Why Did You Summon Me?

After an incantation that dragged on for the duration in which one could take a toilet break, a blinding white flash indicated the activation of the spell. Long, white, sharp bones burst out from the ground beneath Taamik the Revenant King’s feet. The bones pierced through Taamik in a messy manner, much like how bushmen hunted leopards, causing the Revenant King to resemble a porcupine. As though that was not enough, the bone spikes morphed into something resembling an iron maiden, trapping Taamik within.

The was more than enough to kill a human, but it was not enough to take the Revenant King’s life. No matter how grave an injury the Revenant King suffered, so long as its soul is intact, it would not die. It did not even make a sound, as though it does not know pain.

However, the Lich Walker had not planned to kill the Revenant King; the spell was merely used to trap it. After struggling for a bit, the Revenant King realized that it could not break its current body out of the contraption that confined it. It could only escape by inhabiting another body.

As soon as that thought crossed the Revenant King’s mind, It froze. The enemy lich seemed to have cast another spell, which had caused a shroud to appear on the bony iron maiden, trapping the Revenant King’s soul in its current body!

Just like that, the Revenant King had been temporarily taken out of the game by a crazy idea from a moe young lady. Her idea had inspired the Alchemist Walker’s newest formula and the bony iron maiden trap, which the Lich Walker had invented right there and then.

The amount of embarrassment from this was akin to starting a round of battle fresh only to be immediately kicked out of the battle by Magnus, while the animal messenger dispatched to return to home base was killed on their way….

“Aha! The Revenant King’s out of the fight and has become my first battle trophy,” the Lich Walker beamed proudly. “Now, all there is left to do is the big one!”

The Hitman Walker slapped the side of his own head hard suddenly and exclaimed, “I know! I know what to do!”

He pulled out an enormous bow that had a very tall limb.

“A siege bow?” The Scholar Walker recognized the bow almost immediately. “Invented by the military to fire missiles over a large distance. Its might is its strongest point, but its range is just as commendable. However, it is not useful against colossal monsters made purely out of energy, no?”

Lady Assassin switched places with the Fairy Walker, who sneered the moment she spotted the bow. “Eew, you humans made such an ungraceful bow? Its accuracy is terrible, but the biggest problem I have with it is how taut its bowstring is. You can’t even fire without using your waist and your leg to aid your hand from pulling it away; that is so gauche!”

“I get what you two have said, but I never intended to use it to attack that monster over there,” the Hitman Walker replied calmly. Suddenly, he picked the Scholar Walker up by the scruff of her neck.

“Halt this instant; e-explain yourself!” The Scholar Walker shouted, struggling like a cat unwilling to be picked up.

“Relax,” the Hitman Walker coldly said, as gold combat chi surged from his body. The gold combat chi condensed into golden ropes that fastened themselves tightly around the Scholar Walker. The Hitman Walker hoisted her onto his shoulder after that and turned to the Fairy Walker. “I need the Warrior Walker to help me with the bowstring.”

“H-halt— stop! Surely you don’t plan to discharge me in a manner no different from an arrow, right?!” The Scholar Walker exclaimed, alarmed.

“That is the best way to get you out of here ⁠— right here, right now ⁠— alright? These chi ropes will disintegrate on their own the moment you land. That is when you utilize every second you have to unleash your Forbidden Spell,” the Hitman Walker explained, and in that time, the Fairy Walker switched places with the Warrior Walker. Now, two of the heaviest hitters in the Void had begun to inch backward with their arms holding on the bowstring, which had the Scholar Walker inside it.

“Oh please, allow me to help perfect the shot,” the Lich Walker chuckled in a sinister manner as it hurried over.

“I am certain I have become a victim to your whims, which were masked by a ‘convenient’ excuse!” The Scholar Walker protested hotly.

The Hitman Walker ignored her and turned to the Lich Walker and the Warrior Walker. “Ready? One, two, three…  fire! ”

The Scholar Walker’s voice rang out as she soared through the air and out of sight. “Waaaahhhhhhhh! Y-you’ll p-pay for your odiousness when Hope returned to ussss—”

Baiyi almost laughed out loud when he watched this part. ‘ Looks like these buffoons have quite the quick wit, after all!’

After sending away their best hope in retaliation, the team slowed down and turned to face the Grandruler. They intended to take him on, to buy Scholar Walker some time. To do this, the three Voidwalker knew that they had to split up.

The Hitman Walker brought out his heavy shield and stood in the Grandruler’s path. The Warrior Walker used her icy-blue combat chi to make a new bow before switching places with the Fairy Walker. The Lich Walker hid behind a dune, then it plunged its green staff into the grand and chanted an incantation, summoning a smaller hammerhead shark reaper.

