Eldridge's face at this moment was so gloomy it could drip water, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.
Clearly, the heavy losses of the Holy Britannian Empire Expeditionary Force and the Guard Knight Order had completely enraged this High-Level Tutor of the High-Level Mage Corps.
And the final straw that broke the High-Level Tutor's composure was finding the bodies of his two apprentices moments ago.
They had been brutally stabbed to death with bayonets by those infantrymen, who were no more than ants in his eyes…
This meant he had lost three meticulously cultivated apprentices in a single day.
Even in the Holy Britannian Empire, the number of newborns with mage talent was decreasing yearly, let alone promising prospects.
To be selected as a Mage Apprentice of the High-Level Mage Corps, they were undoubtedly the best among those prospects.
It should be noted that the High-Level Mage Corps might only recruit a few qualified Mage Apprentices every few years. Eldridge was only allocated these three excellent apprentices after multiple overseas combat experiences for the Empire and two major spell improvement achievements.
Given the magical talent they exhibited, coupled with the resources provided by the High-Level Mage Corps and Eldridge personally, their future was almost certainly destined for Archmage status, barring any major mishap.
For Eldridge, cultivating High-Level Mages would also increase his influence and further advance his status within the High-Level Mage Corps…
But now, a mishap had occurred, and the individuals were simply gone.
On the other side, the moment Morin saw the High-Level Mage, his heart sank to the bottom.
Although he had successfully taken out two Mage Apprentices with his soldiers earlier, that was because the opponents lacked combat experience and panicked when engaged in close-quarters by infantry.
But the figure before him was a genuine High-Level Mage, a 'High-Risk Unit' certified by the system, an existence capable of turning the tide of the entire battle single-handedly!
On the battlefield, everyone noticed the uninvited guest.
The fierce fighting came to a brief standstill.
The Britannian soldiers, upon seeing Eldridge's figure, burst into thunderous cheers, their morale greatly boosted.
The Saxon soldiers, however, turned pale, their eyes revealing undisguised fear.
"It's just one mage! And we've already repelled them once, what are you afraid of! Keep fighting!"
Captain Hauser screamed, trying to stabilize morale.
Morin also unhesitatingly raised his rifle, aimed, and fired. The 3rd Platoon soldiers around him, seeing his action, also aimed at the mage in the air and opened fire.
Eldridge, however, seemed to have no intention of acknowledging the infantry on the ground. His gaze was locked onto the three 'Siegfried Type 1' units that were ganging up on the last enemy.
Although the High-Level Mages' previous combat style—hiding under heavy protection and throwing AoE spells—meant that neither Eldridge nor other mages had experience fighting Armored Knights at close range.
This did not stop the High-Level Tutor, who had completely lost his temper, from viewing these iron lumps as the primary targets for elimination.
However, before that, he certainly found the gunfire coming from the nearby buildings somewhat annoying.
Eldridge didn't even descend. He simply hovered directly above the street, raising his left hand, adorned with several ornate rings.
He then extended his index finger and pointed it at the building where Morin and his men were located. Immediately, the ruby ring on his index finger flashed, and a spell was cast instantly!
A fireball, slightly larger than a basketball and burning with a dark red flame, appeared out of thin air in front of his index finger, then shot with a whistling sound toward the building Morin and his men had just been firing from.
"Watch out! Retreat now!" Morin only had time to utter a warning.
"Boom—!"
In the blink of an eye, the dark red fireball smashed into the building's exterior wall.
The destructive power of this ring-activated Fireball spell was clearly much greater than the one cast by the Mage Apprentices.
The violent explosion instantly blew a huge hole in the bullet-riddled wall, and the terrifying shockwave directly collapsed half of the roof.
Debris and bricks rained down, forcing Morin, Hauser, and the others to retreat embarrassingly to the adjacent building, abandoning the firing point they had just managed to establish.
But this was only the beginning.
After forcing Morin and his men back with a single strike, Eldridge's next target was the Armored Knights in the center of the street.
He raised his hand again. This time, he was holding a spell scroll he had just pulled out of his robes.
