Translator: AtlasStudios Editor: AtlasStudios
Hiller put down his sword and looked at Rhode, who was standing not far from him. Rhode was looking at the Wind Snake Lord corpse below him, thinking about something Hiller didn’t know.
Frankly, he didn’t really have a good or bad impression of the Starlight mercenary group.
When he first found out about its existence, he only thought that it was unbelievable. But it was only to that extent, and he didn’t really care about them anymore. It had been so many years since he first became a mercenary; he had seen a lot of things and so he didn’t really feel strange about it. This kind of thing could happen anywhere. New mercenary, new leader; no matter what, it wasn’t his problem.
After meeting Rhode for the first time in the Mercenary Joint Meeting, Hiller became quite curious about the handsome young man. It wasn’t because of his appearance, but rather because of his attitude. During the Mercenary Joint Meeting, Rhode said that he wanted to destroy the Jade Tears mercenary group, but the way he said it didn’t make it seem like he held a deep hatred toward them. It was purely because of contemp, just like a person standing high above and looking at the ants below him. He just felt angry because those ants were blocking the way.
He didn’t even seem to think about them as a human beings.
Hiller didn’t know why did he felt like that. In general, he thought he was supposed to feel that Rhode was a cruel guy—his heart already distorted and a man without common sense. However, he didn’t feel like that toward Rhode. Rhode was smart, rational, calm, and composed. Rhode had also chosen to save him, which meant that he didn’t lack any positive characteristic that a human was supposed to have.
But his attitude was still the same.
Hiller could feel the way that Rhode look at him. Beside calmness, there was a trace of admiration in his eyes. But it wasn’t an admiration toward a human being. To the contrary, the way Rhode looked at Hiller was like someone looking at a painting or a legendary sculpture.
Who is this young man?
Rhode didn’t know what Hiller was thinking about right now. After fighting hand in hand with Hiller, it had reminisce him about his previous life as a player. During those times, he would also accept this kind of quest, battle together with an NPC, gain EXP points, level up, complete quest, obtain equipment, and receive rewards. It really never got old.
Now, it seemed like he had gone back to those days.
“Two Wind Snake Lords.”
Rhode looked at the battlefield, and there was a slight disappointment in his calmness.
“It’s one less that what they said, and the mage didn’t appear either.”
“I think he’s going to show up soon.” Holding the wand on her hand, Marlene’s face turned gloomy. “Although it’s only a little, I can feel the magic wave. He should be monitoring us… This is clearly not a good sign, Mr. Rhode. Even though I cannot make an accurate judgement, I think the opponent’s magic level is higher than mine. It’s going to be troublesome.”
“How many bottles of the precipitation potion do we have left?”
“Eight bottles; they can only support us for an hour at most.” Lize quickly checked the inventory and answered.
One hour.
Rhode lifted his head to look at the sky. The Wind Snake group was still surrounding them from afar and didn’t seem like it was planning to retreat. That meant that even though they still could persevere for one hour, it would still be useless.
“What should we do next? Leader?”
Anne held the gold shield in her hand, her face covered in blood and overwhelmed with fright. But she looked like her energetic self and stared at the other mercenaries who sat on the ground in silence. During the battle, Randolf and others didn’t instantly use the skills they learned from training with Rhode. When facing this kind of enemy, they seemed to have just forgotten about the skills they learned and reverted back to their usual fighting style. Naturally, the outcome was just as he has expected. If not for Shauna’s command and management, the current strength of Starlight members would have decreased.
Lapis’s performance was even worse. At first, she gathered her courage to fight, but when a Wind Snake Lord’s tail passed by above her, the pitiful girl immediately screamed and squatted down while protecting her head. She stayed in that position until the battle ended. Although this form of self defense seemed extremely weak, it did still managed to hold. While mercenaries were lying on the ground because they were injured by the Wind Snake Lord’s counterattack, she actually lasted until the end of the battle without injury.
However, that didn’t mean it cost her nothing. Because she squatted for too long, right now she was unable to stand up…
“Call Hiller here, we have to discuss about the next battle.” After thinking for a while, Rhode made a decision.
“What, lure him out?”
Hearing Rhode’s words, Hiller’s adjutant immediately blurted out. Hiller also frowned. Although he didn’t say anything, the way he looked at Rhode clearly showed his bewilderment.
“That’s right.” Rhode nodded and quickly explained. “There’s isn’t much precipitation potion left. To protect this many people, it will only last for one hour. Within one hour, it’s impossible for us to get away from here. But, if we wait until we used up the precipitation potion, things will get very troublesome. During that time, the mage who was hiding from us will use the same tactic to trap us here. That’s why we must lure him out and force him to confront us. If we can finish him, then we will be done.”
