Pillars of Ita

Chapter 1177 Hunting Plan

The dimensional rift opened up again above the crystallized forest, and AshClaw fell headfirst from it, breaking many gray tree trunks along the way, and fell heavily to the ground.

But he quickly got up, looked at the Star Weaver in front of him with a gloomy face, frowned and questioned: "You shouldn't have rescued me."

"The teleportation spell requires the consent of the recipient," Star Weaver replied, holding his rune staff, "You can disagree."

"Then you should attack them too," AshClaw shouted angrily, "I've already pushed them into a desperate situation!"

"But so are you."

The attitude of this elven wizard is always so unpredictable.

AshClaw took a deep breath.

He resisted the urge to argue with this person. He had tested the strength of his opponent and it was almost impossible for him to complete the task alone in his current state. Therefore, he had to win the support of the person in front of him.

He could actually understand why the other party did not take action immediately. If even he failed, given his cautious character, he would never easily use the tactic of adding fuel to the fire.

"We lost fifteen people in the first contact, three of whom were lost during the reconnaissance phase. Team Dawn and Team Celestial are out of the battle sequence," AshClaw said, "But we still have one chance to start over. At least we have determined the enemy's position. This time I will wait for the main force to surround them."

He looked at the other party silently, "Listen carefully, the Holy Sword Black Steel is there, Leia's students are also there, and there is also a very powerful combat craftsman. There must be something wrong with these people, you have to take action."

There was a shadow flickering in the Star Weaver's pupils, making those dark pupils appear even darker, but he still nodded gently:

"You must restore your strength first, but it is already past midnight. The power of the law will not be stronger. Even at that time, you will only have half of the original power of the law."

AshClaw pursed his lips tightly: "Of course I understand."

……

On the investigation team side, the Seven Seas Brigade is also counting the losses.

Fang He checked the reports from various places - seven people were killed in the Chosen Ones, one bounty hunter from the Pure Blade died, and one of Arjan's friends was also resurrected.

On the Holy Maiden side, Ailuoya suffered minor injuries.

It may seem that the opponent suffered greater losses, but our losses all occurred during the confrontation phase, while the opponent's losses mostly occurred at the end of the battle.

The other side did not have the advantage in numbers, but the fighting power of both sides was one-sided. However, Fang He just glanced at them silently and did not blame them for anything.

It is a well-known fact that club selectors are more strictly selected and better equipped, and free selectors are incomparable in terms of coordination.

He was concerned about the morale of the Chosen Ones, but after a look, he found that it was not so bad. Those who lost their starlight could get more generous compensation. Arian guaranteed it in the name of the Ring of Stars, so these people were not afraid of not getting the money.

In that case, they have nothing to worry about.

However, some people still had doubts about this and couldn't help asking others: "Wait, didn't you realize that the other party was from the advance team? Why did they target us?"

"Use your brain, Michelle. The investigation team is here to investigate the disappearance of someone in Danteville not long ago. This is a classic plot. It means someone wants to obstruct the investigation team."

Someone immediately retorted.

The man suddenly realized: "What a pity! If the communication between the two worlds was still there, I would tell other people about this and expose these disgusting secrets."

The Chosen Ones were discussing the matter at once, and they seemed to be in good spirits.

Fang He was not very optimistic about their idea. Some things, no matter how much of a stir they caused in the community, would not affect reality. In the end, it was just the Super Competitive Alliance that intervened.

But the alliance will definitely ask for evidence. Even if they left video records, it cannot prove that the other side is definitely from the advance team. Video records cannot serve as conclusive evidence.

There are too many excuses to find - disguise, forgery, or even misunderstanding. It is not uncommon for friendly forces to be severely attacked on the battlefield. The key is that they have no way to verify the opponent's motives.

Then there will be endless wrangling. If the investigation team can return to the port, it will be fine. If not, this matter will most likely become an unsolved case.

On the investigation team's side, Marianne was in high spirits and didn't look discouraged at all.

This lady is like every Paparar, she hates evil and dares to fight against any injustice.

But of course - of course she is also very good at self-protection like the Papara people, and will not easily get involved in any battle.

