Inside the Pearl Square Commercial Center, Yaxiu and Weixi had just stepped through the revolving glass doors when several giant crystalline wolves shattered the glass and charged inside.
Oasis Tier 2 troops—Strangling Green Wolves!
The first floor of the plaza was dedicated mainly to jewelry and luxury goods, where customers and shop clerks alike lay fast asleep on the floor. The wolves had zero interest in this all-you-can-eat buffet laid out for the taking; they were solely drawn to two remarkably vigorous wild animals: Yaxiu and Weixi.
Yet Yaxiu halted in his tracks. Because the entrance to the mall was narrow, only three or four beasts could squeeze through at a time. The reason the two of them had insisted on fleeing indoors wasn't because they were outmatched, but simply because they didn't want to be surrounded from all sides out on the open street—Yaxiu had no desire to fight back-to-back with Weixi.
With a flick of his sleeves, a pair of short swords patterned with cherry blossoms appeared in Yaxiu's hands. Given a full month of buffer time, Rose had naturally procured suitable weapons for him. These were fan-made art pieces dubbed the "Fox Lantern Twin Swords," crafted by a bladesmith fan of his based on his works. In the Country of All Stars, where firearms were ubiquitous, bladed weapons truly could serve only as works of art.
As a wolf beast swept down a crystalline claw, Yaxiu didn't block it head-on. Instead, he slashed at its claw, then kicked off hard with both legs. Using the recoil to spin into midair, two quick slashes mangled the wolf's eyes.
This was a defensive dual-wielding style Yaxiu had developed recently. After arriving in All Stars, he had realized the Honeyed Tongue Dagger hadn't carried over, so he had instinctively taken an extra sword as a spare. But after testing it, he found that dual blades suited him quite well.
He wasn't like Sonia. Sonia's tactical system was undeniably centered on burst melee combat, but his own tactical system was actually ranged swordsmanship built around the "Heart Pen." To him, a sword was virtually the same as a staff or a firearm.
Moreover, Yaxiu rarely fought alone; he had no need to fight for the frontline melee position. Ranged swordsmanship would remain his primary attack mode in the future, meaning his close-quarters swordplay ought to lean toward defense.
The "Sword Retainer" miracle was triggered by high-frequency strikes—or more accurately, when Yaxiu launched high-frequency attacks to give his sorcery spirits the illusion that "victory is ours," the sorcery spirits would push the spell forward with greater fervor.
Defensive, dizzying, fast attack speed, and dropping one sword wouldn't hinder his spellcasting. Yaxiu resolved to walk the dual-wielding path from now on.
As for the Honeyed Tongue Dagger, it could serve as a backup gift for Sonia. Whenever Yaxiu inevitably forgot an anniversary, it would surely come in handy.
On the other side, Weixi had also found what she needed. She kicked down the stainless steel frame of a pop-up stall in the center of the atrium, picked up a steel rod to use as a spear, shattered the shatterproof glass of a jewelry counter in the same motion, and swept up pearls and treasures around the shaft. She spun around and thrust forward, piercing straight through a wolf's gaping maw.
Yaxiu glanced at her without saying a word. Weixi, however, glared back at him. "I just wanted to enchant my weapon with jewelry and gemstones. If you want to scold me, go ahead—don't bottle it up!"
"Does it even work?"
"If it pisses you off, it boosts my combat power by at least ten percent!"
"Ah, I'm so angry. Remember to put them back when you're done."
"You're so annoying! I got it!"
Just as Yaxiu took down a third wolf, a pitch-black figure suddenly dropped from above. Wielding a scythe and an axe, wearing a blood-soaked crow mask, and clad in a filthy black cape, it descended like an overt manifestation of pure malice.
Oasis Tier 4 troops—Crow Cull!
Yet just as Yaxiu noticed this Crow Cull, another one charged through the entrance. Suppressing his impulse to deploy his Sanctuary or miracles, Yaxiu barely managed to swing his twin swords to deflect their pincer attack!
*Boom!*
The Crow Cull's weapons were rigged with explosives. Yaxiu was blown backward, crashing into a jewelry boutique. In the shadows, he swiftly patted himself with a "Joy Sword." When he stood up, he discovered a female clerk pinned beneath him, blood trickling from her forehead—most likely, she had hit the corner of a counter when he was hurled inside.
Yaxiu instinctively slapped a Joy Sword onto the clerk as well, then flipped over the counter to dodge a flying scythe hurled by the Crow Cull. Reversing his grip on the twin blades, he dashed forward and decapitated them in a single sweep!
"Let's get out of here!" Yaxiu shouted.
Weixi raised no objections, because right then, the skylight glass eight floors above them shattered. Warriors clad in blackish-green armor, wielding a rapier in one hand and a dagger in the other, came dropping from the sky.
Oasis Tier 6 troops—Grey Fox Watchers!
Staying anywhere for long would guarantee they'd be swarmed to death by these enemies. They had to keep moving! Yaxiu and Weixi bolted out the northwest exit. Looking up, they spotted a Tier 6 Blood Tomb dracolich gliding overhead, prompting them to duck under an arcade walkway to evade aerial sightlines.
"You noticed it, right?"
"Yeah," Weixi said. "Though these enemies look fierce, they don't possess a shred of supernatural power. They're fighting purely on physical capability."
Back when Yaxiu had clashed with the wolves, he had immediately noticed the anomaly. The defining trait of the wolf beasts he had encountered on the Time Continent was "infinite revival"—unless their crystalline bodies were smashed to pieces in one go, they would rapidly regenerate. If a wolf lost a limb, the more intact the rest of its body was, the faster the missing parts restored themselves, until all their crystal was expended and they died completely.
