Chapter 123: Prophecy and Oncoming Attack

"Miss Xiao Ke, is the food allowance still enough?"

Rod shifted his position on Vivian's lap, the fresh scent of trees filling his nose.

The half-deer people are responsible for Little Little Bangde's food.

She is afraid of contact with humans, but obviously has her own way to buy a certain amount of food from the town.

But even so, the pony girl often comes to the ranger's hut for dinner, after all, Tally's cooking is not bad.

She would eat heartily while secretly complaining that the food Miss Xiao Ke made was not very tasty.

Hmm. That's true.

After all, Miss Xiao Ke has a small appetite; in the forest, she just drinks some dew and eats some wild fruits to get full, and has hardly ever bothered to cook food.

Because of this, she has no feelings about Little Little Bangde going to the hut to eat; sometimes, she even lingers pitifully at the door because she missed the time to pick wild fruits.

Often, Rod would realize this and go out to hand a dinner to the half-deer person with a red face.

"About this matter, hmm, how about Little Little Bangde just eats in the ranger's hut? That child is still in a growth period, and my cooking has always been..."

Miss Xiao Ke was very downcast, her small deer ears drooping.

What she didn't tell anyone was that she secretly bought a complete guide to human cooking.

The book was worn out from flipping, yet she made no progress at all.

She bitterly concluded that her cooking skills were just as rotten as her spiritual talent, rotten beyond repair.

"Just come over and eat with Little Little Bangde and Vivian; you can also steal some tips from Tally."

Rod said with a smile.

"No way! I don't want to cook for so many people!"

Tally was naturally lazy; except for putting in some effort in bed and cooking, she wouldn't move for most other times, and Rod wouldn't indulge her.

"Hmph, I... I just don't want to go."

Miss Xiao Ke was instantly delighted, but seeing Tally's unwilling look, she shrank her somewhat thin shoulders and said weakly.

"If you don't go, Little Little Bangde might go hungry. This guy Tally isn't willing to do so much work every day."

"If she goes hungry, Master will feed the pony girl milk." The succubus also said with a wicked smile.

The half-deer girl's face was startled.

"I was just saying that before! Do you really want to feed Little Little Bangde milk? She is your daughter!"

"What nonsense? She is still young."

Rod pinched Tally's face while smiling.

"... Then I'll pay, consider it food allowance and tuition fees."

He knew Miss Xiao Ke was a stubborn person, so he didn't say anything more.

The autumn wind was bleak, sweeping fallen leaves into a rolling circle on the ground.

The four of them quietly watched the mages busy ahead.

"By the way, I came here to say..."

Miss Xiao Ke suddenly remembered her purpose, clasping her hands before her small chest, her expression worried:

"The prophecy art tells me that danger will occur on the day the spell ritual is held."

The prophecy of the half-deer race is famous throughout the continent.

Rod dared not underestimate it, his face turning serious.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not too clear; I can only vaguely sense that a woman did something."

Women... that's a bit broad.

"Hmm, I understand... thank you for the reminder."

"I'm sorry; if only my prophecy art were a bit stronger."

Miss Xiao Ke said apologetically.

Perhaps Vivian knew this was something her close friend had always been troubled by; she, who had been motionless, gently pulled the half-deer girl's small hand and softly pinched it.

"I actually have a way to make you stronger."

Rod stroked his chin.

Hearing this, the succubus instantly got excited.

In Master's continent stamp-collecting plan, the half-deer people hadn't been reached yet!

"Is it that one? Master, is it that one?!"

Miss Xiao Ke tilted her head in confusion.

Just as Rod was about to speak, commotion appeared among the mages in the distance.

Looking from afar.

It was a group of Deceptive Jaw Beasts, already within close range.

"So soon?"

He had previously discovered a new round of attacks from the monsters accompanying the Dark Vortex Rift Barrier; they would come to patrol every so often, he just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

He drew the Sword of Dedication.

"Tally, you all hide behind first."

Having said that, he took the lead and rushed forward at high speed.

It was too late.

Although Sharon shouted 'Mental Protection' desperately.

Some mages still used combat spells and successfully crushed one Deceptive Jaw Beast.

A silent psychic shockwave instantly spread out.

Some mages with low psychic resistance immediately turned pale and dropped to one knee.

"Anyone with low psychic resistance or who can't use psychic defense, fall back!"

Rod shouted.

He plunged straight into the pack of Grotesque-Jaw Beasts.

He didn't use any powerful Spiritual arts, but kept casting Repulsion to harass and draw aggro.

If he dared to use one 【Giant-Slaying Slash】 and cut them all away, he was certain at least half these mages would die here.

"It's that Forester!" someone cried out.

Not long ago he had warned everyone to cherish the trees, and then had been showing affection on the side — naturally the mages could recognize him.

"Is he insane?! Get him to pull out!"

"No, he's drawing aggro."

"Isn't he a Spiritual path fighter? How does he dare?"

Instantly, the expressions on every mage present turned a little strange.

After all, Spiritual warriors generally didn't have high psychic resistance — doing this was undoubtedly staking his life to buy time.

"Didn't you hear?! Fall back!"

The dog-girl Sharon roared.

She was already bristling, her tail rigid and raised.

Only then did the crowd slowly retreat.

But four young mages exchanged a glance, layered a 【Psychic Shield】 on themselves, and silently stepped forward.

"The rest of you! Anti-stealth spells or items! There may still be monsters with strong stealth abilities coming!"

Sharon tacitly accepted those four stepping forward. Although she didn't think they could withstand a large-scale psychic shockwave, it was best not to interfere with the mages' operations.

Especially when the danger had already been pointed out — otherwise it would be seen as a challenge or a slight.

Either one was an insult to certain arrogant mages, that was all.

This idiotic tradition naturally came down from the elven mages; nobody knew why it carried over to the human side, especially the younger generation.

As for the older generation — the ones who'd lived this long generally put their own lives first.

Over there.

Rod was luring the Grotesque-Jaw Beasts deeper into the desert.

Seeing mages dare to step forward, he was mildly surprised.

They even kindly tossed 【Psychic Shield】s onto him.

He hadn't wanted to care about them — one slash to detonate every psychic shockwave and be done with it.

But for the ritual's progress to go smoothly, these small fries weren't suitable to be reduced in number.

So he simply eased up, killing them one by one.

Take it slow.

And those four young mages, under the relentless psychic shockwaves, struggled to hold on.

Not long after.

Their shields shattered one after another, and they collapsed unconscious.

They hadn't even taken down a single Grotesque-Jaw Beast.

"Commendable courage."

Rod cleaned out all the Grotesque-Jaw Beasts with one slash.

He picked up those four mages and tossed them back to the sand-willow zone.

By now the mages had deployed anti-stealth items, and purple-white powder drifted through the air.

(End of chapter)