Pillar of Yita

Within the emergency command center, the chairmen and vice-chairmen, whose gaze was exceedingly keen, immediately grasped Fang Hong’s intended route of action and understood his thoughts, ”Is he going to strike at those Dragon’s minions?”

Virus answered, ”He wants to launch a surprise attack, aiming to eliminate this batch of opponents before the other four Dragon’s minions arrive.”

Chenxi almost instantly assessed the power disparity between the two sides and quickly turned her head to shout at the holographic projection of Nether next to her, ”Nether, stop that kid of yours, even with a surprise attack, two Energy Angels can’t dispose of the opponents that swiftly.”

But it was already too late—

Fang Hong had already chosen to make his move.

He appeared right behind the three Dragon’s minions on their right rear side. This action made his intentions crystal clear to everyone, at Golande’s King’s Square, within the Dragon Horn Hall of Traveler’s Rest, the onlookers lacked much professional judgement but every single one of them held their breath in rapt attention.

That’s because they could also see the situation on the battlefield through another Clockwork Fairy. The four Dragon’s minions were surrounding from one direction, and they would soon appear at Fang Hong’s flank.

They at least understood that unless Fang Hong could knock down two of the monsters before they had a chance to react, there would be a chance for victory.

But was it possible?

Inside the hall of the emergency command center, KUN, Chenxi, Virus, Nether, and Odin all remained silent, sharing a similar assessment--it was highly unlikely. The levels of the Dragon’s minions were too high, and their reaction speeds upon being ambushed were remarkably fast.

Yet no one spoke up; speaking up at this point was already too late. Fang Hong had already appeared behind the enemy; even running away now would just be exposing himself. Perhaps all they could do was await a miracle or for the Dragon’s minions to make some fatal mistake themselves.

However, it seemed that mistake wasn’t forthcoming—

Fang Hong first opened a pale blue Light Gate, summoning the Energy Angels from within, while simultaneously raising his right hand to shoot a Flying Fist at one of the Dragon’s minions to his left, and almost at the same moment the Flying Fist was fired—

The Energy Angel initiated its attack.

”Margin!?”

Upon seeing this scene, both Nether and Virus almost simultaneously uttered this term.

And there was a stir on the square above as well. Of course, the people clearly saw the scene of Fang Hong’s move. Most didn’t have a deep understanding of the Combat Artisan occupation, but that didn’t stop the thought that arose in their minds:

”How is he able to control his Variant Sword-Bearer while his gloves are shooting out?”

Only a few people realized the answer to this problem.

Margin Technique—also known as Preemptive Command, it was merely a legendary domain among the top Combat Artisans in the New World. Some believed this technique would usher in the next era for Combat Artisans, but many years passed, and the explorations in this domain seemed to lead to a dead end.

Beyond a single command, once a Flexible Construct entered an uncontrollable state, this technique didn’t seem very effective.

Its only use seemed to be just for situations like the current one—

It allowed Combat Artisans to control as many Flexible Constructs as possible in an uncontrollable state, and under certain conditions, it could temporarily increase the upper limit of a Combat Artisan’s control over Flexible Constructs.

”But what’s the use?” Virus frowned, ”Does he think, with three actions taken together, he could instantly defeat one of the Dragon’s minions?”

Nether just silently watched this scene, saying nothing.

Although Preemptive Command was somewhat ineffective, in the New World it was still a highly advanced skill. The enemy’s ability to use such a skill in a real combat situation at this stage was sincerely moving.

This youngster seemed to always be refreshing her knowledge time and time again.

But it seemed Virus’s judgement was not wrong.

The Dragon’s minions on the fourth island had levels that far exceeded fifteen, and their reaction speed seemed much faster than Fang Hong had anticipated. That monster actually managed to react in the nick of time, turning around while simultaneously swatting with its paw to knock away Fang Hong’s Flying Fist.

