Sorcerer’s Handbook

This must be my third time engaging in personal combat, Demilo thought.

Commanders are meant to lead from the rear, but when the troops are wiped out, it’s only natural for a commander to enter the battlefield to complete strategic objectives. Even if one dies in battle, the Divine Master will awaken you from memory once more, with all the Merit from past lives accumulating.

For the Divine Master, a suitable Legion commander is a scarce resource. Not all Sorcerer Projections qualify to become a heroic soul—most cannot unearth a talent for command. And even with such a talent, there’s no guarantee of alignment with the power’s interests. For example, a sorcerer with a talent for “commanding undead units” would be meaningless in Star Hall, which has no undead units to command.

Different Sorcerer Projections have varying command talents, but command is not yet a Magical Faction recognized by the Virtual Realm, and thus, it cannot receive assistance from it. It relies solely on the talent of the commander.

A commander like Demilo, who spent hundreds of years cultivating a talent for “logistics magic,” is someone the Divine Master would never give up. There are only a few logistics commanders in Star Hall, and each one can accelerate the pace of resource collection.

If he were to flee… There is no option to flee. When commanders realize that dying in battle is more cost-effective, none choose to escape. After all, they are just puppets with memories, with thought patterns that are straight, single-lane roads, executing only the commands given to them.

—But since meeting this group of sorcerers, he has been performing tasks beyond those commands.

Demilo looked at the massive bow in his left hand, a symbol of the ‘Star Archer’ unit type he had appropriated for himself. Like Knowledge Creatures, commanders undergo different mutations based on their own traits when they are assigned a unit type—because he mastered the “Fierce Tyrant’s Calamity Bow” and the “Diamond Splitting Arrow” Miracles, his Star Archer mutated accordingly. A normal Star Archer wouldn’t have such a large bow or such dazzling arrows.

And compared to Knowledge Creatures, commanders have one advantage that can’t be ignored.

For example, right now, Demilo had equipped himself with the cumulative power of eight ‘Star Archer’ minions. This action didn’t increase his damage output, but the armor could indeed be stacked; while a single Star Archer’s armor might only have two layers, stacking it eight times resulted in a total of 16 layers.

The numerical increase didn’t merely boost the armor’s hit points; it also meant a significant surge in the armor’s damage reduction factor!

The higher the number of armor layers, the greater the damage mitigation of the outermost layer, and naturally, the more damage required to break through a layer.

Suppose each layer of armor has 100 hit points and a 10% damage reduction. Then, to shatter one layer of armor, one would need to inflict 112 points of damage. But with two layers of armor, the outermost second layer would have a 14% damage reduction, requiring 117 points of damage to break through!

Each layer of armor has a different damage reduction factor, and with each layer, the reduction increases!

Though the factor can’t rise indefinitely, Demilo, with his 16 layers, enjoyed nearly 50% damage reduction on his outermost armor. The steel beast’s blow, which could have penetrated three layers of armor, could only tear through the 16th layer, leaving the 15th, 14th, and so on untouched…

This is why soldiers are more important than minions—with enough soldiers, even if all minions are lost, a heroic soul can still be an army unto themselves!

In the last two “Six Countries’ Grand Seal Wars,” Demilo once wrapped himself with the power of 300 Star Archer units, standing at a tactical vantage point and single-handedly suppressing multiple enemy Legions. For this, he was awarded the “Invincible Heroic Soul” medal and was granted triple Merit by the Divine Master.

Before his armor could be shattered, he had all the time in the world to execute these Sorcerers slowly.

Drawing the bow fully, Demilo aimed at the charging steel beast.

Buzz!

Suddenly, a whining sound of tire friction—just as the sports car was about to crash, it braked sharply and drifted, drawing a doughnut-like skid mark, floating and sliding in front of Demilo.

Trying to disrupt my shooting accuracy, which means this steel monster can’t withstand many of my shots either… Demilo instantly analyzed the opponent’s intentions and weaknesses. However, at that moment, the opposing Sorcerer suddenly popped their head out to observe!

Clang!

Although Demilo’s reaction was swift, the Sorcerer seemed to have lured him into firing prematurely, showing themselves only to duck back immediately. In that split second, the sports car fiercely struck Demilo, destroying his 15th layer of armor.

Cunning man.

Demilo revised his battle strategy once more, no longer attempting to shoot the Sorcerer but instead focusing on demolishing the steel beast. However, as the steel behemoth continued to run circles, the Star Shepherd realized he had been duped.

Even after leaving the cave, the steel beast’s rear continuously expelled a poisonous fog. Although the poison dissipated quickly in the open air, after several rounds, the concentration of the dark green poison fog had thickened enough to obscure vision!

If he wanted to perform a long-range shot, even if he could split his arrow into three, most likely only one would hit its target. Given the steel beast’s high speed, its unpredictable path, and the added complication of reduced visibility, it was uncertain whether Demilo could shatter their mount before his own armor failed.

This meant that to improve his shooting accuracy, Demilo was left with only one choice—

Hum!

As the sports car burst from the fog to crush its enemy, the long-awaiting Demilo released his bowstring!

A direct, hard confrontation!

He would shoot only when the steel beast was up close to ensure every arrow achieved its purpose!

Demilo was utterly convinced that before his armor shattered, the adversary’s mount would be torn into pieces by his arrows first!

Indeed, that would be the case in theory.

If no one interfered.

Just as Demilo was about to be struck by the blade, several threads shot out from the sports car like streams of water, wrapping gently yet firmly around his waist!

Then, with a fierce tug!

Demilo couldn’t escape the entanglement of the threads, nor was he knocked away by the sports car. Instead, he was forced to keep close contact with the Evil Blade. He was not panicked, but rather curious—the terror of the steel behemoth did not lie in the segments of the blade that could easily slice through a Soul, but in the powerful inertia enhanced by its speed.

Now being pulled by the threads, he certainly faced Continuous Damage from the blade, but compared to the previous collision damage, the current hurt was as negligible as an attack with nail clippers.

However, being controlled like this was no solution. Just as Demilo thought to cut the threads, he found the steel beast had already pushed him clear of the poison fog.

Why would it willingly give up the advantage of reduced visibility? Out in the open, they had no capital to contend with him.

Could it be…

Feeling a sudden realization, Demilo looked back and discovered that behind him was the cave wall!

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