With a thread of mana injected for activation, Eldridge, without the slightest hesitation, tore open the scroll—an extremely precious scroll containing a legendary Archmage spell from the High-Level Mage Corps.
Immediately following, a massive greatsword, composed entirely of semi-transparent force-field energy and shimmering with a faint purple light, appeared out of thin air before him.
[Seventh-Circle Spell—Mordenkainen's Sword]!
A famous Evocation spell created by an ancient, legendary Archmage, renowned among mages!
"Go!" Eldridge commanded, pointing forward.
The force-field sword, acting as if it had a life of its own, rushed toward one of the 'Siegfried Type 1' units with lightning speed.
The pilot of this Armored Knight had naturally been on guard, so he maneuvered sideways, preparing to evade the moment the force-field sword struck.
Unfortunately, he underestimated the absurd maneuverability of the force-field sword created by this high-circle spell.
"I can dodge artillery shells, I'm not afraid of a…"
The thought had just flashed through the Armored Knight pilot's mind.
But the faint purple force-field sword drew a graceful arc in the air, slightly changing its trajectory and accelerating as if it had locked onto the Armored Knight.
"Sizzle!"
A dull, teeth-grinding sound.
With nothing more than a simple, unadorned thrust, it violently pierced through the 'Siegfried Type 1' closest to Eldridge!
The pilot of that 'Siegfried Type 1' didn't even realize what had happened before the unstoppable force-field sword pierced a transparent hole right through his cockpit and his body.
All movement from the Armored Knight ceased instantly, and it crashed to the ground.
"What the fuck?"
Morin, who witnessed this scene while aiming his rifle, couldn't help but curse out loud.
He had to admit that the combat power of these High-Level Mages was higher than he had imagined. Wasn't the ability to instantly kill an Armored Knight a bit too ridiculous?
This style of combat—suddenly flying onto the battlefield, then hovering to attack infantry inside buildings, and finally destroying Armored Knights with a homing attack—was becoming increasingly familiar to Morin…
"Isn't this just an Attack Helicopter loaded with Hellfire missiles???"
On the other side, the successful strike allowed Eldridge to quietly breathe a sigh of relief. After all, this was his first time engaging in close-quarters combat like this.
With the first strike successful, a cruel sneer appeared on his face. Changing his hand gesture, the force-field sword circling in the air attacked again.
This time, its target was Ludwig's machine!
The force-field sword completed a nimble final turn in the air, then slashed downward at a tricky angle!
"Colonel, look out!" William's horrified shout rang out through the Armored Knight's external speaker.
Ludwig's reaction was incredibly fast. Realizing he couldn't evade the attack, he immediately raised his shield to attempt a block.
However, the sharpness of the force-field sword far exceeded his imagination.
With a crisp "Clang!" sound, the thick shield, which was strong enough to withstand artillery bombardment, was sliced into two by the force-field sword and slammed onto the ground.
The block, however, did alter the force-field sword's trajectory. With its momentum unchecked, it violently slashed at the legs of Ludwig's machine!
"Clang!"
Accompanied by the harsh sound of tearing metal, the two thick mechanical legs of Ludwig's 'Siegfried Type 1' were cleanly severed.
The massive machine lost its balance and tilted heavily backward, crashing right next to the ruins Morin and his men had just escaped from, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig!"
Morin and Captain Hauser shouted in alarm.
In an instant, the tide of battle took a sharp turn for the worse!
The previous overwhelming three-on-one advantage was instantly neutralized by the intervention of Eldridge, the High-Level Mage.
One 'Siegfried Type 1' was instantly destroyed, and Ludwig's machine was severed at the legs, completely losing its combat capability.
The only remaining fighting unit on the battlefield was the 'Siegfried Type 1' piloted by Ludwig's adjutant, William.
"Bastard!"
William's eyes were bloodshot in the cockpit, and he let out a furious roar.
Watching his commanding officer and comrade fall one after another, the immense grief and anger made him momentarily forget his fear of the High-Level Mage.
Just as Eldridge prepared to control the hovering [Mordenkainen's Sword] to deliver the final blow to Ludwig, William made an unexpected move.
