The most obvious answer was to learn Earth Manipulation and fix the walls. They had the materials to fix it, but they didn't have the time, and Billy was pretty sure that using those stones could be possible with Earth Manipulation. However, that would draw attention to him. How would he explain how he learned the enemies' magic so suddenly?
That wouldn't work. Besides, it was hard to tell how the people in the town would react while seeing one of their own using magic. Something that caused problems to them over many years… Still, Billy was determined to learn it, but only explicitly show it to others that it wouldn't cause problems to his family.
"Wow… I heard stories about their powers, but it is the first time I saw them causing so much damage," Alexander said. "At a distance, they are unstoppable."
Billy wasn't so sure of that, he saw Alexander's father fighting once, and he was the fastest of the tribe. He probably could dodge and block the attack of the elementalists… at least three of them at the same time. He could get closer if someone offered him some support. Since they were physically weaker, and their moving speed while using magic wasn't enough to keep up with his tribe, Nikola sure could stop twenty of them by himself… given the right circumstances.
Billy and Alexander worked until late in the night to repair the walls as much as possible. For the first time, they left the town since they arrived, but nothing much had changed in the last eight years. The green fields around were good for cultivating crops, but the people of the town will never have peace of mind to do that while the elementalists exist.
At the end, when Drew showed up, he looked more exhausted than everyone else. He truly got quite the scolding… that made Billy think that he really needed to do something.
"I suppose I don't have any other choice…" Billy thought while he was heading home.
You have learned the skill Earth Manipulation.
As soon as they arrived home, Billy and Drew told the others what had happened. Even Billy, who usually would cheerfully play with his siblings, was pretty quiet. They thought that he was worried since he couldn't understand the enemies, but in fact, he was thinking about what he could do to stop them from using Earth Manipulation.
After dinner, Billy went to his room but let the candle burn throughout the whole night while he was checking Earth Manipulation. After some experiments, Billy confirmed some things. With his mana, he could obtain the control over a determined amount of earth that would change according to the amount of mana used and the skill. He couldn't create the earth, he could only manipulate it. Also, he needed to have a clear image in mind when he was planning to manipulate it because he couldn't change the format on the fly.
Also, maybe it was a limitation of the level of the skill, but Billy could only manipulate the earth one meter around him. Although Billy learned a lot, he failed in trying to manipulate the other elements. There was something fundamental on the level of such skill that he hadn't discovered yet. Instead of wasting time with that, Billy spent the night meditating to recover his mana and priming his control over the skill. Naturally, a beginner couldn't hope to counter a group of twenty mages, but Billy had a few tricks up his sleeve. One of them was the system, and the other was his brain…
When morning came, all the guards headed toward the walls. Several bows and countless arrows had been put on the warehouses to let them be used. Even those who didn't have a lot of experience had to use it because they couldn't let the elementalists get too close. The closer they are, the more deadly their magic can be, after all. Aside from that, the gates were also opened, and several guards were using their pieces of armor, including Drew. Even if it were dangerous, they would risk their lives to prevent more of those attacks on the walls.
"We are pretty certain that they will come to finish the job they started yesterday," Drew said. "But there is always the chance that they will try to wear us out while keeping us here. We don't know how much magic they can recover overnight, so be prepared for everything."
Billy was sure that they could recover all their mana. After all, their meditation level was higher than his. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell that kind of thing either to the others. Despite that, they were experienced enough to know that they would have to stay on the walls for several days until they were fully repaired.
Meanwhile, when no one was watching, Billy kept practicing Earth Manipulation by using the bare minimum amount of mana. Imagination and control are the keys when one is facing overwhelming odds…
In the end, the elementalists came around the same time as the previous day, confirming what Billy already knew about their ability to recover mana. The guards immediately left the gates and then proceeded to block the advance of the enemies. However, before each group could do anything. Billy used Earth Manipulation and made a small part of the wall fly toward the enemies while spinning insanely fast.. Despite the distance, the spinning effect made the attack didn't lose speed and eventually hit the knee of one of the enemies, making him fall and bleed from both sides.
