Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 165: Trapped(2)

Kothar scanned his surroundings, sending as much mana as he dared to his Mana Sensing Lens, apart from a few animals, there was no one nearby, thankfully the soldiers from earlier had moved in the opposite direction, obviously keen to return to the warmth of their camp, for while this part of the Isle was far warmer than Ursten, the nights were also much colder.

A fine smudge of brightness in the distance indicated somewhere where there was a lot of life, it could either be a group of animals, people or plants. Unfortunately for Kothar, it was hard to distinguish what was what by looking at mana signatures alone, so he had been avoiding any such places.

This meant that he had been travelling across mostly open land, with only the odd tree or clump of bushes to hide him, but he didn't need to hide often, only when running into at least one group of soldiers was inevitable, and then he would choose those with the weakest mana.

He was headed south east, to a location he had initially thought to be a joke when Docara had told him about it. Kothar had laughed off the talk of Man-Eating Deer when he had first heard it, but upon hearing the seriousness in Docara's voice, his laugh had faded away. After all, Kothar had seen far more ridiculous things than a mere Man-Eating deer, he had seen a deer thousands of times larger than himself, so why couldn't the Man-Eating deer exist.

It was a small forest, located in the band of barren land that served as a border between the Empire and its vassal states. The forest was typical of the border, and served as a reminder of the Empire's strength to the residents of its vassal states. 

The Empire could send a small unit who would be more than capable of securing a transport through the border, while its vassals would have to send almost a small army to protect their offering to the Empire.

The ground underfoot grew more and more gravelly, transforming from the dry and dusty earth that was characteristic of Nevisse, Kothar was getting closer to the border.

As if on cue, a dim glow in Kothar's Mana Sensing Lens indicated that he was approaching the blockade.

It wouldn't be too difficult to break through, but they would  inevitably send up an alarm and Kothar would have to spend precious time knocking them unconscious, as well as covering his tracks. So that he wouldn't lead half of the Colonel's forces back to Docara and the other Nighthawks.

Kothar sped up, going from a half crouched, slouching walk to a gentle jog, the soldiers' torches were now visible, and he could hear their faint voices now also, as they argued back and forth.

Kothar cast Lightning Aura, sending all the mana he dared into the spell.

"****." Kothar cried out, clenching his teeth to brace himself, after casting the spell he felt an excruciating, stabbing pain all over his body. It seemed that he had been pushing himself too hard.

He had never used Lightning Element Magic on its own so much before, and using so many spells that used the element directly on its body was taking its toll, it was the the tingling, pins and needles he had gotten when he had first drawn in Lightning Element Mana, except magnified many, many times over, to such a degree that it was painful.

Kothar ignored the pain, and continued running toward the small group of soldiers, who were spaced out, a hundred or so meters between each of them and drew his sword, the blade crackling to life as he sent another surge of mana into the blade.

The hum of the blade had grown higher pitched as Kothar's magic grew more powerful and thanks to the vibrations causing the hum, it tore through most materials like butter. 

And though Kothar had no plans to actually cut through any of the soldiers, the lightning would do its part in intimidating the soldiers. 

Small strands of Lightning crackled all around the spine of the blade, tangled in amongst the intricate rune work that Kothar had designed so long ago.

"I see him, he's coming this way, and fast! Rutherford! The flare!" A voice yelled out, one of the torches in the distance moving up and down excitedly, clearly indicating which soldier had been the first to spot Kothar.

"Form up, lads. We can at least hold the demon off before reinforcements arrive!" Another soldier yelled, and there was a chorus of agreement, and the flickering torches all began to converge toward Kothar.

Kothar sighed, and dashed toward the yells, he would have to be the first to go. The soldier barely had a chance to react, to Kothar, it seemed as if the soldier was moving comically slowly, but it was just that he had been sped up so much by the Enhanced Lightning Aura.

The soldier barely had a chance to reach for his sword, when a loud thwack rang out, as the flat of Kothar's sword slapped into the back of his helmeted head, the shock from the lightning and the impact knocking the soldier unconscious.

Though Kothar had been fast, crossing the distance at a speed that he himself could scarcely believe, it was too late.

A loud screech rang out, starting out extremely loudly and then fading away, and Kothar turned his head toward the source of the noise. Bang! There was a loud explosion, and the flare exploded high in the air, casting out a brilliant red glow that hung in the air as the flare slowly fell toward the ground. 

Kothar was illuminated in the eerie red glow from the flare, the lightning sparking all around him and the demonic mask only adding to the soldiers' fear that they had built up in hearing all the rumors of the Lightning Demon.

As Kothar dashed toward the first soldier, he immediately began screaming to his fellows for help, as the terrifying, masked figure closed in on him.