Advent of the Archmage

Orida Fortress

Within 600 feet of the second ring of walls, all buildings were slightly hot to the touch. All wood had burned down, and the ground was charred.

The charred blackness stretched to 100 feet before the top citadel before stopping. If the humans hadn't retreated, they would be in the same state as the Dark Elves now.

Surrounded by the army, the pressure was great. Link couldn't keep the Dragon King's Anger effect from accidentally hurting his own soldiers. He sat blankly on the oven-like wall for a while. Gathering his senses, Link walked towards the citadel. The Dark Elves weren't a concern anymore, but the demons had retreated. They were unhurt now, so he had to quickly reorganize the fortress' defense.

After a few steps, Link felt something. He turned around.

It was around one in the morning and the night sky was like ink. The prairie before the fortress was even darker. He couldn't see anything.

Night vision.

Link wiped his eyes lightly. His vision immediately turned gray-white and the night scenery became clear.

Five black shadows charged towards the fortress. They were quiet and extremely fast. The smallest shadow seemed to slow herself down so the others could keep up.

Her armor was extraordinary and familiar, especially the two blue scimitars in her hands. Two purple demon eyes (a type of gemstone) were embedded in the hilt.

Seeing this, Link gulped. Without thinking, he turned around, poured Dragon Power into his sword, activated the Dragon King's Fury magic sword, and started sprinting towards the citadel!

He knew this demon; he'd never forget her in his entire life!

In the game, she appeared in the later part. Instead of being in a storyline quest, she appeared in the wilderness around the time of Celine Flandre's appearance.

At that time, Celine was plotting against her father. She created missions to test the players' abilities. They were also the prerequisite missions for the Nozama storyline quest. One of the missions was called "The Lord's Other Daughter." The player had to kill a demon named Saroviny.

The game recommended players to form a team for the mission. But at that time, Link was already well-accomplished in magic. He had a bunch of Epic Legends and was confident to the max. Regular bosses were nothing to him. He called on a Warrior and Priest from the guild and set out.

The three found her in a remote riverside mansion. The first time they met, the black-haired girl was planting flowers in her garden.

Link remembered that when she saw them, she clapped lightly and had a human slave bring over clean water. After washing her hands carefully, she smiled and asked, "Only you three?"

At that time, they were all young men. They were high-spirited and the top players of the game. Without saying anything, they started fighting immediately.

One second later, their souls returned to the cemetery together.

The Warrior was the one who took the hits in the guild. He was killed instantly, and the Priest didn't even have time to heal him. Just as Link was about to cast a spell, the girl streaked like lightning. There was a flash of a sword, and his world turned black and white. Half a second later, the Priest was there too.

The three thought the game system had purposely raised the enemy's difficulty. After checking the records though, they were impressed. It wasn't that her difficulty was high. They'd fallen into the demon's trap!

While approaching the mansion, they were secretly marked with a death mark. It was a tiny spell, hidden but easily removed. If they didn't remove it, the enemy could use the mark to semi-teleport. The damages would increase by 300% and could break through armor.

They obviously died within seconds after falling for this.

After being resurrected, they went to take revenge on full alert. This time, they lasted for three seconds before all dying. Not giving up, they went back and died again after three seconds. The enemy had tons of tricks and never repeated the same one.

Finally, they admitted defeat and went offline.

This was Link's most frustrating and humiliating experience in the game. Even worse, a passerby player saved one of the recordings and posted it on the Internet. After that, they became national laughingstocks.

Thinking back, Saroviny's tricks were actually quite simple, but she had an indescribable ability. No matter how careful you were, she could make you fall for the trap.

Later in the game, many players went to find Saroviny, but they were all defeated. Even a team of 1000 couldn't ensure victory. Nine out of ten times, they would lose. The remaining time, it would be a win with great costs and Saroviny still wouldn't die. At most, she would be forced to escape into a storyline quest and turn into another terrifying boss.

Finally, a player accidentally found a bug. They could bring Celine to Saroviny's side and use Celine's strength to defeat Saroviny.

