NOVEL WEB Chapter 222: Bravery
"Continue advancing! I'll engage the fell hag!" Hal exclaimed as loud as he could, jolting his despairing comrades awake.
Unbeknownst to him, Yisu's apathetic expression rippled slightly.
It was the first time someone called her a fell hag.
At this point, even Emmanuel didn't know what to do, and the officers very much appreciated Hal Fennec's heroics.
There simply wasn't much they could do to restore the soldiers' morale.
The members of the Boulder Guards, for one, didn't believe they could take Yisu down, since even Zephyron's personal cohort was slaughtered.
They could only rely on the Magna Prospect's bravery.
"You heard Sir Hal Fennec!!" Emmanuel roared, "The Chaos Magna Prospect will give us time! Advance!! Just a little more and we're through!"
Once the fell reinforcements arrived, they were done for.
Their only choice was to break through the still thin and clumsy Fell Beast lines ahead.
And so, the wizards of the Imperium, despite the gloomy and hopeless atmosphere, proceeded to attack once more.
Their hearts were wavering.
However, there was nowhere for them to retreat to.
If they returned to the cave, they would simply die of hunger and thirst, regretting their cowardice in their very last moments.
They could only advance, forcing themselves to roar as they fired volleys of elemental spells.
The beastly ranks in front of them once again began to suffer.
Meanwhile, their most reliable source of destruction, Ennya Kasai, was momentarily petrified in horror at her childhood friend's words.
The crazy bastard!!
How the hell would he stop the fell hag, when even Stiff Face's men couldn't?!
"Hal! What the hell are you saying!?" she shrieked, the despair in her heart flushed clean.
Aunty Helena would kill her if he allowed the stupidity to continue!
Unfortunately, she specialized in the fire element. There was simply no way for her to stop Hal.
Leaving a voice orb beside his childhood friend that whispered: "Ennya! The army needs you and your flames more than me! You're the only person who could help them break through fast enough! Don't worry about me, I'll focus on staying alive," Hal disappeared, reappearing in the night skies.
He knew he had to redirect Ennya's attention somehow, as he couldn't allow her to participate in the battle against the fell hag.
She would be killed.
Meanwhile, across from him hovered Yisu, whose apathy had returned.
The fell hag's gaze was certainly unsettling.
Hal gulped as he levitated, finding himself lucky to have finally drawn the [Mana Flight] spell.
He could at least contend with Yisu at the same altitude.
Otherwise, his bluff to give everyone a small moral boost would flop, plus he would be at a massive disadvantage.
As if he wasn't already…
"Heh, how courageous, Hal Fennec." Yisu began, sizing the young man up, now with a slight, eerie grin on her face. "What did you call me again? A fell hag? Heh, what if I acted the part, hmm? Instead of killing you…"
The fell hag licked her lips, her long tongue making Hal's skin crawl.
But Hal didn't give in.
He knew that he was being underestimated right now, and he was adept at using it to his advantage.
For example, everything a "mere prey" like him said would naturally be infuriating.
"You're not?" He asked with a confused expression, finding it lucky that Yisu was giving him a chance to buy time through mere words. "I'm not too familiar with your race yet, you see, so I just guessed based on your appearance. Aren't you already in your fifties?"
Hal was naturally exaggerating.
At most, she looked thirty-seven. Yisu was definitely nowhere near fifty.
The apathetic look on the fell hag's face cracked once more, a hint of fury making itself evident.
Hal was also secretly casting stacks of [Irritate] on her.
While the effects were minimal, there was no harm in preparing a few small advantages for himself, like [Frost Trap]s and [Chrono Trap]s.
His spellcasting had always been undetectable, and perhaps his opponent would make the mistake of making contact with one of his traps.
He was able to prepare one of both.
"Dumb brat, you think I don't know that you're trying to mess with my mental state? Also, do you think this would work? Tricks are meaningless in front of absolute power." Yisu sneered, tilting her head slightly to the side.
"I agree, and that's why your lord got cleaved in half. Still, I find his courage in attempting to pull his crap in front of Sir Zephyron quite admirable, you know?"
Hal wanted to keep engaging in a verbal war against the fell hag for a few more seconds.
Unfortunately, his words were a little too sharp for Yisu, causing her to snap immediately after:
"KEEP MY LORD'S NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH, HUMAN BRAT!" Yisu roared, scratching at the air two times before disappearing.
Hal panicked, not expecting the fell hag to suddenly turn hostile.
Weren't they sparring verbally?! What a sore loser!
He immediately [Zephyr Step]ped out of the invisible Spatial Rend's way, not daring to even attempt to block Yisu's attacks.
His repositioning spells would be the only reliable way for him to prolong the battle.
Even if he couldn't see the Spatial Rends, if he just repositioned a fair distance away, how would he be struck?
If anything, his advantage lay in his vast arsenal of spells.
But the moment he reappeared a few dozen meters to his left, so did Yisu, who suddenly appeared behind him.
Hal didn't even have time to look at her before having to [Licht Step] away again.
To his horror, the fell hag was behind him once more, her clawed hands already in a swiping motion.
'F*ck!' Hal cursed as he used [Blink], reappearing some distance away.
Yisu didn't follow this time, merely locking eyes with Hal as she remarked: "Hoh, just like Kurava said, you've quite the assorted bag of tricks, don't you? Let's see how long you can keep up, then."
The fell hag then vanished once more.