Chapter 443 Kingsley's Invitation
When Yang Qiu enthusiastically invited Sadir and the other two to go into the city for tea... Kingsley on the other side was still fighting hard.
Chief Needham is an "old monster" from the same era as Kingsley. He is skilled in the use of water and ice magic, good at containing and controlling the situation, and is particularly skilled in sneak attacks and cold arrows. He has both powerful mental power and the standard recovery talent of a water elemental mage, and can be called an expert in protracted battles in spellcaster duels.
Gloria's strength is slightly weaker, but she is also a leader among the "young generation"; just look at the title of "Storm" she has obtained, and you will know what this wind mage is good at - brutal and violent large-scale storm magic that destroys everything, and even forbidden magic, which she can cast as easily as eating and drinking.
The partnership between Gloria Storm, who tends to be offensive, and Needham, who is good at controlling details, can be described as a match made in heaven, but it can also be said that they have an unparalleled tacit understanding.
As for Kingsley...it's more embarrassing.
He is indeed a genius who has been famous on the continent for a long time, but... his genius is more reflected in his promotion - there are only a few super geniuses who can pass the first door in their teens in the entire continent in thousands of years.
And then, nothing happened.
Kingsley never even clicked on the combat skill points...
This fellow has a Buddhist personality, is shrewd and stingy, and never got into any trouble when he traveled outside when he was young and energetic; when he picked up a disciple who was full of nonsense, Kingsley did not consider teaching him a lesson, but instead enjoyed bickering and fighting with the other party.
As he got older, Kingsley became more stable. When his disciples provoked enemies to harass him, his first reaction was to hide away...
At this age, Kingsley could count the number of times he had fought with others on his hands - if he couldn't beat them, he would run away in advance, and if he could beat them, he would crush them with his strength and then run away to avoid retaliation.
Even the "Forbidden Magic: Breath of Hell", a black magic originally used to kill both parties, was "discovered" by Kingsley for the purpose of escape...
In the wilderness east of Dutata City, heavy and sticky wind pressure covered the entire sky and earth, accompanied by local howling strong winds.
Icicles, ice spikes, water magic traps, and frozen ground appeared from time to time, chasing and blocking Kingsley who was restricted in all directions by the "Breath of Wind" field.
Kingsley looked embarrassed, but in fact he dodged and moved easily between the strong wind and ice chips. He used his mental power to deconstruct or defend against the magical attacks that he could not avoid, and habitually spoke out: "That's enough, Needham! When we were sparring in the Ivory Tower, I was not as ruthless as you!"
"Gloria, aren't you tired of maintaining the Breath of Wind? Stop wasting magic crystals. It's a waste of money. Wouldn't it be better to use the spare money to buy two sets of prettier robes?"
"Hey, there's a flaw! Watch out!"
The frozen ground that was deconstructed from the outside had just collapsed. Gloria, who had temporarily "made" a space within the range of the "Breath of Wind" to facilitate Needham's spellcasting, had not yet had time to "fill" the area. Among the broken ice debris, several thick black thorn vines pierced through the ground and rushed out, sweeping towards the two court mages standing side by side with great momentum .
A road-like ice surface appeared under Needham's feet. He pulled Gloria, and the two of them used the low-friction nature of the smooth ice surface to quickly move sideways to avoid the situation.
Blackthorn vines - "Black Magic Hell Thorns" are a type of demonic plant with low intelligence. After being summoned by a black magician, they have simple combat intelligence and know how to obey simple tactical commands. They are the black magician's most common offensive and control tactics.
The only drawback... is that when summoning Hellthorns, the earth must and can only be used as the starting point for summoning - blackthorn vines can break through the stone slabs on the ground, but they cannot emerge from under the ground that is "suppressed" by space types or things with space rule properties.
The forbidden magic "Breath of Wind" has the property of simulating the power of "spatial repulsion". The ground covered by the breath of wind cannot be used as a starting point for summoning.
Gloria, the wind mage, had apparently discussed tactics against Kingsley, the black magician, with Needham before coming. She hastily avoided the first wave of attacks from the black thorn vines, and immediately controlled the "breath of wind" to fill the area where the black thorn vines were summoned.
The starting point of the summoning was covered, and the thick black thorn vines that fiercely rolled towards the two court mages again disappeared from the "foothold" summoned to the material plane and dissipated in an instant.
Kingsley, who had summoned the Hellthorns to slightly restrain his opponent, was not paying attention to the outcome of the battle at all at this moment. He was jogging out of the range of the Breath of Wind.
The two court mages were obviously unwilling to let Kingsley out of the "breath" range. Before the people of Needham could stand firm, they accurately threw a four-meter-thick, six-meter-high, and dozens of meters wide ice wall in front of Kingsley...
The wide and thick ice wall slightly blocked Kingsley's way, and then quickly transformed into countless ice spikes of various sizes, covering Kingsley...
"That's too much! Fight me one-on-one if you dare!" Kingsley was so angry that he had to retreat repeatedly.
Needham said nothing, silently took out a magic crystal and held it in his hand.
