Chapter 65: Casting Spells
2014-11-28
Author: Zhuseng Futuo
The militia reacted quickly; a volley of arrows immediately shot forth. These nearby villages, close to the wilderness, had many hunters, hunting being one of their main sources of meat. However, the hunters primarily used short bows and hard bows, which were nowhere near as deadly as longbows. Even at close range, these arrows failed to inflict fatal damage on the ogres, instead provoking them into a frenzied rage.
The ogres used their thick arms to shield their heads, with two arrows lodged in one arm and several more hitting their bodies. They wore crude leather armor and had thick layers of fat; such wounds would be no problem even if repeated ten times. On the contrary, the frenzy they entered caused their skin to redden, and their attack power became increasingly ferocious. Second-tier ogre warriors automatically gained a spell-like ability that many were familiar with—’Blood Frenzy,’ or perhaps it should be called ‘Blood Berserk.’ Although these ogres were not yet second tier, they already possessed the initial talents for frenzy.
The biological level of ogres is 5, and a warrior profession level reaching second tier equates to a total level of 15.
They can transform into raging killing machines!
“Get out of the way!”
The militia captain roared, shouting at a middle-aged man beside him, “Kalath! Milos!” “White Crow Formation!”
Accompanied by the captain’s roar, two visibly stronger militiamen rushed over. As they shouted, their muscles bulged as if inflated. Their temples swelled, and bulging veins were visible on their arms; both the force and speed of their attacks increased dramatically.
It was almost comparable to the ferocity with which Soren unleashed his sword intent.
—Breath-Chopping Strike.
The profession ability of a second-tier warrior maximizes their strength in a short period, although the duration lasts less than one or two minutes, the explosive damage inflicted is several times that of a normal strike. This ability is usually used as a desperate maneuver by second-tier warriors, and they can only activate it once a day, with the duration determined by their constitution, but it typically does not exceed two minutes.
“White Crow Tactics?”
Soren was momentarily surprised and then tightened his grip on the curved blade, wandering nearby. He was quite familiar with the renowned ‘White Crow Tactics.’ The White Crow Swordsmanship is a relatively advanced combat skill. When two people use it in cooperation, they can form an interlaced attack net. When used by three or more individuals in cooperation, it becomes a small team formation. Such combat techniques rarely appear among ordinary adventurers; the three individuals before him seemed to have previously participated in warfare. Only an army would train in White Crow formations!
The White Crow Swordsmanship consumes a great deal of physical stamina. The three middle-aged militiamen formed a downward triangle, advancing in an interlaced manner, their long swords slicing through the air with cold light. Their coordinated attacks crushed everything in their path, managing to slay five or six lizardmen in a mere thirty seconds. This sudden burst of killing power greatly boosted the morale of the others, drawing the lizardmen’s attention to them. Just as they prepared to concentrate their strength on attacking the ogre, a soft sound of a bowstring vibrating suddenly rang out.
“Longbowmen!?”
A cold light flashed in Soren’s eyes as he suddenly leapt high, using the fence to propel himself six or seven meters into the air. The limit of 20 points in exceptional agility erupted at that moment. In an instant, he drew his crossbow and aimed it blindly at the location of the longbowmen. In the short air time, he was unable to lock onto the target’s position, relying only on sight and instinctual judgment to retaliate against the direction from which the arrows came.
Two screams rang out!
One was from a seasoned militiaman in the White Crow formation; one middle-aged man was shot through the abdomen, and his reaction faltered just long enough for an ogre to smash his head, brains and viscera splattering everywhere. The scene stunned everyone into silence, followed by a heart-wrenching scream from a young man; the deceased middle-aged man was his father.
The other scream came from outside; Soren successfully hit the lizardman longbowman. Although it was unclear if he hit a vital point, the poisoned crossbow bolt was enough to incapacitate it. Longbows required significant physical capability from the user; although their lethality was outstanding, their effectiveness diminished sharply upon injury. At most, the opponent could shoot once or twice more, relying on sheer willpower. Longbowmen were a precious combat role, and the lizardmen had not revealed theirs on the front lines until now.
