The choice made by the Present must be correct.
The current situation was not at all the stalemate she had imagined, where she could take advantage of the situation; instead, it was a complete one-sided rout.
Logically, it shouldn't have been like this.
Even at the moment the battle officially began, although Ai Ru was startled, she didn't feel that her side would lose.
Flores Wanda, the “Savior” of the Five Rings, was only one step away from the Saint realm.
Because he was a high-level healer, he was thick-skinned and could even heal himself.
Hadn't he been chopped up several times before and still come back to life?
Although he was not skilled in martial arts, he excelled in Psychokinesis spells, and his ability to restore life and bring the dead back to life, when used in reverse, was equally a one-hit kill instant-death spell.
Simon Ai Ru, the “Lawyer”, had activated the “Prosperity” Star Ring, specializing in learning, insight, identification, and intelligence gathering.
He had now reached the Four-Ring “Silver-Tongued Speaker” realm, unlocking powerful word-spirit and wide-area hypnosis abilities.
In terms of mental prowess, he was far superior to a certain protagonist who relied on the popular skill “Psychokinesis” to navigate the world.
Such a person, though not good at direct confrontation, was actually very suitable for support.
More importantly, one of them was a Five Rings and the other a Four-Ring, yet they were only facing one Three Rings, one Two Rings, and two true one-ring rookies.
Purely in terms of Psychokinesis realm, Wanda and Ai Ru should have had an absolute advantage.
But in this world, if all problems could be estimated this way, how could there still be conflict?
Yu Lian twisted his wrist, and with a gentle flick of his Lightsaber, it transformed into a thousand sword shadows, bright halos interwoven into a suffocatingly dense, fatal vortex, engulfing Pastor Wanda and the unfamiliar Minlan person.
Flores Wanda, facing such a sharp attack, showed no emotion on his face, calm as an ancient well, slowly pushing his hands forward to meet the net formed by the blades of light, but with a flash of the light blade, his figure became blurred and indistinct.
Immediately following, there was another flicker, and the Minlan person who had been retreating appeared within the light blade, while he himself had flickered outside the circle, turning his head and running away.
“Body Swap? Isn’t this move used to switch MTs when pushing bosses? He can actually use it to trick his companions!” Yu Lian couldn't help but marvel, feeling as if a new world had opened up to him.
He hadn't thought of it before, not because his posture level wasn't high enough, but because he wasn't shameless enough!
Such a maneuver was unexpected not only by Yu Lian and his companions but also by Ai Ru.
The “Lawyer” quickly opened his triple-lobed mouth, uttering a solemn word-spirit with an unknown powerful rune, which transformed into a solid light-curtain wall, firmly blocking Yu Lian's sword.
However, Yu Lian lowered his body, slipping Past the side of the light curtain, and appeared behind Ai Ru.
He casually swept his sword, and the blade touched the opponent's neck.
Ai Ru neither expected to be used as a substitute by Wanda nor anticipated Yu Lian's movements and sword path to be so bizarre.
He barely managed to switch to a rapid word-spirit at the last moment, but his shoulder was still grazed.
The Lawyer let out a wail, jumped a few steps away, and shouted, “Wanda! You actually used me as cannon fodder!”
Flores Wanda pretended not to hear and ran further away again.
However, this time his running motion was a bit awkward, and a faint “click-clack” sound seemed to emanate from his body; the high-level “Light Sword Technique” was naturally impossible to use.
I knew it.
How could this guy's body, which I had chopped in half, recover so quickly? So he was wearing a mechanical prosthesis!
And, what about the promise that all machines were of inferior quality?
Former Pastor Wanda's severe injuries were indeed far from healed.
He had almost been cut in half by Yu Lian back then, and now only half of his torso and one arm remained.
Even with the most advanced gene therapy machine, it would be impossible for his severed limbs to grow back immediately.
Moreover, as a Psychokinesis scholar with a strong pursuit of mystical truth, he had always believed that what grew in a petri dish could not be a true body.
To date, all replacement limbs were slowly nurtured by him using his “Savior” ability.
