Faerun: The arcane mage is still too imprisoned.

"Fire!" At the captain of the guard's command, two crossbowmen moved in response.

The crossbow strings hummed and vibrated, and two short, thick bolts tore through the air, aiming precisely at Lance's vitals—one aimed at his heart, and the other locked onto his face.

Although he could dodge, Lance didn't even bother to sidestep – a mere mortal weapon used by a mere mortal could not possibly break through his mage armor.

"Ding! Ding!"

The sound of the impact was absurdly crisp, as if it had struck armor made of fine steel.

The arrow stopped abruptly two millimeters from Lance's skin, bounced off, and fell to the ground.

The guards' pupils suddenly contracted.

"Magic... this is mage armor?!" The captain of the guard's face drained of all color, and his hand holding the sword trembled slightly.

Those two words struck everyone's heart like a hammer blow.

Master!

The rapidly closing encirclement suddenly halted its advance.

The fear of spellcasters that they developed from childhood gripped their throats.

The captain of the guard bit his tongue hard, the pain and the taste of blood jolting him out of his brief daze.

"Don't be afraid!" His voice was hoarse and distorted with tension. "He's all alone! Archers, keep firing to suppress him! Everyone else, go! Don't let him finish his incantation!"

The order was given, and the momentum of training overcame the fear. Two crossbowmen gritted their teeth and nocked their arrows again, while more guards suppressed the chill in their hearts, shouting and accelerating their charge, their swords reflecting a cold light.

Lance stared at the guards charging toward him, his gaze as calm as if he were looking at roadside weeds.

He suddenly moved.

Instead of dodging, they charged towards them!

[Grease your feet!]

His figure suddenly became blurry, and his speed increased instantly, so fast that he almost left a trail of afterimages in the dim courtyard light.

He didn't charge straight ahead, but instead used a dazzling zigzag trajectory to instantly cut into the gap in the encirclement that the guards had just formed.

This move not only caused the crossbowmen to lose their aim, but also caused the swords and blades swung by the guards at the forefront of the charge to miss their targets.

Before they could even adjust their balance, they saw Lance's figure phantom-like pass through the first line of defense and arrive at the more densely populated central area.

The next second, Lance stopped in his tracks.

[Blade erupts!]

Centered on Lance, within a radius of five meters, a semi-transparent, thin as a cicada's wing yet incomparably sharp magical blade appeared out of thin air. It had no physical form, but it carried the sharpness to cut through everything. With that invisible explosive force field, it swept outward in a perfect ring!

"Pfft pfft pfft—!"

The muffled sounds of flesh being slashed, leather armor being torn apart, and bones being broken, accompanied by sudden screams of agony, exploded in the courtyard!

The three guards closest to the target were the first to be hit. Their cheap leather armor was easily torn apart as if it were made of paper.

Countless crisscrossing wounds instantly burst open on his chest, abdomen, and arms, spraying blood out like a bursting water sac.

One of them was so short that a passing force field blade sliced ​​half of his neck open, and he collapsed to the ground without uttering a sound.

The five people further away fared slightly better, managing to dodge the fatal wounds through instinct, but they were still slashed open with deep, bone-revealing gashes, screaming as they lost their balance and fell to the ground, staining the stone pavement crimson.

Only the two on the outermost edge, along with the quick-reacting captain of the guards, managed to fall to the side and backward the instant the blades erupted, narrowly avoiding the deadly circle of death. However, several stinging cuts remained on their faces and hands.

In just a moment.

Just one spell.

The guard's formation was completely torn apart, and more than half of the dozen or so men fell.

The courtyard was filled with a heavy stench of blood; the cries of the wounded and the groans of the dying mingled together, a chilling sound that sent shivers down one's spine.

The two crossbowmen, still holding the drawn bows, trembled so badly they could barely hold onto them. They stared at the still-standing, spotless figure in the center of the courtyard, their eyes filled with boundless terror.

Lance tilted his head slightly, his gaze passing over the mess on the ground and landing on the captain of the guard, who was still in shock and kneeling on the ground.

His gaze remained calm, even carrying a hint of listlessness.

The meaning is clear—is this all you've got?

When the captain of the guard met that gaze, he felt a chill run from his tailbone straight to the top of his head.

He glanced at his companions, who were in such terrible condition, and then at the young mage who looked as if he had walked out of hell. His last bit of courage melted away like snow under the sun.

"Mages are monsters..." he muttered, the sword in his hand clattering to the ground.

Six [Flame Arrows] sent the guy, who was already terrified, away.

Two crossbowmen fled in disarray.

Lance did not pause and continued casting the spell.

[Magic Missile!]

Three pale blue energy orbs flew out from the palm of the hand, automatically tracking the target.

The two crossbowmen tried to dodge, but the magic missile veered off course and caught up with them, striking them hard in the chest and head. They groaned and fell to the ground, unable to get up.

Eleven guards were all dealt with within eleven seconds.

[Slayed 11 Level 0 Human Guardians! Gained 251 Experience Points!]

Current experience: 321/1000

But more guards were on their way. Lance saw seven or eight more people appear at the back gate, two of whom were clearly better equipped—chainmail, longswords, and shields—and their aura was also noticeably different.

[Target: Level 1 Human Warrior] x2

There was also a crossbowman hiding behind, dressed in light leather armor, who moved nimbly and had sharp eyes.

[Target: Level 2 Human Wanderer]

A standard combat team: Warriors in the front row, and Rogues in the back row for damage output.

"My Lord Mage! Please don't get agitated, we can..." a warrior tried to call out.

Lance didn't give him a chance to finish speaking.

He waved his hands repeatedly, unleashing [Magic Blast], this time aimed at the level 2 wanderer—the most threatening ranged attacker.

He groaned as he was hit in the abdomen. Although he didn't die immediately, he lost his ability to fight, and without a healing spell, he would die soon.

"Damn it!" the soldier roared, knowing there was no escape. "Charge!"

Two warriors charged forward, shields in front, longswords poised to strike.

Lance retreated while simultaneously casting the [Greasy Technique].

Grease appeared in the path of the two soldiers charging forward. The one on the left lost his footing and slipped, falling to the ground. The one on the right, more experienced, simply slid towards them.

However, it was of no use. Lance raised his right hand.

[Magic Blast!]

A ghastly green beam of light shot towards the warrior's face. The warrior raised his shield to block—the shield was made of wood wrapped in iron, and thick enough.

However, Magic Blast deals force field damage, not fire or lightning.

The beam struck the shield, but there was no explosion, no flash; only a powerful impact that traveled through the shield.

"Bang!"

The soldier felt as if he had been hit head-on by a battering ram; he was sent flying backward, his shield slipped from his grasp, and a sharp pain shot through his arm as it fractured.

The remaining soldier had just crawled out of the grease when he saw his comrade being blasted away. He gritted his teeth and charged forward again.

Lance has already prepared his next spell.

[Magic Blast!]

This soldier wasn't so lucky; he was hit directly in the head, fell to the ground, and died instantly.

[Magic Blast!] x2

Lance finished off the two who had fallen, and the screams stopped abruptly.