The Savior

"An archmage has combat strength comparable to a bishop on their side. One bishop," White Bone emphasized. "One bishop, not the whole bunch!" she muttered. "Even when I stole the pope's scepter last time, there weren't this many chasing me!"

"..." Su Ming suddenly regretted it a little. Just how many messes had his teammate made before? "Do we have a plan?"

"Do our best and leave the rest to fate." White Bone unfolded a compound fire-and-water spell formation beside her, and several magic spheres shot out.

Trajectory guidance method, forward-mounted!

Neither element was known for speed, but with the wind at White Bone's back, the spheres still closed in on the pursuers quickly, exploding just before they reached them.

The flames burst open, mixing with the raindrops in the air to form vast clouds of mist. The temple's pursuers scattered to dodge, but two blundered into the mist and collided. Amid the scattered light of their shields, the two came to a halt and descended unsteadily to the surface of the sea.

Dispersal-Type Flame Sphere · Delayed Ice Wall, a dual-mode compound spell!

The ice wall wasn't strong; with the magical power of the people on the other side, it would shatter on contact. But a protective shield surviving the impact didn't mean the mage inside could. Hitting it at thirty knots would send their internal organs out of place.

Su Ming's understanding of the other world's magic system was once again revised, and he expressed his heartfelt admiration to White Bone.

"Just the basics. Everyone in this world who survives a battlefield full of killing has plenty of tricks up their sleeve," White Bone said. "You've still got a long way to go before you can become a qualified spellcaster."

The skeletal servant appeared beside White Bone again and handed her a spare data cable from the equipment. She took it and tied up her hair. With her back to the Zhiyuan's direction of travel, her hair had been flying everywhere and occasionally smacking her in the face.

It was driving her mad!

"...I think I'll stick to being a worker." Recalling the entire large room White Bone had filled with books on magic, Su Ming answered.

The pursuers quickly spread out. They didn't retaliate, because casting into a headwind while maintaining a high-speed pursuit would make quite a sight. A slow-flying magic sphere might even end up smacking one of their own in the face.

White Bone, attacking with the wind at her back, had so many options that she could hardly choose.

A figure broke away from the pursuing force and climbed higher and higher, until he rose above the rain clouds a thousand meters up.

"Archbishop Stanton. He's trying to get above the storm and pursue us at high speed." White Bone ground her teeth. "That old geezer isn't afraid of freezing to death!"

"And he really thinks highly of me," she muttered.

The bishops and priests who remained kept close on the Zhiyuan's tail, drawing nearer and nearer.

"What if we change course?" Su Ming asked. Stanton couldn't see the Zhiyuan from above the clouds.

"No use. The pursuers behind us will guide Stanton," White Bone replied. "We have to deal with them first."

She raised her hand and continued casting, immediately putting the pursuing group on alert.

"Water Mist · Scarlet Fantasy!"

The dazzling red spheres floated even more slowly than the flame-and-ice-wall spell from before, and the pursuers all swerved aside to dodge. The red spheres drifted over and exploded, but they really were just clouds of water vapor.

They'd dodged for nothing! The pursuers visibly fell farther behind.

White Bone continued throwing spheres of colored mist. Their magic power consumption was low anyway. The temple's pursuers were reluctant, but they had no choice but to dodge.

In the end, not a single one was real.

But two priests who skimmed close to the mist suddenly collided in midair.

"Water Mist · Maze!"

"Naive." White Bone glanced at the two idiots falling into the sea. Their sense of direction had only been thrown off a little, but that was deadly when moving at high speed.

She was having a great time and soon sent another two into the sea, leaving only ten pursuers behind the Zhiyuan.

The temple bishops and priests were having a miserable time. Their biggest problem was the Zhiyuan's speed. They had to stay above twenty-five knots, leaving them with very limited resources. They had to ration what they spent on defense and evasion carefully, let alone counterattack.

Another problem was the Zhiyuan itself: they didn't know how to interfere with its speed.

Normally, attacking the vulnerable sails was the best option. It didn't even take much power or accuracy. Cutting any one rope could slow an enemy down or even send them off course.

The next option was to use sheer magic power to suppress the opponent's propulsion spell formation, trading power for power.

But none of that applied to the present situation. They watched helplessly as the monster before them, with no sails and not the slightest trace of propulsion magic, cleaved through the waves, speeding along with a long, slender V-shaped wake behind it.

For a fleeting moment, they even felt as though the ship was the one flying.

The pursuers still had the advantage in speed. Pushing through White Bone's interference, they closed to within a kilometer.

Two bishops suddenly accelerated and broke away from the main group, preparing to circle around to the front from the left.

"They're trying to lure me into turning right," Su Ming said, studying the chart.

"Mm. That's probably the way out of the storm," White Bone said. "Turn. I don't mind getting out sooner."

Seeing the Zhiyuan obediently change course, and even the crafty spellcaster stop interfering, the two bishops who had circled left returned to the group. All ten continued closing the distance together.

The attention of some unknown presence suddenly swept over the area, and even Stanton, far above in the sky, turned to look.

White Bone was calculating the distance to the pursuers when a scepter suddenly appeared in her hand. Surprise and confusion appeared on her face. The Divine Favor Scepter!?

The girl looked up at the pursuers behind them. The distance was 712 meters.

The scholar with a title bared the little canine teeth at the corners of her mouth. In the driving rain, she raised her hand and pointed the scepter toward the space behind the Zhiyuan, the sheltered side of her skirt flying. "Just what I wanted!"

Instant cast: "Solar Flame · Ten Consecutive Strikes!"

There was no time to wonder why an undead could use an advanced light-element spell, or why this was clearly her true specialty. Whether in casting speed or power, the elemental magic she had used before looked like mere dabbling by comparison.

The clergy also recognized the scepter in her hand, and fear and bewilderment appeared on their faces!

Brilliant light tore through the curtain of rain in an instant. Its traces in the night sky vanished in a flash, leaving only the missing raindrops along its narrow path. The curtains of light around the priests shattered one after another, and they fell unconscious toward the sea.

No elemental advantage, only overwhelming superiority in sheer numbers!

The shields of all four bishops were broken as well. Badly injured, they barely managed to steady themselves.

"Miss White Bone?" Su Ming asked. "Are you all right?"

Through the White Bone Mark, Su Ming could clearly feel the Zhiyuan's condition suddenly deteriorate. Even the protective formation around the propulsion units was beginning to lose support. He hurriedly lowered the boiler temperature and began slowing down.