Round 28: Shadows of the Mad City (Part 1)

Moriel walked back along the same path out of the filthy alley behind the Cat’s Paw Tavern, then suddenly turned as if sensing something. But there was nothing there but dirty walls and piles of trash.
“What’s wrong? Have they caught up?” Kani’s advanced invisibility spell had failed. Now, following closely behind Moriel, she looked around excitedly yet nervously. It was astonishing that the Hierarchy of Shirek had sent such a large force—interest and trouble were always inseparable twins, and she knew this all too well.
Moriel signaled for Kani to be quiet. Her gaze lost focus, or rather, it seemed to be fixed on something beyond the limits of reality. The stains on the walls swelled rapidly, even a cockroach scurrying by became clearly visible, before everything blurred again into meaningless visual chaos, as if passing through a chaotic tunnel at high speed. When it resolved, they found themselves on another street, separated from here by several port district buildings.
The first thing to come into view through the Magic Eagle Eye was a tall horse clad in armor. Silver-armored knights wearing full helmets charged down the street under the cover of Deepstream City’s guards. Every tavern and brothel along the way hurriedly closed their doors. These soldiers sent to suppress the rebellion had clear goals and roles. As Moriel scanned the streets, she saw that they had seized control of every avenue and alley, showing no mercy to thugs, mercenaries, or even adventurers who tried to obstruct them. Those ragtag troops had no chance against the well-trained knightly orders…
Moriel blinked, ending the effect of the Eagle Eye spell.
“Let’s get out of here quickly,” she said, frowning. “It seems the rulers of Deepstream City can no longer tolerate the Hierarchy of Shirek ruining the city’s order… It wouldn’t be good if we got caught here too.”
The three women quickly returned to the abandoned, dilapidated house. Led by Moriel, they encountered no obstacles or trouble, and no one spoke another word along the way.
The underground chamber was just as it had been when they left, with dim lights burning on the walls, casting uneven shadows on the magic circle carved into the floor. At first glance, it resembled a cluster of twisted snakes.
Kani locked the door as usual, reactivated the illusions and traps, and stepped into the range of the teleportation circle first—followed by Nancy. Only when Moriel was about to step in did she suddenly sense something was off, as if a sudden cloud had covered the once-clear sky. This ominous feeling made her look back at the magic circle. Though it appeared unchanged on the surface, with all lines and runes intact, there was an indescribable sense of abnormality.

Morril made a gesture to stop Kani from attempting to activate the teleportation circle, while simultaneously trying to identify the spells attached to it, using her knowledge to analyze any potential problems within the circle… Morril quickly reached a conclusion: although she couldn’t determine who had used what method to add those spells to the teleportation circle, she was sure it had turned into a trap. If they used it recklessly under such circumstances, the best outcome would be arriving somewhere they’d never seen before; worse still, they might end up floating helplessly in a chaotic space between spirit and matter, screaming in agony, or their bodies might appear in Kani’s laboratory—fragmented or fused together—perhaps not even dead yet.
“The teleportation circle has been tampered with!” Morril said coldly, causing Kani to break into a cold sweat. She certainly knew what consequences this would bring.
The dwarf woman immediately jumped away from the magic circle, as if it were the maw of a monster that devoured everything in its path. “What? Someone’s ambushing us? Damn it! Those damned Holy Warrior bitches…”
No one heard Kani’s last syllable. Though her facial expressions and the airflow from her mouth indicated she had finished speaking, she suddenly fell silent, as if a rooster’s crowing had been abruptly silenced. The dwarf woman’s expression changed, and she shouted something else, but again, there was only silence.
A silence barrier! Without needing to hear it, Morril knew what Kani had said.
A burst of magical light flashed around her, as an invisible barrier formed around the female mage, dispelling the silence effect imposed on her by enemies hiding in the shadows.
Morril pointed her staff at the door. With a sharp command, the solid wood door seemed to be struck by some monstrous force, instantly breaking free from its frame and hinges and rolling outward. The magical trap triggered sent streams of colorful light out through the broken door panels, flooding the stairs leading outside.
Although Nancy was also affected by the silence barrier, as the saying goes, a dog that bites doesn’t bark—what did it matter if a warrior who relied on strength to fight could speak or not? She switched to a fighting stance with both swords, bent forward, and rushed out like a predatory leopard, unconcerned whether a dragon awaited her outside the dark door—as a Tattooed Warrior, she had only one rule: her life was worthless compared to the safety of the red-robed mage.
Kani reacted quickly too. Her small hands moved swiftly, drawing interlocking symbols in the air. She couldn’t afford to rely on silent spells to fight, so she also had to use a “voice spell” to counter the silence that prevented her from reciting incantations. However, she couldn’t instantly cast the voice spell along with a magical shield like Morril could.

