Yet, it came with a price. Only the strongest orcs could survive their cores being enhanced not once, but twice. Ragh'Ash could see energy cracks appearing on the skin of five out of the eight warriors she had blessed. They only had a few minutes left to live.
'The weak can only blame themselves.'Ragh'Ash thought.'The demon's meat is too precious to be wasted on failures. Their death was only a matter of time.'
While the orcs charged towards the humans' position, the shaman and the chieftain followed them from a distance. Testa'Lhosh carried the holy crystal on his back, while the ground emitted a low rumble wherever Ragh'Ash stepped.
***
"Orcs incoming!" Vipli screamed on the top of his lungs from the top of a tree.
Lith inwardly cursed while pushing his willpower to the limit to compensate for the lack of earth elemental energy with his own mana. Finally, the Warp Steps appeared, but instead of being static as usual, its edges spun like a buzz saw. They emitted sparks every time Lith sent new waves of mana to prevent it from collapsing.
One after the other, the cadets rushed through it until only Nhilo and the Sergeant were left.
"We can't leave Lith behind! They will kill him!" As the commanding officer, Nhilo felt it was her responsibility to remain behind with him.
"That's why I'll stay here." Tepper said while throwing her through the Gate. "There's no need for us all to die."
"Indeed!" Lith used spirit magic to push the Sergeant away before closing the Warp Steps. When Tepper's face hit the boot camp's ground, he wasn't angry. Quite the contrary, he was almost moved to the tears.
"That idiot! Together we had a chance, alone he is as good as dead. Shamans can prevent an opponent from flying. Without Warp Steps, he has no way out. I misjudged Lith. He preferred to die a hero rather than see one of us die."
He ran to the HQ to request immediate backup. With him as a guide, the mages would only need a few minutes to reach the orc encampment. He could only hope Lith would survive long enough for it to be a rescue mission instead of a revenge one.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the crumbled Gate, Lith was overjoyed. He was wearing his Skinwalker armor again. The Gatekeeper sword was firm in his hand while Invigoration gave Lith back his strength.
"With no witness messing with my plans, I can pretend to be a hero and get myself a purple crystal. Two birds with one stone."
Lith took flight, weaving several spells at once just to be safe. Two orcs leaped toward him while swinging their weapons, only to be chopped in half like fresh fruit. Lith's flight spell made him even faster than he was with fusion magic, whereas the orcs were sitting ducks while in mid air.
'Worst case scenario, I can rain spells from the skies until they are all dead or I can run away if the unexpected happens. Killing non flying opponents is child play.'Lith thought.
He readied his sword for the second wave of enemies while pouring air magic into it to enhance its edge.
Ragh'Ash saw Lith descending upon her warriors and acted accordingly. Her hand touched the holy crystal, depriving the environment of the air element and causing the flight spell to fail. Lith crashed in the middle of the orcs who immediately surrounded him.
Ragh'Ash laughed.