Wild Dragon of Rome 53 (Patreon)

Three mages flying toward me at full speed was the first problem I needed to face. Fortunately, they had all but gift-wrapped themselves to me. 

Of the four elemental specialties, each group had its own advantages, and just like earth mages had an incredible advantage on defense, especially when given time, the air mages distinguished themselves in their mobility. 

At least, that was true in general terms. The individual perception of their elements relied on the mage in question, which could develop in a completely opposite way. However, looking at the way the air mages dived toward me like a trio of birds of prey, I could see that not only they had relied on the most traditional understanding of air, but the deviation between them was almost nonexistent. 

I wondered whether it was about being a part of a legion, which would make strategic alignment much simpler, but it would also bring some drawbacks. 

Ultimately, those thoughts were mere idle wonderings as I did my best to calculate their trajectory, waiting for them to get closer. They were moving in a direct line, confident that the thick smoke was blocking my view, and the mana from the fires doing the same. Not a bad assumption. They read the situation to the best of their ability. 

Too bad it was the wrong assumption. It didn’t matter whether it was their fault or not. The battlefield was not a place that forgave mistakes. 

I waited until they were close enough, not just to make sure I could take them down immediately — as I didn’t fancy trying to chase down air mages — but also because I wanted to do it in a way that would keep the rest of the army unaware. 

Risky, but since they were trying to catch me.

Once they were about to appear from the smoke, my arm moved, and I used my newly acquired strength to the limit. Pilum might not be a weapon designed to ruin shields with a soft tip, and would have been useless against high-quality layered armor like the air mages were wearing, but it didn’t mean it was useless. 

I just needed to throw them with an accuracy that was supposed to be impossible and target the gap in their helmet. I wondered if the air mages appreciated the irony, as they would have probably dodged my attack despite my effort without the smoke. 

All they would have to was to turn to their side, or create some kind of wind in front of them to deflect the attack, and the pilum would clutter against their armor uselessly. 

They did not.  

Killing a mage was a proud achievement. Killing three of them at one was the kind that people made up to impress people while drinking around a campfire. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have time to enjoy my pride. I still had a small army and a sorcerer to deal with, and behind me, I could feel the stirrings of whatever lived in the valley. 

Gloating would have to wait. 

Even before the bodies had touched the ground, I grabbed the rest of the pilums, and threw all of them to the left wing of the formation. A few managed to kill the targets, but that was it. They might have been hamstrung by the strategic choices their commanders made, they were still legionaries, and they reacted instantly to form a shield wall. The rest had sunk into their shields. 

I had kept only two pilums.

As the signal horns rose, I moved to the fallen bodies of the air mages, and ripped the armor of one, using my claw. 

At the same time, I started releasing my mana wildly once again. Ultimately, I was afraid that the sorcerer would catch my location based on my mana presence. Trying to suppress it completely was one option, but  I didn’t know if it would be able to trick once I walked through the flames. 

However, skulking in darkness was not the only way to avoid a night patrol. A sudden firework to blind them worked just as well. Too bad, just like a firework to distract the night patrol, it had disadvantages. 

One was the presence of the beast behind me, its stirrings getting even more intense as the mana density increased. The other was the intensity of the flames that surrounded me, getting more and more intense. Yet, despite everything, I could hear the furious shout of the sorcerer above everything. 

“Perfect,” I muttered. For a moment, I considered escaping. With the army already locked around me, I could run away, and this time, I didn’t even have to abandon Lillian and Astrid. I could save both escape safely, and evacuate the region while they were busy dealing with the awakened beast in the valley. 

Unfortunately, while the idea of running away was tempting, staying here to finish the job was even more tempting. My enemy was a sorcerer, true, but he was also a sorcerer who had committed a string of mistakes, leaving himself exposed. 

It was my only chance to take revenge. 

That alone was enough, but then there was the Spear of Scipio. The patrician weapon, the artifact that could be traced for the founding of Rome, the weapon that accompanied generations of Scipio generals as they defeated Hannibal and saved the Republic from certain destruction.

As a bastard, I didn’t really care about all that glory, and the weapon was even more useless. Without a proper inheritance ritual, the best thing I could do was to carry it without touching it directly. Trying to use it would have killed me. 

However, while I didn’t care about the weapon directly, my monster of a grandfather did. And, leaving his precious weapon in the hands of one of his killers — the majority of the blame going to my dear lovely uncle — was an even bigger insult than not taking revenge. 

As much as I hated the old man, I loved him as well. I owed him as much. 

The decision made, I didn’t waste any time before I ripped the armor of the mages using my claw, ruining them in the process. However, I didn’t care. I put two two sticks, and left the third one on the ground. 

All of it required less than thirty seconds, which was barely enough for the formation around me to react. Half of the reserve force was committed to the left wing. 

I started running toward the right side. One of the armors, I put at the edge of their vision, and the second one, I put slightly behind in a concealed spot. They should be seeing nothing. Then, I used the two pilums I had carefully, targeting the mages at the back of the formation. 

Both of them survived, but I didn’t care. The aim wasn’t to kill them. It was to just cause a distraction. I rushed forward, pushing through the flames. The pain was unbelievable even though I passed through them in a second, but I needed to do so in order to target them. My wounds were healing already, and my face was untouched because I had protected it with my scaly arm. 

That arm was mostly pristine as well. 

“Monster—” one of my targets shouted, but I didn’t care. I just killed two and pulled back toward the dummy I set up. Horns had been sound once again, but this time, they didn’t commit too much of the reserves. 

I didn’t care. I already had the third armor in place. I picked that up and tied it with a string, ignoring the pain of my burn wounds, which were healing already. 

Hardly the best disguise, but with everything going on, it was enough. I just needed to suppress my presence, actually go from the back of the formation, and mix the formation on the left side. A simple plan, but one that would only work because they had no idea about the true speed I could move. 

I was ready to do so, when a sudden burst of water rained over the fire, one with a very familiar presence, targeting the left side. At the same time, I could see a herd of animals attacking the right side of the formation.  

Lillian and Astrid. 

I froze, unable to believe that they would attack a sorcerer who was leading a considerable fraction of a legion just to help me. Technically, their help was not necessary. It was even making my life harder, forcing me to abandon my plan to adapt to the new situation. 

Yet, one fact was immutable. Rather than escaping safely, they were throwing their lives to give me a fraction of a better chance of surviving. It was something stupid, reckless, suicidal…

It was the nicest thing someone had ever done for me.