44: How much mental energy does he actually have?

The three people around him immediately gasped.

The Mercenary stared at Ronan with a face full of disbelief.

If he hadn't seen it wrong, this white-haired brat had paid a significant price to open the Altar.

How could he have fully recovered in such a short amount of time?!

And the moment he made a move, it was a dangerous magic that made one's eyebrows twitch wildly.

Kane's years of combat experience told him that if he were hit by such an arrow while unprepared, he probably wouldn't even be able to be saved.

What's more, there was a whole row of these dangerous magic arrows!

"You..." For a moment, the Vice Commander didn't know how to respond.

"White, White Night?" Red Star stared with wide eyes, tentatively calling Ronan's name.

He couldn't understand how Ronan, who was in a state of exhaustion just now, could suddenly act as if nothing had happened.

Seeing the Polluters attacking, he was actually able to condense so many Elemental Ice Arrows!

Just how much Spiritual Power would it take to pull that off... As a fellow mage, Red Star naturally understood Elemental Flying Arrows.

Based on that row of ice arrows, he could roughly estimate the amount of Spiritual Power required.

It undoubtedly required a massive investment of Spiritual Power!

He... just how much Spiritual Power does he have?!

Red Star roared inwardly, unable to believe the reality before his eyes.

Evil Axe's attitude was the exact opposite of the previous two.

He had originally been pondering how he and Drill Mouse could get the Captain and the two ladies out.

Now, things were better.

Not only was the Captain fine, but it seemed there was a chance for a super combo move... Evil Axe's grin almost reached his ears.

"Captain! What about the two ladies?"

He looked around and realized there wasn't a single safe spot in this square.

"Call Drill Mouse back."

Ronan scanned the area and found that only the raised platform of the Altar was sufficient to face the enemy. "Get on the Altar first."

After Faros carried Annual Ring onto the Altar, he walked back down and continued by picking up Red Star.

Ronan and Evil Axe followed behind him, and the four of them climbed onto the Altar together.

On the Altar.

Annual Ring crouched on the ground, obsessively studying the unknown runes on the Altar.

He muttered words under his breath that only he could hear.

"Red Star, come look!"

He suddenly shouted, startling Red Star on Faros's back.

"What pollution? Haha, this is all... hahaha..."

Annual Ring was in a state of frenzy, laughing wildly and twitching incessantly on the ground.

"Annual Ring!" Red Star struggled down from Faros's back, ran to Annual Ring, and shook his shoulders hard. "Snap out of it!"

"Has he gone mad?"

Kane descended from the air and glanced at the unknown runes in front of Annual Ring.

"Is he polluted?"

Evil Axe was somewhat uncertain; he found a spot furthest from Annual Ring and set Ash Leaf and Red Hammer down.

"Mr. Dwarf, this isn't pollution..." Red Star hesitated, then shook his head. "This can't go on..."

His gaze gradually became firm as he pointed a finger at the back of Annual Ring's neck.

Then, controlling his strength, he released a slight magical shock, knocking Annual Ring unconscious.

"If you knock him out like that, can this artificial puppet still be used?"

The Vice Commander pointed at Faros, who was standing motionless nearby.

"Artificial what?" Evil Axe had never heard of such a thing.

Ronan, however, reacted instantly.

No wonder he was the only one without a codename, hadn't said a word the entire time, and could repeatedly perform precise coordination with Annual Ring... In that case, when the switch was activated earlier, the other party didn't intentionally want to drag him down, but rather there were only two people to begin with... Damn, it was a misunderstanding... "It's fine, Faros can independently follow the orders of Academy members," Red Star explained. At the same time, he completed the authority verification for the artificial puppet through his Spiritual Power, gaining control over Faros.

Ronan turned to Evil Axe and asked, "Where's Drill Mouse?"

Evil Axe pointed upward. "He's almost here."

Ronan looked in the direction he pointed and saw a small figure clinging to the stone wall diagonally above the square.

"Captain, don't worry about me. I'll come down on my own in a bit."

Drill Mouse's hands and feet were covered in a layer of fluorescence, allowing him to stick firmly to the stone wall without falling.

This was likely an Assassin skill in effect.

At his height, there was no need to worry about being attacked by the Polluters below.

"Then be careful."

Ronan gave a word of caution and casually fired an ice arrow toward the bottom of the Altar, instantly piercing through the bodies of two Polluters.

Cold air spread out, causing several nearby Polluters and a small surrounding area to freeze completely.

But immediately, more Polluters surging from behind directly covered the area.

"There are too many of them."

After gaining control of the artificial puppet, Red Star ordered it to attack the Polluters directly.

Faros's fireballs were fast and accurate, often taking out a Polluter with a single shot.

But for the Polluters who had almost filled the square, it was clearly a drop in the bucket.

"Mr. Kane, aren't you going to make a move yet?"

The consumption from starting the switch earlier was clearly not small, and Red Star needed time to recover, so he could only place his hopes on the Vice Commander of the Shadow Mercenary Group.

To his surprise, the Vice Commander gave a cold snort and suddenly appeared in front of Red Star, his spear poised to strike his face.

"The likes of you think you can order—"

Kane's words stopped abruptly mid-sentence.

He suddenly felt a chill coming from behind him.

Turning his head, his gaze met Ronan's indifferent eyes and an ice arrow ready to be fired.

"Vice Commander Kane, my magic has a miraculous effect on aerial targets. Would you like to try it?" Ronan's tone was flat.

Ray-type magic was far more threatening to aerial targets than other magic of the same level.

The Mercenary's levitation ability gave him no advantage.

Ronan had already decided that if the Mercenary still thought of internal fighting at a time like this, he would place him on the same level as the Polluters in the square and prioritize targeting him.

"White-haired brat, do you really think I'm afraid of you?" The Vice Commander's face was dark, his body covered in a faint, eerie light.

"No one cares what you do, but I wouldn't recommend attacking the people here."

After Ronan finished speaking, he spread his five fingers.

The single ice arrow instantly split into five, their freezing tips all pointed at the man.

Seeing this, the Vice Commander's heart skipped a beat.

"I have underestimated you."

He turned away and gave up. The eerie light on his body lifted him up, and he slowly floated into the air not far from the Altar.

Then, the spear in his hand ignited with raging Black Flame, and he suddenly thrust it downward.

The Black Flame immediately transformed into a half-person-tall Flame Black Dog, charging straight down.

The Flame Black Dog rampaged among the Polluters, easily incinerating any nearby Polluters with every move.

It seemed that whatever the Vice Commander wanted to do, he had to eliminate these Polluters first.

Ronan looked at the Polluters gathering more and more below the Altar platform and said to Evil Axe,

"Evil Axe, how many times can your Spinning Throwing Axe circle the Altar?"

"With so many of them, circling once is fine. Any more and I'm afraid I won't be able to get my axe back."

Evil Axe looked at the swarming Polluters below, a troubled expression on his face.

Then, he became somewhat eager to try. "But Captain, if you can freeze them all and aren't afraid of the Altar being damaged, my ultimate move..."

"Mr. Dwarf, please don't do that," Red Star spoke up to stop him.

Ronan and Evil Axe turned their heads in unison.

Stared at by their questioning gazes, Red Star suddenly became a bit flustered. "This Altar contains multiple unknown magic circles inside..."

"If it's damaged haphazardly, it's very likely to cause the energy of the magic circles to go out of control, triggering a chain explosion..."

Ronan and Evil Axe turned their heads back in unison.