Yise

The spells were a chaotic mess. Su Ming couldn't make sense of the battle at all. All he saw were brilliant colors filling the sky, until a figure riding swiftly toward them on a Sea Eagle Beast emerged amid the lingering magic.

The newcomer's entire body shone with dazzling golden light. She leaped high off the Sea Eagle Beast that had carried her there and charged alone through the air at the Zhiyuan.

Zijin raised ice wall after ice wall in front of her, but the newcomer smashed through them one after another without any regard for reason. There was no trick to it-she simply rammed straight through!

Brutal and bad-tempered all the way!

The scholar raised a hand and fired two blasts of Solar Flame, but her opponent actually took them head-on too! Without dodging or evading, the figure smashed through the bridge's shield and landed on its roof. The moment she got close, she struck with her sword!

This time, Su Ming got a clear look. The newcomer was a young blonde girl wearing a set of light armor that was obviously no ordinary gear. In her hands was a greatsword as tall as she was, gathering a brilliant radiance.

Zijin suddenly rammed into her opponent as well, taking the Watcher's sword strike with the shield around her. Then she flew off the Zhiyuan with her enemy, and they came down over the sea-neither giving an inch!

The two sides quickly became locked in a fierce battle.

Su Ming understood nothing about combat and couldn't make out the details. All he knew was that anyone who dared launch a solo attack had to be a highly skilled expert. A little later, though, he did figure something out: the blonde girl wasn't a mage-type professional and couldn't sustain high-speed movement in the air over the sea.

The situation quickly tipped in the scholar's favor.

That was why Zijin had been willing to leave the White Bone Fortress and lose its boost to her magic power, just to drag the attacking Watcher out over the sea to fight.

"Yise, your fighting style isn't anything like your mom's, that damned old backstabber," Zijin taunted as soon as she turned the situation around. Her opponent seemed to be someone she knew. "The Mithril Wing Armor and the Blade of the Scales-did your birth father, who doesn't dare acknowledge you, give them to you?"

"Save the trash talk." The blonde girl paused briefly, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. Her continuous high-output attacks had left her unable to keep going, and taking two blasts of Solar Flame head-on and forcing her way through the White Bone Fortress's barrier hadn't come without a cost.

"Working so hard today because you're afraid that little brother of yours who's about to be born will steal the attention?" Zijin continued to attack her opponent with words.

For the first time, Su Ming discovered just how vicious the scholar's mouth could be on the battlefield-what had happened to the aloof young lady he'd been promised?!

The conversation also brought to mind Katharine Osha, who had just been mentioned. This Yise was probably her eighteen-year-old daughter.

Yise had been about to dodge several magic spheres, but the words clearly struck a nerve. "Ailisha, you heretic, die!" She forcibly took the magic spheres head-on and closed in on Zijin once more.

A flash of sword light passed, and Zijin's figure shattered like glass. Yise didn't stop. As she charged forward, she had already looked around and below her, but hadn't found her target. She suddenly raised her hand and swung her sword upward.

Crystal Illusion was a sustained short-range spell. The caster had to be nearby!

But that strike missed too. There was nothing above Yise.

A pillar of light shot out from beneath the sea and pierced Yise in midair. Her armor could no longer withstand the strain and cracked apart piece by piece. Zijin leaped out of the water, the Divine Favor Scepter bearing a massive blade of light that swept up through the girl's body.

As blood sprayed, Zijin snatched the greatsword from the girl's hand in passing. After slipping past her, she spun around and struck back with the sword. Yise offered no resistance as she was knocked into the sea, the light around her fading completely.

"Hey, Zijin! You can't kill her, can you?!" Su Ming cried anxiously.

"It's fine. One more debt won't matter!" Zijin said through gritted teeth. Yise's unreasonable fighting style had gotten her angry. Suddenly sensing something, she instantly left her position.

Several magic spheres exploded in succession where she had been. Su Ming looked up sharply and saw another figure riding a Sea Eagle Beast. This enemy was clearly a spellcaster, and not a weak one.

Zijin didn't linger in the fight. She fired spells back to disrupt her opponent while flying swiftly back toward the Zhiyuan. But during that brief exchange, the Zhiyuan had already traveled nearly a kilometer and was still racing away at full speed.

Two more enemies riding Sea Eagle Beasts appeared. All three attacked with everything they had, and magic spheres filled the sky, keeping Zijin entangled.

Fortunately, Miss Scholar was indeed as she had said-an outstanding flier. Facing three spellcasters on mounts alone, she didn't fall behind in the slightest, leaving a succession of flashes and booming sounds in the rushing wind.

"One archbishop and two bishops on their side. Good thing I took care of Yise first!" she explained the situation to Su Ming.

Yise's coordination with her teammates had broken down. Zijin had seized the moment with exceptional precision and handled it without the slightest hesitation. The enemy's attempt to surround them had failed, turning into salami tactics instead.

Su Ming was puzzled. So what had Yise come here to do?

The failure to execute a tactic certainly didn't mean it had no purpose. Even a rookie like him could tell that if Yise hadn't chosen to charge in and had fought a little more steadily, she could have caused them much more trouble. Besides, taking that much damage right at the start made it clear she hadn't intended to sustain the fight.

So was her purpose reconnaissance? Or disruption?

Su Ming quickly directed his perception in other directions, but the night sky was a vast, indistinct expanse. He vaguely sensed something, but when he thought that the other party was probably someone who could hide from even Zijin-

Su Ming swiftly set the mast radar to high-frequency, short-range detection mode, then enlarged the radar screen!

Sure enough, five hundred meters to the Zhiyuan's right, the radar showed four humanoid targets a hundred meters in the air!

Su Ming quickly informed Zijin.

The scholar didn't hesitate. Rather than hold back for fear of taking a little damage in the fight, she immediately sent a vast barrage of magic toward the targets.

Su Ming didn't just stand and watch, either. With his complete lack of combat experience and no knowledge of how the enemy would act, he had no idea what they were about to face.

But not knowing didn't mean doing nothing. Su Ming deployed the White Bone Mark and activated Nether Shield. A layer of dark light covered all six of the Zhiyuan's enormous bone sails.

Nether Shield could block attacks to a certain extent, but its more important function was to greatly reduce resistance!

The Zhiyuan's hull even jerked, and its speed, which had stopped increasing, surged again. Like a wild horse breaking free of its reins, it raced forward as the speed indicator swung rapidly upward. Su Ming watched the reading closely, making fine adjustments to the sail angles to ensure the wing sails were optimally aligned with the wind.

Beneath the night sky, the Zhiyuan's towering hull carried scattered magic stardust as it cleaved through the waves, kicking up bursts of white spray and carving a silver trail through the darkness.

Like a brilliant comet, it came crushing wind and waves in its path!

"How is that possible?!"

In the air, the bishops who had been continuously guiding their mounts with magic power stared open-mouthed. The Zhiyuan's already absurd speed had shot up again, and they could no longer track it accurately. Just keeping up with it was already taking everything they had.

This was something that could only happen in a hurricane!

Aboard the Zhiyuan, Su Ming watched the speed climb past thirty knots. The apparent wind aboard the Zhiyuan now exceeded fifty-two knots, just short of force eleven.

Anyone who wanted to pursue the Zhiyuan, even if they only wanted to follow it, would have to endure the battering of a storm!

The masts and sails had reached their limit. Even with their structures reinforced by magic, they had begun to creak unpleasantly.