Chapter 42: The Fleeing Water Wizard

As soon as Medusa emerged from the woods, she sensed the presence of Wang Xi and Pinocchio, instantly whirling around to "look" straight at them.

Swish—

Wang Xi immediately lowered his gaze.
Eyes on his nose, nose on his heart.
The little person inside his heart muttered incessantly: Wang Xi, oh Wang Xi, what kind of dangerous mines haven't you defused before? Whatever you do, don't lose your cool now.

But...
She is really well-endowed.

"Whoa! There's an eye on each side of her chest!"
At that moment, Pinocchio's exclamation rang out beside him.

Huh?
Wang Xi was stunned.
He glanced sideways at Pinocchio, only to find the boy's face filled with a look of naive wonder, staring fixedly at the beautiful snake-woman.

Dude, seriously? How are you completely fine?
On second thought.
Pinocchio was a wooden boy, unaffected by the petrifying curse of eye contact; that actually seemed quite reasonable.
But you told me not to look, yet you're hogging the feast all by yourself—isn't that a bit unneighborly...
I really wanted to look too!

"Geppetto! Geppetto!"
Pinocchio, looking excited, nudged Wang Xi with his elbow, and then continued:
"I've never seen such a magnificent woman in the Clockwork Kingdom—no, I haven't seen one in the Stag Kingdom either! How amazing!"

"You..."
Wang Xi almost cursed aloud.
For goodness' sake, will you please shut up? I'm begging you.
Tearing his hair out mentally, he forced an air of disdain and said:
"Don't make a fuss. Far away in the East, there is a God of War whose head was chopped off and whose eyes grew on his chest, and he even has an extra mouth right on his belly button!"

"Wow!" Pinocchio gasped in immediate astonishment, quickly turning his head to look at Wang Xi. "Is it really that amazing? Geppetto, you are so knowledgeable!"

Right at that moment, Medusa roared in a hoarse voice, saturated with hatred and fury:
"Damn humans!!"

Medusa's roar instantly drew the attention of Arachne, the Weaver Banshee.
The pale arachnid woman turned her head, and upon seeing the two dark-haired men, her expression shifted drastically into one of grim loathing. She shrieked:
"Humans! It was you who killed my children!"

Wang Xi's eyelids twitched.
Fight, why aren't you fighting anymore?
If you don't fight, how am I supposed to scavenge the spoils?!

These two banshees seemed to harbor an intense hatred for humans. Upon spotting him and Pinocchio, they had tacitly declared a truce, stopping their fight to present a united front instead.

Wang Xi's mind raced as he calculated the combat strengths of both sides.
If he went all out, he should be able to temporarily stall the three-star elite spider-woman. Meanwhile, Pinocchio was immune to the petrifying curse—acting as the ultimate counter to the snake-woman—and his stat rating was a tier higher than hers anyway.
Once Pinocchio defeated the snake-woman and turned around to help him...
The advantage in this scenario was entirely on his side!

"Pinocchio, Medusa is all yours!"
Wang Xi muttered with his gaze cast downward.

The handsome boy flashed a brilliant smile.
"No problem, Geppetto!"
With that, he raised his right arm, splaying his five fingers toward Medusa. His left hand tightly gripped his right wrist, as if treating his right arm like some sort of weapon.

"Dawn Roar—"
Pinocchio squinted one eye to aim and let out a fierce shout.

Bang!!
A loud explosion echoed.
Palms bursting from the boy's hand were colorful hard candies, scattering everywhere like a scattered floral display.
A sweet, cloying fragrance filled the air, leaving both Wang Xi and Pinocchio frozen in place.

Fizzy crackles...
Pinocchio's arm sparked with electrical arcs, as if suffering some kind of malfunction. Thick, viscous syrup began to ooze from the pitch-black hole in his palm.

"I... I'm sorry, Geppetto. That cunning Sugar Witch must have cast some despicable magic on me."
Pinocchio said with a bitter expression, turning his head back.
"I'm done for—"

Before he could finish his sentence,
Bang!!

A giant boulder formed from mud and gravel came flying through the air, smashing Pinocchio away.
Without a second thought, Wang Xi turned and broke into a full sprint.

You couldn't entirely blame Pinocchio for short-circuiting at the crucial moment; who could have foreseen such an accident? The plan had changed, and the only thing to do now was to flee the banshees' pursuit as best as they could.
Wang Xi darted forward a dozen meters and hauled up Pinocchio, who had landed heavily and was stumbling around in a daze.

"Run!" he barked concisely.

Fortunately, Pinocchio was a metal boy, rugged and durable. Despite being struck by such a violent boulder, he was completely unhurt and immediately scrambled up to keep pace.

"Humans—"
A chilling shriek echoed from behind.

Wang Xi didn't dare look back, catching only a glimpse from the corner of his eye.
Two figures, one pale and one green, were closing in at an astonishing speed. Medusa raised her hand to cast a spell, causing the soil on the ground to rumble and shake.
Instantly, dirt and stones levitated on their own, condensing into a giant hand larger than a person, hurtling directly down toward Wang Xi and Pinocchio!

A beggar's version of the Buddha's Palm?!
I'm no monkey either!
Wang Xi's heart tightened.

He took a deep breath and whipped his hand backward.
—"Water Blade", "Water Arrow"

With a flick of his wrist, four or five flying blades composed of flowing water whistled through the air, striking the root of the mud-giant's middle finger with a crackling impact as mud splattered everywhere.
A spindle-shaped arrow of water followed closely behind, acting like the straw that broke the camel's back, completely piercing through the base of the finger.

Puff!!
The thick, waist-sized mud-stone middle finger snapped mid-air, detaching from the palm and spinning backward as it flew.
Followed by a loud crash, the giant hand slammed down.

