The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

The three young monks nodded, skillfully cast a lightness spell on him, and nimbly traversed the forest, returning to Presidium.

The sky gradually brightened.

As the morning sun shone on Noxus's camp, the camp appeared somewhat chaotic.

The ground was covered with splattered debris from the magic, leaving behind a pungent smell of herbs and burnt flesh.

Because they hadn't rested well, many soldiers still looked somewhat dazed.

Inside the large tent, several officers responsible for providing magical support had their heads drooping, looking equally listless.

Swain also appeared somewhat tired as he listened to his subordinates' reports.

"Sir, there were no fatalities last night, but ten people were injured by the explosion, and dozens of soldiers inhaled the non-lethal toxic gas and are temporarily incapacitated," the officer reported angrily. "In addition, the mage squad's mana consumption is also very serious. They spent the whole night searching for alchemical items that came from who-knows-where."

Swain turned around and looked at the exhausted mages.

He did not blame his men, because he knew very well what the Ionians wanted to do.

“Ultimately, they just don’t want to fight a direct positional battle with us,” Swain said in a low voice. “They probably already know we have supply problems, so they want to exhaust all our energy and patience before the final battle.”

"Sir, should we still set off at dawn as planned?" another officer asked.

Swain lifted the curtain and glanced at the soldiers sitting on the ground outside.

The soldiers in the regiment are indeed not in good spirits right now.

If they are forced to break camp and march immediately, the morale of this army will likely be quite low when they reach the outskirts of Presidium.

"Pass on my order: postpone the entire army's departure," Svek decisively issued the order after realizing this. "Rest on the spot for three hours and let everyone take the time to rest."

"But sir, the time the President gave us..." The officer was somewhat worried as he listened to Swain's arrangements.

“We have enough time left to deal with Presidium,” Swain interrupted him. “After the rest period, take out all the remaining jerky and rations and distribute them. Then tell the soldiers to eat all the food and not leave a single bite.”

The officers were taken aback for a moment, but quickly understood Swain's intention.

Without the extra weight, the troops can march much faster.

After having eaten their fill, the soldiers, facing the dire situation of running out of food, had no choice but to desperately attack and capture the city in front of them.

Three hours later, the bugle call to assemble sounded in the military camp.

After sleeping for three extra hours, the soldiers regained some of their strength, and with their stomachs full of food, their hands gripping their weapons became strong again.

Swain stood before the army, his gaze sweeping coldly over the soldiers before him.

“You all heard what happened last night,” Swain said, drawing his longsword. “Those Ionians hiding in the woods used every means to harass us.”

The surrounding soldiers gripped their weapons tightly, their faces showing anger.

"Why don't they dare to stand up and face us head-on?" Swain raised his voice, encouraging his soldiers, "Because they are afraid of the battle axes in your hands, afraid of the Empire's heavy armor and swords. They think they can break our will with these underhanded tricks!"

Swain raised his sword and pointed to the main road ahead, where Presidium was located: "Now, our grain carts are empty. Presidium is just twenty miles ahead, where the granaries are full of food and the taverns are full of ale."

"Only those who storm Presidium this afternoon will survive and have their next hot meal, so let's take it before nightfall. Let's go!"

"kill!"

The soldiers immediately erupted in a low roar, and their morale soared once again.

After several hours of forced march, it was already afternoon when the corps soldiers crossed the last hill.

At the far end of the open view, the white outer walls of Presidium finally came into everyone's view.

However, the rebels had already set up several lines of defense on the open ground outside the city walls.

Approximately three hundred rebels stood behind simple wooden fences and trenches.

At the very front of the defensive line, there were two rows of sharp wooden stakes bound together with iron chains.

Swain, mounted on his warhorse, squinted as he surveyed the defensive positions ahead.

“Sir, they only have a few hundred men, and they don’t even have many pieces of armor,” the officer quickly came over and explained the results of the reconnaissance.

“Don’t let the cavalry charge. The Ionians have dug trenches in the ground,” Swain raised his hand and quickly gave instructions. “Push the heavy ballistae forward, and the infantry will advance from behind. Use the heavy ballistae to break through their lines.”

