Chapter 212

Mana from the Lake's Tear spread all over the place. Using the lake's large size, it stretched across the area and moved even more energetically than before. The mana gently glided across the lake's surface until it reached the place where the allied forces' ships were.

Even the allied forces fighting fiercely felt the mana. However, they weren't surprised since they had already been warned of it before; only a couple of them simply stroked their skin in intrigue. Even those elves soon recollected themselves and changed the magic the allied forces were preparing. Although they had been using different types of magic following their companions, they used only one type of magic now: water magic.

Craaaash!

Huge streams of water flew towards Mentis. Each stream was big enough to swallow two or three whole people and it spun as it slammed down on the lake.

"Kuaaah!"

"Ahh!"

The Iron Tribe elves fell while letting out death cries. The streams continued to penetrate through thin shelters, and the Iron Tribe elves were unprepared for the countless magic attacks that were much stronger than before.

Pop! Pop!

The fire shapes burst as the streams struck them.

"Don't back down! Hold your ground!" From the rear, Kandis stepped forward and shouted, "Our enemies used the Lake's Tear! There's no need for you all to be surprised. Wait a bit more!"

The Lake's Tear increased the water-type magic power within its sphere of influence. At a glance, the allied forces looked like they had a clear advantage, but there was a reason why the group hadn't used the Lake's Tear from the beginning.

Whoosh!

Mana from the Lake's Tear swept across its surroundings, and they felt the water's mana on their skin. The problem was that those who felt this mana were the Iron Tribe elves.

"Shoot them!" At Kandis' command, the Iron Tribe elves cast their magic. It was the same type of water magic that the allied forces used—the Lake's Tear was also strengthening their magic.

Pop!

A huge stream of water struck the lake's surface and shook a ship from the allied forces intensely. The Iron Tribe used that opening to blanket the allied forces with arrows. Elves struck by these arrows fell into the lake while screaming.

Craaash! Even a whole ship struck by magic broke into pieces. Not all types of magic besides water disappeared, but they were cast by elves who couldn't use water magic. But even those were fundamentally similar to water type magic.

At that point, mana from the Lake's Tear seemed no longer favorable to the allied forces. In a way, it seemed to actually work to their disadvantage. It was not all meaningless though.

Crackle!

The fire shapes, which made up a large portion of the Iron Tribe forces, significantly decreased in size. From a head taller than an adult male, it shrunk to half of its size so that its height might reach an adult male's waist; and the flames burning from all over its body looked somewhat less vibrant.

Mana from the Lake's Tear began to restrict the fire shapes, and the allied forces rowed their boats with all their might.

* * *

"Haa~!" She let out a deep breath from her chest. Romanne felt mana from the Lake's Tear she was holding and stared at Mentis from far away.

"You did a lot of work," Lyla said to Romanne.

Romanne smiled and responded, "No, it's nothing. You did more than me, Ms. Lyla."

"All I did was help you."

While Romanne was waking up the Lake's Tear, Lyla assisted her with magic by her side. However, Romanne shook her head firmly.

"I wouldn't have been able to do this much alone. Mana from the Lake's Tear spread further than I expected it to." It was true. If Romanne handled the Lake's Tear by herself, its sphere of influence would have barely managed to touch the edge of Mentis. However, the moment Romanne gained Lyla's help, the sphere of influence grew much bigger to the point that it covered half the city.

'She definitely is an amazing magician.' It was rare to see a human, especially one so young, possess such a great amount of mana and magic. Although Romanne had lived a long time, Lyla's skills surprised her.

'Furthermore, in terms of skills, it doesn't seem like she has reached her limit.' The person who saved her, Zich, was also an impressive human, but Lyla didn't seem to lack behind him in any way.

In addition to the admiration Romanne felt, suspicions rose up in her heart.

'Mana from the Lake's Tear responded to her too well.'

Romanne was the one who asked an outstanding magician like Lyla to assist her, but she didn't have high expectations while making her request. Like she said, Romanne simply wanted assistance, but the results completely exceeded her expectations.

The Lake's Tear responded so well to Lyla that its mana stretched past the lake and covered half of Mentis.

'Is it a coincidence?' It was a possibility, but Romanne thought about how as soon as she was recognized as the shaman of the Lake Tribe, she had to undergo training to assimilate with the mana from the Lake's Tear. Thus, it was more surprising that Lyla, who didn't receive an ounce of training, showed such excellent compatibility with the Lake's Tear.

'Truthfully, it's a bit discouraging.' It almost made her life as a shaman seem almost pointless.

"What's wrong? Do you have any other instructions?"

When Romanne regained her senses, Lyla was staring at her. Romanne quickly shook her head. "No, it's nothing. I just thought of something else for a moment. I keep having useless thoughts now that I am growing older.' She had the appearance of a twenty-year-old human, so it was strange of Romanne to say this. But Lyla didn't answer and smiled awkwardly.

