Chapter 857: Joint Support, Delaying with Lies

"Mage Xia Duo, I am Mailin. We have also encountered an ambush by Elf Mages. Please provide support quickly!"

Before Xia Duo and Angelin could connect, another team among the twenty-plus teams on his side sent out a distress signal.

Fortunately, Xia Duo had already assembled more than ten High Mages by this time. He immediately instructed Niya to cast a Scrying spell to first check the situation of the team under attack.

As for his side, there was no time for the psychological preparation work before a Mind Link. Time was urgent, and he immediately instructed everyone:

"Xi Ge Si, you contact Angelin, tell him the location of the ambush, and ask him to go support them as well. As for us—"

Just then, the information Niya had scried was shared over. Although it was not very detailed, it was enough for Xia Duo to make a preliminary judgment. He stopped everyone from casting Scrying and explained:

"The situation is quite urgent; there is no time for everyone to scry it themselves. I already know the basic situation there. If you all trust me, I will lead this support mission."

After a few seconds of silence, everyone quickly agreed. It wasn't that they trusted Xia Duo that much, but rather that in such a situation, there had to be a leader. Instead of arguing further, it was better to let Xia Duo do it.

Everyone was a High Mage; leading a Joint Casting did not mean having much power, but rather bearing immense responsibility. If someone else were to be swapped in, there might even be those who would refuse!

Xia Duo had anticipated the group's decision. While continuing to direct Niya in the Mind Link to adjust the angle and range of the Scrying, he called on everyone to begin Joint Casting.

——【Protection-2-14】

——【Teleportation-5-1】

Although the group's coordination was not very tacit, they were all High Mages after all, and the lower limit of their mutual coordination was quite high. The spell was completed smoothly, a flash of spiritual light passed, and everyone vanished.

They reappeared on a circular, grey-black patch of land similar to the one Qiaoyisi had encountered earlier; the trees on it had long since disappeared under the Elf ambush.

Now, the next round of attacks was still brewing here, and the team that had just called for help was huddled at the edge of the grey-black land, making their final stand with the immobile 【Protection-2-4】 from their Resonance Spellbook.

Unlike Qiaoyisi and his team earlier, there was only one High Mage here.

Although they could still maintain the combat power of an Archmage, under the suppression of multiple Elf Mages using Joint Casting, having one or two more High Mages made no essential difference.

If there were no support from Xia Duo and the others, or if the support arrived any later, their ultimate fate would be the same as Qiaoyisi's team: wiped out in a violent Baptism of thunder.

Fortunately, Xia Duo and the others provided support very timely, and arrived in place!

……

Just after arriving, Xia Duo realized there was a Teleportation Delay. Fuluosite, who had previously gone to rescue Qiaoyisi's team, had not mentioned this point.

Perhaps he hadn't realized it, perhaps he had realized it but ignored it, or perhaps he knew there was a delay but deliberately didn't say anything.

But regardless, since they had already arrived, there was little point in dwelling on whether there was a delay or not. The priority now was to deal with these annoying Elf Mages as quickly as possible.

——【Spell Breaking-5-1】

Although it only involved up to the Fifth Layer of the Weave, this highly complex 5th Circle Spell was essentially a 9th Circle Spell.

Yet, the arrival of Xia Duo and the others ultimately affected those Elf Mages. As soon as they saw a team arriving for support, the Elves immediately chose to give up, letting the Magic go out of control.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo immediately knew the difference between the Elves' Joint Casting and his own side's Joint Casting.

The Elves' Joint Casting was similar to individual Spellcasting; as long as it was adjusted properly, it could be terminated or abandoned at any time.

But when performing Joint Casting through a Resonance Spellbook, if one simply acted as a Spell Battery, it was no different from individual Spellcasting.

However, if one chose multi-threading, once the Spellcasting began, it could not be stopped—or rather, it could be stopped, but the Spellcaster would have to bear the backlash of the spell failure themselves.

The Resonance Spellbook essentially split individual Element Units and handed them to multiple Spellcasters to trigger jointly; it was not truly multi-threaded Joint Casting in essence.

True Joint Casting was naturally like those Elves, with tacit coordination, treating multiple people as one, only more powerful than any single individual among them!

Xia Duo was very envious. Although his 【Mind Link】 spell could solve the problem of tacit coordination among human Mages, it could not make everyone reach a consistent state of Resonance.

It was still impossible to perform true Joint Casting!

……

Watching the Elves give up on completing the spell and wanting to leave, trouble immediately arose on Xia Duo's side.

At this moment, their spell had not yet been completed, but the spell abandoned by the Elves began to spiral out of control. Above the circular grey-black land, branched, tree-like lightning suddenly appeared, filling the void and spreading continuously.

Because of Niya's Scrying spell, through the Mind Link, Xia Duo easily saw the expressions on the faces of the dozen or so High Mages accompanying him.

Conflict, hesitation, fear, composure, craftiness, coldness—it was simply spectacular!

Xia Duo knew he had to do something, otherwise, the next moment these dozen people might choose to run away, even at the risk of spell failure.

Compared to staying here and suffering a Baptism of thunder, the risk of spell failure was almost negligible.

Especially since many of them had seen the end of Qiaoyisi's team earlier, it was perfectly normal for them to make such a choice.

But the problem was that the Elves' spell had not been completed; what was happening now were just some anomalies after the spell went out of control. It might still possess powerful offensive capabilities, but it was enough for them to react and thereby dissipate the crisis.

And there was another problem: if this rescue mission was not successful, or even if it was clearly possible to rescue them but they gave up halfway, then the temporary joint relationship, which was not tight to begin with, might immediately fall apart!

If the hearts of the people were scattered, how could this team be led!

"Everyone, the Elves saw us coming and ran away before their spell was even finished. What you see now is just the final aftermath of the spell. Do not worry; with our existing Protective Spells, we can completely withstand it. Please trust the judgment of a Ziyuan Arcane!"

Two sentences, three lies. Xia Duo felt a bit embarrassed himself, but the situation was such that he had to say this, otherwise someone might run away the next moment.

Although this was not the aftermath of the spell, their existing Protective Spells might not necessarily be able to withstand it, and he was not a Ziyuan Arcane, but—

If they could complete the Joint Casting of 【Spell Breaking-5-1】 before the Elves' spell completely went out of control, they could dissipate the crisis!

……

Hearing Xia Duo's explanation, although everyone still had doubts, they temporarily abandoned the idea of running away immediately and wanted to see how the situation developed first.