James didn’t really have any ideas.

He was being chased by arrows from every direction, shot by stalkers he couldn’t even see, while also having to dodge and run away from the 8 enraged stalkers that have been unstealthed by his explosions. Of course, in exchange for being unstealthed, they gained a crazy speed boost. Of course.

But despite having no idea what to do, he was still feeling confident. Just a few hundred Javelins wounded the stalkers so greatly that they weren’t even able to use stealth anymore. Now he just needed to figure out a way to actually deal with them.

Even though he could now see most of his opponents, they were too fast to kill from afar. He was still able to fling himself and fly away from them, but while defensively he was relatively fine, he couldn’t do anything to them from a distance. Every time he shot a Javelin at them, they dodged them just as easily as he dodged their attacks.

To make matters worse, the stalkers that were still stealthed didn’t even chase him anymore, instead shooting dark arrows at him without a moment of rest.

Luckily, he had been the target of so many of their attacks, that he could now vaguely sense their mana fluctuations. But it was too vague to actually use in combat. At the very least, they couldn’t escape from him. But right now, he had no choice but to take care of the unstealthed ones first.

“What’s the matter? Why do you keep running?” One of the stalkers mocked him, and the others cackled alongside him.

James was a reckless hothead, but he wasn’t dumb enough to get taunted. He always did things on his own terms.

Since the Javelins didn’t work, and they apparently also had a way to nullify or even absorb the mana from a slow spell like Chaos Flower, he really only had one choice. He had to face them head-on, he couldn’t keep running away.

But he also had sacrificed way too much already. Even though he didn’t feel the pain, and the consequences of sacrificing were relatively minor compared now compared to their effect, his body told him that he couldn’t cast many more sacrifices. His affinity with mana had gotten so strong that he didn’t even need to actually reach the limit of sacrificing, his body was telling him loud and clear that he had almost used up his free buffs.

He didn’t need even more stacks of [Reckless Abandon] to deal with them, but he definitely need more barriers to survive. And since he couldn’t sacrifice, his Chaos Barrier was basically on its last legs, cracking more and more with each passing minute, as the few dark arrows that he didn’t manage to dodge kept piling up the damage.

He could use raw mana to brute-force a barrier such as the one he cast on his friends. But not only did he use around half of his total mana supply on that, but his mana alone wasn’t what was keeping his friends’ barrier intact. Without their constant casting of their own barriers, the mana alone wouldn’t mean much, it would lose its form within minutes.

While half of his mana was more than enough to fight this battle, and a quarter of his total would probably be enough to create a very sturdy barrier, he wasn’t a mage without flaws. He had a lot of mana, and the amount only grew more stupid with each city he pillaged, but that didn’t mean he could actually use the mana for whatever idea popped into his mind.

His friends were focusing hard on maintaining their barrier. If he used a quarter of his mana on a barrier of his own, it would just dissipate not long after he lost focus as he dodged and battled his many opponents. And he hadn’t learned a level appropriate barrier spell in a long time. He had relied on his sacrifices and chaos powers for that, and he had so much mana and power that he hadn’t bothered to refresh his arsenal of spells.

Now that he wasn’t just steamrolling over his opponents, that was biting him in the ass.

He was also fairly sure that without intense focus, the stalkers could even absorb and take the mana he’d use for the barrier for themselves. He even suspected that their enhanced and relentless barrage of arrows might’ve been made possible because of the mana they stole when he cast Chaos Flower.

All that was standing between him and their pointy arrows and sword were a few layers of Chaos Barrier that were already cracking. He cast another 15 sacrifices, and through bloodshot eyes he looked at his last set of barriers.

This was it, his last defenses. He had to end this battle soon, or at least reduce the number of enemies. Otherwise, he’d be naked against a relentless onslaught of attacks that could probably kill him in just a few good hits.

He couldn’t even go hide behind his friends’ barrier, that would just be delaying the inevitable, and also putting them in danger. If the stalkers focused enough, they could definitely break it and then they’d all be in danger.

So killing them from afar wasn’t an option, and going within melee range would deplete his last remaining barriers very quickly. Somehow, he had more mana than he even knew what to do with, and yet he literally didn’t know what to do.

“You look stressed, brother!” Helios suddenly shouted. “Did you forget about us? We can help.”

“Yes, we’re not just dead weight!” The dwarves shouted in unison. “We’ll show ‘em not to mess with us.”

“You’ve done more than enough.” James shouted back. “Lunaris’s healing alone was a huge lifesaver. Please just stay behind the barrier, guys. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know you’re much more powerful than us, but don’t underestimate how helpful our help can be. We’re your friends, after all.” Emilia said as she fired a volley of arrows at the stalkers, missing every single one of them by a long margin.

“Guys, I love you, treasure you and respect you.” James replied. “But power of friendship is not how we win this one. I need you to stay safe, I’m sorry.”

It felt frustrating to the seven to not be able to help, but they knew he was right. James’s battles had long ago gotten way above their level. They just couldn’t provide any meaningful support, they’d just be another thing for him to worry about if they left the barrier. And from within the barrier, they couldn’t hit the stalkers that were hundreds of feet away by the time even their fastest spells reached them.

“All right, let’s just top her up!” Helios shouted enthusiastically, and everybody immediately began filtering their mana so they could transfer it to Lunaris. That way, she could heal James indefinitely.

James felt a bit sorry for rejecting their help, but he couldn’t help but smile. He loved those rascals so much, their presence here alone was worth more than they knew. Without them, these battles would be mentally unbearable. But with them here, he could experience the greatest torments, and he’d still be fine, knowing that his friends were near him.

Still, the power of friendship wasn’t going to kill these stalkers that were relentlessly slashing at him without even a hint of getting tired.