Chapter 5: The Invaders

Rod packed his gear at top speed.

Steel sword.

Spare steel sword.

Spare for the spare steel sword.

Leather armor.

Magic potions.

Poison.

Lime powder.

Hand crossbow.

A black cloak made of tough oxhide.

Changed into a getup utterly unlike his usual plain self, Rod's whole bearing shifted at once.

He swung himself up onto the horse, posture straight and tall.

If before he had looked like an ordinary, plain young man—

—then now, he was a ranger in name and in truth.

Apart from Etherion's Flash, Rod had already mastered the rest of the spiritual arts he had recently learned.

"Tally!"

Tally was fifth-tier.

Succubi weren't skilled at combat, but that didn't mean they couldn't fight.

"Five days. Whenever I ask, you give it to me then."

"Don't come anymore."

"Two days!" Tally grew anxious and hurriedly said.

"Fine."

She shifted back to her true form and sweetly squeezed herself into Rod's arms.

"Vivian, please help us from the shadows."

A tree spirit could hide within trees, and in a forest at night, she was a dab hand at ambush.

Vivian nodded and quickly vanished into the woods.

Not long after.

Rod rode up to the edge of the Bai Yu district.

Blazing flames shot into the sky.

The air was thick with the smell of burning trees.

"There—that's the location of a ranch in Shi Ying town."

Near the ranch, a house with white outer walls was being consumed by the flames.

This was the area closest to Shi Ying town; not only had the forest been burned, even the houses on the town's edge had been caught up in it.

Daphne had gone missing.

As Shi Ying town's holder, the lord's daughter—

Without a doubt, the bulk of Shi Ying town's manpower would have gone out to join the search.

It was precisely at this moment that someone took advantage of the empty defenses to cause trouble.

If you told me it wasn't deliberate, I wouldn't believe you.

"Oil-based fire."

Tally in his arms gazed at the flames in the sky and spoke.

She said, "A fifth-tier spell. It can be cast even on water—once it clings to you, it's very hard to shake off."

"Do you have a way to deal with it?"

"My shapeshifting can shed a layer of skin, and I can use that to escape it."

She lifted her head and nuzzled Rod's neck affectionately.

"But I can't free anyone else."

"If I get hit, don't bother with me—just kill every last one of them first."

"Ooh~ then I get to taste what you taste like when you're on fire~"

"P-please don't kill me."

The man slumped on the ground, beads of sweat the size of soybeans streaming down without stop.

His teeth chattered, his body trembling like sifted chaff.

Behind him, the flames were whipped fiercer by the night wind.

Nowhere to retreat.

Before his eyes stood nothing but a short halfling.

A race he would normally have looked down on as they passed by in the street—yet now, at this very moment, she filled him with dread from the bottom of his heart.

Through the flames, four human men slowly walked up behind the halfling.

The halfling Ali swung the short sword in his hand, and a blade of qi sliced the man's throat with effortless ease.

"Take it out."

Behind him, a human man wearing a headscarf swiftly picked up an axe, split open the dead man's skull, and extracted the brain.

"Boss, didn't the priest tell us to burn the trees?"

Another human man, this one bald, asked.

The hooded man cursed, "Are you stupid? Just set the trees on fire, kill a few more people, take the brain-cores, and the Sect will naturally reward us."

"But being so blatant about it, the sheriff in Shi Ying Town will investigate."

"Let him investigate. Given the identities we hold now, we ought to shoulder the responsibility for our Sect."

The bald man still wanted to say more.

Ali gave a small cough.

"Not bad. Right now Shi Ying Town's garrison is empty—this is the perfect time to take the divine peaches and please our Lord."

Within the Yige Sect, "divine peaches" was code for brain-cores; one could exchange a set number of divine peaches within the Sect for goods.

Ali had previously borrowed against his quota and traded for a bottle of Flame Spirit Oil, greatly beneficial to himself, which could enormously enhance his affinity with the spirituality of the fire element.

