Max just jumped behind the falling Sebastian without a moment's hesitation as by the time his brain could raise the question of ' Why are you doing this? ' or ' This is suicide ' or the million other questions that would follow on how he was going to pull it off, it was already too late as Max had already jumped off Mira and was ready to die before he let anyone put a single scratch on his friend Sebastian.
Everything became slow motion around Max, as he could clearly feel his two hearts beating straight out of his chest as he fell lower and lower towards the fort.
Max's eyes never left Sebastian as he hoped that the dwarf would teleport the shit out of there before hitting the surface, however, it appeared as if Sebastian was either stunned or paralyzed as he was not twitching a single muscle in his descent.
'' FUCK '' cursed Max outloud as he used the spell [ Summon Netherbeasts ] as he summoned 15 Netherbeasts beneath where Sebastian was supposed to land to create a sort of cushion for his fall.
Sebastian fell on one of Max's Netherbeasts back before awkwardly falling to the ground as he took a hell lot of fall damage and screamed in pain.
His fall completely broke the back of the Netherbeast he landed on, but the other 14 growled and formed a circle around Sebastian as they protected him from the approaching swarm of enemies.
" You are dead, dwarf! "
" Hahaha, look what we found falling from the sky, a midget! "
" Hey shawty? Did they send you to change my kids diapers? "
The enemy troops mocked Sebastian, however Max was having none of it as a scream came from the sky that said
" TOUCH HIM AND I BURN YOU TO ASHES ".
Max used dragon's breath to shoot a vertical beam of fire towards the fort grounds to break his fall as he landed a comfortable landing without taking much fall damage, standing head to shoulder against Sebastian's back surrounded by his hounds.
It was at this moment that Mira and the other dragon riders did another lap over the fort, blasting the immediate opponents of Max and Sebastian as they gave the duo a small breathing room to fight.
" You okay buddy? " Max asked Sebastian who seemed to have broken free from his paralysis and was back to full mobility as he said " I'm fine, I can activate the return spell the second you give the order. One nod from you and we are out "
Max nodded, this was exactly the kind of assurance he wanted from his friend as it gave him the licence to run wild.
Mazda took a good look at Max, and he instantly recognised him from the mask and the red eyes as he knew that it was Ravan, the infamous captain responsible for killing Maki and capturing the northern fort.
" Welcome, welcome, welcome Captain Ravan to my humble fort, hope you and your dwarf friend enjoy our barbarian hospitality here " Mazda, the tier 4 warrior responsible for the security of the southern fort said in a sarcastic tone.
Max looked at Mazda and the four tier 4 warriors around him and chuckled. It was quite the welcoming party for just two tier 3 enemies, however, Max was not intimidated by their appearance at all, if anything it gave him an adrenaline rush to want to see what they did next when he gave them a nightmarish challenge.
" I'm not so sure I like the brute architecture of your kind. I'm a man with finer taste in life. I want art and design.
But I think my giant friends will enjoy this place, by which I mean enjoy tearing down this place " Max said as he began preparing for his next spell.
" Your giant friends? " Mazda asked, sounding confused as to who Max was referring to when Max used the spell [ Giant Summoning ] and summoned 3 massive giants onto the fort grounds.
" Tear this place down! "
Max gave a simple order to his summoned giants with massive HP pools of 350 thousand as they began tearing through the walls of the southern fort as they swung their clubs and ran through the weaker troops like they were puppies trying to stop a human from walking.
The tier4 warriors who had assembled to bring their focus on Max and Sebastian had to scatter to immediately take care of the giants as they spotted the danger of letting them run wild.
Max also did not waste any time as he took the opportunity to attack Mazda bringing the fight to the chief of the fort.
Max used his Ruic Bone Staff as a weapon for this fight instead of his sword as he understood the importance of his magic power being enhanced today instead of his prowess to physically harm his opponent.
Mazda charged towards Max with his spear, but he did not expect the type of onslaught that Max was capable of bringing as Max unleashed a non-stop barrage of [ Fireball ] spells aimed point blank towards his head as Mazda was progressively pushed back one step at a time.
Initially, Mazda was patient as he thought that Max would tire out after spamming the 50th fireball, however, he was left speechless when Max showed no signs of stopping even after the 500th fireball.
