Pillars of Ita

Chapter 1182: Chess Pieces

Go back in time to a few minutes ago.

As the Star Weaver raised the Staff of Nonas, gray flames formed a circle around his feet, expanding outward to protect it in the center.

The flame ring expanded about a hundred feet, leaving only a scorched earth where the gray flames passed. Even the grayish-white mycelium and crystallized trees disappeared, leaving only the glass-like reflective ground.

Alisa stepped back far away, but could still feel the scorching heat.

She took a few more steps back before stopping, then immediately raised her crossbow and shot an arrow at that place - but the arrow melted due to the high temperature, leaving a golden light tail in the darkness, which disappeared in an instant.

"Ms. Tata, is it too late for us to run now?" She sighed and turned back to ask the fairy lady on her shoulder.

Although Alisa's tone sounded like she was teasing, the fairy lady still calculated carefully and told her: "The range of this spell is about 10,000 feet. If Miss Alisa can escape this area within three minutes, she will have made it in time."

Miss Nightingale shook her head. Unless she left everyone in the Seven Seas Brigade behind, that was obviously not within her consideration.

"I owe that guy," she sighed again, "Can you interrupt his spell?"

Tata nodded slightly, "As long as you get close to him and cause him harm."

Star Weaver heard Alyssa's conversation and thought she was communicating with other people in the communication crystal. He just shook his head slightly and said, "You can try, ma'am."

Alyssa looked at him and narrowed her eyes: “You said that.”

"Yes, I did," Starweaver replied, "but how do you plan to enter this area?"

Miss Nightingale did not answer, but just smiled at him mysteriously.

And it was at that moment that a low whimpering sounded in the forest, as if someone had blown a horn, making an ancient long note.

The sound was like a wave, drowning out Miss Nightingale's voice and the conversation between the two. It seemed to exist in reality and was reflected in the Star Weaver's gloomy eyes.

Finally, there was a hint of surprise.

And in the mist, a huge image was emerging.

……

The warrior held the horn and was trying his best to blow out a long note. The sound penetrated the forest, causing the crystallized tree trunks to vibrate and rustle.

Giovanni looked behind him. The silver-white wave had already spread across the woods behind him, and some vague shadows had appeared in the woods.

"Stop blowing," he snatched the horn from his companion's hand and shouted, "They are coming, run!"

The soldier looked back and quickly jumped off the rock, and everyone fled in all directions.

Giovanni had already received the communication. The communication crystal on his chest flickered. He climbed down the rock and moved forward along the winding path.

Suddenly, a thin tendril wrapped around him from behind, slapping the rocks behind him and then shrinking back - Giovanni looked back and could almost see several withered tree men squeezing in between the cracks in the rocks.

With their hideous faces.

In a moment of quick thinking, he looked around, found a nearby gap, and jumped into the crack between two rocks.

Then Giovanni curled up, held his breath and hid under it, looking up.

A few dead tree men just blocked the light from above and searched forward.

They cannot see and rely entirely on sound and vibration to sense prey. There are no visual organs on their faces that look like dry bark, only some creepy tiny holes.

The valley was obviously shaking at this moment, and the silver-gray tree men didn't stay above Giovanni's head for long before heading in that direction.

But before Giovanni could relax, he saw a giant foot passing over his head. It stepped through the dark night and landed heavily in front of him.

The ground shook violently, causing the surrounding rocks to fall into dust, which fell all over his head.

And a huge gray beast came into his sight.

……

The Star Weaver looked with some surprise at the withered gray tree people that were coming towards him from all over the mountains.

He looked at Elisa not far away, but Miss Nightingale just smiled at him, then stepped back and gracefully blended into a shadow.

What she lost was the ability of Shadow Leap, but hiding in the shadows is Nightingale's job. It is not a professional plug-in ability, but simply a skill.

The withered gray tree man finally sensed the source of the vibration at a certain distance.

In fact, they can also react to the ether to a certain extent, not to mention such a strong source of magic power——

These strange tree people suddenly accelerated, screaming and rushing towards the Star Weaver - they stretched out their tendrils first, but the tendrils were burned to ashes in an instant. However, they seemed to be unaware of this and crashed into the ring of fire.

Flames rose from their bodies, and those hideous creatures immediately let out bursts of screams, the sound seemed to come from the countless holes in the tree trunks, humming.

