Elite Mages' Academy

Chapter 243: Injury

Another big difference between spell towers and archer towers was that the user must utilize their mental power to power up the spell tower’s equipment. Although the energy consumption was much lower than a normal spell, it was still a considerable amount if used for a prolonged period.

Even if Xiao Lin activated his Miracle state and transformed all his attributes into intelligence, he would still be unable to relieve himself of his mind’s fatigue.

The spell tower that Xiao Lin operated held up until the very end and continued firing out flame bombs. It was difficult for other people to sustain their mental power until the final moment and some even fainted right inside the tower.

The spell tower’s misfiring took some pressure off the orcs, and as a result, the fortress finally began to suffer casualties. The orcs used their numbers to pave the way, and despite the arrows and flames raining from the sky, the gentle slope of that low hill made it impossible to avoid the orcs’ fast-approaching onslaught.

The outermost archer tower was the first to fall. The orc infantry wielded huge battle axes that were much taller than usual. The difficulty of guaranteeing the quality of those hastily-built defense towers had already been mentioned, and it was not that the architects cut corners on purpose, but rather, they had no choice. Their main task was to build the resurrection tower, and they were only given five days to do so.

The orcs who rushed forth while risking their lives. They raised their huge battle axes and slashed toward the archer tower, roaring frantically. Those nearby the tower did not hesitate to drop their large crossbows in a panic and used their long-range weapons to shoot the orcs with all their might. Unfortunately, the archer tower’s collapse could not be stopped.

Those orcs used the most primitive of methods to destroy the defense tower. It was simple but effective, though they also paid a very heavy price for it.

The corpses near the fortress had not been properly counted yet, but the number of bodies on the hillside demonstrated that the orc army must have lost a lot of members. Even so, one could not help but admire their tenacious fighting spirit. Whenever Cheng Ming and the rest thought that the orcs would retreat after suffering so much losses, they ended up having to face another wave of desperate attacks.

Finally, the orcs began receding from the area they covered as soon as the sun moved to the west. From what the students knew, the orcs were a race that disliked night battles. Light pollution did not exist in Planet Norma, so in the absence of any lighting equipment, it was completely pitch-black when night came. The orcs’ vision was very poor at night.

“It’s over!” someone shouted from the fortress.

“The orcs have retreated!”

“We won!”

Their defending lasted half a day and finally came to an end in the evening. Loud cheers were soon heard across the entire fortress. Compared with the landfall and the siege, that afternoon’s battle was undoubtedly much more difficult, and the orcs were truly a force to be reckoned with. As a result, their elation was much more intense when they tasted victory.

Xiao Lin, who was sitting paralyzed in the defense tower, had no strength to get up. He could only sigh slightly after hearing the cheers outside. “Victory? This is just the beginning!”

Xiao Lin glanced at his hands. Both of them were reddened and full of burn marks. He did not even dare to walk down the tower at that point since he had to hold the stairs with his hands. In that current situation, his hands could not possibly be able to support him because the slightest touch would result in searing pain.

Although the Water Shield could be used in place of water for its cooling effect, it required an enormous amount of mental strength to use. Xiao Lin was wary of continuing to use it simply because he wanted to be able to perform one more attack with the spell device.

Indeed, when the battle was drawing to a close, Xiao Lin changed the replacement metal sheet from the emission ports using only his bare hands. God knows just how high the fired-up temperature of the metal piece was, but there was never a moment of hesitation from Xiao Lin. He simply gritted his teeth and got on with it.

When the battle finally ended, Xiao Lin looked at his bloody hands. He winced at the pain coming from his fingers and his heart, but at the same time, he could not help marvel at how much willpower he had at the time.

Xiao Lin lay quietly in the spell tower until the sound of footsteps was heard ascending the tower. In a daze, Xiao Lin’s subconscious mind was alerted and he reached out to draw his portable sword. It was not until Cheng Ming’s earnest and concerned face appeared that he felt relieved. Cheng Ming was about to say something when Xiao Lin’s mouth opened up to let out a blood-curdling scream.

His right hand, which had finally stopped bleeding, suddenly became bloody again after holding the hilt of the sword earlier. Cheng Ming climbed up the spell tower and saw the discarded metal pieces all over the tower, as well as the smoke lingering at the launch port. Having received training in the use of defense towers, Cheng Ming did not take long to put two and two together. There was horror in his eyes, and without further ado, immediately carried Xiao Lin on his back and ran.

After going down, Cheng Ming’s thunderous voice practically reverberated within the small fortress. “Doctor! Where’s the doctor! Hurry up and get me a damn doctor!”

Cheng Ming was a frank person who never lost his temper, and it was even more unlikely for him to swear. The others were quite perplexed when his tone suddenly turned irritable, but they acknowledged the reputation of that popular class monitor and someone soon took the initiative to lead the way.

There were no doctors there, only healers who came with the ship. Like those architects, they were also NPC-like characters. The actual combat operation in the past must have had similar equipment, but none of the freshmen had learned any treatment methods because they were still new to everything. In any case, perhaps that was how the academy wanted to improve the freshmen’s strength.

There were about 20 healers, and everyone already knew that the healers’ rank was roughly equivalent to Black Iron and Bronze.

Few casualties occurred on the fortress side during the afternoon’s defensive battle, as the orcs were suppressed by the defense towers throughout the entire process. Even as the battle line progressed and the outer archer towers began to gradually suffer losses, the defenders at the front of the city were not affected that much.

The biggest casualties still resulted from the orcs’ long-range throwing weapons. Their strength was a bit troublesome to deal with, but it weakened when they were some distance away. For example, when the orcs realized it was getting more difficult to approach, they simply started throwing their weapons while still near the foot of the mountain. Few people actually died and most suffered only minor injuries.

Those on the fallen archer towers were in no such luck. Based on preliminary count, no one survived from the archer towers that had been lost in the periphery.

Of course, the interim group leaders did not dare to release that information publicly for the time being, as they were afraid no one would be willing to go out and defend the tower the next day.

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