The Paladin in the Abyss-Chapter 634 - 658 Formation

Chapter 634: Chapter 658 Formation

For the entire next day, Lancelot and his companions had immersed themselves in the training ground, collectively studying how to combat Beard Demons, the main infantry of the Demon Legion. He intentionally had his companions take turns in the fray to avoid excessive exhaustion, as the real battle was imminent and they needed to ensure they were in optimal physical condition.

In every sense, this was a typical last-minute sharpening of their skills, but thanks to his superior swordsmanship and vast experience, the improvement among the others was still quite evident.

The three Dwarf Miners benefited the most. In terms of physical fitness, they were second to none, yet somewhat lacking in combat experience. Lancelot focused on teaching them defensive techniques, how to cover each other with shields, how to deflect enemy attacks with their weapons, and how to launch effective counterattacks after defending.

Later, Bruto joined in, and the four Dwarves formed a battle formation with Bruto as the fulcrum in a left-one-right-two arrangement. The effect was unexpectedly good. Even when Lancelot, Ivendell, and Alamir teamed up, they couldn’t break through their shield wall, naturally, without using their respective supernatural abilities.

Lancelot was already very satisfied with this. In battles on the scale of armies, defensive capabilities were far more important than offensive ones. As long as you could hold out long enough, the enemy would fall before you—this theory might sound illogical, but it was true.

Another person Lancelot was pleased with was Glory. Even without the augmentation of Blood Thirst, the Tiflin youth performed commendably in training. His fundamentals were surprisingly sound, and he had none of the bad habits often found in self-taught swordsmen, seeming to have received formal training from a young age. Considering his race, this was quite unusual, but Lancelot curbed his curiosity.

The Half-elf Cursed Swordmaster, Tanya, was also formidable. Her pike made of shadows and her ability to curse enemies with shadow power gave her great potential on the offensive. Her weakness was her wholly inadequate defensive skills, necessitating the cover of her teammates.

The two Gnome Magic Engineers didn’t get a chance to spar with Lancelot. The elder brother, specializing in powered armor, had demonstrated his capabilities the previous evening, and the Human Knight saw no need for further trials, while the younger brother, Rein, briefly showcased his automatic enchantment-loading heavy crossbow—able to shoot an arrow every two breaths, each one piercing through a helmet-modified target. On the battlefield, if allowed to fire uninterrupted, except when confronted with True Yuan, Lancelot’s efficacy might not match that of this Gnome.

In the end, they confirmed their battle formation; Lancelot would stand alone at the very front, with Bruto and the other three Dwarfs maintaining a distance of about ten feet behind him. On the left flank were the Armorer, Walien, and Cursed Swordmaster Tanya, while the right flank consisted of the old Holy Warrior, Ivendell, and the Tiflin warrior, Glory. The eight of them would position themselves in an arc, protecting the rear Gnome Magic Cannoneer, Rein, the Elf Priest, Alamir, and the Tiflin sorceress, Musk.

Lancelot didn’t attempt to assign a fixed position to Jing, knowing the monkey demon wouldn’t stay put. Fortunately, she did possess speed and agility second only to Lancelot in the team, capable of moving freely on the battlefield, so he simply let her play the role of the free agent.

Clearly, there was an unreasonable aspect to the formation: Lancelot’s position. He alone bore more than eighty percent of the team’s pressure, the others merely needing to deal with the enemies he let slip through. Ivendell immediately opposed the plan— as a Holy Warrior, he found it hard to accept letting someone else take such a huge risk for him, but Lancelot insisted that it was just a rough placement and he could fall back to his companions’ side if overwhelmed. This barely persuaded the old Holy Warrior.

Tijana was equally busy that day. ‘Destructor Horn’ Goel, leading the Demon Legion, had arrived yesterday, and his adversary, ‘Web Mistress’ Ilmaris, also arrived today with her Demon Spider army outside Twin Bridges Town. The Succubus Lord had to spend a lot of time ensuring the two groups didn’t start fighting prematurely. Fortunately, the ‘Army Supervisor’ of the joint operation, the wolf-serpent demon, Kanggrifen, also appeared, easing Tijana’s workload considerably.

However, despite being almost literally run off her feet, Tijana managed to arrive at Hagrid Manor before midnight to meet with her lover who was soon heading to the battlefield. After delivering a heartfelt, lingering kiss, she placed a special item into Lancelot’s hands.

“What is this?”

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Lancelot, looking at the object in his hands that resembled a bracelet, asked with some confusion. It was made of some mysterious metal, seemingly intermixed with a lot of gemstone fragments, and looked exceptionally beautiful in the flickering lamplight.

“A special beacon that also functions as a communication device, corresponding to the ear stud I’m wearing.”

Tijana lifted her hair to show off the ornament hanging from her earlobe, which had a ruby at its end. But Lancelot’s attention was entirely on the Succubus Lord’s beautiful neck and he didn’t even try to conceal it.

“Lancelot!”

“Sorry… so white, ah no, so pretty.” Lancelot grinned, “With this, can we establish a mental connection just like before at any time, despite the Demon Legion’s interference?”

“Unfortunately, no, but you can try rotating the bracelet in your hand.”

Curious, Lancelot did as he was told and saw that as he moved, the ruby on Tijana’s ear followed suit, rotating with him. To make sure it wasn’t a fluke, he changed direction, and the ruby rotated in the opposite direction accordingly.

“Truly magical.” Lancelot exclaimed in admiration, “How far is the effective range of this thing?”

“No matter which corner of the Multiverse you’re in, as long as you’re not in a Dead Magic Zone, my ear stud will sync perfectly with your rotations,” Tijana said with a proud smile, “Don’t underestimate this effect…”

“Of course not.” Lancelot shook his head, “As long as we agree on a set of signaling codes in advance, we can share information in real-time, bypassing enemy magic defenses. This effect is too powerful.”

“That’s right, but we’ll talk about signaling codes later. Try doing this first: rotate the bracelet three times, reverse the direction for two rotations, and then do another one and a half rotations.”

“What happens after that?”

“Right now? Nothing, except letting me know you sent this particular code.”

Lancelot shrugged and followed Tijana’s instructions. He noticed a slight change: Tijana’s ear stud, along with the bracelet in his hand, both began to blink at a relatively slow pace.

“What’s this for?” Lancelot brought the bracelet up to his eyes to examine it, “The blinking frequency seems to be getting faster.”