Following Swain's instructions, four heavy ballistae were pushed to the front of the column.

With the sound of the winch turning, the sturdy crossbow bolts were loaded.

"put!"

At the officer's command, four crossbow bolts whistled through the air.

Outside the city, in the rebel positions, several young monks immediately raised their wands.

"Armor protects you!"

A translucent magic barrier rapidly opened in mid-air, forming a curtain of light.

The crossbow bolt struck the light barrier, making a sound, but ultimately failed to penetrate its defenses.

Taking advantage of the gap in the light barrier blocking the attack, the rebels outside the city peeked out from behind the wooden fence and drew their hunting bows.

Hundreds of arrows immediately flew towards Noxus's front ranks.

However, Noxus's heavy infantry were well-trained. Upon seeing the incoming arrows, they immediately raised their iron shields in front of them, completely shielding themselves behind the shields.

The arrows struck the shields, sparking as they flew, but they couldn't break through their defenses.

Hundreds of heavily armored infantrymen, shields in hand, advanced in orderly steps.

To make matters worse, several mages in Noxus's camp, having recovered some of their magic power, began chanting spells from the rear.

Several enormous fireballs slammed heavily onto the light screen, and orange flames spread rapidly along its surface.

The light screen trembled violently a few times, and several thin cracks appeared on it.

The young monks who were maintaining the Iron Armor Spell looked somewhat pale at this moment.

"Don't panic, continue to maintain the stability of the magic," the leading monk reminded his companions, while more monks joined in to maintain the defense of the Ironclad Curse.

More magic surged into the light barrier, temporarily stabilizing the Ironclad Charm's defenses.

But Noxus's second attack came quickly.

This time, the four heavy crossbow carts did not attack separately, but instead all aimed at the area in the center of the light screen where a crack had just appeared.

Moreover, the magical metal crossbow bolts they used this time were specially treated!

While they are certainly not as effective against magical barriers as the anti-magic stone weapons of Demacia, the material of these crossbow bolts is still very effective against this kind of protective magic!

Boom!

Four crossbow bolts struck the weakest point of the light barrier, and with the mage's second wave of fireballs, the Ironclad Curse's defense could no longer hold and shattered on the spot.

"The enemy's defenses are gone, infantry, accelerate and push forward!"

The Noxas officer gave the order, and the heavy infantry at the front began to advance at a faster pace.

The rebels hiding behind the trenches did not panic; they simply continued their attack. Meanwhile, several of the omitted individuals, following the method Rizz had previously taught them, quickly raised their wands and aimed them at the mud beneath the feet of the Noxus soldiers.

"Soften into mud!"

With the help of the transformation magic, the already muddy ground, which was already wet from the rain, instantly became even stickier.

The heavy infantrymen at the front suddenly sank into the mud, their calves sinking directly into the mud.

The formation in the front row suddenly became slightly chaotic.

"Keep moving forward, don't stop!" shouted the infantrymen in the back, reaching out to support their comrades and trying to pull them out of the mud pit.

After shattering the Ironclad Curse's defenses, the heavy crossbows were reloaded and aimed at the rebels outside the city.

By this time, Irelia, standing atop the city wall, had a clear view of the situation below.

The resistance had only been formed for less than half a month. Even if individual soldiers were stronger than Noxus soldiers, the overall combat effectiveness and equipment of the resistance were still quite different from those of Noxus's legions.

Moreover, those heavy ballistae posed too great a threat to them.

If the rebels are allowed to continue fighting outside the city, they will likely be completely surrounded once the enemy cavalry bypasses the trenches.

Even if they manage to repel Noxus's first wave of attacks, the casualties will likely be extremely heavy.

Thinking about the ideas about people and land that Ryze had mentioned to her these past few days, Irelia gritted her teeth and turned to the monk beside her, saying, "Let them go back."

Before long, a retreat horn sounded from the city wall.

Upon hearing the bugle call, the rebels outside the city did not hesitate at all. They immediately put away their weapons and began an orderly retreat toward the city gate.

The young monks, wands in hand, ran at the back of the procession, waving their wands as they went.

