Chapter 710: Act 70 – Brendel’s New Team, the Smallest Team Member
The interwoven flames of the tentacles suddenly spread over the treetops, casting a shadow over the heads of everyone present. However, due to Brendel’s prior warning, everyone was mentally prepared. The moment the black fire net appeared overhead, they all frantically ran left or right to escape the spell’s coverage. The black flames formed by dark magic descended, crackling through branches and leaves, turning the cedar forest into pillars of fire, burning fiercely and looking spectacular—yet no one was harmed.
Even the weakest knight in the guard just managed to avoid the fire net.
All of this happened in an instant. But for warriors of silver rank and above, even the blink of an eye is a long time—long enough for their explosive bursts of speed to exceed a hundred feet per second.
Especially for Xi, Nemeses, and Laurena, the air was split by their terrifying acceleration, forming a conical shockwave. The keen whistling of arrows tore through the forest, and those pale humanoid forms opened their dark mouths to emit silent screams, as if this was their way of communicating. The elemental spirits turned, their long fingers instinctively directing at the three leading girls.
But as if they shared a mind, the three figures simultaneously shifted their direction, leaving a long trail in the forest so that the black flames only struck the tree trunks behind them. The trio traced a long arc, their speeds nearly synchronized, but it was Laurena who launched the first attack.
As the young knight landed, her longsword, “Pride of Aivira,” was already in a striking position. She pressed her lips together, her sky-blue eyes sharp as an eagle. Her agile body felt like a tightly drawn bowstring mid-air, and the moment she landed— the long arc in the forest seemed to snap straight at a point, like a bullet firing from a gun. At that point, it drew a brilliant line piercing the magical spirits’ cluster.
However, this dazzling trajectory was destined not to reach its target; its beginning and end folded into a point, as Laurena’s figure appeared at both. The previous image gradually faded, while the latter wielded her gleaming sword, plunging it straight into the heart of the magical spirit.
That pale humanoid glowing in the forest seemed to maintain the expression of its wide-open, dark mouth for a moment; a silver line sliced through its chest to emerge from its back.
The attack was like a fleeting meteor, but the blackened wound on the pale body confirmed that it had indeed existed. Half of the magical spirit’s body hung grotesquely, dark magic gushing forth from the wound, with the center resembling a miniature nebula, constantly radiating and unleashing countless dark materials, finally expanding into a massive halo.
The halo swept across, as if an explosion consumed the entire forest.
Everyone felt a pang in their chests. “Dark magic,” the knight girl at the front groaned softly, “Be careful; it seems they release a large amount of dark magic upon death. This power will weaken us—”
Nemeses and Xi halted at her words. “What’s the range, can we find a way to avoid it?” The black flames in the hands of the other magical spirits rushed in, igniting the cedars in front of them. Nemeses could only retreat while cautiously asking.
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“The range is a thousand feet; you can’t avoid it. Try to increase the time interval before killing them. The magic’s erosion will last six to seven minutes,” Brendel’s voice came from afar.
“Extend the interval before killing them, how do we do that?”
Following closely behind the three girls, Phillas also approached the magical spirits. He looked up at the dense clusters of light rising above the treetops, unable to suppress a sharp intake of breath.
“Xi, you break their spells first—” Brendel calmly directed, his eyes fixated on the magical spirits scattered like stars in the summer sky. He stood beside Charles and Prince Younger, seemingly not intending to join the fray.
Because he understood he couldn’t always fight on the front lines; this was a quest, and he first needed a reliable team. The first step in forming a team was to know what each member could contribute in battle.
So he forced himself to calm down and observe how others performed in combat.
Laurena’s attack speed was too quick—
He hadn’t even had a chance to remind her. Fortunately, they were only magical spirits; the backlash from dark magic was merely a temporary weakening. If she had struck something like bone golems or self-destructing entities, the knight girl from Cruz would have likely gone from being uninjured to severely disfigured.
One must always exercise caution when facing unknown monsters; some creatures’ abilities can leave no chance for regret.
The flash sword was indeed a double-edged sword; its astonishing speed could play an extraordinary role in certain situations. But if the user was too impulsive, they could easily fall into danger.
After receiving the order, Xi’s onyx-like eyes flickered with thoughts on how to execute it. But as she looked up at the swarm of flying magical spirits, battle instinctively kicked in, and she quickly devised a plan. Countless black flames pursued her, slicing towards the ground from mid-air, but the mountain girl came to an abrupt halt, her fiery long ponytail sweeping in a circular arc as she slammed one foot into the ground, sending a shockwave of snow flying.
But her right hand simultaneously moved back, shedding the cloth wrapped around the heavenly blue spear.
With a soft hiss, all the magical spirits’ black flame tentacles struck the rising snow particles, and the high temperature instantly turned the ice crystals into steam. The white mist rose, but behind the thick fog, the girl had already assumed an attacking stance.