Parker saw the woman strike an opponent on the back of the head with one blow, knocking him down, and then using her small stature to her advantage to swiftly hide under a carriage.

Then get out from the other side and launch a sneak attack - no, attack another opponent.

This opened his eyes and he felt that as a Paparar, he still had many good qualities to learn.

As for Kailan and Arian, they were comforting the others.

The Paparars in the investigation team did not need to be comforted. The characteristic of each of them was that they were extremely courageous - and curious, and fearless.

But ordinary members of the elves and humans seemed a little uneasy. They didn't actually suffer much loss in the battle. Instead, one Paparar climbed too high in the battle, was hit by a stray arrow, and fell down with a broken leg.

The two men put the wounded on the carriage. The latter was fine himself, but it caused panic among others.

Fang He looked silently in the direction of the investigation team. They had won everyone's admiration in the previous battle, so much so that several Chosen Ones came up to him to ask for autographs.

Defeating the Silver Level by jumping two levels, if this is not a legend, then what is a legend?

Wherever he passed, everyone stood silently on both sides, looking at them with curious eyes.

Scholar Arian looked at him deeply, as if he was silently memorizing the title of "Dragon Alchemist".

He glanced at Princess Lian Kuiya Alsana not far away again, as if he had something in mind.

But Fang He didn't care about other people. He just returned to the Seven Seas Brigade. His own team members had also suffered heavy losses in the previous battle.

Miss Nightingale received a penetrating wound, the magic furnace was broken, and Miss May is still in a coma.

But the one who was most seriously injured was Cui Xisi. When Tian Lan risked his life to save her from the hellhound's mouth, her neck was almost bitten off.

The flaming teeth of those monsters left a terrible gash there.

Fortunately, in Attaria, the poet lady poured a bottle of healing potion directly into her wound, which barely saved her life.

Now the fairy lady was half lying under a tree, with a thick bandage wrapped around her neck, looking weak and half unconscious.

Tianlan was holding her seven-stringed harp, plucking the strings with her fingers, playing a song of Eden, using the power of magic to heal everyone's wounds.

This is a song that truly has healing powers. The healer of the Seven Seas Brigade did not return to the team, and Miss Elf is not here either, so she is the only one who can take on the responsibility.

Elisa has almost recovered, except that her face is still a little pale, she has almost regained her fighting ability.

However, when she saw Fang He, she remembered the scene of her leaning on him before, and couldn't help but snort softly and turned her head away.

In addition to the wounded, everyone's equipment also needed to be repaired, including two magic furnaces - and his own, May's shield, Daliel's sword and Elisa's dagger, as well as some damaged plug-ins.

Several engineering machines were shuttling back and forth in the camp. Although remote repairs could only provide temporary repairs, which would greatly reduce the combat effectiveness of the equipment, there was no time to stop for a complete rest.

As for Miss Knight's armor, there is nothing we can do about it.

Engineering machines of this level cannot repair such complex magic armor, and performing a certain degree of maintenance on the magic furnace is their limit.

Cui Xisi was seriously injured and couldn't help him, but Fang He understood that she was injured because of them.

If she hadn't covered up his identity and caused AshClaw to misjudge, their final battle wouldn't have been so easy.

He walked to the side of the fairy lady, and Cui Xisi seemed to feel that there was someone in front of her. She opened her eyes gently and found that it was him. She couldn't help but sighed.

This sigh made Fang He very embarrassed.

When he asked the other party to join the Seven Seas Brigade, he was tough and repeatedly confirmed the other party's sincerity. As a result, not long after, the other party almost lost Starlight twice because of them.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm sorry for causing you trouble..."

"Don't talk nonsense, Mr. Captain," Tracis shook her head gently and interrupted him, "...I don't need your sympathy, but I want to tell you something."

Fang He was slightly startled and looked at the other party.

"You should still remember why I joined you?" Tracis snorted, "I was chosen to be the knight of one of you..."

She couldn't help but sneer, "How funny! How could someone choose a fairy as a guardian knight? It's not like I don't have any fighting power... woo..."

She couldn't help but groan. She didn't know if it was because she talked too much and was punished by the strange god, or because her words pulled the wound: "It hurts..."

