Chapter 203: The Sublime Legendary Mage (23)

Fei Ni Te Garden, beside the tall courtyard wall.

An old mage with white hair and outstanding bearing held a mop in his hand, followed by several warriors, each carrying a pair of buckets filled with temporarily prepared potions.

The old man walked along the wall, using the mop as a stylus for a scroll and the potion as ink, vigorously drawing runes on the wall.

He drew while explaining to Jia Di Ya behind him: "I am drawing a demon‑warding barrier; using this barrier, I can establish a solid shield on the tenth magic ring here."

"This way, the warriors can cultivate their magic in the courtyard without worrying about demonic interference."

This barrier technique is called the "Secret Art Ring", from Naya's magic book, and is an essential spell for the Nawat Republic to fight demons.

Without this spell's protection, ordinary warriors' training would be heavily disrupted by demons, even cut off from their source of power, thus losing the ability to fight continuously.

Don't think the drawing method is crude; it's just that those who know find it easy.

Once the runes are drawn, activating the barrier truly requires legendary magic power and a legendary mage's ability to control that power.

Otherwise, it's just wasted effort.

Jia Di Ya looked on with reverence, her respect for the white‑haired old man growing ever deeper.

She also took the opportunity to report the warband's current strength.

"Mr. Luobin, our warband still has 533 warriors, all combat mages: 460 at three‑ring, 70 at four‑ring, and 2 at five‑ring."

"Originally there were five five‑ring mages, but alas!"

Since Duke Weilan published his cultivation record, four‑ring mages have become commonplace, but five‑ring mages remain exceedingly rare; each is a treasure of the kingdom.

The three colonels who fell in battle were all the empire's top mages, dying so far from home; this made Jia Di Ya feel great heartache.

Faced with this strength, Luosen felt deeply satisfied and comforted her: "We must press on all the more, so that the warriors do not sacrifice in vain."

Jia Di Ya nodded lightly, quickly set aside her regret, and continued reporting.

"There are also 1000 rapid‑fire firearms, with a minimum attack strength of the utmost seven‑ring level. In addition we have individual explosive bombs, focused judgment light beams, spirit storm generators, and similar weapons."

"The focused judgment light beam reaches an attack strength of eight‑ring and can pierce the trunk of a tree one meter in diameter within five kilometers."

"The spirit storm generator can trigger a three‑ring strength spirit vortex, affecting up to one kilometer, causing targets within that range to fall into panic and flee—yet such a powerful weapon is useless against demon minions."

Jia Di Ya sighed: "This silver‑eye demon is highly skilled in spirit magic; its minions are almost completely immune to low‑ring spirit magic."

Luosen shook his head: "It's true he's adept at spirit magic, but immunity simply doesn't exist."

He paused, then explained: "This is because an eleven‑ring demon's magic power can easily control any kind of magical force. Since it is a spirit storm, it must be extremely chaotic and loosely organized power, which naturally can be easily controlled by it."

"But against violent, explosive force, an eleven‑ring magic's control ability is useless—there's no time to react, and the force is too fierce."

"Oh~ I see, that's how it is."

Jia Di Ya suddenly understood and asked: "Then what specialties does this silver‑eye demon have?"

Luosen shook his head: "I've just arrived in this plane, so I'm not entirely sure either."

"Of course, I have already crossed blades with this demon once. Preliminary observation shows that, purely in terms of combat strength, he is not a powerful demon."

"Of course, I mean compared to other demons."

"But this is already a stroke of luck."

Either way, this is good news.

Jia Di Ya also silently breathed a sigh of relief and asked: "Then does he have any non‑combat specialties?"

Luosen nodded: "There is one—his intellect is extraordinarily high, and he also possesses a multithreaded thinking ability."

As he said this, he recalled seeing hundreds of soul conduits in the outer void earlier.

"He should be able to handle about three hundred tasks simultaneously, with each task not interfering with the others."

Naya had introduced many demons' situations, so Luosen knew that demons generally have multithreaded thinking ability, but usually under a hundred, and some only have a few dozen.

