Chapter 10: The Knight Holding Flowers

"You say, just the two of us?"

Su Ya was stunned; when Mei Li turned to look, he raised his hand and pointed at himself,

then pointed at the army before him,

"Crossing this near‑ten‑thousand‑strong army!?"

Doesn't that amount to sending me to fight Sun Wukong?

"Exactly," Mei Li nodded,

"If we retreat any further, it's the sea; there's no port, no ships. We've been forced into a dead‑end."

"But we're not crossing; we go from this direction, the flank, and pass through."

Mei Li pointed west, parallel to the army's advance, then, with a somewhat troubled expression, turned back,

"My king Su Ya, if I were alone, I could use suggestion and Flower Magic to escape easily, but—"

Just taking this burden of me on board makes it impossible?

Su Ya felt a pressure in his chest.

"My spell slots are few; within a day I can only use the two recorded Suggestion Magic. As for magic, my specialties are Enhancement, Spirit Summoning, Incantation, Elemental Transmutation, Illusion, and Flower Magic."

"The Suggestion Magic has already been used on you once; now you can only use it once more, and there are no materials or books to replenish it in the short term."

"So, we have no choice but to take the risk!"

"Please be sure to prepare yourself mentally."

Mei Li's gaze was very serious; her crimson pupils stared intently at Su Ya,

If Su Ya doesn't pull himself together and remains as indecisive as he was just now, they could die in the chaos at any moment.

"Suggestion, Enhancement Magic?" Su Ya thought for a moment, then suddenly understood,

"Is it to free me from the magic that those two Scout Reds' spirits are striking?"

Mei Li used Suggestion Magic to lift Su Ya's 【Stagnation】 condition, then chanted an Enhancement Magic that fortified Su Ya's physical attributes, giving the weakling a basis to face those two professional soldiers head‑on.

"It's not magic; suggestion is a spell. But the difference isn't that big," Mei Li shook her head, instinctively correcting the misconception, then continued,

"In short,"

"I will disguise you with Illusion to look like the Macedonian Scout Red you just killed, using its leather armor as material. It shouldn't be hard."

"And you?"

Su Ya understood; Mei Li meant to have him disguise himself as an enemy Scout Red.

Scout Reds are the most free‑moving units on this battlefield; if he follows the preset patrol route, he won't arouse suspicion, won't encounter many enemies, and thus maximally avoids the risk of being exposed.

But the real risk of this method lies in,

Scout Reds operate in three‑person squads,

The two Macedonian Scout Reds slain by Su Ya, whose leader—what Mei Li called a professional‑grade assassin—could notice a teammate's abnormality at any time, triggering uncontrollable events,

Moreover, a Scout Red's scouting follows its own procedures and range,

Su Ya doesn't know this army's specific arrangements for the Scout Red he's impersonating, so exposure is always possible.

And the most dangerous part is,

When he reaches the edge of the activity range and tries to break away, other Scout Reds will inevitably spot him and give chase.

"I'll use Flower Magic and Illusion to disguise myself and hold onto this."

Mei Li pulled a tuft of white hair from the back of her head and handed it to Su Ya,

Su Ya grasped the bright white, supple strands with his left hand,

"Thus, when others see me, they'll see you holding a bouquet of white roses in your hand."

"Additionally, during the march I can use one more Suggestion Magic, targeting either an enemy or you. The remaining mana in my body can only fuel one more Enhancement Magic and one more Flower Magic; if I continue casting magic..."

Mei Li didn't finish the rest of the sentence,

Mages, for the most part, are utterly selfish beings, or rather, cold‑blooded creatures who will stop at nothing to reach the source.

Mei Li considered herself no exception.

The current Su Ya, even if he issues a pile of empty promises, still isn't worth her doing that.

She only temporarily trusts Su Ya's identity; she wasn't duped into a daze by him, nor would she hand herself over for a potentially profitable scheme.

If her life were in danger, she would abandon Su Ya without hesitation and escape alone.

The two now resemble collaborators.

And Mei Li merely offers Su Ya a possibility.

#

The brief conversation ended quickly,

Mei Li closed her eyes and began chanting a spell that Su Ya couldn't comprehend,

When the incantation finished,

they had to set out.