Yet the wolves Yaxiu was facing now, despite still squirming after being hacked into pieces, couldn't regenerate or coalesce at all. The Crow Culls were the same; Yaxiu had seen those Tier 4 troops tearing through battlefields like spinning tops, yet he had managed to decapitate them with just two swords—even Black Crow would be ashamed to be associated with them.
To ordinary humans, these foes were undeniably terrifying. But to legendary sorcerers, these troops of the six nations, stripped of their supernatural powers, were hardly stronger than Lalafells.
Provided, of course, that they could actually use their legendary combat strength.
"They've been affected by the mysterious chains as well," Weixi analyzed calmly. "Unlike the previous Angel Hunt, the Time Continent hasn't descended here. The Country of All Stars is still running normally, which means the mysterious chains haven't been nullified. All the supernatural power of the six nations' legions has been locked down tight."
"There's no reason for the Origin Angel to weaken its pursuers. Besides, the White Bull went out of its way to prepare grails for all of us using the Seven-Colored Tail, staging such a grand theater. If its actors are this much more pathetic than us, the drama between us wouldn't be very thrilling—unless..."
"We must also be brought down to their level."
Several two-meter-tall wolves materialized ahead. Yaxiu and Weixi accelerated in unison, spear and twin blades cleaving right through the beasts' crystalline forms.
Only then did the two realize they had reached an intersection on the pedestrian street. In such a massive city, at the crossroads of its most bustling avenue, complete silence reigned. Passersby lay asleep along the sidewalks, and the stars above made no sound, as though the entire metropolis held only the two of them.
"It's so quiet," Weixi murmured.
"We can't be the only ones who haven't drunk from the grails, and we can't be the only ones being hunted." Yaxiu glanced at the floating holy grails hovering beside them. "Yet I don't sense the ripples of miracles from any other sorcerers."
"I thought the legendary sorcerers of the lenient generation were all on the stupider side. Looks like that was just an illusion you gave me, Master." Weixi sighed. "Is there really not a single idiot who used a miracle to wipe out these ugly freaks?"
At the far ends of the intersection, atop the roofs of the surrounding high-rises, legion enemies appeared from every direction. Among them were Oasis, Cobweb, and Garden. The legion bases' rate of spawning troops far outpaced the sorcerers' killing speed; sooner or later, the entirety of Jiashi would be overflowing with the armies of the six nations.
And worse, they couldn't use legendary sorceries to clear the field.
Relying on their intuition and intelligence, they had vaguely deduced that the armies of the six nations were not merely actors on the stage, but also the audience in the stands. Even if ordinary people were theoretically all asleep right now, meaning the mysterious chains shouldn't be restricting sorcerers anymore, anyone who harbored that assumption would end up buried alongside the White Bull.
The armies of the six nations were also considered "ordinary people"—that was the most sinister trap of this grand performance.
The White Bull had deployed an endless legion into the city and willingly subjected them to the restrictions of the mysterious chains, bringing them directly under the chains' surveillance network.
If any sorcerer dared use a miracle against them, they would trigger the mysterious chains without fail.
Not only did Yaxiu and Weixi realize this, but every hidden sorcerer throughout Jiashi had reached the same conclusion. That was why Jiashi was so dead silent; otherwise, someone would have unleashed map-wiping attacks long ago.
Confined to the mortal realm, even legendary sorcerers struggled against the armies of the six nations. Those skilled in melee techniques, like Yaxiu and Weixi, still had a fighting chance, while figures like Igola and Harvey were virtually crippled. Not to mention, a sorcerer's stamina had limits, whereas the six nations' forces were nearly inexhaustible.
After the first Angel Hunt, the Origin Angel had realized it couldn't stand against the collective of legendary sorcerers, so it took direct advantage of the Starry Cage—*fall to the mortal realm alongside the angel, sorcerers!*
Still, sorcerers weren't without an escape route: all they had to do was drink from the grail.
Yet faced with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, even Yaxiu wanted to hold out a little longer to accumulate more Rainbow Nectar, let alone an orthodox sorcerer like Weixi. Besides, would the six nations' legions truly spare a sorcerer who drank from the grail?
What if the armies only ignored ordinary people and specifically targeted sorcerers? No sorcerer would stake their life on such uncertain odds.
"Can we reach the others?" Yaxiu let out a soft breath.
"Cell service died the moment it started raining. Sure enough, things not made by sorcerers glitch out so easily," Weixi replied. "Still, Feili might know where we are. We'd better not wander too far."
As long as they waited for Feili to arrive, they could run rampant using the demon; even tens of thousands of enemies would pose no threat. But Yaxiu shook his head. "Feili may have already drunk from her grail. Even we find it hard to resist the grail's temptation; an ordinary person would hardly hold back from drinking the moment the first drop appeared."
"Then let's hold out until the very end." Weixi gripped her spear tighter. "If the reward this time includes another feather of the seventh illusory wing, could you—"
"No." Crossing his twin swords, Yaxiu watched the approaching charge of the Oasis legion. "I can never have too many gifts for Sword Princess and the Witch, nor can I ever exploit you too harshly."
"Leaving me with nothing at all really kills my initiative. What if I just slack off?"
"Would you?"
"No," Weixi said through gritted teeth. "If the illusory soul wing rewarded this time lets me break the Ruby Chains, I'll show you what true cruelty looks like!"
"Do your best, maid."
"Understood, Master!"
Standing back-to-back at the crossroads, the two prepared to meet the raging deluge of the six nations' armies!
Chapter 868