Chapter 167: That Sounded so Wrong
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Looking down at the remains left in his hand, Baiyi sighed as he shook away the ashes exasperatedly and changed the Void Energy in his body back to Mana, "Sigh, I didn't get any information out of her and not only that, I didn't get any material from any of them at all , too. Urghh, I shouldn't have been so heavy handed when I was dealing with them..."
In truth, a devil's heart, horns and some other parts would make very good magical materials but her whole body had turned into ashes. And all those mid-level devils had long been burnt into nothingness by him.
Still, it was not a total loss. It was extremely rare being able to unleash his Void Energy and that feeling of freedom was one of the very best.
Baiyi walked towards the crack and prepared to seal it off. The thing was too unstable so he would need to be meticulous in the process of shutting it down. If there was a slight mistake, space turbulence might take place but that was still relatively okay. If the crack happened to widen to the point that it became permanent, then that was when the real problem would arise. Currently, there were a few permanent cracks in Isythre that was left by some idiotic sorcerers who used powerful magic to smashed them open.
Right now, the crack was still oozing spatial fluctuation, indicating that it was still operating normally but there were no more devils that were coming from the other side. Looked like the invasion was carried out by a medium-sized troop. The collocation of weak-strong combination was a standard vanguard formation for a troop. Other than the Tiamat whose chest was imprinted with that emblem, medium-sized invasion was quite common in Isthyre even when there were no wars going on. Still, it was pretty rare for the invasion to take place in human dwellings.
As a matter of fact, the realm crack wasn't as easy to open as one might think. Other than those large-scale permanent cracks, wanting to create a new one in a peaceful place usually would need a mole or two from the human world to open the crack from their side. Those moles were usually either those who had been bewitched or signed contracts with the devils, or members of cults.
Obviously, the Godsfall sect was the one who helped them this time. However, the sect did not seem to be as simple as an ordinary cult. After the long drawn out battle, Baiyi knew that he could no longer catch up to them. He was certain that they must possessed quite a lot of experience in fleeing so he decided to place his focus on the matter on hands first and it was to seal the crack up and leave the rest to the Church.
Just as he divided a part of his Psychic Energy out to investigate, a burst of footsteps rang out behind him. He turned back and saw Mia running towards him with her hammerhead plushie in her arms. Hastily, she threw herself into his embrace.
"Sniff... M-Mr. Hope, thank goodness you're alright!" Mia exclaimed and snuggled against him at the same time. Looking around the quiet surrounding, she did not find it surprising at all, instead, she proclaimed proudly, "You really wiped out all of the monsters, Mr. Hope! I knew it! My Mr. Hope is the most powerful person ever!"
"Hey, it's no big deal," Baiyi instantly felt relaxed. Intimately, he stroked Mia's head and cleared the grass and debris off her robe before asking her in a concerned tone, "How are you feeling? Are you hurt anywhere? Is your head still feeling dizzy?"
Mia shook her head rapidly. Raising up her cute face, she flashed a wide grin towards him. It was obvious that she looked so much better than she did before. It looked like the Psychic Rejuvenation Potion had already taken effect a while ago.
"Sharkie came to protect me again! My Sharkie is really amazing!" The little girl said as she rubbed her face on the hammerhead shark's tummy. As she was doing that, a flash of disappointment suddenly appeared on her face, "B-But, I didn't get to see clearly how you defeated those devils, Mr. Hope."
"I'll tell you next time, okay?" Baiyi replied and lifted a hand to pinch Mia's cheek.
Just like the Tiamat said, since she already knew that Mia was hiding in the woods, there was no reason for her to let Mia go so easily. When she was battling with Baiyi, a group of devils had went behind him and secretly made their way towards Mia in the woods.
Of course, Baiyi had noticed that a long time ago. But because the number of devils who went was still within the ability of the hammerhead shark doll to handle, he did not bother to go look for her. He had chosen a Walker who was not that professional but whose strength was unrivaled.
When the enemy was making their way towards her, Mia had noticed it and she was extremely nervous hugging her hammerhead shark plushie tight in her embrace. As she was afraid of disrupting Baiyi's battle, she decided to not ask for help and with all her might, she tried to stand up so she could flee. However, the pain and dizziness in her head caused by the depletion of her Psychic Energy was not something that her weak body could withstand. No matter how hard she tried, she still could not lift her body up.
For that reason, the shark could not stand it anymore. With a push, it leapt out from Mia's embrace and patted her head consoling her. Then, it circled the surrounding twice before vanishing from her sight. It seemed like it intended to hide itself away and wipe the enemy out secretly in the dark.
"S-Sharkie, where did you go?" Mia asked somewhat worriedly before looking around her surrounding. Without warning, she reached a small hand into the bush in front of her and grabbed the tail of the shark. Perplexed, she asked, "Sharkie, why are you hiding here? Don't be scared, okay? I'll take you along with me!"
