Qin Lun looked around. Their team breaking out towards the valley interior made Idria the spearhead. The female knight truly lived up to being a Shield Knight of Loviatar. She was fearless on the battlefield, swinging her massive double-bladed axe like a windmill. Skeletons and zombies alike were sent flying through the air like straw in a gale if they so much as touched her weapon.
The sight left the others staring, dumbfounded. What kind of family did this girl co from? Not only did she have such a unique heirloom, but her monstrous strength rivaled a war goddess.
To Idria’s right was Philip. The hot-tempered mage seed determined to vent all his frustrations onto the undead. Gripping his staff tightly with one hand, he poured mana potions from a glass bottle into his mouth with the other, unleashing spells without regard for cost.
An Apostle’s mage profession differed slightly from story mages like Angelo. Philip didn’t possess a vast repertoire of magical skills. Right now, he only used a single offensive spell: Fireball Spell. However, his casting speed was abnormally fast.
Fireball after fireball ford at the tip of his staff. Almost as soon as one was fired, the next took shape. It was practically instant casting. If Angelo could have seen this, his eyeballs probably would have popped out.
Mages of the Toril World could not achieve this casting speed even by bypassing the Magic Web and using only their internal mana. Each spell required a certain buffer ti to construct. The faster the casting, the greater the ntal backlash.
For sustained rapid-fire Fireballs like this, even a mage like Angelo, nearing Six-Ring capability, couldn’t maintain this speed. He’d have to stop after three or four casts to let his ntal energy settle. Spamming it like a machine gun was impossible.
To the female knight’s left stood Robin, the beautiful Leader of the Lost team. Robin’s combat profession was Spirit Summoner, an exceptionally rare jack-of-all-trades profession capable of filling almost any role within a team.
Though the nature of this combat profession was versatile, like Nicole’s Divine Caster, it was actually an incredibly powerful Apostle profession. Spirit Summoners bore so resemblance to a charlatan profession originating from the Huaxia District of the Earth Federation: ‘Spirit Embodint’. It involved a ritual to invite a spirit to possess the body, granting divine power.
Naturally, Spirit Summoners differed from ‘Spirit Embodint’. Spirit Summoners didn’t summon deities, but Heroic Spirits. These Heroic Spirits needed to be captured personally by the summoner and bound by a contract to grant their power.
A Heroic Spirit could be a deity or any soul possessing ‘power’ from its forr life. This ‘power’ wasn’t limited to combat prowess; it included knowledge and wisdom as well.
When a Heroic Spirit possessed her, Robin gained that spirit’s power. Whatever type of power the Heroic Spirit possessed, that’s what the profession the beautiful Leader beca. It sounded overwhelmingly powerful, but in practice, there were significant limitations.
First, finding a powerful and suitable Heroic Spirit was incredibly difficult, much like Qin Lun needing to seek help from the Demon Clan for a powerful, appropriate summon. Additionally, souls that beca Heroic Spirits usually carried imnse obsessions. Only by fulfilling their various strange demands could a Spirit Summoner successfully contract them.
Beyond the unique characteristics of the Heroic Spirits themselves, the Spirit Summoner also had to deeply study each contracted spirit. Only by understanding their laws of power could the summoner truly wield that strength. Otherwise, it was just an empty shell. This explained Robin’s constant intellectual deanor – she had to be learned. Over ti, it beca ingrained in her nature.
Unlike summoned creatures, a Spirit Summoner could theoretically possess an unlimited number of Heroic Spirits. However, during combat, they could only manifest one at a ti. Summoning more was not possible. This was easy to understand; Qin Lun had two personalities, but only one could be dominant at any mont, or he’d be considered mad.
Like Summoners, Spirit Summoners were weak in the early stages but beca imnsely powerful later. They required significant resources invested by their team for training.
However, Spirit Summoners surpassed ordinary Summoners because their Heroic Spirits bestowed combat power directly upon their own bodies. Martial Artists, Gunslingers, Mages, Assassins… they could simulate and alter their attributes, even temporarily becoming a top-tier scientist in a specific field.
