Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

Although the mage who worked for Alexei couldn't use that mist a lot, he certainly decreased the difficulty of the battle. Thanks to the steel walls, the monsters didn't invade the city. The only real troublesome monsters were the vampiric harpies since they could make rain magic over the soldiers and drink their blood to heal their wounds and recover mana.

"I guess their mage is specialized in Area of Effect spells… That's one of the things I need to learn. I wonder if I can copy him just by observing…"

Unlike Yuki's skills, that guy used his mana to attack, so it wasn't all that different from what Leon used to do. That being said, Leon didn't feel the need to learn an Area of Effect spell now that he had the ring of gravity. Although he still would rather use a skill than rely on an item forever…

Twenty thousand monsters got slaughtered before noon, no wonder the Russians managed to conquer the entire North-Europe, they didn't have only the numbers and access to resources to the technology of the old world, they also had the power and experience.

"It isn't a good idea to move during the day, but four dungeon breaks didn't even work as a distraction… Makoto should have been inside the city at his point, but he probably didn't manage to collect all that much information. He will only contact me when he has a solid idea of Alexei's plans… I must keep causing dungeon breaks to buy us time."

It wasn't one of the best ideas, but Leon decided to use a corpse of a Frozen Dire Wolf. The thing was massive, so Leon would have to use a lot of mana, but at least if the satellites spot him, they won't be able to identify him.

Since all the soldiers retreated to protect the city, once again, Leon had an easy time causing dungeon breaks. Even the soldiers who were guarding other dungeons had no choice but to retreat, so Leon attacked the crystals of six dungeons.

"This should keep them occupied for a while… to avoid any surprises, I guess I will build an army of skeletons and train my healing skills while I wait for Makoto's contact."

There wasn't much place to keep the skeletons hidden, so Leon decided to hide them under the snow. It was a pity that he could only make them in the open at night, but at least they would have time to absorb mana and get a little stronger.

The second wave of monsters reached Moscow around midnight; this time, things got a little bit complicated for the soldiers. The number of monsters, the darkness of the night, worked against them, and they were also tired from earlier. Thanks to that, they were forced to fight until 09:00 AM. When the battle ended, Makoto finally contacted Leon.

"Leon, you are doing a great job. I successfully infiltrated the city, and I'm obtaining information while I also help the soldiers. Alexei is working organizing the soldiers, so for the time being, Yuki is fine. However, we can't stop now. I still need to discover where she is, and when I do, we will rescue her."

"All right… are you sure things are fine on your end?" Leon asked. "If you are fighting with them, the chances of you being discovered increase by manifold."

"Don't worry; everyone is busy dealing with the monsters that they don't have time to check the faces of who is nearby. Besides, this is closer than I can get to Alexei and his men without causing a commotion. They are tired, and their guard is low; just by staying nearby, little by little, I'm obtaining the information we need."

Leon nodded and then returned to the dungeons. After attacking the crystal of four dungeons, Leon finally found a problem. A party from Moscow came to investigate the dungeons, and Leon found Alexei's secret weapon to deal with Leon… a blond, green-eyed teenager created the mist and made it fly toward Leon.

"Hey… Alexei's secret weapon is a kid?"

He wasn't supposed to be older than fifteen, so Leon couldn't help but frown. However, Leon's mana wasn't full since he was flying carrying the body of a Frozen Dire Wolf. Although the kid was also tired, he wasn't alone. Leon saw five soldiers with him, and their weapons looked powerful. There were probably stronger than Betty's team…

Leon created a fireball to counter the mist. Although he succeeded in preventing himself from becoming ice-cream, the mist was more powerful than his fireball. Slowly but surely, he was losing the battle of attrition.

"I don't have time for this…"

As much as Leon wanted to face a powerful mage, the monsters were approaching behind him, and he couldn't waste time. The more the soldiers have time to rest, the more chances the soldiers working for Alexei will have to notice Makoto.

Leon created another huge fireball and shot it toward the kid and the soldiers who were there to assist him. Without any other choice, the boy used the mist to protect himself and his allies, and that gave Leon enough time to fly upward until they couldn't see him.

"I guess he can't fly… or perhaps he doesn't have all that much mana…"

Leon didn't get chased, so, without wasting time, he headed toward the next dungeon. Since there was no point in keeping himself hidden, he threw away the wolf's body in order to recover his mana faster, unfortunately, after causing another dungeon break. Leon left the dungeon and found those guys again.

"The satellite is informing my position to them… I guess it can't be helped. It is time to fight for real."