In another area, the Scholar Walker cussed loudly, but no one was able to hear her. She had landed with her head in the ground and her feet high up in the air. She placed her palms on the ground and wigged with all her might, till her head out was out of the ground. The scene was not different from that of a farmer pulling a carrot out from the ground.

The Scholar Walker rubbed her head, looking close to tears. Her feminine sorcerer’s helmet had been completely flattened by the impact, and its formerly intricate patterns had become completely twisted. She now looked very much like a toad [1].

“Rebarbative miscreants, the lot of them!” The Scholar scoffed. “Would it pain them to treat a lady of letters to the best of their abilities, however diminutive that may be?”

Unfortunately, the Voice Formation within her armor, which acted as her voicebox, had been damaged during the terrible fall from her terrible landing, and now, her voice came in croaks, making her seem like a toad even more than before.

“Ah, what specific Forbidden Spell should I use?” The Scholar Walker muttered to herself, as she pulled out the storage pouch the Lich Walker had given her. She peered into it, and a lot of ideas crossed her mind.

“Hmph! Those hermits have always ridiculed me, calling me a ‘reedy scholar with no battle sense’, as if one’s propensity to use offensive yet propitious magic of massive proportions is a tactic deserving of mockery! Well, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,  especially when she is one of the well-informed. Prepare to be enlightened, plebians!” The Scholar Walker exclaimed in her heart and pulled a few materials out from the storage pouch. Surprisingly, she had decided to cast a magic spell aimed at control, rather than attack.

It was a Forbidden Spell named ‘Spatial Segregation’. It was technically also not a Forbidden Spell as it was intended for dealing damage to one’s enemy. The point of Spatial Segregation was to create a large-scale private dimension that was independent of the realm it was taken from. It involved splitting a part of space and freezing it into a brick-like object. One could split areas of space from their origin realm, making them into these ‘bricks’, after which these ‘bricks’ are joined together to form a small, separate dimension of their own. The latter could be done using other Spatial Magic spells.

This was the technique behind marvels like the Babel Tower ⁠— headquarters of the Sorcerers’ Association, the enormous dimension where the Book of Servitude had been stored ⁠— and Baiyi’s very own Da Xue. Spatial Segregation was the reason why a building could appear so small yet disproportionately large on the inside. It had been classified as a Forbidden Spell only because of the materials and proficiency needed to cast it was much more than was required to cast ordinary spells.

When Baiyi realized what the Scholar Walker had chosen to do, his eyes lit up in approval. He paused the flashback at this point and turned to the Scholar excitedly. “Spatial Segregation? What a brilliant choice! Isolate the space where the Grandruler is and you’d be cutting off his energy supply. That way, the biggest advantage he possesses as the ruler of a realm — the unlimited replenishment of energy he enjoyed — would be cut off, leveling the playing field between our side and his! This is so profound of you. Even I might not have thought of this in such a short time! I really have underestimated you. You made the best choice despite being in a race against the clock!”

“Um… heh! Heh, precisely! See? It is always ill-advised to judge others in a shallow manner!” The Scholar Walker replied. However, she made the assertion in a somewhat shaky voice.

This was because she did not put as much thought into her decision as Baiyi thought she had. The spell had come to her mind only because she wanted a powerful Control-type spell that could freeze the big Grandruler in place. After that, she could spam a ridiculous amount of offensive Forbidden Spells at it. As normal Spatial Magic would be unable to withstand the bombardment she wished to mete, she decided to use Spatial Segregation.

The Scholar Walker did not know that by nursing this train of thought, she had inadvertently chosen the best route of attack they could take. This was why she was quite embarrassed at the moment, feeling a little underserving of Baiyi’s compliment.

When she had made her decision, the Scholar Walker wasted no time in arranging the formations and runes she would need. In the distance, the Hitman Walker had just been slammed into the ground by the Grandruler, causing a huge cloud of dust to soar into the air. Even the Scholar Walker had been able to see the Hitman Walker get swung around like a ragdoll.

This put a lot of pressure on her, but she could not go any faster than she already was. Even one as talented in magic as she was would be tied down by reality without the help of something as overpowered as the Book of Servitude.

Her requirement for more time brought the other Voidwalker, who were tasked with distracting the Grandruler, a lot of grief. The Hitman Walker could be seen careening through the air time after time. The Lich Walker’s Hammerhead Shark Reaper managed to pin the Grandruler twice, but it soon exposed an opening, which the Grandruler utilized to grab it. It squeezed the Shark Reaper like a dead fish, causing the Lich Walker to suffer a significant amount of internal damage. In a few moments, the Voidwalker had collapsed. The three Huffing Piggies seemed to be in their element, however, thanks to Lady Assassin Walker’s efficiency in evading attacks.

The Grandruler was no fool, though; after a while, it realized that these three were buying time for their sorcerer friend, who was making a formation as fast as she could. This caused him to bellow in fury, “Dancing like a Turkey by the riverbank? Galthran, where the heck are you? Where on earth are your troops? Let the world tremble from their march!”

