Legend of the arch magus

With the full support of the Merchants Guild, Lark started gathering the materials needed to build magic towers for the city. All available Masons in Lion City were mobilized. Hundreds of workers gathered near the western gate, the place the monsters frequently targeted first. "On my signal! One, two, three, pull!" "Harder! It's going to fall!"

"Put more strength to it! One, two, three, pull!"

Dozens of burly men pulled the hemp ropes tied to a stone obelisk. Using a pulley, the workers slowly lifted the obelisk off the ground, erecting it next to three others. The four obelisks erected surrounded a magic circle engraved on the ground. Inside the magic circle were several kalrane stones – the magic tower's source of power. After four days, they finally managed to finish one tower. "Sir, are you sure this tower's going to protect us?" one of the workers asked. "Who knows?" the Head Mason shrugged. He looked up and stared at the tip of the obelisks. Aside from the weird golden symbols engraved on the obelisks' bodies, it looked nothing but simple slabs of stone. "Good work." Lark approached the group. "The other towers?"

The Mason bowed. Lark had been given full authority over all the workers gathered here. Right now, Lark was their employer. "Using this tower as the basis, my men started working on the other obelisks. We'll be able to produce towers at a faster rate. Maybe three days at most, two days at the earliest."

Currently, several teams were working on numerous obelisks at the same time. Their goal was to erect as much towers as possible at least three days before the next full moon comes. Based on their experience, three days before the next full moon, the monsters would come out of the lake and strike the city. The Mason gazed at Lark. He had been expecting the noble to be condescending and arrogant, but reality gave a different picture. This noble, who was even younger than his son, treated the Mason and his men kindly. "Three days, huh?" Lark stared at the first completed tower. It stood over ten meters tall, the same height as the walls of Lion City. "Yes, three days," the Mason nodded. "As you've instructed, we merely chiseled the symbols on the tower but didn't touch it after that."

The symbols on the obelisks needed a special engraving technique. They could copy the outer appearance of the tower itself, but without the proper technique, the runes and symbols wouldn't work. That was why Lark told the team leaders of this project to leave the symbols for him to complete.

The same went for the magic circle on the ground. After inspecting the other sites where the towers were being constructed, Lark called out his disciples. "George, how's the progress of your training?" George scratched his cheeks. "I'm still stuck at drawing the last layer of the magic circle."

Lark held out a sigh from coming out. George clearly had no talent in this field. Still, it was not enough reason for Lark to give up on him. He knew that as long as George persevered, he would eventually grasp these things. "Keep practicing," said Lark. "Austen."

"Sir!" Austen's response was a lot more cheerful than his brother's. He grinned, showing an incomplete set of teeth. "I've reached the middle layer of the magic circle! Give me two more weeks! No, maybe ten days! And I'll be able to reach the inner layer!"

Lark nodded in approval upon hearing this. "The reason I called all of you here is simple." Lark took out two cotton shirts and tossed them to the brothers. "Starting today, the two of you – Austen and George – will train your physical bodies."

Austen and George stared at the cotton shirts. They were soft, like those garments used by nobles. "Physical body training in the morning, magic training in the evening. Wear those shirts and run around the City several times."

Although it would be grueling, running a few times around the City should be feasible for the two brothers. They grew up in this city, and they knew the roads like the palm of their hands. But they soon realized they were wrong.

"Try them. Put them on."

Austen and George did as they were instructed. To their surprise, the moment they wore the clothes over their tunics, they felt the fierce pull of gravity. The seemingly harmless clothes handed to them by Lark now felt as heavy as a plate armor. The two quivered upon recalling what the Young Master had just told them.

They were supposed to run around while wearing this? "Anandra."

"Young Lord." "Make sure these guys stick to the training schedule. Make sure they run around the entire City. Five times."

"F-Five times?!" George screamed. "But, Young Master! Isn't that too much—" "—Six times." "—But, Sir!"

