A Sparring Match with the Wanderer

Rumble!

Watching the enormous Great Serpent collapse to the ground, Mo Bai felt a little awkward.

His fight with the creature had made too much of a commotion, and the surrounding area had taken a serious beating.

"The academy won't investigate and punish me for this later, will it...?" Mo Bai asked, feeling guilty.

He couldn't help it. Untamed shikigami mostly charged around like wild beasts, and with the serpent's body nearly as large as a Hollowworm, damage to the surroundings had been unavoidable.

Whoosh!

"Hm?"

Just as Mo Bai was about to call it a day and head back, he sensed something approaching from behind.

Perfect chance to try out my new Shikigami.

With that thought, Mo Bai formed a hand sign.

"Toad."

"Ribbit."

The giant Toad Shikigami had barely appeared behind Mo Bai before it shot its long tongue straight ahead.

With Mo Bai reinforcing it with his Cursed Energy, the Toad's attack would at least pack a little more punch.

Whoosh!

But just as the tongue was about to strike the figure hurtling through the air, Mo Bai suddenly reduced the Cursed Energy he was channeling into the Toad.

Pfft.

The tongue's sharp lash turned into a gentle wrap and grab.

The figure in the air seemed to realize Mo Bai was holding back and offered no resistance.

"Ribbit."

In the end, the toad tucked the figure into its massive body, leaving only their head sticking out.

It was the Wanderer.

"It's all slimy in here. It feels gross..."

The Wanderer gave Mo Bai a deadpan stare.

"I got a little carried away. I wanted to try out my new ability." Mo Bai scratched his head awkwardly.

Ding!

Just then, a flash of white light emerged from the Toad Shikigami's mouth.

"Ugh! Rover, did you fall into a swamp? You stink!"

The strange creature named Abu floated beside the Wanderer, pinching his nose and frowning.

"Mo Bai? Ugh, no wonder it smells so bad. The Wanderer came over to you."

Abu wrinkled his nose helplessly.

While Abu was talking, Mo Bai dismissed the shikigami and helped the Wanderer to her feet.

"So you left the academy to train?"

The Wanderer recalled the new shikigami Mo Bai had summoned earlier.

"More or less. None of them are particularly strong, so they're fairly easy to tame," Mo Bai said modestly.

Sensing that Mo Bai clearly didn't want to dwell on the subject, the Wanderer turned to other topics.

Most of them concerned the academy and the planet called Solaris.

From what she told him, Mo Bai finally understood the difference between Tacet Discords and Echoes.

Tacet Discords were monsters formed from chaotic frequencies in the wild. Once defeated, they turned into Remnant Echoes, which could be absorbed with a Terminal and converted into Echoes for one's own use.

Because their frequencies were so fragmented, however, Echoes in most places outside Rinascita could not even remain outside a Terminal for long.

In short, Echoes sounded like combat-specialized Shikigami.

"By the way, Wanderer, what brought you out here?" Mo Bai asked.

After adding Lynae and the Wanderer on his Terminal's messaging app, he had generally kept his location shared with them. He wasn't surprised she had found him.

He was just curious why she had come.

At his question, the Wanderer scratched her cheek sheepishly.

"Lynae was mad about what you said earlier, so she asked me to come keep an eye on you."

"Doesn't she know how dangerous that is...?"

Mo Bai's face darkened at the explanation.

"She was worried you might run into trouble outside the academy, so she asked me to come. You don't know Solaris at all, so of course she's worried about you," the Wanderer said with a smile.

Then her eyes darted toward Mo Bai.

"By the way, since we've run into each other out here..."

The Wanderer stood and put some distance between them.

"Want to spar?"

When the Wanderer beckoned to him, Mo Bai looked as though he had just eaten the academy cafeteria's jelly.

"Hehe, the Wanderer's really strong, you know!" Abu chimed in from the sidelines.

But of course Mo Bai knew that too!

He had seen her pin a Hollowworm to the ground with a single sword strike!

Him, fight the Wanderer? Seriously?

Mo Bai felt he and Rover weren't even in the same league...

"Like I said, just a spar."

The Wanderer didn't try to persuade him further. She simply repeated herself.

The craters scattered across the area told her Mo Bai was determined to grow stronger.

He just kept selling himself short and hated showing what he could do.

When Mo Bai saw the Wanderer draw the ornate swiftblade she had used before, he raised his hands to summon a shikigami.

"Abu, would you referee for us?"

"Leave it to me!"

Abu was only too happy to referee if it meant watching the Wanderer fight.

Once all three were ready, Abu swung both little hands down hard, signaling the start of their friendly match.

"Divine Dogs! Toad!"

Knowing his role as a summoner, Mo Bai leaped backward as soon as he summoned his Shikigami.

"Awooo!"

"Ribbit."

The Divine Dogs charged the Wanderer with a howl, while the toad flicked out its tongue from behind them to provide cover.

But Mo Bai's little trick wouldn't work on her.

The best way to deal with a summoner was to bypass their summons and go straight for them.

Whoosh!

So she promptly hurled her ornate swiftblade, named Blood Pact, straight at Mo Bai.

"She threw away her weapon?!"

Even as surprise hit him, Mo Bai's hands kept moving. He immediately formed the sign to summon Nue.

Screech!

Nue emerged from the shadows, lightning flaring across its body.

Mo Bai had to reinforce Nue with Cursed Energy to withstand the wind pressure carried by that sword.

"Hey! Aren't you worried you'll run me straight through?"

After intercepting the swiftblade, Mo Bai shouted at the Wanderer, who was busy tangling with the black and white Divine Dogs.

"It's fine. I can heal you."

The Wanderer even had time to give Mo Bai a thumbs-up as she dodged the Divine Dogs' attacks.

That got under Mo Bai's skin. He dismissed Nue and the toad, then formed their summoning signs again.

"Nue, Toad—Toad from the Bottomless Well."

Toad from the Bottomless Well was a fused beast made by adding Nue's wings to Toad.

The wings made up for Toad's lack of mobility, and he could summon several at once.

"Ribbit, ribbit!"

Several tongues lashed toward the Wanderer on the battlefield.

She had already thrown her weapon, and several Toads from the Bottomless Well were attacking from different directions, both on the ground and in the air. This had to hit!

Vmmm—

But just as Mo Bai thought he had her, a strange sound rang out.

Then he saw everything around the Wanderer slow to a crawl.