Chapter 164: On-Site Lecture
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When Baiyi was leading Mia to the town gate, he could already see a large number of devils, those brainless Fallen Imps and Gogs, who were gathering at the empty space that the caravan camped on just a few days before. The moment he saw them, he quickly cast a Stealth spell on the two of them so that they could get nearer to the devil army quietly and search for an ideal ambush point.
After taking into account of the devils' habits and assessing the pros and cons of the situation, Baiyi decided to let Mia launch the first blow and told her which direction and which spell that she should use.
What happened next was the scene that the female devil saw after that.
"That was a great aim, Mia!" The instance Baiyi intercepted the black bolt of lighting that was released by the female devil, their Stealth wore off as well. The two of them were directly facing the huge number of devils that was still increasing as they were speaking. Mia seemed to be a bit nervous but Baiyi, on the other hand, was so relax that he even had the time to praise her.
"Then, we shall proceed to the next step," Baiyi announced and took out his own Saint Quartz staff from his pouch at the same time. Together with Mia, they chanted an incantation and pointed their staffs towards the group of Gogs, shouting out the spell name in unison.
"FIREBALL VOLLEY!"
Balls and balls of tiny fireballs shot out without warning smashing at the Gogs. After a series of violent explosions, the enemy's long-range army was blown into pieces, the town behind Baiyi was temporarily safe from their attacks.
"This is usually the strategy that we sorcerers take during battles. First, we target the weakest point of the amy, then we go for the long-range troop that pose a threat to us. After that, we..." Baiyi continued to explain, turning the battle into an on-site classroom.
"RUN!" Mia finished Baiyi's last word. Together, both of them speedily took off and ran into the woods that was at the left side of the devils. The place that they were standing just a few seconds before was striked by two bolts of black lightning, shattering the gravels and soils on the ground.
"Remember, next time when you run, you have to give yourself a boost first so that it can help you run faster. Or, wear something that would help you to run better, don't just care about looking good, okay?" Baiyi ran while lecturing Mia who was being held under his arms at that very moment. She was wearing a short robe skirt and an open-toed sandals that were not convenient at all to run in. For that reason, Baiyi decided to just hoist her up so that they would be able to run faster.
"Do you still remember what I said before? There are only three reasons preventing a sorcerer from annihilating a legion all by himself. One, he doesn't have enough Mana. Two, he doesn't have enough Psychic Energy. Three, there's not enough distance between him and the enemy. So, what should we do now?" Baiyi continued his lecture.
Mia immediately reacted. Hastily, she took out a few potions from her storage pouch and finished them all in one gulp.
"Just running alone will not defeat the enemy. We have to fight back and distribute our workload," Baiyi was very satisfied with Mia's performance. Putting her back down, he stroked her head as an encouragement before he added, "I'll deal with those big guys and you deal with those little ones, alright?"
Instantly, the two of them turned towards their back and faced the devils that were chasing behind them. Once again, they cast a series of spells at the devils who could not see them clearly. With the woods and dark night as their cover, they ran and attack at the same time. Baiyi was giving Mia a lecture at the same time, too. Because of that, the spells that were made of all types of attributes smashed and blew the low-levels devils all over the place. The trees surrounding them looked like they have been ploughed up by bulldozers, trees were falling and uprooted everywhere, some of them were on fire as well. The bodies and the green blood of the devils were all over the ground. For a moment, none of the devils dared to give chase.
"Huff huff huff," Mia's face was slightly ashen. She was panting heavily as she leaned on Baiyi for support. Even though her Mana was overflowing, her Psychic Energy was still at the Advanced Level. It was also her first time paticipating in real battle. After a long period of casting magic, her Psychic Energy was fully depleted, leaving her with a splitting headache.
Yet, the feeling that she had was an exciting and elated one. It was the first time she fought side by side with Baiyi. The utmost care and systematic guidance that Baiyi showed her was more than enough to make her even more excited. She could not help but feel warmed by the care he showed towards her.
How nice it feels being able to protect everyone with Mr. Hope by my side.. . A thought flashed across Mia's dizzy mind.
Baiyi was not aware of the thoughts running through her mind. He was still engrossed in his lecture...
"Like I said before, the battlefield is different from an arena. A good sorcerer should learn how to choose an appropriate spell to cast. Don't blindly release those high power spells and waste your Mana. You need to evaluate the combat strength of your enemy first. You have to estimate the combat time and the distance range of your spell then only you choose a more appropriate spell to expel the weaker opponents. You have wasted too many powerful spells earlier," Baiyi explained to her as he helped rub her temples, "Beside this, magical scrolls and the spells that are enchanted on your equipments are important as well. They can help to decrease the amount of Mana that you need to use. But, because the battle today happened so suddenly, I didn't have them prepared beforehand..."
"Urghhh... I-I will remember that. Mr. Hope. D-Did we win already?" Mia rubbed her face on Baiyi's palm and asked with her brows furrowed together, trying hard to withstand the throbbing pain in her head.