The ruby on Moriel’s staff emitted a blinding cloud of light, with dazzling golden dust illuminating the entire combat area as brightly as day. Under Moriel’s control, it formed a river of light that followed Nancy, bathing the warrior in intense brilliance. This not only concealed Nancy’s movements as she attacked but also disrupted the enemies outside. If they were invisible, there was a good chance they would be forced to reveal themselves amidst the sparkling dust. After casting this spell, Moriel immediately rushed out of the basement alongside Nancy, using the opportunity to consider possible scenarios and how to adapt using her available tactics. An opponent who could alter teleportation arrays almost without a trace was no ordinary foe—she couldn’t afford to be careless. First, she had to reverse the disadvantage in terrain; Nancy ahead served as a shield. Even if they were blinded by the glowing dust, it could be blamed on bad luck. Moriel couldn’t afford to worry about whether such a combat method was too cruel—this was the way of a Red Robe Mage. The unknown enemy hadn’t used deadly fireballs or lightning attacks; instead, the scene outside surprised Moriel. Brilliant golden dust swirled throughout a small area, covering debris and broken wood with a layer of glittering particles. The houses used as cover above the underground chamber had disappeared, with large chunks of wreckage floating in midair around a woman sitting on a suspended wooden beam. Her hair was disheveled, her robe tattered like that of a poor person, and her black eyes seemed to be on fire. “Just walk obediently into the magic array and be teleported to Deepflow City Prison, wouldn’t that be nice?” the woman yawned, as if it were unacceptable that Moriel hadn’t fallen for her trick. “That way, I’d save a lot of trouble, and your lives would be safer too.” Moriel stopped the terrified Nancy from drawing her crossbow to shoot. After a brief moment of shock, she remembered who this unkempt yet beautiful woman was. Back when she was still part of the Red Robe Mage Order, Moriel had heard of her many times—each time accompanied by negative news such as destroyed strongholds, freed slaves, and killed colleagues, along with hysterical curses and insults from the Red Robe Mages. But Moriel had quickly realized that this female mage alone could make the entire Red Robe Mage Order tremble, even causing her mentors to shudder inwardly whenever her name was mentioned. Best friend, greatest enemy, favorite of the Magic Goddess, Queen of the Northern Storms—Xinbu. “Kani,” Moriel suddenly said, “it’s useless. If you plan to sneak away, I’m sure that beggar woman will catch you before I do.” Xinbu in midair let out a hearty laugh.

“Yes, I’m quite good at hide-and-seek. And abandoning friends is a very bad thing… though it’s the usual behavior of people like you.” She waved her hand, and a small storm emerged from her wide, frilled sleeves, lifting large amounts of dust from the ground. A small humanoid figure appeared in the dust storm, covered in dirt—it was Kani, who had been hiding in a corner waiting to escape.

Xinbu looked down at the two of them as if they were lambs ready to be slaughtered: “So, will you admit defeat and surrender, or do you really want to put on a magic show for me? That’s quite dangerous!”

“Hang your head on the wall of your bedroom—seeing it every morning when you wake up will be quite refreshing,” said Moriel. “That’s what all the Red Robed Mages say. I suppose I can prove it.”

With that, Moriel acted immediately. Without any long incantations or special gestures, she simply raised her finger and pointed at Xinbu.

A burning energy ball flew toward Xinbu in midair. It didn’t seem extremely hot, but it still made a hissing sound as it moved, as if burning through the air. Moriel had precise control over height and distance, chose the perfect angle, and its speed was flawless. The fireball acted like a missile locked on its target, hitting Xinbu’s position exactly the next moment, causing everything there to explode and engulfing the area in a circular zone of destruction ruled not by flames but by an even more terrifying strong acid.

The acid flames splashed everywhere, corroding large patches on the floating debris of houses. Many of the acid droplets passed by Moriel, raising wisps of smoke on the ground. The female mage didn’t even blink. In fact, the moment the acid fireball was launched, she began preparing her next spell. The incantations etched in her memory disappeared word by word as she chanted, so fast that Moriel couldn’t even hear herself speaking. She cast spells purely through reflex and experience, as those incantations had already returned to the magical network before reaching her ears. Those minuscule mental efforts, insignificant compared to the infinite source of magic, were like a fluttering butterfly—creating slight disturbances that spread purposefully through the intricate web of magic, eventually triggering an incredibly powerful storm.

