Volume 6, Chapter 52 – A One-Man Army

With Nola’s strength, she could solve the Fog Demon alone, but at the cost of spending a considerable amount of time. While Nola entangled the Fog Demon, it would be best for Fia to deal with the surrounding small Fog Demons, which only possessed low-level intelligence, and then help Nola solve the big Fog Demon.

Small Fog Demons—it was more appropriate to call them ghosts. Although these ghosts were weak and could be killed by the simplest healing magic, their sheer numbers were overwhelming. Even after the initial infighting, a rough estimate put them at over ten thousand. Letting them enter the city would cause a disaster.

Having formulated a strategy, Fia used [Flight] to fly to a position overlooking the forest. Nola had already started fighting the Fog Demon. The aftershocks of the battle affected the forest even dozens of meters away. Anything entering the circle was snapped in half by the shockwaves.

“It… it’s ghosts!”

“How can ghosts from the Netherworld appear in the Weeping Mountains!”

“We don’t have anyone who can use holy magic. Ordinary weapons are ineffective against ghosts! Better… better retreat!”

Panicked shouts from soldiers came faintly from the checkpoint behind. This reminded Fia that when she was underground in Aurora City, she had encountered jellyfish ghosts existing as pure energy bodies, so much so that [Firestorm] couldn’t eliminate them instantly. Humanoid ghosts and jellyfish ghosts were both ghosts, so [Mental Shock] should be effective against the humanoid ghosts in front of her. The coverage range of [Mental Shock] was wider than [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella], making it more efficient.

Come to think of it, this was her first time properly engaging ghosts. Normally, people should feel fear facing ghosts flying with bared fangs and claws, but she didn’t. Probably because this body couldn’t produce fear, and she held strength enough to destroy them in her hands.

The terror of ghosts lay in the unknown. Once the means to deal with them were mastered, they looked no different from slightly larger dogs.

“Haa…”

Just as her thought fell, the first batch of ghosts arrived in front of Fia. Undead naturally hated the living. Fia hovering alone in the air was no different from a stray lamb in the eyes of ghosts. All ghosts swarmed toward Fia, scrambling to be first. Fia could even see saliva dripping from their crooked mouths.

Although these ghosts would be evaporated just by touching her, that wasn’t efficient, and she didn’t have that kind of bad taste.

Fia raised her right hand, setting the range of [Mental Shock] to two hundred yards.

[Mental Shock]

The moment the thought fell, an invisible shockwave spread toward the ghosts in a fan shape. Immediately after, all ghosts within two hundred yards were like leaves blown by the wind. Their incorporeal bodies twisted and deformed instantly. Especially the ghosts closer to Fia; their bodies turned into dust and dissipated instantly. [Wind of Exploration] no longer reported signs of life from them.

In less than two seconds, a no-man’s-land appeared over the forest.

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According to the sayings of the World Tree Continent, souls that became undead could no longer enter the Kingdom of Death for reincarnation. Once a ghost died, it was a death in the true sense. What these souls would become after death, and in what form they would exist, was truly interesting.

I’ll let Laplace research it later.

“No… maybe I shouldn’t have used [Mental Shock].”

Her thoughts returning to reality, Fia noticed an awkward point. To make undead die completely requires consuming life force to cancel out their negative life. [Mental Shock] was mental magic; unlike healing magic, it couldn’t directly cancel out the ghosts’ negative life. Therefore, after those ghosts died, they would absorb the surrounding life force on their own. As a result, ghosts close to Fia perished under Fia’s life force, while ghosts far from Fia died by absorbing the forest’s life force. This caused a large patch of withering yellow to appear instantly in the forest below.

Better use [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella].

“In… in an instant?!”

“Where are those ghosts?”

“It must be elf healing magic! But even bishops of the Holy Kingdom can’t purify so many ghosts in one breath, right? Could she be a naturally pure-hearted person? I heard people with noble souls are exceptionally effective against undead!”

“Then should we call Her Highness the Eldest Princess an Elf Sage? Or Elf Saintess?”

Hey, don’t give me such shameful titles. Even if you do, don’t let me hear them.

With the booster of Fia instantly purifying hundreds of ghosts, the soldiers who were originally wavering regained their fighting spirit. At this time, the disturbed monster group also rushed out of the forest—mostly monsters with only first-rank magic power, and the highest rank didn’t exceed the fourth rank. Leaving them all to Liti and Anastasia to deal with wouldn’t be a problem.

That being said, it was better to pick off those harder-to-deal-with monsters while she was at it.