"Are you talking about Jita?" Fang He asked her.

Cui Xisi didn't dare to nod, so she could only blink at him. The girl's green eyes seemed to be able to speak, and they were beautiful under the starlight.

"I protected her during the battle, but I was just fulfilling my mission, which is certainly not without benefits..."

She smiled proudly, but her smile was a little weak: "So, just now, I completed the first stage of the task and gained something."

"You got something...what was it?" Fang He asked.

"It's just a reward, a professional level, at least that's what the system shows - it's called the Guardian of Mysteries, and the professional type is the Templar Knight," Tracis said softly, "It's a bit like Daryl's, the Paladin of the Temple of Destiny."

"But this profession is more intelligence-oriented," she said in a weak and intermittent voice, pausing to take a breath, "It complements my fairy power... This should be a dragon knight ability..."

"Dragon Knight?"

Seeing Fang He's exaggerated expression, Cui Xisi shook her head imperceptibly, then frowned in pain, "... Well, could you please let me move less, Mr. Captain..."

"It's not as exaggerated as you think. This is just the initial stage... but it will allow me to provide you with an amplification. To be more precise, it will provide an amplification for your magic equipment..."

Fang He was stunned.

The greatest ability of the fairy master is to provide amplification for combat craftsmen - computing power amplification.

But in fact, due to the special reasons between him and Miss Tata, he actually has little use for Cui Xisi's ability in this area.

Therefore, this fairy lady was responsible for logistics work in the group most of the time and was used by him as an alchemist.

But if this profession can expand the scope of amplification from combat craftsmen to all magical equipment, then her position in the team will leap from a logistics craftsman to a core auxiliary position.

  Although Cui Xisi said that this ability is only in the initial stage, on the one hand, if there can be such a significant improvement in the initial stage, then wouldn’t the future be even more promising?

It is still unclear what the increase is, but from what Cui Xisi said, it should be related to overloading - that is also very powerful. Fang He suddenly asked: "Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?"

This young lady definitely did not acquire this ability just now. She benefited from this transaction, which is why she was so determined to join the Seven Seas Brigade.

  But why are you suddenly talking about this now?

"Didn't you say that we need to understand each other?" Cui Xisi teased, "Of course, it's not because of this reason. I just want to talk to you about my own ideas. If people want to gain something from a transaction, if they want to become stronger, they must pay something--"

"I have always understood that I take risks, pay a price, and then get rewards, so I will not complain about anything, nor will I resent you. Everything is my own choice."

She looked at Fang He, "So please treat me as a person just like you. I am not a weak person."

Fang He did not comment on the lady's opinion, but still nodded slightly.

He respects everyone's own ideas.

On the other side, Miss Nightingale finally calmed down and came behind the two of them, standing behind them and listening to the conversation quietly.

Until Cui Xisi noticed her and asked softly, "Ms. Alyssa, have you found out the origins of those people?"

Alisa nodded.

Sylvie also happened to come to the side of the three people and heard Miss Nightingale's story: "The Silver Step is AshClaw, a free hunter."

"Free hunter?" Fang He asked.

  A silver light flashed on his shoulder, and the fairy lady landed gently there:

"It is an ancient organization that has been active in Giant Tree Hill for a long time, Mr. Knight. They are different from the Adventurer's Guild and the Nightingale Brotherhood. They serve the Council as free mercenaries," Miss Fairy replied. "Over time, these people formed a fixed organization. Bounty hunters and demon hunters are among them. However, some of them later joined the Silver Wind Watchers, and some joined the Star Ring."

"So he is actually the Free Chosen One?"

"Not entirely," Elisa said, "This organization still exists, but it has been incorporated into the Alliance. Therefore, its nature is very special. It is neither a free chosen one nor does it belong to a certain guild organization."

"The second division still allows such a structure?" Fang He was a little surprised.

From the situation in the third division, we can see that the authority of the Super Competitive League is not unlimited, although its power outside the third division is greater. The funds and interests flowing behind the Super Competitive League can easily buy off some senior executives and parliamentarians.

But it is an international organization after all. Wouldn't other countries protest if the Second Division did this?

"Because this is a special situation in the Second Division, and the Free Hunters never operate outside of Giant Tree Hill, so other countries naturally won't care too much."

