Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Ronan was fully prepared for battle. "Although it may be a bit unnecessary, I still need to go through the motions. You have violated the kingdom's laws, and surrendering is your only way out."

“He’s yours, these three are mine,” Dinia said.

The battle began in the next instant.

Ronan, sword and shield in hand, charged toward the giant knight, Ares.

Despite their enormous size, the massive, fully armored knight was surprisingly fast. Their lances swept across a wide area, and at close range, they wielded a powerful giant axe, making them adept at both offense and defense.

Ronan, with his simple and unadorned parries, small thrusts, and rolls, managed to avoid being attacked, but he had no chance to inflict any real damage on the giant knight; all he could do was trim its feet.

"Aren't you worried about that top mage on the continent? Those three weapons are immune to magic."

Ales said.

"Trying to distract me with chatting? How childish," Ronan scoffed. "You should worry about yourself first."

Arais, who is one with the giant knight, has a completely different attack power than the butler who only knows how to dabble in gunfights. Ronan is certain that if Arais is even grazed by him, he will be in a red-blood state and put at a disadvantage.

Ronan must not be distracted in the slightest.

On the other side, the battle between Dinia and the three mechs, each over five meters tall, was far more ferocious than that between Ronan and his side.

Mushroom magic cannot be directly applied to the mechs, nor can it be used to cast spells on the Heidi people inside the cockpit. All Dinia can do is use tough mushrooms to create a giant and engage the three mechs in the most direct and brutal fight.

“Don’t you really care? She’s starting to fall behind,” Ares said.

“I told you, you’d better mind your own business first,” Ronan said.

Ares scoffed, "What can you do besides poking at my leg armor a few times?"

Ronan sneered, "Your body's gotten bigger, but your brain's gotten duller? Haven't you noticed you're getting easier for me to poke at?"

His "Sword of Sincerity" is not only a physical attack but also has penetrating magical damage. The blade cannot penetrate armor, but the magical damage can.

As the damage accumulated, Ares's mobility was no longer as fast and agile as it had been at the beginning.

Ares finally realized something. He hadn't realized it before because he wasn't fully integrated with the summoned creature. Ronan's attacks on the summoned creature didn't hurt him, and the reduction in movement speed wasn't significant enough.

“Reminding your opponent during a fight is not a good habit, so my opinion of you has dropped,” Ares said, then quickly pushed away, discarded the giant axe, and switched to a two-handed spear stance. This would make his spear even faster and prevent Ronan from having a chance to further attack his legs.

Ronan chuckled inwardly. Alles's change suited him perfectly. Using a spear with both hands did indeed increase his attack speed, but as long as Ronan seized the opportunity to get close, the spear's weaknesses were far greater than those of the giant axe.

Chapter Twenty-One: Chatting Tactics, Encirclement and Reinforcements, Fury

The battle between Ronan and Ares reached a stalemate. Ares' massive spear couldn't touch Ronan, but Ronan couldn't close the distance to engage either.

“Ales, no one understands the Haidi people better than me. They are cunning and united. Even if you have something they desperately need, it’s still wishful thinking to expect them to become your subordinates. Believe me, they have other plans. You should be careful of what’s behind you now,” Ronan said.

Ares laughed dismissively, "Hahaha, you know about the Haidi people? But you haven't noticed any problems in over a year."

"Doesn't that just prove they're cunning and united?" Ronan chuckled.

Ares snorted coldly, "You're the one who should be careful. This woman is notoriously ruthless. A bureaucrat like you following her, hoping to gain some benefits? Dream on. You'd be more likely to be turned into a pile of rotten mushrooms by her."

"By the time I turn into a rotten mushroom, your bones will probably have turned into blackfish excrement," Ronan retorted mockingly.

During the battle, the two kept talking, not because they really wanted to say anything to each other, but purely to distract each other.

Ronan and Allais are the same kind of people, with the same idea: to distract the other for a moment and then take the opportunity to severely damage the other.

However, neither side moved with any hesitation or deviation, giving the other no chance whatsoever.

On the other hand, on the surface, Dinia did indeed appear to be at a disadvantage, just as Ares had said.

It wasn't that Dinia's offensive had weakened, nor that her physical strength and magic were failing; rather, the three magical mechs were no longer acting as directly as they had at the beginning, but had become more agile and no longer fought independently, but had begun to cooperate.

Clearly, the three drivers had practiced before, but this was probably their first time in actual combat, so they seemed a bit clumsy at first. However, as the battle progressed, they recovered from their training.

Mushrooms could not grow on the magical mech, and the giants formed from the tough mushrooms kept punching and pounding, but they could not cause any visible damage to the magical mech.

However, Dinia, hidden among the giants formed from countless mushrooms, remained completely expressionless.

Having experienced countless battles, she had already figured out the styles of the three pilots and detected the weaknesses of the magic mechs in the recent battle.

The giant's hand suddenly slammed into the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the entire underground passage, stretching for hundreds of meters, was covered with a thick layer of mushrooms on the floor, walls, and ceiling, making even the light scattered and dim.