“But mage rarely fight upfront.” The adjutant said while looking at Marlene, whose eyes were closed.
“Moreover, since there are only eight precipitation potion left, then couldn’t we leave before we used them up? Or, we can make more of it…”
“The material has been used up.” Rhode shrugged. “And there’s no time to make these potion anymore, but… This is exactly what I’m going to say.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Hearing Rhode’s words, the adjutant was surprised.
“Very easy, even though we know that we only have eight bottles of precipitation potion left, the opponent doesn’t know about it. We could pretend to keep using the potion to face the Wind Snakes. At that time he will inevitably come out himself. My idea is very simple. First, we will be using the potion’s effect to keep moving forward to show him that we’re not in any panic. Then, we will rest to show that we have the power to make that potion anytime. By doing so, he will inevitably came out personally since Wind Snakes are afraid of gas element precipitation. But as a contracted mage, it’s not a big deal for him. As long as we can successfully lure him out to fight us, it means we have succeeded halfway. Next, we will just have to finish him.”
“But… What if…”
“Then we will inevitably die.” Rhode of course knew what he meant.
“But if we use up the precipitation potion, our fate will be almost the same. That’s why at least, we need take the initiative since many mages are…” Speaking until here, Rhode looked at Marlene and then continued talking. “Conceited and think that their intelligence can see through any scheme. I think… we can do something about this.”
“But, but…”
Hearing until here, the adjutant stood up, but he didn’t manage to finish his words and was stopped by Hiller. This serious and calm man looked at Rhode for a moment then nodded. “… Let’s do it.”
It really was a dejected translation and helpless explanation.
The black-cloaked mage quickly noticed his target began to move.
However, it was different from what he had expected. They didn’t try to leave the forest in rush. To the contrary, their movement was strict and disciplined, but also not too fast. It seemed like they were walking toward the Twilight Forest outer border. What happened? Weren’t they afraid of being surrounded by Wind Snakes?
Seeing this scene, the black-cloaked mage frowned. He began to regret underestimating the opponen, which caused him to lose two Wind Snake Lords. But since he still had his trump card, there was no problem in losing some small fries: at least he was able to see their strength. Among them, there should be no one with enough ability to threaten him. The same with the mage girl that he noticed before. Although the girl had entered a middle circle at such a young age, which made him quite surprised, she was still lacking a lot compared to him.
However…
Thinking until here, the black-cloaked mage narrowed his eyes. The girl was very talented and made him felt quite threatened. He spent almost 50 years to finally achieve his current strength; that girl was only about 17 or 18, but has already in the middle circle. If he didn’t finish her now, there might be another strong warrior in this country in the future. To him, it was definitely not good news.
He needed finish her now before she grew up.
Thinking until here, the black-cloaked mage clenched both of his fists and gradually condensed his magic.
The mercenaries carefully moved forward under the two leaders’ command.
Although they were puzzled as to why they didn’t leave this ghostly place immediately, they didn’t ask and only quietly followed from behind, carefully looking at the surroundings while recovering their energy.
At this moment, Rhode was walking beside Marlene. “Are you really unable to find out the opponent level?”
“It’s very difficult, Mr. Rhode. I can only be sure that the opponent is a lot stronger than me. His control toward elemental magic is also higher than mine. I’m unable to accurately pinpoint his strength. Except in an upfront battle, it’s going to be a very difficult thing to do.”
It was going to be troublesome.
Rhode frowned. He was not afraid of the opponent since if he couldn’t finish the mage, he could just summon Qilian to solve the problem. It was just that Rhode didn’t want to use this method because summoning the card require too much sacrifice; it would be better to save it for later.
At first Rhode still hoped that he could solve the problem by relying on his own strength, but it seemed that the current situation wasn’t too good.
Although they defeated the Death Knight, which was a strong opponent, it was an upfront battle, so as long as they had enough people and enough strength, it wasn’t difficult. However, mages was different—they were sly and feared. They have many methods to keep their life; except in the case of a deadly strike, they would still be able to completely escape. The only subordinate that Rhode could set for battle was Marlene. But although she was a genius, but she wasn’t ultimately a warrior. Marlene was still lacking experience in this kind of confrontation.
Then what should he do? Should he use Qilian?
Let see how the situation turns out.
Thinking until here, Rhode lifted his head to look at the sky once more. His expression suddenly turned serious. He quickly held onto Marlene and rolled to the side.
“Be careful!”
At the same time, a thunderbolt hit straight down from the gloomy dark clouds, to the spot where Marlene stood just now.