"This sounds like the private soldiers of Division 2." Fang He thought for a moment, "So this matter is related to the Alliance?"

"Not necessarily." Alyssa still shook her head. "Free hunters also take private jobs. They just have their own set of rules. Sometimes they even work for guilds under the alliance—"

Fang He understood what Miss Nightingale meant. They didn't need evidence. "So, this can't be used as irrefutable evidence?"

"It's good that you understand." Miss Nightingale nodded. "This person should belong to a mercenary organization, but I can't find out his origins. His ability is Hellfire, just as you guessed, Silver Rank I."

"Although he is only Silver Rank I, he is considered to be one of the more powerful ones among Silver Rank I. He is good at combat and assassination, and his law ability is also a genuine T1 level."

"Wait a minute," Fang He suddenly thought of something, "Didn't the communication between the two worlds get interrupted? Alyssa, where did you find out?"

"Offline resources," Miss Nightingale sighed, "My stupid captain."

"Then the other Silver Rank is probably at the same level," Traci coughed softly, frowning in pain. She said in a hoarse voice, "These people won't play the trick of attacking the weak first and then the strong. The first one to attack is probably the strongest one."

"And the other one is responsible for coordination. The one responsible for coordination is usually a generalist. From what we saw before, the other party is a spellcaster. Silver-level spellcasters are difficult to deal with."

Fang He was silent for a moment.

Miss Nightingale looked at the ship officer beside her and asked, "Miss Sylvie, how is Jita doing?"

"It may take about four hours for Jita to recover her ability to cast spells," Sylvie replied, "but that's what she said. Her condition is not very good. She can still cast some spells if she tries hard. You know she is dedicated to the team, but I don't recommend that she continue to be the main combatant."

She shook her head slightly to the others, expressing her opinion.

Fang He naturally understood that at Jita's level, the magic power required for the magic book and the magic furnace was enormous, and the magic book could not replenish magic power through magic crystals.

She said four hours was about the time it took for her magic furnace to recover, but she herself - her magic book actually did not support her to continue fighting at such a high intensity.

"This short-distance teleportation allowed us to teleport a little more than a mile north," he said. "It's impossible to completely avoid the enemy's tracking with this distance, but it's enough to buy us some time."

Fang He continued, "I asked Ms. Marian. There is a forest to the east of here. The roots of the giant tree we are in spread from there to the north. The slope gradually slows down. There are several rivers rushing out of the valley, washing out a flat area. There is a disaster ash branch."

"That place is called the Spiritz Valley. That gray branch is one of the original gray branches in this gray area. It is also one of the earliest gray branches that formed this gray area. There are many dangerous gray creatures nearby."

"Ms. Marian and Maester Aryan both believe that the investigation team can avoid these gray creatures to the greatest extent possible, but the other party does not have this means."

"They were repelled by us, and we teleported over a short distance. Now it will take them quite some time to cross the danger zone and find us again."

"This amount of time is enough for us to set up the final battlefield in that valley."

"Prepare for the final battlefield?" Alyssa looked at him and Tracis. She noticed the eye contact between the two. It was obvious that they had the same idea.

"You want to fight them there?"

"Yes, I thought of that, too." Cui Xisi smiled weakly. "The combat craftsman is best at positional warfare. The captain and I didn't show our true strength just now..."

"It's not without reason that the people of Giant Tree Hill like to use combat craftsmen in a centralized manner. Of course, the people of Corin and the Empire also have their own understandings of combat craftsmen, but there is no situation in which combat craftsmen cannot go into battle—"

"So since a war is inevitable," Fang He replied, "we might as well take advantage of our rest and take the initiative to fight. We can't decide whether to fight or not, but we can at least choose the battlefield—"

"That place is close to the disaster-level gray branches. The dangerous gray creatures are a limitation for both sides, but it is obvious that the gray creatures are a greater threat to them."

"Their ordinary Chosen Ones have the advantage, both in terms of numbers and strength. But in that environment, such an advantage is insignificant."

Sylvie said softly.

"Since both sides are close in strength, we should use any means to weaken the opponent even a little bit. I agree with this," Alyssa looked at Fang He, "but how do we deal with the two Silver Ranks?"

