Three strong gusts of wind whistled past Mo Tan, reaching their destination with lightning speed, almost impossible to catch with the naked eye: the buttocks of three Orc warriors who had just turned to assist their companions in countering Ned.
The heart-wrenching screams proved that Yinna had a truly vicious hand; this volley, unimpeded, was almost perfectly executed by her, with power, speed, and accuracy reaching their peak since the battle began.
“Startled bow draws feather, lightly breaks the void.” Mo Tan, whose composure had almost crumbled earlier, had completely recovered, even playfully quipping, “Chrysanthemums stained with blood, a sky full of red~”
Yinna blinked at him in confusion: “What did you say?”
“Pfft!” Shuang Ye, who was nearby, couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter, then frowned slightly, muttering, “Why do I feel like I've heard this kind of crooked poem somewhere before…?”
Mo Tan immediately remembered his previous teasing of her in a message when he was Tan Mo, and while inwardly chiding himself for being careless, he chuckled dryly, “I saw it online before. Never mind that for now, Yinna, please suppress those guys on the right! You don't need to be too accurate!”
Because Krab and Salazar, with Mo Tan's guided cooperation, had knocked back the enemy closest to the three, opening up a firing angle for Yinna and reducing any potential interference she might face, this elven ranger, who had been constantly harassed by enemies, was temporarily freed for at least these few seconds.
“Understood!” Yinna, finally able to attack freely, immediately drew six feathered arrows from her quiver simultaneously and nocked them, smiling, “How did you do it?”
With a slight release of her slender fingers, a small-scale rain of arrows poured forth, stopping several Orc soldiers who were preparing to flank Salazar.
The rhythm, unknowingly, had begun to change…
All of this was because of a few words from this little priest beside him!
Just a few simple instructions allowed him, who had been constantly on the run, to catch his breath, created a one-on-one environment for Ned, who had been enduring the most attacks, with the shield-bearer, and almost relieved Salazar and Krab from their predicament of being attacked from front and back.
Yinna could barely believe it, yet she had to…
“Captain!” Mo Tan, however, had no time to answer her question. He shouted across to Ned, “Can you take care of your current opponent in ten seconds?”
Ned at this moment had just unleashed a cross-sword flourish, immediately followed by two powerful cleaving strikes, one horizontal and one vertical, that slammed into the bone heavy shield in front of him. His answer was concise: “Enough!”
What a joke, he could hold his own against three or four enemies at once, so how could he not deal with this slow turtle shell in ten seconds!
Moreover, the Orc warrior behind the heavy shield was already looking a bit green; continuous attacks from a frost-enchanted weapon had slowly started to make him sluggish, and Ned's powerful, heavy slashes had almost caused the shield to fly from his grasp several times…
The shield-bearer, originally responsible for oppressive advancement and cover, was now almost frozen into a sluggish warrior, but he could do nothing about it. Logically, the teammates best positioned to support him were now sprawled on the ground, each with an arrow stuck in the center of their butt, howling. It looked painful!
“Krab, try to hold your ground for a bit, Salazar, move towards us now!” Mo Tan said, while casting a Holy Word Shield on Krab. His casting rhythm had slowed down since earlier, partly because his teammates' injury frequency had begun to decrease, and partly because he was consciously accumulating magic and faith points.
If he wanted to seize the best opportunity to break through, the time he could continue to stand still and enjoy his talent's effects was running out…
Krab nodded forcefully, letting out a roar. His already overly strong body grew even larger, and the weapon he had snatched from an enemy was slammed fiercely to the ground, knocking down two enemies, one in front and one behind, with a resounding crash.
Salazar, seizing the opportunity, swept down the Orc warrior holding an iron spear in front of him with a kick, then immediately rushed towards Mo Tan and the others.
“Hey!” At this moment, Shuang Ye suddenly turned to Mo Tan and asked, “What about me? What should I be doing now?”
“Recover mana.” Mo Tan glanced at her, and said softly, “Your magic should be almost depleted now; you won't be of much use for the time being.”