By absorbing magic power from crystals that can store magic power, you can save the mental energy used to temporarily absorb and convert magic power... After all, mental energy is a consumable, and the total amount of mental energy of each spellcaster is limited, so it needs to be carefully calculated during battle.
Water mages naturally have stronger mental recovery capabilities than other spellcasters, but no matter how strong the recovery is, it cannot keep up with the consumption in such a fierce confrontation.
Needham, who was seizing the opportunity to absorb magic power from the crystal, silently watched Kingsley, who was retreating, releasing a strong mental force that made the wind aura field tremble slightly, and deconstructed the ice showers he released one by one.
"——How much mental strength does this guy have left?!"
Gloria, who was also holding the magic crystal to recover, cursed softly, gritted her teeth and output magic power, forcibly stabilizing the wind breath field that was stirred up by Kingsley's powerful mental fluctuations.
Needham also has this confusion...
"Forbidden Magic: Breath of Wind" can simulate a trace of the power of "world rules". Not only can no one except the one who releases it be able to control wind energy within the area, but movement and actions will also be greatly restricted.
Kingsley was not crushed by the power of the Breath of Wind only because he maintained his mental field throughout the whole process. How on earth did he manage to maintain such a solid mental field for such a long time and still be able to deconstruct and disassemble his magic in full swing!
Needham was having a toothache, and Kingsley, who was not good at attacking, divided his mental power to form two vertical summoning arrays. Two headless knights riding undead horses, wearing old armor and holding ancient spears, rushed out of the array with murderous intent.
The summoning circle could not last long and was soon disintegrated by the accumulated power of the Wind Breath Field. The two headless knights stood still and rushed towards the two court mages with great momentum.
No, it wasn't the Headless Knight who resisted the power of the wind breath, but... Kingsley released his mental power to block the wind pressure for the two undead warriors!
Needham and Gloria suddenly had the urge to throw the magic crystal...
The fight has gone on for so long, does this bastard still have enough mental strength to protect even the summoned creatures ?!
Needham, with veins popping out on his forehead, took a deep breath and operated on two fronts. On the one hand, he continued to hold Kingsley back with various ice magic, and on the other hand, he released sharp water blades to strangle the two headless knights who rushed out of the Wind Breath area into pieces.
Just after strangling the two headless knights, Needham felt a sense of weakness in his soul that could not be ignored.
His mental strength... is almost exhausted to the limit.
After casting dozens of small and medium-sized magic spells in succession, no matter how good Needham is at protracted battles and how to properly allocate mental energy consumption... there is a limit after all.
Sighing, Needham turned to look at Gloria: "How long can you hold on?"
Gloria Storm, with bulging veins on her forehead and sweat on her face, said nothing but gave an awkward smile.
"Okay." Needham no longer forced himself to absorb magic power, put away the crystal, and said to Kingsley calmly, "That's enough, Kingsley!"
Gloria, who had been struggling for a long time, hurriedly released the breath of wind and sat down on the ground without caring about her image.
"Finally it's over!" Kingsley let out a long breath and flew over lightly. "Thank you for your hard work. It's still early. Would you like to come to my place for a cup of tea?"
Needham, who was bent over and holding his knees and panting, was particularly irritated by Kingsley's vigorous appearance. "Wasn't your mental strength similar to mine before? Why is it so outrageous now?"
"That's totally unrelated." Kingsley said proudly, "I am a kind person. If I deliberately delay you for a day and challenge you to a fight after 1 pm tomorrow, not only will you two beat me up, but Gloria's Wind Breath Domain will not be able to trap me."
"Difference Between Earth and Planet Earth" is open every day on Earth, but in the timeline of the alien world, it operates every other day. Today happens to be the "rest day" in between.
Gloria, who was sitting on the ground, couldn't help but squint: "Is it that exaggerated?"
Kingsley smiled but said nothing. The spiritual matrix involved Yang's hometown, so he couldn't reveal it casually. He said, "My disciple who can't control anyone will not let go of the Rhine Capital. Needham, Gloria, have you decided where to go next?"
Needham smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "Gloria and I couldn't do anything to you even if we joined forces. I think Sadier and his team won't be able to succeed. At this point, we can only continue to fulfill our promise and accompany the Rhine royal family to seek refuge elsewhere."
When a spellcaster serves the royal family, although he will not be so loyal as to risk his life to protect the royal throne, he will certainly not turn his back on them and leave immediately after the royal family loses power.
"What are you hiding from? Who said the Rhine royal family will be exiled?" Kingsley asked curiously.
Needham & Gloria: “???”
Kingsley added, "Didn't Princess Harriet hand over little Prince Andrew to my disciple? Yang was only planning to help little Andrew usurp the throne. Even if little Andrew is incompetent, at most he will not rule. How did it come to the point where the royal family had to seek refuge?"
Needham & Gloria: "(゜ロ゜)° △°)"
"Is that so?" Gloria looked at the chief in shock.
Chief Court Mage Needham was unusually confused: "Wait, wasn't little Prince Andre deceived by Nightmare - by Yang?!"
Kingsley's mouth twitched, and he squinted at Needham: "How big is your misunderstanding of my disciple...Have you forgotten that there is Enwei beside little Prince Andre?"
