33 Despair

"Watch out!" Elena screamed.

From the forests' direction, a multitude of fireballs was shooting towards them. Bram had his back turned so he could not see, but Austin and Elena saw them vividly.

A patch of trees from behind was suddenly scorched in smolders. From there, the fireballs raised into the sky before falling towards them like meteors. The air was getting unbearably hotter the closer it came.

The fireballs were nothing like the Rank 0 Fireball spell Austin knew of - they were much more terrifying. The size alone was twenty times larger and looked to be bigger than a small house. The blazing heat from hundreds of meters away could be clearly felt from where they were standing. Furthermore, there wasn't only one, but three heading straight for them!

A sizzling could be heard from the small lake evaporating. Seeing the panic in their eyes, Bram quickly turned around and saw the devastation that was coming for them.

The meteors were only a short distance away now. He had to make a move, fast.

Not giving it another thought, he immediately leaped into the air, tightly gripping the handle of his mallet and getting ready to draw it with all his strength. With sweat seeping on his forehead, Bram started examining the situation whilst airborne.

'The old man caught up so quickly? No, that's impossible, there's no way he could have been faster than me. That means this attack is coming from someone else! No way... there was another enemy in hiding? F*ck, judging by this spell - he is a Platinum Class Mage as well! Fear was arising in Bram.

The other old man pursuing would get here soon. If they were really Platinum Class, he wouldn't be able to defeat two of them at once. At best, he could only hold them back. Furthermore, they were even both Fire Mages which were the hardest to defend against. But there is still a chance... if he could destroy the fireballs and return back, they will be able to escape using that!

Bram was now directly underneath the fiery meteors that shadowed over him like giants. If not for the sturdiness of his body, he would have started melting under the blistering heat.  Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

With blazing eyes, Bram let out a great roar, brandishing his hammer upwards and blowing the meteors to pieces. He hit the closest one with a huge force before proceeding to smash the other two. They all broke apart. The metallic head of his mallet was sizzling red.

Unfortunately, the danger was not over. The humongous fireballs only split into smaller pieces and were still falling towards Austin and Elena's direction. Now... there were a lot more than three.

But before they reached, a barrier of water was suddenly erected in mid-air.

It was the doing of Elena. She was casting a spell to shield them from the attack. Utilizing the water in the stream, she was manipulating it into her magic to form a larger shield.

The meteors were not able to pass through; their momentum stopped and they fell to the ground. The crisis was successfully averted, but it came at a cost. Elena had to spread the water barrier over a great distance because of how many meteors there were. She lost a great deal of energy and her face paled. A trickle of blood flowed out of her thin, dry lips. After she canceled the barrier, she nearly collapsed without any strength in her body. Austin caught her before she hit the ground.

Even though it was a powerful one, Elena should not be so weak after using just one spell, but earlier she had drained all of her mana. Setting up the trap that allowed them to kill 18 assassins did not come at a low price. Furthermore, they were not carrying any mana flasks on them so Elena could not recover her mana. As a Warrior, Bram doesn't usually bring them around, and Elena has not needed them for a very long time. How could they have expected to be fighting a deadly battle so soon after leaving the Palace?

A Mage depleting their mana does not only result in them not being able to cast any more spells, but their bodies also become weakened. In fact, there have been many cases where Mages have died because they used up too much mana.

"Elena! Are you okay!?" Seeing Elena hurt, Bram landed on the ground with a heavy thump. But he could not make it far before a figure suddenly appeared before him.

Another old man dressed in the same robe as the one from earlier teleported in front of Bram. He was the First Uncle of the Krashal Family.

During the ambush, he had stayed in hiding where their target would be able to retreat just in case something happened. When he saw the carriage being slashed apart, he had also thought that they didn't need to send out so much manpower to complete this menial task. But of course, he shocked at all the events that happened after. Their elite assassins were killed so fast that he didn't even have time to react and go to help them. But then seeing Bram escape towards his direction, he was in the perfect position to give chase.

"Bram! Hurry back!" Elena recovered slightly and started shouting at Bram for him to come back. They needed to leave, now.

Bram and First Uncle were both around seventy meters away.

Second Uncle suddenly emerged with a blink. "Go take care of the kid," he said with a cruel gaze in his eyes.

Two black-figures flung out of the forest like an arrow, coming straight for Austin and Elena.

"Elena! Austin!" Bram yelled, seeing the two assassins rushing towards them.

They were both Gold Class Wind Mages! If Elena was in her normal state, then she would be able to handle them, but that was impossible right now. She was already weakened from using up almost all her mana.

Anymore, and her body could not take it. He had to go and protect them!

"Your opponent is us!" But obviously, First and Second Uncle would not let him. With both of them working together, they may not be able to kill him in a short amount of time, but they could easily keep him distracted.