Only a body slowly cultivated with the supreme power of mysticism could be worthy of a Psychokinesis master; this was far superior to the mass-produced goods grown in petri dishes.
Now he had no usable limbs left, so he naturally had to resort to a more lowly mechanical prosthesis.
However, a mechanical prosthesis was not a body but merely a means of locomotion, which should not violate his principles.
Ina and Simon simultaneously pulled modified rifles from beneath their coats, bypassed Ai Ru, and began to pursue and shoot.
It was clear that although Pastor Wanda was a master of mysticism, his proficiency in operating machines was indeed low, and he had not yet fully adapted to this advanced mechanical prosthesis.
He dodged the dense bullets unsteadily, moving forward with faltering steps, like a third-rate dancer performing a zombie dance.
Fortunately, even the most clumsy dancer was still a Five Rings, and even with only half a body, he was still a Five Rings.
Twisting and turning like that, he actually managed to evade all the bullets.
But even so, his escape speed was inevitably much slower, and several times he almost stumbled and fell, only to regain his footing by using Psychokinesis to bounce off the ground.
However, enduring such hardship, Flores Wanda still struggled to run towards the path of freedom.
His hunched back, encased in the mechanical prosthesis, seemed to be filled with an ode to the future and hope.
At this moment, Meng Jiao pulled out two mechanical rods, each the length of an adult male arm, from behind his back.
With a twist, a joint, and a press, they instantly transformed into a broad-bladed hand-and-a-half sword!
He let out a loud shout and charged towards the Minlan person.
Sword shadows overlapped, like surging waves.
“You can't see me, you can't see me, you can't see me…” Ai Ru repeated this phrase at a speed almost impossible to discern with normal hearing.
If he hadn't chanted it with an alluring mystical rune, his dignity would probably have been completely lost.
However, such an undignified utterance actually affected reality.
Meng Jiao's seemingly certain strike suddenly missed, directly smashing a large gap into the alloy floor.
He paused slightly, realizing that his vision and perception had been distorted by the illusion formed by the word-spirit.
The young Highlander warrior immediately changed his sword stance, but for a moment, he couldn't pinpoint his opponent's location.
He only revealed this fleeting flaw, but the Minlan person, like a ghost, reached out and pressed his shoulder.
The opponent's neck suddenly elongated by more than ten centimeters, like a snake's body, twisting and turning, then turned its face towards his eyes.
The Minlan person had eyes with almost invisible pupils, and at this moment, they seemed to have transformed into transparent, integrated crystal balls, with deep faint light shimmering within.
“Abyss of Consciousness!” Ai Ru let out a low chant, and his mental world transformed into an invisible vortex.
However, just as he was about to completely devour the Highlander's spirit, a golden light flashed, and Meng Jiao's dazed eyes instantly cleared.
He let out a fierce roar, leaped up to avoid direct eye contact with the opponent, and shifted his body to the side, creating an opening.
“What…” Ai Ru couldn't understand how a seemingly certain attack could miss.
He could tell that this Highlander was likely only a Two Rings, having just opened a branch of the Star Ring, and clearly a martial artist type with high HP and physical defense but low magic resistance.
To deal with such an opponent, the Minlan person would never engage in direct combat or martial arts—it wasn't his forte to endure direct attacks—but he could use his best mental suggestion to subdue the enemy without fighting.
In the Past, he had hunted opponents far stronger than this young Highlander.
Treasure? A treasure that could resist mental attacks? Or was he initially imbued with a mental shield?
Ai Ru quickly thought of several possibilities, but this was not the time to dwell on such questions.
The opponent had already moved aside, simultaneously clearing a path for the advancing Lightsaber to pierce through.
The sword was so fast that he had no time to dodge; his chest was instantly pierced by the Lightsaber.
Fortunately, the Minlan person's organ system was different from humans, so although the injury to his torso was severe, it wasn't fatal.
He gritted his teeth, used Psychokinesis to block the pain, and looking directly at Yu Lian's playful smile, he once again unleashed the Abyss of Consciousness.
This time, there was finally no headache-inducing halo, but Ai Ru's consciousness attack was also not a smooth ride.
