Jing Yuan looked Lingsha up and down with a concerned gaze, saying very politely and tactfully, "Miss Lingsha, are you alright?"
Lingsha was somewhat baffled, "I'm fine. What's wrong, General?"
"Nothing, I might just not have rested well lately and am having hallucinations... Cough cough, no time to lose. Let's head out first." Jing Yuan coughed lightly and said.
"Alright."
Under Jing Yuan's lead, the five of them walked together into the interior of the Alchemy Commission.
—["The mastermind behind this incident is hiding in the Scalegorge Waterscape. Please safely pass through the Alchemy Commission and reach the endpoint to complete the story."]
At that moment, You Ci's voice rang out, just like a game's prompt sound.
"Eh? Why did the store manager say the word 'safely'...?" Stelle touched her chin, thoughtful.
"Roar!"
At that instant, the surrounding air suddenly twisted, and one after another mara-struck monsters and Abundance abominations appeared, as if they had suddenly spawned. When they appeared, they were even less than five meters away from the group!
"Not good! It's monsters using Cloudhymn sorcery to stealthily approach. Everyone, be careful!" Jing Yuan stood to the side without moving, seriously reminding them.
Stelle: ?
"General! Why are you just watching?" Stelle drew her Flame Lance, vigilantly shielding the three behind her while preparing to act at any moment, and complained.
—["Because your four-person party is full."]
You Ci provided the explanation.
Stelle: ?
She felt the current situation was somewhat eerie. In front of them, a total of five monsters had spawned, but even at such a close distance, none of these monsters showed any sign of attacking.
"But... damn it, what's going on? Why can't this lady move?"
Suddenly, Bailu said somewhat panicked.
It wasn't just her; Lingsha and Clara were also trying to move their bodies, but it was as if they were bound by an invisible force, unable to act.
—["It's your turn now, Trailblazer."]
You Ci reminded once again.
"My... turn? Wait!" Stelle widened her eyes: "Your battle setup isn't turn-based, is it? In real combat?"
Were they supposed to perform a turn-based battle in this situation? She pokes the opponent once, the opponent scratches her once, and both sides can only watch helplessly?
This was too absurd!
You Ci: ["Sorry, I'm not good at describing battle scenes, so I could only set it to turn-based."]
Stelle: ...
Stelle looked around. Among the four present, currently only she had combat capability: Miss Lingsha had no combat skills and previously relied purely on stats to fight; Bailu had combat skills, but her stats were abysmal—not only that, even her height was inadequate; as for Clara, no, how could she let a little loli participate in battle!
"To come up with using two Abundance and two Destruction in a party to fight fiction... This story is truly too absurd!"
Stelle vented forcefully, seeing that she couldn't protect all three at once. She immediately gripped the air, pulling out a gray sprite: "It's you, Hoolay!"
"Lei lei!"
"Take out these monsters, and don't say such disgusting entrance lines!"
"Yes!" Hoolay shouted excitedly: "Master, with us together, we're omnipotent!"
After saying that, its body began to inflate and grow, reverting to its normal state form. The shadow cast by its body instantly covered the monster group, and the great battle between both sides was on the verge of breaking out.
"Hoolay! Take them down quick!" Stelle commanded.
Hoolay: "Yes!"
"..."
The air was quiet to an excessive degree.
Stelle immediately said somewhat annoyed, "Hoolay, are you rebelling?!"
Why isn't it moving?
Hearing this, Hoolay immediately turned back with a wronged face: "Master, I can't move. There's a voice telling me it's not my turn yet."
Stelle: ...
The Remembrance spirits are controlled too?
"I'll never fight this Fictional Narrative again in my life." Stelle muttered softly, holding her Flame Lance upright in front of her, and shouted very awkwardly: "With the will to Preserve!"
"Roar roar! (The monsters' roars)"
Using this combat skill, the monsters opposite instantly all turned their gazes toward Stelle, clearly having been "taunted."
The next turn went to Clara.
"Damn it, what kind of stupid fighting method is this?" Clara lightly bit her silver teeth. Under the crowd's gazes, she walked very shamefully in front of a monster and used all her strength to hit it once.
The monster was unharmed.
Clara then jumped out in front of everyone, her little face embarrassed to death.
Next, Bailu and Lingsha took their turns one after another. From their expressions, it was clear they had already cursed You Ci half to death in their hearts.
—["Mm mm, what exhilarating combat. Isn't that how it is in novels? You go, I go, at most sometimes one side gets an extra turn."]
You Ci's voice even sounded somewhat righteous.
"Roar—"
The first mara-struck monster charged forward, scratched at Stelle's Flame Lance twice, then went back. Next came the second, the third...
After one round, Stelle's Flame Lance was already starting to emit sparks.
Even so, Stelle still felt no joy in her heart, because she discovered that if she wanted to protect the other three well, she had to keep the combat skill activated every round to draw fire, but due to this damned turn-based battle setup, she had no chance to act.
At this rate, they'd be worn down to death!
But at that moment, Hoolay discovered it could finally move.
Clang!
Hoolay held its war blade and landed a heavy slash basic attack, directly taking out one small monster!
Then it leaped up, dual blades spinning, followed by another heavy slash basic attack—
Seeing this scene, Stelle's eyes lit up: She had almost forgotten she had such a Remembrance spirit. With Hoolay's speed, acting two or three times in one turn was no problem. With it there, they might be able to hold on.
"Awoo!"
At that instant, Hoolay roared loudly. Its entire body visibly turned blood-red at a speed the eye could see, entering Moon Rage state, and landed another heavy slash basic attack!
Stelle widened her eyes, "It's the legendary self-buff! As expected of Hoolay, actually doing what we can't!"
Next, under the boost of Hoolay's terrifying self-buff and speed, the small monsters on the field were slaughtered clean like dumplings being dumped. Counting carefully, Hoolay had actually acted continuously up to 11 times in one turn.
How terrifying!
This showed that although it had become a Remembrance spirit now, Hoolay's combat power was indeed still nothing to scoff at—especially that terrifying nine-hit combo, which faintly let Stelle see the shadow of a certain purple acquaintance on it.
Sigh, no wonder they say this guy is unlucky. As the borisin war chief, his combat power surpasses 99% of people wherever it's placed, but on that Skysplitter, the remaining 1% of experts were everywhere, and he couldn't beat any he ran into.
As Hoolay cleared the last monster, Stelle and the others suddenly felt their bodies relax, regaining the ability to move freely.
At this time, Jing Yuan walked forward and said with a face full of concern, "Everyone, are you all alright?"