King-class Magician.

It was a prestigious title, but it was a poor indicator of the strength of those it described After all, a bottom tier King-class mage could only be considered slightly more powerful than a Rank 10 Advanced Magician.

At the same time, a King-class mage close to the Emperor-class level would still be considered a King-class mage, but would be several times more powerful than a Rank 10 Advanced Magician. To this point, although Wesley’s team was still outnumbered almost 2:1, they weren’t at a complete disadvantage. Although they had a long ways to go to reach the level of an Emperor-class mages, they were considered to be among the most powerful in the King class.

Wesley’s team had formed a revolving formation midair. Katherine, the support specialist, hovered in the center, the other eight revolved around her. Whenever under duress, Brian would rotate to the front to protect the rest of the team. When on the offensive, Katherine would rotate the formation so that each could have a brief moment to cast their spells before retreating to draw up the next.

Although this process may sound laborious, the formation could rotate as extreme speeds, even faster than a King-class mage could fly. A full rotation took only half a second, which meant that 7 offensive spells could be cast in less than half a second.

Naturally, this meant that Katherine and Brian were doing the lion’s share of the work. Each mage had different drawing speeds, but Wesley’s team averaged five seconds of drawing time for an advanced seal.

In a battle against other King-class mages, they wouldn’t use any basic spells unless it was to mask the casting of stronger spells. Unfortunately for Brian, whose offensive strength paled in comparison to his defensive capability, this meant that he was stuck defending the rest of his team for the clear majority of the skirmish as they drew their seals.

Meanwhile, the Empire’s mages had organized themselves into a similar formation of nine, while the other eight spread out to attack Wesley’s team from various angles.

The endless bombardment from all angles put Wesley’s team in a predicament. With Brian as their only defensive specialist, if they were surrounded by the various enemy mages, their formation would be left extremely vulnerable. At the same time, if they didn’t deal with the enemy’s formation, those mages would be able to coordinate attacks to quickly whittle down Brian’s mana pool. Wesley’s team would have no choice but to flee.

Wesley grimaced and quickly began to draw a new type of seal, one that he invented himself: a double-layered seal.

The first layer, Ice Imprisonment!

The second layer, Frozen Spikes!

Individually, these spells were both relatively weak. However, when combined, they were extremely dangerous.

Ice Imprisonment was but a simpler version of Ice Purgatory - it could only trap people for a miniscule amount of time. A King-class mage could break through the spell in just a quarter of a second.

However, by combining the seal for Ice Imprisonment with the seal for Frozen Spikes, not only was the effect of Ice Imprisonment amplified so that it could trap King-class mages for up to two seconds, but the glacial spikes summoned from the Frozen Spikes seal would emerge from the confining ice itself, puncturing the unfortunate victim’s body.

In a mere moment, Wesley had finished this layered seal and had swiped his finger across it to activate it.

That wasn’t all. After activating the seal, he reached his right hand out and continued to pour energy into the seal to prevent it from dissipating.

This was highly risky as the seal could explode if the user attempted to use more energy than the seal could handle or if the user could not properly focus his energy into the seal while activating it. The slightest deviation of energy could cause catastrophe. However, if done properly, this deadly combination alongside an endless stream of energy could prove to be overwhelming.

The eight individual mages were each encased in ice. Despite immediately working to extract themselves from their glacial prisons, they found that every layer of ice they destroyed was instantly replaced by another.

Furthermore, even if the enemy mages kept the ice spikes at bay with their powers, this crippled their ability to draw seals to counter Wesley’s combination spell.

After a few more moments of struggle, each of the eight mages fell victim to the ice spikes and fell from the sky, their bodies laden with giant grotesque holes.

It was now 9 vs. 9!

However at this moment, Jake called out with some desperation in his voice. “Wesley, I’m running low on mana!”

The others called out in agreement; it seemed that the onslaught had taken its toll on the team's stamina.

“Hm. Fine!” Wesley responded, “Fall back! We’ll let others take care of this. It’s only nine King-class magicians, I’m sure they can take care of it. Katherine, contact the Kingdom, tell them to handle it. We’ll split the rewards with whoever finishes the job.”

“Move out!”

Wesley’s team quickly sped away from the forest, back toward the Magmont Continent.

The enemy mages began to chase, but one quickly motioned for them to stop. “Not worth it to chase. They may have backup. We’ll wait a bit then proceed as planned. Contact the palace and tell them that we’re going to need help if we are to break into the Magmont Continent in a timely manner.”

“Yes sir!”

…

Five days later, Wesley’s team touched down at the port of a city on the edge of the Magmont Kingdom. Thousands of soldiers heralded their arrival with glorious banners along with the King of the Pooles Kingdom, who sported royal purple robes.