"Fluorescent light!"

More than a dozen blinding white lights exploded in front of the Noxus Legion.

Although the effect of the Intensive Light Spell was inevitably diminished during the day, the intense light still caused the Noxian soldiers, who had just broken free from the mud, to instinctively raise their arms to shield their eyes.

Taking advantage of this time, the rebels outside the city quickly crossed the outer city gate and retreated back to Presidium!

Chapter 401: The Fall of Presidium

As the last few rebel monks completed their retreat and lit a large fire outside the city walls, the outer city gates were slammed shut.

Shortly afterward, the sounds of Noxian heavy infantry using siege engines could be heard outside the gate.

"Is everything ready at the rear?" Irelia had already stepped down from the city wall and looked at the monks in charge of making contact.

"As arranged by Mr. White, two hundred rebels have already made a grand exit from the east and north gates with a large number of civilian-dressed dolls and miscellaneous items," the young monk replied in a low voice. "They took several large carts with them, leaving behind a lot of damaged weapons and flags along the way, making quite a commotion."

Irelia nodded.

She took a deep breath and glanced back at the city behind her.

“Have everyone who stays go into their designated positions and lie in wait,” Irelia’s voice was soft but her tone was very firm. “Don’t leave any trace of human activity on either side of the main road.”

"Yes."

More than two hundred rebels quickly divided into more than twenty squads, just as they had been trained, and skillfully slipped into the secret passages they had built with the help of magic over the past few days.

Outside the city, at the front of Noxas's army.

Several accompanying mages worked together to cast spells, and with the help of the infantry, it took them nearly fifteen minutes to finally deal with the traps and flames outside the city.

As the charred gate was violently smashed open by two battering rams, the vanguard soldiers of the regiment rushed into Presidium, cautiously surveying their surroundings.

However, the urban warfare ambush they had anticipated did not occur immediately.

In their view, the streets outside Presidium were deserted, with only a few broken wooden crates and overturned vegetable baskets by the roadside.

Immediately afterwards, several scout cavalrymen quickly searched the alleys on both sides and then rushed back to the city gate to report to Swain.

"Sir, the outer city is completely empty. No enemy ambushes have been found, only traces of a few hundred men evacuating."

A few minutes later, several other scouts who had circled the walls of Presidium returned with their findings: "Sir, we found a large number of signs of retreat in the direction of the east and north gates. We can confirm that at least two hundred armed men were covering a large convoy as they fled towards the back of the mountain. They also abandoned a lot of debris and crossbows along the way."

Upon hearing this news, the Noxian officers around him immediately smiled with relief.

“I knew these Ionians wouldn’t amount to anything,” a centurion officer said with a sneer. “Although their initial defenses looked decent, they panicked the moment the outer defenses broke down and abandoned the city.”

"A group of civilians and monks who had just taken up arms could only manage to withstand a few rounds of heavy crossbow fire from outside the city; that would be considered a great victory."

Swain remained stern-faced as he rode his warhorse.

He glanced at the soldiers behind him, then at the empty street.

“Don’t be careless,” Swain said in a deep voice. “Although the Ionians lack the courage to fight us head-on, they know the terrain here much better than we do. Be careful that they don’t launch an attack on us from some corner of the city.”

Swain calmly gave the order: "Have the wizards and scouts go first. The houses and alleys along both sides of the street must be searched one by one. Do not miss any door or well."

"Yes, sir."

The messenger quickly relayed the order.

Led by several accompanying mages, the cavalry of the legion split into several small teams and advanced toward the residential houses on both sides of the main road.

The mage at the front raised his staff, the crystal at the top of which emitted a ring of red light to sense any potential threats in the surroundings.

Indeed, the town contained many traps left by the rebels and the residents of Presidium.

Almost simultaneously, commotion was heard from several of the searched houses.

Some squads stepped on thorny brambles that had been magically grown in the backyard, the sharp thorns piercing right through their leather boots.

Some soldiers were seriously injured when they opened their windows and triggered the explosives hanging under the eaves.

And there was the poison gas they had already experienced last night.