He did indeed touch Yu Lian's spirit, but it was like a lone army encountering a massive fortress.
“Mental Labyrinth… Ugh, why is it this scale? How many rings are you, really?! Even a ‘Spell Controller’ or ‘Holy Servant’ would have difficulty possessing such mental power, right?
Wanda was right, those guys who do intelligence should be fed to amoebas!” The Lawyer angrily retracted his mental attack.
If it were a quiet one-on-one environment, he was confident he could conquer the opponent's mental labyrinth; after all, it would just be a battle of attrition.
But the problem was, he couldn't sustain it now!
Ai Ru knew that the opponent had made thorough preparations to intercept him and Wanda.
In fact, the moment he fled with Wanda, he had already fallen into a trap.
However, he truly didn't understand how they knew he would definitely be in Kerna City, or how they could intercept him so precisely.
“I'm actually a pacifist!” he shouted at Yu Lian, jumping back and then raising his hands high.
“Oh, the French military salute.” Yu Lian nodded.
While his senior sister wasn't around, he might as well say such provocative things.
“You see, I haven't even thrown a punch from beginning to end.
Boss, name your price, how about it?” Ai Ru said pitifully.
It must be said that the Minlan people are an inherently harmless-looking race, and coupled with those innocent, integrated natural crystal-like eyes, they are indeed quite deceptive.
But in reality, he had already activated “Silver Tongue,” a unique supernatural ability of a “Silver-Tongued Speaker.”
This was a skill more concealed and harder to fathom than word-spirit spells.
It activated silently, with Psychokinesis fluctuations so subtle that even the most precise instruments couldn't detect them.
Even those extraordinary masters with exceptional mental power would fall victim if they weren't on guard beforehand.
It had no destructive power, nor was it an illusion that distorted one's thoughts and perceptions; it merely formed an invisible, intangible quantum magnetic field that influenced people's acceptance of the caster's words.
If explained in a game context, it would probably be equivalent to Speechcraft Level 10 or something similar.
Sure enough, the Highlander, who looked very reckless, immediately showed an interested expression.
But sadly, the main target he was dealing with remained unresponsive, still charging forward with a playful look, piercing him through with one sword, and then with a flick, completed a perfect bisecting cut.
Ai Ru's upper body fell to the ground, still full of astonishment.
This guy's will is like iron, he's really determined to kill me… What a grudge!
The Minlan person gritted his teeth, and his two upper arms suddenly extended a large section, reversing to stand on the ground, instantly forming the shape of a grasshopper, dragging his mutilated body five or six meters away.
“Minlan people have this ability?” Meng Jiao was dumbfounded.
“It's not a Minlan ability, but a form of life mimicry.
Villains like to use these little tricks to increase their chances of escape.” Yu Lian sneered, throwing the Lightsaber in his hand with force.
The light blade, guided by Psychokinesis, swept across Ai Ru, who was bouncing in mid-air.
He let out a scream, crashed directly to the ground, and damaged several pipes.
Yu Lian reached out and retrieved his Lightsaber, then looked at Meng Jiao, who had already plunged his sword into the ground and picked up a Vulcan cannon, freely unleashing 9mm steel nail bullets towards where Ai Ru had fallen.
A teachable youth!
Yu Lian patted Meng Jiao's shoulder, and also pulled out a six-barrel grenade launcher from his ring, joining the barrage.
He quickly emptied two drum magazines, only feeling relieved when he caught a glimpse of tiny Zero Element faint light flickering within the explosion's flames.
“Follow me after you've looted the body!” The purity of the Zero Element extracted from a Four-Ring master should still be quite high, making it very valuable for collection.
So, Yu Lian gave this instruction, then accelerated his pace to pursue Wanda.
By this time, the former Pastor, driving his mechanical prosthesis, had already gone far, but the dense gunfire and explosions followed him all the way.
Crippled as he was, he could never shake off Ina and Simon.
Crippled as he was, he didn't even have the courage to turn back and eliminate these two true one-ring rookies before fleeing.
He knew that once he couldn't quickly resolve the battle and Yu Lian caught up, he would truly have no choice but to kneel and beg the universe spirit for mercy.