The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

The flames quickly burned the military order to ashes.

Swain was well aware of his current situation.

Their corps now has enough supplies to last only a few days, and with no supplies from the rear, retreating means certain death.

The only way to survive and complete the mission is to rush into Presidium as quickly as possible.

Once they control the city, they can obtain its supplies and simultaneously establish a deterrent effect over the entire Ionia region. Even Darkwell wouldn't find any fault with that.

At that moment, two officers lifted the curtain and came in.

"Sir, the troops are all in formation," a forward officer reported loudly.

Swain turned to look at them: "Have you scouted the area?"

“I’ve scouted it out,” the officer smiled. “There’s no sign of any troops blocking our way. Those Ionians don’t have any regular army at all. Noxas’ other armies are also making good progress in other provinces. I heard that the monasteries in the northern province of Galin don’t even have many weapons left, and the towns in the west are completely defenseless.”

"Although Presidium is famous, it is said to be full of scholars and teachers. Once our cavalry charge into the city, they will not be able to put up any resistance."

Another officer nodded in agreement.

Noxus's offensive in Ionia has been going too smoothly for the past few months.

Except for a few sporadic acts of resistance, most areas were occupied in a short period of time.

This battle situation filled the entire camp with an atmosphere of underestimating the enemy.

Swain wasn't as blindly reckless as his men, but he certainly didn't take those scattered resistance seriously.

A thousand fully armed Imperial veterans faced a group of civilians and scholars who didn't even have decent armor. In a head-on battle, it was a complete one-sided crushing defeat.

“Don’t let your guard down,” Swain said, putting on his helmet. “Give the order: cavalry in front, infantry in the middle protecting the supply wagons, full speed ahead. We’ll get through the woods before nightfall and reach the walls of Presidium by tomorrow morning.”

"Yes, sir!"

As the bugle sounded across the plains, after their rest period, more than a thousand Noxian soldiers broke camp and set off, pushing more than a dozen grain carts toward Presidium.

The march lasted for more than three hours, and was no different from usual, except that they passed through a village that had long been deserted, and were unable to plunder any useful supplies.

Around noon, the Noxas Legion entered the first woodland.

The trees here are very dense, making the originally wide road much narrower, forcing the entire team to be stretched into a long line.

Moreover, the soldiers were thirsty from the continuous march, and their formation began to loosen slightly.

Suddenly, a white light shone from behind the bushes on both sides of the road.

A dozen or so young monks who were with the resistance group raised their wands in accordance with Riz's instructions.

"Fluorescent light!"

The modified light spell suddenly erupted in the forest, and a strong white light exploded like a flashbang, directly illuminating the entire forest path.

The Noxian soldiers walking on the edge of the column usually wore iron helmets that blocked their vision. Their eyes could not adapt to the sudden bright light, and many of them subconsciously closed their eyes and reached out to shield their eyes.

In those few seconds, after the surrounding Noxian soldiers lost their sight, Irelia, who had been hiding with light magic, jumped down from the tree with dozens of rebel monks.

The shards of blade beside Irelia spun rapidly in mid-air, precisely severing the reins of the horse in the Wu Z car!

With a few sharp cracks, the wheels of the three grain carts broke, and the sacks full of grain rolled to the ground.

The monks did not engage the heavily armored infantry; instead, they used their long staffs and short swords to target the horses and cart drivers.

And they didn't forget to use the prepared kerosene to deal with the scattered grain.

"Enemy attack!"

Noxus's officers behind him shouted and directed the nearby archers to fire arrows at the attackers.

But the rebels didn't give them any chance to form ranks or gather together.

After destroying the WuZ wagon and confirming that the food supplies had been destroyed, Irelia immediately blew the whistle to retreat.

The monks in the magic squad cast levitation spells on themselves and their companions, and with the help of light magic that interfered with vision, their movements became extremely fast. Dozens of them quickly disappeared into the depths of the dense forest and vanished in the blink of an eye.

When Swain arrived at the scene on horseback, all that remained were three completely smashed grain carts and several soldiers lying on the ground, pierced by blades.

"What happened?" Swain looked at the food scattered on the ground, his brow furrowed.

The officer in charge bowed his head and replied, "Sir, a group of locals suddenly appeared from the nearby woods without us noticing them."

"Moreover, they moved very quickly and had strange weapons that emitted blinding light. They ran away after destroying the WuZ car."

Swain dismounted and examined the broken wooden axle of the carriage. The cut was quite clean, clearly indicating that it had been severed in an instant by a very sharp weapon.