Successive [Lightning Spears] and [Fairy Fire] appeared behind Fia. The flashing blue-purple electric arcs and orange-red firelight were like a second sun appearing in the sky. As if sensing the danger emitted by Fia, in just a few seconds, whether monsters rushing out of the forest or ghosts continuing to pounce on Fia in the sky, all slowed down, their eyes uncontrollably fixated on the magnificent magic.

The monsters running out of the forest were frightened by the Fog Demon and came out to escape it. Now, besides the cliff, the only passage, the corridor bridge, was covered by Fia’s magic. The pressure it emitted was much more terrifying than the Fog Demon. Weighing the options, they naturally felt like retreating.

Unfortunately, the monsters still in the forest didn’t know what was happening outside. Still running wild, they caught up with the monsters stopped in front. The two sides collided amidst wails, quickly evolving into a monster stampede event. A large amount of dust flew up, accompanied by roars and cries of pain.

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As for the ghosts, Fia’s magic just now gave them a familiar feeling, as if they had seen it before. That shudder from the bottom of their hearts made them dare not move forward. Instead, they looked at each other, seemingly discussing who should go first. If their intelligence were a bit higher, connecting the Fia who entered the Illusion Barrier a few days ago with the current Fia, they would definitely make the same reaction in unison—screaming in terror and fleeing in the opposite direction, shouting things like “The Goddess of Life is coming, run!”

“Hoh…”

I thought it would take a lot of trouble. Didn’t expect that just showing the magic would make them flee.

However, since the magic has already been displayed, not using it would be too wasteful.

Fia waved her hand. [Lightning Spears] and [Fairy Fire] immediately shot diagonally toward the ground. Hundreds of magic spells bombarded like grenades. Accompanied by the sizzling and whistling sounds of magic cutting through the air, the earth began to shake violently. The dust obscuring the vision became even more turbulent. The deafening roar made people subconsciously cover their ears.

Monsters biting each other couldn’t care about hatred anymore. Whimpering, they tucked their tails and drilled into the forest. Some even panicked and plunged headfirst into the deep canyon to avoid the magic. Those slow-running monsters didn’t even have the chance to feel pain before being torn to pieces by explosions and lightning strikes.

It was worth mentioning that two fourth-rank flying monsters rushed angrily toward Fia midway. They held the position of overlords on the outskirts of the forest, so naturally, they wouldn’t allow anyone to block their advance. However, Fia didn’t even notice them in the smoke and dust. In the process of charging upward, they collided head-on with the blinding lightning and rapidly expanding air, turning into chunks of meat and feathers buried in the dust.

“Fia! What are you doing!”

While Fia’s magic bombardment was still in progress, Nola, fighting the Fog Demon below, turned her head and shouted. There was a distinct trace of anger in her cat eyes.

Although Fia controlled the magic not to fall on Nola, the tremors and dust caused by the magic alone were enough to affect Nola’s battle with the Fog Demon—no one wanted to be on a battlefield where they could be hit by stray bullets at any time. Whether Nola or the Fog Demon, rather than thinking about how to catch the opponent’s weakness, they cared more about whether Fia’s magic would fall on them in the next second. Her magic was massive. Taking a hit from [Fairy Fire] might only be a minor injury, but being hit by a [Lightning Spear] would peel off a layer of skin if not kill them.

However, because of the earth’s roar, Fia couldn’t hear Nola’s voice. She could only barely make out Nola’s meaning from Nola’s glaring eyes combined with lip-reading.

You have too little faith in my control over magic.

Fia retorted in her mind, gradually stopping the magic bombardment on the ground and turning her gaze to the dazed ghosts in the distance.

Even ghosts who had died once felt a chill of death sweep through their bodies at this moment. They swallowed non-existent saliva, retreating slowly, their eyes vigilant and fearful. Until some self-aware ghost shouted “Reaper!”, all ghosts fled back the way they came in panic, like Chazo’s defeated army.

Should I let these ghosts go back?

Fia thought for a moment. Everyone living in peace was certainly good, but that premise no longer existed. Previously, the ghosts stayed inside the Illusion Barrier, and she didn’t know they could run out, so killing them or not didn’t matter. Now knowing they could leave the Illusion Barrier at any time, sparing their lives would be overly merciful. Who knew if they would run out again to harm the living?

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Undead creatures naturally hated the living. This was an instinct like the living needing to eat and drink. Even Davis said that even someone of his level found it hard to suppress the hatred and killing intent in his heart when seeing her, let alone these low-level ghosts.

Using [Wind Blessing] combined with [Flight], Fia caught up to the tail of the ghost team in an instant, unfolding the magic she hadn’t put into actual combat yet.

