Pillar of Yita

Lady Tengye’s inn was becoming increasingly overrun by the undead.

Fang Hong didn’t even know where these creatures were emerging from, as if out of thin air, they swarmed in from the walls all around, materializing before them.

The defensive position formed by a few halberdiers at the front was faltering, they were exhausting all their strength but couldn’t hold back the number of ghost ’guests’ and ’servants’ that were several times their own. A claw pierced one man’s thigh, causing him to collapse to the ground bleeding profusely, then several hands reached out simultaneously from the front, grabbing his hair and arms, brutally dragging him away.

In an instant, he was submerged among the ghosts, leaving behind only a piercing scream. Even that scream gradually became faint, drowned out by the hoarse cries of the undead.

And this was precisely when Fang Hong’s three Fortress Walkers made their appearance—

He slightly raised his right hand, which was clad in control gloves, from left to right, spreading his fingers toward the undead. The ’Fortresses’ immediately steadied themselves, flared out their support struts, and began firing a golden line of fire through the swarming ghosts.

Wherever the eye could see, the effect was remarkably good—

The ghostly ’guests’ in front all fell down in a row. Fang Hong glanced at the data—ordinary ghosts were only slightly higher in level than skeletons, but their defenses weren’t impenetrable. In this narrow space, the effectiveness of this round of shooting was even better than last night.

”Ade, you?” Hansen asked in shock, staring at him wide-eyed, ”Are you a combat artisan from the Grand Guild of Invokers?”

With Fang Hong joining the fray, the pressure on the frontline had suddenly decreased, with most others turning their heads back, looking at him with a mix of surprise and uncertainty.

The young people who were previously eager to stir up trouble because of Hilveld were now all bowing their heads, pretending that Fang Hong couldn’t see them.

Though Fang Hong didn’t really care about that.

Even the antisocial scholar raised his head, thoughtfully glancing at the silver mask on Fang Hong’s face. But Fang Hong didn’t have time to socialize with these people about this issue.

He simply said, ”Mr. Hansen, have your men fight while retreating.”

”Retreat? Retreat where?” Hansen, being quite shrewd, quickly grasped the urgency of the situation and didn’t hesitate to ask directly.

”The corridor behind us; I’ve had it scouted by a Clockwork Fairy. There’s a window at the end of it. We can get out through there,” Fang Hong replied.

Hansen questioned, ”A window? There’s about three or four dozen of us, including you. It’s unlikely we’ll have enough time to escape through there.”

Fang Hong shook his head, ”Trust me, we’ll make it.”

Hansen had more to say, but after looking at the two Morning Knights rampaging through his ranks like a bulldozer, he ultimately sighed.

”Alright, but what about those two guys?” he asked, pointing at them.

”Leave them to me,” Fang Hong confidently stated, then turned to the Papalarian saying, ”Parker, Entangling Arrow.” In fact, as soon as the three ’Fortresses’ appeared at the inn’s entrance, he had given orders to the Papalarians, who had been fiddling with his War Gear Crossbow in the back all along.

Gita, observing what the Papalarian was preparing, blinked in surprise and asked softly, ”Brother Ade, is that the tactic Silver Weslan used against Tip of Thebes?”

Fang Hong looked at her in mild surprise, ”You know about that?”

Gita nodded slightly.

”I’m ready!” Parker finally called out, having prepared his crossbow, which he unfurled to its full width on its bipod, almost resembling a small crossbow cannon.

He comically gripped the crossbow cannon with both hands, struggling to aim it toward the smoke-filled hall.

In Eteliria, the power of a War Professional came from the weapons in their hands—the War Gear, and the magic guided reactor behind them—the Core Crystal, and their repertoire of ’Skills’ and ’Knowledge’ often revolved around the functions of their War Gear.

It was the same at this moment.

Parker was deploying the ’Cannon’ configuration of the Magic Guided Crossbow, also a key Basic Skill for a Crossbowman, which traded the archer’s Agility Attribute for gains in Accuracy and Strength.

His new Magic Guided Bow was called ’Disaster’, which, despite its intimidating name, at this Rank was actually a fairly common crossbow. Generally, it referred to the Fehu-III improvement type of Ishurian ’Furnace’ workshops, favored by Invokers after the Output Crystal had been stabilized, turning it into a ’Famous Bow’ widely discussed among Invokers.

He had lost his original Magic Guided Bow in the battle against the Elephant Nose Beetle, and afterwards at the Traveler’s Rest, he used an ordinary Crossbow for a while. Without a Magic Guided Bow, he had been reduced to using ammunition-type Skills in the fight against the Rock Shark. Thus, after reaching Elpaxin, under the Papalarians’ strong insistence, Atira agreed to replace his Crossbow with a new one.

This new bow wasn’t expensive; it cost just over ten thousand Lycels. Don’t compare it to Fang Hong’s Emerald Bird αAE Magic Guided Reactor; it was worth much less than the combined cost of all four Walkers.

Therefore, the Papalarians often grumbled in private that Elf Miss was biased.

Operating the Magic Guided Bow in Cannon form required a certain Strength Attribute from the Crossbowman, and it was apparent that Papalarians as a race naturally leaned towards Perception and Agility, while Strength was their weakness.

Consequently, Parker looked a bit clumsy using this ’big contraption’, having to raise his short arms high to support it. It was almost ridiculously laughable, which was why Fang Hong had doubted before whether anyone would choose to play as a Papalarian.