As Wesley walked forward, the King emerged, surrounded by nobles and bodyguards.

“Ahhhh, Wesley! Hero of the Kingdom, Savior of the Magmont Continent! Welcome back!”

The King ostentatiously wrapped his arm around Wesley and dragged him away into an extravagant carriage, while the rest of the nobles and Wesley’s friends followed on foot.

Although the King acted amiably in front of the soldiers, once he was inside the carriage, which had been made soundproof through a network of simple magic seals, he instantly dropped this facade.

With an annoyed voice, he questioned Wesley. “Why did your team turn tail when there were still nine survivors? Did you not understand your task? The reason I pay you so much is because of your team’s strength. If you can’t complete the missions I give you, why am I paying you?

“Hmph.” Wesley was less than impressed by the King’s tirade. “Name another team that could have gone against a team of 20 King-class mage and killed 11 of them without taking any losses! As it is, we’re the strongest force you have. You may be the king, and we may work for you, but we are the ones who can win this war for the kingdom.

We will operate as we see fit, or you can find another team to assist you. I, for one, am not going to let my team needlessly die in battle.”

With that, Wesley kicked the door of the carriage off its hinges and stepped out. “I’ll expect our payment within the week.”

Having said that, he kicked off the ground and flew through the air. Moments later, the rest of his team followed suit.

The King stared at the opening in his carriage where his door had previously been, then lifted the window curtain on the side of his carriage. His eyes narrowed as he watched the nine mages fly away.

He was a King, the ruler of the millions of citizens who inhabited the Pooles Kingdom. How could he not be angered at Wesley’s behavior?

But Wesley’s words rang true. The Pooles Kingdom’s existence was currently threatened, and if Wesley’s team suddenly decided that fighting the Kingdom’s battles wasn’t worth it to them anymore…

The Kingdom would probably fall within a week.

However, what the King didn’t know, was that Wesley would never abandon the Pooles Kingdom. Rather, a small portion of it.

Later that day, Wesley and his team touched down hundreds of miles away in front of small village. Before they had time to take a step, high pitched shouts reverberated from inside the village.

“Mom! Mom! Uncle David is here! Uncle Wes is here! Aunt Grace is here! Aunt Alina…”

A swarm of children of various ages quickly surrounded Wesley’s group and began peppering them with questions.

One cute girl around the age of five jumped up and grabbed onto Jake’s shoulders. “Hey, hey! Uncle Jake, how did the battles go? Did you win? Did you win?”

“Oh, little Annie! Oh, Lord! Uncle Jake is getting old; you’re so big already! How old are you now?”

“I’m six! Hey, hey Uncle Jake, did you win!”

“Hah. Of course we did! Are you impressed? Your Uncle Jake is great, right?”

“No... Uncle Wesley probably did all the work.”

…Shock!

The team split off into different directions as the villagers celebrated their return. It was a quaint, little village with a population of about a thousand people. Only a few decades ago, the village had been destitute. Most families had struggled to survive from each day to the next, and death by starvation was very common. Only a few times a year, when the men returned from successful hunting trips, could the families eat their fill.

However, fortune had smiled upon the village and bestowed upon them a genius - Wesley.

One day, a middle-aged man had appeared in the village, claiming that he was searching for a student. To everyone’s surprise, he noticed potential in Wesley, despite the boy only being eight years old at the time. In hopes of seeing their son find a better life outside the village, Wesley’s parents had placed their son in his care.

Unfortunately, Wesley’s parents were never able to witness their son succeed, as they died mysterious deaths just a week after Wesley’s departure.

However, just a few years later, Wesley had quickly made a name for himself in the Pooles Kingdom as the youngest Advanced Mage in the history of the Kingdom, and one of the youngest in the Magmont Continent. At the time, many nobles and even the royal family had showered Wesley with gifts to curry favor with him.

Wesley, now a young man, had sent these gifts back to the village. Over time, the village progressed from being one of the poorest in the Kingdom to becoming the most affluent. In fact, the village’s wealth rivaled that of some smaller cities.

However, by choice, they did their best to remain isolated from the rest of the world. Aside from a few merchants who visited from time to time, few visited the village, or even knew of its existence.

At present, Wesley was meeting with the village Elders.

“Wesley, you know that our Affile Village would not be where it is today without you. However, we are already very well off. Why don’t you rest for a while? Everyone in the village feels guilty that they reap the rewards of your success while you yourself are unable to enjoy it.”

Wesley laughed and waved his hands. “I appreciate your concern for me, elders, but I won’t be resting for a while.”