Ch. 72 - Is It Too Late to Return Your Head Now?

Stonecrusher understood the importance of finishing off opponents, but the consecutive attacks had drained him to the point where he had no choice but to temporarily halt his offensive.

Meanwhile, 'Skeleton's' forehead was shrouded in a faint greenish spiritual glow. Though blood flowed down his entire cheek, the spiked hammer hadn't managed to completely pierce through his skull—

When people's physical constitutions were roughly equal, False Life was one of the few low-level spells that could directly enhance the strength of flesh and blood.

"Tougher than my own damn body!"

Taking advantage of his opponent being dazed and unable to recover from the blow to the head, Stonecrusher raised his spiked hammer once more and brought it crashing down.

But this time, before it could even make contact, 'Skeleton' cried out in alarm and uttered incomprehensible incantations through his stupor.

Just as the spiked hammer was about to touch his cheek, a thick white mist suddenly enveloped that gaunt figure completely. The hammer plunged into the fog and struck nothing but air.

The mist drifted away with the wind, and in almost an instant, it flickered to a position twenty feet away.

'Skeleton' stood at a distance, wailing in pain and gasping heavily, unable to conceal the shock in his heart:

"What kind of power was that? Divine Guidance? No, it doesn't have that much effect, and you don't look like a priest at all..."

He hadn't even realized what had just happened.

That dwarf warrior's spiked hammer shouldn't have been able to shatter his shield—

Not until that strange song rang out did all of 'Skeleton's' composure transform into terror.

"Ah, do I need to introduce myself?" Tang Qi raised an eyebrow. "But isn't it a bit of a waste of breath to explain so much to someone who's about to die?"

He didn't consider himself one of those villains who got cocky and casually revealed all their powers.

But honestly, he seemed to have underestimated the effect of Bardic Inspiration.

Bards were different from other spellcasters—at low levels, they needed to use control spells to indirectly help their teammates.

Take Starshine, for instance. When conflicts erupted, he could only use his pitifully scarce spell slots to play some role in dividing up the battlefield situation.

But the core effect of Bardic Inspiration determined Tang Qi's essence as a support—

He could directly enhance his teammates' combat abilities.

If Starshine made up for the mercenaries' shortcomings of 'insufficient flexibility' and 'limited methods,' then Tang Qi expanded upon Stonecrusher's strengths of 'abundant stamina' and 'tremendous strength.'

There was actually no superiority or inferiority between the two approaches.

The only difference was that ordinary low-level spellcasters had almost negligible impact when facing high-level combat.

Like Kuru right now—even if he released ten thousand Rays of Frost, he might not hit 'Skeleton' even once.

But when the equally low-level Tang Qi inspired Stonecrusher, allowing him to unleash his strength to an even greater extreme, even if Tang Qi himself was incredibly weak as an individual, he could still influence the entire battle situation.

In other words, a bard's upper limit actually depended on their teammates.

It was just that due to insufficient combat experience, unfamiliarity with newly mastered powers, and even the psychological shadow of nearly dying at the hands of that old goblin...

Tang Qi hadn't realized this point, thus underestimating himself:

"I'm not a warrior—why the hell would I play melee with a curved blade?"

His proficient skill with the curved blade was merely an afterthought, a last resort when there were no other options.

In a battle against a high-level mage, protecting himself and inspiring Stonecrusher as much as possible to let him unleash 120% of his strength was far more useful than dueling a skeletal hand himself.

"Damn it, sooner or later I'm going to skin that old goblin..."

Tang Qi collected his thoughts and took a deep breath.

Seeing 'Skeleton's' forehead covered in filthy blood spreading across his gaunt face, making him look like a starving ghoul, he shouted:

"If I counted correctly, he should have used three first-circle and three second-circle spell slots so far, plus at most one fourth-circle Arcane Eye—

His resources aren't abundant either!

This means... high-level mages aren't invincible!"

"Well said, bard!"

Stonecrusher laughed heartily. That solid hammer blow earlier had also made him less tense, igniting his confidence. "You keep count—I can't recognize all those weird spells."

When facing spellcasters, counting their remaining resources and responding accordingly was an essential step.

The database in his mind made Tang Qi intimately familiar with the effects of those commonly used spells.

Now, it had become an asset in this battle, greatly boosting their confidence.

In contrast, 'Skeleton's' expression grew even more grim:

"I originally thought I only needed to be wary of this dwarf. I didn't expect you to be the one who requires the most attention..."

