Pillar of Yita

The girl ran frantically through the woods, bullets whistling by her from time to time. Right then, she saw a familiar face, motioning to her from behind a rock.

”Hes, this way!”

”Mr. Ade!” Hes’s face showed urgency as she blurted out, ”Someone’s after me—”

She was cut off midway by two individuals who emerged from the brush behind her.

Fang Hong noticed the two individuals were in lightweight attire, their wide-sleeved white shirts slightly yellowed, the leather armor on their robes fastened with straps, dual swords sheathed, broad belts, and long boots, one of them with a dragon-head short gun at the waist.

These were the region’s specialty, Dual Swordsmen, both of them of no low level, between that of a second-tier Duel Swordsman and a third-tier Orbery Great Sword Master, looking to be around levels 15 or 16.

The one with the dragon-head short gun might not be a pure Dual Swordsman, having experience also as a Gunslinger—it’s either a Musketeer with a leaning towards swordsmanship or a Dragon Cavalry with an inclination towards gunslinging.

Fang Hong had anticipated pursuers, but facing two opponents ten levels higher clearly wasn’t within his power. Originally, when he used the Type I Walker, he could challenge opponents seven or eight levels higher, and with Miss Tata’s ability as a Fairy Master, his combat power could be boosted by a further thirty percent. He estimated that now, with the Type III Walker, he could match a Level 10 Invoker in head-on combat without falling short.

Of course, that didn’t count genius types like Wu Di and Liuli Yue.

His previous victory over Red Leaf in combat had indeed been due to environmental factors, with one being that the competition forbade harming the Invoker themselves which restricted the advantage of the higher-level party, and the other being his use of the experience advantage and the early tactical rigidity of the Magic Guided System’s Flexible Constructs.

Now, like Red Leaf had learned from Wu Di and others, he equipped calculative power plugins to Dual Control an Annihilator, not only significantly boosting his combat power but also multiplying his tactical flexibility. If he were to face off against him head-on, even three of himself might not be enough.

All of these thoughts flashed through his mind in the blink of an eye.

But not being able to beat them didn’t mean he couldn’t fight; there were all kinds of methods on the battlefield, and a head-on clash was merely one of them. He dashed out from behind the rock and signaled to Hes:

”Don’t stop, charge forward—”

The girl paused for a moment.

The two members of the Dragonfire Guild didn’t expect that the girl had an ally here and were momentarily stunned.

They were so close, barely twenty paces apart; in the faint moonlight, Fang Hong could even make out the astonishment on the faces of the two men.

At that moment, far in the direction of Hustings Cathedral, an explosion sounded, a flash of fire appeared, leaving a strong afterimage in everyone’s eyes.

”Opportunity!”

Fang Hong thought to himself now or never, and immediately commanded the ’Sword Bearer’, while the unnoticed Type III Walker, with swords in both hands, swung forward.

It struck heavily upon the trunk of an ancient tree.

The aged hazel tree had already been partially cut, a diagonal incision made into it. This last strike severed the final connection with its trunk, and the Type III Walker then rammed forward, using all its strength to push against the tree.

It tottered and fell forward with a great rustling noise—

Watching this unfold, Fang Hong couldn’t help but recall a trip he took in his childhood to the countryside with his aunt’s family, deep in the mountains. He remembered the old house there—large, several times bigger than the ones in the city but quite old and lacking in modern conveniences.

It was like a slice of time frozen, with shepherds in the mountains still maintaining some ancient traditions from centuries ago, ostensibly to foster tourism or some other reason. To this day, Fang Hong remembered the shouts they made when felling trees—what used to be a means of survival for the locals had now become a spectacle.

The tree fell.

But this time, there were no shepherds’ warnings.

Fang Hong could even make out the rigid expressions of terror on the faces of the two Dragonfire Guild members; the forest at night was dark and shadowy, and the fall of the massive hazel tree buried them both beneath it.

At least one of them was hit squarely by the trunk; with such weight and force, even a Level 20 character would be dead, let alone Level 15.

The one in front, perhaps having evaded the main trunk, was unclear to Fang Hong in the darkness. As the toppling tree passed by the fleeing Hes in the lead, she stumbled in panic, nearly falling.

Fang Hong quickly steadied her.

He had many questions for her, but now was not the time. He raised his Control Gauntlets, directing the Type III Walker to leap gracefully over the stump, shielding them both.

It proved to be no superfluous precaution.

A figure shot from the dense branches of the fallen hazel tree, and a flash of sword light struck the central region of the Type III Walker.

The blade pierced through the shell and caused more than thirty points of damage after neutralizing the armor.

A rapid strike of Wasp Sting, Fang Hong thought, alarmed.

He hadn’t even reacted to it; the sword went straight through the multiple defenses of the Type III Walker and hit its core.

But the attacker seemed to be gravely injured. After striking the walker’s shell, his former strength was spent, and he couldn’t muster new energy, retreating one step as he withdrew his sword. That all-out strike seemed to have exhausted him to the point of losing his balance attribute, and he staggered after stepping into the void.