Chapter 599: Distorted Space

The second wave of the surprise attack came quickly. Three monsters, three strange people, attacked them from three directions, one of which was from directly overhead.

Luo Qi had not expected this third direction of attack at all; only in hindsight did he feel this kind of attack was perfectly reasonable. If you can emerge from Subspace, then whether you want to be an osprey or a subterranean earth-dweller, you certainly can.

The Battle Mages had not anticipated this development either; in their combat experience, mages never engaged in suicide attacks. But for those things that grew metal armor and had obvious defects in intelligence, suicide could be considered a standard combat method.

So, when that thing, which Luo Qi estimated weighed a ton, descended from the sky, the scene was in complete chaos. However, on the high-altitude wilderness, with gale-force winds blowing and oxygen levels already low and depleting further, Luo Qi's reaction time—which was already inferior to the Battle Mages—was made even worse. The thing nearly crushed Majiang, wounded Mage Wusu upon landing, and was only ten centimeters from the back of Luo Qi's head, yet Luo Qi's attention was entirely drawn to the Psychic Mage who had appeared in front.

The Psychic Mage did not stand completely with the monsters; the human Yajian distracted Luo Qi. He only felt the atmosphere around him change for an instant, and Du Zhengyi suddenly abandoned the enemy in front of him and rushed behind him.

He was secretly startled, and by the time he belatedly turned his head, the first wave of attacks was already over. The thin air was mixed with several different scents; the Battle Mages had likely used sword strikes, fire, small explosions, and eight other types of attacks Luo Qi could not distinguish all at once, the scent of Magic mingling with the smell of roasted meat.

The monster that descended from the sky violently stimulated the Battle Mages' sense of crisis; the monster was subjected to concentrated fire, two of its legs were separated from its body, and someone had managed to destroy its eyes using some unknown method.

However, it was still alive.

Luo Qi's Mental Domain sensed the unusual atmosphere of the Battle Mages' spirits; there were several waves of anxious Yajian. Although Luo Qi could not interpret the Battle Mages' Yajian, he was very familiar with these waveforms. When ordinary people engage in intense "Zu'an greetings," they produce similar waveforms in their Yajian.

But this one-second instantaneous attack was experimental; the Battle Mages concentrated their firepower and freely chose Attack Magic, yet they could only manage to make it lose part of its combat effectiveness, and everyone's battlefield assessment was not very optimistic. Worst of all, perhaps, was that this was also an experimental attack for the enemy, with the goal also being to probe the enemy's situation.

The monster was severely wounded and spasmed as it tried to counterattack; Luo Qi could see it still had the ability to fight back, but it was as if an invisible leash had snared the monster, and its body twisted discordantly. Luo Qi initially thought one of the Battle Mages' Magic had taken effect, and the other Battle Mages were also hesitant. It was only when it disappeared without a trace along with the Psychic Mage outside the circle in the next second, leaving only severed limbs and nauseating liquid on the ground, that Luo Qi realized it was the Psychic Mage ordering it to retreat.

At almost that exact moment, the other two monsters also attacked from two other directions, and the battle began once again.

The Battle Mages fought with all their might, while Luo Qi observed the battlefield at a speed roughly five beats slower, dodging risks and barely managing to move into position. Du Zhengyi did not join the battle either, which was quite rare, especially since even Luo Qi could see the monsters were aiming their attacks at him.

The Battle Mages were organized into three parts; one part remained to defend, while the other two groups fought in two different directions. In Luo Qi's view, they all fought heroically, but no one managed to gain the advantage of even an extra arm from the monsters. Two Battle Mages were wounded; a Battle Mage whose name Luo Qi did not remember had their abdomen torn open by the monster's hard, machine-like claws. After a brief contact, the two monsters disappeared into Subspace with their masters; the engagement had only lasted one round.

The Mages retreated back to their original positions, standing in a circle in the wind-howling wilderness, backs against one another. Majiang took advantage of the brief gap to cast Healing Magic on the injured; Luo Qi saw the wound on that mage's abdomen—perhaps it was the instinct of this creature to try and pull out internal organs.

Behind him, Yan Hao was shouting, "Full-body armor coverage, armor hardness at maximum level. Although it doesn't exceed the attack capabilities of a biological entity, its reaction speed is faster than a mage's. As long as we don't shatter the hard shell armor, we will be at a disadvantage. The defects of the armor are the respiratory membranes under the ribs, the areas suspected to be eyes, and the joints of the six limbs. We can cause damage by concentrating attacks on these places, but it's hard to be fatal. If they keep blitzing us, we will continue to suffer injuries; the oxygen is even lower now, this is a war of attrition. After all, why can these creatures even travel through space?"

Wen Lin said loudly, "Mages, magical creatures, it makes sense, doesn't it? It would be strange if all animals were like humans and had no Magic!"

"Mage Wen, you can still have a favorable impression of magical creatures now?" Yan Hao shouted in disbelief. "I wish these disgusting things had never been born."

Wen Lin turned to Du Zhengyi, "It seems only Space Distortion Magic can destroy them."

Luo Qi asked, "So, can every Battle Mage use Space Distortion Magic?" Yan Hao was already familiar with him and was not too embarrassed, "I'm pretty good at this; my success rate is seventy-five percent."

"That's really high." Luo Qi opened his mouth, his voice scattered by the strong wind.

Yan Hao didn't hear clearly and asked loudly, "What?"

"How many times can you fire it in a row?" Luo Qi raised his voice and shouted.

"Three times!" Yan Hao blinked and said.

"If you can only take out two monsters, it doesn't have much meaning." Luo Qi shouted.

"Space Distortion Magic has immense power; one time is enough to kill one monster." Yan Hao said.

"I guess your first time is at eighty percent power, the second time less than seventy percent, and the third time is definitely below fifty percent, which means it might or might not work." Luo Qi said wisely.

Yan Hao was stifled.

Luo Qi stared at him again and asked, "High power consumption, right?"

Yan Hao reacted for a moment, "It requires quite a lot of energy; powerful Magic is naturally high-consumption. In the Battle Mage skill sequence, this is almost the highest level; lethality is always directly proportional to energy consumption."

"Using a strategic cruise missile to hit a tank." Luo Qi shook his head, "Don't use it, hold on a bit longer."

"Du Mage is quite amazing; I heard he has never reached his limit, and even he himself doesn't know where the limit is." Yan Hao said excitedly, unable to help but glance at Du Zhengyi, his eyes full of worship for his idol.

"I can do it too." Luo Qi said impatiently.

The surrounding Battle Mages all looked over at him, their faces full of astonishment, and Du Zhengyi also gave him a cool look. Luo Qi let out a breath; all in all, this topic was ended.

(End of chapter)