Shuang Ye pouted discontentedly: “So you're the one who can turn the tide, then?”
However, despite her words, she didn't have any objections to Mo Tan's decision.
Shuang Ye was very intelligent; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to be called a legend in the hacker world alongside Mo Tan under the name 'Black Sun' in reality. But high intelligence doesn't mean proficiency in everything. Even if she could single-handedly complete the AI project called 'NAVI', it didn't mean she could excel in combat command. Forget excellence, with her mild social phobia, being able to converse normally with everyone was already a great effort.
Her previous words, rather than being a complaint to Mo Tan, should be understood as her wanting a positive answer from him.
“I don't know.” Mo Tan saw that Ned, not far away, had successfully cleaved down the slow… shield-bearer with a single sword strike. He calmly raised his hands and cast a Holy Healing on Krab…
“But I will do my best!”
Salazar had already arrived beside the three, taking the empty spot Mo Tan had intentionally left. With Yinna and Shuang Ye, the four of them now formed a perfect diamond formation.
The Lizardman Monk was at the very front, with Mo Tan and Shuang Ye on his left and right respectively. Yinna was at the very back, facing away from everyone, drawing her bow to suppress the approaching enemies.
Ned's position was the furthest at this moment, but he also had the fewest enemies around him. Krab was located between Ned and the diamond formation formed by the others. He faced the most enemies and endured the most attacks, but with Mo Tan's full support during this short period, he still hadn't completely fallen into a disadvantage.
“Very good!” Mo Tan stared intently at the enemies approaching Krab's rear at four o'clock, muttering, “Just a little more…”
Another Tenacity Prayer was cast on Krab. At the same time, this guy's 'Bloody Frenzy,' which he had already used twice, once again reached its limit, and his physique, which had been a bit sturdier than usual, instantly returned to its original size.
“Captain, retreat to Krab's side and help him out!” Mo Tan shouted, “Yinna, suppress those guys in the back for a bit.”
Ned, holding his longsword in reverse, turned and leaped to Krab's side. Before landing, he spun sideways in mid-air, directly striking down an Orc warrior who was about to swing his hammer with a heavy slash.
Yinna's slender fingers were already marked with several bloodstains from the bowstring, but the precise and tricky arrows still kept several enemies in the back from advancing.
The next second…
“Salazar! Charge to the very front and knock the closest idiot in that front row flying!”
Bang! The Monk's unique burst power allowed Salazar to punch his target's waist in less than a second. The flying Orc warrior directly knocked down two companions attempting to flank Krab, and the three muscular brothers immediately tumbled into a pile.
“Shuang Ye, pay attention to moving parallel with me, use your instant-cast spells to stop those few 'chrysanthemum remnants' who just got up on the right!”
“OK!”
Mo Tan followed closely behind Salazar. Before his words even finished, he saw several Fireballs graze his body and scatter, drawing several scorching arcs in mid-air, finally curving to strike behind the three enemies who had just gotten up, clutching their butts.
Well, actually, it was still on their butts…
“Yinna, don't worry about those guys in the back!” Mo Tan cast the newly cooled Holy Healing on Yinna, shouting, “Hold off the guy to Shuang Ye's right; don't let him get close.”
Five seconds later, all members of the Fenrir Squad had gathered, and the surrounding encirclement, which was not particularly tight but dense, had been torn to shreds.
“Mind if I overstep a bit more?” Mo Tan smiled slightly at Ned.
The latter rolled his eyes: “Spit it out, maybe today you really can lead us back alive!”
“No problem~” Under the setting sun, Mo Tan turned in place, faint golden holy light emanating from his fingertips. His expression was calm and gentle, with a smile in his eyes: “With everyone here, I can do it!”
The talent effect 'Piety' state was activated again.
【Of course I can do it~】
“Krab! Retreat to the back, you have less than a minute to rest!”
【Even if I am just a mediocre, lazy, conformist, dime-a-dozen, unremarkable…】
“Captain, switch positions with Yinna, don't charge in, wait for them to come!”
