Chapter 0142

Cannon fodders always die. They aren’t called cannon fodders for nothing. If they don’t die, then they aren’t canon fodders but side characters.

Tempest had never understood the behavior of cannon fodders nor does she understand the behavior of the main character who let said cannon fodder live because they want to slowly torture them. Just kill them all off and save the readers three to four hundred chapters of misery because, after a while, the cockroach character coming back over and over and over again gets really boring.

Cannon fodder dies! Not.

“Damn thief, you owe me 800 silvers,” Tempest yelled at Hannah. Cannon fodders should really be killed off right away to avoid the boring cockroach character coming back over and over and over again. Except this cannon fodder can’t be killed yet. Not until Tempest gets her money back first.

“I thought it was 600 silvers.” Yu Li Ming said.

“I heard you were charging her an extra 100 silver for interest so it was 700 silvers.” This was from Fenix.

“Ever heard of compound interest? Well, the damn girl owes me 800 silvers now.” Everyone, even the three bastards stealing her kill, gave her the dubious side eye glance. So she was a loan shark. So what!

Tempest’s group members all shared the same thought, “How much is she going to charge us for the mage robe and weapon?”

Three thieves, “Lucky we didn’t take the bear.”

Hannah, “...what 800 silvers?”

“You destroyed my charms! 800 silvers or suffer the consequences!” Tempest can’t make threats. She just can’t. She always ends up looking like a child playing dress up. She ends up looking like a cute cherub rather than the badass menace she was trying to be.

No one takes her seriously either.

Hannah walked up to Mark and started cuddling the idiot. “Dear, this was the idiot was I talking about earlier. The little charm seller.” Hannah looks up at Mark with an adoring gaze and in front of everyone gave him a quick peck on the mouth.

Tempest wanted to vomit. Really! Really! What is the world coming to when prepubescent children are making sexy sexy in front of her eyes? People into child pornography should die.

It is already made Tempest’s skin crawl watching the weird display of affection. Not only does she have to watch 13 or 14 years old kid make out, but she also has to watch them make googly eyes at each other. Wait, that the same thing!

FFF club where are you? I’d join your group if you show up and lynch the horrible couple. I don’t date any of its members because I might be lynched with the horrible couple before me, but still, go after these two bastards. And don’t forget to get my money back.

Not everyone shared Tempest's reaction to public display of affection. Yu Li Ming thought the couple was very shameless and she couldn’t wait to get far far away from them, lest she is infected with whatever disease they may be having. She kept inching back from the couple.

As for the rest of the group, they pity the poor fool for falling into a honey trap and not realizing it.

Mark, the poor fool, felt a sense of elation whenever Hannah became affectionate with him.

He thought Hannah was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Mark always experience a high whenever he was with Hannah. Hannah was incredible at Mark’s point of view. She had everything a man could ever want: looks, talents, intelligence, and status. Most of all, she adored him. She looks at him as if he was her whole world. Indeed, she’d be the perfect first wife.

“This is the little charm seller who insulted you earlier? Why don’t we teach them a lesson they’d never forget?” Mark's dopey gaze turns sinister once he turned towards Tempest’s group.

“Darling you are the best,” Hannah said in the most sugary sweet voice she can muster. “Let's teach them a lesson and be on our way.”

Tempest snorted her contempt. She always wanted to do that, show her contempt toward idiots. “Let’s see if you have the power to back up your claim.”

Bei Ting Mao and the others sense where the conversation was headed and had their weapons out, ready for a battle. The spirits did a good job of choosing her group members. They aren’t wishy-washy cultivators who sway in the direction of the wind. They know how to read the situation and act accordingly.

“Oi, you two causing trouble again? Watch yourselves before you pick one someone you're not supposed to.”

Tempest knew about the three people that have come with Hannah but didn’t join the confrontation until now.

“You’re a day late with the reminder. She already picked on someone she’s not supposed to.” Tempest retorted to the newcomer.

“Guess we have to fight.” one of the newcomers said before slowly pulling out his sword to emphasize his reluctance. Seems like the group cohesiveness wasn’t as strong as they thought it was. Still, a group was a group. The other three, two girls and one guy, couldn’t stand back watch as their group members another group. They had to come out and join the confrontation even if they didn’t want to. Peer pressure at its finest.

