Chapter 248: "The Waymark"

"What the heck?!"

Nolan quickly activated the "Dandelion Shield" to block the barrage of green fireballs raining down on them.

"Puff, puff, puff!"

The green fireballs hit the wind-element shield, dissipating easily without causing any ripples, but Nolan could feel his elemental energy rapidly draining. The intensity of the fireball barrage wasn't particularly strong individually, but when concentrated like this, it became overwhelmingly terrifying.

"That black mass is crows! How can there be so many of them?!" Paimon exclaimed, looking up at the sky filled with the chaotic flight of black figures.

"How are there so many, and I've never seen these green-eyed crows at Wuwang Hill before!" Hu Tao was also shocked by the overwhelming sight.

Although these crows didn't seem particularly strong, their sheer numbers were overwhelming. If not for Nolan's elemental shield, the group would have had no way to leave this place unscathed.

Even with the shield, their situation was far from ideal.

The green-eyed crows were spitting fireballs with such ferocity that the group couldn't step out of the elemental shield to counterattack.

Even if they could, the crows had the advantage of the sky, making it difficult for Hu Tao, who specialized in polearm combat, to launch effective strikes.

"Hu Tao, you and Lumine should channel your elemental powers and attack. They seem weak, so even without weapon enhancements, you should be able to defeat them easily," Nolan suggested.

Through his golden Eye of Judgment, he could see that Hu Tao was at level 60, significantly stronger than both him and Lumine.

"Alright, let's give it a try," Hu Tao agreed, exhaling slightly as she nodded almost imperceptibly.

She channeled her fire elemental power through the shield, careful not to disrupt Nolan's wind-element barrier. Soon, a swarm of red butterflies, formed from condensed fire elements, cautiously fluttered their wings to dodge the incoming green fireballs as they flew towards the flock of crows.

If Hu Tao had attacked directly, her elemental power would have been consumed by the green fireballs before even reaching the crows.

Lumine followed a similar approach. Instead of using straightforward wind blades or wind bullets, she condensed the wind element into a leaf, which gently floated upward alongside the crimson butterflies.

As the butterflies exploded with fire elements upon touching the green-eyed crows, the wind element in the leaves exploded as well, expanding the range of the fire element's impact.

The green-eyed crows had no time to evade.

Each crimson butterfly, coupled with the explosive expansion of the wind-element leaf, could easily take down a dozen or so green-eyed crows.

Unfortunately, this was just a drop in the ocean compared to the vast number of crows.

Moreover, this method of attack was highly draining, and neither Hu Tao nor Lumine could sustain it for long.

As for Nolan, he wasn't just standing by either. He activated the "Sword Intent of Lumine," summoning a large projection of Lumine wielding a golden longsword. The projection slashed through the sky, sending waves of sword energy slicing into the flock of green-eyed crows.

The sword energy, sharp enough to cut through steel, was something the crows could not withstand.

Crows fell from the sky, their wings severed, heads lopped off, or bodies cleaved in two, crashing to the ground like falling dumplings with a series of "thud, thud, thud" sounds.

Meanwhile...

Nolan's character panel kept popping up with notifications of gained Adventure EXP, almost like it was spamming the screen.

Adventure EXP +112

Adventure EXP +133

Adventure EXP +107

After more than twenty minutes, a large pile of crow corpses had accumulated on the ground. If one paid close attention, they would notice that the bodies were slowly turning into black mist and disappearing.

This phenomenon was quite strange. Typically, only creatures like Rift Hounds, which don't belong to this world, would be rejected by the world and vanish upon death. Other monsters generally shouldn't behave this way.

However, despite his curiosity, this wasn't the time to investigate further.

At this point, everyone was starting to get a bit exhausted from the constant barrage of attacks, and yet the number of green-eyed crows didn't seem to have decreased at all.

There were still overwhelming masses of them.

"What should we do? Maybe we should retreat for now," Lumine suggested, her soft lips parting slightly as she panted, hands on her hips as she paused the attack on the crows and looked at Nolan.

She thought that Nolan's stealth ability might allow them to escape the sight of the green-eyed crows and flee. Otherwise, if they kept fighting, they'd eventually be overwhelmed by the fireballs.

Nolan knew what Lumine was thinking, but although his "Concealment Form" skill could render him completely invisible, they were still in the real world. If a green-eyed crow's fireball grazed him, it would likely break his stealth.

So, if they wanted to use invisibility to retreat, they would need to make the crows stop attacking for at least a second. Otherwise, they wouldn't have enough time to run out of the attack range and escape the crows' sight.

Nolan explained this dilemma to the group to see if anyone had a solution.

"So, you have a secret stealth technique? Getting them to stop attacking would indeed be challenging. These green-eyed crows, numbering in the thousands, can rest in shifts, which means that hundreds are attacking us at any given moment, leaving us with no gaps to exploit," Hu Tao said, supporting herself on her snow-white knees, which were slightly shadowed in the dim light. She seemed quite fatigued.

"What should we do then? If Dandelion Shield can't hold up, our journey might end right here! Traveler, think of something!" Paimon urged, circling anxiously around Lumine.

"Paimon, stop spinning around. It's making my head spin. We're trying to think of a solution," Lumine sighed, brushing her white forehead beneath her golden hair in frustration.

"How about I use my elemental power to create a shield and charge out to distract them?" Lumine suggested after some thought.

If someone could go out and draw the attention of those crow monsters, the others could take the opportunity to go invisible and escape.

"No, no, no! That's too dangerous!" Paimon quickly grabbed the ribbon trailing behind Lumine to stop her from running off.

"The shield you form with wind element is not an elemental skill. Without understanding how to maintain it, it's no different from a soap bubble—one light touch, and it'll pop. It's too risky!"

Although Paimon hadn't mastered elemental power herself, she had spent so much time with Lumine and Nolan, watching them discuss and practice using their elemental abilities, that she had naturally picked up quite a bit of knowledge.

Sometimes, she even participated in their discussions about new techniques and helped come up with names for them.

"Mm, Paimon is right. It's too dangerous. We should think of another way," Hu Tao agreed, shaking her head. Her red-brown twin ponytails swayed slightly, as if to emphasize her disapproval.

"Speaking of going out to distract those crows, I think I have a good idea," Nolan said, stroking his chin thoughtfully before smiling at the group.

"What's the plan? Tell us! Tell us!" Paimon urged excitedly. She always found Nolan reliable and had never seen him let anyone down. Lumine and Hu Tao also looked at him with anticipation.

"This," Nolan said, as he ceased using the "Sword Intent of Lumine" to attack the crows and focused entirely on maintaining the elemental shield.

The pleasant sound of EXP notifications on his character panel also stopped. At that moment, a golden light appeared in his hand, dotted with tiny stars, as if it contained the vastness of the cosmos.

(End of Chapter)

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