The fins of the shark dropped down immediately like a dried marinated fish who had lost all hope, as if it was doubting itself. Being a Voidwalker, regardless of his level of professionalism, he would never stoop so low to the point that he needed to be protected by Mia. Once again, with all his might, he freed himself from Mia's grip and swam to a more distant place before hiding himself again.
After a short while of silence, a Calydonian's voice could be heard from the distance telling his comrades that there was a strange thing stuck between the twigs of the trees above them...
Seriously, how smart could a boar be right?
Needless to say, the shark immediately became furious with rage. Deciding to give up on his stealth, it charged frenzily towards the group of devils and slaughtered all of them in a flash. Although the Chi prowess inside the shark provided for him was not that much, but with that amount of small energy, it was more than enough for a powerful Walker to wipe them out completely.
After all, having the Chi Shield switched on all the time was totally different than releasing the shield at the very last minute when the enemy was about to hit your body. Similarly, enveloping your blade with Chi all the time was different from enveloping it at the very final minute when your blade was about to touch your enemy's throat. The amount of energy used and the volatility would be different as well. And the Walker who was skilled in lurking and assassination was exceptionally impressive when it came to that technique.
Like a fierce lion, he lunged at the devils before he skipped, leapt, somersaulted, dove and plummeted and just aimlessly smashed into every devil that entered his sight. When he came in contact with those devils, then only would he unleash a small Chi blade on the shark's head, easily cutting through the necks of all those devils, leaving them to bleed to death.
Although his fighting skill was refined and polished, in terms of being covert it was still a little lacking...
The fact that Mia discovered him when he was lurking around was still acceptable but to actually get discovered by a ludicrous boar?
So, that was what happened on Mia's side. All of her attention was distracted by the hammerhead shark plushie who seemed to have gone berserk so she did not pay any attention to Baiyi who wiped the devils out in a blink of an eye. In fact, Baiyi knew that she was not looking at him at all and that was why he felt at ease going all out with his Void Energy.
She would not be suspicious as to why he was so strong.
Now that the town's crisis had temporarily been lifted, although there were still many questions in his head, but with Mia being hugged tightly in his embrace and the crack in front of him that he still needed to repair, he decided not to think about them first. Holding Mia's little hand, he taught her the correct method to seal the crack up step by step and although that knowledge might not come in handy, it was still a good training exercise for her to practice her control on her magic.
While he was lecturing, he performed all kinds of demonstrations and from time to time, he would let Mia use her Psychic Energy that had just recovered to take charge and handle the process, playing with her hair when she did it right and pinching her cheeks when she got it wrong.
To his surprise, Mia did not object to his way of teaching at all. All the while, she snuggled closer in his arms while listening to him seriously without finding it boring or mundane at all.
It was obvious that at that moment Mia's adoration for Baiyi had grew even more. After going through a long night of battle side-by-side with Baiyi, all of her tiredness and nervousness was swept away by the intense fighting. Right now, she still looked very excited with no hint of fatigue at all.
Unfortunately, sealing up the crack was a very tedious job. In truth, the heartwarming lesson did not last very long. In just a short amount of time, Lord Nolan came with reinforcement that was made up of a few other young men from the town with grass-pitchforks in their hands and familiar militia armors covering their bodies.
It was a good thing that Baiyi was fast enough and wiped out all the devils before they entered the scene. Otherwise, if those people really joined in the fight, it would give him even more trouble.
Looking at how Baiyi was hugging Mia while giving her a lesson, Lord Nolan did not reveal a look of displeasure like he usually would but instead, he just gave a loud cough several times to attract Mia's attention.
"Daddy!" Mia shouted happily and quickly freed herself from Baiyi's embrace before throwing herself into her father's arms, "Mr. Hope and I saved the town together!" The girl announced proudly, "Although it might seem like I didn't do much but I worked really hard,too!"
Baiyi was hit by a light pang of disappointment. Hastily, he sealed the crack up and walked towards them. Nodding his head curtly at Lord Nolan, he praised, "She did well. Right now, we're all safe for the moment. How's things with the townspeople?"
"As per your instruction, they have all moved to the Wyllspring Beorg," Lord Nolan reported and the gaze that was looking at Baiyi had somehow changed. In a serious manner, he said, "Thank you so much for everything that you've done for us!"
"It's my pleasure," Baiyi replied modestly.
Looking at the two most important men in her lives interacting in relatively harmonious way, a relieved smile crept up onto Mia's face. Touched, she lifted up both of their hands and placed them together on her own as she announced, "We're now a family!"
What a sentence that would easily give rise to misunderstanding.
The next day, a rumor of how Lord Nolan's son-in-law and Mia had managed to save the town from the devil's grasp began to spread all over town.