Romanne looked towards Mentis. "The plan is running smoothly for now."

As they approached the city, the allied forces began to come down from their ships. The Iron Tribe elves desperately resisted, but there were too many enemies. Moreover, the Iron Tribe's secret weapon, the fire shapes were unable to use their full power because of the Lake's Tear, and the number of allied forces on Mentis began increasing.

"Yes. Now, we just need Zich to do well."

"Fufu, you seem to really trust your companion."

"Of course." Lyla nodded her head confidently. Even though Lyla and Romanne were of different species, Romanne felt happy to see two people have such a high level of trust for each other.

"That guy won't lose to anyone in torturing another person."

"..."

This was slightly different from the trust that Romanne was expecting.

* * *

In the highest tower in the castle, Renu was looking down at the battlefield. The Iron Tribe was slowly getting pushed back—he gritted his teeth.

"That blasted Lake's Tear!" Renu slammed the wall of the tower. His gaze moved past the fierce battle and towards the lake where the allied force's base camp was. The Lake Tribe's shaman stood there with the Lake's Tear.

"That's what I told you. They got the Lake's Tear back." Annoying words came out from the shadow cast by the tower's roof. The speaker's voice was very rough and uncomfortable to listen to. Renu turned around with an annoyed expression. The speaker came out from the darkness and took one step forward.

It was the robed figure. He naturally moved next to Renu and let out his unpleasant voice again, "Do you fully believe me now?"

"...Ugh!" Renu groaned.

Even though they were cooperating, they had absolutely no trust in each other. For that reason, Renu also thought there was a possibility that the robed figure was lying to him. However, after witnessing the power of the Lake's Tear firsthand, he had to admit that the robed figure wasn't at least completely lying to him.

"What are you going to do from now on?"

Renu roughly shouted back, "When are your reinforcements going to come!"

However, the robed figure wasn't taken aback at all. "If you want, I can bring them right now. But you need to think hard about finding the right timing to use my subordinates. Even my subordinates are not enough to completely overpower the allied forces."

The support that the robed figure was going to give to Renu was his soldiers. According to their agreed terms, Renu could use the robed figure's soldiers until the ritual that controlled the fire tree ended.

"If you used my soldiers from the beginning, your tribe could have had an easier time blocking the allied forces even if they possessed the Lake's Tear. Well, talking about things that are already over is no fun. First of all, everything I said was impossible from the moment you blocked my soldiers from entering Mentis."

"..."

The robed figure was mocking Renu for not believing in him and stopping his soldiers from entering Mentis. Renu also knew the robed figure was mocking him, but since this was the truth, he couldn't reply properly.

Boom! At that moment, dirt particles soared high above the center of Mentis.

"It's that tunnel."

"..."

Only the robed figure continued to talk with a low voice; Renu said nothing while glaring at the hole that was definitely connected to the tunnel.

"Your tribe is retreating." As the robed figure said, Kandis was gathering his troops to retreat; this was a plan they agreed on. While the fire shapes, which the Iron Tribe called the flame troopers, were weakened by the Lake's Tear, Kandis would allow his troops to retreat beyond the influence of the Lake's Tear if their situation became even more unfavorable.

'The Lake's Tear influence is too big. What the hell is happening?' Since Renu did not know about Lyla's existence, he had no idea what was happening. However, there was no time for him to figure out the reason.

"...Your soldiers are hidden inside the forest outside of the lake, right?"

"Of course. They are prepared to hit the allied forces at any time. They're just waiting for my signal." Renu stared at the area that the robed figure pointed to. Even though he couldn't see the soldiers because of the dense forest, he felt reassured that there were soldiers he could use behind his enemies.

"Wait." The robed figure put his hands on the tower's handrail and leaned his body slightly forward. "The shaman has started moving."

"What?" Renu moved his gaze. As the robed figure said, the shaman was carefully relocating into a boat.

"It seems like the shaman is also coming to Mentis."

"They're probably planning to have all of Mentis under the influence of the Lake's Tear."

Renu gritted his teeth. Even though the allied forces' plan risked the shaman's safety, if Mentis was within the influence of the Lake's Tear, the Iron Tribe would be at a serious disadvantage.

The robed figure asked, "What if the influence of the Lake's Tear reaches all the way here?"

"Don't worry. No matter what the Lake's Tear is like, its influence probably won't reach this castle."

"That also means that the Lake's Tear influence would reach every place in Mentis except for this castle."

Renu replied back in silence.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to calmly start waving a white flag?"

"What nonsense!" Renu loudly denied the robed figure's words.

"Well, yeah. That was just a joke. Don't be so serious. Actually, it's better this way. Let's try changing our way of thinking."

"...To what?"

"Let's say the shaman and the Lake's Tear entered Mentis. Then this is a golden opportunity for us to get the shaman and the Lake's Tear at the same time."