Vichy

By this time, Yaxiu and Weise had already retreated into the jungle area. They exchanged a glance. Yaxiu drew his Sword of Honeyed Words and Belly Dagger while Weise transformed her Thousand Mechanisms sorcery spirit. Their sorcery power surged relentlessly, compelling the sorcery spirits cowed by the gods' presence to clock in for duty! There was no need to dwell on Yaxiu—the moment he voiced his plan of having Senluo's people flee abroad, the gods were determined to kill him. The same went for Weise. Even though the gods would not kill her, she would be imprisoned on the eighteenth floor of the Silent Spiral, left with no choice but to watch helplessly as the Azure Lord perished, and then watch the entire world slide into an abyss of despair where tens of millions turned into green beasts to suffer eternal torment—she would rather bring about the apocalypse right now! There was no escaping, no evading. There was only battle! Driven by sword-colored sorcery power, the trembling Heart Sword sorcery spirit unleashed its might to the extreme. The sword shadows were so swift they seemed to skip across light itself, leaving ink marks in their wake that shredded space and coating the target in pitch blackness in an instant! Miracle: Heart Pen Graffiti! A variant of the Heart Pen miracle, it wiped out the space where the target stood, just like scribbling over something with an ink brush! The square cicada emerged on Weise's shoulder. Having conceived a complete attack plan in her mind, she activated the square cicada's "Three-Second Cicada Chirping"! The square cicada's effect was simple: it shifted a target's state from three seconds in the future to the present. This effect not only allowed Weise's future attacks to erupt in this very second, but also greatly augmented Yaxiu's offensive—if Yaxiu inflicted damage within three seconds, "Three-Second Cicada Chirping" would shift his damage to the present as well! The Round Cicada's "Three-Second Cicada Concealment" could save lives from the brink of death, while the square cicada's "Three-Second Cicada Chirping" could build an extreme burst. In solo combat it was enough to trigger a qualitative leap in battle power, and in a team it could turn the tide of an entire battle! And Yaxiu and Weise's target was, naturally, Fire Cat! If they killed this god who could restrict the battlefield first, Yaxiu would be able to go outside and fetch reinforcements, rallying Senluo's sorcerers to slay the gods and save the world! Even if Senluo's sorcerers lacked such courage, they could still carry out the migration plan, relocating the population to relieve pressure on the Azure Lord. Once the Azure Lord recovered from Her injuries and had Her hands free, She could naturally resolve the crisis. Fire Cat had virtually no defenses. First, she was annihilated by the accumulated burst of "Three-Second Cicada Chirping," and then she was battered to pieces by Yaxiu's Heart Pen. Although their offensive was executed almost flawlessly, Yaxiu and Weise's hearts sank—because every time Fire Cat shattered, she quickly restored herself to her original state. "Eh? Eh? Eh? How interesting!" Fire Cat stepped out from the graffiti. Flames spilled from her injured parts, reconstituting her body. In the blink of an eye, she restored herself to the form of a lively, energetic young girl, and even her clothes were restored along with her. "I blew apart with a poof just now! Hahaha!" Refusing to believe it, Yaxiu used Heart Pen to attack the other two gods. Blue Bird neither dodged nor avoided; when Heart Sword pierced through his body, there was no reaction at all. White Dove raised his cane and struck the flying Heart Sword with pinpoint accuracy; Yaxiu controlled the sword with his mind, yet he couldn't compete with White Dove's cane in the slightest! A chill crept into the hearts of both sorcerers. They had assumed gods could be destroyed easily like sorcery spirits, but now it was no longer a matter of being destroyed or not—the defensive prowess of these gods was even greater than that of sorcerers like them. They couldn't even break through their defenses! "What do we do?" Yaxiu kept constructing ink-mark trenches, but they were completely unable to stop the gods from approaching. "Can sorcerers not even harm gods?" A glint of resolve appeared in Weise's eyes. "If there really is no other way..." "Gods are rule-based life forms. Only rules can harm them—such as other gods, or..." A voice suddenly rang out in the jungle. Both the sorcerers and the gods immediately halted their steps, looking around in search of the uninvited guest. "...rules that counter them." Behind Fire Cat, a figure suddenly appeared. He wore a silver-and-black trench coat and a jazz fedora. Tall and slender, with thin lips and slender brows, he wore a pair of spectacles. His features were feminine and handsome, and a light, breezy smile hung at the corner of his lips, like a passing venomous viper. He reached out and placed a hand on Fire Cat's shoulder. Fire Cat looked back curiously, but searing flames had already ignited across her body, poised to incinerate this strange sorcerer in the next second. "Against fire, one must use water." Boom! From beneath Fire Cat's feet, a clear spring suddenly erupted, shooting straight through her. By the time White Dove and Blue Bird turned around to attack, the silver-and-black sorcerer had already retreated rapidly. He did not unfurl any void wings, yet his trench coat spread out like bat wings, and his flight speed was far faster than that of Yaxiu and Weise, retreating to a safe distance in almost an instant. "Good afternoon, you two." The silver-and-black sorcerer tipped his fedora, offering a polite bow of his own accord. "I accidentally overheard your conversation. Although I am merely a passerby, I am also willing to fight alongside you to thwart the gods' evil conspiracy." Does this guy not even bother making up an excuse? A strong surge of absurdity rose in Yaxiu and Weise's hearts. What the hell did he mean by "accidentally overheard your conversation" and "passerby"? This was the eighteenth floor of the Silent Spiral! Who on earth would be taking a casual stroll here! Then again, perhaps for that very reason, he couldn't be bothered to make something up, since Yaxiu and Weise wouldn't believe it anyway. Moreover, it was impossible for Yaxiu and Weise to refuse this invitation to team up—facing three gods right now, any extra help was welcome, not to mention that this sorcerer of unknown origin seemed to know the proper way to harm gods! "Be careful of him," Yaxiu said. "Mm, you too." Weise nodded earnestly. It wasn't just Weise; even Yaxiu felt not the slightest fondness toward this strange man who had voluntarily offered help. Yaxiu himself found it rather strange—after all, he usually tried to see the good in people, yet this strange man gave him a bizarre sense of déjà vu, making him refuse from the bottom of his heart to trust this stranger. Yaxiu actually somewhat suspected that the stranger belonged to the Four Pillar Cult, but he knew all the cult's powerhouses. Besides, Mercury Trojan made full use of even a mad Legendary Sorcerer—how could she have kept someone powerful enough to clash with gods tucked away all this time? At this moment, Fire Cat, who had been blasted away, finally fell back down. Blazing flames erupted across her body, evaporating the moisture on her. Then she pulled at her dress to inspect herself; her mouth instantly pouted so high you could hang a kettle from it, her face filled with grievance and anger, and she couldn't resist stamping her foot in frustration. "Ahhh!" Clenching her fists, she cried out, "Fire Cat got smaller!" After being blasted by the water, Fire Cat had regressed directly from a youthful girl in her twenties to a petite girl in her early teens! Clearly, using water sorcery against Fire Cat could genuinely harm her true body! Yaxiu's eyes lit up at the sight. No matter how wary he was internally, he felt a bit more gratitude toward this stranger at this moment. He introduced himself, "Yaxiu." Weise's thoughts raced, and she followed, "Silver Lantern. I wonder which sect you are a bishop of? I should know all the powerhouses in Senluo, but I don't seem to have seen you before..." "It's completely normal that you haven't heard of me. Unlike you two celebrities, I haven't been in Senluo for long since transmigrating here; I'm still a completely unknown figure." The corners of his lips curled up. "My name is Vichy."