And in the next moment, it sideways dodged, narrowly avoiding the first Energy Angel’s attack by a hair’s breadth, and as for the Energy Angel arriving from the other side—”It won’t hit...” Not just Virus and Nether, but even the ordinary people watching this scene realized that the follow-up attack by the Energy Angel would also be dodged by the opponent.

The disparity in strength was too large.

Dual-control Energy Angels, the aerial Clockwork Fairy, and a Rocket Fist were almost the limits of Multi-Control, but even under such circumstances, that Dragon’s minion managed to dodge Fang Hong’s perfect ambush in the first instant.

The three-on-one combat that followed, no one was optimistic about Fang Hong.

Not to mention, the remaining four Dragon’s Claws were also on their way.

But it was at this moment, under the gaze of everyone, the second Energy Angel that should have lost control a while ago suddenly bent its body. It passed by the Rocket Fist that had been knocked flying by a Dragon’s Claw, the blade turned as if controlled by someone, and pierced unerringly into the chest of that Dragon’s Claw.

The latter froze momentarily, then its upper body collapsed, dissolving into a cloud of black dust.

One less among the three Dragon’s Claws.

There was silence for a moment.

Inside the emergency command center, Virus and Nether were also completely stunned.

”How is that possible!?”

”How did the Energy Angel make that change of direction with its last sword strike?” Virus was completely clueless. She had some understanding of Combat Artisans and naturally knew the limitations of the Margin Technique at that moment—the second command was almost impossible to achieve, because the Flexible Construct would have already lost control by then.

”How could it...” she muttered to herself, ”Pre-set commands, in theory, it’s impossible to change the instruction after control is lost...”

Nether also fell silent for a moment.

She caught more details than Virus, but Fang Hong had hidden his hand movements at that moment, causing her some confusion.

Indeed, it was impossible to issue a second command after loss of control with Margin Techniques, but suddenly, a previously unseen bright light flashed in the eyes of the Construct Queen. Speaking in a tone of disbelief, she said, ”It’s a Sensing Field.”

”A Sensing Field?”

Virus was startled and turned her head back.

Eyes flashing with excitement, Nether explained, ”The Sensing Field of an Energy Angel allows them to actively dodge attacks, and since the controller isn’t actively directing them—in such a scenario, the Sensing Field’s reflexive dodge becomes the top priority.”

”Wait,” Virus interrupted, ”Are you saying he used the counterattack of the Dragon’s Claw, coupled with the reflexive dodge of the Sensing Field, to influence his Energy Angel’s attack motion, thus changing the attack trajectory?”

But she shook her head, ”How could he possibly anticipate the enemy’s movement? Unless he was just lucky. Don’t forget, you are the originator of Swift Tactics, Nether, but even you can’t do that.”

But Nether shook her head.

”He doesn’t need to,” she replied softly, ”He just needs to predict the trajectory of his own Flying Fist upon being struck back. The enemy will definitely counterattack, and that’s enough.”

”Why would the enemy definitely counterattack?” Virus was about to argue reflexively, but then she stopped herself, realizing Nether was baiting. She glanced at Nether and, sure enough, saw the Construct Queen smiling at her.

Indeed.

The Dragon’s Claw would certainly strike back at the Flying Fist, for if it didn’t, they would enter the first possibility—being hit by the Flying Fist and killed outright by the Energy Angel, in which case there would be no need to change the attack path.

Suddenly, Virus was startled.

What kind of calculative power was this?

”How is this possible?” she whispered, ”How could he have calculated this step? Maybe it’s just good luck...”

But Nether didn’t respond to her compatriot’s conjectures.

She thought of someone. The mutual cover among Flexible Constructs, such thinking—it was in fact reminiscent of her old adversary, the King of Grey, FOX’s consistent tactics.

This little fellow.

Actually knew this too, and furthermore, applied it to the Margin Technique.

For the first time, she felt a shiver originating from deep within her soul, as if a door to a New World were slowly being pushed open by a pair of naive hands.

...