Although the three pilots of the magic mechs paused for a moment, after finding nothing amiss, the one on the left launched the first attack.

Stepping on the mushrooms made movement even more stable.

"Teresa, don't be impulsive," Rauka shouted through the resonance stone in the cockpit.

The Resonance Stone is the core component for activating the magical mech they pilot, known as the "Phantom Melody." With the Resonance Stone, the Haidi people can use their unique Resonance Magic to control this magical mech.

The young girl, Terri, and the young man, Rauka, were the man and woman among the three seapiper performers who had played together at the banquet earlier. They were the two youngest members of the priesthood in the seapiper community of White Star City.

"She's dying, watch me."

Ignoring the warnings, Terri spun the blade on the right side of her mech at high speed and charged at the mushroom giant in Dinia, intending to smash it to pieces in one fell swoop.

However, just as she launched her attack, the mushrooms on the wall behind her suddenly multiplied. The extremely small but tough mushrooms grew out of tentacle-like spikes at an incredible speed, which pierced directly into the back of the mech, creating a hole only three centimeters in diameter above the cockpit.

This is the weakness that Dinia detected.

If the mechs are too strong to destroy, then eliminate the pilots. Dinia's idea is that simple.

However, because the cockpit itself was filled with anti-magic power, the tiny but tough mushroom spikes burrowed into the cockpit and stopped less than ten centimeters from the back of Trie's neck, where they lost their activity and quickly withered and died.

Looking back at the spikes, Terri felt a chill run down her spine, gasped for breath, and momentarily stopped moving, still shaken.

Dinia leaped out of the magical giant and rushed towards the stopped mech piloted by Trie at near-instantaneous speed. The magic released by the other mushrooms just now lacked some power and distance, so she now wanted to get close to the outer layer of the magical mech and release the magic herself.

"This is the moment I've been waiting for." This thought flashed through the mind of Treka, the old man in the other mech.

As Trie's grandfather, he didn't try to stop his granddaughter; he just waited for Dinia to emerge from that huge mushroom giant that looked like a soft, limp mushroom but felt like a polymer of steel when attacked.

Only in this way can we have the opportunity to directly harm Dinia herself.

In an instant, the "Phantom Melody" piloted by the old man Treka pressed down and came to a stop, with a beam of white light shooting out from its head.

The white beam of light instantly engulfed Dinia, then exploded in a crimson burst.

Just when the old man thought he had succeeded, Dinya had already grown out of the mushroom behind him.

Within her mushroom domain, Dinia can cast spells indirectly through any mushroom, and she herself can grow from any mushroom.

Her appearance just now was merely a decoy. Her initial target was the experienced and composed veteran driver Treka. However, Dinia's original intention was to surround and attack reinforcements. She did not expect that the other party would have this kind of attack method.

But this doesn't matter.

After firing the white light cannon, the Phantom Melody experienced a very brief period of stun.

In that brief moment of stunned silence, Dinia leaped up from behind the old man's mech, unleashing magic. Mushroom spikes drilled into the cockpit through the hole, piercing directly through the old man Trica's back. Paralyzing mushrooms grew from the spikes and burrowed into the wound, causing the old man Trica to immediately lose consciousness.

"Solve one."

Dinia landed smoothly.

Seeing her grandfather's mecha crash, Terri lost her mind and piloted "Phantom Melody" back towards Dinia. Dinia snapped her fingers, and mushroom chains surged from all directions, binding the entire magic mecha and freezing it in place.

Phantom Melody's limbs and body were all bound, and no matter how much Tri pounded on the control panel in the cockpit, Phantom Melody could not break free of its restraints.

She didn't use this move earlier because even if she tied one up, the other two could instantly cut the ropes with their Tri-Edge Blade Hands, and she couldn't stop the movement of both mechs at the same time.

But now there's only one machine left that can be rescued.

If they come over and stop to cut the ropes, that's an opening; if they don't help, the driver of the restrained vehicle will immediately suffer the same fate.

Young Rauka charged forward without hesitation.

In doing so, he briefly exposed the back of his mech to Dinia, and for Dinia, that brief moment was enough.

The second Phantom Melody machine crashed.

"Ughhhhh! I'll kill you!" Terri roared angrily in the cockpit. In a short moment, she lost the grandfather who raised her and the lover she grew up with. With a ferocious expression, she grabbed the resonance stone from the cockpit and activated the magic. The hard resonance stone suddenly turned into bubbles.

Terri stuffed the water-soaked resonance stone into her heart.

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Illusory Melody, the Resonance Stone, and the Crimson Sea

An immature person uses magic that has long been distorted in its transmission, and pain instantly engulfs their entire body.

But the anger and sorrow in her heart forcibly suppressed the physical pain. Terri barely managed to control this power, and her face became contorted.

Half rage, half reason.

In an instant, the entire Phantom Melody, with its ancient and worn-out outer shell, crumbled and disintegrated. Its thick outer armor crashed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust. From within the dust, the Phantom Melody revealed its true form.

