Having just cast Burning Hands, Tide's body temperature was now scorching hot. For an ordinary person, even if the spell's duration hadn't been long, they would have been roasted alive.
The metal armor was nearing its melting point, yet Tide continued to move. With a sizzling hiss, he flung molten metal from his body at the charging enemies.
"Aaaah!!!"
A chorus of agonizing screams erupted. Even a single splash of the searing metal caused unbearable pain. Yet, despite their torment, the soldiers pressed forward. This wasn't due to extraordinary courage, but rather the sheer narrowness of the path. With the rear ranks relentlessly advancing, the front ranks had no room to retreat and were forced onward by the relentless pressure.
Tide was now unarmed, but his bare hands proved to be his deadliest weapons. Each sweeping motion cleared nearly all enemies before him, leaving only a handful of lucky survivors. However, their reprieve was short-lived. Just as one soldier rejoiced in his narrow escape, Tide's second strike sent him flying, embedding him in the adjacent stone wall.
However, with his armor melted and facing overwhelming numbers, Tide, never prioritizing defense, was constantly ambushed by soldiers leaping from his blind spots, their swords piercing his flesh.
"Fifth-Level Necromancy School! Negative Energy Flood!"
"Sixth-Level Evocation School! Sunfire Ray!"
The two wizards in the distance swiftly prepared their next spells. A barrel-thick, dark green beam and a golden ray shot toward Tide, staggering him again. Instantly, more soldiers surged forward to press their advantage.
Within just ten minutes, nearly thirty longswords were embedded in Tide's body, turning him into a grotesque pincushion. His movements grew sluggish, until finally, he knelt on one knee, motionless.
"I-is it... over?" General Tannak stared in disbelief at the carnage. In just ten minutes, corpses carpeted the ground, the casualties unimaginable. Beside him, the exhausted wizard gasped, "What kind of monster is this? My magic power is completely drained!"
General Tannak sighed. "What a terrifying creature... Alright, clear the battlefield! We're moving out!"
Whether it was the corpses of soldiers in the canyon or Tide's massive body, everything had to be cleared to clear the way for the advancing troops.
But just as the lead soldier approached Tide's side, about to pass by him, the kneeling, motionless giant suddenly lurched to life like a reanimated corpse, seizing the soldier by the arm.
"Wh-! Help—!"
Crack—crunch—
Before the soldier could finish his plea, his chest—armor and all—was crushed in a single, brutal grip. The soldier coughed up blood and died instantly.
"I... will never let you take another step past this point!"
These were Tide's first words since the battle began. Somehow, his eyes had begun to glow crimson, an outward sign of a Barbarian entering a Berserk State.
BOOM—!
Tide hurled the soldier from his hand with a thunderous crack that shattered the air. Moving with blinding speed, faster than anyone could react, the soldier slammed into the ground. General Tannak only caught a blur flashing past his face before feeling a warm, wet sensation.
Dazed, he touched his cheek, discovering it was stained crimson with blood. Slowly, he turned his head to the side. The Wizard who had stood beside him moments ago was now fused to the ground with the soldier Tide had thrown, their bodies merged into a grotesque, inseparable mass.
A fully prepared Wizard was notoriously difficult to kill, but one who had exhausted their magical reserves was no match for an ordinary man.
Huff... Huff...
Tide gasped for breath, his skin visibly reddening as steam billowed from his body. With a metallic clatter, the numerous weapons embedded in him were forcibly ejected, clattering to the ground. Even the massive, gaping wound initially inflicted by the Disintegrate spell showed signs of gradual healing.
General Tannak watched in horror as the Giant before him rose again. Fueled by Rage, Tide's original height of around four and a half meters had further swelled, now exceeding five meters.
In truth, entering a state of Rage wasn't particularly difficult. All Barbarians born in the Northern Lands possessed a latent genetic predisposition to activate Rage within their Bloodline. As the term "Rage" itself implied, sufficient anger or fury was all it took to trigger this state.
