Against several Grand Masters, they would end up overwhelmed. Even if Hugh led the attack, the plan would ultimately fail if the ones supporting from the back could not follow through properly due to the gap in power.
They all fell into a tense silence. If they only had Malek with them, they had a better chance of succeeding in a preemptive attack. Every council member shared the same sentiment- including Hugh.
It was not because they did not trust Hugh enough or because they believed Malek was stronger. Both had different specialties. The former's offensive ability was more effective in a battle of attrition, while the latter was effective pre-emptively.
Malek could make wide-area magic attacks and easily disable enemy movements. But Hugh could not do that. He could target multiple enemies at the same time, but he could not disable their movements.
Hugh knew this better than anyone. Releasing his magic pressure was not even an alternative. At most, the Grand Masters would quiver in fear if they were trapped inside a Magus's magic pressure, but it would not stop them from countering.
At the moment, the Crown Princess's side was only probing their defences, but if they decided to move in an attack seriously, their only chance of survival was to retreat within the walls of the Tower of Conclave. Unfortunately, with the sheer number of soldiers from Emperor Euan and sir Mannick's army, it was impossible to have them retreat in a short span of time.
Yes, they had the choice to retreat now, but once the enemy noticed their movement, they would definitely know something was amiss and would launch a more direct attack.
While pondering what they had to do, a Conclave Security Team member rushed inside to give a report.
"M-Message in the frontline!"
The member had yet to give his report, but everyone inside the tent already had a bad feeling. After all, they could see the enemy's movement from the projection.
"At least two hundred combat mages from the enemy side are marching toward the Tower of Conclave. The estimated time of contact is in ten minutes!"
"Ten minutes is more than enough to prepare for battle," Emery replied, adjusting her glasses.
The others gaped at her in surprise and thought, 'That's a bold statement coming from you.'
None of them voiced it in case she took it the wrong way. They never saw Emery become disillusioned for being a non-mage council member, but that did not mean she never felt dejected.
Unfortunately, there was one who failed to keep his thoughts and actually voiced them out.
"That's a bold statement coming from you," Avrum said aloud, gaining the ire of most inside.
However, Emery did not react to that. Instead, she said, "We can continue discussing here or start preparing— right, we've done our preparations long ago. We can fight anytime."
"Those are Grand Master combat mages," Malia reminded her.
"So what? Does that mean we have to cower just because they have the level advantage?" Emery replied resolutely. "Being a non-mage, I know very well how disadvantageous my position is against a Grand Master. However, the winner of a battle is not determined by one's level but by one's resolve.
She paused before adding, "I think most of us have forgotten a common fact about combat mages because we've witnessed someone's performance who far exceeded our common knowledge. But one person's performance does not define the standard of every combat mage. Remember what you know about them. Their magic output is far weaker than mages. Their only advantage is being able to fight even if they can no longer use their magic. For short, they are not that scary."
Emery's pep talk made the rest of the council members feel ashamed.
Hugh was not an exception. He did not realize it until now, but he became a coward after his magic core was damaged. Although he kept up his strong facade to keep the other factions from threatening the Conclave if they discovered his condition, fear had taken root in his heart. Now that his magic core was healed, that fear had held on.
But hearing Emery somehow gave Hugh a chance to vanquish that fear.
"She is right. We have been dazzled by Kyran's performance and unknowingly forgotten that combat mages are not really scary," Hugh said while giving Emery a grateful smile.
The others also smiled. Though their smile appeared crooked, they could still regain their composure.
"We told the Head Master that we will take care of this side, and we will," Hugh continued. "The Lord of the Tower is also here; we are her vassals. We will protect her and everything within her territory at all costs."
"Yes."
The rest replied in unison.
"Let's go."
As Emery had said, they were already prepared for battle. Thus, after leaving the tent, Hugh joined the first line of defense, consisting of thirty Grand Masters and seventy High Masters.
Most of them had Fire innate magic. However, among the Grand Masters, at least ten possessed Earth innate magic. Using these mages, Hugh ordered them to create a thirty-meter-high wall made of earth that would cover the whole periphery of the Tower of Conclave. Of course, the periphery included the temporary encampment.
With the combined magic of these ten Earth mages, summoning a five-meter-thick, a thirty-meter-high wall was easy.
When the enemy combat mages saw this, they responded at once. Most were Fire combat mages, with at least a quarter using range weapons.
