“Da-da-da!”
With the violent pounding of hooves approaching, the people inside the Sanctuary Barrier were as anxious as ants on a hot pan.
“What’s going on?! Where are your taunts? Why are all the monsters running straight toward Boss Bai Qiu!?”
“Damn! I just used my taunt—why didn’t it work?!”
“Same here! I used mine too, but I can’t pull them!”
“Crap, they OT’d! Boss Bai Qiu, run!”
Seeing this, Zhang Shiyao immediately straightened her posture, aimed at one of the Cavalry Monarchs, and shouted:
“Noble Phantasm—Fantasy Collapse—Activate! O-oh…”
But just as she was about to chant the activation phrase, the Mage Merchant appeared behind her without anyone noticing.
He placed a hand on her shoulder, and in an instant, a wave of weakness surged through her.
Her Noble Phantasm… was forcefully interrupted!
She couldn’t activate it—her magic surged up but was sealed before it could be released, bound by a mysterious and overwhelming force.
“You… why?”
Zhang Shiyao turned around, staring at the Mage Merchant in shock.
Then she collapsed to the ground and fainted.
“Not bad. A good seedling. But the upcoming battle is not one you’re allowed to interfere in,” the Mage Merchant said toward her.
“Well then, I’ll give you a bit of fortune while I’m at it—Seven-Colored Kaleidosphere Crystal…”
As he spoke, he took out a seven-colored gem and tossed it onto Zhang Shiyao.
The gem instantly vanished, merging into her body.
“Eh!! Why?! Don’t stop me, Uncle Onipur!! Why did he hurt the fluffy one? Why won’t he let her help Mr. Bai Qiu!?”
Guinelia rushed forward, but Ohnipur grabbed her and held her back.
“Sorry, Guinelia. None of us can interfere with this. You know the Sanctuary still has an unused ultra-tier blessing skill.”
Onipur held her shoulder with one hand and tugged her rabbit ear with the other, preventing her from moving.
“I was originally planning to let him use that skill. If he did, he could’ve won effortlessly. But the Mage stopped me. He said this is a trial—and warned me not to interfere,” Onipur explained.
“Why… why? But… but if this keeps going, Mr. Bai Qiu will be hurt… maybe even die!?! Even so… we still can’t help him?”
Guinelia’s eyes turned red, tears sliding down her cheeks.
“Sorry. If you must hate someone, hate me. Always being so useless… I’m sorry.”
Onipur released her and gently patted her back, though his eyes remained locked on the center of the battlefield.
They stood behind the crowd, so nobody noticed the little commotion—especially now that the neat formation had fallen into chaos.
Players tried to support Bai Qiu with long-range attacks, only to find their attacks blocked by the Sanctuary Barrier.
Then, immediately afterward, their weapons were forcibly transformed back into card form—completely unusable!
The already noisy crowd instantly erupted into total chaos.
They shouted, cursed, demanded answers—ugly words mixing together like a chaotic chorus, becoming the background music to Bai Qiu’s battle.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
Bai Qiu held the Darksteel Heavy Spear, dodging while attempting to counterattack.
After observing from within the Sanctuary Barrier for so long, he had already fully understood the Cavalry Monarchs’ skills and movements—the only thing he was still unsure about was their raw strength.
When a Cavalry Monarch used War Trample, thick black mist would burst from the skeletal warhorse’s four limbs.
Its steps would accelerate, and each stomp would smash deep hoof pits into the ground.
At this moment, the entire battlefield was covered in spiderweb-like cracks and deep craters tens of centimeters across.
When they used Piercing Lance, they would stop moving and face their mount toward the target.
The long spear in their hand would exude black aura.
Then, with the warhorse’s shrill neigh and the Cavalry Monarch’s furious roar, they would launch into a straight-line charge—delivering a fatal thrust.
The charge was three times faster than their normal full-speed sprint.
Bai Qiu had never experienced the actual impact of the thrust, but he already knew very well that he should never try to take this ultimate-like attack head-on.
Piercing Lance had two fatal weaknesses:
First, it required charging time—the wind-up was long and extremely obvious.
Second, once activated, the warhorse could only run in a straight line.
As long as one sidestepped at the exact moment it started moving, it was guaranteed to miss.
At triple speed, it could no longer adjust its trajectory.
These were their only two active skills.
However, their cooldowns were ridiculously short.
For example, War Trample lasted 15 seconds and also cooled down in exactly 15 seconds.
Piercing Lance required about five seconds to charge before initiating the charge, and less than half a minute after using it, they could use it again!
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
Sparks burst as the spears clashed.
Bai Qiu was knocked back dozens of meters through the air, but he finally grasped the Cavalry Monarch’s stats clearly.
In terms of pure strength, it barely reached C-rank, slightly higher than him only because of the mount’s boost.
Its straight-line running speed was slightly slower than his, and due to its large body size, its agility was inferior.
The Darksteel Heavy Spear couldn’t overpower the Cavalry Monarch’s cone-shaped long spear.
Its weapon material was at least equal—possibly even superior.
Only by infusing mana into the Darksteel Heavy Spear could Bai Qiu gain a slight advantage, but the weapon was fundamentally not designed for mana infusion.
With repeated mana input and external impacts, its durability was dropping at a terrifying rate…
Ever since he began using staves, he had gradually learned how to infuse mana into weapons.
If he had been clumsy at first, now he could do it effortlessly—and with the Fire Orb equipped, his mana infusion speed was essentially doubled!
The three Cavalry Monarchs charged side by side, filling the entire width of the roadway, leaving Bai Qiu seemingly no space to dodge at all!
“Heh!” Bai Qiu let out a contemptuous laugh as he put away the Darksteel Heavy Spear.
He bent his knees, then sprang upward from where he stood—leaping nearly ten meters high in one go.
Just as he began to fall, a magical light screen appeared beneath his feet.
He tapped it lightly with his toes and shot upward again.
Repeating this several times, Bai Qiu had already risen fifty meters into the air, leaving the Cavalry Monarchs below staring helplessly.
Their warhorses, empowered by War Trample, were unable to stop; they could only circle anxiously beneath Bai Qiu’s elevated position.
Having no ranged attacks at all—that was the fatal weakness of these melee cavalry units!
If they were ten-meter-tall Cavalry Monarchs, they could easily poke him with their spears—the combined height of rider and mount made that trivial.
If they were twenty or even thirty meters tall, the warhorse might be able to jump high enough to reach him.
But fifty meters?
That was simply beyond reason.
They couldn’t touch him at all!
Thunder Staff!
Thunderbirds!
Bai Qiu lightly tapped his feet against the magical light screens, leaping back and forth between them while maintaining a fifty-meter altitude.
At the same time, the Thunder Staff in his hand continuously unleashed Thunderbirds downward.
Originally, it was impossible for him to maintain the magic light screens while simultaneously casting Thunderbirds.
But thanks to the Fire Orb, he could now split his magic into two separate streams and perform both actions at once—though the fire-aligned light screens were, admittedly, a little hot on the feet.
— The end of the Chapter–
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