Two-Person Strategy

"Me?"

Hearing Rhode speak, Lize widened her eyes in surprise. Even Mace, standing off to the side, gaped.

Everyone knew that Spirit Masters on Dragon Soul Continent were much like pharmacists, doctors, and nurses. They were almost always support members of a team, and their most common tasks were bandaging wounds, healing injuries, casting shields, and dispelling poison. As for fighting on the front lines? Most people had probably never even heard of such a thing!

"Exactly."

Rhode nodded. The moment he stepped into this place, it was as if he had become the raid leader he used to be, leading a team through a dungeon.

"From now on, follow my orders. It won't require any particularly complicated skills, but it will demand a lot from your reflexes and awareness. Once you get used to it, though, I don't think it'll be too difficult... How well can you control your energy right now? How many times can you use Holy Radiance?"

Rhode had roughly guessed Lize's level from the healing spell she had used earlier, but it was best to make sure.

"I'm a full-fledged Spirit Master, at the seventh layer of the outer ring. As for Holy Radiance... I can only use it once a day, and it lasts for a day... as long as I don't use too much of my soul power."

Spellcasters were classified differently from combat professionals. In addition to their professional ranks, their soul power was divided into levels: the outer ring, the middle ring, and the inner ring. The outer ring had ten layers, the middle ring had seven, and the inner ring had three. This was because spellcasters believed their power came from deep within their souls. In common belief, spellcasters viewed the soul as three interwoven rings. The deeper a spellcaster explored their own soul, the stronger they became. Lize had already reached the seventh layer of the outer ring, which meant she had a good chance of breaking through the limits of an outer-ring spellcaster and entering the ranks of the middle ring.

That was truly remarkable for a sixth-level Spirit Master. And with that, Rhode felt even more confident.

"Good. Remember, from now on, you don't need to cast Healing Light on me, even if I get hurt. Keep a close eye on Mr. Mace instead. If he's in danger, put a shield on him... Understood?"

"Um... I understand, Mr. Rhode."

Though Rhode kept using words that made no sense to her, Lize managed to grasp what he meant by piecing things together. She nodded slightly to show she understood.

"Mr. Mace, how many days' worth of supplies do we have left?"

"Three or four days."

The portly merchant hugged his travel bag as he thought it over, then answered. There was a hint of tragic resolve on his face.

"If we ration them..."

"Now's a good time to lose weight."

If Rhode had been smiling when he said that, Mace could have taken it as a joke. Unfortunately, Rhode's expression was perfectly calm, without the slightest trace of amusement. That only made the portly merchant feel more conflicted. He hugged his travel bag and was about to say something more, but Rhode had already turned away and given Lize an order.

"Cast Holy Radiance."

"All right."

At Rhode's command, Lize nodded slightly, then held out both hands and closed her eyes.

Soon, a gentle glow slowly appeared in the center of the girl's palms. Soft white light spread in every direction. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but the portly merchant noticed that the thick fog, which had been right beside them, began to retreat rapidly whenever the light touched it. He rubbed his eyes, only to find that the area around them, previously shrouded in mist, had become much clearer. Some ruins had been little more than vague silhouettes, but now they could make out broken walls and buildings. Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After all, being able to see clearly was always safer.

"I'll go first. Lize, follow me. Mr. Mace, you go last. Don't fall too far behind us. No matter what happens, don't act alone."

The ruins were silent.

The positive energy in the light had driven away the fog, but it hadn't dispelled the danger lurking within it. Under Rhode's lead, they moved forward slowly, stopping now and then to watch their surroundings before continuing on. Before long, Rhode raised a hand again, signaling for the other two to stop.

If his memory served him, they were getting close to the spawn point of the first wave of minor enemies.

Just as he expected, not long after Rhode stopped, several faint points of light appeared in the fog ahead. They flickered like eyes.

"What... what are those?"

Mace instantly tensed up.

"Wraiths."

Rhode stretched out his right hand, and Star Trace soon appeared in it.

"Be careful. They won't dare get too close."

As soon as Rhode finished speaking, everyone saw the dense fog ahead suddenly contract and swell, then spit out three strange creatures.

They looked humanoid, but their bodies were completely wrapped in thick fog. Standing together, the three monsters blurred into one another, making it hard to tell where one ended and another began. Only their three pairs of bright little eyes made it clear they were more than mere fog.

