image.

Quietly he began whispering possible incantations while envisioning the effect that he wanted. It was his oldest wind spell. He threw his boomerangs several more times while trying to remember what it felt like to call upon that spell.

“The feel of the wind… The raging howl of the storm…” he said.

Back on the casual server, his spells were either activated by will or name. It was easy to spam dozens of powerful spells at any time that he liked. Now that he needed to create the power himself, it was much different.

His words could help reinforce an idea, but he needed to clearly understand and visualize that idea in detail to begin with for it to become a spell. It was the same problem that he faced when he created his spell summon fiancé.

In order to create a proper spell, he needed to understand every part of it. Otherwise, it would fail to materialize properly.

A spell was more than just hurling energy into a pattern. It was the entire effect and how it interacted with the world to alter reality.

“When I used it before, there was a strong sense of pressure building all around me. After that, the wind would blow,” said Scott before picking a point on his target and throwing his boomerangs. He missed with one, completely. It was quite embarrassing really. The other smacked an area on the monster’s armored chest plate that was nearly a foot off the mark.

“Also, I used to be much better at this…” grumbled Scott. He used to be able to pick fruit with his boomerangs, and at a good distance. Now he was troubled by attempting to hit a stationary target the size of a car hood.

The squad cleared out a few dozen monsters during the early morning. The other squads did the same. By mid-afternoon, several thousand eldritch armor knights were crushed.

Riches piled up, and even a few items were discovered here and there. Scott’s squad found nothing but the occasional loose coin or bit of heavy armor. However, a few others in different squads found weapons as drop items. The great axes were a popular rare item for warriors.

The non-drop items were basically scrap metal as even the surviving weapons lost their power. Unfortunately, the government would claim all of the scrap after the battle. They needed to recoup some of their financial loss for the deployment.

While he pummeled hapless fallen knights with his boomerangs, he recalled many things from the casual server. So much of what he’d done was assisted by the system that it was difficult to reconcile the situation there with the one that he experienced here.

In the casual server he was an impossibly strong and unbeatable force of nature. Here he struggled for everything that he did. Strangely, however, it felt better to be in this world.

His powers were something that he’d earned to some extent. Everything that he could do now was because he’d figured out the method to do such.

A slowly spreading smile crossed his lips as he began to understand the basics of his old spell. “Wind is easier, huh?”

The mage girl’s pattern was simple, easy to analyze. The way that the power flowed involved creating a spiral of air that blasted forward like a drill.

It was not the air drill concept that he needed at the moment, but the way that conflicting air currents created it. Scott threw his boomerangs once more, and after catching them upon their return, he put them away.

He stretched his hand out and called upon the elemental energy of the wind that he held within him. Scott spent a moment feeling the sensation of constant motion. His energies rose up and away, but the more he concentrated on one area, the denser the area felt. That region also felt slightly colder.

After a few minutes passed, he recast his starlight flare spell to continue his work. The crystal tipped weapon granted to him earlier greatly increased the damage effect from his spell. It would be quite sad for him when he had to return it later.

“So, when the air feels colder there is more density… Cold equals higher pressure?” Scott racked his brain for a moment while he tried to remember what he’d learned back in high school regarding basic weather patterns.

High pressure areas of air would move toward lower pressure areas. “If colder equals higher pressure, then hot would be low pressure?”

It took him a few minutes to figure out how he could create a low pressure area. In the end, it seemed quite simple. If he concentrated his mind on one area, the surrounding areas would start to feel slightly warmer. However, that was not the entire answer. He discovered the true answer when he realized that drawing on his fire element would heat air more rapidly.

Scott experimented by concentrating the air into a space in front of his left palm, while creating a hot ball of fire element in the space before his right palm. The cold air circulating near the wind elemental energy of his left hand started to flow toward the warmer region near his right hand once he brought his hands closer together.

“That’s the basics of it, but how do I turn that into a spell?” asked Scott. Simply forcing it would not work. He did not have that level of elemental power bound within him. Using his mana would greatly increase the force he could generate, but that was not a spell in and of itself.

Something was missing, something important to the generation of a powerful wind. The same could be said for all of his spell attempts, however. He now knew that he needed visualization and understanding to create proper sorcery. The problem was the visualization. Was it still as simple as imagining what he wanted to happen and simply chanting a spell?