"Get out of my way!" Bram ferociously roared, drawing his hammer and rushing towards them with urgency.

The assassins were still behind him, but they split up with one going to the left and one to the right. There was too much distance between them for Bram to catch up. He had to get to where Elena and Austin were. But he could not go anywhere with these two blocking his way.

"Fire spears!" Second Uncle attacked whilst First Uncle remained standing there without doing anything. The Meteor Strike from earlier was one of his most powerful spells and he had to recharge his mana first before they could deal a decisive strike.

Forced to halt his steps, Bram defended against Second Uncle's constant barrage of fire spears. Individually, they weren't strong and he could shatter them apart with his mallet easily. But they were being shot out like a machine gun, not giving any time for Bram to pierce through. The oppressive heat was agonizing. Sweat drenched his palms. He gripped strongly onto the handle of his weapon to not let it slip.

"Arghhh!"

Wildly swinging his hammer left and right, Bram sacrificed his safety to try and break through the assault. He had to take a risk whilst only one of them was attacking right now. Once the other one attacked, his chance would be lost.

His red cloak melted to crisps and light burn marks etched onto his armor. The armor shone more brightly in the heat but it showed no signs of melting. Bram was steadily inching his way forward, focusing his all on making his way past. Nonetheless, he was still too slow.

The Fire Attribute was not recognized as the best offensive Magic for no reason. The circumstances were perfect for First and Second Uncle right now. They didn't need to focus on anything else but preventing Bram from nearing closer. With only one direction he could go, all they had to do was unleash spell after spell without considering any other moves he could make. There were no distractions. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, and they had the biggest gun.

"This is bad..." Scanning over their battle, even Austin was unable to find any way out. Their situation was truly hopeless. The assassins were fast approaching and would reach them in a matter of seconds. Bram was the only one who could deal with them right now. At this rate, he will not make it here on time. 'Damn it!'

Preparing for the worst, Austin had to inform Elena. "Mother, we might have to..."

"No! We're not leaving him behind!" She was barely able to keep her eyes open. Her legs were trembling but she stood up straight with a firm conviction in her eyes. "I can take care of the two coming for us!" Although Elena shouted with determination, she could not hide an anxious nerve in her tone.

Tightly clasping her hands into fists, Elena tried to stop the trembling of her fingers. "Escape... Austin. Just-just in case, leave here without us, please..." Her voice was shaky.

She bent down and touched him gently on the cheek with teardrops forming in her eyes. "I love you."

Elena forced herself to turn around, leaving Austin behind. She faced the two assassins rushing towards them with a yell, "Come!"

"NO!" Bram could see everything unfolding in front of him, but was powerless to do anything about it. From the corner of his eye, he watched as the assassins dashed pass him, their speed not slowing down.

"Hahahaha. They will die right before you! Say your last words!" Second Uncle was wildly laughing, getting a thrill out of paying him back for killing their men. He looked like a madman with both arms raised in the air and an endless amount of fire spears blazing out from them.

"OUT OF MY WAY!"

Suddenly, Second Uncle saw something heading for him at lightning speed. It broke through all of his fire spears and reached his body in a second before showing itself to him. A weapon! A six-foot hammer twirled around in the air like a tornado of destruction. So much force was behind it that his spells did nothing to slow it down.

'BAM!'

The mallet hit him cleanly.

He raised his arms in defense just before the moment of impact but they were easily crushed under the weapon's might. Second Uncle fell to a kneeling position on the ground, his arms dangling by the side. "Curses!" The pain of having all of the bones in his arms shattered was unbearable.

Bram did not bother with him anymore, he ran forwards in a frenzy to Elena before the assassins could get to her first. But he had forgotten about someone else.

"Fire Dragon!"

First Uncle finally made his move. He bided his time for the perfect opportunity. Bram was now weaponless. He did not have anything to defend against his attack.

A majestic one hundred meter-long serpent made of hot, dark red flames materialized. Roaring as if it was alive, it flew towards Bram with wide-open jaws like it was going to devour him whole. The ground it traversed on was burned to crisps in its wake.

First Uncle had taken so long in casting this spell because it was one that required a lot of mana.

Bashing into Bram, he had no choice but to stop and defend against the attack. But without a weapon in hand, all he had for a shield was his body. If Bram was not a Warrior, he would have been completely crushed already and burnt to a cinder.

He was hit with unimaginable force and heat at the same time.

"ARGHHH!" Using all his might, Bram grasped onto the head of the dragon with his huge hands but was helplessly pushed back. He could not resist the dragon's strength and was burning from the flames, charring his skin which was darkening in color.

"Bram!" Elena shouted in panic, trying to receive some form of reassurance. But all she got was Bram's howls of pain that sounded like he was on his last legs. She wanted to go and help him. But before she could take a step forward, a sharp blade of wind came striking down.