The Sorcerer's Handbook

Chapter 169: Time to End This

Even Ashe had to admit the five of them made a perfect criminal team. With a few last-minute adjustments, they successfully lured Gerard away and created a gap wide enough to breach the Virtual Channel.

The strategy itself was simple. First, Iger would randomly instill fear in someone within the crowd. Out of ten adventurers, nine were full of crap, and the last was literal crap. It took little effort for him to draw out their fear and make each target believe he was the pursuer. Panic would do the rest.

Once the hunters gave chase, Harvey would link everyone's chips through necromancy, imposing restrictions that plunged the crowd into chaos. At the same time, Ronald would discreetly strike a few adventurers and graze Ashe and the others, allowing them to collapse naturally.

The temporary recording devices Ashe had planted would activate on the substitute, while Iger's Mind-Class Miracle deepened fear and suspicion in the crowd. Driven by terror, the adventurers would surge toward the camp exit under the substitute's guidance.

After Gerard was drawn away and the remaining adventurers fled, the supposedly injured victims on the ground would seize their chance, spring to their feet, and rush through the channel, escaping the Blood Moon Kingdom to start anew.

Ashe had not expected much from this improvised plan, yet it unfolded almost perfectly. When Gerard blurred past him like a streaking shadow, Ashe's heart nearly leapt into his throat.

The scene played out even more ideally than Iger had imagined. Only one hunter remained on the platform, and the surrounding Moonshadow priests were paralyzed with fear. Once Ronald knocked the hunter out with a single punch, the path ahead would be clear.

Everything went smoothly where failure had seemed most likely. And just as success came within reach, the unexpected struck.

Ashe felt a sudden chill as he climbed the steps toward the channel. His heart tightened, and he could almost see a warning flash above his head.

[Danger!]

Savage Instinct had triggered.

He recognized the warning instantly. The skill, obtained from the Sorcerer's Handbook during his Virtual World adventures, had saved him countless times. He had no choice but to trust it again.

Miracle, Sword Barrier!

After ascending to Two-Winged Gold, Ashe could channel Gold Mana into his Earth Sword, tripling the Miracle's defensive strength.

Bang!

The warm-yellow barrier shattered like glass under the gunshot. The residual impact cracked the ground beneath into a web of fissures.

Even a grazing hit from that attack would have torn through flesh and bone, stripping pounds from his body in an instant.

He turned slightly and spotted the beastman sniper lurking in the shadows near the camp entrance.

Syrin's loyal dog, Gassas.

Ashe had not forgotten him, but he had never expected the beastman to crush his final hope with such precision. The sudden misfortune made him wonder if he had exhausted all his luck just escaping the prison.

Worse still, maintaining the barrier required keeping the Earth Sword embedded in the ground, leaving him unable to move.

Swordsmanship excelled in offense, not defense. Generating such a powerful defensive Miracle came at the cost of mobility. Previously, Ashe hadn't been troubled by this limitation and had never thought to improve the Miracle.

Now, he faced a cruel choice. It was either he abandoned the barrier and risked being blown apart by Gassas's sniper fire, or he maintained it and let Gerard shatter it within seconds.

However, Ashe soon realized he didn't need to choose. Gassas had carved out a third path.

The beastman raised his left hand and braced his waist. His right-hand and left-hand snipers, along with the dual waist-mounted rifles, aligned instantly, priming four guns ready to fire.

However, he did not aim at Ashe. Instead, his target was the other four prisoners.

Gassas was greedy. Capturing Ashe alone was not enough to satisfy him. He wanted every fugitive. Gerard would arrive within seconds, ready to wipe the field with absolute power. Gassas's goal was to take down the fugitives before that, at the cost of only a fraction of his mana.

Why? Was it for the bounty? Or a favor from a Three-Winged Sacred Realm?

As a beastman sorcerer who had clawed his way up from nothing, Gassas had countless reasons to be greedy. Perhaps he had not thought it through. He simply refused to let opportunity or prey slip away. Experience had sometimes punished him for that instinct, but more often it had rewarded him.

This time, his targets were the most notorious criminals in Caimon City.

Harvey, at the forefront, flung a bone glowing with dark green light into the air. It acted as a decoy, redirecting the sniper round toward it. The round struck the bone mid-air, detonating it instantly. Harvey groaned as his left arm fell limp, as though the bones within had vanished.

Iger released a piercing psychic scream, forming an impenetrable sonic shield. The bullet was fired from too close a range. Despite being deflected, it still grazed his shoulder, tearing flesh and sending him staggering to the ground.

Ronald, a master of long-range assassination, had no means to block sniper rounds, but he did not need to. Ronna yanked him behind cover. His right hand glowed with golden light as he swept it in a broad arc, deflecting two bullets in midair.

This was the raw power of a top-tier Two-Winged Brute Body sorcerer. He intercepted sniper rounds with his bare hands.

Ronald did not stay idle. He unleashed a volley of steel pellets that accelerated midair with sonic force, screaming toward Gassas like guided missiles.

The sequence felt drawn out in memory, yet it all unfolded in a blink. Ashe held the sword barrier, Gassas fired four heavy rifles, while the fugitives fought desperately to survive.

As the only long-range attacker among them, Ronald did not disappoint. His storm of steel pellets forced Gassas onto the defensive. And that was the opening Ashe needed.