Bang!
A dull thud echoed as the militia captain, using the White Crow tactic, managed to kill an ogre. However, as the duration of the Breath-Chopping Strike reached its end, his explosive power began to plummet. When he slashed open the belly of one ogre with his long sword, he was hit on the arm by a delayed reaction; his arm twisted violently, and without needing to look, he already knew the bone had snapped completely.
Without a priest to cast divine techniques, healing this injury would leave him crippled, unable to lift heavy objects ever again!
Thump, thump, thump.
The morale that had just recovered quickly fell again; the number of militia casualties had reached half. Although there were still many adult men and hunters in the village, their combat capabilities held little advantage against the lizardmen. If nothing unexpected happened, this village would fall in a very short time, and the lizardmen rushing in would unleash a massacre, with the ogres feasting until full and packing food to take back. The lizardmen must have paid some cost to drive these ogres to attack.
The young men in the village desperately tried to rescue the militia captain, despair evident in everyone’s eyes.
The balance of victory had tipped towards the enemy!
Soren’s expression was grim as well; there were quite a few lizardmen, and some more archers outside. If he forced his way out, he might find himself trapped outside. The militia had begun to contract their formation, many trembled as they gripped their weapons, retreating little by little. It was already very difficult to hold the village gate, and remaining here would only lead to being surrounded by the lizardmen from the side. By then, as long as the archers occupied the high ground, they could shoot them down.
Heavy footsteps sounded.
The lizardmen momentarily slowed their attacks, and then a massive dark green lizard, weighing about half a ton, appeared. On its back was a shriveled lizardman druid. It held a withered vine staff, on which a fresh leaf had surprisingly sprouted. Among all druids, it seemed like only lizardmen could easily recruit swamp giant lizards as their animal companions.
—Bind Spell.
The lizardman druid threw out something resembling a dandelion seed, and instantly, many vine-like plants sprang up on the ground within a fifteen-meter radius. These plants wrapped around the legs of those nearby, growing wildly and trapping them in place; some weaker individuals were directly bound by the vines, unable to move their weapon-wielding arms at all. However, some individuals were fortunate to evade, or had been forewarned; Soren had already jumped to evade before the druid cast the spell, while swinging his curved blade to cut the vines.
The Bind Spell was the most commonly used opening spell by druids; how could he have had no precautions?
However, what Soren had not expected was that although he successfully dodged and cut the vines, this made him the lizardman druid’s primary target.
It raised a hand and sprinkled a cloud of dark green powder while casting spells rapidly.
—Plague Spell.
Soren’s arm swelled instantly, and in a few seconds, blisters formed on the exposed skin of his body; the wounds began to fester, pus dribbling down his wrist, nearly making him drop his curved blade.
A series of data appeared:
“You are affected by the Plague Spell! … Plague death saving throw triggered! … Constitution resilience saving throw in effect! …”
“Successfully passed the death-saving throw.”
“You have received 18 points of plague damage; you will be affected by the plague for the next 15 minutes.”
…………
A fallen witherer among the druids.
Soren looked at the pus-filled blisters on his arm with a grim expression. He had originally planned to break through, but he suddenly stopped. Even if he were to leave, he needed to deal with the lizardman druid in front of him first. If it remained alive, the militia would quickly collapse without anyone to draw attention, making it difficult for him to escape successfully.
“Damn it, did you think you were the only one who could cast spells?” Soren growled, pulling out a spell scroll and immediatly said, “Pay 2500 points of killing experience!”
“Part-time Wizard.”
A wave of elemental energy surged forth; Soren instantly felt the existence of the magical network in the void.
He tore open the spell scroll, and a burst of shadow energy erupted.
Wanderers without sufficient skills cannot use high-level scrolls, but wizards have no such restrictions; as long as they activate the spell model on the scroll using mana, they can directly use spell scrolls exceeding their own profession level.
—Shadow Black Tendrils.
