Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

In the center of the outpost square, the girl sang with her eyes closed. It was her first attempt at such a large-scale Divine Protection, a unique ability of a Songstress. So-called Divine Protection refers to the resonance between the Songstress and her followers, obtaining special additional abilities under the guidance of the Songstress.

These additional abilities generally come from three sources: the first is the Songstress's own specialized ability, such as Prin's flames, Tilan's freezing, Ailu Kelu's beast blood enhancement, Audrey's mist, and so on; the second is the abilities that the followers themselves already possess, but become stronger under the Songstress's stimulation; the third is more special, coming from some legendary ballads.

Extraordinary Abilities originate from the mind interfering with reality. When a story and legend are widely spread, this collective unconscious yearning endows it with some form of transcendent feature. The most representative of these is the seven chapters of Fairyland, followed by those legendary poems, and then the myths and other such stories.

What Blanchi sang this time was from The Poem of Red Beech, the famous dragon-slaying hero legend, recording the story of the great hero Akart defeating the red dragon Franthas at the start of the Third Era.

'The Poem of Red Beech', a legendary poem collectively compiled by Troubadours in the Third Era, records the various hero story legends that emerged during the period of the hundred-nation rise at the start of the Third Era. Among them were three heroes who crusaded against the 'Tyrant King', the dragon-slayer hero Akart, the Descendant of the Thunder God, founder of the Rapid Lightning Knights Ael, the legend of Wind and Moon Roland and Yalin, the 'White Flower Saintess' Dulan, 'Snow Hunt Bow' Avis, 'Pledge of the Sylph' Toyak, and 'Brave Lion' Auslin, among other great figures, alongside the 'Poem of the Leaf' and 'Poem of the Kingfisher' that talk about the four seasons.

As Blanchi gradually entered her state, ancient ballads and legendary poems, delicate strands of faint light enshrouded the present members. These light golden threads, like a veil descending from the heavens, were hazy and formless, then silver light shone on the weapons in the members' hands, and faint blue flames vaguely appeared on the edges.

Legend has it that Akart used a longbow burning with azure flames to shoot arrows imbued with his own poison blood, which embedded into the dragon's body, causing the powerful red dragon that had entered Sequence 9 to plunge from the sky, killing this dragon that had destroyed several countries. In the end, he too perished from overexertion and exhaustion.

Those saved by him, grateful people recorded his name, which was passed down through generations by Troubadours, and this is how the dragon-slaying hero's story originated.

"The azure bowstring bursts forth with flame..."

"Flowers that speak of parting bloom by the roadside..."

"The eyes wounded by monsters open wide..."

...

"Here I swear to infuse life into the arrows, piercing through the winged king of the sky."

Blanchi repeatedly sang the melody from this poem segment. It must be said, for a newcomer like her, this large-scale Divine Protection was extremely difficult. During the process of gradually resonating, the mental consciousness of the present personnel continuously fed back various emotions, impacting her will, making her like a small boat sailing in a storm, liable to be overturned with the slightest mistake.

The more extreme the emotions the ballad provoked, the stronger the mental feedback. If the Songstress's strength was insufficient, it was easy to be overwhelmed, leading to a mental breakdown and fainting. This type of incident had occurred many times in history. Therefore, now, if a Songstress felt her ability was insufficient, she would not sing such over-the-limit poems.

As time slowly passed, just when Blanchi felt her mind beginning to blur and her body about to collapse, dark red glows appeared in the eyes of the present members, announcing the attainment of the final layer of the dragon-slaying Divine Protection.

Finally...

Blanchi fainted, caught by the maid beside her, and a doctor, who had been on standby anxiously, rushed up to examine her. Fortunately, she had only fainted from exhaustion, with no major bodily harm, which allowed everyone to breathe easy.

Watching Blanchi being carried away to rest inside the outpost, the members in the square suppressed their inner emotions, and then one member drew his sword, pointing it upward to the sky.

"Blood and glory."

The sound of drawing swords echoed one after another, the slightly hoarse voices resonating in the sky.

"Blood and glory!"

...

The battle began once more.

As the airship carrying Ores slowly approached the last outpost where Blanchi was located, rotary Autonomous Units lifted off one by one from the valleys, and the machine guns attached below fiercely targetedly fired on the airship, the continuous firelight forming a line in the sky, breaking the peace of the mountains with its noise.

"All for nothing."

The side door of the airship opened, revealing the standing members of the Ice Spirits. They wore uniforms similar to a Mage's Robe, elegant and gorgeous. With a simple gesture, the silver patterns engraved on their bracers lit up, then barriers like Ice Lotus floated in the air, blocking the incoming bullets.

Soon after, beams of icy breath shot out from below the airship, sweeping across the sky in mere seconds, causing the propellers of the flying Gyro Autonomy Units to jam and fall continuously from the sky.

At the same time, the top of the outpost square opened, revealing a modified giant cannon, gradually beginning to gather energy, the ripples of Magic Power it emitted easily sensed by the airship members kilometers away.

Then, Ice Lotus Barriers appeared in the ballistic path of the giant cannon aiming at the airship, followed by the sound of dragon roars from the sky.

A giant dragon made of White Crystal appeared in the sky, initially a small dot, then growing larger and closer until the giant cannon below emitted a scorching orange-red beam, while the dragon spewed an icy Breath, and when the two clashed mid-air, numerous white vapors were stirred, with some residual orange beams spreading out, burning scattered melted cavities into the mountain wall beside it.