A bolt of lightning shot from the spear in her hand.
Flames swept over the treetops, igniting the branches in a fierce blaze, forming a layer of fiery cloud above Xi. But she roared and thrust the spear into the air above the forest, the spear blade trembling violently, as surrounding space seemed to bend—
“A Thousand Troops Strike!”
This was Medisa’s ultimate move, the signature ability of a silver knight. The spear’s blade compressed the air to a point and then shot out like a cannonball, with a tremendous bang. The blazing treetops appeared to explode into a massive void, the once fierce flames instantly scattering into countless sparks.
The move Xi learned was far less powerful than what Medisa had once utilized, but accompanying her attack were the special effects of the heavenly blue spear.
Countless arcs of lightning shot towards the night sky, blooming like a golden chrysanthemum, with each arc resembling a petal bending upwards, densely packed and uncountable.
Xi’s gaze darted rapidly, nearly unable to keep track; each bolt of lightning struck a magical spirit with impressive accuracy. Although the attack of a single arc was weak, it was still enough to repel those nearly intangible beings.
The approaching magical spirits were momentarily swept away, leaving the sky clear.
The magical spirits briefly paused their spells.
“Pahimira, Stone Barrier, place it close to those magical spirits,” Brendel frowned slightly. Xi had followed him the longest and had essentially adapted to his combat style, but still wasted a bit. Though her combat skills were already very high compared to others her age.
But they were still far from the level of top players, even inferior to him.
The priestess girl in a white linen robe walked forward barefoot, picking up her oak staff and tapping lightly on the ground twice. A grayish-blue light wall appeared between the magical spirits and everyone.
“Lord Traveler Mage, this wall can only last five seconds,” Pahimira reminded him in her mind. “If only I could regain some power, but now I can only keep it at a third-ring spell level.”
“That’s enough, but still too far.” Brendel replied, then immediately directed the others: “The Stone Barrier can block all attacks that are not physical, but beings of order can pass freely through this wall—everyone go through the wall immediately and attack the outermost magical spirits, injuring but not killing them. Pahimira prepare the next wall to be cast in the same position between the magical spirits and us.”
As soon as he finished speaking, seemingly to validate his words, the magical spirits’ next round of spell attacks all hit the Stone Barrier. The black flames exploded on the light wall, turning into dazzling fireballs.
Nemeses, Laurena, and the others understood Brendel’s tactics; as soon as the enemy’s spells ended, they immediately crossed the greenish light wall and dove into the magical spirits’ formation. But this time, the knight girl from Cruz had learned; she often cut off the magical spirit’s arm with one stroke, then used a wind blade to sweep it away.
The guard knights followed closely behind, mimicking her actions. Originally, in terms of strength levels, the magical spirits were slightly stronger than these knights, but with Pahimira’s Stone Barrier nearly touching the magical spirits, once the knights charged through the light wall, they were in close combat range.
After losing their long-range attack capabilities, the magical spirits were incredibly weak in melee combat, far from being opponents for silver-tier dedicated warriors. Often in a skirmish, they were easily pushed back by the knights brought by Brendel; only Brendel found it a little frustrating that their strikes weren’t as precise as Laurena and Nemeses, causing bursts of black halos in the forest, continually lowering everyone’s strength.
“It’s a pity that geniuses like Laurena and Nemeses are too few; I should have known to keep Brensen here,” Brendel couldn’t help but shake his head, one hand already resting on the sword hilt, ready to jump into the fray if the front lines couldn’t hold.
Yet, miraculously, as the strength of the guard knights significantly declined, the magical spirits became less likely to be defeated, making the battle somewhat easier.
Seeing this, Brendel finally let out a small breath of relief.
The pale humanoids emitted silent screams of frustration as they began to retreat, but often as they fell back a bit to prepare for the next round of spells, another blue light wall descended before them.
The knights couldn’t help but cheer upon seeing this; they could hardly imagine how the lord had devised such an outrageous tactic in such a short amount of time, but in a one-sided battle, no one would complain.
Among everyone, only Brendel and Pahimira frowned.
“How much magic power has been used?” Brendel asked in his mind.
“I have already cast the Shield of Determination seven times, consuming a total of 161 points of mana,” the priestess girl answered.
Brendel pursed his lips; the number was about what he calculated. A first-ring spell consumed 5 points of mana, a second-ring 10 points, a third-ring raised to 20 points, and so forth. However, actual consumption includes the caster’s own correction factor, so players could generally estimate spell costs.
In fact, when Charles, Medisa, and Pahimira became traveler mage beings, he had reviewed their detailed biological data on their cards and saw a player-like panel. Pahimira’s initial data was Strength 1.5, Agility 2.5, Constitution 1.5, Intelligence 2.1, Will 4.2, Perception 2.2, Bloodline 4.0, with an initial mana of 100 points. And after reaching level 30, her Will and Bloodline rose to 47.7 and 102.4, respectively, and her mana pool expanded to 300 points.
