Better to Steal Than Smash

Two corpses lay in front of the magitech core chamber.

A low mutter sounded in Chinese.

"Not one of them can fight. Not one of them can fight."

The parrot stood on one of the elves, wiping the blood from its claws on his clothes. It muttered those words, then spat several times, ejecting a few bits of bloody flesh.

A magitech core chamber was standard on elven capital ships. It supported the operation of magitech attack platforms, provided elemental affinity support to the spellcasters throughout the ship, and served other important functions. Its importance was unparalleled—it was staffed year-round and had a complete set of independent security protocols.

But the chamber was located at the heart of the warship. Generally speaking, if the enemy managed to fight their way there, the battle was as good as decided. As a result, the two apprentices stationed there were not particularly vigilant. Their daily task was not to stand guard, but to monitor the operation of the magitech core.

Besides, even if they had been on guard, who would be wary of a parrot?

As the firstborn of nature, elves were beloved and revered by animals. The long-ears were born with an affinity for them and could even command them to do certain things. During the tedium of life at sea, who would be wary upon seeing a beautifully feathered parrot that could talk so well?

It had such a sweet little mouth and said such amusing, pleasant things. Who wouldn't like it?

And then they died.

The parrot had dug one elf's brainstem out with a single swipe of its claw.

It had seized the other elf with its beak and torn out his entire throat.

The parrot wiped its claws clean, rinsed its mouth with an elf's cup of water, spread its wings, and flew to the door. It bumped against it, and an emerald-green halo appeared on the door, revealing a complex star chart.

The parrot glanced at it with utter disdain. "Amateur. Amateur."

It spread its claws and scratched at the star chart a few times, and the door slowly opened.

Arcane light shone within the chamber, where a sphere of light floated in midair. A hollow golden shell surrounded it, and a crystal-carved pedestal guarded the sphere like an open claw. Strange magic patterns were engraved on the floor, where energy surged and flowed, accumulating immense power.

The parrot folded its wings and stared at the sphere of light for quite a while. There was no telling what it was thinking.

Then it took flight and faced the sphere, striking a pose like a phoenix soaring with outstretched wings. It was ready to rush up and give the fucking thing a swipe, but the next moment, it hesitated.

It landed off to the side, pecked at its feathers, and muttered, "Better to steal than smash. Better to steal than smash."

Having made up its mind, the parrot flew around the sphere several times, as if calculating something.

Finally, it raised its sharp claws, swooped down, and slashed hard at a spot on the magic patterns on the floor. Sparks flashed, and the parrot flew out of the chamber without looking back.

Flames surged, blast waves swept outward, and a muffled explosion thundered through the ship, alerting everyone aboard.

"...What did you say?!"

Laclais flew into a rage, even abandoning his masterly composure as he seized the elf before him.

"Master, please calm down. There was a small explosion in the magitech core chamber, which also caused a small fire. The fire has now been put out, and two guards are dead..."

The master snapped, "I don't care how many elves died. I'm asking about the damage!"

"The damage control team has conducted a preliminary investigation. There was an error in the operation of the magitech core's magic patterns, which caused an energy surge. The exact cause is unknown, but it may be related to the invisible barrier around the Holy Seal Archipelago. The damage to the magitech core is very minor. We only need to reconstruct the magic power circuit."

"But the head of damage control doesn't recommend repairing it immediately, because the core cannot function here and may be damaged again. Due to the anti-magic domain, none of the variables can be controlled."

The apprentice reporting the news rattled off the bad news all at once.

Toward the end, he began to hesitate.

The master seemed to sense what was coming. He forced out a question through clenched teeth. "What about the thing I most want to hear?"

The apprentice lowered his head and spoke quickly. "But because the explosion caused by the magitech core produced a resonance effect throughout the ship, and because the magitech chamber is at the heart of the warship, the explosion's shock and impact violently rocked the entire vessel. In particular, the damage to the sections previously damaged by the wind, waves, and reefs has worsened. The estimated time for repairs and inspection has been extended to more than two days..."

The master was silent for a long time.

He asked, "Did you find any signs of tampering?"

The apprentice shook his head. "The head of damage control believes the possibility is virtually zero. Although the bodies of the two dead guards were destroyed by the blast of fire, it didn't look like they were killed by someone else, because there were no signs that they resisted or were on guard. Besides, the magitech chamber is protected by multiple layers of security, so the probability of anything going wrong is low..."