"We still have a long way to go. This is also what I'm going to tell you next. Never underestimate your enemies, especially the devils. One of their main characteristics is that they are not afraid of death. They will usually let the low level devils become cannon fodders to deplete their enemy's strength first. You see..." Baiyi pointed at the group of devils that was standing still in front of them. There were no more Fallen Imps or Gogs in the group, instead, they were replaced by Ghouls, Cornugons, Minotaurs those sort of mid-level devils. Those were the real center fielder for the battle.
Mia's gaze followed his finger. Instantly, the heart that was relaxed just now began to tensed up again.
In truth, Baiyi was familiar with the tactic of the devils so he brought Mia along with him to give her some experience on the battlefield. By the time all the low-level devils were annihilated, the on-site lecture had also ended. It was no longer safe to bring Mia along with him for the upcoming battle. So, he hid her in the woods and before he left, he reminded her once again, "Remember to hug your sharkie tight. Don't bump into the barrier okay?"
"Sniff ... I-I'm so sorry, Mr. Hope. I-I'm so useless..." Leaning on a tree weakly, Mia's head was tilted sideway. Like a little wife who was about to send her husband off to a battlefield, her eyes were full of tears as she stared longingly at Baiyi.
"Mia, I like your kindness and I, too, appreciate your willingness to fight to protect the others. However, first , you have to be strong enough to do this!" Baiyi seized the opportunity to instill the mindset of pursuing of power in her before crouching down and helped her comb her hair that was unkempt due to the battle. He continued to add, "This is the last of our lecture today. If you to want to protect others, first, you need to have the power that is strong enough to do so. Right now, you don't have such power yet. But don't worry, okay? Let me protect them on your behalf."
Then, he stood up and with solemn resolution, he walked towards the devil army all by himself.
"M-Mr. Hope! Be careful please!" Mia muttered under her breath as she watched Baiyi slowly walking away from her. The hammerhead shark doll was already taken out from the pouch and it had replaced Baiyi in the task of massaging her temples... A Walker had already entered the doll.
In that moment, a thought entered her mind. An intent to fight shoulder to shoulder with the dark silhouette in front of her. Before this, the motivation behind her efforts in wanting to keep moving forward everyday was a golden silhouette but now, it had changed into a black one instead.
Baiyi was not aware that at that instance, the changes that he had always wanted to see in Mia had already been enrooted in her heart. Currently, he was standing in front of the group of devils and sizing up the female devil who was the most ferocious in the group. His gaze was focused on the emblem positioned right in the middle of her chest.
That face was so hideous and horrendous that it could stop a child from crying at night.
'Clap clap clap' The female devil applauded in front of Baiyi as a sneer appeared on her face, "What an interesting person! You actually dare to stand all alone in front of me, Evelyn, the most loved servant of Lord Thaas?" Sticking out her forked tongue, she licked her lips before she continued, "You know, I like people like you the most! I like your courage, because that's the thing that gives me the most pleasure! Hmmm, too bad you're a Soul Armature, otherwise I'd gladly give you a happy reward for that courage of yours..."
She continued to blabber on and was in no hurry to let the devils charge at Baiyi. Naturally, Baiyi was not interested in her words at all. Instead, he was busy discussing with the rest of the Voidwalkers about the name that she had mentioned... Thass, the Abyss Lord.
As one of the most powerful lords of the devils, Thass' power was no doubt unassailable. He was also the most devilish, bellicose lord among the three devil lords in this world. He posed the biggest threat to humanity and his minions were also the most frequent in invading human realms.
Still, according to the memory of many of the Voidwalkers, they remembered that this biggest enemy of mankind should have been dead a long time ago. When the female devil said his name earlier, the Cleric, Devil, Engineer and Apprentice all shouted in the Void at the same time, "That is IMPOSSIBLE!"
According to them, when that ferocious and merciless tyrant was going to consume his dinner of a group of clerics' souls, he was killed by his most devoted followers when they accidentally detonated themselves. Then, he had suffered a treacherous betrayal from the Devil along with another abyss lord and after giving his all in defeating the traitors, he hid himself to recuperate for a long, long time. For that reason, his force was divided by the other two lords and he was left with not many devoted followers. Before he had yet to fully recover, the human beings managed to hunt him down and seized the opportunity to exterminate him. In the end, he died in his own ruling realm.
The Engineer was one of the members of the expeditionary force during the hunt that time. Although he did not manage to escape from the space turbulence that was caused by the collapsing of the realm and became a Hentai Walker in the end, he saw with his own eyes that Thass was torn into pieces by other people and the marionettes that he forged himself. At that time, there were a few people from the Church Juridical Unit who was present at the scene as well. It absolutely not possible for him to survive under that circumstance and even if he did, he would already be banished into the Void.
Naturally, as the youngest Walker in the Void, the Apprentice had read that piece of information from a historical book when he was still alive.
Then, there was another major question that they did not have the answer to.
Who was the female devil with the Thaas emblem in the middle of her chest?