“Seven against six. Bring it on.” Tempest said as she brought out her Cloud sword and readied her spells.

In the movies, major fight scenes involving more than one important character always show the important characters avoiding the attacks and countering with one of their own, generally resulting in the death of their opponents.

Mages fighting other mages were nothing like the movies.

All gamers know mages do the most damage behind a tank or better yet, a row of tanks. They do not rush the enemies, swinging their sword in a blaze of glory like infantry. That’s just asking to be killed. Mages are more like marines attacking people with AK47 or snipers picking off their opponents. Knights became obsolete when guns came into the picture for a reason.

One would expect Bei Ting Mao to forget this fact. He trained the body as his immortal potential so when he sees a fight, he’d rush straight towards the enemy and battle them in close combat.

Except Tempest also rushed in to fight her opponent.

Tempest didn’t know why she rushed in either. Her hands itched to kill Hannah. That is the fate of a cannon fodder. They die. Tempest stopped the murderous urge, not because she feared the consequences, but because she wanted to get her money back. Granted, she could have gotten her silvers from Hannah’s cold, dead corpse but she wanted to honorably and justly redeems her sisters with clean money.

When they were talking, Tempest could hold back her strange urges. When the fighting started, the need to kill Hannah overwhelmed her common sense. She charged into the group like a bull.

Use Flash Step to get close to Hannah and attack.

Her attack was blocked by a Stone Wall, well then, she’ll fly over the wall and attack.

There’s another wall blocking Tempest from Hannah. Hmph, the wall isn’t unbreakable. Spiraling Ice Bolt. Wall, meet big drill. Finally, the entire wall cracked under Tempest’s attack, exposing a surprise Hannah to Tempest’s murderous gaze.

Hannah and the rest of the group didn’t take Tempest seriously even though they can feel the killing intent coming off of Tempest. Hannah was used to having Skylar’s protection when she was living in the Augar Kingdom that she ran wild. There was nothing she didn’t consider doing because if nothing else, there is Skylar to protect her. In addition to Skylar, Hannah gained another backer, Mark, the sixth prince of the Solen kingdom. With two powerful personages from two very powerful kingdoms backing her, who dares harm her?

“Ice Bolt. Ice Bolt. Ice Bolt. Ice Bolt. Ice Bolt.” Tempest shot off five Ice Bolt in a row while she used her Cloud Sword to parry the attack from flunky one. Or is it flunky two? Background characters are all alike. They are merely a blurb in her quest to kill Hannah.

Tempest continued her Ice Bolt barrage while fighting in close combat with one of the flunkies. After five minutes of intense battle, she still couldn’t kill the flunky she was fighting with.

Tempest has a large mana reserve but she doesn’t know a lot of spells. She essential has three basic attack spells, two which she could modify for a stronger attack power, one she can’t openly use due to her cover and two movement spells. She also has an Illusion. With her intense focus on Hannah, Tempest wasn’t in the right state of mind to effectively use the spell.

She was smart enough to buff herself with both As Swift as the Wind and Flash Step. The two spells work on different principals but they have a slight synergy with each other, increase Tempest’s movement speed. Her fast footwork, casting speed and large mana reserves gave her an edge over the flunky she was fighting but wasn’t enough.

At first, flunky one was being pushed back by Tempest’s momentum. He barely dodges a few of Tempest’s trickier attacks. Once he figured out Tempest’s repertoire of spells, or lack thereof, and her inept sword technique, he was able to get the upper hand against Tempest.

Tempest was too fast for him to get in a killing shot but he was able to whittle away at her stamina with minor cuts.

The longer Tempest fought, the colder she became. By now she was almost like a robot - cold, unfeeling and intensely focused on her objective. Everything else aside from the target is extraneous. She wanted to get to Hannah. The fool is constantly getting in her way. Then the fool will die.

Tempest’s attack began to get faster and faster. The rough edges to her sword technique began to smooth out, each attack less clumsy than before.

Tempest began to combine the swordplay with her magic, shooting an Ice Bolt here or a Wind Blade there to cover her any opening she has after she executes her sword technique.

Six moves.

The obstacle is floundering.

In six moves, Tempest can kill the obstacle and get to Hannah. Victory was almost within her grasp until Bei Ting Mao grabbed her by the collar of her mage robe and went on a full retreat.

“Damn it.”