It was time to see. Scott closed his eyes and strongly visualized the feel of his first wind spell. He envisioned the pressure building behind him and the pressure lowering before him. He strongly envisioned the wind blowing forward in a powerful gale that would knock down enemies and tear apart forests.

“I am the raging wind that blows… Nothing stands before me,” said Scott. The pressure he envisioned inside his mind began to build up behind him. His mana naturally began to flow into the spell he wished to create.

“I am the raging wind that blows across the land. Nothing stands before me,” said Scott once more. The pressure continued to build with that and each of the following repetitions.

Finally, he felt the power reach its peak and he thrust his palm forward. “I am the raging with that blows. Nothing stands before me.” Scott loudly exclaimed, “Howling Gale!” a triumphant expression on his face.

His expression turned to surprise then fear as a wall of air slammed into him from behind and sent him flying head long across the battlefield. Several shattered remains of eldritch armor knights were sent hurtling through the air as well.

The wind howled like a raging beast while Scott flailed desperately at the air around him. “Holy shit!” he screamed as he flew end-over-end through the air.

Scott fell to the ground not long after his flight began, but he continued to flail and roll around for a moment as his momentum was quite significant.

“What the hell was that all about?” asked the squilanti man, rhetorically. He expected no actual answer.

The mage chose to answer him anyway. “Who knows?”

The fighter of the group slammed his spear down through the eye holes of the opponent that he was fighting and said, “Maybe he was bored?”

“Well this is a pretty boring job,” said the gunner. He reached up and lightly stroked his sandy blond hair. “These things are pretty pathetic.”

“Hey, you alright?” called the spearman to Scott.

Scott slowly raised up his arm and gave them a thumbs up sign. He was more than alright. His spell was a success! He even knew what he’d done wrong now! The pressure was built up directly behind him, and that caused the wall of wind to sweep him up. He needed to reinvent that power with a few tweaks. Now all he had to do was get back to his feet and try not to vomit.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in practicing his wind spell, with a few variations, and in defeating the nearly dead armor knights.

At the end of the day, he pulled out his Crystacom and sent a message to Rhea. He let her know that she was a naughty girl and deserved a spanking.

She took a while getting back to him, but when she did it was with a photo. Scott smiled at the image and the caption. The image was of her wearing a pretty white dressed and an innocent expression. The caption read, “Do I really look naughty?”

He laughed a little then sent her back another message that informed her that she was always naughty in his dreams. That set off a little war of words between them that made Scott smile. He missed her, missed Ero, even missed Herbert. Literally, it had been two days since the operation started and he missed his family greatly.

“Sorcerer?” asked an enforcer as he walked into the common area of the partially destroyed inn that Scott was using to take his rest.

Scott looked up to the new arrival then scanned the area. There were a dozen other people in the place, but none of them seemed ready to answer.

“Is there a celestial sorcerer who can control the wind, here?” asked the enforcer once more.

Scott raised his hand and said, “I know a few wind spells, nothing fancy though.”

“Are you Scott?” asked the enforcer.

The blue haired sorcerer rose to his feet and put his Crystacom away. “Yes, do you need me for something?”

“Battlegroup Captain Trace wishes to speak with you,” said the armored man.

Scott nodded and followed the enforcer out of the inn and down the street. They met up with twenty people who were gathered near the east gate.

“Captain Trace, I have brought the sorcerer,” said the enforcer.

The captain turned toward them and nodded. An imposing figure in glossy black armor, a bright gold shield resided on their chest. The armored being was tall and impressive, but the moment they spoke Scott realized something profound. The big captain was a woman!

“Good, thank you enforcer,” said Captain Trace. “You are dismissed.”

The enforcer saluted then left without further concern. There were other duties to attend to at the moment.

The captain moved down to greet Scott personally. “Thank you for coming, sorcerer. It is not often that we meet one of your skill.”

“I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but my skills are not that impressive,” said Scott.

She nodded to him. “Compared to a dedicated master mage? Perhaps not. However, you’re the only asset we have at the moment who might be able to help us with an important mission objective.”

“I’ll do what I can,” said Scott.

“Good, excellent. Follow me,” she said before smartly pivoting on her heal and walking away. Scott followed suit and they left the center of town and entered the largest free-standing building in the area.

Once inside, Scott noted that several people were gathered here as well. Two of them, the mage and squilanti man, from earlier were recognizable at first glance.

Captain Trace brought him to the group and introduced him. “This is Scott, the Lunarian celestial sorcerer.”

