"Do you want to avenge her?"
"Yes, I think about getting revenge for her all the ti, wanting to make those who killed her pay the price, even willing to offer up my life for it. But the ti is not now," the Ouroboros Serpent said, "I bear a more important mission, and the day I fulfill my mission will be my day of revenge."
"What mission?" Ma Lu asked curiously.
"Would you like to know? Just join the Witch Alliance and I'll tell you."
"Then forget it, let's talk about sothing you can discuss. What exactly is this Witch Alliance?"
"That depends on the stance from which you view us. In different people's eyes, we take on different images. The Church sees us as mortal enemies, the root of chaos; historians say we are survivors from outside the city; common folk believe we are a terrorist force wanting to destroy the Holy Temple City."
The Ouroboros Serpent straightened the hair beside her ear.
"And you, what does the Witch Alliance look like in your eyes?"
"Liberators." The girl said without hesitation, "Our existence is to break the Ring of Order and to free the witches enslaved and suppressed by the Church."
"Given the Order Church's control over the Holy Temple City, that must be quite difficult," Ma Lu said.
"Indeed," the Ouroboros Serpent admitted, "To achieve this goal, we have already sacrificed many people, but we firmly believe that day will ultimately co."
"Why?"
"Because it is Hieya's promise."
"Hieya? Is she your leader?"
"Yes."
Ma Lu looked contemplative upon hearing this, "You should be like Yun Que and the others, adopted by the Church from infancy, having never left the Holy Temple City before eting . This suggests that there are mbers of the Witch Alliance in the school as well."
"......"
"Oh, don't be nervous, I was just making a casual remark."
"It's a good thing you're not our enemy," the Ouroboros Serpent broke out in a cold sweat from Ma Lu's words.
Before she had a chance to catch her breath, she heard Ma Lu continue, "By the way, when you excused yourself earlier, was it to get in touch with your people?"
"Ah?"
Now the Ouroboros Serpent's hairs stood on end, her face reddened, and she stamred, "You...you were spying on relieving myself?"
"No, no, don't talk nonsense." Ma Lu shook his head, "I've been lying here without moving; Yun Que and the others can testify."
The truth was he saw on the Chessboard Map that the Ouroboros Serpent kept turning in circles around a square and guessed she must be up to sothing.
But seeing how she acted, she must have gone through the full set of pretenses and actually relieved herself in the woods.
Hearing Ma Lu say this, the Ouroboros Serpent finally breathed a sigh of relief, and seeing that her action had been exposed, she had no choice but to admit candidly.
"I left sothing in the woods, soone will co to get it later, but don't worry, it won't affect you and your team in any way."
Ma Lu heard this but didn't stop her behavior, just reminded her, "The next ti sothing like this happens, let know in advance."
"Uh, okay...okay."
......
After the rest, the group continued their journey, clearing out the Energized Plants along the way.
Ma Lu, although he collected a bunch of teorite Shards halfway through this ti, managed to have much more ti than in the previous tasks because he had upgraded his Traveler's Bracelet in advance.
Moreover, the squad's strength had also grown rapidly, shortening the ti it took to slay monsters.
Ma Lu now scarcely cared for the paltry experience and rewards given by 1-star and 2-star Energized Plants, and even 3-star and 4-star Energized Plants could no longer level him up.
So, he started scheming to pull off another big score.
According to the Chessboard Map, there were a total of three 5-star Energized Plants nearby.
They were the Horseshoe Bamboo Shoot Chieftain, Demon Grinder Pumpkin, and Flash Freeze Purple Cabbage.
Among them, the Flash Freeze Purple Cabbage was of the water attribute, which was a natural counter to the team's main damage dealer, the Hellhound, so it was imdiately ruled out by Ma Lu.
Left with the Horseshoe Bamboo Shoot Chieftain and Demon Grinder Pumpkin, Ma Lu himself preferred to tackle the Horseshoe Bamboo Shoot, but the Horseshoe Bamboo Shoot Chieftain had an annoying Recovery skill that could be cast every 2 minutes, restoring 1,500 HP each ti.
Additionally, the Horseshoe Bamboo Shoot Chieftain also had a skill called Earth-Shattering Stomp, a wide-area attack skill with an added 4-second stun effect, likely to disrupt the team's formation and pose a challenge for the survival of the team's squishy roles.
By comparison, even though the Demon Grinder Pumpkin had the highest Attack Power among them, at 39 points, its skill set was far more manageable.
It only had Curses, Bites, and Charges, all single-target attacks.
Thus, in the end, Ma Lu chose the Demon Grinder Pumpkin as his target.
He temporarily lent his Chef's Knife to the purple-haired girl, planted an Assault Banner in the ground, increasing the team's Attack Power by 2 points, and then changed the formation to the Swallowtail Formation.
In this formation, the squad's HP could increase by 10%, enhancing their margin for error, and the Sin Value limit would also rise by 20%, allowing for the use of more Skills.
After that, Ma Lu proactively used a Knight Technique - Weather Forecast.
He was lucky this ti, selecting Heat from the three choices.
The next mont, the sunlight above everyone's heads suddenly beca scorching.
Hot weather conditions would cause an attacker with fire attributes to see a 50% increase in Attack Power, while water attribute attackers would suffer a 50% decrease, and wood attribute attackers would have a 30% reduction.
This weather effect impacted the Hellhound, Ouroboros Serpent, Bliss Bird, and Demon Grinder Pumpkin alike.
The Hellhound, being fire attribute, saw its Attack Power soar from 23 points to 35.
The Ouroboros Serpent, as a water attribute, was the most severely weakened, with its Attack Power plumting from 11 points straight down to 6, but as a Mage, it was not too dependent on basic Attack Power.
The Bliss Bird and Demon Grinder Pumpkin, as wood attributes, also suffered a 30% decrease in Attack Power, with the Bliss Bird dropping from 11 points to 8, and the Demon Grinder Pumpkin from 39 to 27, greatly relieving the pressure on the healer.
As the battle began, the Bliss Bird was the first to chant the Skill "May My Lord Look Over You," granting everyone a buff of 2 to both Attack and Defense.
Then Yun Que, from a distance, initiated the attack, sneakily dealing a wave of damage.
However, the big Pumpkin's defensive power was also very high, reaching a full 15 points. Even with the boost from new weapons and engravings, the bullets that Yun Que fired could only deal 6 points of damage to it.
Compared to the Demon Grinder Pumpkin's health pool of 3,000 points, it was rely a drop in the bucket.
But it succeeded in drawing its attention, after which Ma Lu and the purple-haired girl confronted it together, intercepting the Demon Grinder Pumpkin.
It resembled a giant pumpkin head, akin to a Halloween jack-o'-lantern, with human-like eyes and a mouth in the place of a face.
Long, slender teeth were also visible in its mouth, making for a sowhat terrifying sight.
Facing the Demon Grinder Pumpkin's onslaught of attacks, the Hellhound didn't dodge or evade and took a Bite Quadruple Strike head-on, costing 24 HP, which also triggered the effect of the engraving, boosting the purple-haired girl's Attack Power by another 2 points.
The Hellhound then launched its active Skill, Hell's Roar, brandishing its blade and slashing across the Demon Grinder Pumpkin's dark green skin, inflicting a terrifying 71 points of damage.
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