James successfully tainted the Bloodwell, preventing the agents from powering up. But he was still in big trouble.

The Chaos Barrier seemed to be withstanding the neophytes’ attacks, but each attack was visibly chipping away from its strength, the dark crimson color of the barrier getting slightly lighter with each strike.

But the real problem was the true agent. A full-fledged agent at the height of his power. Even though the neophytes were mighty foes as well, the true danger was what they could become in the future.

And that future was now trying to pierce James’s barrier.

With one forceful stab, James’s barrier lost a lot of its color. Two, three, four. It was now just a vague shade of pink, with barely a few traces of crimson floating around.

Four hits, that’s all it took for the agent to nearly destroy James’s barrier.

James had now fully regained his senses, but the agents were surrounding him. He was trapped. He wanted to use Blink to teleport a short distance away, but he was still low on mana after infusing all of it into his Prongs.

In the meantime, Helios had been wrestling with five neophytes on his own. But Helios wasn’t concerned about himself, he knew that the real threat was the true agent.

He had to get away from these five bastards and go help James. Helios puffed his cheeks and blew out a wave of fire, setting the neophytes ablaze. It didn’t do any damage at all, but he didn’t need it to.

In the split second the neophytes were forced to block the attack, Helios leapt towards James. With his sword in hand, he struck at the agent, while with his shield he released a wave of fire at the neophytes that were attacking James.

The desperate wave of fire even hit James, but Helios knew the barrier would manage to block it. Even though it was now barely even pink, it could still withstand quite a lot.

James felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Helios had bought the split second of time that he needed. SARM launched James away, while he quickly drank a mana potion and extracted mana from his necklace. Along with his very high natural mana regeneration rate, he now had enough mana to fight again.

He sacrificed a chunk of that mana, along with whatever health he had recovered, to cast his Chaos Barrier again. The world turned crimson again. It wasn’t just the color of the barrier making him see red, but the pain was so overwhelming that it felt like his head had been split in two, his bloodshot eyes turning his world red.

But he could withstand pain. What he couldn’t withstand was seeing his friend being hurt.

Helios had put himself in the frying pan to buy James a few seconds of time.

The ten neophytes were all attacking Helios. With his shield in hand, he was able to block many of their attacks, but some were still getting through.

The trained killers were methodical. Seeing as Helios was skilled at blocking with his shield, they were dishonorably circling him like hyenas, striking at his feet, his fingers, his knees. Any vulnerable spot they could notice, they attacked. Taking quick, weak stabs at Helios, that barely did any damage through his armor. But they knew it only a matter of time. Instead of taking big shots at an elusive tank, they’d slowly stab at him while the damage piled up, the Darkness corroding his flesh with every strike.

James wouldn’t just stand by and let Helios tank all of them. With the two of them fighting side by side, they could take all the neophytes.

He commanded SARM to launch him at the neophytes. But there was a reason why the true agent wasn’t attacking Helios - he had set his sights on James. He slashed at him, preventing him from reaching Helios. SARM launched James away, barely managing to avoid the hit.

It seemed as if they had decided to keep them split up. The ten neophytes would be attacking Helios, and the true agent would take care of James.

James wasn’t scared. He had grown much as a mage, and he had the confidence that he could take care of this bastard.

But what really bothered him was that Helios was fighting ten opponents! Even though they were neophytes, they were still very strong opponents, and ten of them wasn’t something anybody could handle by themselves. Luckily, it didn’t seem like there were any more of them hiding somewhere, but the situation was dire enough already.

The true agent slashed at James again. A blade covered in Darkness, dripping in corrosive fluid flew at him, but SARM was able to dodge with ease. Ranged attacks were much easier to dodge, and they didn’t seem to have the same power as the stabs he inflicted on the barrier earlier. However, if the agent closed the gap, James wouldn’t last long.

The agent laughed, his mouth distorting into a creepy smile with many sharp teeth.

“If you don’t want your friend to suffer the cruelest of fates, I suggest you put down your weapons and die right now.” The agent said, sending another blade at James.