Arrows imbued with fire magic lit up the sky as they rained down on the wall. Simultaneously, the rest of them charged at the wall. Their weapons, which included a variety of melee-type weapons, were mostly imbued with flames.
Support-type mages cast their supportive spell at every range or melee combat mage.
Soon, the air was filled with battle cries from the enemy side while Hugh and the others remained unmoving behind the walls.
Flaming arrows, knives, spears, and even stones, hit the wall. However, thanks to the thickness of the wall, the attacks failed to pierce through. Nevertheless, flaming arrows managed to enter the encampment because their trajectories were higher than the others. The joint efforts of the mages with Hugh then destroyed these arrows.
After the first volley of attacks stopped, the melee combat mages shortened the distance between them and the wall.
But.
"Stop! There's a strange distortion in the ground!"
It was unknown who shouted the warning, but it came too late, and the first few who crossed a specific distance from the wall stepped on and fell into hidden fiery pits.
The Earth mages who created the wall required a great amount of magic energy to cover the whole tower. Even with their magic energy capacity as Grand Masters and combined effort, it would still be inadequate.
Since they were fighting against time, they could not gather enough magic energy from their surroundings. Instead, they manipulated the earth around the tower and extended them using a chunk of it from other areas.
After which, the Fire mages left fire spells on these pits to serve as hurdles or traps against the enemies.
With at least twenty melee combat mages falling into these traps, the rest avoided the pits and pressed forward.
A few got close enough to jump over the wall or attack using their combined physical and magical strengths.
However, it was then that Hugh made a move. He unleashed the full strength of his magic pressure, instantly stopping the combat mages' movements.
Hugh knew he could only stop them for five or ten seconds, but that was more than enough.
Within that span of time, he roused his magic energy and summoned several huge steel armors— or, to be more accurate, 'half' armors— that situated themselves on top of the wall.
These steel armors were Hugh's magic. His innate magic was Steel, but after becoming a Magus, he developed them into Armor magic.
It was called as such not because he focused on equipping himself with armor but because he summoned steel in the form of armor and manipulated them to fight.
Every armor raised its arms. They clasped their hands together and rammed their fist into the ground, where the enemy combat mages still stood rooted in spot.
Screams of death filled the air as the enemies were killed one after another by the armor.
"Seems like the rumor about Chairman Hugh falling ill is unfounded, seeing how powerful his Armor magic is. Destroying a combat mage Grand Master who possesses better defenses, not to mention wearing armor with far more powerful magic and physical defenses as simple as killing an ant, is surely a scary guy."
An ancient-sounding voice echoed throughout the forest.
When Hugh and company heard this, their heart was suddenly gripped with fear. The 'man's' words did not cause the fear they felt, but the power they felt from his voice.
If Kyran or Tritus were there, they would recognize that voice.
After all, they fought with him for some time— Osric, the Boyd Family's Ancestor.
It was a mistake on their part.
They had thought he would go with Haylee. But apparently, the latter deemed it necessary for him to go personally to the Tower of Conclave.
Hugh and company looked up and saw Osric hovering above, his white robe fluttering in the wind.
"I don't want to waste my time on insects. So, I will make this quick," Osric said.
"You—!"
Before any of the others could react, Osric's magic aura and pressure erupted.
In that instant, everyone below was forced to their knees.
There were a few who endured the pressure. However, their knees still shook and bent, albeit slowly.
Frankly, if not for the defensive array, some of them might have already been crushed to death just by Osric's pressure.
"Oh? My aura and pressure actually failed to destroy the barrier. I've had suspicions from our initial probing, but this barrier is saint-tier, isn't it?"
Hugh's eyes glowed as he managed to break free from Osric's magic pressure. He manipulated the half armor on the wall as spears appeared on their hand. Without even a pause, they raised their spears and aimed at Osric.
Osric smiled slightly while looking at the incoming spears.
"Such fragile-looking magic," he muttered.
FOOOM!
An invisible force erupted from within Osric and spread out in every direction. As soon as this force touched the spears, they collapsed like crumpled papers all the way to the armor.
"Guah!" Hugh spat out a mouthful of blood after receiving the backlash of having his magic attack stopped forcefully. He fell to his knees and was almost pressed down by the invisible force when it reached him. But he managed to stop his body from falling completely by propping his arms.
"What a stubborn old man," Osric remarked, looking at Hugh in amusement.
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