An acidified fireball wouldn’t achieve much; at most, it would buy some time. Moriel had to go all out. No Red Robed Mage dared to spare effort in front of Xinbu—although most still ended up badly, it was at least better than those who were arrogant and overconfident.

Realizing she could never abandon Morriel and escape on her own, Kani immediately cooperated fully with her. Though not as swift as Morriel’s instant fireballs, her loud syllables were still spat out at great speed. A blurred, dark shadow appeared in her palm with her gesture, as if opening a door to darkness. As the shadow twisted and expanded, two monsters that seemed only possible in the deepest nightmares took shape within it—transforming from vague forms to clear outlines in just a short time. Slightly larger than human heads, they had exposed eyes, noses, and ferocious mouths filled with green mist. Instead of hair and beard, they had writhing tentacles, and instead of ears, there were tattered, bat-like wings flapping constantly on either side of their heads.

The two flying head monsters paused briefly on the dwarf woman’s outstretched hands before flying almost simultaneously toward Himb in midair, letting out terrifying screams that made one’s blood run cold—Queen of Storms had just emerged from the acidic fire cloud created by Morriel. Aside from her robe appearing even more tattered, her posture remained unchanged, with a confident smile on her face, as if these two red-robed mages could only bring a mere gust of wind and dust that required her to shield her face.

“Elemental control?” She didn’t even cast a spell; instead, she expressed her mild surprise in words. “Impressive. It seems I need to reassess you, young red-robed one. How old are you? Let me guess—twenty-eight or twenty-nine? Hmm, maybe a bit younger…”

As she spoke, she casually waved her sleeve again, causing the shadow-formed flying head monsters to lose balance in another storm that appeared out of nowhere. Moreover, flames, lightning, and ice shards mixed in this storm and mercilessly struck the flying head monsters, instantly shattering them into fragmented shadows that disappeared into the bright night sky, failing even to cause the slightest disruption.

“Using shadow illusions to mimic real creatures—thinking such a trick to fool children would work?” In comparison, Himb’s assessment of Kani was far worse.

Rotating storm clouds surrounded her, with lightning flashing from time to time and tiny flames and ice crystals spewing outward.

It must be this miraculous hurricane armor that protected her from being harmed by the exploding acidic balls. Kani began trying to break Himb’s magical defenses. With just a simple gesture, she activated the “Advanced Magic Disruption” contained in the gem ring on her hand, focusing it into a beam aimed at Himb. Though it was a nearly hopeless attempt, she had to buy some time for Morriel beside her—she couldn’t discern the spells Morriel was casting at all; those rapid incantations were ones she had never even heard before.

Sure enough, the magic disruption beam didn’t even cause Himb’s storm shield to waver.

Himb waved her hand, and debris in the air rushed toward Kani, forcing her to stop preparing her next spell and scramble to dodge the objects. Nancy rushed over to protect her, even using her body to block the falling heavy stones.

The Storm Queen’s main attention was clearly not on Kani. In fact, aside from casting a silence barrier, she had not yet launched a formal attack—now she watched Moriel with interest, waiting to see what spell she would cast next.
Moriel’s spell took effect. There were no destructivepsionics attacks, no summoning of fierce alien creatures, and no impenetrable magical defenses. A supernatural magical field erupted from her, sweeping across the entire area and dispelling all ongoing magical effects there. The most immediate reaction was that the floating stones controlled by Himbil lost their weightlessness and fell back under the force of gravity.
Moriel rushed straight at Kani. In just a few steps, she reached Kani, grabbed her hand, and shouted, “Hurry! Get out of here! The space lock has failed!”
For the first time, a serious expression appeared on Himbil’s face in mid-air. Although she herself was unaffected, all the magical barriers she had set up earlier had been lifted. And since Moriel was focused solely on escaping, the trigger spells designed for those conditions were useless. She raised her hand, and magical light burned like a miniature sun—
But at the same time, Kani activated the portal stored in another ring.
The world became chaotic once again. Moriel and Kani endured the sensation of being instantly stretched, as if they had expanded to cover the entire distance they were traversing—before crashing onto the dusty streets.
A warrior-like man placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist, staring in shock at the two red-robed mages who suddenly appeared out of thin air.
If he had attacked at that moment, he might have become famous in Deepflow City by killing two high-level red-robed mages as a novice warrior. But because he was a novice, he lacked the courage and didn’t even think to act. Worse still, he didn’t quietly turn and leave right away but instead stood there foolishly watching—after all, watching others in trouble is a very bad habit, no matter when or where.
So when Kani recovered from the shock of the space transfer, she immediately cast a spell on him, venting all her frustration from Himbil onto him.
Under the illusion, the warrior stared in horror at his own hands, then touched his face, as if his skin had turned into something terrifying beyond description. He staggered back, his eyes bulging almost out of their sockets, then ripped off his clothes to examine his body. Eventually, unable to bear the illusion imposed by Kani, he fell backward and lost consciousness.
“Bitch!” Kani cursed, not sure whether she was referring to the unlucky warrior or the terrifying Himbil.

