Pillar of Yita

The monster screeched, still able to wield its remaining claw to shoot a crystal spike at Fang Hong. Though it was on the verge of exhaustion, the Dragon Hunter swung their blade to shatter it.

Fang Hong watched as crystal shards scattered messily on the ground, calmly ordering the Dragon Hunter to retreat and reload.

At that moment, Reed stepped forward, holding his sword with both hands, bringing it down to slash the other claw off the opponent. He watched the crystal giant claw crash down, shattering as if it had lost its magic power, and then spoke:

”Its life force is incredibly tenacious.”

”But your choice was very wise, little one. It seems their joints are a weakness.”

”More precisely, it’s their awkwardness,” Fang Hong replied. ”Both near and far, their defense and attack are equally remarkable, their life tenacious, and they’re proficient in earth-type spells, but they must have some flaws; otherwise, it shouldn’t be a level thirty-three creature.”

He looked at the lines of text listed on his retina, as his experience, knowledge, and analysis ability simultaneously took effect while engaging with the opponent, gradually outlining this creature’s approximate ability values with the system’s help—

Although not necessarily accurate, they were enough to gauge a general outline.

”But thanks to having seen you battle its kind before, Mr. Reed, I could reach this conclusion.”

The Big Catfolk smiled, ”Your learning ability is strong, little one.”

At this point, someone approached them.

That person was none other than the one who had reminded him earlier—a poet, Cuiye. He looked at the Disorderly Guard that had completely lost its ability to move and clicked his tongue:

”Thirty leaves, fifteen hundred experience points. Goodness, this is free earnings, a little fortune.”

Though the previous reminder was entirely unnecessary, Fang expressed his gratitude nonetheless: ”Thanks for the earlier reminder—”

”No need,” Cuiye, with self-awareness, waved his hand, ”I can see too that even without reminding you, the outcome wouldn’t change.”

He couldn’t help but take a deep look at the four Dragon Hunters standing silently to one side.

”Variant?”

Fang Hong shook his head; although the Dragon Hunters were quite special, they were indeed prototypes.

However, he glanced at the person a bit surprisingly, knowing that many were aware of Variants, but identifying the Dragon Hunters as Variants at a glance at least demonstrated the person’s broad knowledge.

”That’s just a new type I don’t recognize,” Cuiye didn’t ask further, understanding that everyone had their secrets, and flexible constructs were the craftsman’s greatest trump card. ”The fight ahead is fierce, and I retreated to see how things are going here.”

Fang Hong smiled slightly.

He knew the battle had become extremely fierce; the Invokers proceeded too smoothly in the previous battle, and their counterattack shouldn’t dive too deeply into these Withered Woods.

If they had retreated to the Thorn Frontline following the second wave of crystal attacks, the third-wave attack might have brought them some trouble but certainly wouldn’t have been this dire.

But people had evidently lost such prudence, choosing to dive into this forest to battle the Crystalysis Beasts, turning the last part of the battle into complete chaos.

He wasn’t an excellent commander, but at least he could read all the happenings on the battleground from the Clockwork Fairy’s overlooking vision.

As for the individual in front of him, he was just blathering—like them, he hadn’t been overly deep from the start. He was always around here, so about retreating and such, it’s just talk.

This guy was quite shrewd, and his team suffered the least losses on this battlefield.

All this did not escape Fang Hong’s eyes—

Of course, he didn’t expose it. He noticed the crystal’s third wave offensive and reminded them in the public channel, but those who were too carried away by victory might not have listened.

But there are always clever people.

That’s enough.

After the Disorderly Guard fell, the stalled front finally continued to advance.

However, Fang Hong didn’t choose to continue following, merely watching silently as the ghostly blue flames moved farther away, with the Invokers crossing the forest from afar.

Soon, the forest gradually became quiet.

The sounds of battle were receding, occasionally punctuated by a death-knell before subsiding, adding a touch of eeriness to the decaying woodland.

Cuiye looked at the darkness creeping in the forest and shrugged, ”Though it’s an ugly fight, it’s nearing the end.”

Indeed.

Fang Hong did not deny this.

Peering through the Clockwork Fairy’s vision—the ghostly blue flames dotted across the battlefield were extinguishing, and the forest and outside the forest were nearly two different battlegrounds, but on both, the opponents were in retreat.

Only those gigantic Disorderly Guards remained, still putting up a stubborn resistance.

But these Construct crabs also fell one by one.

Invokers seemed to have discovered a way to deal with them, namely, ritual magic. Though ordinarily, the opponents wouldn’t give Invokers the chance to cast spells leisurely, don’t forget, there are Grey Tree People here.

With the reliable barrier of Grey Tree People, Invokers can conveniently cast spells. Their mutual cooperation clearly achieved an effect where one plus one exceeds two.

Yet looking at the other side, the crystal doesn’t seem intent on employing more formidable forces, simply allowing the Scales to tip gradually in their favor.

And this confirmed Fang Hong’s thoughts; it appears to be merely a probe.