But this could not stop them. Countless tree people still rushed towards the Star Weaver one after another, turning into a sea of ​​fire and burning to ashes.

The Star Weaver looked at this scene with a gloomy face.

He needed the power of laws to maintain the fire ring. Under the continuous attacks of the dead tree man, his power of laws and reserved magic power were rapidly decreasing.

Not to mention that his magic furnace was filled with disordered magic power. His backup magic power source was only provided by a magic storage gem. That external magic power source had shrunk visibly.

But the number of these withered tree men was visibly endless.

Besides, there is that thing——

The Star Weaver took a look at the huge creature that was looming in the mist. It was getting closer and closer.

He thought for a moment, then suddenly retracted the fire ring and cast an illusion on himself, projecting an illusion several dozen meters away from himself.

The phantom exuded a strong magical aura, which made the withered tree man turn around immediately and move in that direction like the receding tide.

But the Star Weaver apparently forgot that there was a threat beside him.

"That ability comes from Leathern. The star of dreams and illusions appears to be full of miracles and beauty, but at its core lies deception and loss."

Tata hid in the shadows and said to Alisa beside him.

Miss Nightingale watched the other party's figure suddenly disappear, and then she remembered that she had been trapped by the other party's illusion once before. She didn't even look at the illusion left by the other party, but just asked:

"He must still be around there. How can we find him?"

"Leave it to me, Sister Alisa."

A voice came from the communication crystal, and the long-silent Miss Naturalist spoke. She watched the entire battle, and even though she could not participate in the battle, she could still cast a spell.

It was not difficult for the naturalist to break the curse, but in order not to arouse the vigilance of a Silver Order, Jita still cast the spell on Elisa.

Elisa could immediately detect the subtle traces of magic in the air, and then she found the Star Weaver hiding not far away.

A silver level person, yet so embarrassed.

She couldn't help but sneer, untied the belts behind her, then drew out the dagger and leaped in that direction.

"You got Fooled."

The Star Weaver saw Miss Nightingale leaping out from the shadows at a glance. He couldn't help but reveal a sneer on his face and raised the Staff of Feiminas in his hand.

At that moment, a ring of fire expanded out from under his feet again.

But Elisa seemed to have expected this scene. She jumped high and passed through the ring of fire in mid-air.

She could already feel the burning temperature as she fell, but she suddenly reached behind her, took out something and threw it at the other person.

The Star Weaver saw clearly that the other party actually took off his magic furnace in mid-air and threw it towards him with great force.

He didn't have time to think about whether the other party had gone crazy. Almost instinctively, he pointed the magic wand in his hand at Elisa's magic furnace, and a purple beam of light shot out from it.

But just before the ray was directed at the magic furnace, a strange object suddenly popped up from the magic furnace with a "pop" sound, and rotated to block the beam of light.

Even though the Star Weaver was well-informed, he never expected that a Nightingale would carry such a thing - an engineering phylactery.

Is there anyone who can bear a 10% or 20% reduction in speed and balance? If the opponent was not me, but an opponent of the same profession, wouldn't I have been dead long ago?

But there are no ifs in the real world——

The fact is that the thing was pierced by the beam of light, spinning and splitting into four or five pieces, turning into countless fragments, and some of them were thrown towards him.

Those scattered fragments did not pose much threat to him. Although his magic furnace was filled with disordered magic power, it was still able to hold up a thin shield.

The fragments hit the shield, splashing out a faint blue light pattern.

But for the magic storage crystal that was floating on his side after being activated, his luck was not so good. One of the countless fragments hit it accurately.

The force of the fragment was not that great; it merely bounced the magic storage crystal and crashed it into a nearby crystallized tree. However, without the support of magic power, the ring of fire under the Weaver's feet suddenly disappeared.

And the spell he was preparing was also interrupted instantly -

The huge backlash of magic power instantly poured into the body of this Silver-level man, causing him to spurt out a stream of blood as soon as he opened his mouth, even with fragments of his internal organs.

At that moment, Elisa fell to the ground, rolled, caught her magic furnace, put it behind her back and inserted it into several interfaces.

She leaped forward, toward Star Weaver.

At this time, the latter had no time to care about her.

Miss Nightingale raised the crossbow again and pulled the trigger at the opponent.

The arrow was shot out in the direction she aimed under the tension of the bowstring and hit the opponent's shield. The thin shield flashed and shattered.

