The soldiers wielded double-headed swords, and except for armor on their shoulders, helmets, and lower skirts, their upper bodies and abdomens were bare, revealing evenly toned bronze abs and chest muscles. They were clearly skill-based warriors. There were ten Guardians of Defeat in total, but two broken Clockwork Knights and the crystallized people shattered on the ground opened a Light Door nearby, and a Guardian of Defeat emerged from each.

Although Brand didn’t recognize what type of NPC this was, he could guess that the card in the Clockwork Man’s hand was not only a Creature Card but could also convert the dead soldiers on the battlefield into derivatives. Now Andreg had knocked down two more Clockwork Knights, but the situation became even more unfavorable for Brand.

"Did you see, a Travel Mage doesn’t need swords. You are simply a disgrace to the Travel Mage ranks, just leave it to me to wipe you out." The Clockwork Man spoke expressionlessly, with a strange metallic tone.

Brand almost choked to death, thinking this is not the power of a Travel Mage at all; it’s purely a level suppression! If I were still at Level 130, there would be no need for so much nonsense; I would have chopped waste like you into pieces with one sword. Travel Mage, Travel Mage, my foot!

However, a warrior naturally displays the spirit of a warrior. Since there was no escaping, he wouldn’t avoid it. The three Clockwork Knights approaching were at Gold Initial level. With Brand’s current strength, if he fought seriously, these monsters would be no match for him. However, seeing thirty-four monsters above the Golden Rank on the battlefield could indeed be intimidating.

The Clockwork Man seemed genuinely disdainful of acting himself, lifting the bronze cane and pointing it forward. The ’army’ surged forward, surrounding Brand layer upon layer.

"Andreg, cover me!"

Brand shouted, slicing a Clockwork Knight in half with a powerful and satisfying swing of his sword. The Vampire Girl glanced this way, looking as if the battle was none of her business, and answered impatiently: "I know." She lifted her hand gently, and a Magic Array drawn on the ground unknown started glowing, a massive Black net descended from the sky, covering half of the enemies.

This spell was called the Abyss Net, of course, still Black Magic. Enemies caught within would experience slow, pain, blindness, deafness, aging, and many other negative statuses—in short, it was IMBA to the extreme. Array Magic had no equal; otherwise, its slow casting speed would be intolerable.

Once the Abyss Net was cast, Brand felt immense relief. Even the Clockwork Man couldn’t help but furrow its brow—this was the first time in its existence it showed any emotion. It turned back to glance at Andreg, swung its cane, and immediately two Guardians of Defeat left the battle group, charging towards the girl.

Ordinarily, a mage-type player seeing melee approach would first cast Protection Magic and then retreat. However, Andreg clearly did not fit the norm. The Vampire Girl bit down on her thumb beside her white teeth, and a drop of bright red blood seeped from her fingertip, like a dazzling ruby in the snow. With a wave of her hand, blood sprayed from the wound, forming a crescent in mid-air. The crimson crescent shaped into two crimson Elf Thin Swords in mid-air—Andreg caught these two thin swords with her left and right hands, and in her hands, the thin swords appeared both like carved gemstones and transparent crystals tinged with blood’s red hue.

Then the girl took a step back, a move that revealed her strength. Her warrior prowess was roughly between Silver Peak and Gold Initial compared to her magical talent. Oddly, she could use the blood sword as a Magic Array to attack and cast spells simultaneously. With only a few exchanges, black clouds rolled over the two Guardians of Defeat, with green light shimmering on their foreheads, clearly afflicted by many negative statuses.

Originally two Gold Initial warriors, they were weakened to Andreg’s level by the negative effects, or even weaker.

However, every time Andreg used blood to form an array, her face grew paler, indicating that forming arrays with blood wasn’t without cost and possibly consumed a portion of her Life Value. Brand worried she couldn’t handle them as she stalemated with the two Guardians of Defeat, and couldn’t help but send a Mind Communication: "Lure them over a bit."

Though he was also surrounded by enemies layer upon layer, suffering bitterly, he couldn’t stand seeing his girl being bullied by outsiders.

But to his surprise, Andreg’s only response was a single word:

"Humph—"

As if feeling belittled, she expressed quite a bit of dissatisfaction. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Suddenly, she halted, her right hand raised in a supporting motion, her eyes flashing red fiercely, and she quietly commanded: "Blood Evaporate." All of a sudden, the two Guardians of Defeat surrounding her let out muffled groans, and countless Blood Pearls seeped out of their bodies, spiraling into Andreg’s palm, forming a blood sphere. In an instant, the blood sphere evaporated, leaving not a drop, and the Vampire Girl’s face regained a bit of its rosy hue.

Using the power of this attack, her movements became much quicker, decisively ending each Guardian with one sword, swiftly ending their lives. However, after releasing this powerful move, the Vampire Girl clearly couldn’t sustain it anymore, immediately using the two swords to support herself on the ground, panting heavily.

It appeared she couldn’t participate in the battle any longer.

...(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)