Chapter 145: Conquering with His Life

While Ruby was fighting for his life against the thunderbirds, Tinashe was far from idle. The imperial princess single-handedly held off a troop of more than ten level-six magical beasts, led by a level-seven beast at the helm.

The General Mantis, leader of the troop, disdained to make a move against Tinashe. In its perception, she was merely a low-level human at the Great Magister rank. Any level-six magical beast could easily handle her.

"Roar!"

At the General Mantis's signal, a gigantic ape covered in white fur stepped out of the ranks. Compared to its robust physique of nearly three meters, those two bald, muscular men from the Fighting Academy were mere infants. This white-furred giant ape roared as it rushed toward Tinashe, raising its thick right arm, bulging with veins, right in front of her. In its eyes, Tinashe would be turned into a meat patty in the next second.

"Crack!"

A teeth-setting sound rang out. The General Mantis stood stunned, watching the white-furred giant ape fly backward into the ranks, having no idea what had just happened. The insect's exceptional compound eyes allowed it to see clearly how Tinashe had thrown her punch, but why had it ended like this? After colliding with Tinashe's fist, the magical beast—renowned for its brute strength—had actually had its arm broken and been sent flying backward. Since when had humans become this strong?

"Next."

Tinashe shook her slightly sore right arm. As a magician, she truly lacked talent and prospects, but as a warrior, no one could match her in a head-on test of physical strength—not even the magical beast before her.

"Roar!!"

Seeing their companion injured, the magical beasts could no longer suppress the fury in their hearts. At the roar of a tiger-type magical beast, they charged at Tinashe together, and the green-haired princess also hoisted her long spear to meet the enemy.

Tinashe had just sliced open a Steel-Backed Beast renowned for its defense when a winged flying tiger lunged from the front. The green-haired princess was well-prepared; she gave a light leap to dodge its claw strike, and without giving it a chance to attack again, she stomped her foot right onto its head. Her own weight, amplified by the blessing of the Beast's Might, forcefully shattered its skull.

There were certainly magical beasts that used magic attacks, but Tinashe's armor was made of unknown materials, embedded with a terrifying number of defensive magic arrays. As soon as one shattered, another took its place. Facing such an iron turtle, the magical beasts had no choice but to use the most primitive methods to attack her exposed areas.

The first time the magical beasts truly managed to injure Tinashe was during a sneak attack. A mole-type magical beast had stealthily bypassed Tinashe, attempting to attack Ruby, who was still dealing with the thunderbirds. Even though the perceptive green-haired princess disregarded her own safety to hurl her long spear and skewer its head, her own left arm was clawed by an unknown magical beast, leaving her bleeding profusely.

Just as the magical beasts prepared to swarm her once again, the General Mantis called a halt. Instead, it walked on its bent legs right up to Tinashe, its intent clear: it wanted a one-on-one duel.

"Does that mean you're very confident in yourself?"

Tinashe nodded, accepting the duel. She then walked over, pulled her long spear out of the dead beast, and glanced over to see that Ruby hadn't finished off all the thunderbirds yet. However, Tinashe didn't want Ruby's help; what she had in mind was to finish this quickly and go help him.

*Swish*

Just as Tinashe settled into her combat stance, she was forced to change and thrust her spear horizontally. Had she not done so, she would have been sliced in two by a lightning-fast blade that was almost imperceptible to the naked eye. She had only been able to spot it entirely thanks to her beast-like intuition.

Seeing its strike blocked, the General Mantis didn't hesitate for a moment to lift its other forelimb and attack Tinashe's lower body. Subconsciously releasing the long spear hooked by the mantis's forelimb, she executed a backflip to narrowly evade the blow, but the lethal forelimb immediately slashed toward the ground, forcing her to roll across the earth to escape its massive blade.

There was a reason the General Mantis was called a general. Its movements were swift, and the way it wielded its pair of forelimbs was nothing short of miraculous. Purely in terms of physical strength, even an eighth-level magical beast might not be its match, because its swordsmanship was simply too formidable. Even Tinashe could only barely fend it off, finding no opportunity to counterattack.

*Clang*

Just as it looked like Tinashe was about to be sliced in two, the thunderous boom heard earlier rang out once more. A bullet accurately struck the General Mantis on the head, but unlike the thunderbirds, a seventh-level magical beast's shell was far superior to any armor. The bullet left nothing more than a faint white mark before failing entirely.

"Damn it, is the power too low? Dragon, heavy ordnance sequence eighty-two, Barrett sniper rifle."

