Chapter 448: Declaration

In the next ten days, Zaos tested the types of magic that would suit his idea. For defense, ice magic worked better since he could create a perfect armor of ice that could cover his body. If he could transform earth into something of metal, he probably could increase his defense. Still, it would decrease his mobility, so an ice armor was good enough to raise his defenses.

Zaos and Aleni did some tests when he made a breastplate made of ice, and he asked Aleni to attack. At first, she hesitated, but attack after attack, she increased her power, until, on the last try, she even moved away to gain power with the momentum. Her sword strike had been so powerful that the blade broke and flew to the distance… that had been dangerous.

The good thing about ice armor was that Zaos didn’t have to keep feeding his mana… it would begin to melt after half an hour. However, when he tried to cover his whole body, he ended up using five thousand points of mana… he had never heard of a spell that used such a stupid amount of mana before… Still, against most types of attacks, aside from fire magic, and for half an hour, he would be nearly impossible to wound. When Zaos forged a firing crossbow and asked to test against his armor, it only began to crack after fifty bolts hit the same place several times in a row… so even that had some resistance against its natural elemental weakness.

Zaos could decrease the cost by half if he just used ice magic to add an extra layer over his black armor. Still, even so, the defense that armor granted was lower if compared to the ice armor.

In the end, using magma or fire armor would be too much since Zaos wouldn’t be able to do anything, and the armor would most likely only melt some types of weapons and stop a lower number of physical attacks. So Zaos quickly discarded that idea… What he didn’t discard and, in fact, liked very much was the idea to enhance his body with the highest level of wind magic… to the point that it even became electricity. In terms of defense, it could stop all projectiles since electricity emits high temperatures. Against direct physical attacks, the attacker would be electrocuted, and naturally, the electric armor increased Zaos’ speed up to five times. Since Zaos made the energy transform inside his body, it even enhanced his senses. So, he could change his trajectory and react while running three times faster than Aleni… the only problem was the cost to maintain that spell… Every time Zaos is hit by something, his armor would drain some of his mana… even when he is not hit by anything, the armor drains his mana by two hundred points per second… Zaos couldn’t even keep the armor on for a single minute.

“I suppose everything has its merits and demerits…” Zaos rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 

Zaos and Aleni were away from Elkim’s base one day away, so they didn’t have time to solve that issue… now that Zaos’ thought about it, maybe making a point that those who mess with him right now will suffer a terrible fate isn’t a good idea… The battle will be hard without using much magic, but maybe he should use that as a chance to increase his Focus. After doing some tests in the last few years, Zaos confirmed that his mana needed to be full to obtain a single point of focus. His sword needed to drain at least one thousand points of mana. The assassins had between two hundred and three hundred points of mana. Still, the mercenaries should have between fifty and one hundred… if he plays his hand well, Zaos could increase his Focus by fifty points or so. It was quite crazy, but it made sense considering that the previous wielders of the two swords had to grow stronger quite a lot by defeating demons until they defeated the demon god.

“There is no way I can defeat hundreds of mercenaries before I run out of mana by using thunder armor, so I will use this chance to increase my strength,” Zaos nodded to himself.

Until now, the trip had been pretty peaceful, and Zaos could imagine that… Elkin, Helen, and Perkis were waiting for him in that town. Their armies must be there as well, waiting for him. Together, they should have almost fifteen thousand men… it seemed like an overkill. Still, considering that they knew what Zaos had done during his life, they wouldn’t take any chances.

“Boss…” Nakin and his group suddenly appeared while Zaos and Aleni were having their dinner.

“Join us,” Zaos said. “These nights are a bit chilly. Warm yourselves near the fire.”

The former assassins obeyed and began to sit down around the campfire. They still were nervous despite the result of the previous battles, and despite the fact that Zaos was as calm as he could be, he still was sharpening his fangs for the next battle. They had some bad news to share, but they didn’t know how to talk with Zaos about it… they had no idea that Zaos already knew what they were about to say.

“Boss, we made the reconnaissance and…” Nakin said but then hesitated.

“Relax, we can’t afford to make mistakes now, and high amounts of tension will only lead us to failure,” Zaos said. “Just tell me what you saw, and rest assured that I will handle everything else.”

“… The three armies are in that town and are ready to face you with all they have,” Nakin said. “Siege weapons, poison, ten thousand experienced soldiers are there and ready to fight.”

“What about the Sairus kingdom army?” Zaos asked.

“They left one week ago,” Nakin replied.

“That is good. Too many people are going to die by my hands tomorrow, and I don’t want to take the lives of my former allies.”