But Spirit Summoners had a flaw Summoners didn’t: a potentially crippling weakness for low-rank Spirit Summoners – they could not target a specific summon when invoking. In other words, they couldn’t choose which Heroic Spirit would manifest in battle; it was a random pull from within a certain range.
Robin currently possessed ten or so Heroic Spirits. At First Order, she could only invoke randomly among all of them. If she summoned a spirit rich in wisdom and knowledge but utterly lacking in combat ability during a fight… the result was predictable.
Now at Second Order, she had slightly narrowed the pool, invoking from a smaller, pre-selected group of spirits, improving her success rate sowhat. Only when she reached High Rank, or even beca a Legendary Apostle, could she finally pinpoint a specific Heroic Spirit for battle.
Ironically, once reaching High Rank or Legendary Profession, finding suitable Heroic Spirits beca exponentially harder. Increasing combat power grew vastly more difficult for her than for professions like Kelly’s Martial Artist.
Right now, Robin had invoked a not-quite-ideal Heroic Spirit. She had wanted to summon a Heroic Spirit Mage specializing in area attacks, or perhaps an aura-boosting Priest. Instead, she looked down helplessly at the sword that appeared in her grasp…
The Artifact Spirit of the An Apophis fiend of baleful might burst forth! Yes, the Heroic Spirits contracted by Spirit Summoners weren’t limited to living beings’ souls. They were spirits, and an Artifact Spirit certainly fell under that category.
Thus, Robin beca a ghostly warrior. She drew a massive broadsword, as large as Idria’s double-bladed axe, from her Storage Space. Reflecting the cold blue moon (If necessary, for clarity), she waded into the undead horde, hacking and slashing wildly. Aside from the Lost team mbers, everyone else was used to their beautiful Leader’s usually elegant, intellectual image. Now, they stared in stunned disbelief.
This was why Robin rarely fought personally. After a Spirit Summon, the cooldown was extrely long; she couldn’t invoke another spirit for a while. Logically, this Ghost Sword profession, blending magic and martial arts, should be a great asset right now.
The problem was, the ghostly power the Ghost Swordsman wielded was like potent nourishnt to the undead. Sensing Robin’s surge of ghastly of spirit energy, the mindless undead instinctively surged toward her, driven by so insatiable hunger. While this broke their formations, it significantly increased the imdiate pressure on the already besieged team trying to break free.
Robin’s position would actually have been better suited for Iristin. However, due to Qin Lun’s interference, the Elven Druid was kept near him and Milleras, unable to join the vanguard. The others could do nothing about it.
“Qin Lun, I know you like Iristin, but don’t forget you’re an Apostle…” Philip’s anxious voice crackled over the Team Channel through Qin Lun’s mind, bypassing the battlefield clamor.
“What are you trying to say?” Qin Lun’s eyes glinted coldly as he asked coolly.
“The situation’s critical! Every bit of strength helps. We can survive the loss of Iristin if it ans getting out of here!” Philip sounded awkward. After all, Iristin had fought and survived alongside them for so long, wasn’t fancy was hardly devoid of feeling.
Actually, power-wise, Iristin surpassed anyone else in the party. But this was the key difference between Plot Characters and Apostles. Apostles had Law Bodies, healing grievous wounds rapidly. If Iristin got seriously injured now, surrounded by countless undead? She wouldn’t recover in ti… Death was the only outco.
“I didn’t keep Iristin here to use her as cannon fodder,” Qin Lun replied, his smile growing even more gentle, his voice soft. “Philip, tell … why do you think there are so many massive boulders within this valley?”
“The valley cliffs are weathered by wind and sun… Erosion is inevitable. Given ti, rockfalls happen naturally. What’s strange about that? This valley’s remote, no one clears the debris… Wait, wait,” Philip frowned thoughtfully, then his expression beca delighted. “Are you saying we could…? I can try blasting the cliffs on either side!”
