Though Seraph harboured little interest in mere coin, he was resolute in his vow to purge every demonic swarm from Laurasia. Any subsequent revenue was considered nothing more than a secondary boon.
The hundred-strong pack of goblins closed in, encircling their prey. They cackled in shrill, piercing tones with every step, intoxicated by their own delusions and celebrating a triumph that had yet to arrive.
Seraph's eyes blazed with a fierce radiance. The hem of his white cloak rose and snapped like a war-banner. His mageia power surged forth like a roaring tide of wildfire.
"Flamus Nova!" Seraph unleashed the ring of fire with violent intent.
[Vwoom!]
The ring of flames rippled outward from the young magis, expanding in every direction. This flamus mageia did not possess intense burning potency; instead, it generated a massive concussive force capable of repelling enemies across a vast area!
The goblin swarm shrieked in terror. They were sent tumbling back in a pathetic display of disarray. The demons had not anticipated that a human, surrounded as he was, would still dare to strike back with such defiance.
Seraph lunged toward the exit of the Sentry Tower with desperate urgency. Though he was more than capable of engaging them within those walls, a flicker of hope remained that some survivors might still linger in the shadows. To unleash the full brunt of his power inside would be to hammer the final nail into their coffins; he refused to be the one to extinguish that last glimmer of life.
The goblins watched with bulging, wide-eyed fury. They snarled in bitter resentment, baring their tusks in a maddened display. Once the initial shock of his strike receded, their collective malice and cowardice were swiftly replaced by a surging, vengeful courage.
The entire demonic pack gave chase as one, refusing to let the human who had been within their grasp slip away into the night.
Seraph did not make it far. As he breached the threshold of the Sentry Tower, he discovered another hundred goblins had already encircled the structure. Now, both the ramparts and the inner courtyard of the outpost swarmed with the creatures.
Suddenly, a goblin concealed within the nearby gloom lunged, swinging its jagged club toward the young man's face with crushing force.
[Whirr!]
Seraph had no time to brace. Driven by raw instinct, the young man leveled his wooden staff and roared.
"Flamus Shellux!"
[Boom!]
The jagged club slammed into a shield of fire. The resulting explosion echoed through the air, sending the goblin's weapon spinning from its grasp. The demon shrieked in terror as the backdraft from the mageia shield erupted directly into its face. Engulfed in searing flames, the creature was hurled backward, tumbling from the wall and vanishing into the devouring darkness below.
The tension did not dissipate; it thickened. This brief, second-long skirmish had allowed the noose to tighten. The goblins from both inside and outside the Sentry Tower pressed in, their numbers suffocating. They howled in derision, mocking the lone human who struggled so futilely against the inevitable.
"Accursed vermin!" Seraph bellowed, his voice echoing with grit.
The young man's jaw tightened under the mounting pressure. Upon his arrival, he had anticipated a few goblins lurking within the shadows of the Vespass Sentry Tower, but he had never envisioned a calamity of this scale. He had not expected the demonic forces to commit such an overwhelming legion of goblins to besiege such a minor outpost.
Against three or five of these creatures, he was certain of his victory. Yet against hundreds, even five additional magis would have found themselves powerless to turn the tide.
"Flamus Bombardus!" Seraph's voice rang out across the ramparts.
[Boom!]
A sphere of fire streaked toward the densest cluster of goblins. A deafening blast followed, accompanied by a low, shuddering tremor. The concussive force sent several goblins hurtling through the air as crimson flames billowed, consuming one of the creatures entirely. The long fur of the goblin was no different from desiccated thatch; its entire body served as prime fuel, causing the demon to ignite into a living pyre in an instant.
The blazing goblin thrashed and screeched in a blind panic. Fire raced across its frame with terrifying speed. Instead of dropping to the ground to stifle the flames, it lunged toward its kin, desperate for salvation. Yet wherever it ran, the other goblins scrambled away in frantic terror. The ensuing chaos was so absolute that several demons were shoved clean off the parapets.
Alas, the flames were not extinguished. The burning demon was a match tossed into a hayrick; second and third infernos were ignited in mere heartbeats. The once dark and silent Vespass Tower was plunged into a cacophony of roaring flames and madness.
Seeing a momentary breach in the encirclement, Seraph seized his chance. He leaped from the ramparts, vaulting into the air as he surged toward the relative safety beyond the outpost's gates. He vanished into the devouring shadows, a minnow slipping through the mesh of a hunter's net.
Behind him, over two hundred goblins unified their voices in a cacophony of vengeful fury. They thrust their jagged clubs toward the heavens to incite the swarm; some bared their tusks with bestial snarls, while others dropped to all fours, howling like rabid wolves. Even as they witnessed their kin reduced to drifting ash by the searing flames, not a flicker of dread touched them.
Frenzy was the contagion of the Demon Legion, and they were consumed by it to the absolute core. Nearly two hundred goblins vaulted from the ramparts, surging after the human in a singular, tide-like pursuit.
Seraph bolted into the high grasslands. Glancing back, he saw the swarm closing the distance with terrifying speed. Should he fall into their clutches, his fate would undoubtedly mirror the grisly ends of those within the Sentry Tower. The tension had tightened into a suffocating vice.
Suddenly, a whistle cut through the air behind him. Driven by raw instinct, Seraph wrenched his head aside.
[Swish!]
A jagged bone-knife grazed his cheek, missing by a fraction of an inch. He spun around to see several goblins brandishing daggers and throwing weapons. Those without blades stooped to snatch jagged stones from the earth, hurling them with murderous intent. A rain of projectiles whistled toward him.
"Cowardly curs!" Seraph bellowed. "If you mean to bite from the shadows, don't expect to leave this field alive!"
The young magis fought to suppress the rising panic, his mind racing to forge a stratagem. In an instant, his resolve hardened.
"Argovus!"
Upon the final utterance of the spell, the mystic eye upon Seraph's brow emitted a faint, pulsing radiance. It was as though a third eye had manifested; as the vision was unleashed, the ambient natural forces surged into the young magis's sight as vivid, spectral hues, possessing a presence as tangible as the earth beneath his feet.
Ordinarily, these natural forces permeated the world unseen, their concentration insufficient to emit the luminous aura that accompanied a magis's incantations. Yet, through the third eye, the subtle elemental traces within the environment became starkly visible.
As Seraph cast his gaze toward the deep violet firmament, he beheld swirling, chaotic currents of emerald wind. Amidst this atmospheric turbulence, however, a dominant slipstream held a distinct, cohesive path.
'Upwind is that way! I must reach that position!' Seraph resolved.