The master said, "You may go."

He left the room and headed for the captain's quarters.

"Captain."

After knocking and being admitted, the master got straight to the point. "The explosion just now caused tremendous damage to the Wings of Wayne. The repair time has been extended to two days. I think Sir Taize's plan needs to change. I will not allow him to waste two days for nothing... Since the Wings of Wayne cannot join the battle, he must rely on his own strength to find those Goth People and kill them!"

"Otherwise..."

He stared coldly into the captain's eyes. "In two days, the Goth People can accomplish everything they want to do. If you don't want those humans to dig up powerful weapons left behind by the rebels of old and use them to wipe out the soldiers on the island, then you'll have to put pressure on Sir Taize."

The master warned, "Don't forget why we came here. Don't forget my premonition."

They had set foot on the forbidden Holy Seal Archipelago to hunt down those Goth People.

During two consecutive meditations, Master Laclais had sensed some sign that was extremely ominous for the elves... A strong sense of patriotism and responsibility had driven the elves to take a dangerous gamble.

The captain was undecided. He could not refute the master's reasoning, but he also trusted a soldier's experience.

"Perhaps..." he asked, "you could meditate once more?"

The master was so furious that he laughed. "The Holy Seal Archipelago cuts off all supernatural power. What good would meditation do?"

The captain thought for a moment and sighed. "Although we must rely on your wisdom, we must also respect a soldier's judgment. How about this? We'll go ashore together and discuss the matter with Sir Taize."

It was already afternoon, and the sun had even begun to sink in the west. The reconnaissance teams had returned and were standing by. The master and the captain crossed the sea, met with Sir Taize, and then a fierce argument broke out.

The master believed that speed was essential in war and that they had to find the Goth People as soon as possible, before they discovered anything on the island.

Sir Taize was more cautious. He believed the enemy's intentions were unclear and that they might be plotting something. Charging blindly onto the island would play right into their hands. They could not fall for it.

The knight stubbornly insisted, "At the very least, we must wait until we've ascertained the enemy's strength and gathered some intelligence before continuing. Otherwise, it'll be just like before, when dozens of soldiers died without even knowing why!"

The master roared, "But the warship has broken down again. Are you going to sit on your hands for two days? Sir Taize, you belong to the Royal Navy, not that bunch of spoiled idiots in the army who would never deploy without spell cover and arrow formations to reinforce them—a soldier's duty is to overcome every difficulty for the sake of the nation's interests and a great victory!"

Sir Taize wanted to curse back, but held himself in check. The man did hold an extremely high position, after all.

He sighed. "At least wait until the reconnaissance teams send back new information."

The master said bluntly, "It's already afternoon, and evening will soon be here. Once night falls, it will be even harder to monitor the island. How long do you intend to drag this out?"

The anger in Sir Taize's heart was hard to put into words.

Fuck, I'm furious.

He had had enough of a magister telling him how to arrange his tactics.

So he said coldly, "There's no need to worry, sir. Our physical abilities are far superior to those of humans. Elves can fight just as well at night, and humans are even less of a match for us then. Please wait."

Pigeon was keeping a close watch on everything happening on the beach.

The news was relayed back.

Kang De looked at the images from the beach and felt it was a bit of a shame. "It looks like the elves' leaders are all here. I wonder if the bar-headed goose could kill them by dropping a gas canister on them... Forget it."

There was a risk.

No matter how naive the elves were, if they saw a goose flying toward them carrying a big, strange object... they would think something was very wrong, wouldn't they?

Kang De continued watching the recording. "They're arguing, but I can't make out their lip movements. Still, it's easy enough to guess. The elves are pulling their forces back, and they're arguing now, so my plan must have worked. Some of the elves think they should keep advancing, while others are cautious and conservative."

"But it doesn't matter."

"You won't come? Then I'll force you to come."

Kang De turned to look at the row of fireworks on the ground. Finding these things hadn't been easy.

The power of Elements gathered within him.

Infusing these fireworks with Elements like flame and light would surely make their explosions even more dazzling and spectacular. Add things like projection lamps to that...

What would the elves think when these things bloomed in the sky?

Ah, an ancient ruin has opened!

That's right, come on over.

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PS1: Second update... Ah, this is so despairing. How did I end up updating so late again? Fuck, from now on I'll finish updating before eleven. If I can't do it, I'll stop jerking off!