Ruby hadn't expected the General Mantis's shell to be so tough, and he immediately ordered Dragon to transform again. However, the mechanism of the Barrett rifle was far more complex than the SG500; no matter how fast Dragon was, it would still take a moment. During this time, Tinashe would simply have to endure on her own.

Facing the sudden attack, the General Mantis paused for a moment, but it quickly realized that Ruby's weapon couldn't harm it. Shaking its head twice, it resumed its pursuit of Tinashe.

This brief pause bought Tinashe a moment to catch her breath. She picked up the long spear from the ground and clashed with the General Mantis once more. This time, the green-haired princess's offensive momentum was completely different. It seemed that seeing Ruby safe and sound had finally steadied her anxious heart; she deflected the slashing twin blades with her spear and delivered a heavy kick to the General Mantis's abdomen, dealing it a severe blow.

"Gahhh!"

The General Mantis's abdomen was extremely soft, and after being kicked, it coughed up a mouthful of purple blood. But this only stirred its ferocity. Completely abandoning defense, it fought desperately alongside Tinashe. Its two massive blades moved with sweeping, uninhibited arcs, leaving countless wounds on the green-haired princess. If not for her armor protecting all her vital organs, she probably would have died long ago.

Tinashe was not having an easy time of it either. She could feel her body growing increasingly sluggish. Poison—it was the quintessential trump card of high-level insectoid magical beasts, and the venom of a seventh-level beast was unimaginably potent. She could feel that she had at most one minute left.

She had to finish off the General Mantis within this minute, otherwise Ruby, who was behind her, might be in danger, and that was something she absolutely could not allow to happen. Matters having reached this point, she abandoned defense entirely. Enduring the violent flurry of twin blades, she charged straight into the General Mantis's embrace. The price was a series of fine cuts across her face and deep gashes torn into her thighs, leaving her entire body battered and ruined.

Yet such a sacrifice was not without reward. Ducking her head to evade a swinging blade, she thrust her long spear straight into the General Mantis's chest. She had managed to figure out roughly where an insectoid magical beast's magic crystal was located; with a bit of luck, she could shatter it!

"Tinashe, tilt your head to the left!"

At that moment, Ruby's voice reached Tinashe's ears once more. Without a second thought, she followed his instruction and tilted her head. An armor-piercing round of incredible destructive power slammed into the General Mantis's head. Its proudly defended carapace was shattered like tofu, and half of its head was blasted into pulp.

Yet the vitality of an insectoid magical beast was astonishingly resilient. As long as the magic crystal remained intact, it could still be saved, even with half its head gone. The most urgent task was to drive the blindly lucky Tinashe out of its embrace. The General Mantis could feel that the tip of that long spear was pressing directly against its magic crystal.

The best choice now was naturally to swing its blade and force her back. The General Mantis's right arm curved around in an arc, slashing toward Tinashe's head. But no one expected that instead of retreating, she thrust her body further forward. Empowered by the Beast's Might, the General Mantis's magic crystal shattered instantly, but its forelimb also swept across Tinashe's eyes.

"Im... pres... sive."

The General Mantis's mouthparts suddenly emitted a halting, imperfect human voice. It had never expected Tinashe to go down with it, nor did it know what kind of conviction had supported her in doing so. Having uttered those words, it slowly toppled to the ground and lay still.

"Hey, Tinashe, are you alright?"

Having fired his shot, Ruby had broken into a sprint. When he reached the spot, he managed to catch Tinashe just as she was about to collapse. Her condition was nothing short of horrific, but the most heartbreaking sight was her eyes; two trails of blood flowed down from her eye sockets. Ruby hadn't imagined she would be injured so severely.

"I said... I would hand you safely over to Mena... It's fine."

Though Tinashe's spirit remained stubborn, her body had clearly reached its absolute limit. With those words, she lost consciousness.

"Mageaona!!!"

The surrounding magical beasts seemed only just to realize that their leader was dead. All that remained for them was to avenge it by tearing these two humans to pieces. Looking at the menacing, closing ranks of beasts, Ruby knew there was no way he could protect Tinashe and escape alone. The only one capable of resolving this predicament was that young female Archmage.

Ruby's voice seemed to summon a miracle. The hair ribbon he kept stored in his pocket emitted a dazzling radiance. A petite, red-haired maiden materialized out of thin air, a radiant Dragon Crescent Halvard sweeping away every magical beast before her in a single strike.

"Though I'm not Mageaona, I won't let you down too badly. The Holy Empire Alliance, the Black Stone Empire, has come to your aid."

As the maiden turned around, Ruby finally saw her face. A faint, serene smile still hung upon it—the strongest battle mage in history had appeared at Ruby's call.