But after that brief delay, Ashe had already fallen to the very back of the group. The platform was difficult to climb, and he hadn't even pulled his Earth Sword from the ground.

In a retreat, moving slowly might allow survival, but being last was a death sentence. Pursuers would target the easiest prey without hesitation. He needed a miracle, something that could keep him in pace with the group and prevent him from becoming the final target.

His options were limited. His three most practiced techniques—Swordheart, Substitute, and Flow—along with his only fully mastered Miracle, the Sword Barrier, were all he could rely on.

Ashe focused, running the structures of his techniques and the Miracle through his mind. Layer by layer, the Miracle unfolded before him. Insights from swordsmanship and water-based techniques ignited like blazing fire, consuming all extraneous thoughts and leaving only pure, crystallized wisdom. Memories of Varkas's final strike and the Swordswoman soaring into the sky with him flashed through his mind.

He moved. With his right hand still bracing the Honeyed Tongue Sword embedded in the ground, he conjured another Honeyed Tongue Sword with his left, its edge wrapped in a sharp golden glow. Using his Substitute spirit, he had created a second Honeyed Tongue Sword and applied Swordheart to it.

Harvey had already stepped into the Virtual Channel, while the rest of the team was only a few steps behind. Ashe remained still for a moment. He raised the clone sword in a throwing stance, then hurled it perfectly onto the top step of the platform.

Then he activated Earth Sword on both the clone sword and his Honeyed Tongue Sword. Two warm-yellow beams of light appeared simultaneously on the platform. Iger, passing by, caught a glimpse of the clone sword's glow. Ashe's heart jumped. If Iger had so much as brushed it, the sword would have detonated. But Iger didn't intend to waste a second on Ashe and rushed straight toward the Virtual Channel.

Ashe had fallen too far behind. From behind, he could hear Gerard's footsteps tearing through the moonlight. He had never felt so acutely that his fate was entirely in his own hands. One misstep, and his fragile destiny would collapse like foam in the palm of his hand.

Yet Ashe felt neither fear nor excitement, not even calm. Instead, he remained quiet, as if merely observing the story that the person called Ashe was about to unfold.

With the clone sword as the target coordinate, the original Honeyed Tongue Sword as the starting point, Swordheart as a guide, the Earth Sword to carve the path, and Flow to coordinate the sequence, he executed his Miracle flawlessly.

For a brief moment, all that could be seen was a faint yellow streak between the two beams. It seemed as though nothing had happened. Yet in a single heartbeat, Ashe reached the topmost step of the platform. He pulled the Honeyed Tongue Sword from the ground, and the clone sword, which had swapped places with him, vanished in a wisp of smoke.

It worked. The Earth Sword formed the path, Flow reduced friction, and Swordheart guided him. In an instant, he had swapped places with the clone sword. He decided to call this Miracle Bidirectional Rush.

Seeing Ashe suddenly appear before them, Ronna and Ronald were momentarily taken aback, though they thought little of it. To them, it was just another short-distance movement Miracle.

Just as they came within ten steps of the Virtual Channel, Iger, with half a foot already inside, glanced back, his pupils widening. Savage Instinct hadn't triggered, but Ashe wasted no time. He activated Slash Me on himself, instantly purging all abnormal statuses. His nearly stagnant blood surged back to normal. He stumbled slightly but remained on his feet.

Ronna appeared to possess a similar Miracle that cleared abnormal statuses and remained unaffected. Ronald, however, screamed and collapsed, convulsing in paralysis. Iger was struck at the very last moment and tumbled fully into the Virtual Channel.

Behind them, Gerard's segmented whip sword lashed out to its full length, ripping through the air with bloodcurdling shrieks and trailing a deadly crimson aura in its wake. The blood abnormalities they had encountered were clearly his handiwork. Gerard did not favor the Blood Art, yet as a Three-Winged Sacred Realm sorcerer, that hardly meant he lacked mastery. When it came to living flesh, the Blood Art remained unmatched.

Ronna reacted quickly, kicking Ronald away. A dull crack echoed as several of his ribs broke.

The bald man then turned around. The shadows on the ground crawled up his body to form a full suit of Shadow Armor, making his already towering frame appear even more massive, cold, and menacing, like a living abyss.

Boom!

Ronna blocked Gerard's strike, absorbing the impact. The Shadow Armor was nearly destroyed, and his left foot left a deep dent in the stone floor. Yet he held firm, deflecting the segmented whip sword upward.

Meanwhile, Ashe reached Ronald. He quickly activated Slash Me on him and dragged him along by the back of his collar. Despite his bloody injuries, Ronald, a Woodpecker Gold Beak, rapidly regained his strength and recovered his stance.

He didn't rush to follow Ashe. Instead, he glanced back to see Gerard emerge from the moonlight with his segmented whip sword, now reshaped into a long blade. His anger and humiliation made his already ugly face appear even more terrifying.

Everyone could predict what was coming. No one thought Ronna could withstand Gerard's full power. His earlier attack had been weakened by distance; now, his full swing could obliterate Ronna, Ronald, and Ashe all at once. This was their last chance.

With firm eyes, Ronald muttered, "It ends now."

He came to an abrupt stop, flicked his right hand, and fired a steel ball. The projectile shot forward, accelerating like a meteor toward Ronna.