The Girl Who Looted Tomorrow

As time passed, the remaining members of Special Affairs gradually arrived near the battlefield. Those with weaker combat ability raised their guns and opened fire, while the stronger ones stepped forward to help their captains share the pressure.

The burden on Jessica and the eight Special Affairs captains dropped sharply. What had started as one person fighting five slowly became one against three, then one against two. Once the legion’s Soldiers lost their numerical advantage, these Rank Four captains could deal with them much more easily. The balance of the battle began to tilt.

“Guh!”

Even so, the Rank Four captains had been able to withstand the Soldiers’ attacks earlier, but that did not mean the newly arrived Special Affairs members could do the same.

In only a few breaths, many people were injured. Seeing this, Jessica shouted, “Find a way to break up their formation!”

Freya had told Effie about [Battle Formation] in advance, then asked Effie to pass the information to Special Affairs. In the previous simulation, when they fought the legion controlled by the adjutant, they had defeated those Soldiers by breaking their formation.

Under the lead of several Special Affairs captains, everyone began trying to weave through the enemy lines and split apart the black-shadow Soldiers’ formation. They did succeed. The wide battlefield was divided into many smaller battlefields.

However, everyone soon discovered that the black-shadow Soldiers’ strength had not dropped by much.

A formation was not limited to one shape. One hundred people standing neatly together in a square was a formation, but if four people stood back-to-back and coordinated with one another, was that not also a formation?

On top of that, splitting up the black-shadow Soldiers also meant that the members of Special Affairs were scattered into separate small battlefields. Jerome rejoined the fight at this moment.

When Jessica saw that, her scalp prickled. But as the only Rank Five on their side, she still had no choice but to grit her teeth and step forward.

Just then, a bright, hearty voice rang out from the end of the street.

“What a coincidence. I never expected to run into something like this while taking a walk. Beating up villains happens to be one of my favorite things. Mind if I join in?”

With that oddly familiar line, Archbishop Pantheon walked at the very front. Beside him was the petite Life Freya, and behind them followed one Earth Church member after another, all dressed in green robes.

It was worth mentioning that in the last “simulation battle,” Pantheon had still chosen to leap into the middle of the enemy at the start, trying to disrupt the black-shadow Soldiers’ formation. The result was that he failed to break the formation, and after using [Giantification], he was surrounded by black-shadow Soldiers from every direction. Even Jerome had come in to add a few strikes.

In the blink of an eye, Pantheon had been heavily injured and almost killed. Life Freya had barely managed to save him.

Because of that, Life Freya had specifically warned him this time not to jump into the enemy crowd. He just needed to approach slowly from the rear.

The Earth Church did not actually need to help fight. The combined combat strength of the Mobile Unit and eight Special Affairs teams was already enough. What the Earth Church needed to do was heal the wounded and reduce Special Affairs’ casualties.

“The Earth Church!?” both sides exclaimed.

Jerome and the members of Special Affairs almost showed stunned expressions at the same time when they saw such a large group suddenly appear. Jerome’s tone was heavy, while Special Affairs sounded relieved.

“Damn it. Why are the Earth Church’s people here?”

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“Thank God. It’s the Earth Church!”

In truth, if the Earth Church had not come, then at the current rate of Special Affairs’ injuries, Jerome really might have had a tiny chance of breaking out. The chance was small, but at least it was not zero.

Now that the Earth Church had arrived, Jerome was truly trapped with no way out.

Pantheon and Atticus, two Rank Four practitioners, joined the battlefield head-on, further easing the pressure on Special Affairs. The ordinary Earth Church members stayed in the rear, treating the wounded official practitioners.

As for Life Freya, she came to the battlefield where Jerome and Jessica were fighting, ready to carry out a righteous two-on-one.

Jerome, a summoner, had personally entered melee combat. So why could Life Freya, a healer, not step onto the battlefield herself?

Life Freya waved her hand, and four small white-glowing orbs appeared in front of her.

Back when she was Rank Four, she had once used [Life Energy Manipulation] to fire an energy beam from her fingertip.