The command sounded like a cryptic message made to prevent the Voidwalkers from understanding what the Grandruler sought to do. However, Galthran was just as puzzled as the Voidwalkers were. It had no idea if it had been instructed to scout for the intruders or help the others capture more human cities. After a moment of thinking, it decided to instruct most of its skeleton dragons to race to go help capture the cities. It took only thirty skeletons back with it, flying as fast as it could towards the Grandruler.

Coincidentally, the path Galthran took made it run into the Scholar Walker, who was hurriedly setting up a formation.

The Scholar Walker knew that the Grandruler gibberish was just a call for reinforcement. This made her even more worried. She shouldered the fate of her teammates, who were doing their best to buy her time. That and the fate of Isythre were placed on her, a mage who had never participated in a war before.

Galthran and its skeleton dragons were approaching from behind and found her. The dragons quickly prepared to fire of full mouths of dragon flame at the Scholar Walker, who was still absorbed in her work, oblivious to the danger behind her.

By the time the Scholar realized she was in trouble, the draconic flames had reacher her. By the time she turned around, her vision was by a large sea of fiery dragon breaths.

It was at that moment that she knew she had f**ked up. She did what anyone else would do: duck and cover her head with her arms.

Baiyi paused the flashback at this point and scowled at her. “And you really considered a moe tactic like this is foolproof?”

“Heh… heh heh,” The Scholar laughed uneasily. “One cannot be free from mistakes during their debut as a battlemage, right?”

‘And this is why academic types like you are an embarrassment to all mages! The only thing you people are good at is trying very hard to stay relevant! ‘ Baiyi lambasted her in his mind, forgetting that he had practically turned her into the leader of academic mages through his career.

As for the Scholar Walker, who was facing the sea of flames, she was saved by someone at the last moment. This was easy to see from the small damage her helm had suffered, although this had been patched up the Blacksmith Walker already. Who was that hero, though?

It was someone who even Baiyi was surprised to see: the Sorcerer Walker, who was armed with a training quarterstaff!

This was surprising because the Sorcerer Walker and the Scholar Walker were always at each other’s throats in the Void. They argued about a range of topics, from academy-related topics to personal styles and gaming-related subjects. The two were always looking for openings to stab a knife into the other, but at this moment, the Scholar Walker had been saved by her archenemy! [2]

The Sorcerer Walker swung his training quarterstaff at lightning speed, deflecting the sea of dragon flames with the mirages it formed. He seemed to be having an easy time, seeing as he poked fun at the Scholar Walker, saying, “Well, well, well. What an embarrassing situation our Great Unmoving Sage has gotten herself into! Where’s your graceful chanting? Where are your aesthetically impeccable runes? Where’s your elaboratively-crafted formations, huh?”

Stunned speechless, the Scholar Walker could only lower her head in shame.

“Fine, I was just joking. I’ll handle these miscreants while you work on what you do best, okay?” The Sorcerer Walker knew he had to quit being a jerk and let the girl off.

Now that she was being protected by a reliable fighter, the Scholar Walker calmed down and poured her attention into the formation, but she could not help asking, “Why are you here?”

“Someone gave a hand, of course. It’s a long story; we should save it for later,” the Sorcerer Walker answered casually.

After pushing away the last bit of the draconic flames, the Sorcerer Walker looked up at the dragons in the sky and laughed. “You think I brought nothing for you lot, a bunch of flying lizards?”

He kept back the training staff and whipped out a longbow [3]. Then, with terrifying speed, he nocked a bunch of arrows onto it and began to shoot.

It seemed stupid for someone to try shooting down thirty dragons all by themselves, but the Sorcerer Walker was not alone. He split himself into two, then four, then eight. He and these seven mirages began to siege these dragons from below. They resembled soldiers gunning enemy airships from below.

In a flash, bones and cartilage began to rain.

This was the perfected Ultimate of the War Druids — ‘Multiplicity’. This was a technique more advanced than the one Baiyi had used to confuse and intimidate his enemies in the past. Every single mirage possessed the same strength as the Sorcerer Walker himself. Armed with magic-fortified arrows, the Sorcerer Walker quickly overwhelmed the skeleton dragons. In moments, two dragons had fallen, exerting a heavy toll on the enemies.

The Skeleton King, Galthran, upon seeing the new intruder, leaped off its dragon mount, landing heavily on the ground. Eyeing the Sorcerer Walker and his bow, Galthran praised, “So there’s a powerful archer amongst you intruders? Furthermore, you are using a technique I’ve never seen before?! Oh yes! Yes, you’re the perfect opponent for me! ”

The Sorcerer Walker replied sourly, “Excuse you , numbnuts… I’m a sorcerer !”