Duke Buzz’s resolve resonated clearly with everyone present. His soldiers gazed at him with worshipful eyes, and his once somewhat plump, comical figure suddenly seemed to tower with newfound grandeur.
Sister Celine silently donned her brass knuckles, then set off towards the battlefield.
Adair watched Celine’s retreating figure. Just as he was about to call out to her, Father Charles intervened.
“Let her go,” Father Charles said. “Celine’s strength is more than enough to influence the tide of battle.”
Father Charles turned his admiring gaze to Duke Buzz. “Duke,” he stated, “you are truly worthy of being the lord of the Helada region. Your sense of responsibility and commitment mark you as one of the few genuinely noble-spirited lords I have ever encountered.”
“Th-thank you.” Sweat beaded on Buzz’s brow as he addressed the soldiers below. “Bring this duke a chair! Such a minor skirmish isn’t even worth standing for!”
Adair, positioned closer to Buzz, noticed that despite the duke’s bluster, he was clearly terrified. Buzz’s subtly trembling body betrayed that he was not as resolute as his words suggested.
‘Had his noble duty overridden his inner fear?’
“Yes, sir!” Quickly, several soldiers brought a large chair and placed it behind Duke Buzz.
Buzz shuffled, intending to sit. However, witnessing the colossal monster charging towards them through his magic telescope, his legs turned to jelly. His small step faltered, and his corpulent body began to tip backward.
Adair, acting swiftly, steadied Buzz and gently guided him into the chair, preventing an embarrassing fall.
Buzz, now seated, let out a sigh of relief. He murmured to Adair, “Thanks.”
If he had fallen just then, even if the soldiers below said nothing, the prestige Buzz had painstakingly built in their hearts would have largely crumbled.
Adair chuckled softly. “It’s only right. I could only perform such a trivial act to express my admiration for Your Grace.”
****
The scene shifted back to the monster-hunting battlefield.
The monster, now burdened by six newly grown legs, found its high-speed movement severely hampered. The Withering Spell, specialized for plants, was amplified by the light pillars and took effect upon its form. While it didn’t kill the creature outright, it drastically slowed its mobility.
Left Enforcer, seeing this, was overjoyed. He shouted to Ye Xi and Dean, “Hurry and act! The Withering Spell can’t last much longer.”
Upon receiving the message, Ye Xi told Kuang Ruo, “I don’t have time to carry you. Use your Qi to protect yourself.”
Before Kuang Ruo could fully grasp Ye Xi’s meaning, he was swung around in her hand four or five times before being hurled towards a light pillar, in the opposite direction of the monster’s movement.
At this point, the monster’s attack range had been greatly reduced, and its attention was entirely drawn to the duke’s side. It was the perfect moment to get rid of this burden.
“Damn it!”
Kuang Ruo cursed under his breath, left with no choice but to channel all his Qi to envelop himself. The force of Ye Xi’s throw, meant to maximize distance, was immense. Kuang Ruo was, effectively, a human missile.
Protected by Qi, Kuang Ruo experienced an overly intimate encounter with the soft grass, creating a crater with a maximum radius of ten meters. Kuang Ruo felt as though every bone in his body had shattered. Members of the Inquisition Squad, who had noticed the event early, rushed to pull Kuang Ruo from the earth and bring him to a nearby light pillar.
Having thrown Kuang Ruo, Ye Xi paid no further mind to his fate. Instead, she moved to Dean’s side to discuss how to impede the monster’s current movements. Under the influence of the Withering Spell, the monster appeared exceptionally lethargic, sprawling weakly on the ground.
As Ye Xi approached, Dean immediately spoke. “We must go all out now. While blessings are usually a trump card not to be spoken of to outsiders, especially us assassins, to cripple this monster’s mobility in a short time, we’ll need to cooperate. I’ll go first.”
“My blessing is ‘Magic Essence Control,’ allowing me to precisely manipulate the magic essence in my body, rapidly construct spell formations, and freely determine their output power. Though it sounds formidable, unfortunately, despite my ability to use magic, my talent isn’t high, and my internal magic essence is limited. Therefore, the spells I’ve mastered are primarily auxiliary formations; my offensive methods still rely on Qi.”
Ye Xi, without any superfluous words, stated, “‘Existence Deprivation’ allows me to diminish my own and others’ presence, making us difficult to detect.”
Dean and Ye Xi engaged in tactical discussion while observing the monster, searching for the opportune moment to strike. The monster, afflicted by the Withering Spell, was now unwilling to even exert itself to fight them.
The colossal entity before them was simply too massive. Even though they knew they needed to attack quickly, aimless assaults would only waste time and energy.
After a period of observation, Ye Xi remarked, “There’s no need to destroy all six of its legs. Its enormous body requires all six to distribute the total pressure. If we sever its upper-right and lower-left legs, its balance will be ruined, and it won’t be able to run even if it tries.”
“Agreed. Its root stalks are inherently tougher than other parts, and now these massive legs are formed from hundreds of thousands of gathered roots, making them incredibly resilient. Let’s focus on destroying one of them first.”
As Dean spoke, he applied buffs to his and Ye Xi’s weapons: sharpness enhanced, armor penetration increased, resilience boosted, imbued with wind blades, and afflicted with a corrosive curse.
