After seeing their allies being fried with electricity alive, the mercenaries began to move away from Zaos. He was indeed a monster… and because they knew the catapults were about to be used again. This time, not only one or two boulders were fired toward Zaos's unit. He saw six of them flying at the same time… those mercenary commanders sure can think fast.

Zaos focused his senses again, but even at his best, he could only fire five Earth Swords at the same time. He couldn't risk trying six and then losing control over the others. After adjusting his aim, Zaos fired five of those, and he ended up destroying two boulders. Still, two others hit his unit and the recruits behind.

"Captain, focus," Cohnal, who was right behind him, said.

In the end, after taking a deep breath, Zaos cooled his nerves and focused on the enemies around. They were about to pass through the second battalion. After the third, the siege weapons will be in plain sight to be attacked. While Zaos didn't have enough mana to destroy most of them, he could destroy the ones who were causing trouble to the soldiers. However, it seemed things wouldn't be that simple…

When Zaos and his soldiers finally passed through the second battalion, they saw several other boulders being thrown in their direction… and some of the siege weapons moving away from the battlefield.

"Sons of a bitch…" Zaos said.

  That made Zaos even more enraged… while the commanders were just using plain tactics to make sure to protect their most precious tools, that was a bit too much from Zaos's perspective. After clicking his tongue, Zaos attacked the boulders again, hitting three and failing to hit another. However, he didn't stop there. Using all his remaining mana, Zaos summoned five Fire Swords and then fired at the catapults he could see. Maybe it was due to the anger, but he missed two this time. Those three were burned down to a crisp in the blink of an eye, and the mercenaries around them also died, but Zaos's anger didn't decrease. However, much to Zaos' surprise, he saw several other Fire Swords being fired toward the siege weapons in the distance.

  When Zaos turned around, he saw Nyana and the other mages. He had given the order for them to stay far behind. Still, they approached because they were too far away to do their jobs of attacking the siege weapons. Although their aim wasn't quite right there yet, they managed to hit and burn down three catapults and four ballistae.

"We came to help," Nyana said. "The siege weapons are too far away, but we can block their projectiles if they fire again."

  Zaos didn't want to lecture his soldiers that disobeyed his commands and decreased the group's morale. Although they disobeyed him, they obtained some results. So, it would be unfair to punish them.

"Just make sure to not overexpose yourselves. Stay behind me on the left side. That should keep you protected since they are trying to hit the soldiers and me on the sides," Zaos said.

"Yes, sir," Nyana said and then passed him some potions. "Here."

  It seemed a bit too soon to fill his stomach with mana potions, but in the end, now that he reached that point. It would be a waste to retreat now. Zaos began to drink them and called Cohnal.

"Any sign of the commanders?" Zaos asked.

"Not yet, Captain," Cohnal replied.

"What about the situation on the other side of the battlefield?" Zaos asked.

"Commander Brien is trying to be cautious and is focusing only on firing arrows, but the mercenaries don't plan on dragging the battle," Cohnal replied.  "In terms of raw losses, I would say that we have the advantage, but they are losing terrain on the other side. If we keep advancing, we might be flanked by their left-wing."

Zaos was aware of that. It seemed the only option was retreat… they could try to flank their left-wing, but then they would expose their left sides to the other battalions. Not to mention, they would have to defeat at least four whole battalions to reach the other battlefield. It wasn't impossible, but they will have to pay a high price.

While Zaos was thinking of what to do, he suddenly saw a battalion moving from behind the enemy army and heading toward their direction. That was too much of a suspicious movement. After focusing his eyes on that group, Zaos noticed that it had one thousand mercenaries and they were heavily armed… like it was a special guard of some sort.

"They are there…" Zaos said.

"It seems so… but why would they show up right now?" Cohnal asked.

"It is a trap. They are planning to lure the Captain with the possibility of ending this battle by killing them," Melisse said. "They certainly have some sure-fire way to defeat the Captain since they are going this far."

"Maybe they don't have one since their guards are more armored than others," Zaos said. "Perhaps they just want to crush me with a better-equipped army."

"Either way, it is too risky, Captain," Cohnal said.

Zaos was aware of that, but that opportunity was too good to let it pass. That being said, Zaos couldn't imagine what kind of trap they might have prepared for him. While he was in the north, he researched many things about how to counter magic since he imagined that he would face the followers of the demon god many times. Still, he never found any register of something that could actually weaken them. So, if the people of that world had created some anti-mage tactics, that knowledge would have been lost over the years.

"We will have to accept the risks," Zaos said. "This is an opportunity like no other. Without their commanders, those mercenaries wouldn't be able to do much."

Cohnal looked at Melisse. They both wanted to find the best words to convince Zaos, but while they were aware of the danger, they also knew that it was a golden opportunity.