After advancing to Rank Five, her charging speed, power, and even attack frequency had all undergone a qualitative leap. After a brief charge, the four glowing orbs erupted at the same time, firing pure white beams toward Jerome’s position.

The attack was so loud and imposing that Jessica had to retreat several steps out of Life Freya’s attack range. At the same time, she could not help blurting out, “Rank Five!?”

“Boom, boom, boom, boom!”

Four beams struck the ground. The street cracked open. A wall along the roadside was sliced horizontally, and even one house was pierced straight through the middle.

However, only the last beam barely grazed the corner of Jerome’s clothes.

With an almost unnatural motion, Jerome twisted and rolled through the air. Using [Reset Stance] and a second jump, he forcibly dodged all four of Life Freya’s beams.

It was worth mentioning that other Paths had similar beam attacks. For example, the Death Path’s beams would carry an effect that “stripped away vitality.” If struck, the target’s body might collapse, making it extremely lethal. The Sun Path, meanwhile, would carry effects such as high heat and burning, making it very destructive as well. These were all connected to the energy traits of each Path.

Life Freya’s beams, however, were formed from [Life Energy]. In essence, this was a very gentle kind of energy. Even if she attached an effect to it, the most suitable option would be something like healing.

But she obviously could not let her beam attacks come with healing effects.

Because of that, Life Freya’s beam attacks looked a lot like “magic attacks,” but what they delivered was the purest form of physical damage.

The first wave of attacks missed, but Life Freya was not discouraged. The white orbs floating around her increased from four to six and began charging again.

A single beam from her might not be as powerful as those from other Paths, but the Earth Path’s advantage was that it never lacked energy. If there was no special trait, she could simply increase the energy output. The point was volume and supply. As long as the numbers were high enough, who cared whether there was a special effect?

As Life Freya charged her attack, she said, “Captain Jessica, please do your best to hold him down. I will be careful not to hit you. Besides, even if I accidentally do hit you, I can heal you afterward, so please don’t worry.”

For some reason, Jessica felt a chill run through her when she heard that.

Still, what Life Freya said was indeed true. She had already gotten back at Jessica earlier, and that grudge had been settled. Naturally, she would not maliciously stab her in the back during battle.

But blades had no eyes in combat, and neither did beams.

If Jessica and Jerome were tangled together in close combat, Life Freya obviously could not guarantee that every shot would avoid her. That was unrealistic.

Though Jessica felt uneasy, Life Freya’s tactic made sense. She still braced herself and charged forward.

But Jerome moved even faster. After dodging the first wave of beams, he leaned forward and sprinted straight toward Life Freya.

“Bang!”

This was not a simple burst of speed. It carried some special technique for generating force. The ground beneath Jerome’s feet shattered under his step, and his entire body moved so fast that he left afterimages behind. In almost a single second, he arrived in front of Life Freya.

Everyone knew that in a team fight, the backline came first. The healer came first. That was common sense.

Jerome was obviously not going to allow Life Freya to keep bombarding him from a distance. He had to deal with her first.

Jerome threw a simple hook toward the side of Life Freya’s face.

Life Freya kept her eyes closed the entire time and stood quietly in place. She looked as if she had not reacted at all.

Behind her, Jessica shouted, “Watch out!”

But in the next instant, just as Jerome’s attack was about to land, Life Freya suddenly raised her right hand and caught Jerome’s wrist with perfect precision, blocking the heavy strike.

“Thump.”

The fist that stopped abruptly stirred up a violent gust, sending Life Freya’s white-and-green hair fluttering in the wind.

Life Freya did not have [Intuition], but her [Mind Sense] was far too sharp. She could see every move Jerome made with perfect clarity. Blocking his attack was naturally not difficult for her.

“How?” Jerome’s face filled with shock.

He was on the War Path. More than that, he was currently receiving physical reinforcement from [Battle Formation]. Yet his charging hook had been blocked so easily. Life Freya had not even taken half a step back.

Was that reasonable?

In the next second, Life Freya kept hold of his wrist, raised her other hand, and punched straight at Jerome.