And Elisa threw away the crossbow without hesitation, replaced it with a dagger, and slashed at the opponent.

The dagger was like a dark meteor, and the Star Weaver only had time to block it with his hand, and then he let out a scream. Miss Nightingale raised the dagger in her hand, and the pale left hand of the elven wizard flew high and rolled out.

The Star Weaver was now in tatters, knowing that he had completely lost. He took one last look at Alyssa and prepared to activate the spell stored in his magic wand.

Escape from the battlefield

But at that moment, Alisa reached out and gently pushed his chest, and a tentacle swept in from nowhere and wrapped around his arm.

The Star Weaver was startled and immediately realized that it was the withered tree man who had returned.

This subtle movement disrupted his spell, and because of this moment of negligence, a rough twig suddenly grew out of his chest - with a cracking sound, it pierced through his entire body.

Star Weaver's eyes widened.

The elf wizard looked down at the gray branch somewhat stiffly, and suddenly realized something, with an extremely terrified look in his eyes.

But Elisa just looked at him, motionless, as he was rolled back by the gray branch, merged into the mist, and dragged towards the huge beast in the distance.

She said nothing. When they first encountered the tree shadow, they were told that the descendants of the sacred tree who were killed by the things that sprouted from the gray branches, whether they were natives or chosen ones, would sprout as monsters.

It was as if their starlight had faded and they were excluded from this world.

Blame yourself.

Alisa thought.

The sins that these people committed against the unicorn girls in Silver Wind Harbor were finally reflected upon her. She took one last look in that direction, then turned into a shadow and gradually disappeared.

……

The moment the gray creatures appeared on the battlefield like a tide, the battle was actually declared over.

The advance team's line was hit hard from behind. People turned around and saw the dead tree men all over the mountains, and they all reacted in the same way.

escape--

But the spellcasting professions that stayed behind were in big trouble.

The first to suffer were the outermost firepower group. Most of the eight-man team were wizards, and the warriors and guard knights who protected them tried to resist, but were swallowed up by the tide of dead tree men in a blink of an eye.

Like a fallen leaf in a whirlpool, it spun and then disappeared.

Then came the lone ranged professions. Before they could take a few steps, their ankles were entangled by tendrils, and then more vines climbed up and pulled them back.

The captains of the warriors from each team tried to organize a defense line.

But it was of no avail. A huge monster from the fog rushed onto the battlefield and swept across the battlefield with a gray branch, sweeping everyone away.

Then drag a few people into your own belly.

"Champion of Disaster..." The advance team finally lost all will to resist. Without the Silver Ranks, they were simply unable to fight against such gray creatures.

But there was no news of AshClaw on the battlefield, even the thick smoke of hell had dissipated, and as for the other Star Weaver, there was no news of him from the very beginning.

People began to flee in a hurry, but the fate waiting for them in this gray area was the same.

Instead, in the center of the battlefield, three unicorn girls, Lian, Meryl and Ailuoya, used a spell to hide the trace of the carriage position.

They wove a high wall of vines to cover the position, and at the center of the ritual spell, the broken ash branch was emitting a faint glow.

The withered tree people around seemed not to notice the wall of vines. They were like a separated river, flowing around both sides of the carriage position and moving away in a mighty manner.

Some people also noticed the abnormality here and tried to escape in this direction, but Faela and Ellowin each guarded the entrance to the vine net and worked with others to force these people back with sharp spears.

Just as those people were about to launch a counterattack, they were entangled by the sweeping tendrils and dragged into the silver-gray ocean, disappearing in an instant.

Ms. Marianne was standing in the carriage. Even though she was well-informed, her throat tightened when she saw this scene, and she couldn't help but look back.

Beside the gray branch, the three unicorn girls were each maintaining their spells - Meryl's brows were furrowed and her teeth were clenched, obviously in great pain.

She turned pale and sweat broke out on her forehead almost immediately.

Lian opened her eyes and looked at the girl with some concern.

The great will lingered above the three people's heads - sometimes it came from the top of the distant holy tree, and sometimes it came from the disaster ash branch not far away.

And suddenly, a giant foot landed next to one of the carriages, shaking the ground so much that it bounced slightly—the poet lady almost cried out as she watched that scene.

But Daryl on the side quickly covered her mouth, "Woo woo--" Tianlan widened her eyes and watched the towering giant beast shaking its body and slowly walking across the battlefield.