Timing it right, Wang Xi grabbed Pinocchio and lunged forward... the two of them narrowly diving into the vacant space left by the missing middle finger. The mud-palm crashed down with a deafening thud that shook the earth, yet they emerged completely unscathed.

The two scrambled up swiftly and bolted away in a blur.

"Geppetto, thank..."
Pinocchio grinned, covered in dust.

Wang Xi glanced at him, thinking privately that this guy certainly had nerves of steel, and muttered a reminder:
"Don't speak, just run for now!"

Whoosh—
In his peripheral vision, the pale arachnid woman wore a ferocious expression as she raised her arms, splaying her fingers and pulling them back sharply.
A blob of viscous black substance wriggled in her palm, then shot toward the two like a cannonball. In mid-flight, the substance rapidly expanded, forming an airtight black web, clearly intent on wrapping them up.

These black threads are poisonous!
Wang Xi took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
Then, he whipped his hand backward once more.
—"Tidal Blade"

This was the first time he had deployed this dark-green magic card.
Gurgle!
A gush of water instantly materialized in his palm, then violently jetted outward, forming a spiraling column of water the thickness of an arm.
Splash—

That surging, spiraling water current acted like an elongated blade, sweeping diagonally from bottom to top across the multi-meter-wide black web, slicing cleanly right through it!
Wang Xi didn't halt the release of the "Tidal Blade"; curling his fingers into a claw, he swung his arm in another arc.
The spiraling water current swept horizontally like a flash of sword light, spanning over a dozen meters as it slashed across the pursuing spider-woman and snake-woman in succession.

"?! "
The two banshees were startled and hurriedly raised their arms in defense.
The spider-woman crossed her arms, a layer of viscous black matter coating her skin, while the snake-woman raised only one hand to cast a spell, causing the earth in front of her to violently bulge upward into a stone wall.

Screeech—
A sharp, piercing splash echoed as the spiraling water column surged past, kicking up a mist of water droplets.
The black coating on the spider-woman's arms was pierced, drawing blood from her tender skin. The stone wall erected by the snake-woman's spell was split cleanly in two, the cut surface impeccably smooth.

Impeded in their movement, the two banshees inevitably paused.
But when they raised their eyes again, peering through the mist, the two young humans were nowhere to be seen.

"Damn water-spraying wizard!!"
Soaked from head to toe, Medusa arched her delicate brows and shrieked with a face full of frost.
"Ah—"

Hearing the shrill shrieks and roars echoing from far behind, Wang Xi's heart tightened.
I really have become a water-spraying wizard...
He cursed inwardly, dragging Pinocchio along to accelerate his desperate sprint.

After running for a few minutes and confirming that the two banshees weren't giving chase anymore, Wang Xi finally stopped, panting heavily.
At that moment, his face was pale, and his fingers trembled slightly.
Just those few short seconds of releasing the "Tidal Blade" felt as though his entire body had been hollowed out.

"Geppetto, are you okay?"
Pinocchio, entirely devoid of heavy breathing, walked over to support him with a concerned expression.
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault."
"It's fine..." Wang Xi wheezed, shaking his head. "After all, you couldn't have known the Sugar Witch left magic on you to suppress your strength."

Pinocchio looked guilty and sighed:
"I originally meant to help you, but in the end, you saved me again. But don't worry, Geppetto, I'll be able to self-purify the candy magic soon..."

Wang Xi grunted in acknowledgement and patted the boy's shoulder with a smile, as if to say it was nothing to worry about.
This gesture deeply moved Pinocchio, causing his face to blossom with a radiant smile once more.

A moment later, the two exited the depths of the magical forest, stopping beside a towering ancient tree.

"Where is my horse?!"
Wang Xi circled the tree trunk, only to find the mark he had left behind, while the brownish-red fine horse he had bought from the Spinning Wheel Chamber of Commerce—along with its rope—was completely gone.

"Did your horse disappear?"
Pinocchio stepped forward, asking with innocent curiosity.
"I..."
Wang Xi glanced at him and opened his mouth.
What is wrong with you?
Every time you put on that innocent look, you always say things that cause misunderstandings, making one's heart either race with irritation or freeze with chill.

He looked back at the empty patch of tree line.
Thief! Absolute thieves!!
Who stole my horse?!
He cursed mentally.

"Whatever." He looked indifferently at Pinocchio. "Let's head back to Daphnele first. I need to deliver my commission, and by the way, buy a new horse and a donkey."

The boy naturally agreed.
He didn't seem to have any pressing matters of his own and decided to tag along with Wang Xi all the way.
The two left the spot, heading toward the outer fringes of the forest, intending to make it back to Daphnele before dusk.

Just as they were about to emerge from the forest, however:
Clop, clop...

A horse slowly trotted into view along the path ahead.
Wang Xi immediately halted his steps.
Brownish-red coat, robust physique, top-tier reins... wasn't that precisely his missing horse?!

Yet at this moment, sitting sideways upon the horse's back was a strange and tall figure.
It was an elegant and mature woman.
She wore a pale-pink noble corset and an embroidered silk bustle skirt. Golden, voluminous waves of hair cascaded down to her waist, with two curling locks falling on either side of her forehead.
Her skin was fair, her facial features exquisite. Especially her high bridge of nose and those pair of emerald-green eyes added a noble temperament to her pretty face.

At that moment, the corner of the woman's mouth curved into a smile.

"Oh no..."
Pinocchio stiffened his body and muttered under his breath.

Wang Xi felt a sudden premonition of danger and looked closely—

[Sugar Witch · Bev (Yellow / Five-Star)]
The silver pattern symbolizing a hero unit covered the card entry, glaringly prominent.

"My dear goblin, Gruel."
The woman's calm, lazy voice drifted over.
"So this is where you were..."