Chapter 44 The Argo (2) You're jealous that they can stand on her...
"Ding! You have been chosen as the possessor of the Spirit of Medea!"
After the lightning struck, several mission notification sounds kept ringing in Xia Ying's ears.
"Ding! [Spirit of Medea] grants you the identity {Priest of Nature}, and the spells you cast will receive a bonus."
"Beep! The Spirit of Medea is whispering in your ear the secrets of the islands at sea."
"Beep! The Spirit of Medea urges you to depart immediately and tear the Spirit of Jason to pieces as soon as possible..."
"How am I supposed to tear a dead soul to pieces?" Xia Ying asked the spirit behind the witch, clutching her head. "Okay, okay, I know!"
Her companions crowded on the deck, surrounding Xia Ying and having already watched her one-woman show for a while.
The harpy tried to approach her, sniffed her scent, and found that Xia Ying did not smell of roasted meat. She was relieved and shook her shoulder.
"Xia Ying! Have you lost your mind?! Wake up!"
“No, Harpie, Medea is telling me more details about the mission… Okay, I understand now.”
Xia Ying rubbed her temples and beckoned to the various abyssal creatures, gesturing for them to come closer.
"Now, let me explain the rules of the game to everyone."
The interns, who had already developed a valuable learning spirit through Miss Succubus's numerous lessons, nodded obediently.
"To win this mission, it's not enough to simply defeat the enemy. We must allocate our limited forces wisely and seize more advantageous resources before the enemy camp does..."
As Xia Ying spoke, she looked up and suddenly met the black bear's clear and innocent beady eyes.
"..." She quickly adjusted her narration, "Simply put, we each have a leader on both sides, and whoever kills the other side's leader first wins."
Following this simple and easy-to-understand explanation, Xia Ying continued, "I am the leader of my side, so according to the rules, ensuring my survival is the top priority..."
The harpy immediately pressed the girl into her fluffy bosom, assuring her confidently, "No problem! I'll protect you!"
"No, I have a more important task for you."
Xia Ying raised her face, and a feather drifted down from her head.
“We don’t know where the enemy is or who their leader is yet, so Harpie, I need you and other flying companions to form a search party to find their ship.”
As she spoke, she lightly tapped the harpy's forehead with her finger, activating her mind channel skill.
A sliver of light entered Harpie's body, and she suddenly felt a strange connection between herself and the other.
【Harpie, can you hear me?】
Xia Ying's voice rang directly in their minds, and at the same time, the two of them shared the view in front of them. Harpie looked at her in surprise.
“Like this, this magic allows us to maintain a mental connection at any time,” Xia Ying said. “I’ve already marked you. If you spot any enemies, immediately request a connection with me, understand?”
Harpie nodded.
“Besides finding the enemy leader, we have another task to complete, which is to go to the ‘island’,” she said. “Medea told me that there are several powerful magical artifacts scattered on the island that may play a key role in the battle.”
Xia Ying pointed to herself: "The location of the island and the flight path map are already stored in my mind. All members except the search team will come to the island with me first. After we obtain the magical artifacts, we will engage the enemy in direct combat."
After that, Xia Ying divided the abyssal creatures into action groups with different functions according to their abilities and set up a mental connection channel for each member.
"Now everyone can try to initiate connection requests..." Dozens of connection requests flooded in, instantly overwhelming the communication channel. Xia Ying immediately adjusted the permission settings, "Okay, then only the squad leader can initiate connection requests. When we are scattered, please keep me informed."
Harpy eagerly raised one wing: "Then can we set off now, right?"
"Wait, there's one last thing."
As Xia Ying spoke, a cute pouch with a picture of a lamb appeared in her hand. She then stretched the pouch open with both hands, turned it downwards, and shook it vigorously.
Large quantities of consumables poured out and quickly piled up like mountains.
Harpie exclaimed in shock, "What is this?!"
Xia Ying held up the small pouch in her hand: "This? This is the magical tool [Horn of Abundance], it's very convenient for storing things."
"...No, I meant the bunch over there."
"These are all," Xia Ying briefly introduced, "This one heals, this one increases attack, this one increases defense... Most of them are one-time use magical items, but I prepared a lot, so everyone should carry some with them."
The harpy stared in disbelief: "Where did these come from? There are so many!"
"Some were bought, and some were obtained through wilderness missions."
In short, it's something you get by grinding and spending money.
Xia Ying looked at her companions and said confidently, "We will definitely win."
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With the blessing of the tidal resonance skill from the siren and the effect of {Nature Priest}, Xia Ying's Argo was surrounded by the waves and was rapidly heading towards the island.
They did not encounter any enemy ships, and the search party led by the harpy had been on its way for some time, but no information had yet been received.
An eerie tranquility pervaded the scene, and the voyage seemed to have become a mere sightseeing trip. The abyssal creatures remaining on board gradually became idle and bored.
Unaccustomed to the marine environment, the Black Bear Man lay sprawled on the deck, seasick. His fur, dried and fluffy from the sun, asked Xia Ying in a daze, "Where are the enemies? Are they coming back?"
Just as Xia Ying was about to answer, the witch bust at the bow suddenly opened its mouth and screamed. The abyssal creatures on the deck were startled, and the ranged attack team launched a barrage of attacks around the ship.
Then something "thudded" to the ground. Xia Ying went over to take a look and saw that it was a seabird that had been shot down by the stingers scattered by the lion-tailed scorpion.
