“Must we passively endure this until their bombardment stops?” Starlight looked at their predicament and had to make the most conservative choice. He turned to Moen. “Moen, buff everyone. If we can't find a better way, we'll just have to endure it.”
No one had noticed that although Po Kong was still the nominal captain, Starlight had unknowingly become the commander and core of the team in battle.
Perhaps it was because Starlight always remained calm in a crisis, making more rational decisions than the impulsive Po Kong. Or perhaps it was because, as a mage positioned in the rear, he could observe and analyze the battlefield more comprehensively.
Although Starlight knew he had many shortcomings and was not yet mature enough, he had to do his best given his companions' unconditional trust.
As they discussed tactics and positioning, Little Gold’s expression became complicated. After a moment, he finally plucked up the courage to interject in a small but firm voice, “Um... maybe their true target is me... how about you let me go and retreat first?”
Po Kong scoffed with a hint of contempt in his voice. “Coming for you? Don't joke! Does it take an army to deal with a rookie like you? Besides, even if they were coming for you, do you think they'd just let the rest of us go?”
Starlight also shook his head, his gaze steady. “Po Kong is right. From the moment they opened fire, we were enemies. We can't take risks based on a slim possibility. And...” Starlight’s tone shifted as he suddenly raised his voice, “I’ve already found you two rats!”
With a sharp shout, Starlight stomped hard onto the soft sand.
In an instant, the sand beneath his feet seemed to be bound by an invisible force, rapidly solidifying into hard rock. Even the entire patch of ground sank several centimeters because of it.
During the time just now, Starlight had been communicating closely with Noah via their soul link. Relying on Noah’s powerful soul power, Starlight had successfully located the two assassins hiding underground.
Then, he had quietly cast earth magic to compress the surrounding ground to the extreme, forming an indestructible cage.
The assassins clearly hadn't expected that Starlight, who had just been using light magic, could also use earth magic—and with such staggering intensity.
Caught completely off guard, they were firmly trapped by the sudden solidification of the rock layer, unable to move.
Faced with this sudden turn of events, the two assassins knew their tracks were exposed and they could no longer hide.
They desperately unleashed all their power, forcefully breaking through the hard rock layer and fleeing in opposite directions like two bolts of black lightning.
However, Starlight did not give them any room to escape this time. He skillfully adjusted the frequency of his mana ripples and, using a double incantation of dark and space magic, instantly froze the two in mid-air.
Seeing this, Po Kong let out a loud shout, his scythe carrying a dazzling golden light as it slashed toward one of them.
He knew that in this situation, mercy toward the enemy was cruelty to oneself. Holding back was absolutely out of the question.
With Starlight’s control, the assassin could no longer dodge. He could only watch helplessly as the Saint weapon fell like lightning, instantly slicing him in two. His body fell limply to the ground.
At the same time, the two arrows fired by Xia Duo pierced the other's chest. But just as she was about to step forward to deliver the finishing blow and end the battle, a lush green vine suddenly crawled out of the ground, binding the assassin tightly.
“Sister, keep him alive!” Moen shouted urgently. “We might get some important intel from him. More importantly, having a hostage like this will surely help restrain the enemy's actions and give us more initiative!”
Hearing her sister’s plea, Xia Duo nodded slightly and suppressed her killing intent. She sternly questioned the heavily wounded assassin lying on the ground, “Alright, you heard her. Now, answer honestly. Who are you, and why are you attacking us?”
At this moment, Little Gold, who had been hiding behind Moen, also plucked up the courage to poke his head out. He pointed a trembling finger at the assassin and shouted indignantly, “It’s those bad guys! I remember the scent on him! These guys really are coming for me!”
“Oh? Then I’m really a bit curious about what this guy looks like,” Po Kong said as he stepped forward quickly and reached out to rip off the black mask from the assassin’s face.
However, to everyone’s surprise, what appeared before them was not the horrific face they had imagined, but an exceptionally handsome, slightly feminine male face.
Even more confusing was that even though he was severely injured, the assassin’s face showed no expression at all. He was like a lifeless statue, his empty eyes staring straight at Po Kong.
“Damn, you’re this handsome and you’re an assassin? What a waste! Couldn’t you find something else to do?” Po Kong looked at the assassin’s handsome face and couldn't help but sigh, then he wondered aloud, “But why does this guy feel so weird? Is this face also a mask?”
With that, he reached out again, wanting to investigate further.
“This person... have we seen him somewhere before?” Xia Duo seemed to think of something and leaned in as well.
But at that moment, a black light suddenly flashed in the assassin’s empty eyes.
Starlight, who had remained vigilant, suddenly detected something like a magic formation appearing on the assassin’s chest during his mana search, glowing with an ominous light.
Starlight had no time to wonder why an assassin would have mana and a magic formation inside his body. He already sensed the impending crisis and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Po Kong, Xia Duo! Watch out! The guy is going to self-detonate!”
However, his warning was a step too late. The magic formation on the assassin’s chest had already reached its limit. In the blink of an eye, it violently exploded.
Now the group finally understood. These two assassins were clearly death soldiers who had suicide spells planted inside their bodies to take their enemies down with them.
The design of the magic formation was so exquisite and deeply hidden that even Starlight, who was exceptionally sensitive to elemental fluctuations, only noticed it right before it detonated.
Accompanied by a subtle but fatal cracking sound, the assassin’s body was instantly consumed by darkness, exploding into a spray of black rain that covered everything within dozens of meters.
Faced with the sky-blocking black water, Starlight constructed mana shields around everyone with lightning speed, but some black water still seeped through the gaps and touched their bodies.
This black water was not only highly corrosive, but it also affected Starlight’s mana flow the moment it touched his skin, making his body feel as heavy as lead.
Under normal circumstances, Starlight could have easily blocked this level of magic by using multiple elements to form a shield, making the impact negligible.
But the enemy clearly didn't want to give them any room to breathe. Just as Starlight was struggling to adjust his state, the whistling sound of shells cutting through the air echoed in the night sky again.
“Dammit!”
Xia Duo spat, immediately drawing her bow to intercept the shells in the air. However, the result was the same as before. Her arrows only destroyed two shells before being scattered by the shockwaves of the explosions. She could only watch as the remaining shells fell toward them.
“It’s too late!” Moen wanted to use magic to control the shells’ trajectories, but the black water on her body bound her mana flow, causing her magic to dissipate in mid-air before it could even take shape.
“Boom... Boom...”
With several deafening explosions, the place where they stood was instantly swallowed by a surging elemental storm. The terrifying shockwave raged like a tempest, destroying all the surrounding vegetation and even the terrain itself.
Then came the second wave, the third wave... countless shells followed one after another, burying everything.
The figures of Starlight and the others also completely vanished within that earth-shaking explosion...
...
Rate on N.U.
