Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 199: Duran and Hubar

At the head of the column of marching Imperial soldiers were Regis' and Nevus' second in command, Duran and Hubar. Both of them were similar in appearance, though not related whatsoever.

They both were broad shouldered with squashed noses that were characteristic of brawlers, and both of them wielded long handled war hammers. They wore the red and gold armor that most Imperial soldiers wore, except theirs was made to measure, since they were far larger than most.

Their horses were enormous, shaggy haired with tree trunk legs, and the beginnings of a horn poked out from the thick hair on their snouts.

"Looks like they've got one who's got some grasp of aura." Duran said to Hubar, as he noticed the green glow around Boson.

"That's nothing new for us, and there's no way he'll be able to take on both of us." Hubar replied, urging his horse to gallop faster.

As Boson and his shock troops drew closer, Duran and Hubar readied their war hammers, preparing to take him head on.

The aura that surrounded Boson did not intimidate them, for the pair of them were at a similar realm, and unlike Boson, had been at the gateway to the Advanced Rank for years, unable to truly cross into it. 

While most people would see this as a sign of poor talent. Duran and Hubar had turned this to their advantage, mastering the use of the limited aura they had and crushing all those that they face under the Advanced Rank.

A gentle yellow glow surrounded the pair, and they rested their war hammers on their shoulders, ready to trade blows with Boson.

Boson, seeing that he was going to face soldiers who were capable of utilizing aura, began to spin his axe, gathering momentum to add as much power as possible to his attack.

But he knew as well as Duran and Hubar did, that as powerful as he was, he wouldn't be able to match up to the pair of them, working together.

Fortunately for Boson, Serena had been keeping an eye on the battlefield ever since she spotted the incoming Imperial troops, and her archers had readied their bows, the three hundred that were posted on the main street waiting on her signal to fire.

Serena waited, letting the two columns of soldiers draw closer and closer to each other, and only fired her arrow when they were only a hundred meters away.

Serena's arrow shot through the air, empowered with her mana, arcing accurately toward Hubar, spinning as it flew. As her arrow was fired, all of her archers fired also, a rain of arrows flying toward the column of Imperial soldiers.

Moments before Boson clashed with the Imperial column, Serena's arrow flew right at Hubar's head, who had to send it flying away with his war hammer, wasting the attack he had been charging up.

As the rain of arrows from Serena's archers fell into the ranks of the Imperial soldiers, Boson and his shock troops slammed into the Imperial soldiers.

Boson swung his axe at Duran, who took on the blow easily, slamming his own aura cloaked war hammer into Boson's axe.

Though Duran was occupied with Boson, Hubvar was free to wreak havoc on the ranks of Boson's shock troops, he easily sent the first few soldiers flying with a couple swings of his hammer, before another arrow from Serena came flying at him. 

Forcing him to block it, though her arrows were not coated in aura, they were powerful enough that Hubar could not ignore them.

"Keep firing volleys at the rear of the column! Dunstan, you signal the volleys!" Serena called out to her second in command, she knew that she needed to devote all her attention to keeping Hubar occupied, otherwise Boson would fall to the pair of them.

She drew arrow after arrow from her quiver, rapid firing at Hubar, forcing him to remain on the defensive, as he was caught up by her constant arrows and four of Boson's shock troops, who surrounded him on every side, halting his rapid advance through their ranks.

But even with their commanders occupied, the Imperial Elites charged through the ranks of Boson's shock troops, easily splitting their tight-knit formation.

The nobles and tribes men readied their troops, they knew that the Imperial soldiers would aim to charge through the city, heading for the Imperial Palace, which they could defend for weeks, waiting for the bulk of the army to arrive while the Storm Generals fought against the commanders of the Ursten forces.

Only three hundred of the Imperial Elites remained behind, locked in combat with Boson's shock troops, the rest, even without their commanders present, seamlessly reformed their column formation and continued their charge toward the city.

Serena's archers continued to rain arrows down on them, but it barely checked their charge, the troops holding large rectangular shields over their heads as they galloped toward the main street of Anzur.

Tam's guess had been correct, they aimed to charge down the main street of Aznur.

Once they were only a few hundred meters from where Tam had posted the bulk of his men, Slate, Shale and the rest of the Mage Unit began to send spells flying through the air at the Imperial Elites.

Great shards of ice, balls of fire and magma, bolts of lightning, torrents of water and blades of wind all flew at the Imperial elites, but the seventeen hundred that remained revealed what they had been concealing.

A unit of seventy Mages, on horseback at the rear of the column, intercepted the spells flying toward them, even neutralizing the shift in the ground that Slate and Shale tried to use to halt their advance.

These were truly the elite of the Empire, brushing off everything the Ursten army threw at them, their charge toward the center of Aznur barely slowing down. 

However, even though the elites had retained much of their momentum, the bulk of the Ursten forces still stood between them and the capital.