Only, before he had a chance to use it, the day to repay the debt had arrived.

With no choice, Ali took on the mission to burn the Wind Wall Forest.

Half a month ago, he had come here to scout and stir up some activity as a test.

A full three days passed before the forest rangers here noticed anything.

Enough to prove how feeble this forest's defenses were.

"I've long heard the Kingdom's regard for Wind Wall Forest has been dropping year by year. Who'd have thought now there's only one ranger—and a weakling at only Tier-Two at that."

Ali gave a cold laugh.

"Tier-Two? Hahaha, I could crush that guy one-handed."

"Heard from folks in town he's even keeping a succubus."

"Then it's over—half a month gone, he's probably already rotting."

"Hahahahahaha."

The four of them, hearing this, hastened to chime in with their boss.

Clop-clop—

Clop-clop—

Suddenly, the sound of hoofbeats came from not far away.

"On guard!"

"Don't worry, it's only one horse."

"There may well be high-tier guardians in Shi Ying Town—don't underestimate the enemy."

Warned thus, the group tensed up one after another.

As the hoofbeats drew gradually closer—

They saw a knight slowly cresting the slope.

The knight had his back to the flames; the light did not fall on his front.

Among the four humans, there was a middle-aged man wearing a single eye-patch.

He lifted the patch, revealing an eagle's eye.

"Hahaha, it's that ranger."

The tense atmosphere instantly collapsed.

"What the heck, hahaha."

"He's riding a horse because his legs must be weak."

"I bet so too—not just weak legs, a weak waist too."

Even Ali showed a contemptuous smile.

He had never minded his underlings' teasing chatter; on the contrary, he felt it gave a sense of team.

On the slope, the knight began his charge.

"I'll take him!"

The hooded man drew his scimitar.

"Place your bets—within three moves."

He let out a great laugh and went to meet him.

The opponent's steel cross-sword was also drawn mid-air.

Only, in their eyes, the motion was clumsy enough to be cute.

But Ali's smile froze.

"Careful!"

He shouted the warning, but it was too late.

A head soared into the sky.

Blood scattered through the air like a fairy's scattered flowers.

The other three hadn't even reacted yet, all frozen on the spot.

Wait, did I see that wrong?

"Damn it!"

Ali roared and charged forward.

His short sword swung out an air blade.

Rod had anticipated it, leapt from his horse, and dodged by a hair's breadth.

Zzzt—

His right hand exploded with a ball of lightning, extending onto the steel sword, which glowed blue.

Lightning Blade!

Horizontal Slash!

Clang—

The halfling before him had raised up a translucent spherical spell barrier.

Though this sword strike failed to wound the opponent, it directly cleaved off a corner.

"Fourth-tier?!"

Ali was utterly shocked.

He was absolutely certain that this Forest Warden, half a month ago, had only been second-tier.

Rod grinned.

"There's plenty you don't know."

His left hand aimed at Ali, and white spiritual force exploded violently outward.

Repulsion!

The Repulsion spell was famed for its tremendous impact force, and against this kind of spell barrier it often worked wonders.

With a loud bang.

Sure enough, the spell barrier shattered across most of its surface, barely able to hold together any longer.

Ali's expression turned uglier than ever.

Fourth-tier, and by the looks of it a warrior-type focused on close combat — tough and unyielding.

As a fifth-tier, he could naturally win steadily.

But this type of opponent took no small amount of time to deal with.

Right now they were running a blitz tactic, and what they needed most was time.

"Brothers, with me—"

Before he could finish, he heard strange cries from his subordinates behind him.

Ali turned his head to look.

He actually saw a dark-blue-skinned succubus cast a shapeshift spell, transforming into a green-skinned female orc standing a full two and a half meters tall.

A bone blade in her hand was swung with fierce, sweeping force.

The three subordinates were so startled they retreated step after step.

"You can actually order a succubus around?!"

(End of chapter)