【Ordinary person!】
“Shuang Ye, Fireball sweep the ground! Go easy on the mana! Alright, alright, I know you can calculate it well…”
【But it doesn't matter…】
“Yinna, open up your attack angle! Shoot whoever gets within five meters of the Captain, uh, stand on Krab's shoulder? Alright, if you insist…”
【Unique enough, yet also ordinary enough.】
“Salazar! Guard Shuang Ye's right! What? Why not say southeast Northwest? Because I'm lost!”
【It's pretty good too!】
“Don't worry about that sneaky one trying to flank from behind, I noticed him long ago!”
【I can do it!】
“Let them in, then Captain and Salazar will switch targets! Yes, that means attacking the one in the back!”
【Even this most ordinary 'me' now, it's fine!】
“Shuang Ye, take two steps back, leave space for Krab, those guys are already starting to get disorganized!”
【Or rather, some things…】
“Charge through, cut them apart!”
【Only I can do well!!】
…
【You have actively disconnected. Please choose whether to reconnect.】
“Do not reconnect.”
【Execute wake-up procedure?】
“Yes.”
【Received. It is now 1:30 AM on January 4, 2049. You will awaken in one minute.】
Mo Tan did not leave the game pod after waking up. Instead, he let out a satisfied sigh, then quickly closed his eyes, only regaining consciousness ten minutes later.
A predictable headache struck, making him frown uncomfortably…
“This pain really doesn’t make one happy~” He hummed softly, then revealed a hint of joyful smile: “But then again, I really am amazing…”
After stretching slightly, he reactivated the game pod that had just entered standby mode, lay down in a comfortable position, muttered “Perfect timing,” and then, under the effect of the simulation system, entered a deep sleep state conducive to logging into the game.
…
【Your mental connection has been detected. Personal information is being synchronized…】
【Connection complete. Character information is being read.】
【Welcome back, chaotic neutral Tan Mo. Innocent World will now load. Good night.】
After regaining consciousness, Mo Tan's vision was still pitch black, but he showed no panic. He merely shifted his position subtly, then saw a glimmer of light.
The light came through a small hole in front of him, originating from a magic crystal lamp that could operate for a long time.
This was a not-so-large reception room, and Mo Tan was currently in a wardrobe in its corner.
107 Sweet Orange Pathway, in Dave Sager's wardrobe.
“Looks like he's not back yet.” Mo Tan murmured softly, “I never thought my first experience of crawling into a wardrobe would be in a place like this, and in a single man's wardrobe at that. It just goes to show how full of wonder and absurdity life truly is.”
For the next five minutes, Mo Tan remained bored in the wardrobe, occasionally peeking out through the hole he had made before logging off, then muttering a few constructive remarks.
Until…
A 'creak' of a door opening reached Mo Tan's ears…
The owner of the house had returned.
This was Mo Tan's first time seeing a 'live' Dave. He was wearing plain long clothes, his face quite pale. While not handsome, his thick eyebrows and large eyes were enough to leave a good first impression on others. If one ignored the hint of wickedness that often flashed in his eyes when he was alone, his honest appearance alone would have added a few points to Dave in a knight assessment…
A square face and thick eyebrows with large eyes have always been the standard for knights. For Saint Seiyas, it's a bit more troublesome; they at least need to come with their own BGM…
Mo Tan had activated his Stealth skill the moment he logged in, minimizing his presence. Coupled with his hiding in the corner wardrobe, Dave naturally had no idea that an uninvited guest had arrived in his home.
A very… very… very troublesome uninvited guest.
So Dave, after locking the door, immediately let loose. This was demonstrated by him tearing off his shirt, and then, as Mo Tan was contemplating poking out his own eyes due to some mistaken assumptions…
He ripped off the dense, blood-stained bandages on his body.
Yes, his upper body was almost completely covered in these things. When he first took off his clothes, he looked like a mummy…
From Mo Tan's angle, he could clearly see that despite the dark red bloodstains on the bandages, Dave's body had no injuries whatsoever.
Not only that, but his skin was even fair with a hint of red…
Red, with a hint of black…
Chapter 31: End