But this silver‑eye demon reaches three hundred, which is extremely formidable.

Jia Di Ya listened, her heart pounding: "Doesn't that mean we are effectively fighting three hundred demons at once?"

Luosen nodded: "You could say that."

Jia Di Ya then asked: "Do demons need to rest?"

Luosen nodded: "Demons certainly need rest, but they never rest completely."

"Because of their multithreaded thinking, they rest part of themselves while staying awake in another part, then switch when the rested part recovers."

Jia Di Ya recalled her past battles and felt a strange sensation: "It sounds just like a team working in shifts."

Luosen shared the feeling: "More accurately, it is a team that cooperates with perfect synergy."

"The bad news is that this team wields legendary power. The good news is that the team numbers only three hundred."

But this does not mean that many demons actually exist.

In fact, there is only one, because Luosen sensed only a single soul.

A report from the Nawat Republic also confirms this.

Demons are a kind of extraordinary life form vastly different from ordinary humans.

While speaking, Luosen had already drawn about ten huge runes on the wall.

He then went to the courtyard, drew a massive magic circle on the ground, and with a light stomp of his foot, his own golden legendary magic surged into the circle.

The ground circle lit up instantly, and the ten runes on the surrounding walls glowed in response.

The surrounding warriors felt the whole space tremble slightly, as if something had changed, yet upon closer inspection they detected no actual change.

"All right, we can now safely link the magic rings."

Jia Di Ya immediately waved her hand to her subordinates.

A group of weary combat mages immediately began trying to meditate.

Sure enough, they were no longer disturbed at all.

Jia Di Ya also came to fully believe Luosen's identity, and her attitude became ever more respectful.

"Mr. Luobin, what should we do next?"

After she finished speaking, a secret thought sprang up in the depths of her heart.

If we could bring this legendary mage back to the country, the domestic progress in developing anti-demon weapons would surely speed up greatly.

But that thought only flickered before she pushed it down.

At that moment, Luosen pointed to the tower and said, "Let's go inside to discuss; the shielding magic circle there is still somewhat useful." The two then quickly moved to the tower.

Luosen first cast an illumination spell, lighting up the dim tower room completely.

"First, we must be fully on guard, because a unit of 1,200 Crimson Assassins is hunting me. Although the barrier I just set up blocks the demons' scouting, it also reveals my position."

"Soon we will face the Crimson Assassin group."

Jia Di Ya was slightly startled, immediately summoned her assistant Major Ge Lin, and issued the alert order.

She wasn't particularly afraid, for they had the defensive advantage of the manor, the help of a legendary mage, and many powerful war weapons.

Luosen naturally understood this as well.

He continued:

"In my investigation, I discovered that within Levinde Palace there is a place that is extremely hidden yet also terribly frightening—a

"The silver-eyed demon seems to be preparing to do something truly terrifying, but I can't even see exactly what it is."

"What worries me now is that if this gets carried out, the population of Bai Jin Cheng is so dense that massive casualties are inevitable."

"If it were only casualties, that would be one thing, but if countless people are turned into demon minions or even mad puppets, the situation would spiral completely out of control."

He spoke with a grave expression.

Jia Di Ya's heart raced as she listened, and she said without hesitation, "We must stop all of this!"

South of Levinde lies the Radiant Nations, and to the southwest of the Radiant Nations is the Radiant Empire.

If Levinde falls, chaos will quickly spread to the Radiant Nations and eventually to the Radiant Empire, leaving no one better off.

But the question is, how can we stop it?

"Mr. Luobin, demons' puppets in the mortal world aren't hard to deal with, but the demons of the Outer Void have been lingering all along."

"Do you have any way to kill them completely?"

Luosen's expression grew even more serious: "What the general is talking about is also a difficulty faced by the Nawate Republic."

"There is a way to kill them outright, but the difficulty of achieving it is extremely high."