[Fairy’s Protective Umbrella]

As if gathering the sun’s brilliance into her palm, Fia’s raised right hand bloomed with magnificent golden light. Then, a blinding golden light ball rose slowly from Fia’s hand to high altitude. Upon reaching the highest point, it suddenly opened like a paper umbrella. Layers of interlaced golden light screens shrouded the sky. The sharp-edged light rays were like illusion magic. Beneath the umbrella, countless glittering golden powders trailing flames descended.

A large-scale healing magic with a diameter of one hundred meters.

For the injured, these golden powders were undoubtedly miracles pulling them back from the death line. But for the fleeing ghosts, the powders were no different from a rain of fire falling from the sky. Even if just a grain fell into their souls, terrifying holes would melt in their souls, and these holes would spread to the whole body at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a few seconds, the ghosts would completely evaporate.

And this wasn’t the limit of [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella]. [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella] was a magic that moved with the user. In other words, Fia only needed to chase the ghosts with [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella] to sweep them away rapidly.

But Fia soon encountered a problem.

Her flight speed was too fast; [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella] couldn’t keep up with her. Then the connection would break due to excessive distance, and the magic would eventually fail.

As expected, I can’t rely too much on fourth-rank magic.

Fia sighed secretly.

The body of [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella] was only fourth-rank, capable of healing injured people within a diameter of ten meters. Because of its practicality, it was a magic that nature-attributed elf magic users must learn. A diameter of ten meters didn’t sound big, but it was extremely practical on the battlefield. Even if healing too many people weakened the healing effect, stopping bleeding for dozens of people at once was definitely a life-saving skill.

Enhanced by [Hyper-computation], the range of [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella] expanded to a diameter of one hundred meters. The healing effect wouldn’t be diluted by too many injured people either. It could make a dying mouse lively instantly. Compared to [Beginner Water Healing], it had the additional effect of restoring vitality, that is, restoring lost blood.

It must be said that it wasn’t that Fia was unwilling to learn healing magic with a larger range, but there were no good choices. The Goddess of Life existed in this world, so most healing magic was faith-based magic, and one had to believe in the Goddess of Life to use it.

Although there was higher-ranking healing magic in the Holy Tree’s Forbidden Library, high rank didn’t equate to wide coverage. High-ranking healing magic was almost entirely single-target healing magic.

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Very few people in this world could reach the fifth rank, and magic exceeding the fifth rank was even rarer. As long as healing magic could save people, it was fine. Limited by magic power capacity, one person couldn’t save too many people anyway. For saving ordinary people, [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella] was enough. When saving important people, she could just switch to single-target healing magic.

Healing magic consumed more magic power and energy than offensive magic. Something like Fia’s requirement for healing magic to cover an entire city at once… even if researched, only someone with Fia’s magic power capacity could use it. Researchers wouldn’t develop such completely useless magic unless they had nothing better to do.

Furthermore, magic covering a city was enough to be classified as a forbidden spell. No high-ranking magic caster would be willing to sacrifice their life for the lives of ordinary people. Even if it could be achieved, rulers wouldn’t allow it. High-ranking magic casters could change the course of a war. Rather than letting them save ordinary people, it was better to let them destroy enemy armies and important cities; that was more cost-effective.

Speaking of which, the Eternal Daylight Mages where Calista belongs is an organization that extremely advocates elemental magic. If I go to them, maybe I can find healing magic with wider coverage.

While thinking, Fia, having slowed down her flight speed, continued to sweep away ghosts. Although the number of ghosts was large, their flight speed was far inferior to Fia’s. In the eyes of the distant soldiers, Fia was like a flying war machine; wherever she passed, ghosts perished completely.

“Sim… simply a one-man army…”

“You all saw it, right?! That magic just now! Is that really something one person can release? I’ve seen Chazo’s magic troops; those hundred or so people combined didn’t have this kind of momentum.”

“Are we really needed here… This is no longer a question of whether she’s a princess or not, but what kind of monster is she, right? Can the Clan Chief do that?”

The overly powerful strength made even their own beastman soldiers feel fear. Some people’s legs even went weak, so much so that the gaze looking at Liti’s group contained only fawning. Liti, as if showing off having such a sister, puffed out her chest proudly, and Milu’s ears flapped along.

Of course, Fia didn’t know this. It took her two or three minutes to solve most of the ghosts. As for the remaining small portion of scattered fleeing ghosts, she chose not to pursue. First, the number of these ghosts could no longer threaten others’ lives. Second, they were too scattered; chasing them would take a long time.

She chose to return to the vicinity of Nola and the Fog Demon, who seemed to be still warming up. Because the Chaos covering the Fog Demon’s body surface was too tricky, Nola dared not get too close, which provided an opportunity for Fia.

She hid herself with the [Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea], then quietly approached behind the Fog Demon.

“[ Mind Blast ]!”