Tide was typically taciturn, his temper almost unnaturally mild. Throughout his life, he had never shown any anger—not even when his mother abandoned him in the snowy wilderness as a child, leaving him alone and helpless, did he harbor any resentment toward her.
Yet at this moment, he was consumed by rage. This fury, however, wasn't directed at his enemies; it was a burning self-directed wrath against his own powerlessness, against his inability to fulfill his promises. This indescribably immense rage propelled him to further awaken his Bloodline, forcing him into a Berserk State.
For the Barbarians of the Northern Lands, entering a Rage was never the true challenge. The real difficulty lay in maintaining partial rationality within the Berserk State and retaining the ability to end it voluntarily, a crucial lesson emphasized by every elder Barbarian when training their successors.
Otherwise, when a Barbarian enters a Rage, their violent emotions would drive them deeper into an ever-deepening abyss of fury. If left unchecked, this cycle would never end, ultimately leading to an endless Rage, loss of reason, and transformation into a complete monster, effectively tantamount to death.
Such a Barbarian might even harm their own family and friends, forcing other Barbarians to band together and eliminate them. Alternatively, even if ignored, the Barbarian would eventually become lost in the Ice Plains and die from exhaustion.
Therefore, when elders of Barbarian Clans instruct their descendants, they focus less on teaching how to use Rage and more on teaching how to shut it down. Take the White Petal, for example—this artifact actually creates illusions to stabilize emotions and assist in ending a Rage.
But Tide had been taken from the Northern Lands at a young age and never received this crucial training. His boundless fury would make him immensely powerful, but... it's a path of no return...
-
The perspective shifted to another battlefield, a vast plain where General Ukel and his two accompanying wizards were discussing their next move.
The first wizard said gravely, "I sense an immense Magic Circle covering this plain. The Magic Power radiating from it is astonishing—this is no simple spell."
The second wizard raised an eyebrow. "What's there to fear? The mage who set up this circle seems a bit foolish. The Array Core is completely exposed, plain as day. No matter how powerful the circle is, why not just go destroy the core directly?"
As he spoke, the second wizard pointed to a spot on the map before them. "The Magic Circle is centered here."
Without knowing the Magic Circle's effects, launching a full-scale assault would be reckless. Yet, with the enemy army poised to attack, sending a small team to destroy the core seemed equally impractical.
General Ukel pondered for a moment, then said, "Then let's proceed like this: I'll send a small vanguard to probe the enemy lines and draw their attention. Then, we'll dispatch a separate Elite Squad, supported by you two, to destroy the Array Core."
"Alright!" The second Wizard nodded and agreed instantly, but the first Wizard remained hesitant. "Could this be a trap? Such a massive Magic Circle, yet the Array Core is so conspicuously exposed? I can't shake the feeling that something's off."
The second Wizard retorted, "My Perception never lies! Let's just go!"
The plan proceeded as scheduled. Soon, the Allied Forces dispatched a small vanguard of ten thousand soldiers to advance toward the Demon Lord's Army on the plain. From his position in the center of his own forces, Jay watched the scene unfold and murmured, "Sending scouts to test the Magic Circle's effectiveness? A wise move."
But it's pointless, he thought. This Magic Circle isn't a trigger spell or a trap. The effect of this Magic Circle is this very army itself!
With a thought, Jay commanded an equally sized force of ten thousand soldiers to advance and meet the enemy. However, General Ukel had sent cavalry, while Jay's forces consisted entirely of infantry, giving the cavalry a clear mobility advantage.
Just as the two forces were about to clash, the cavalry suddenly veered away from the infantry, bypassed the foot soldiers, and charged straight toward Jay's main formation.
Jay frowned slightly, simultaneously dispatching more troops to intercept them. In his view, this reckless cavalry charge was practically suicidal; once surrounded, their annihilation would be inevitable.