Perhaps a lot more.

"Lize, cast Healing Light on the first one."

Healing Light?

The order left a flicker of confusion in the girl's mind. That was a healing spell. Why would she cast it on a monster? But the question passed through Lize's mind in an instant. Soon, she raised her right hand and cast Healing Light on the monster before her.

As a Spirit Master, Lize was quite skilled. Healing Light was a medium-range healing spell. As long as she could pinpoint her target, casting it wasn't difficult. For Lize, it was easy. Perhaps because her target was a monster rather than an ally, she hesitated a little, but she completed the spell quickly all the same.

A stream of pure white light appeared in the air and wrapped around the Wraith. Normally, any living being enveloped by it would recover from some of its injuries and even feel invigorated. It was one of the most basic spells used by Spirit Masters.

But the Wraith's reaction was completely beyond the girl's expectations. As the white light enveloped it, the Wraith let out a scream so loud that even she could hear it clearly. Then its upright body bent sharply at the waist as if it had been punched, and it trembled without stopping. The mist surrounding its body even broke apart in that instant, like snow melting under sunlight. Lize was so shocked that she instinctively lowered her head to stare at her hands, unable to understand how she had unleashed a spell with such destructive power.

Rhode remained perfectly calm at the sight. The positive energy produced by Healing Light was the natural enemy of Wraiths and other beings made of negative energy. What was more, half of Lize's bloodline came from true angels. The positive energy formed by angels differed in quality from that formed by ordinary humans. If the positive energy cast by the latter was boiling water to a Wraith, then the energy formed by the former was as potent as concentrated sulfuric acid. Fortunately, Lize was only a half-blood. If she had been a pure angel, that Wraith would have been reduced to ashes already.

Lize didn't understand why a healing spell could have such an effect, but players on Dragon Soul Continent knew the truth. To them, Healing Light was just a misleading name. The spell's essence was to release a burst of positive energy. Positive energy healed living beings, so the spell had been given that name for convenience. It didn't mean it could only heal injuries. In the early days of Dragon Soul Continent, a joke had even circulated among players: the most tragic thing that could happen to a necromancer was to run into a group of undead. Most of a necromancer's spells came from negative energy, and using them against undead creatures made of the same negative energy would heal them instead of destroying them. This left many players who had once dreamed of conquering the world with an army of the dead in tears as they learned elemental spells to maintain their advantage against undead monsters. Oh, and sometimes they had to moonlight as healers, too.

At their core, necromancers and Spirit Masters weren't all that different. Most of them lived among groups their powers couldn't harm, and could only be effective against those with the opposite affinity. Necromancers were simply more likely to encounter living beings. As for Spirit Masters, it wasn't until the middle of the Darkness Descends War, when the undead ran rampant, that they shed their image as support staff and became formidable front-line fighters. Before that, they rarely had any chance of encountering undead. And since NPCs, unlike players, didn't know all this information, it was no wonder they stuck to convention.

But now wasn't the time to stick to convention.

"Attack the other two!"

Rhode blurred forward, rushing toward the Wraiths as he gave Lize his order.

"Understood!"

Perhaps the sight before her had encouraged her. Lize's reply was energetic and firm. Soon, two more streams of powerful positive energy descended from above, striking the other two Wraiths. Gentle light enveloped them, halting their attempt to advance. Taking advantage of the opening, Rhode, who had activated Shadow Blink, was already in front of the first Wraith.

"—!"

The Wraith, scourged by the positive energy, let out a shrill scream. The Rhode before them became the target for their rage. The Wraith at the front abruptly thrust out a translucent claw and swiped at Rhode with a whoosh.

Lize's power had weakened their defenses, but their attack power had increased as a result. If he wasn't careful, he could easily be caught off guard.

But Rhode certainly wouldn't let that happen.

He shifted his body, narrowly dodging the Wraith's outstretched claw. Then the white blade in his hand spun sharply and thrust straight forward.

A critical hit!

Star Trace struck the only semi-solid part of the Wraith's phantom body: the condensed core of its soul. Already suffering under the positive energy, the Wraith let out an even more anguished wail. It raised both claws in desperation, but its body, already on the verge of collapse, lost its shape completely and dissolved into a cloud of dust.

Just then, the other two Wraiths attacked.