291 Smoldering Lake

(Third Person POV)

The entirety of the landscape had changed again. Suddenly, Lahar and Doranbolt had stumbled on top of nearly boiling waters. 

"Hot!" Lahar exclaimed

Doranbolt slowly got to his feet, "What the hell?" 

They had looked around them, they were in the middle of a massive boiling lake that had shallow areas with some land to step on. It was surrounded by massive cliffs that were slowly burning with walls of flames that extended up to the sky. 

Inside the lake, there were several spots that had raging fires, boiling the area around them. There were several massive tree trunks that were charred and smoking. 

The entire area was scorching, the atmosphere red due to the theme of the spell. It was called the Smoldering Lake, due to its nature. Once a fully healthy lake with several massive trees coming out from it ridden to a boiling hellscape due to war. 

The majority of the newly arrived Magic Council mages were scattered around the lake, scurrying around as the boiling waters burned them. There were also massive explosions of boiling and scorching waters that were hitting several of them. 

This was not going to be easy to get out of. 

As for the Wizards Saints, they were in the middle of the lake, near Lahar and Doranbolt. They were at the base of the burnt-down tree, looking around at this sudden new land scape. 

"What kind of spell is this?" Hyberion asked as he looked up at the sky, "There's nothing but smoke that covers the sky....and this heat..." 

"Tch.." Wolfheim gritted his teeth, "That runt has some tricks up his sleeve, eh?" 

Jura was sweating, "The amount of magic power the earth is releasing....." He said, "I cannot use my magic so easily...I apologize..." 

They then heard a loud explosion and several screams in the distance. They turned to look several mages had attempted to regroup with them but were being hit by massive ballistae bolts that were exploding upon impact. 

"What the...." Wolfheim said

They then turned to see that on the top of the cliffs, there were gigantic ballistae turning around and firing massive bolts down at the lake. 

"Oh...." Wolfheim said, "That ain't good..." 

At the top of the cliff, at the base of one of the giant ballistae, Jason sat on a lawn chair as she looked through some binoculars. 

He whistled, "Man.." He said, "How're they gonna get away from this? The bolts are gonna hurt but they should be non-lethal..." 

Back to the Wizard Saints, Jura was looking at Hyberion. 

"Hyberion-dono.." He said, "We must think of something." 

Hyberion nodded, "This Jason fellow..." He said, "Terrifying power if I say so myself..." 

Wolfheim scoffed, "We ought to teach him a lesson.." He said, "I could try to bring the fight close to him but..."

"The weapon he wields is strong." Jura said

Hyberion looked at him, "A Magic Gun?" He said, "Not ideal to use against me." 

Wolfheim looked at Hyberion, "Don't count your chickens yet, Hyberion." He said, "This runt is crafty like a fox." 

Suddenly, Doranbolt and Lahar appeared next to them. 

"Hyberion-dono, Wolfheim-dono, Jura-dono..." Lahar said, "I apologize for bring you into this." 

"No need to apologize." Hyberion said, "The Council Chairman personally requested for me to get involved. But to think that this man possessed such a power like this. It's not surprising that Alvarez seeks it..." 

Wolfheim looked at Doranbolt, "You need to teleport us on him." He said, "He sits at the top of the cliff on the north side." 

Doranbolt nodded, "S-Sure..." He said, "I'll try my best." 

"Best we hurry." Lahar said, "We need to make him deactivate the spell before he hurts any more of our men."

"Agreed." Hyberion said, "I do not wish to prolong this any longer." 

****************************************

After nearly 20 minutes, Jason was looking down at the lake, watching as the council mages were struggling to defend themselves from the ballistae. 

He chuckled, "Serves them right.." He said, "I reckon they'll rethink their choices now." 

Suddenly, the Wizard Saints appeared right next to him. They had teleported to his left side as Jason still sat on his lawn chair which was facing the lake. 

He raised his eyebrow, "Oh?" he said merely looking to his left

He was not going to get up from his chair. 

Doranbolt was in front of them as they had their hands on his back. He then collapsed to his knees out of exhaustion. 

"Thank you, Doranbolt." Hyberion said

"My pleasure...." He said before fading out of consciousness

"He was still awake?" Jason said, "Hm....." 

Wolfheim looked up at the massive Ballista that was firing off bolts. He gave it a glare as he transformed into his beast form and lunged at it, charging up magic power into his right fist. 

"Get this piece of junk out of the way!!!" Wolfheim growled as he punched the ballista

The force of the attack was enough to instantly shatter a portion of the ballista, taking it out of the equation. 

Jason merely saw this with amusement, "Your wounds are healed, old man?" He said, "How nice." 

Hyberion stepped forwards as he adjusted hi shirt collar, "If you would deactivate this spell, that would be nice." He said, "I would rather not prolong this." 

Jason smirked, "If I don't?" 

Hyberion gave him a serious look, "I'll have to force you." He said

Jason looked at Jura, "Can you use your magic?" 

Jura didn't say anything, merely readied a stance. 

Jason then chuckled, "Hehe.." He said, "I sure hope so.." 

He then snapped his fingers and from his right side, a massive amount of gun barrels appeared and pointed straight at the Wizard Saints. 

"War Magic: Excessive Display." 

As the name suggests, there was an excessive amount of high-caliber automatic weapons. From miniguns, to AR-15s, there were simply too many to count. 

Hyberion looked at this, "War Magic?" He said, "What kind of magic is that?" 

"Don't worry about it." Jason replied

Suddenly, all of the guns opened fired, sending a massive barrage of high-caliber rounds at them. 

Wolfheim scowled, "Jura!" 

"Rock Mountain!" 

Jura had clapped his hands together, summoning the defensive rock formation from before in front of them, blocking all of the gun-fire. As the bullets hit, they slowly but surely began to wear down the rock formation as they did not relent. 

Hyberion looked at this, "I suppose this will be trickier than I imagined.." He said as he lifted his hand, "But he's within my range again.." 

Suddenly, Jason clutched his throat as he felt a strangling sensation. 

"Tch!" He said as the gun-fire stopped

Jason then fell out of his chair as he was forced down by an invisible force, still clutching his throat as he began to feel pain. 

As Jura's defensive spell crumbled, Hyberion was holding his hand out in front of him. 

"Vampire Magic: Strangle" 

"My magic allows me to strangle you from a distance." Hyberion said, "That and a few other tricks." 

Jason looked at him as he tried to speak but was unable to. 

Wolfheim then lunged at Jason, charging up magic power on his right hand. 

"Absolute Carnage Fist!!" 

Wolfheim brought down his fist, hitting Jason in the back, causing a massive shockwave that shattered the ground beneath them. This attack was Wolfheim charging his beast form's fists with magic power, allowing for devastating punches. 

Wolfheim took a step back as Hyberion walked up to them, they both saw that Jason wasn't moving at all. 

"Tch." Wolfheim said, "Little runt was nothing after all." 

"Don't mess with us Wizard Saints."