Time passed, and the encirclement gradually tightened. Eventually, the cavalry crashed into an infantry square. While their initial charge inflicted significant casualties, once the horses were forced to halt and could no longer maneuver, the outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt.
"What is the enemy's strategy?" Jay muttered to himself. "Did they send this unit here to die?"
Suddenly, he realized something—but it was too late. A dozen figures under a 'mass invisibility' spell had silently slipped behind him. An assassin in their ranks now plunged a dagger through Jay's heart from behind.
Normally, a Wizard capable of casting ninth-level Arcane spells would be virtually impossible to assassinate so easily. Shield Spells, Trigger Spells, Teleportation Magic, and countless other defensive measures should have protected him. But the problem was, Jay possessed none of these spells. He knew only one: First-Level Magic.
Thud—
Jay collapsed to the ground, his lips trembling slightly, but no sound escaped his throat as his breathing gradually faded.
The second wizard who had accompanied him couldn't help but laugh at the sight. "Using himself as the Array Core? How utterly amateurish!"
The advantages of Ritual Magic lay in its concealment, potent effects, and long-lasting duration. Some Ritual Magic could even be triggered remotely without the caster being present. However, by making himself the Array Core, Jay had immediately forfeited half of these benefits.
As the Array Core, the caster cannot leave the Magic Circle's perimeter without disrupting the ritual. Moreover, an Array Core anchored to a person was notoriously difficult to conceal. It was akin to trapping oneself within a self-made prison, becoming a living target.
The assassin who had slain Jay shouted triumphantly, "Your commander is dead!"
Such a declaration after killing the enemy leader can be a devastating blow to morale, sometimes even causing the entire army to rout. Yet, after the assassin's shout, not a single soldier fled. An eerie silence fell over the battlefield, so profound that the assassin could hear only the breathing of himself and his comrades.
Every soldier on the battlefield turned to stare silently at the assassin, their gazes fixed and unmoving.
"Isn't it a bit rude to call someone 'amateur' so directly?" Jay's voice suddenly echoed from behind them. He shrugged and said, "Honestly, I think this magic I designed is quite ingenious."
"Damn it! What's going on?!" The second wizard clearly sensed the Array Core, which had vanished moments ago, reappearing right in front of him—on Jay's body. Gritting his teeth, he unleashed a spell: "Sixth-Level Evocation School, Chain Lightning!"
Instantly, dazzling arcs of electricity flashed across the battlefield, instantly obliterating the soldiers surrounding the group and instantly killing over a hundred, including Jay himself.
But the very next second, a new Jay appeared in the distance. He waved his hand, and the surrounding soldiers surged forward, swiftly filling the positions of the fallen hundred and launching a fresh assault on the Elite Squad.
Jay had mastered only one spell throughout his life: Minor Illusion. His Ninth-Level spell, "Jay's Illusions," was simply a supercharged version of Minor Illusion.
As the saying goes, "Concentrate on one point to reach the pinnacle of mastery." Jay's understanding of the Minor Illusion spell far surpassed that of anyone else in this world. He could shape corporeal illusions according to his will. The essence of his ninth-level Arcane spell lay in utilizing a Magic Circle to simultaneously prepare hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of First-Level Minor Illusion spells!
Each stone brick in the Demon King's City wall Jay conjured was a separate First-Level spell. When countless First-Level spells coalesced, quantitative change transformed into qualitative transformation. Similarly, on this battlefield, every soldier was essentially a First-Level spell.
Even Jay himself was no exception.
The deeper his understanding of something, the more realistic his illusions became. What, then, does a person understand most intimately?
Naturally, it is themselves.
Jay had designed a fundamental logic for this spell: if he were to die, a new "Phantom Jay" would immediately be created. This phantom would inherit all his memories, will, and control over the Magic Circle, ensuring the spell's continued existence.
In essence, as long as Magic Power remained, this Magic Circle could persist indefinitely, continuously spawning endless waves of soldiers to halt the enemy's advance!