" WHAT NONSENSE! ARE YOUR MANA RESERVES ENDLESS? " Mazda shouted, sounding irritated that he was not able to move a muscle against Max as he looked around and redirected a small bunch of his underlings to attack Max and break his barrage.
" Go, attack him " Mazda ordered his underlings who charged towards Max, however, they were blocked in their path towards Max by his Netherbeasts and Sebastian who formed a layer of protection between Max and his foes.
Intense fighting broke out at the southern fort as despite 16,000 troops and 11 tier4 warriors protecting the fort, the fight was completely skewed towards the attackers who were causing irreversible damage to the forts infrastructure.
Mira and the other dragon's rained fire down on the fort, as after Max summoned the giants it gave them the much needed breathing room by diverting the attention of the tier4 warriors attacking their skin as they were able to deal maximum damage onto the fort.
With every rotation they took, they blasted atleast 100 troops with dragon fire and damaged some section of the fort wall, as the southern fort was progressively being turned into the burning pit of fire that Max hoped it would be when he jumped to fight.
Although, Max's jump inside enemy lines was not planned and was a result of Sebastian being knocked off his mount, it was turning out to be a blessing in disguise as the control of the battle turned out to be in Max's favour post his descent.
One of the three giants that Max had summoned was able to punch a hole through 3 consequetive fort walls on the southern side, making a hole in the most critical section of the fort wall that was the integral basis of the forts defense from enemy attacks.
The second giant was successful in bringing down the only mage tower in the eastern section of the fort, that was capable of enhancing a mages power to deal AOE damage against a seige.
The third giant was successful in killing about 800 troops before it died and before it died it was successful in propagating the forts fire into the armoury whereby he caused a massive explosion from the gunpowder stored inside catching fire.
All in all, Max's 3 giants were able to cause mayhem inside the fort and had to be focused on by 3 tier 4 warriors each to be brought down, but they could not do so before the beings caused irreversible damage to fort property.
With the death of the giants, Anna and Asiva began retreating as Sebastian's dragon followed suit and started to pull away.
Mira took two more sweeps onto the fort, risking her life against a flurry of tier4 attacks, before Max gave her the look to pull away as he assured Mira that he got the safe retreat in the bag.
Only after Max confirmed that he would be fine, did Mira retreat leaving Max alone with Sebastian on the fort grounds, just like Max initially planned it to be.
Mazda understood that he had already lost the battle tonight as despite the enemies numbering only 4, they had taken his southern fortress apart and atleast 2 of them were going to fly away from the fight without consequences.
However, his focus was now on the two warriors who were trapped within the fort grounds and to keep them from escaping, as if after all this he could not kill the chief perpetrators of the plan then it would be a tactical calamity on his part.
" Surround them men! Don't let these two escape " Mazda shouted as he assembled a large contingent of troops to surround Max and Sebastian.
Max scanned the thousands of troops around him and saw how all 10 tier4 warriors had now assembled around him as he soaked in the feeling and gripped his runic staff hard.
There was one part of his plan that he had hidden from Sebastian and his group, an insane trick that would possibly wipe all of his opponents around him today, however, it was a gamble where Max might die himself.
Nonetheless Max had decided that he would only decide to go through with it in the last possible second, and now that he had to make that decision Max decided to go through with it.
" Sebastian, use the return stone an run " Max said as Sebastian looked horrified at the order.
" What do you mean? Both of us get out of here together! What nonsense are you speaking Max! Take my hand this is no time to joke, we leave now! " Sebastian spoke in haste as he eyed Max like he was a madman.
" No- not today my friend, trust me on this one, I'll see you on the other side " Max said as he actively jumped outside the encirclement of his Netherbeasts and launched an [ inferno ] spell on Mazda.
" YOU FUCKING IDIOT ". Sebastian shouted as he felt reluctant to leave his buddy, but as the swarm of attacks singled in on his location, Sebastian being the coward that he was decided to use the return stone and teleport out.
He had no idea as to what Max's plan was, but now he was all alone.
Sebastian felt his hands trembling as he sat in the room in the northern fortresses as tears streamed down his cheeks eventhough he did not wish to.
Sebastian had an acute feeling of guilt for leaving Max back there alone as he felt like a true coward for leaving at the sight of danger when Max jumped in to have his back when he was in danger of dying.
" If you die, I'll never forgive you and myself " Sebastian said as he glanced in the direction of the southern fort, choosing to hope that Max knew what he was doing.