This meant that she could cast approximately six more spells under normal circumstances.
Even if he accurately calculated the magical spirits’ attack intervals, it wouldn’t last more than a minute. Moreover, Brendel thought that Pahimira was far from being able to estimate time so precisely.
This team still fell short of what he desired. In the game, this tactic was developed by the “Crystal Apple” guild, but the legitimate use was not like this. It required team members to simultaneously kill multiple magical spirits, then a mountain priestess or sanctuary priest would cast the Shield of Determination to block the backlash from dark magic.
However, neither the knights nor Pahimira was capable of such precise calculations, thus he had to come up with a compromise.
But a minute could be considered enough.
Brendel glanced one last time at the intense battle at the front lines, then turned his head. Some scattered magical spirits had already bypassed the defenses, coming to their flank. However, that direction was managed by Freya and Medisa and was not a significant concern for now.
Just as he looked that way, he suddenly reached out to grasp, and the elemental power activated instantly. A magical spirit still wandering in the distance had no ability to resist and was immediately engulfed by the power of space, reappearing in an instant not far from him.
It was the soul of a female elven mage, appearing to have been a beautiful lady in life, but now had transformed into a soulless shell. The magical spirit was captured by Brendel’s elemental energy; forcibly stripped to this place. At first, it seemed a little confused, but Brendel had already pulled a magic crystal from his pocket. The crystal radiated a strong magical aura that instantly attracted the creature’s attention, and it quickly turned around.
In that moment, the huntress girl Peiya and the Prince Younger both gasped in fear.
The elven mage’s eyes were wide open, devoid of whites, appearing as dark voids, almost like a ghost. A mouth that opened and closed was also surrounded by swirling black smoke, her entire body looked like a puppet filled with dark magic. This terrifying appearance, coupled with her nearly perfect upper body curve, exuded an eerie beauty.
“Haruzé.”
“Teacher…?”
“Here’s a gift for you.” Brendel suddenly yanked the back collar of Prince Haruzé, tossing the magic crystal inside. The cold crystal instantly made the beautiful boy shiver; his face paled further: “Ah—!”
But that short scream came to an abrupt stop. Because he saw those dark eyes fixed on him.
The future King Erluin was momentarily stunned—
“Brendel, what are you doing?” Freya turned around just in time to see the scene.
“Teacher?” Haruzé asked tremulously.
Brendel did not answer them. He smiled slightly and selected a pre-prepared glimmering magical sword from the dimensional rift, then tossed it beside the young prince: “This sword is called ‘Loyalty of Shirkai I’; take it and go kill that magical spirit.”
The young prince was already completely dumbfounded, looking at him with a pitiful expression.
“Quickly!” Brendel said sternly. “If you don’t kill her, she will kill you.”
The young prince flinched at Brendel’s scolding and then picked up the sword from the ground, trembling—a sword that was obviously too heavy for him, requiring both hands to barely grip the hilt—its blade awkwardly dragging along the ground, his face flushed, on the verge of tears.
But he drew in a shaky breath and, still trembling, turned toward the magical spirit.
Brendel looked at the young prince, who appeared so weak and pitiful, almost like a vulnerable young girl.
He raised his head slightly and noticed that the magical spirit was already approaching within about one hundred and forty feet. In fact, Brendel had seen it lift its long, slender arms.
He shook his head, deciding to lend Haruzé another hand.
The next moment—
Prince Younger vanished in an instant, and when he reappeared, it was right in front of the magical spirit. At that moment, both Haruzé and the creature before him seemed startled; the prince due to the sudden appearance of the monster, the magical spirit because its prey suddenly entered close combat range, unexpectedly freezing in place.
Both opened their mouths, staring wide-eyed at each other.
“Haruzé,” Brendel reminded him, “if you don’t deal with her within five minutes, next time you see Mi Kaya, you’ll be wearing a dress—”
“A dress?” At that moment, Peiya, who was standing by, seemed to have just reacted: “Wait, who is Shirkai?” She seemed very interested in that magical sword.
“He was a knight; it is said that a dragon-riding wizard killed his fiancée and family. Later, he researched an entire set of tactics specifically against wizards for revenge. Although this heritage has been lost, his sword remains, known as the famous enemy of wizards,” Brendel replied.
“I think I’ve heard my father tell that story…” Peiya blinked her dark eyes. “But why is that sword called ‘Loyalty of Shirkai I’?”
“Because I made a total of ten of that sword.”
Brendel simply answered.
…
(PS: Alright, I sneaked back to write after the New Year’s meal. I’m already risking my life here! I ask all of you for support; by the way, it seems there’s no double reward, so if any of you have monthly tickets, feel free to throw them my way!) (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations or monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)