The lines are smoother, and it looks more like a lean human body. This new body has a gray-blue metallic texture, and white runes on the body are constantly flashing like breathing lights.

The white patterns on the Phantom Melody grew brighter with each passing moment, as if proclaiming the continuous emergence of power.

With a flick of its arms, Huan Yuezhang shattered the remaining outer shell of its body and broke apart the remaining mushroom chains, letting out a wild howl like a wild beast breaking free of its cage.

Immediately, psychedelic music rang out through the holes, the latter half of the melody that had been played at the banquet earlier. However, the feeling it gave was completely reversed; before, it was optimism hidden in loneliness, but now it was sorrow mixed with joy.

Faced with the revelation of the true form of the Phantom Melody, Dinia, who had been in complete control during the previous battle, finally frowned and shouted to Ronan, "Ronan, stop using magic and reduce the flow of magic power."

Dinia frowned not because she felt her opponent was difficult to deal with, but because she could no longer be as casual as before. The intensity of the battle had suddenly escalated, and she had to get serious.

Just as Dinia shouted, Trie's Phantom Melody was already in front of her, and she swung out a heavy grab.

This attack saw its claws dig deep into the ground, utterly ferocious and devoid of any rationality.

Dinya nimbly dodged, quickly increasing the distance between them.

But Phantom Melody nimbly turned around, crouched low, and sped past like a wild beast, closing in on Dinia once more.

Fast, incredibly fast! The speed of the Phantom Melody is more than twice as fast as before.

But Dinia could still dodge without any pressure, but she didn't intend to dodge anymore. She had only dodged just now to increase the distance between herself and Ronan.

“That’s enough, little wolf.” Dinia murmured, her ruby-like eyes revealing the most magnificent and beautiful red, and with a wave of her hand, she said, “Red Sea.”

In an instant, a raging, blood-red wave surged from behind Dinia, rushing forward and engulfing everything.

This Red Sea is not some kind of water magic, nor is it even a liquid; it is magic that has been compressed to the extreme and is now in a liquid state.

The symphony of illusions, washed away by the red sea, only retreated a few steps before ceasing its work.

It itself was not damaged, but the driver inside was bleeding from all seven orifices and had lost consciousness.

Immediately afterward, Ares's magic dissipated, and he fell to the ground from mid-air, bleeding from all seven orifices and his skin cracking, looking like a blood-soaked figure.

When a person who is frantically using magic concentrates their mind to manipulate magic, they will unconsciously absorb magic from themselves and the surrounding environment. Even if they forcibly restrain themselves, they will still be infused with extremely pure magic by the Red Sea. If they unconsciously absorb such terrifyingly pure magic in a short period of time, they will enter a state of severe overload. The impact caused by the Red Sea is even more terrible than pure oxygen poisoning for ordinary people.

Facing the Red Sea of ​​Dinia, a first-tier mage would die instantly, a second-tier mage would fall instantly, a third-tier mage could last a few seconds, and only fourth-tier and above would have a chance to withstand it.

This move is the origin of the name "Crimson Sea".

Ronan should have fallen like Ares, but he stopped his magic. As the Red Sea rushed in, Dinia turned him into a mushroom; he was no longer human but a magical creation.

After the Red Sea washed away the debris, Dinia walked up to Ronan, who had turned into a mushroom, and transformed him back into a human.

Ronan stood up, clutching his arm and grimacing.

The Red Sea did not harm him, but when he stopped his magic, Ares stabbed him with a spear. Although it did not hit him squarely, the sharp blade of the spear still scraped off a piece of flesh from his arm.

"You should have used this trick a long time ago," Ronan said, his voice strained.

“If we had used it earlier, those three Heidi people would have died. At least they're still alive now,” Dinia said calmly.

"They're all still alive?" Ronan was shocked; he thought Dinia had killed them all.

Dinia smiled. "Is there a problem with that? In your words, I'm just an ordinary 'tourist' right now. It's illegal for civilians to kill, and they can only do so in limited self-defense."

"Mayor's words are truly insightful and I have benefited greatly from them," Ronan said, adding, "You are truly perceptive."

What a fine example of limited self-defense.

Just then, the ground trembled again, and five Phantom Music machines sped in from a distance.

Ales, lying on the ground, smiled smugly. "Didn't expect I had help, did you? Now let's see what you can do."

Ares barely managed to raise his hand, pointing tremblingly at Ronan and Dinia, "Save me, save me, kill, kill them!"

With a whoosh, a flash of white light appeared, and Ares's head was blown off. Even in his dying moments, he still wore a smug expression.

Seeing this, Dinia was stunned. She never expected that the Haidi people would kill Ares so easily. Ronan was not surprised at all. He had always felt that the Haidi people had ulterior motives. Ares thought he had them all out, but in fact he was the one being played.

After killing Ares, the five Phantom Melodies rushed over immediately.

The five Phantom Symphonies were not stable enough. In Dinia's opinion, the pilots inside were clearly a level below the previous three.

Dinia said, "Ronan, I think these guys are doing something in there; they're just stalling for time."