"—Seven."

George and Austen shut their mouths. They were afraid that Lark would increase the number of laps. They looked at their senior disciple, Anandra.

This monster could surely finish this task without any difficulties. He could probably finish twenty laps if he wanted to. But the same could not be said for George and Austen. They were afraid that after this physical training, they would collapse. Maybe, this was the reason why the Young Master moved the schedule of magic training to evening? The brothers were silent right now, but Lark was sure they had several questions in their minds. "I hope you don't misunderstand," said Lark. "Just because I'm training you to become magicians, it doesn't mean you're going to neglect training your physical body. You can think of your mana pool as a small lake, and your bodies as the tube where water passes. With such a massive mana pool, the tube will eventually form cracks and collapse after repeated use.

We call this Magic Rupture. Although it is reversible, it takes a really long time before the body could heal itself, and during the healing process, you are not allowed to use even the most basic of magic."

The analogy was really simple that all of them understood what Lark was trying to imply. "Ah, also Magic Rupture is excruciating," Lark nonchalantly added, as though his next words were trivial. "I experienced it before myself. The sensation of being cut a hundred times each day, for several weeks.

Although Magic Rupture itself isn't fatal, the pain one experiences could make one suicidal."

Austen and George shivered upon hearing this. They heard from the Young Master that the two of them had unusually large mana pools. Therefore, it was easy to see that they would suffer from Magic Rupture more easily if their bodies were not trained properly. Lark clapped his hands once. "Begin."

Under the watch of Anandra, the brothers starting running around the City, repeatedly spitting out curses every now and then. *** The days quickly passed by. Although Lark could have gone back to Blackstone Town for a day or two, he decided to stay in Lion City for now.

He did not want to risk the slim chance that the City will be attacked while he was gone. Today was the fateful day. It was three days before the next full moon, and judging by the pattern of previous attacks, the monsters would come today in hordes. Thousands of soldiers moved about the city as the civilians shut themselves indoors. These days, it was not unusual to see doors barricaded by wooden planks, some even reinforced by iron bars. Those who lived near the walls took refuge in the middle part of the city, hoping that the fangs of the beasts would not reach them there. "Shit, I can't stop shaking."

A trainee soldier who joined the military just three months ago quivered as he held his spear. The frequent monster attacks took the lives of hundreds of soldiers, resulting in the lack of personnel. Even greenhorns like him were mandated to stand at the front lines. "Be sure to maintain your formations. Don't let the heat of the battle consume you," an officer reminded him. The trainee gulped down. "Y-Yes, sir!" When the sun rose directly above the City, the sound of gongs resounded throughout the entire area. Metals clanked as more soldiers gathered near the western gate. Beyond the walls, the soldiers could hear the familiar screeching and growling of monsters. "T-They're here! The monsters are here!" the soldier on top of the watchtower shouted. "T-Two thousand! There's over two thousand of them this time!" Everyone turned grim upon hearing this. The largest horde before amounted to only a thousand. But now, the approaching monsters have doubled in number. Usually, three soldiers would have to go against one monster. Now it would need at least six, and the soldiers gathered at the gate were only a mere four thousand.

Commander Daltos gnashed his teeth. He roared, "Do not falter! Do not be afraid! Although the number of enemies are beyond what we expected, they cannot come here all at once! Focus on protecting the walls! Do not let them pass through! The monsters who manage to enter the city – slaughter them all!"

Hearing the speech of one of the strongest soldiers of the city, the soldiers gritted their teeth and steeled themselves. They roared.

"Kill the damn bastards!"

"Slaughter them all!"

"Kill them! Don't let them inside the city!"