He changed his primary target. A wisp of thin white mist suddenly condensed in his hand, and a pale, phantom skeletal hand wrapped in bone-chilling cold pointed directly at Tang Qi's location.

"Begging for mercy now would be far too deliberate."

Tang Qi returned Snake's Kiss to its sheath. While singing a melodious tune, he swung his lute from his back to the front and strummed a chord. "I won't even give you Wolf's head!"

The song entered Stonecrusher's ears, and along with it, his breathing also steadied.

It was as if the stamina he'd expended had merely taken a lap outside and now returned to his body.

He strode forward rapidly, actually feeling himself quite light on his feet, running even faster than the tall folks.

Taking the lead to rush between the two, the spiritual light of his Arrow-Catching Shield burst forth as he let the pale skeletal claw strike against the heavy shield.

Immediately after, he raised his tower shield high, shielding his entire body, and kicked off with both feet simultaneously:

"Shield Charge!"

In Tang Qi's eyes, Stonecrusher's entire figure suddenly flickered with an afterimage, like a savage bear—a cub, that is—lunging toward the necromancer whose expression had turned ugly.

The situation reversed sharply. 'Skeleton' dared not hold back any longer.

As obscure whispers escaped his lips, his eyes suddenly flashed with a ghostly green brilliance.

In that moment, his skull truly seemed to have shed its flesh, with only his bloodshot eyes staring at Stonecrusher:

"Bestow Curse!"

But just as the spiritual light flickered before him, about to envelop the incoming shield, the tower shield before his eyes suddenly disappeared like a distorted phantom.

"I told you the taller you are, the dumber you get!"

A rough laugh actually came from behind him!

"Impossible!?"

Too late to think about what had happened, he hastily erected his last first-circle Shield spell.

But Tang Qi's song at this moment was like a death knell, and the more cheerful and lively it became, the more it made his heart tremble with fear:

"I thought 'scholars' were supposed to be knowledgeable, but turns out you're an idiot who can't tell the difference from Silent Image!"

Only then did 'Skeleton' realize—the tower shield had completely obscured Stonecrusher's form and most of his line of sight.

So much so that he hadn't noticed at all that the kobold lying on the ground in the distance pretending to be dead had quietly used Silent Image to create a convincing fake—

Tricking him out of a third-circle 'curse'!

No matter how much he considered himself respectable, such a massive loss couldn't help but make him curse:

"That fucking dwarf can be completely hidden by a shield—who the hell could see him!?"

"Wait till I smash your legs!"

"Bang, bang!"

The spiked hammer violently hammered against the invisible force field, but the tremendous force still showed no signs of diminishing. "One more time!"

"Bang, bang!"

Hearing the shattering thuds of four strikes erupting in the song, 'Skeleton' realized he might be finished.

He wanted to use the same trick again, utilizing Misty Step to transfer to a more distant location.

But he discovered his second-circle spell slots had been completely exhausted!

Should he use a third-circle slot for this?

After already wasting one third-circle slot?

A mage's frail body couldn't withstand this dwarf warrior's second hammer blow!

He couldn't let himself be worn down like this anymore!

Without time to hesitate further, 'Skeleton' gritted his teeth and made a decision—

Hastily turning around, he pointed a finger at the attacking Stonecrusher, practically squeezing the incantation through his teeth:

"Banishment!"

Just as Stonecrusher was about to shout "Got you," he found his vision suddenly becoming distorted.

An invisible vortex abruptly swirling in mid-air swept his entire person into it.

He vanished in an instant, without even a sound.

As if he had never existed at all.

"Ha... ha..."

With the disappearance of that short figure, 'Skeleton' could finally catch his breath with lingering fear.

His vision remained blurred, his head splitting with pain—

Not just physical pain, but also the mental burden that came from consuming a large number of spell slots all at once.

This was also why he had been reluctant to use fourth-circle spells from the very start.

Unrestrained consumption of mental energy, if not careful, could lead to hidden ailments.

He needed to rest.

"But before that..."

The necromancer gasped heavily and looked around his surroundings.

First, he saw that cunning kobold sensing things were going badly. Whimpering, it quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to him for mercy:

"Spare me, spare me!"

Then, with his peripheral vision, he glanced in the direction where the music had abruptly stopped—

Tang Qi also stood there dumbfounded, frozen in place.

That bone-chilling gaze made his back feel like ice cubes had been stuffed into it.

He unconsciously swallowed and asked hesitantly:

"Uh, that... Esteemed Scholar-daren, may I ask if it's still in time to give you Wolf's head now?"

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