It looked like a giant stick insect, with countless silver insects clinging to its trunk and limbs, climbing up and down, and some even fell to the ground as it moved, making fluttering sounds.

"It's okay," Alisa walked out from the shadows, parted the vines and came in, putting Jita down from her arms, "This spell will assimilate our breath. Even if we make a sound, they will just think we are the same kind."

The naturalist lady hastily tidied herself up, adjusted her glasses, put down her magic book in a hurry, and smoothed out the wrinkles on her robe.

“What exactly are they like?” Daryl asked.

But Miss Nightingale shook her head. Who knows?

Even she felt her hands trembling slightly as she watched this scene. What she was afraid of was not the gray creatures - but the bugs.

In order to cover up her gaffe, she threw another object in front of everyone. Fang Yu took a look and found that it was a magic wand.

An ancient staff with a pair of runes surrounding the top. It was obvious that the staff was not from their era, and he was very familiar with the patterns on it.

The sacrificial emblem of the Xinsas snake people.

"This is it?" he asked.

"This is what the guy left behind," Alisa replied. "Luckily, he left this thing behind, and this as well."

She handed over a small bag in her hand.

Fang He was surprised. He took it and looked through it, and found that this should be the Star Weaver's spell material bag, but the things inside were not simple.

At a glance, he saw two royal topazes, a flaming ruby, dragon scales, and some miscellaneous items, but most of them were very valuable.

In fact, they did not gain nothing from killing the other Silver Rank. Nothing else from AshClaw was left, but the elven rapier that he threw out to deal with Daliel was kept.

That is a legendary rapier.

The wave of tree men lasted for several minutes, and the huge creature had already disappeared on the other side of the fog.

It was not until this moment that the three unicorn girls dispelled the spell. Meryl tilted her head and fainted. The elf princess hurriedly supported her.

"Is Miss Merrill all right?" Marianne asked.

Lian shook her head. "She is just mentally exhausted. She just needs to have a good rest."

She covered Meryl's cold forehead with her hand, feeling a little emotional. Although this elf girl always belittled herself, she was indeed the most determined and purest unicorn girl she had ever seen.

The clergy she had met in the autumn woods were far inferior to her.

The battlefield had returned to silence, but the crystallized woodland was already in ruins.

Many corpses lying in disorder have not disappeared yet, and some of them even emit a faint white light. The people of the Unyielding Alliance should have left behind a lot of good things. Although Fang He does not like those equipments, he can dismantle them for materials.

Now that they can't contact the Oak Knights, the reserves in this area are like a sourceless stream - although there are still some in the warehouse, there will always be a day when they run out.

The surviving Chosen Ones looked at them in disbelief.

After a battle, they lost nearly half of their troops - but they actually won - they were facing an enemy that was nearly three times their size, and...

Silver steps.

Two silver steps.

Of course they knew how they won. Some of them even saw how AshClaw's hellfire faded away and the traces left by his battle with Fang He and others.

  The survivors wanted to say something, but they didn't know what to say. One of the two leaders of the Chosen Ones survived, and he limped towards Fang He:

"Sir, we..."

Although he knew that the other party was also a Chosen One, he suddenly used honorifics that he would only use for indigenous people of status.

He stuttered for a moment. What he actually wanted to ask was what should they do next? They defeated the advance team, but the other side would not give up.

Until someone took over his words.

"Ed, what should we do next?" Elf Maester Arian's tone became much more intimate, and he obviously trusted them completely. "Should we return to Silverwind Harbor?"

That should be the case in theory.

但来而不往非礼也。

No matter what the other party's intention is, as long as it is related to the Holy Maiden Society, the Elf Lady, and perhaps also to the Gray Branch Disaster, it is worth him to find out.

Besides, Fang He has a good temper, but he is not made of clay.

He closed his eyes for a moment, reached out and fiddled with the gears on his goggles. After just a few seconds, he opened his eyes again and shook his head gently.

"Young man, what do you want to do?" Marian got angry after hearing his idea. "Tell me, do you mean we won't go back to Silverwind Harbor? You want to take advantage of the situation to catch the mastermind, but is that possible?"

This is certainly possible—

Fang He thought in his heart.

Because just now, he discovered something interesting.

The chess piece they had placed beforehand, his 'beacon', began to move.

……