Boom!
Watching the Great Serpent's massive body collapse to the ground, Mo Bai felt a little awkward.
The fight had made such a racket that the surrounding area was badly damaged.
"The Academy isn't going to investigate and discipline me for this later, is it...?" Mo Bai muttered uneasily.
He couldn't help it. Most untamed Shikigami charged around like wild beasts, and the Great Serpent was nearly as large as a Voidworm. Damage to the surroundings had been unavoidable.
Whoosh!
"Hm?"
Just as Mo Bai was about to call it a day and head back, he noticed something approaching from behind.
Perfect chance to try out my new Shikigami.
With that thought, Mo Bai formed a hand sign.
"Toad."
"Ribbit, ribbit."
The enormous Toad Shikigami had barely appeared behind Mo Bai before it shot its long tongue straight ahead.
With Mo Bai's Cursed Energy reinforcing it, 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 abruptly reduced the Cursed Energy reinforcing the Toad.
Thwap.
Instead of lashing the figure away, the Toad's tongue wrapped around and caught them.
The figure seemed to realize Mo Bai had held back and made no attempt to resist.
"Ribbit, ribbit."
In the end, the Toad swallowed the figure into its enormous body, leaving only their head exposed.
It was the Rover.
"It's all sticky in here. It feels disgusting..."
The Rover gave Mo Bai a deadpan stare.
"I got a little excited and wanted to try out my new ability." Mo Bai scratched his head awkwardly.
Ding!
Just then, a flash of white light appeared inside the Toad Shikigami's mouth.
"Ugh! Rover, did you fall into a swamp? You stink!"
The strange creature named Abu floated beside the Rover, pinching his nose with a frown.
"Mo Bai? Oh, no wonder it smells so bad. The Rover came over to you."
Abu wrinkled his nose helplessly.
While Abu spoke, Mo Bai dismissed the Shikigami and pulled the Rover to her feet.
"So you left the Academy to train?"
The Rover recalled the new Shikigami Mo Bai had summoned earlier.
"More or less. They're only middling Shikigami, so they weren't too hard to tame," Mo Bai said modestly.
Sensing that Mo Bai didn't want to dwell on the subject, the Rover turned to other topics.
Most of them concerned the Academy and the planet called Solaris.
From her explanation, 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 made into Echoes for one's own use.
But because their frequencies were so fragmented, Echoes in most places outside Rinascita couldn't even remain outside a Terminal for long.
In short, Echoes sounded like Shikigami specialized for combat.
"By the way, Rover, what brought you out here?" Mo Bai asked.
After adding Lynae and the Rover on Terminal Feixun, he usually shared his location with them. He wasn't surprised she had found him.
He was just curious why she had come.
At his question, the Rover scratched her cheek sheepishly.
"Lynae was upset by what you said earlier, so she asked me to come make sure you were okay."
"Doesn't she know how dangerous that is...?"
Mo Bai's expression darkened at the explanation.
"She must have been worried something would happen to you outside the Academy. You don't know Solaris at all, so it's only natural she'd worry," the Rover said with a smile.
Then her eyes darted toward Mo Bai.
"Anyway, since we've happened to run into each other out here..."
The Rover stood and put some distance between them.
"Want to spar?"
When she beckoned to him, Mo Bai looked as though he'd just eaten Suck-Suck Jelly from the Academy Cafeteria.
"Heh-heh, the Rover's really strong, you know!" Abu chimed in.
As if Mo Bai didn't know that already!
He'd seen her pin a Voidworm to the ground with a single sword strike!
Him, fight the Rover? Was she serious?
Mo Bai didn't think they were even in the same league...
"Like I said, just a spar."
The Rover didn't try to persuade him further. She simply repeated herself.
The craters scattered across the area told her how determined Mo Bai was to grow stronger.
He just had a habit of selling himself short and hated showing what he could do.
When Mo Bai saw the Rover draw the ornate Swift Blade she'd used before, he formed the opening hand sign to summon a Shikigami.
"Abu, would you referee for us?"
"Leave it to me!"
Abu was more than happy to referee if it meant watching the Rover fight.
Once all three were ready, Abu swung both little hands down hard, signaling the start of their friendly match.
"Divine Dogs! Toad!"
Mo Bai knew his role as a summoner. As soon as his Shikigami appeared, he leaped backward.
"Awooo!"
"Ribbit."
After letting out a howl, the Divine Dogs charged at the Rover, while the Toad fired its tongue from behind them to provide cover.
But the Rover saw right through his little plan.
The best way to deal with a summoner was to ignore their summons and go straight for the summoner.
Whoosh!
Without hesitation, she hurled the ornate Swift Blade called Blood Pact straight at Mo Bai.
"She just threw away her weapon?!"
Despite his surprise, Mo Bai's hands kept moving. He immediately formed the sign to summon Nue.
Screech!
Nue emerged from the shadows, lightning flashing across his body.
Mo Bai had to reinforce Nue with Cursed Energy to withstand the wind pressure carried by that sword strike.
"Hey! Aren't you worried you'll run me through?!"
After intercepting the Swift Blade, Mo Bai shouted at the Rover, who was busy fending off the black and white Divine Dogs.
"It's fine. I can heal you."
The Rover even found time to give him a thumbs-up while dodging 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 Fusion Beast made by adding Nue's wings to the Toad.
It made up for the Toad's lack of mobility and could be summoned in multiples.
"Ribbit, ribbit!"
Several tongues lashed toward the Rover on the battlefield.
The Rover had already thrown away her weapon. With several Toads from the Bottomless Well attacking from the air and ground at once, from different directions, this was bound to hit!
Vmm—
But just as Mo Bai thought that, a strange sound rang out.
Then he saw everything around the Rover slow to a crawl, as though she were the center of it all.
Before you continue