"The underground tunnels have been destroyed; Chaos creatures blew up large sections of the passages, blocking all the routes to the eastern district of the city. We could only find an exit to surface." Facing Malin’s inquiry, Colin spread his hands and pointed at the not-so-distant Hoffman, "The ntor anticipated this situation; hence, he sent us over. Speaking of which, you were easy to find—just head towards the sound of gunfire, and here we’ve found you."
Malin nodded.
Exactly, the cries of battle here were deafening—an intelligent fellow would either stay well clear or be drawn to it like a moth to fla.
As they passed an alley, several soldiers shook their heads at the entrance. One turned to look at the Church’s contingent: "Would any of you co to have a look?"
"What is it?" Colin approached, and Malin followed.
He saw the Chaos creatures he had killed: "Chaos."
A soldier had gone over to flip through several bodies: "Indeed, it’s Chaos. This alley is filled with Chaos killed by spell formations. At first, we mistook them for ordinary civilians," then the lead soldier looked at Malin, "How did you know they were Chaos?"
"I killed them, with a single Lightning Spear." Malin had barely finished when Colin knocked him on the head, "Using a fourth-ring spell again? I’ve said it—if it’s not a last resort, don’t use spells above the third ring."
"But think about it, this alley alone had seventy or eighty Chaos. If I used firearms or other spells, how long would that have taken?" Malin shrugged.
The soldiers chuckled, clueless about spell formations; to their simple minds, this conversation was sothing to smile at and forget.
At this mont, Colin wasn’t inclined to argue with Malin. As the soldiers left, he looked ahead: "I’m worried. The Chaos ca prepared; this could be a bloody battle."
Malin humd in agreent, understanding why he’d waited until the soldiers were gone before voicing his concerns—a commander should not display his pessimism or fear before his troops: "This is a dire situation indeed, Colin, but what good does worrying do? Death won’t spare you because you fear it."
Colin smiled and ruffled Malin’s hair: "You’re right, death is the fairest thing in this world; no one lives forever."
After saying this, Colin pulled out a cigarette case from his coat pocket and tried to light one up.
Malin stopped him: "A lit cigarette end is the best bullet magnet in the dark. If you want to make Margaret a widow, I won’t stop you."
So, Colin obediently put away the cigarette, sighing, "I really want to wipe out all those Chaos creatures right now."
"Then you’d best pray they line themselves up for you."
At that mont, a Mage descended from the sky, landing in front of Hoffman: "Your Excellency, you are too exposed. The forces on both sides haven’t been able to advance yet."
"Tell the reserves to keep up with us." Hoffman glanced at the Mage, "Ti is not on our side, Mage. Tell your friends, when I need you, can you deploy your spell formations?"
"No problem, Your Excellency, the Mage Tower awaits your command; we’ll face this dire situation together." The middle-aged Mage nodded vigorously, then placed his left hand on his chest and saluted in the Sydney fashion: "For the glory of Sydney, Your Excellency."
"Wait a mont." Hoffman finished speaking to the Mage and then turned to signal to Malin.
Malin jogged up to the old man: "Teacher, you called for ?"
"Yes, Colin tells you often have insights far beyond your peers. So this ti, I want to ask—what should we do?" The old man looked at Malin with a smile, seemingly awaiting an answer.
After thinking it over, Malin decided to speak frankly: "I don’t think we should go looking for their holes, because if we get there early, we’ll have to fight them first. And if we’re late, who knows what might happen," Malin glanced at his ntor, "My suggestion is to find a detailed map of the underground tunnels, confirm the fluctuations of Spiritual Energy, and then dig our own hole to descend. Let’s leave the hole that fatso made to his and the Mimicking Birds’ followers to fight it out."
"I think it’s a good choice, at least it could reduce a lot of casualties." Constance nodded at his old friend Hoffman beside him: "Especially since we can’t pinpoint where the Chaos forces are digging, this seems like a more practical option."
"So, who has a map? Do you have one?" Hoffman asked.
The Mage smiled and nodded: "The Mage Tower library has one; I can fetch it, and it will only take about ten minutes to go and co back."
Thus, the team halted, waiting for both wings to catch up and for the map to arrive.
Malin felt his suggestion wasn’t the best, but it was surely better than everyone rushing in madly.
"I don’t like this idea much; we should charge in and kill all those Chaos." O’Neil from the Church of the War God was sowhat displeased — to him, sitting idle was a blasphemy against life and his own creed.
"Friend, I think it’s a decent plan, albeit a tad more cowardly than charging in to wipe out the opposition. However, right now we’re facing two Chaos forces, and in a situation where three parties are mutually hostile, why can’t we let the Chaos also bleed each other dry?" A young man dressed in the Church of Justice’s battle uniform approached: "I’m Harman, from the Church of Justice."
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