James didn’t fall for his lies for a single second. If he didn’t fight, his friends would be dead for sure. It was eerie how the agent had managed to say the one thing that bothered him most. He could hear Helios screaming from every stab. Each sound was heart-wrenching. He’d do anything to stop it, but he wasn’t stupid enough to fall for such a lie.

“Is that smile supposed to intimidate me or something?” James replied defiantly. He did find the smile creepy, but of his many faults, cowardice wasn’t one of them. If anything, he was a tiny bit crazy to the point he found it insulting that someone tried to intimidate him, making him madder instead of scared.

In a world where the mere mention of an agent was enough to give people goosebumps, that distorted smile was an emblem of terror. But it wouldn’t work on James. The madman had spent the last few months throwing himself at dungeon after dungeon. These party tricks that looked like they were ripped straight out of a cheap horror movie wouldn’t work on him, especially now that his friend was being stabbed at by a lot of murderous psychopaths. His mind was working in overdrive, trying to figure out a way to get past the agent and help Helios.

James knew deep down that he had to fight the agent before he could aid Helios, but he couldn’t accept it. He launched himself towards Helios again, but the agent jumped and blocked his path. With a stab, he punished James for making such a stupid move in the middle of combat. His barrier lost a big portion of its luster again.

Suddenly, Helios shrieked out in pain even louder than before. A neophyte managed to slash at his chest, the Darkness from his blade burning like a corrosive acid.

James wanted to leap at him again, but the agent was staring at him with his creepy smile, eager to stab at him again if he did that. James had to keep his distance and fight the agent, but he couldn’t bear knowing that Helios was fighting for his life.

Luckily, James and Helios weren’t the only ones fighting this battle.

When Helios had grabbed James and rushed at the agents, they had left Lunaris and Denmac behind. The two couldn’t exactly keep up with Helios’s uncapped speed.

Lunaris and Denmac had been making their way forward, and now they had finally reached the battlefield.

They were hiding under stealth, but that was of no use. As soon as they arrived, a neophyte stopped attacking Helios and leapt at them.

However, stealth wasn’t their main defense anyway. Stealth was more of a formality at this point. A way to be forgotten about if the battle rages on for too long, so they can focus on supporting without any psychopaths attacking them.

The stealth was only useful when combined with their main tool, Denmac’s defensive barrier.

Under it, Lunaris and Denmac were perfectly safe.

If all the neophytes started attacking them, the barrier could definitely break. But if the neophytes did that, then Helios and James could overwhelm the agent and slaughter the neophytes soon after that.

However, if Denmac just kept focusing on reinforcing the barrier, it wouldn’t break even if half of the neophytes attacked.

It was an unusual sight for Lunaris. The neophyte was furiously stabbing at them, but the barrier kept them completely safe. His stabs and spells were sparking the barrier, but it was useless. It actually worked to their advantage, since Helios was now being attacked by less enemies.

Seeing that their plan was working, Lunaris began throwing heals at Helios and James. Denmac could focus on keeping her safe while she assisted her friends.

Seeing the state the two guys were in, Denmac was tempted to throw some mild heals too, even though they weren’t nearly as strong as Lunaris’s. But the neophyte didn’t seem to be willing to give up, continuously stabbing at the barrier. So he had to focus on keeping the barrier up.

Lunaris sent out her strands of healing towards her boys. When she felt Helios’s state with her mana, her heart shuddered. But her healing magic was able to quickly stop the corrosion of the Darkness, and she slowly began healing the stab wounds.

James’s state was a lot more confusing for her though. She directed most of her healing towards Helios, but she had to send some healing James’s way too. He had sacrificed his health intentionally, but it was still worrying for her.

James didn’t really expect to be healed all that much. He didn’t even include it in his battle plan, expecting the worst case scenario. But it was a welcome addition.

He didn’t even consider keeping the health though. Now that he felt a bit better, it was time to sacrifice his health again right away so he could empower his spells and deal with the agent.