When A Mage Revolts

The change was sudden, adding on to the fact that the mage Joanna’s laugh sounded a little off, the soldiers of the gateway had not enough time to react, and could only allow the fireball to head towards them, aimed straight at their chest.

However, unexpectedly, just as the magical fireball was about to turn them to ashes, the crosses in their hand that they used to test for mages suddenly cracked on its own, releasing a ray of protective holy light, blocking them from the two fireballs.

"How..."

Looking at the scene, Joanna who had released the fireballs and Andy were both stunned, forgetting that they were supposed to rush towards the gateway.

Originally, in their imagination, the two fireballs would immediately kill the soldiers. Unbeknownst to them, the cross in their hands were so multipurpose that besides testing for mages, it can even help protect someone from an attack.

This caught them completely off guard.

The shield around the soldiers dissipated and the gateway soldiers came to their senses. They saw the two mages not too far away, exchanged a look with each other, turned around and bolted to get help from the gateway.

However, just as they were getting ready to run, the merchant Varys suddenly rushed forward, hanging on tight to the soldier’s legs.

"Help, help me! The mages are here! Help me, don’t let them hurt me! Don’t leave me to die!"

The soldier panicked and almost tripped onto the floor.

"What are you doing? Let go of me."

Varys may not look it, but his hands were amazingly strong, allowing him to hold on tight to the soldier’s thighs. The soldiers wanted to kicked Varys off, but in the panic, couldn’t do so properly.

Immediately, the men behind Varys who were previously pushing the carts charged forward, squeezing themselves in the Crusader Gateway’s door. The door was actually quite wide, but no matter how wide a door is, it definitely cannot fit seven to eight people, five to six carts, and several sacks of food squeezing in at the same time.

And so, the gateway’s door was blocked, everyone was stuck together, and the two soldiers could not move at all.

"Let go of your hand! The mages are coming, we need to seal the door!"

"Don’t, don’t squeeze anymore! My waist! My waist!"

"No, don’t lock us out, we will die!"

"Where are you touching? Stop touching me, move your hand!"

"Argh! My foot, who stepped on my foot!"

"..."

The whole scene was a mess.

Standing about ten meters from the door, Joanna and Andy – as the source of the entire attack, looked at the scene in front of them and couldn’t help being a little dumbfounded.

"Should we continue?"

"We might accidentally hurt them; I think we should wait and see what happens."

Very quickly, the other gateway soldiers who were on duty were attracted by the noisy situation. They came over, and upon seeing the soldiers, Varys, the men who pushed the cart, sacks upon sacks of food, and the mess that was the carts blocking the gateway, were stunned.

This has got to be one of the most chaotic situations they have ever witnessed.

After they came to their senses, they walked forward, and tried to rescue the two soldiers. However, they underestimated the other people and in the mess, they were unable to pull out anyone. They even got a new soldier stuck in the crowd.

"What happened? What are you all doing?" the uninvolved soldiers kept their distance and asked.

"The mages attacked, quickly close the door!"

Upon hearing this, a soldier immediately went to the handle on the other side, wanting to slam the door shut. But just as he was about to do so, he hesitated.

"No, they are blocking the door. If we bring the door down, we will kill them all."

After a short silence, in the pile of humans, came a voice" Then just pull us all in!"

But all the soldiers stopped what they were doing, no one closed the door, and no one tried to pull anyone in.

"Why... What are you all doing there?"

The newly arrived soldiers looked at each other, but no one said a word.

Outsiders may not be able to understand their incompetency, but as one of them, the soldiers in the human pile quickly understood.

They could not pull anyone in – that was their responsibility. Those who let outsiders in without a thorough check, would be severely punished if they were discovered by the Bishop or the team leader.

But, now they were mages attacking outside, if they did not quickly close the door, they will be breached. Standing between the two contradictions, they were only simple soldiers, and were helpless to do anything.

"Someone go get the Priest, the others help us pull everybody in! Hurry! The mages outside are going to come in! And then we will be screwed!" yelled Varys, imitating one of the soldier’s voices.

The situation at the gateway was already very chaotic, with them being in a human pile, no one noticed who said it. Even the soldiers who were with them did not know what to do, added on with the threat of "the mages are going to attack", they automatically followed the suggestion.

During these kinds of situations, all foot soldiers need is a simple instruction.

And just like that they all rushed forward, prepared to pull in every single body stuck in the gateway.

At the same time, the soldier closest to the side door opened it and rushed through, planning to look for the only priest in the gateway so he could come out and fight against the mage’s attack.

After exerting their strength for five minutes, an object that was blocking the door finally came free, the soldiers, people, stuck carts, sacks of food that were squeezed together finally came free and tumbled onto the road in the Crusader Gateway.

When they fell on the ground, they were in so much pain they couldn’t even stand.

Bang!

A soldier then pulled the handle, and the steel door that had withstood countless spells fell shut, with a loud roar. Just like that the entire Crusader Gateway was locked.

Once the priest was informed, he came to the door. The priest looked at the mess on the floor, frowned, opened his mouth and said:

"Who can explain to me just what is going on here?"

Immediately a soldier answered: "There is a mage attack on the outside! They used two fireballs which destroyed two crosses!"

"I already knew that." The priest shook his head, and pointed to the mess of food and people on the floor and said, "I’m asking about this! What is going on with these people? Who are they and why did you let them in?"

"This..." the soldier stammered, not knowing how to explain it.

Just then, Varys brushed the dust off his body. He stood up and walked up to the priest, with an embarrassed expression on his face, Varys bowed down to him.

"Let me explain." he shook the priest’s hand, sighed, and in an unusually sincere voice said, "Let me introduce myself, I am Varys, a merchant from the city. You have ordered this food from me; we were just bringing it over to you. Unfortunately, at the same time we encountered the mage’s attack at the gate. Everyone wanted to escape, and in the chaos that ensued it somehow it became like this. I’m really sorry."

"Food? Varys?" the priest didn’t look very happy, wanting to take his hand back. Suddenly his face changed, "you are, you are that..."

Unfortunately, he was unable to finish the next half of the sentence – and Varys continued what the priest was saying, smiling happily:

"You’re right, I am that mage."

The priest, was unable to speak another word.

Nobody noticed as Varys pulled out a dagger from his pocket. As the color on the priest’s face drained, Varys had a smile on his face; and whilst no one was looking, he plunged the dagger deep into the priest’s chest.

Time stood still.

"Sir Benjamin was not wrong." Suddenly, the priest heard in a haze as Varys spoke, "by only using a weapon not touched by magic, and carry out a near attack, we can avoid activating the protection crosses."

Hearing this, the priest opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something but was unable to.

After finishing that sentence, Varys let go. And the priest who stood tall just moments before, crumpled to the ground in a sorry heap.

His eyes were opened wide, an expression of horror etched on his face; as though even in his final moments, his consciousness was not able to comprehend what was going on before being brutally extinguished.