Chapter 2120 - 44: A Test of Wills (Part 1)

After all, isn't the Combat Artisan responsible for this on the battlefield?

But a surprised message came from the public channel:

"!?"

To avoid clogging the channel, Cuiye sent a text message.

Fang Hong hadn't yet understood what this message meant, he simply glanced in that direction—a bunch of people had already retreated to their right flank, and that guy, indeed eloquent, managed to rally a group and form a temporary team in such a short time.

Fang Hong looked around, roughly twenty people were visible.

Cuiye also looked in his direction and gave a thumbs up.

Cuiye felt he had latched onto a real bigshot, realizing this especially when he added people to the public channel and shared Fang Hong's battlefield information, observing their faces mix surprise with disbelief.

Admittedly, it wasn't a complex technique, just proficiency through practice, achievable through thousands of repetitions.

But being capable at this level meant they were bigshots in his book, unlikely to ever connect with someone like him.

Most could see the enemy's number and roughly inform which direction they're coming from—that in itself was remarkable. Trying to mark each enemy's location risked forgetting to control the Clockwork Fairy, potentially sending it out of the target area or crashing into something.

"Pull yourselves together, do you know how many words it took me to recruit such an expert?"

He didn't forget to boast: "Listen to my commands later, we'll proceed according to plan."

Though unaware of his exact effort, they nodded in agreement, favoring results over advertisements.

A few minutes later, news from various Combat Artisans came through, the Crystalysis Beasts began their assault—

Even without Combat Artisans, many teams' Magic Guided Conductors used Mage's Eye or similar spells to warn. Stars of blue flames flickered in the forest at this moment.

After the previous mishap, it seemed those on the defense finally realized the previous two assaults were disproportionate, holding back and not striking now.

But the Rangers had already set up their bows first, and the Papalarians dismounted their crossbows, setting them on the ground.

They were using Magic Guided Bows and Crossbows, certainly not lightweight contraptions, elemental lights flickered instantly in the air.

The first dark-blue tide surged from the forest, dense as if endless, numbering in the thousands.

Squeaks echoed from the forest, a row of towering Grey Treants advanced, overtaking the crowd, forming a Tree Wall in front of the defense line.

Perhaps due to this high and thick Tree Wall, the crowd gained some confidence, Fang Hong saw several Gunslingers emerge, aligning their Magic Guided Guns behind the Tree Wall—creating a firing line.

Gunslingers had the Line Tactics skill, close formation shooting significantly boosted accuracy, reload efficiency, and rate of fire. For Gunslingers, forming a line was almost instinctive.

Except for the Hunter Soldiers.

Hilveld specialized as such a Gunslinger, lying not far from Fang Hong, assembling and tuning her rifle behind a thorn thicket.

Fang Hong summoned his Dragon Hunters, four tall Constructs lined up, but due to fewer people in his direction, the four dark, slim Constructs hardly drew attention.

In truth, without firing, Dragon Hunters' inconspicuous humanoid appearances didn't draw much attention.

As for the Spear Cavalry behind the Dragon Hunters, their bulky look made them seem like battlefield main forces—cannon fodder.

But there were twelve Spear Cavalry units, their relentless firepower suppression only required the Closed Loop Device, saving Fang Hong much calculative power. He could control even more, but chose not to appear too extraordinary.

Truthfully, when he and Miss Tata were on the ship, Seven Seas Traveler was a real aircraft carrier; what limited its combat power wasn't the production of Spear Cavalry.

The constraint was simply the quantity of Earth Origin Crystals. His current materials definitely couldn't fulfill the Seven Seas Traveler's maximum control.

Nor could they even satisfy his own needs.

The direction's cluster of Order Minions attacked in three waves, but Fang Hong had marked them clearly, thus when they emerged from the forest, the defense line here was unsurprised.

The Rangers fired the first volley of arrows.

Aided by the Magic Guided Bow, their arrows were like a piercing wind, fog crossed the battlefield—each Feather Arrow traced a small arc over the battlefield, pouncing towards the first row of Disorderly Minions.

In single combat, these Ranger's levels couldn't hit their targets in the first round. But cluster combat was another concept; a battlefield narrow yet dense with thousands meant there's no escape.

And a storm of arrows left little room for leisurely evasion.

Earlier, Fang Hong noticed the Disorderly Minions possessed high attack power and agility at their level, but their weaknesses were obvious.

They severely lacked defense.

And this flaw was magnified in such a battlefield.

He almost watched that dark-blue shadow hit an invisible wall, crumbling amid the rain of arrows.

But another advantage compensated for this flaw: their terrifying numbers.

Thousands of Crystalysis Beasts formed an attack spearhead, an imposing tide of dark-blue surging from the scorched forest, the Rangers' volley just splashing amid this ocean.

Their speed was swift, almost abruptly crossing most of the open ground, nearing the Mithril Wall.

The tall Tree People began striding forward.

But all this occurred in other battlefield areas—

On the left flank of the entire battlefield, Fang Hong heard a clear voice from the right front:

"Fire—!"

It was Cuiye's voice.

Next, atop the surging blue tide, fire clouds gathered into oppressive clouds, revealing gold-red fissures amid the swirling clouds.

Like golden eyes opening, they flashed briefly, pouring dazzling light beams, like a fire rain falling from the sky, and plunged into the blue tide.

Order Minions turned to ash in the flame.

"Ritual Magic!"

"Whoa—damn!"

Others on the battlefield were shocked—yet not by the spell's destructive power, given Ritual Magic's famed prowess.

The key was its long preparation time, how impaired must these people's minds be, casting such a spell in such tense moments.

Yet those Disorderly Minions really had such steel nerves to charge right into it.

Such fortunate luck indeed?

...