"After all, we can hardly reach the Outer Void, and compared to demons, we mortals are at a massive disadvantage in strength, wisdom, and will."

When Jia Di Ya heard there was a way, she immediately stopped worrying and laughed, "As long as there's a way, that's all that matters!"

"Our Radiant Empire has plenty of brave warriors; if we fail once, we try twice, three times, until we succeed!"

Truly commendable courage.

"General, if we fail, I will be the one to die."

"Ah!"

The flame of vengeance in Jia Di Ya's heart suddenly went out.

At that point, no amount of warriors would help, and the legendary mage certainly cannot die; without the legendary mage's protection, they wouldn't even dare touch the magical rings.

Seeing that she had regained her senses, Luosen said, "But if there's a chance, we should still try our best."

Jia Di Ya hurriedly replied, "We can't take that risk."

Luosen waved his hand, his face solemn: "Killing demons is my lifelong pursuit. If I have the chance to go down with a demon, I won't hesitate at all."

Of course that's a lie; he never liked playing the suicide game.

If he fails to kill it the first time, he'll immediately go back to develop new methods, always managing to find a reliable solution, even one that can crush the demons.

But he said that to Jia Di Ya, because a hot‑blooded general like her loves to hear passionate words.

Sure enough, the general was shaken by Luosen's words, and the admiration in his eyes seemed about to overflow.

Under this emotional sway, she shouldn't develop any inappropriate thoughts about Luosen, such as forcibly inviting him back to the Radiant Empire.

After a few words fully restrained the steadfast, loyal empire general, Luosen began to reveal his plan.

"I've examined it closely: among the 1,200 warriors of the Crimson Assassin Corps, only about 50 are demon minions; the rest are ordinary soldiers unaware of it."

"And this corps accounts for one‑third of the palace's defensive forces."

"My idea is that when the Crimson Assassin Corps attacks, we will only kill the demon minions, recruit the remaining soldiers, merge the two forces, and under cover of night storm the Platinum Palace to slay the greatest demon puppet, La Feng Ge."

Jia Di Ya's heart raced as she listened: "With you there, recruitment isn't hard, but even if we succeed, it's still far from enough to safely enter Bai Jin Cheng."

"After all, the garrison of Bai Jin Cheng numbers a hundred thousand."

Even if our two forces combine, we'd have fewer than 2,000 men—against a hundred‑thousand garrison, that's like a chicken hitting a stone.

Luosen smiled faintly: "The garrison won't stop us."

"Huh?"

"I've quietly contacted Mother Nature, and she sensed the evil within the palace; she will help us divert the garrison."

Jia Di Ya sounded puzzled: "Mother Nature never intervenes in worldly affairs; how could she possibly mobilize an army?"

You can fool the common folk with that, but you can't fool her.

She herself wields seventh‑ring peak magic, just a step short of the eighth‑ring Mother Nature; if it weren't for Mother Nature's grandfather, the formidable Shenwei Tianfu, the Radiant Empire would have expanded here long ago.

Luosen, of course, knew this and explained, "Normally it's impossible to move, but this time it can be done because I'll be assisting from the shadows."

Now that sounds a bit reliable.

Jia Di Ya nodded: "Then we'll do as you say."

She paused briefly and asked, "Then how do we deal with the Void demons?"

Luosen smiled faintly: "I'll look for an opportunity. Of course, if possible, I ask the general to help create as many chances as you can."

"The more you distract the demons in the mortal world, the more chances I have to make my move."

Jia Di Ya nodded, indicating she understood: "Please rest assured, Mr. Luobin, I will fully cooperate!"

As an Imperial General, besides exorcising demons, she still had a duty to the Empire in her heart.

She decided to secretly relay the matter of the legendary mage back to the Empire, for the Empress to personally decide what to do next.

Of course, whatever the Empress decides, it must happen after defeating the demon in Levinde's palace.

This legendary mage saved their own life and the lives of the entire team.

Then, whether out of personal gratitude or human justice, helping him defeat the demon is perfectly justified.

(End of chapter)