Playing Melee Mages Are All Heretics!

"Hey! Guys! I don't think we need to go to Germany anymore!"

Inside the Quinjet's cockpit, the two pilots had just received a message. They turned toward the agents resting with their eyes closed in the cabin, Coulson and Melinda, and shouted as loudly as they could at Annie, who was dozing off while hugging her teddy bear, Tibbers. They were flying fast at high altitude, and the military Quinjet was a little noisy.

"Is there some new development?" Coulson was startled by the announcement. Frowning, he looked at the flight crew in the cockpit and asked curiously.

"Yes, sir! Agent Natasha just sent a message—and battle footage, too! The fight ended two minutes ago! Captain America and Iron Man have captured Loki, and they're escorting the prisoner back to headquarters now. I recommend we turn around and head back!" the copilot replied after checking the message again on the Control Console.

Two minutes ago... Hearing that, Coulson and Melinda exchanged awkward glances, then looked in unison at little Annie, who had just been woken up and was blinking her beautiful, innocent, curious eyes. They seemed to ask, "What are you looking at?"

Well, they could have made it in time for the fight. Their plane had already entered German airspace and was about to reach its destination. Unfortunately, it seemed Annie had held them up. They'd missed it by just a little!

Sigh... Annie had taken more than five minutes to get dressed and wash up. Fortunately, she wasn't a professional agent; otherwise, they'd have revoked her credentials and demoted her! She was so hopelessly unpunctual! They'd received an emergency combat assignment, and she'd still insisted on washing her face and brushing her teeth first?!

"Sir? Sir? What should we do now?" When Coulson didn't answer, the copilot asked again.

"You can turn around and head back. Also, play the battle footage Agent Natasha sent us. Let's see what happened!" Coulson pointed to the monitor on the cabin wall, signaling them to play the footage. The three of them had missed the fight, but they still needed to understand what had happened, didn't they?

"Yes, sir!" The pilot began turning the aircraft around, while the copilot busied himself with the controls. Soon, the footage from the message appeared on the cabin monitor.

Annie, Coulson, and Melinda all looked toward the monitor. Annie didn't care about the fight; she only wanted to know where the thing she wanted was—the so-called Space Stone! Now she regretted it. She'd gone to all that trouble and still hadn't made it in time!

It was all your fault, Tibbers! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?

While silently blaming Tibbers, Annie watched the footage!

Onscreen, she saw Natasha and the others arrive in their aircraft and spot a strange man in armor, wearing a horned helmet and holding a long Staff. He was forcing everyone in the plaza to kneel before him.

Annie guessed that this strange man had to be that so-called evil god, Loki. As the camera pulled back, she also saw that the whole edge of the plaza was lined with copies of him, surrounding the crowd.

Annie recognized that spell! It was either Mirror Image or Arcane Illusion. If it was Mirror Image, the copies might have some of the original's attack power. But if it was Arcane Illusion, then it was just a trick to fool the uninitiated.

Those people on TV were such idiots!

Annie had already spotted that the copies were unstable, flickering now and then. That meant they were definitely Arcane Illusions! They were just there to scare people and were completely useless—not capable of attacking at all! The people around the edge of the plaza could have just run away, but instead they'd been scared into huddling together and kneeling? What a bunch of ignorant fools!

Annie clicked her tongue in disdain and kept watching the monitor. She had no idea what that strange man was saying to the crowd. The person recording the footage was so irresponsible—he hadn't even recorded the audio! Would it have killed him to press the record button? Annie knew the Quinjet's video function could record sound at the same time!

After the strange man had spoken for a while, an old man in the crowd seemed unhappy with what he'd said. He stood up and began arguing back. He seemed pretty brave... But Loki didn't give him the chance. He raised his Staff, its tip glowing, and fired a blue Arcane Missile at the old man.

That brave old man was as good as dead!

Annie figured that an ordinary Earthling with no way to defend himself couldn't survive a single Arcane Missile! The next scene would probably show him blown to pieces. She suddenly couldn't bear to watch. Maybe she really should have left earlier—she might have saved his life.

But the terrible thing Annie feared never happened. At the last possible moment, Captain America arrived and blocked the blue Arcane Missile with his shield. The missile bounced off and slammed into Loki's stomach, knocking him to the ground.

