Chapter 12

The approaching speed slowed slightly.

"Double Storm Spell, go!" Qikeda shouted. The distant cloud of insects seemed to be blocked head-on by a pair of invisible giant hands.

The leading Locusts stopped, but wave after wave of Locusts behind them kept pressing forward. In an instant, quite a few Locusts were crushed to death and fell to the ground.

"Cloud Spell, water elements in the air, heed my command. Let a heavy rain fall." Qikeda sat on the ground, panting without pause. Casting such a large-scale atmospheric spell as the Storm Spell—and two at once—was more than he could handle. Seizing the moment of chaos among the Locusts, Luo Lun also unleashed all his magic power, gathering water elements above Axon Town. Before long, dark clouds enveloped part of the Locust swarm.

"Crystal, hail." Luo Lun commanded the magical beast Crystal to fire hailstones into the dark clouds overhead. This would speed up the condensation of water elements and make the rain even heavier.

Crystal opened its huge mouth, and the spikes along both sides of its body drew together. Hailstones shot rapidly toward the dark clouds.

"Success!" Yi Junqing cried happily when she saw Luo Lun successfully bring rain over Axon Town.

"Qikeda, how long can your Storm Spell last?" Luo Lun gazed at the distant Locusts. Those magical beasts were still charging into the storm wave after wave, utterly fearless of death. Their sheer numbers left even Luo Lun speechless.

"About... at least another minute," Qikeda said.

Looking at the boundless swarm of Locusts in the distance, Luo Lun sighed. "This is bad. I never expected there to be so many. I'd say there are no fewer than a hundred thousand."

Luo Lun had originally planned to gather the Locusts together as much as possible, soak them with the violent wind and rain, then have the two mages cast Lightning Strike Spells to inflict the greatest possible casualties on the magical beast Locusts. After all, even if Axon Town successfully drove them away, it would still be a disaster if this pack of ravenous creatures flew elsewhere. But the number of Locusts far exceeded his expectations. Now, all they could do was kill as many as possible.

"Vice Principal, the Storm Spell can't hold much longer!" Qikeda roared.

"Tianrang, Muller, attack." With that concise command, Luo Lun wanted the two lightning-element mages to bring out their best techniques and kill without mercy.

"Junqing, leave the Locusts that fly over here to you," Luo Lun added.

Bolts of lightning struck down from the mountaintop toward the skies above Axon Town. The two mages showed no concern for conserving their magic power, desperately launching Lightning Strike Spells at the dark clouds. White flashes streaked everywhere within the clouds, and clusters of charred giant Locusts fell from the sky. This method really worked.

The people of Axon Town immediately followed suit when they saw this method of attack, and several more white beams shot toward the dark clouds.

"Whew, looks like we've stopped them for now. I hope these bugs know when to back off." Luo Lun let out a breath, leaned against Crystal, and closed his eyes to rest. Through a water-element magical beast, a water-element mage could recover magic power more quickly. If the Locusts did not retreat, the next stage would be close combat. Luo Lun wanted to relax his exhausted body as soon as possible.

Duoduo, watching this from the academy's Central Tower, finally let go of the worry in his heart.

Thank goodness, Second Brother's method worked. I hope those damned things retreat—better yet, fly straight to the Misera Empire, Duoduo thought maliciously.

The teachers and students downstairs had also received the news by then. Thanks to the efforts of the vice principal and several teachers, the Locusts had been temporarily held back. Cheers rang out without end.

Lin Hanxuan, Hal, Yi Junze, and Aslan had gathered together. They were listening to Aslan and Yi Junze argue over exactly what method Vice Principal Luo Lun had used to stop the Locusts. Other teachers and students listened with great interest and joined the debate one after another.

"Aslan, I admit that you're very smart, but your beastfolk know little about insect-type magical beasts." Yi Junze waved his feather fan and smiled. "The Locusts' destructive power comes from their numbers. What intelligence could insects possibly have? It's unlikely they would do as you said and detour around us. When large numbers of insect Locusts move, they are searching for food. If they suffer massive casualties, they'll definitely slink away. They won't stubbornly insist on attacking Saguli Academy. Never in the continent's history has anyone heard of insect-type magical beasts being commanded in military operations. I believe this time will be no different."

Aslan said angrily, "Look at the direction the Locusts came from. If they hadn't made a detour on their way here, they should have passed through Dead City first. But we haven't heard that Dead City was attacked by the Locusts. Can you tell me why the Locusts gave up attacking Dead City and instead took the longer route here?"

Yi Junze spread his hands helplessly. "How would I know? I'm not an insect. Maybe they just aren't used to the smell of beastfolk." A few human students nearby laughed quietly, while the beastfolk students, who were outnumbered, all flushed red.

"What did you say?" Aslan could no longer endure hearing Yi Junze mock the Orcs' strong body odor. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to make a move.

"Junze, Aslan, can you two stop arguing?" Lin Hanxuan hurriedly tried to mediate.

For some reason, although Aslan had been furious, once Lin Hanxuan stepped forward to stop the fight, he merely cursed resentfully a few times before sitting back down.

"I also hope my guess is wrong, but I still feel that something isn't right." Aslan looked at Lin Hanxuan and said.