In reality, Link could tell from Saroviny's appearance and aura that she was only a step away from the Legendary level. She also had four pinnacle Level-8 demons by her. Only an idiot would stay there. He obviously ran away.

He ran all the way to the citadel when a voice said, "Master, you're back. How are things?"

It was Kanorse with Nana beside him. They'd come to welcome Link.

"I defeated the Dark Elves, but the demons are unhurt… Hurry into the citadel and close the door. Big demons are coming, hurry!"

Link rushed towards the citadel, Kanorse and Nana following behind him.

The citadel was a giant metal thing. The portion on the ground was a semicircle 150 feet in diameter and three floors tall. However, this was only the tip of the iceberg. The biggest part was underground. There were five floors below ground, each floor being extremely spacious. The tunnels reached in all directions, practically emptying the entire mountain.

Storing 20,000 soldiers inside was no problem. There were only 13,000 soldiers left now. They easily fit inside the citadel with the exhausted Magicians.

The strength of the citadel was unparalleled. The door that Link had just passed through was two feet thick, 30 feet tall, and 15 feet wide. It was entirely built from sheet metal and fine gold alloy. It weighed more than 200 tons. The inside was also carved with many magical runes.

These runes were not ordinary either. The Orida Fortress survived more than 2000 years and was fortified every generation. Three hundred years ago, Bryant personally fortified the citadel, adding a shockingly durable Level-10 defensive magic seal.

"Hurry, close the door! Close it!" Link cried.

Crack, crack, crack. A few herculean Warriors used hinges to close the door bit by bit.

Link estimated it would take half a minute to completely close. It was too slow, so he activated the Dragon King's Fury magic sword again. He walked to the door and shoved it.

Boom! The heavy door shook. Under the shocked scrutiny of everyone present, the door closed at twice the speed.

Ten seconds later, it closed with a boom. With another boom, the gate dropped down. Link quickly found the magic seal's activation rune and poured in Dragon Power.

With a soft buzz, the energy accumulated over the centuries was activated. Mana flowed through the entire citadel. A beam of golden light extended over the gate, quickly covering the citadel's inner and outer walls.

This light was special. At a glance, it was like a flawless film, but at closer inspection, one would realize it was formed by countless beehive-like cells. They were independent but connected intricately.

Apparently, Bryant was inspired by the Yabba magic shield but added many innovations. The Yabba saw this, and all shook their heads, impressed.

Link finally took a breather.

No matter how powerful Saroviny was, she couldn't break into the citadel. Currently, the only way to do so was to wait until the citadel's saved energy was used up. There was a great amount of energy though. Link calculated that it could last at least three months.

...

Outside the citadel

When Link entered the citadel and prepared to close the door, Saroviny just arrived at the first wall of the fortress. She didn't know Link had retreated. She continued walking in carefully.

"Be careful. That guy might make a sneak attack." She hid behind the four high-level demons, not going forward until safety was confirmed.

They were demons and had seen countless bloody scenes. But inside the fortress, they still gasped involuntarily when seeing the mass of dead Dark Elves.

Saroviny sniffed lightly and whispered, "It's the smell of a flame spell. It's only around Level-3, but the Dark Elves didn't escape. They were packed on the wall and died in such an organized manner… What a bunch of failures!"

"Your Highness, he's gone. From the footprints, I think he went towards the citadel," a demon reported.

Saroviny flinched. She listened closely and seemed to think of something. Running towards the citadel, she cried, "Hurry, hurry, that guy is going to hide!"

The demons sprinted, but when they reached the citadel, they saw the golden glow envelope it all.

"Your Highness, the citadel is sealed. The enchantment is very strong!"

"Shut up! You think I'm blind? This is a Legendary enchantment left behind by Bryant. We can't go in," Saroviny said, annoyed. She was in a bad a mood—a really bad mood!

"What should we do?"

"Surround them!" Saroviny sneered. There were more than 10,000 people inside the citadel. Eating and drinking was a great cost. Even if the Magicians inside could create some magic food, those couldn't be eaten too often. Problems would arise soon. "I'll see how long they can last!"