Shouts filled with vehement fury followed Commander Daltos' speech. The previously quivering soldiers readied themselves for the incoming clash with the monsters. And a surreal scenario transpired before their eyes. Crackling sounds were heard as orbs of lightning manifested themselves on top of the towers erected near the western gate. The soldiers looked up, and to their surprise, five streaks of blue light shot towards the direction of the monster horde. Explosions were heard, followed by the cries of the monsters. As though the towers were thirsting for the monsters' blood, several orbs of lightning manifested themselves on top of the towers once again, before shooting out as rays of blue light. Explosions resounded and the cries from monsters intensified. "Load the next batch of kalrane stones!" A young man with silver hair shouted. The soldiers looked at the direction of this voice. Most of the soldiers recognized who this man was. Lark Marcus, the Lord of Blackstone Town, the man rumored to have defeated the Third Legion of the United Grakas Alliance. These past few weeks, the man has spent most of his time supervising the creation of the towers. Although most of the soldiers and workers had no idea of the use of those towers, they diligently did their part in making it. And now, they were witnessing with their own eyes the monstrous strength of these devices. The workers immediately reloaded kalrane stones into the towers. After charging up, the towers shot out bolts of lightning once again, killing tens of monsters in the process. The soldiers standing on the watchtowers and those on the battlements were the ones who were directly witnessing the power of these devices. Every time a tower released a beam of light, two or three monsters were incinerated into ashes in an instant. But despite this, the monsters were unfazed and continued their march. At the same time, new kalrane stones were reloaded into the towers and the slaughter continued at a constant pace. Hundreds of monsters started climbing the walls. The soldiers on top of the battlements assumed their formations, ready to intercept the monsters and prevent them from entering the city. They stabbed the monsters the moment they stepped foot on the walls, pushing them off towards the ground.

Several wooden devices that resembled a pendulum would swing, hit, and mow down several monsters, pushing them back down. This proved to be an effective tactic for a moment, but with the sheer number of monsters climbing at the same, several dozens of them managed to successfully climb up. Soon, melee broke out on top of the walls. Monsters roared and metals clanked. The scent of blood strongly permeated the air as the humans were slowly pushed back. Seeing this, Lark issued out a different order. "Move the blocks inside!

Now!"

The workers pushed the blocks of stones next to the towers, moving them inside, next to the magic circle. Clicking sounds were heard the moment the last blocks were moved into the center of the towers. The magic circle at the center started changing its color. From blue, it slowly assumed a green hue. "Activate the towers!"

The workers did as they were commanded. Soon, several green orbs the size of a fist manifested themselves at the tip of the towers. After the command was activated, they shot towards the monsters on top of the battlements. The soldiers who had been struggling against the monsters were surprised at this sudden reinforcement. "T-This is!" Big Mona, who had been watching the battlefield from afar using a scope, trembled in excitement. Lark had not told him about this particular quirk of the towers. He knew that the towers could release powerful beams of lightning from afar, but he was not aware that they could shoot out smaller, weaker orbs to strike out nearby foes. Big Mona salivated upon realizing how amazing those devices were. Paying fifteen gold coins for each tower was definitely worth it. Although the orbs could not kill the monsters in a single shot, the damage it inflicted was enough for the soldiers to finish them off. Furthermore, there were several dozens of orbs coming out of the tower after each charge. The ferocious beasts could not help but stagger and cower after being struck by the orbs from the towers. With several soldiers combining their strength, the monsters were slaughtered one after another. When dusk came, over a thousand corpses of monsters were scattered on the ground. Thirty-six soldiers died in this wave – a surprisingly small amount considering the fact that the horde doubled in number than the previous siege. The men responsible for building the obelisks – the Towers – stared at the innumerable dead bodies of monsters that filled the western area of the city.

Heat surged within their chests. They had not expected that their hard work would pay off like this. One of the Masons clenched his fists. "Men, starting tomorrow, we'll work double time! We'll grind our bones to dust if we have to! We'll finish the remaining towers no matter what!"

"Yes, Sir!" all of his men enthusiastically responded. If five towers brought such an impact in this wave, then how much more if all twenty of them were erected all throughout the entire city?