Ye Xi rotated her dagger, getting a feel for it. Suddenly, she noticed Dean’s usually relaxed expression had become somewhat fatigued, with visible beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.
“Are you alright? You know that overexerting yourself will affect our subsequent actions.”
Dean took a deep breath. “I’m fine. It’s been a long time since I’ve used magic so frequently. The intense activity and magic essence consumption have aggravated an old internal injury. This is all within my expectations, though. Don’t worry, I won’t hold us back.”
“Good then.”
After applying Existence Deprivation to both herself and Dean, Ye Xi explained, “My blessing won’t make you completely imperceptible to the enemy, but it will disrupt its attention. With your skills, you should easily understand this; please make good use of it.”
“Understood. Let’s begin!”
Dean and Ye Xi channeled their Qi and charged towards the monster, which was currently in a state of decay.
Due to Ye Xi’s Existence Deprivation effect, the monster only detected them when they were already very close.
Numerous vine whips surged towards the two like a green tide.
Ye Xi and Dean instantly split into two directions, circling to rush towards its front-right leg. The first wave of green whips was flexibly dodged by the pair, which then immediately branched off to pursue each of them.
However, even after multiple evolutions, the vine whips’ speed still lagged behind theirs.
As the two deliberately made sharp turns, the vine whips not only failed to catch them but also tied themselves into knots.
Just as the two thought they were nearing success, another anomaly occurred. Red fruits began to fall continuously from the monster’s body, showering down densely around them like hail.
Then, as these red fruits were about to hit the ground, they suddenly exploded. Ye Xi and Dean couldn’t escape this attack; there was simply no room for evasion. Looking around, they were surrounded by the red fruits, exploding one after another.
From an aerial perspective, it looked as if the monster was engulfed in a sea of fire.
Duke Buzz, Adair, and the members of the Inquisition Squad, who observed this scene from afar, felt a pang in their hearts. The power and range of these explosions were undoubtedly significant.
Just as they were considering whether to go for a rescue, the monster suddenly let out a mournful roar. Its upper-right leg was abruptly severed, causing its massive body to tilt towards that side.
Ye Xi and Dean then reappeared beneath the monster’s belly, having avoided the majority of the explosion damage.
Dean coughed violently, even a trace of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. The Magic Feathered Wings spell increased the protected individual’s movement speed by 20%.
Through precise control of his magic, Dean managed to apply the protective effect to Ye Xi even from a distance. With their speed increased by another 20%, they completed their strike on the upper-right leg before the full force of the exploding fruits could hit them, and then sought refuge beneath the monster’s uniquely safe underbelly.
It seemed, however, that Dean was struggling to hold on.
“Your body has been damaged to such an extent,” Ye Xi said, her eyes complex as she watched Dean wipe blood from his lips, feeling the magical enhancement recede like a tide.
Dean gasped for breath. “Didn’t I tell you? I once went to assassinate a true monster and was gravely wounded. I consider it a miracle that I’m still alive today.”
“Can you… continue?”
“Continue!”
Just as Dean and Ye Xi were preparing to act again, the monster, which had been so languid, suddenly stood up, relying on its five remaining legs.
Dean exclaimed in surprise, “The Withering Spell is gone?!”
“It hasn’t disappeared, but it’s become ineffective.”
Left Enforcer’s bitter voice cut through. “It seems to have evolved again, gaining resistance to the Withering Spell.”
“Damn it!” Dean cursed. However, they quickly lost the luxury of thought as several vines suddenly burst from the ground, nearly trapping them. Purple poisonous gas began to spray again, engulfing the area where the monster stood.
Dean, left with no choice, had to cast a Purification Spell on himself and Ye Xi once more.
Ye Xi, seeing this, communicated with Left Enforcer, “Purify the toxins around us with all your might. If this continues, Dean won’t be able to hold on.”
“Alright, but you need to be quick. The magic crystals here won’t last much longer.”
Left Enforcer didn’t hesitate, immediately transforming the spell to purify all the poisonous gas around the monster.
Dean and Ye Xi refocused on the monster’s lower-left leg. However, the monster, now sprinting wildly, was not so easily severed. Without Dean’s buffs and with his decreased strength, their killing power against a moving target had dropped. Ye Xi alone would find it difficult to cut through this leg in one strike.
If it couldn’t be severed in one go, with its current recovery ability, the damaged part would regenerate in the blink of an eye. Dean needed to cooperate with Ye Xi, but first, they had to stop the monster’s relentless attacks and movement.
****
[Male Best Friend: “My demands aren’t high: good-looking, can cook, not annoying, and most importantly, an interesting soul.”]
[Author’s Note: A new book, “Becoming the Best Choice for a Best Friend to Get Out of Singlehood,” features a protagonist who, due to an accident, becomes a young girl. The protagonist thinks: “Indeed, not high. It’s just that I haven’t found a girlfriend for over 30 years, combining my past and present lives.”
Then, the best friend looks at the girl, a satisfied smile on their face: “It’s nothing, 30 years of waiting was worth it. Now, I’m going to get out of being single!”
“Huh?!”
If you’re interested, please show your support, thank you!]