Needham swallowed his saliva. Indeed… Not to mention how smart Princess Harriet was, a woman who was born in a commoner family but was able to gain a foothold in the royal family, the lich Enwei was not a simple-minded person either.
Before Needham could breathe a sigh of relief, Kingsley continued, "Although the Rhine royal family will not be annihilated, it is definitely impossible for them to collect large amounts of tax revenue for free without doing anything like before. I guess we won't be able to pay your annual salary."
Needham: “…”
This is really Kingsley's familiar petty style...
"I guess Yang won't pay the court wizard a salary. He's a very stingy person. I don't know who he resembles." Kingsley said with disdain.
Needham and Gloria looked at him expressionlessly.
"Although he doesn't have the generous treatment of a court mage, I have to say that Yang does have a lot of weird ideas, and some of them are really interesting." Kingsley went around in circles before revealing his true purpose. "Needham, you don't have many years left to live anyway, why don't you stay and broaden your horizons?"
Needham: "...Do I want me to say thank you?"
"If you want," Kingsley said confidently.
Needham didn't bother to pay attention to him, he stood up and told Gloria to leave.
"Don't be impatient." Kingsley followed leisurely, "You know Enwei. If you can't win his favor, he won't pay attention to you unless there is a huge benefit. Even he is willing to cooperate with Yang, aren't you curious?"
"You said it too. I really don't have much time left to live. It's better to go back and see how my disciples are maintaining the Mage Tower, and then travel to places I want to go, rather than wasting time." Needham said expressionlessly.
Although Gloria was very curious about what the "great benefit" Kingsley always talked about was, since the Chief was using his methods to force Kingsley to speak, she simply kept silent.
Kingsley scratched his hair in confusion.
Now he can only run eight fantasy maps alternately and provide "chicken-eating entertainment" for 800 earthlings in batches. This efficiency is totally insufficient for the earthlings.
Almost every earthling who logs into the fantasy map will complain, "Finally got in", "It's too hard to rank", "Ranking is not based on metaphysics at all and it all depends on luck".
Yang was very cautious about information related to his hometown . Even Enwei had to pass the test before he could get the opportunity to be sent to the Principality of Shiga - in other words, the sooner people were brought over, the sooner they could accept the test given by Yang.
Needham was a slick, shrewd man, sometimes even a little mean. Kingsley didn't have a very close relationship with him, and sometimes he was annoyed by him...but he was from the same period as Kingsley after all.
By the time Kingsley was this age, few of his old acquaintances were left.
"Okay, then I'll let you in on something." Kingsley said solemnly, "My disciple Yang can provide a very safe way to pass through the third door."
Needham and Gloria both turned their heads and looked at Kingsley in astonishment.
"Besides, there is no need to rely on the divinity of the righteous gods to anchor ourselves and need the help of seals like those spineless wimps in the church." Kingsley said complacently.
Over the past thousand years, there haven't been that many conflicts between church priests and spellcasters... but mutual contempt is still inevitable.
Needham's breathing became heavier, and he said firmly, "What are the conditions?"
Yang Qiu, who was in Lars City, was not worried that his teacher Kingsley would let go of the court wizard who came to his door... He knew Kingsley too well. He was a foul-mouthed but soft-hearted person. Although he was stingy and mean, he was not the kind of person who would monopolize good things and not let others get any benefits.
Well, the premise is that the benefits distributed to others cannot be taken out of his pocket, otherwise he will definitely turn against you.
He treated the three spellcasters to afternoon tea and chatted with them about life and ideals. Seeing that the time was almost up, he invited the three to go with him to the north to watch the fun.
The three court mages who were fooled followed Yang Qiu to the courtyard. Yang Qiu summoned a bone dragon and invited them to board. After the bone dragon took off, the fire mage Lamantha couldn't help but ask, "What are you going to see?"
Yang Qiu sat diagonally on the spine of the bone dragon, crossed his arms, and smiled slightly: "Let's go and see how many evil god sects are gathered in Creek City now."
Sadier, Weber, and Lamantha: "(° △°(° △° (° △° )??"
"After the upper echelons of Lars City fled without a fight, my undead searched for and captured the cultists (spawning wild monsters) in the southern part of Tachia." Yang Qiu laughed, "My undead are serious about dealing with the evil god sect (spawning monsters). Now, all the cultists in the southern part of Tachia who had time to escape have probably gathered in the north by now."
Well, actually, the players could no longer spawn wild monsters in the "big map" of Lars City, so they started to rebel... Yang Qiu had to quickly issue tasks to let these players fight to the north.
Without knowing for sure how many evil cults there were in the north of Tachia, Yang Qiu certainly couldn't send the local talents that the national team had worked so hard to train over there - the player army didn't need logistical support anyway, and once Creek City was taken and all the cultists had been dealt with by the players, it would still be in time to send people up to take over.
As the bone dragon's huge wings streaked across the sky, the players on the ground, who were pulling together teams of all sizes to march north of Tachia, chattered in amazement:
"Damn, there really is a dragon in this game!"
"Is this dragon a boss? Can it be defeated?"