He abandoned the 'St. George Type 3,' which was already on its last legs, and instead controlled his Armored Knight to take heavy steps, charging directly at Eldridge in mid-air like a maddened bull!
"Die! You damned spellcaster!"
Eldridge clearly hadn't expected the Saxon tin can to dare to attack him directly.
A look of surprise flashed across his face.
I just instantly killed both your teammates, and you dare to challenge the authority of a High-Level Mage?
Eldridge snorted coldly, and with a shift of thought, prepared to control the force-field sword to also dispose of this reckless fool.
At the same time, he also mentally directed his [Fly] spell, preparing to gain altitude.
However, William's movements were much faster than he anticipated.
The Armored Knight's heavy frame burst out with astonishing speed at this moment.
Just as Eldridge's force-field sword was redirecting, William's 'Siegfried Type 1' had already charged right up to him.
And the High-Level Tutor, who was accustomed to staying in the rear as an 'artillery platform' in previous operations, clearly lacked experience fighting an Armored Knight at extremely close range. This led to a severe misjudgment of the situation.
If he had raised his altitude beforehand or tried to create some distance instead of acting as a stationary target, the outcome of this battle might have been different.
Unfortunately, Eldridge, who was focused on controlling the force-field sword, was hovering at an altitude of less than 10 meters.
At the same time, the speed of William's charging Armored Knight was much faster than he had realized.
A standing Armored Knight's height could reach almost 4 to 5 meters.
After gaining speed from initiating an uncapped charge, William controlled the 'Siegfried Type 1' to suddenly leap, achieving an altitude almost equivalent to the machine's height.
The massive mechanical fist, carrying immense force, brutally and simply smashed into the unprepared Eldridge!
"Bang!"
A dull, heavy sound.
Eldridge was thrown like a person hit by a high-speed carriage. He was sent flying from mid-air by the punch, like a kite with a broken string.
The 'Attack Helicopter' that only knew how to hover was just elbowed out of the sky by the Armored Knight.
The blue Mage's Armor that he constantly maintained had already suffered damage from Morin and the others' earlier attacks. Now, against the steel fist, it instantly shattered like an eggshell, dispersing into specks of blue light in the air.
Eldridge hurtled through the air in a pathetic parabola, crashing heavily into the Britannian infantry group in the rear, crushing a large number of soldiers.
"Puh—"
A mouthful of blood sprayed from Eldridge's mouth.
He felt as though his internal organs were displaced and the bones all over his body were about to fall apart.
The pain radiating from his chest and abdomen told him he had definitely broken a few ribs.
But he was a High-Level Mage after all. Years of exposure to magic and magic crystal ore had given his body some reinforcement, making him far tougher than an ordinary person.
Although his armor was broken and he was severely wounded, Eldridge did not die instantly. He was still struggling to get up from the ground.
"Well done, Adjutant William!"
Morin saw the scene, fiercely pumped his fist, and immediately called out to the soldiers around him: "Quick! Get Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig out!"
He, Captain Hauser, and the others immediately rushed toward the collapsed 'Siegfried Type 1,' trying to open the cockpit and rescue Ludwig inside.
However, in their haste, they overlooked another fatal threat on the battlefield.
The last surviving 'St. George Type 3.'
The pilot of this Armored Knight was momentarily stunned upon seeing two of his three attackers instantly dealt with by their mage, and then the High-Level Tutor himself being struck down by the last enemy. Then, he raised the armed sword in his hand.
He ignored the status of the knocked-down Eldridge—partially because the relationship between the Britannian Knight Orders and the High-Level Mages was not all that intimate to begin with.
Instead, his fierce gaze was now fixed on the motionless 'Siegfried Type 1' lying on the ground, and on Morin and the others surrounding it.
"Die, Saxon scum!"
The Guard Knight Order pilot let out a sneer, controlling his one-armed Armored Knight, clutching the huge armed sword, and slowly walking toward them step by step.
He intended to deliver the final blow to that damned 'Siegfried Type 1' first, and then crush the pesky infantry next to it into meat paste, one by one!
"Watch out! The enemy is coming!" a Saxon soldier screamed in terror.
(End of this Chapter)