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They already fought them once and he believed that they could still beat them again for the second time. This time he will make sure that they will drive those barbarians away from their territory. It was something that he should do as a leader and with the mages behind them, his confidence didn\'t waver.

As the enemies got nearer, the tense air around them became more suffocating that he could literally feel it in his skin. The vibe the enemy was giving off was different from the first time they faced them but Xenos wouldn\'t back down. "Hold your ground!" He shouted once again.

A fluttering in the air caught his attention so he looked back and saw that it was Maius. There was a frown on his face as he watched the marching enemy towards them. He then narrowed his eyes before he slowly floated down beside Xenos.

"What\'s the matter?" Xenos did not like the look on his friend\'s face. He hadn\'t seen that kind of serious expression for a while now.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Xenos. The report they gave us, are you sure that there\'s nothing more to it?" Maius looked his friend in the eye without hiding his conflicting emotion at that time.

The moment he saw those heavily armored enemies marching towards them, he could already feel the incredible bloodlust that was coming from them. This, he did not feel during their first encounter. He tried to use detection magic to see if there was something amiss but for some reason it did not work on them.

After his magic came back empty, the ominous feeling he had just became more intense. There was definitely something wrong with those armored warriors. They were giving off a different aura, a very dark aura that tainted the ground. He couldn\'t feel vitality from them even though they were marching with heavy and eager footsteps.

"Yes, I verified and asked several times if that was the only report that came. They all said that it was." Xenos also frowned because his friend would not worry like this if he knew that they were going to win.

"That army isn\'t like the first group of warriors we faced. They\'re dangerous. Look at the ground where they are walking." He pointed towards their feet. "I suspect that magic might be involved with this."

Xenos was taken aback by what he saw. The ground was already black like it has been burned and what\'s left was the black ground. That was indeed not normal.

"What shall we do then?" Xenos asked calmly. There was no use if he would become panicked because his warriors would definitely falter. He couldn\'t afford for them to lose their confidence.

"We will set up a barrier between them and our warriors. Take that chance to brief them and tell them that they shouldn\'t be reckless. Retreat if necessary because we don\'t know what kind of enemy we are facing. You can also encourage them because that\'s what leaders do." Maius made the choice of letting the mages defend first so they could grasp the status of their enemies.

"Then I will leave it to you then," Xenos agreed. He rode his horse and directed it to face his lined warriors. He swept his gaze towards them with a serious look on his face.

"Today we are faced with an unknown enemy. The ground had turned to black and they might not be the same as the ones we already fought in the past. Something has changed within their ranks and we believe that it was caused by magic." Xenos outright told them what Maius observed.

This news made the warriors gasp and tremble even more. Xenos could feel and see their reactions, it was understandable because in the face of an unknown enemy one couldn\'t help but feel intimidated. What\'s more it turned out this battle won\'t be that easy.

Maius and the mages moved to the front while the leader was speaking. They lined up and started to cast magic as they created a barrier that would prevent their enemies from coming any closer. Maius reinforced this barrier and made it sturdier and thicker with his own mana for precautionary measures.

As the army marched towards them without stopping, the shaking of the ground became more distinct. It was heavier and deeper that it appeared to be an earthquake. Xenos looked back and they were almost at the barrier.

"Stand your ground!" Xenos shouted. "Stand your ground because if you won\'t, this land and our families at home would be in danger. We need to fight! Think of your wives, your children who are safe now because of your efforts. If we ran now then we might as well be called cowards all our lives!"

With those words the warriors gripped their weapons tightly as they watched the enemies collide with the barrier. None of them stopped to analyze what was happening and instead they started to ram themselves on the red barrier that was separating them from their targets. Each collision created a ripple on the barrier.

Maius knew that they couldn\'t just defend forever because that barrier might fall soon. While he was floating in the air, he spread out his arms and a red mist appeared on both of his palms. This red mist slowly filled the barrier. After he was satisfied with the mana he infused to the barrier, he let both of his hands stretch forward.

The swirling red mist inside the barrier hardened under the command of Maius and in an instant, it formed into long spikes that pierced through the armor and through the body of the enemies. The warriors cheered when they saw this but it instantly died down when they saw that the supposed to be dead barbarians were still squirming even after being fatally wounded.

Maius frowned as he added more spikes but it only created the same effect. It was as if the enemies were unfazed of the attack that just happened. instead of backing away they instead pushed forward and rammed themselves to the spiked barrier. This time they did it more fiercely that their blood started to get on the surface of the barrier.

Without any warning the blood that got on the surface of the barrier started to wiggle and spread. It slowly ate the barrier, specifically the mana that was contained in the barrier. The spikes looked like they dissolved. Gradually the barrier became thinner and thinner, that no matter who the mages supply it with mana, nothing happened.

"Burn them!" Maius commanded with a roar when the barrier finally collapsed. The mages heeded their commander\'s words and used fire magic which seemed to be effective.

Maius also materialized balls of fire above the enemies and let them fall down. It burned the enemies and all they could hear were their screeching and the clanging of their metal armors. For the second time, he sent another wave and this time he made it, so that the range of his magic became wider.

"Do not stop!" He commanded but he knew that anytime now, the mages would reach their limits too.

He looked down and gave Xenos a nod. It was a signal that allowed them to go and a promise that he would do what he could to ensure the safety of their warriors. He needed to grit his teeth and try to protect them even at the expense of using all of his mana.