Huh? What an amazing shield!

Annie's eyes lit up. What was that little shield made of? She knew that all shields could block magic—as long as they weren't destroyed before the spell's power had run its course. Otherwise, you were done for! Some enchanted shields could even absorb part of the magic damage, but she'd never seen one that could reflect the entire spell.

The fight in the video continued. Loki got back up as if nothing had happened after being knocked down by his own spell. Then he noticed the Quinjet in the sky and fired another Arcane Missile, but the nimble aircraft dodged it in time.

Bad review! Annie silently gave that evil god, Loki, a rating. As a mage, he didn't even know to put up a shield? And after casting a spell, he just left it alone? Would it have killed him to lock on and guide it a little? Was he really that lazy?

And then... Annie wanted to rub her eyes. She seriously doubted she was awake. She couldn't believe what she was seeing on the monitor! Maybe she was still dreaming?

Just look at that so-called evil god, Loki! Look at what he was doing! After casting two Arcane Missiles, he actually grabbed his Scepter and started brawling with Captain America! A mage, with only two basic Arcane Missiles to his name, picking up his Staff to fight a defensive Warrior in melee? He might as well switch classes and become a Warrior!

Annie wanted to grab him by the neck and ask him: Were you even a mage? Was that how mages were supposed to fight? She knew she was still young, but he couldn't fool her!

Just look at the way he fought! He swung his Staff with a mighty whoosh, so fierce and domineering! He even knocked Captain America's shield away in one blow—nice work! He was using that pretty decent-looking Staff as a club, smashing it against the ground until sparks flew. He looked ferocious!

Even though Annie never used a Staff, she felt a little sorry for it! What a waste of a perfectly good Staff, using it like that. He might as well have picked up a firewood stick! At least that wouldn't hurt if it got smashed...

Annie stared blankly for a while at the two men on the monitor, one throwing punches while the other used his Staff, battling away in a lively fashion. Then she sighed. All right, leaving their positions aside, as a fellow mage, Annie was starting to worry about Loki's intelligence!

You were a mighty mage, for heaven's sake! Couldn't you put some distance between you? If you knew Arcane Illusion, you surely knew Blink, too, right? Blink away, then hit your opponent with control and curse spells to hold him down. After that, bombard him with powerful spells! He'd already lost his shield, so a few spells would knock him flat! And if a few spells weren't enough, you could always charge up a big one! Why bother getting into a fistfight?

Annie really couldn't bear to watch any longer. That so-called evil god, Loki, wasn't weak—he was just stupid! Look, as soon as Iron Man, the ranged-damage ADC, showed up, Loki was captured, wasn't he? Serves him right! He had a whole set of legendary gear, but his skills were trash, so he got wrecked! A mage who went into melee to auto-attack and even hit people with his Staff? Serves him right! Even Tibbers looked down on him!

Annie finally understood. No wonder Loki had been captured before she arrived. It wasn't because she was late at all; it was because the other guy was an idiot! Pathetic! It was all his fault! He'd robbed her of the chance to get the Space Stone. If she'd known, she wouldn't have gotten out of bed!

And you, Tibbers! Why did you trick me into getting up?

"Sir! We've got another update! Agent Natasha just replied: the prisoner, Loki, was taken by someone named Thor. She's asking us to provide support as soon as possible, if we can!"

"Hmph! I'm not going! I'm exhausted! I'm going home to sleep. Good night, everyone! See you tomorrow!" Before Coulson could react, Annie used her Teleport spell for the first time. Blue Arcane light flashed, and she vanished from the cabin with her teddy bear in her arms.

The way that stupid evil god, Loki, had behaved had just reminded her that she was a mage, too! She knew the spatial coordinates of the house by the sea, and she didn't need to hide anything from the people here; they all knew her well enough. So why not just Teleport home? One whoosh and she'd be there—and it was much faster than a bumpy plane ride.

What? Go provide support? Annie had heard them just now! The one who took the prisoner was a grown man named Thor, right? He was part of the Avengers, too, wasn't he? She didn't want to get involved in their stupid squabbles. Let whoever wanted to go do it. She wasn't going—she might as well go home and get back to sleep!