“Too scattered. The chance of triggering a significant avalanche is small,” Qin Lun retorted calmly with a slight smile. “That’s why I need Iristin, Philip. Wood Overcos Earth. Even the hardest rock yields to growing plants. And an Elven Druid is the finest wood magic user we have.”
Seeing Philip happily relay the plan over the Team Channel to Robin, Qin Lun’s lips curled ever so slightly in disdain. Had Philip not tried to offer the kindly Elven Druid he held so fondness for as a shield, Qin Lun would have been perfectly content to continue his detached observation. For him, the unfolding twists of this adventure outweighed re survival itself. He savored the unfolding chaos more than a tidy escape.
…..
Iristin, transford into a Gale Panther, raced along the valley’s right cliff face. Her sharp claws tore into the rock, sending chips flying. With every powerful leap, plant seeds spilled from the panther’s jaws into the cracks and crevices caused by weathering.
“Iristin, ready?” Robin gasped, drenched in sweat. After Philip’s suggestion, the group had stopped their frantic charge. Instead, they ford a tight defensive line with their backs to the valley’s left cliff, weathering the onslaught of undead.
This reduced the imdiate risk of injuries, but drastically increased the defensive strain – especially for Robin. Her ghostly aura drew the undead like a beacon, making her their primary target.
Iristin finally leaped down from the cliff, landing amidst the party. As her form shifted back to elven, she instantly closed her eyes. A holy and solemn expression settled onto her face.
“Ha… Aaah…” Surprisingly, the druid didn’t cast a spell. Instead, she threw her head back and sang. Echoing across the confined gorge, her voice soared, clear and pure like flowing spring water.
“Elf-Song!” Milleras’s expression darkened, flickering between shock and fury as he whirled toward Qin Lun. “What madness have you driven her towards?”
“I hadn’t anticipated… this magic would burden Iristin so heavily that she needs the Song’s surge!” Qin Lun’s face betrayed uncertainty. He possessed the Ancient Inheritance of the Moon Elves. He knew exactly what Iristin was doing.
“Sapient whispers of vine and thorn, children of the living wood, I call you! Heed nature’s envoy! Turn this desolate earth verdant once more. Dust to dust, earth to earth. Grant life to flourish, grant the restless dead slumber!” Iristin raised her hands skyward. An unnatural flush stained her pale cheeks. “Rillifane Rallathil, god of the woodlands, lend your servant power! Arise! Pale Thicket!”
As the final words echoed, Iristin’s silver-white hair whipped around her head like a banner. Deep within the cliff face where she’d scattered the seeds, sothing groaned… A low, titanic rumble swiftly swelled into a thunderous roar.
Massive, pale tendrils erupted from the fractured stone – vines thick as tree trunks alongside bone-white leaves and growths. They ripped through the rocky face, a wild network of unnatural life. This wasn’t viridian growth, but a sinister, spectral color, resembling tombstones of the dead.
Rocks, shattered free by the violent growth, cascaded down the cliff like a stony avalanche. Dust clouds exploded upward. Only a small number of undead closest to Qin Lun’s group remained untouched. The vast horde crowding the valley center and choking the right flank? They vanished under tonnes of crushing debris.
Though far from destroyed, being temporarily pinned beneath tons of rock removed the undead tide as an imdiate threat.
“Go! Now!” Robin yelled, pure relief in her voice. She surged forward, the battered mbers close behind. They crashed through the small knot of undead left blocking their path like confetti and charged through the newly opened breach.
Qin Lun, face utterly devoid of expression, carried the unconscious Iristin, keeping pace at the tail of the group. He’d only intended her to use a moderate-strength magic like the Thorn Technique. He hadn’t anticipated she would drain her own life force to unleash what bordered on a near-Legendary Rank spell – creating this forest.
Looking back at the grotesque, pallid forest covering the entire right-hand cliff face, forming a morbid canopy over half the valley, a shadow passed across his eyes. The detached pleasure he’d felt monts before was utterly extinguished. Only a deep-seated gloom clouded his heart. There was no satisfaction here.
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