City of Sin Book 2, Chapter 89

Two-Headed Dragon(3)
A loud bang resounded in the battlefield as the axe crashed into the warrior’s enormous sword. Schitich’s horse was finally left unable to withstand the impact, collapsing to the ground. The man immediately jumped off, wielding his enormous axe as he fought the warrior of darkness.
The warrior was strong, but he wasn’t very agile. Schitich managed to retain the absolute advantage, but then Gangdor started to attack him from behind as well. He was locked into a struggle with the two, but Richard’s knights joined in as well. Tiramisu also cast a slowing spell on him as he ran past.
Richard didn’t rush to attack himself, instead constantly issuing commands as he stayed aware of the situation on the battlefield. He suddenly realised the time was ripe, shouting, “Knights, retreat!”
The knights on both wings immediately moved back, retreating to the camp.
“Orcs, retreat!” The half-orc warriors also began to fall back, moving behind the line formed by the knights.
“Zendrall. 30 metres ahead and to the left, Strengthen Fear!” Five seconds after the command, a group of almost invisible balls of light flew out of the torn tent. Powerful magic shot out from these balls, enveloping almost all the enemies on the left wing. Half of the cavalry and their mounts immediately fell into chaos, screaming in fear. Some collapsed on the ground, while others ran around aimlessly.
Following that, another of the same spell was cast 40 metres ahead and to the right. The enemies there were confused as well, and under the wind wolves’ lead the orcs seized the opportunity to attack once more. They formed six distinct arrows, killing more than a dozen of Schitich’s men in an instant.
Schitich was tied up by the warrior of darkness and Gangdor, left unable to escape. The five captains who’d been dismounted fell apart rapidly, all killed under the combined attack of the two trolls and Waterflower.
Zendrall didn’t continue to summon any more undead, instead continuing to strengthen the curses on Schitich as per Richard’s command. The battle tilted quickly once all the captains were killed, and Richard began directing his troops in repeated attacks that destroyed the enemy formations in the blink of an eye. All of Richard’s contracted slaves then surrounded Schitich and attacked him, while the knights split into two teams and pursued the remnants of the cavalry.
The battle had completely collapsed at that point, and Schitich’s men began to flee. Schitich himself felt a great threat, roaring as he twirled his axe around himself a few times to force Gangdor and the warrior of darkness back. He then roared again, tossing his enormous axe towards Richard with all his might.
The enormous axe bore down on Richard with terrifying force!
Gangdor roared out, exhausting all his strength to put himself between Richard and the enormous axe. The broken axe in his hand was finally split in two, and Gangdor himself was thrown a few metres away unable to get up. Fortunately this left the axe spinning in another direction, cutting two orc warriors in half before it buried itself into the ground. Even after all this, the handle of the axe continued to vibrate.Richard’s body was shining with magic light. Three defensive spells— Barrier, Range Shield, and Nullify Damage— were impacted by the shockwaves, and Richard himself was pushed a few metres back. However, the spells would have made it quite difficult for Schitich to kill him even without Gangdor’s desperate defense.
Schitich immediately fled towards the city the moment he threw out his axe. However, the darkness parted to reveal an ethereal Waterflower behind him. The Shepherd of Eternal Rest flashed past his body, and the girl stopped pursuing.
Breath of Darkness. The most powerful ability of Waterflower’s rune set had been put on display.
Schitich sprinted a few more metres, but the back of his armour suddenly split open to let loose a rain of blood. He struggled two more steps forward, but eventually collapsed.
With their leader down, the rest of the cavalry had no more will to fight. A small number of them fled, while dozens surrendered.
Richard walked over to the enormous magic axe that was still stuck in the ground, gently stroking the handle. His hand seemed stable, but in fact his fingertips were trembling ever so slightly. The power behind this axe was enormous— if not for his defences, a direct strike from it would definitely have killed him. Flowsand would not be able to save him; she would only learn to revive others at level 18. Besides, the side-effects of revival were as great as its use.
Of course, the tight protection he had meant it was quite unlikely for him to be struck. But seeing the handle of this mighty axe fly towards him, he’d felt another brush with death. His heart had shuddered for a moment, but there was an unusual hint of excitement in there as well.
This dance with death seemed to be inspiring another rune series. Richard himself felt like he was a bit of an extreme lunatic.
“Good work tonight, this is the first time we won with you only commanding. It seems like Norland won’t just have a new runemaster when we return, but a talented commander as well,” Flowsand’s voice sounded from behind him.
Richard smiled awkwardly, clenching his fist to relax the fingers that were stiff from nervousness. He lowered his voice, “I was almost killed. What’s so good about that?”
“Haha!” Flowsand laughed, “You’re a mage of the Deepblue!”
“What do you mean?” Richard did not understand.
“If you were in Norland, many people would realise you were trained in the Deepblue the moment you joined the battle.”
Richard was very puzzled, “How? I didn’t use any special magic just now. The Deepblue has some unique spells, sure, but most are Master’s creations and are at the legendary realm. They’re impossible for me to learn.”
Flowsand shook her head, “I’m not referring to any special spell. It’s the style of your fights. Mages of the Deepblue are all strong physically, and also put great focus on self-protection. They’re much better at staying alive.”
Most mages in Norland were protected by reliable knights. At a critical moment, the knights would instinctively act the same as Gangdor had, using themselves as shields. Thus, many mages focused purely on the pursuit of the ultimate offence, not putting too much thought into defending themselves. On the battlefield, a mage wouldn’t last long if all their defenders were taken out anyway.
Richard was startled slightly, as he hadn’t thought of that point. The moment the battle began, he’d taken the chance to channel every protective spell he could onto himself as he gave out his commands. If not for the increase in danger that would arise from reduced mobility, he would have cast stone skin as well.
Thinking over his experience from multiple battles, Richard was convinced by the Deepblue’s definition of a strong mage: 'The greatest deterrence a mage can pose is being able to stay alive and conserve mana on the battlefield.'
“Go, save them!” Richard gave Flowsand a pat on her back, “Remember to keep half your mana in reserve.”