“Hello,” said Scott in an amiable manner. He was not sure why they needed someone like him so badly, but he was not sad that he had things to do.

“Celestial sorcerer… That shouldn’t be possible…” said one of the other men in the room. He was a tall man with the tapered ears and slender frame of an elf. He wore heavy blue robes and wielded a staff.

“Well, I started fresh in my career and need to rebuild my spell catalog… But technically I’m a twilight master,” said Scott.

The robed elf blinked owlishly then sat down. “I see,” he said. His eyes opened wide after that, but he said nothing else.

Someone else spoke up, however. “Wait, you’re a twilight master? I thought they were a myth?”

The speaker was a blond man in heavy armor. He wielded one of the greataxes that the eldritch knights always used.

Scott shrugged. “We keep to ourselves.”

He had no idea if his statement was the truth, or not, but it seemed likely. People were frequently surprised that he could wield celestial power as a sorcerer despite the fact that he is Lunarian.

“Yes. Well, myth or not we do need you for this operation,” said Trace.

The enforcer captain called the group to attention. Everyone stood up and immediately become somewhat more professional in their bearing.

“We have discovered the location of a large concentration of eldritch armor knights,” said Trace.

She gestured with her hand then activated a hidden feature of her armor. A three dimensional image of the wasteland appeared as seen from above. Trinity station and a large hill north of town were highlighted in green and red respectively. “We believe it to be one of their fall back points.”

“Normally, we would send in a battalion of militiamen to deal with the situation. However, there is a problem.” She fiddled with something in the air that only she could see. Once Trace was finished, a new image appeared.

The new image was of a cavernous entrance in the side of the hill. There was a sheen of light across the surface.

“This is a salvation barrier. No non-aligned entity can breach the sanctity of the area.” She immediately zoomed in on the entrance to further highlight the issue. The hole in the side of the hill was shown to be large enough for heavy troop movements and vehicles to pass without trouble.

“Unfortunately, this sort of protection is a divine ordinance. There is no means for ordinary mortals to break it directly. Even the gods of war won’t touch such a thing,” said Trace. She then turned and pointed to Scott. “This is where our Twilight Master comes into play.”

All eyes turned to Scott. He tried not to seem self-conscious, but it was a great deal of attention and he was not certain what his role truly was in the endeavor.

“I’d love to help, but what exactly am I supposed to be able to do that a powerful mage could not?” he asked candidly.

“The wind spells that you were shown to be using today, are the sort of spells that only a high-level mage could use. We don’t have either a wind, water, or earth magic specialist among our elite mages who can match that feat. Fire and lightning aren’t as useful in this regard.”

Scott blinked slowly. Howling Gale was a high-level wind spell? While it was true that he was able to put a lot more power into it in this world than what he’d done on the casual server, it was hard to believe what he was hearing.

“Alright, so what do you intend?” asked Scott.

Trace brought up the image of the hill again. “We believe that the salvation barrier might not extend all the way through the hill. They are costly to maintain and even to build. Normally such a thing would only appear in a large town, or a dedicated fortress.”

She took a breath then continued, “It’s far more likely that this is not a dedicated barrier, but it is instead a temporary camp barrier. That sort of thing is created easily enough as a twenty-four hour protection against wild beasts.”

“If it doesn’t extend all of the way through… You can get inside if you have a different entrance? Am I guessing correctly?” asked Scott.

“Yes, exactly,” said Trace. She looked at Scott once more. “If we’re right, we can use your power to blow a hole in the side of the hill. If we’re wrong, then we’ll just have to leave a battalion in the area and try to wait it out.”

Scott nodded his head slowly. “It’s mostly dirt and rock, right? No tree roots?”

“Yes, there is a little grass here and there, but nothing else to keep the soil in place that we can see from the outside,” answered Trace. She then clarified something else. “However, it is possible that the hill has been fortified form within.

“I may need to test a few things when we get there. I started to develop a usage for the wind element earlier that might just do the trick…” said Scott.

“Excellent! We’ll gather the rest of the initial assault squad. Be ready within half an hour,” said Trace.

“No problem, but there may be a need for more mana restoratives,” said Scott.

“We’ll have plenty,” said Trace. She then looked around the room. “Anyone with celestial magic in this group, please let the enforcers know. You’ll be in the vanguard during the fight.”

That was all that Scott needed to hear. His primary role in the upcoming mission was to blow a hole in the side of a hill. His secondary mission was to shine a little light on his unholy enemies and watch them burn.