Fang He recalled the previous battle.

"I haven't decided on the remaining wizard yet, but I have some ideas for the other one."

The Silver Rank's law ability is imperfect, and generally speaking it is a defective ability, but generally speaking no Silver Rank will take the initiative to disclose their own ability defects.

They will carefully hide their shortcomings until they get the golden key and step into the realm of dragon knight, only then will their obvious defects be almost eliminated.

But generally speaking, the laws of the Silver Order have at least two shortcomings. The first is the problem of endurance.

Even the power of the Dragon Knight's law is not infinite, let alone the Silver Rank. In the brief confrontation just now, the Silver Rank called AshClaw had actually reached its limit.

"So we just need to wait until AshClaw's power of law is exhausted, and then we can win the battle?"

Miss Nightingale asked from the side.

"I'm afraid not." The fairy lady shook her head gently on Fang He's shoulder. "Even if you drag a Silver Rank until his power of law is exhausted, you can't stop him. The gap in strength between a Silver Rank and an ordinary person is like a chasm. You have seen it before."

"Besides, it's not without cost that we consume him. If he keeps doing this a few times, we will collapse first," Sylvie said. "And remember, this time the opponent may not be just one person, but two."

Alisa did not refute, but just silently played with a short dagger between her fingertips, as if her mind was focused on it.

But she knew that since Fang He said so, there must be a way. She already knew their leader very well.

  Cui Xisi also thought of something and suddenly asked:

"Master Captain, have you found his other weakness?"

Fang He also looked at her with some surprise, "You discovered it too?"

Cui Xisi coughed lightly, then nodded: "Yes, I have always felt strange..."

She narrowed her eyes slightly, as if recalling, "Hellfire is a dual-limit ability. We are both trapped in darkness, and the other party should be the same. That thick fog almost covers the entire battlefield. How can he find my position so accurately every time?"

"Everyone," Sylvie spoke again, "In fact, Jita also discovered this. She asked me to tell you that when the hellhound attacked her for the first time, she and Parker sneaked to the edge of the fog."

"And the second time the other party sent hellhounds to search for them, they obviously hesitated, so Daryl was able to successfully intercept those hellhounds after they arrived."

"Defect compensation," Cui Xisi's eyes flashed, "The other party paid a price to gain the ability to perceive the fog. The price is..."

"He deepened the flaws of his own rules," Fang He replied. "This is very smart, because most people tend to try to reduce or cover up their flaws. But he did the opposite and focused on a certain aspect, which sometimes has a miraculous effect -"

“That was before we realized it.”

Cui Xisi snorted softly and couldn't help grinding her teeth. She was injured so badly, she would not blame her own people.

But as for the other party, that’s not necessarily the case.

No, it should be certain.

She sneered, "So where does his ability to perceive come from in the law? What is the opposite?"

"Mist, or shadow," Fang He answered. "By transforming into mist, one can gain the perception of the mist itself. By manipulating the shadows in the darkness, one can also gain abilities similar to 'spider sense'. However, both abilities point to the same flaw."

"Lost-substance."

Miss Nightingale had completely understood it, because she herself was very good at this move - she wrapped the dagger in her hand around her fingertips, held it in her hand, and a sharp cold light flashed in her eyes.

"Losing the physical body means losing all the physical protection, the shield of the magic furnace, armor, and other protective items, and even the ability to dodge and parry -"

She spoke word by word, "No wonder he tends to hide himself and always sneaks out to attack."

"Yes," Fang He nodded, "Before becoming a dragon knight, whether it is the gold rank or the silver rank, the physical fitness of the chosen ones is not much stronger than that of ordinary people. In fact, most of their strength lies in the magic furnace."

This is indeed a risky tactic, but it seems that most people can't do anything about it.

"But how can we find him out of the fog?" Tracis also asked, "If he hides in the entire fog, it means he is dodging our attacks all the time, and we can't let Jita cast that spell again."

But Fang He had already thought of a solution.

He turned around and looked at the blue sky not far away. Then it would depend on whether their young lady poet could shoulder the heavy responsibility in the next battle.

……