“Don’t waste spells—we must return to the stronghold immediately to avoid Xinbu…” Moriel glanced around. They should be at the edge of the southwest city wall in Deep Flow City, but still within the port area—quite different from what she had expected. It seemed that Kani’s hastily cast portal spell had deviated significantly, failing to bring them near the stronghold. Still, it was not bad—at least they weren’t trapped inside the city walls.

Nancy couldn’t follow; there was nothing to be done about that. Kani immediately agreed with Moriel’s suggestion, seemingly not considering Nancy at all.

But before Moriel and Kani could go far, a whirlwind that rose out of nowhere blocked their path. Shadows of houses and city walls swirled in the wind, converging to form a pair of bright, fiery eyes that filled the two with dread.

“Abandoning companions… it disgusts me.”

Nancy was thrown to the ground by the solidified shadows, but it seemed she was only unconscious.

Xinbu had caught up to them so quickly!

“To reach such a level of magical prowess at such a young age, you truly surprise me, young Red Robe.” Xinbu stepped out of the swirling dark clouds, her empty hands filled with shifting-colored lights. “If you weren’t a Red Robe but a mage with a kind heart, we would surely become good friends. But now… you’re starting to annoy me.”

The tattoos on the faces of the two Red Robe mages seemed to come to life. Unconsciously, they both chose to resist to the end. Kani had no choice, while Moriel might do so because of her stubbornness—she would never bow to that madwoman!

Xinbu kept her hands lowered, her eyes growing brighter. At the same time, her messy hair swirled as if it were a blazing black flame.

Moriel and Kani cast spells simultaneously, but unexpectedly, nothing happened. What surprised them even more was that the omnipresent magic network, which they had been able to sense since they first became mages, had disappeared! All they could feel was a chaotic void—no spells or gestures could trigger a response from the source of magic. Could it be that Xinbu possessed enough power to create a temporary gap in this magic network around them?

No, it wasn’t Xinbu. The Storm Queen’s expression also changed, the glow in her hands dimming for a moment before returning to brightness. Yet this anomaly clearly caught Xinbu’s attention—more so than eliminating or imprisoning these two easily accessible Red Robe mages.

She turned to look into the distance—the two Red Robe mages also sensed something and turned their gaze that way.

Dust rising from the depths of the port area nearly covered half of the night sky. Severe tremors followed, with houses shaking as if an earthquake had suddenly struck.

Xinbu’s eyes flickered as she sensed that the magic network had returned to normal, as if the strange disturbance earlier had been just an illusion. But it wasn’t an illusion—Xinbu knew that. The magic network in this area had indeed been abnormal for a moment, causing their magic to lose control temporarily—she had to go check it out; there must be something more worth paying attention to than the red-robed mage… The Storm Queen glared at Moriel, and a small magical whirlwind enveloped her once again. By the time the storm subsided, Xinbu had already left.

Moriel looked at the dust and could roughly guess who had done it without even thinking. The ground beneath her feet trembled again, as if struck by a sudden, forceful blow on a drum.

“Let’s go back quickly!” Kani urged.

Moriel turned to the unconscious Nancy—suddenly feeling uneasy. Abandon her companion?

“We can take Nancy with us now; we can’t leave her here,” Moriel said calmly.

……

PS: For someone as inexperienced as me, coming up with magic combat strategies relying solely on the Player’s Handbook is almost an impossible task… Please bear with me.

The protagonist’s level is initially set at 10th-level Prophet Mage/5th-level Red-Robed Mage/2nd-level Archmage… It’s really unrealistic for her to dare challenge Xinbu, who is at level 30+—the protagonist is practically invincible… And it’s also strange that she’s the only one at level 9 who remembers the spell “Release”…

I plan to create character cards when I have time; the first one will probably be the protagonist… Please share your suggestions—I know almost nothing about this.