Su Ya roughly grasped the situation and the cards he could play.

Staying put and being discovered was only a matter of time; disguising and escaping came with many unknown risks.

What he could use were only three magics from his temporary ally.

Suggestion Magic, Enhancement Magic, and a kind of Flower Magic that can be fired like a bullet.

But this isn't an action that will inevitably spark battle; with proper calculation, most unnecessary fights can be avoided.

Moreover, fighting in the enemy's stronghold is hardly anything but foolish.

So,

how to plan a route that lets them cut through a ten‑thousand‑strong army and reach the enemy's rear is what Su Ya must now figure out.

Mei Li's answer was——go west, moving in a line parallel to the army but in the opposite direction, betting that their route lies within the Red Scout's activity range.

But——

"Charge, charge, charge!"

"From the perspective of Paradise, I request of you,"

"To comb my hair, to draw my brows, to dress me,"

"Before welcoming the annihilation of the end——"

"Please grant me a sweet dream!"

Having simplified the complex composite magic engineering of transformation, spirit-summoning, and illusion into five sections, the girl mage who could be called a genius wherever she went finished her chant,

A circle appeared beneath their feet, a platinum-colored magic circle visible only to the two of them, and then a platinum ring slowly rose from the circle,

Within a half-meter radius centered on the two of them, the platinum ring floated and stopped around them.

"Those outside this range will see an illusory image of us shaped by the illusion, but the illusion is based on this leather armor you wear, so it maintains the appearance of the Red Scout at death, even the bloodstains on the armor cannot be concealed."

Pointing at this circle, Mei Li introduced,

"As soon as one enters this range, the magic's disguise effect will fail, and the enemy will see our true appearance."

"So, don't have any other thoughts; we can only gamble!"

"Just from here, heading west——"

"I wish you good luck, my king!"

"I understand." Su Ya nodded, showing a faintly trembling forced smile,

"Hand over the reins to me."

Mei Li turned her head,

She could see Su Ya's trembling lips, feel the violent thumping heart pounding in the chest approaching from behind.

The boy's inner thoughts had already been revealed by his outward appearance,

but he had no other choice.

"Are you alright?"

"It's fine."

"But you seem not to know how to ride a horse, right?"

"I've learned."

"Really?"

Su Ya nodded, smiling as he took the reins from Mei Li's hand,

Along the way, while watching the floating subtitles, he also observed Mei Li's horse-riding motions, and,

In constant seeing-through, seeing-through, seeing-through!

To go right, lightly pull the right rein; to go left, pull the left rein—it's simple, much easier than the driving test part two; squeezing the horse's belly moves forward, squeezing hard is nitro boost, and pulling back the rein with the reverse hand is braking.

All the key points were memorized in heart, all actions fully remembered,

Then,

turning this newly learned knowledge into the reins that grasp one's own fate, clutching them in hand——

just as he had done countless times before,

perfectly replicated!

【You have mastered: Riding (F)】.

"Giddyap!"

Legs slammed together against the horse's belly, F-rank strength exploding fully, the rivet on the stirrup's side driven into the flesh!

"——Whoa!"

The war horse widened its eyes, let out a roar, and lifted all four hooves off the ground,

toward the downhill slope at a 30-degree angle,

launching into a sprint!

In an almost stalled state, the war horse began to gallop madly!

In this process, Mei Li's face, about to be squeezed into a cookie, instantly froze and distorted,

then, she lost her composure,

"No, Su Ya, you you you fucking crazy!?"

Mei Li stared at the direction the two were advancing, her eyes suddenly widening,

"That direction is, is——"

"It has no turns whatsoever, a perfectly straight path,"

"The end of the path is the Conqueror King's Divine Might War Chariot, the place where that sun‑king flag flies in the wind!"

Su Ya gritted his teeth, cheeks puffed,

His words were torn into a long string by the wind rushing past his mouth,

"Don't be afraid! Because I'm even more scared than you ah ah ah!"

 Brothers, give it a read tomorrow—it's about the first round of trial‑water push! This is really important to me!

 Bang bang bang!





(End of chapter)