Pillar of Yita

The commencement of the battle was marked by a crossbow bolt whizzing through the air.

The light of a crystal pierced through the snow and wind, shooting directly from behind the young Alchemist, dazzling everyone’s eyes. ”Watch out, explosive crossbow bolt!” someone suddenly shouted. Yin Shi reacted the fastest—turned around and raised his hand in one smooth motion, sending an invisible ripple spreading from his hand toward the bolt.

However, the flying bolt suddenly shifted in mid-air, as if it had come to life, twisting through the spell like a swimming fish. Yin Shi was taken aback—there’s a Power System Magic Guided Conductor—he quickly withdrew his hand and cast a deflection force field on himself.

At the same time, the Priest in the team was chanting and unfolding a semi-circular shield. The bolt, after evading the spell, collided with the edge of the shield, immediately flashing with a blinding brilliance. In the glare of the explosion, Yin Shi saw only the massive shield cracking inch by inch, the shockwave sweeping down with a gust of wind and shattered snow, rushing towards them.

He was only able to avoid being knocked to the ground thanks to the protection of the deflection spell. But the Fire Element Elementalist on the other side wasn’t so lucky; closest to the center of the explosion, they were directly blown away, fortunately landing in a pile of snow without sustaining too much injury.

Yet in the next instant, Yin Shi still heard a scream from the Elementalist, so shrill it was almost unrecognizable as human—

He thought there might be another ambush over there and distractedly turned around, only to see that the Elementalist’s face and body were stained grass-green. It turned out that the pile beneath the snow wasn’t snow at all, but a heap of dung piled there out of Mr. Greyrock’s boredom, only lightly covered with snowflakes from a recent snowfall.

The unlucky Fire Element Elementalist, either too lucky or unlucky, had plunged right into it. The Elementalist was both angry and anxious, waving their hands and yelling loudly, finally alerting the slow-witted Grey Ridge Burden Beast to the presence of a stranger behind it.

With a heavy whip of its tail, it sent the Elementalist flying, cutting their screams short.

Mr. Greyrock shook his head in satisfaction, thinking the world was finally quiet.

Seeing this, Yin Shi cursed under his breath as an idiot. He had already noticed the faint white lights rising in the snow, indicating that the Elementalist was already dead, with no need to consider any rescue. Blood Wings’ questioning voice came through the communication channel: ”Why didn’t you stop the crossbow bolt just now?”

”The other side has a Power System Magic Guided Conductor.”

”And a Crossbow Shooter.”

The snowstorm stirred by the explosion had yet to calm, and the members of Ragnarok couldn’t see each other. The sharp wind nearly drowned out all sound; Dark Fairy Tale had to shout commands via Communication Crystal: ”Chen Shu, you go deal with that Fist Saint!”

”Porthos, you go find that Magic Guided Conductor!”

”Be careful of their Flexible Construct, everyone else, rally to me!”

Everyone nodded. Chen Shu leapt up from the ground; Bakins had spared him earlier, and according to swordsman rules, he couldn’t attack Bakins anymore. But as per Dark Fairy Tale’s orders, he had no issue seeking out Miss Maid as an opponent.

The Ragnarok member switching places with him was the team’s main Musketeer, though Porthos was neither Nightingale nor an assassin or Shadow Dancer, he had no ability to find the enemy Magic Guided Conductor amidst the vast snowstorm.

But as he retreated, Yin Shi’s voice immediately came through the private channel: ”The Magic Guided Conductor should be to our left, seven o’clock direction from that platform. Power System spells are mid-range, they won’t be more than a hundred feet away.”

Yin Shi spoke quickly, and seemed innately perceptive in the path of Magic Guided Conductors; after a little thought, it was as if he could describe the enemy Conductor’s position as if he’d seen it with his own eyes.

Porthos gave a nod: ”Got it.”

Thirty meters, not too far.

But before he could turn around, he heard a voice coming from behind, ”Are you looking for me?”

Porthos whirled around in shock. Although his scouting skills were average, he wasn’t so dull as not to notice someone sneaking up behind him. When he turned, he saw no shadow of a person, only a lopsided snowman standing amidst the snow and wind.

Its mouth opened and closed, still speaking to him: ”Are you looking for me?”

”What the heck is this?”

Realizing he was being toyed with, Porthos cleaved the snowman in two, letting it fall into the snow. But a moment later, an invisible hand reassembled it, and it stood up again.

The same words: ”Are you looking for me?”

Seeing this scene, Porthos was stunned and suddenly realized it was a Power System spell, plus a Sound Transmission Spell—the Magic Guided Conductor must be nearby—he calmed down and walked straight through the snowman.

He had barely taken two steps before stopping again.

For amidst the vast snow and wind, he saw that the enemy Magic Guided Conductor hadn’t hidden but stood clad in black, watching him. Wearing a pointed Wizard Leader’s hat, a trench coat, and an upright collar, tightly wrapped—tilting their head to ask, ”Excuse me, are you looking for me?”

Instinctively, Porthos suspected it was a trap but, looking around, confirmed no one else was there.

Grasping his sword, he muttered, ”What trickery is this,” then lunged at the Magic Guided Conductor with a thrust. He considered all possibilities, including the scenario where his strike would only pierce a phantom.