“These are not refugees fleeing from war; they are organized rebels,” Swain stood up. “They know about our supply problems, so they are deliberately depleting our supplies.”

"Sir, should we send men into the woods to search for them?"

“No need,” Swain immediately rejected the suggestion. “We are very unfamiliar with the surrounding terrain. The forests of Ionia always hide many unknown things. If we go in unprepared, it will not only be ineffective, but may even cause additional losses.”

“Keep an eye on the remaining supply wagons. Infantry, raise your shields and slow down as you continue forward,” Swain said coldly, looking toward Presidium. “The more they make these kinds of blunders along the way, the more it shows that Presidium doesn’t have enough troops to defend it. As long as we can get into Presidium before our supplies run out, these losses are nothing.”

The procession continued forward.

But the journey that followed became even more difficult.

While traversing a mountain path with steep slopes on both sides, a large number of rocks and thick logs suddenly rolled down from the top of the hill.

Noxus's archers and mages attempted to retaliate upwards, but the magic squad members on the mountaintop simultaneously activated their armor spells, creating several semi-transparent protective barriers that deflected all the arrows fired from below.

Behind the barrier, the rebel monks kept pushing large stones they had prepared down the hillside.

The deafening roar echoed through the valley, throwing the Swain Legion into disarray.

This raid not only destroyed several supply wagons, but the frightened warhorses also caused injuries to many soldiers as they ran amok.

Throughout the afternoon, the Noxas Legion was harassed almost every few miles.

The rebels never fought head-on. Regardless of whether they succeeded or not, they would retreat immediately after a single strike, using various minor spells and familiar terrain to wear down the Noxians.

As evening approached, a light rain began to fall.

By this time, Noxus's army had finally emerged from the forest, but every soldier was covered in mud and looked terrible.

The arrogance he had felt in the barracks had completely vanished, replaced by anger and frustration at being mocked.

Inside the makeshift tent, after tallying the losses, the officer reported to Swain with a troubled expression: "Sir, we've lost over sixty men along the way today. The worst part is that six of our vehicles were destroyed, and we've lost a lot of rations. We only have enough rations left to feed the entire army for a day and a half at most."

Swain sat in the chair, his expression unchanged.

“I understand,” Swain said calmly. “Inform the entire army to distribute half of the remaining jerky tonight, and distribute the rest of the rations before entering the city at noon tomorrow. If they can break through Presidium before nightfall, everything in the city will belong to them.”

Swain knew very well that there was no turning back now.

With food supplies running low, the legion must act like a sharp knife, tearing Presidium's defenses to shreds.

At the same time, in the rebel camp of Presidium.

Irelia and several squad leaders are reviewing today's results.

The monks are in good condition. The raids throughout the day not only destroyed a large amount of the enemy's food supplies, but also resulted in only two minor injuries to the resistance fighters.

“Mr. White, your magic is so useful,” a squad leader said to Rhett with a smile, wiping his wand. “If it weren’t for those glowing spells and the transparent shield that can block arrows, we would have had a hard time getting away so easily.”

Ryze stood by the long table, handing over several bottles of prepared wound medicine, his tone still calm: "This is just because they encountered this tactic on their first day and were thrown into disarray. Tomorrow, when they are on flat ground, they will be able to maximize the effectiveness of their shields and heavy armor and will not give you the opportunity to launch such a sneak attack again."

Irelia nodded in agreement: “Mr. White is right. The ambush outside the city only weakened their logistics, but the thousand elite infantry and cavalry did not suffer too much loss.”

Irelia walked to the map and looked at the current location of the Noxian Legion.

“Since they’ve wasted a lot of time in the forest and on the mountain trails, their march tomorrow will be slower than expected,” Irelia said, pointing to the end of the mountain trail on the map.

The squad leaders and monks inside the room gathered around.

Irelia continued, "According to the scouts' estimates, they should have arrived at the gates of Presidium by tomorrow morning. However, they lost nearly half of their wagons today, and much of the scattered equipment and supplies can only be carried by the infantry themselves. In addition, it rained this afternoon, so they won't be able to reach the city gates until the afternoon at the earliest tomorrow."

She looked at the squad leaders around her: "And, more importantly, their condition will be much worse than usual when they camp in the wild tonight."

“Those Noxian soldiers have been ambushed all day. They are not only exhausted and hungry, but they must also be very angry and tense. It is very difficult for a person to fall asleep normally under such circumstances.”

"Although it's a bit risky, if we can successfully disrupt them a few times tonight, they probably won't have the energy to organize a high-intensity charge tomorrow."