"..." Xia Ying looked up and saw a flock of white gulls flying overhead. She lifted the seagull's wing and turned to ask the bear-man, "Want some snacks?"
The voyage continued peacefully for some time. The bow siren sounded a few more times, but these were just passing seabirds or schools of fish, and there was no real enemy attack... Gradually, a black dot began to appear indistinctly in the field of vision.
"It's an island!" Xia Ying exclaimed excitedly, "We're almost there!"
At that moment, the harpy sent a telepathic connection request, which Xia Ying accepted instantly. Before Harpy could speak to her, the scene she saw was already simultaneously appearing in Xia Ying's mind.
Through the eyes of the harpy, Xia Ying saw another Argo sailing on the distant sea, with a hero's bust embedded in its bow shining brightly in the sunlight.
In addition, she discovered that Jason's Argo was much larger than hers, and there were more than 50 abyssal creatures on its deck alone.
However, none of them were chosen by the Spirit of Jason.
Xia Ying said to the harpy, "Harpie, are there any other abyssal creatures on the ship? Get closer and take a look, but don't get spotted."
Upon receiving the command, Harpy lowered its trajectory and flew around the ship once. The harpy's excellent eyesight allowed her to take in every detail of the ship. Next to the towering mast, which was covered by the sails, Xia Ying finally found the possessor of the [Spirit of Jason].
That was Cerberus.
Xia Ying sighed: "Okay, just as I thought."
After being chosen, Medea's ghost told Xia Ying that her criterion for choosing a possessor was "the one closest to the leader," while Jason's criterion was even simpler: he would definitely choose "the strongest one."
In any case, Xia Ying's plans will not change much as a result.
Things were progressing exceptionally smoothly up to this point. Just as Xia Ying was about to have Harpie create some distance, she suddenly swooped down towards the ship.
Xia Ying couldn't help but shout in the telepathic channel to stop her: "Harpie!"
Through the shared view, Xia Ying saw the sail rushing towards her, but the harpy did not crash into the sail as she expected.
She not only passed through the sails, but even through the deck, and the harpy suddenly flew upwards as her wings sliced across the sea.
The Argo continued its journey as usual, the abyssal creatures on deck seemingly oblivious to Harpy's presence, as if her figure were completely transparent to them...
"This is an illusion magic!" Harpy shouted. "The ship definitely exists! But it's not here with us!!"
Cerberus did not move, but suddenly turned his gaze to a certain spot on the sea.
Xia Ying turned around abruptly, and at that moment the figurehead issued another piercing warning.
"Set up battle lines immediately! The enemy is right behind us!"
Behind their ship, the hero's figurehead emerged from the distorted light, and an even larger Argo was approaching with overwhelming force.
The bust roared in battle, and the warrior's blessing descended upon every abyssal creature in Jason's camp. The first wave of enemies took to the air and launched their charge.
Xia Ying looked at the island that was not far ahead and made a decision.
"We won't engage in a direct confrontation here!" Xia Ying said. "Range attack team and defense team! Buy me some time!"
A massive wall of waves rose from the sea, slamming some of the enemies into the water. Most of the abyssal creatures that managed to escape the giant wave were shot down by long-range poison needles and acid, while a few exceptionally agile or lucky ones managed to climb onto the deck. The bear-man roared and swelled in size, sweeping them all back into the sea.
As the first wave of battle commenced, Xia Ying summoned a fierce wind, instantly filling the sails, and the Witch Argo charged toward the island at its maximum speed.
They began to increase the distance between themselves and the Hero Argo, greatly reducing the possibility of the enemy forces launching a concentrated boarding raid. Although some abyssal creatures skilled in flight or swimming continued to harass them, they did not pose a significant threat... until their leader finally began to act.
Cerberus leaped off the mast, riding the black flames of hell towards the witch Argo. He tore through the defenses like a sharp knife slicing through silk, and landed on the deck in an instant.
Almost instinctively, the demon hound immediately located Xia Ying, but he subconsciously avoided direct combat with her and instead turned to fight the other abyssal creatures.
Jason's ghost was extremely dissatisfied with his actions and kept urging him to kill Medea's possessor. Cerberus's head throbbed as he resisted the force of the mission, and at the same time, another kind of dissatisfaction swelled in his heart.
Too weak.
The abyssal creatures on her side were all too weak.
His escalating anger led him to stop holding back, and soon several abyssal creatures died under Cerberus's scythe.
As the thorny shadow drank its fill of blood, it silently crept up half of Cerberus's body, whispering maliciously in his ear:
You're jealous that they can stand next to her.
"So what?"
Cerberus's negative emotions suddenly erupted, and his fighting spirit gradually turned into a bloodlust. An ice wall suddenly rose up in front of him, reflecting his scarlet eyes.
The demon hound paused for a moment, then swung its giant scythe. But before it could shatter the barrier, the ice wall cracked open from the inside, and the gleaming blade shot out diagonally with a startling force.
Cerberus covered his wound with one hand, and blood quickly stained the space between his fingers.
The demonic hound slowly lowered his head, and when he saw the girl's shining eyes, all the gloom in his heart vanished instantly.
Cerberus couldn't help but smile.
"Not bad, Xia Ying."
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Author's note: A dog gets stabbed in the back and still feels relieved; humans have learned how to stab each other—how clever! If you can't do that, you're not allowed to call yourself a dog. [Sunglasses]
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