Until the very last moment, Irelia still did not want to make Presidium the site of the final battle. If possible, it would be best to keep the Noxian army outside Presidium.

However, it is indeed a risky thing to harass the Noxus Legion when their defenses are at their strongest.

In the end, Irelia only took a few monks who were best at using the Light Charm and the Ironclad Charm with her to carry out the operation, while the rest of them conserved their energy and waited for the final battle the next day.

Chapter 400: The Attack and Defense Outside the City

As night deepened, although the rain had subsided, the night remained damp and chilly.

Swain's camp was set up at night in an open area on the edge of the woods, with large torches at the four corners and dozens of patrolling soldiers stationed around it.

In a patch of grass more than 300 meters outside the camp, Irelia lay motionless on the muddy ground.

She was accompanied by only three young monks.

Each of them carried more than a dozen fist-sized brass boxes, which were alchemy tools given to them by Ryze before they set off.

“Do it the way Mr. White taught us,” Irelia said softly. “Activate it and throw it out immediately, then we’ll move it to another place.”

A monk held a wand and lightly touched the runes on the top of the round box.

A soft click.

The gears on the surface of the round box began to rotate, and then a faint light refracted onto the metal shell, causing the entire box to fade rapidly in vision, almost blending into the surrounding soil.

The monk then forcefully hurled the box toward the edge of the Noxus camp.

The round box rolled into the shadows beneath the wooden fence, and after about two minutes, it triggered its built-in sound spell.

Boom!

A huge explosion suddenly erupted on the west side of the camp.

"Enemy attack!"

The Noxas guards patrolling nearby immediately began to whistle.

The piercing whistle instantly echoed throughout the camp, and the Noxian soldiers who had just lain down to rest immediately grabbed their weapons and rushed out of their tents, trying to locate the enemy.

However, when the soldiers came out carrying their weapons, they found that it was still silent outside, and there was nothing there.

A few minutes later, two Noxus mages rushed to the fence, lit up the surroundings with their staffs, and then carefully examined the marks on the ground.

After much effort, and with a mage using a wide-range attack spell on the source of the sound, a soldier finally used iron pliers to pull a smoky, broken copper box out of the mud.

“It’s not one of those spells the Ionians used before,” the army mage examined it carefully before making a judgment. “There are traces of magic left in this thing, somewhat like the alchemical artifacts from Piltover, but it’s not filled with explosives; it just makes an explosion to affect us.”

The centurion cursed angrily, "Damn Ionias, pass down the order: don't make a fuss, the enemy is deliberately tormenting us!"

However, this harassment did not stop there.

Although they sent out more soldiers to conduct more thorough patrols, the advantage of light magic in the dark was too great. Unless one could sense magic, it was impossible to find Irelia and her group.

Irelia and her group moved quickly around the camp, throwing a round box from different directions every ten minutes or so.

More importantly, Ritz actually mixed several special versions of these round boxes with poison and bomb effects.

The special items mixed in with the ordinary copper boxes quickly proved their worth.

In the middle of the night, another round box fell down near the east side of the camp.

This time, not only did it explode, but a large plume of green smoke also billowed out of the box.

Several Noxian soldiers who were nearby took a breath and immediately began to cough violently, clutching their throats and collapsing to the ground, gagging.

Immediately afterwards, another round box that had been thrown at the patrol's feet exploded into a large fire, setting two tents and a wagon carrying miscellaneous items nearby ablaze.

In this sneak attack, a mix of deception and reality, the entire camp was thrown into chaos.

Several Noxus's accompanying mages had to climb out of their tents again to deal with these annoying props.

After being disturbed a few times, the ordinary soldiers at least knew that there was no major problem. Even if they were woken up, they could continue to sleep, just not very soundly.

But the dozen or so accompanying monks suffered greatly.

Because they had no way of knowing whether the next box that flew in would be a prop that would only make an explosion, or a deadly weapon filled with poison and gunpowder.

Every time they heard an unusual noise, the monks had to rush to the scene immediately, investigate with their staffs, and even bombard the bushes around the camp to make sure no one was outside.

By the latter half of the night, the monks looked quite pale, their spirits and energy almost completely depleted.

Irelia lay on the treetop in the distance, watching the exhausted mages and patrolling soldiers in the enemy camp, knowing that the harassment had achieved its purpose.

“We’ve used up all the alchemical tools Mr. White gave us,” Irelia whispered to the monk beside her. “They’re on their tightest guard right now. Let’s not linger. Let’s go back. We have another tough battle to fight tomorrow.”