The four fireballs were extremely fast, flying over more than twenty steps per second. However, the Gair River was also extremely wide. After five or six seconds, these fireballs still hadn't reached the opposite bank. Another two seconds passed, and the fireballs reached the limit of their range and suddenly went out just as they reached the opposite bank.
Aurelio shook his head gently and thought, "Even if they could fly a little farther, the fireballs wouldn't hit that target. They have deviated a lot."
Seeing him cast the spell, Gloria was both surprised and confused, so she asked, "Wh-what's wrong?"
"Nothing." Aurelio covered up. He looked across the river again and found that the shiny spot had already disappeared without a trace. "I'm estimating the width of the river."
"I see. What's the result?" Gloria said, "It looks very wide, right?"
"Yes, it's even wider than I thought." Aurelio replied, "My magic range can reach two hundred steps, which is one-fifth of a mile. The fact that the fireballs just reached the opposite bank means that the width of the river is also this wide. It really lives up to being the largest river on the Liparia continent."
"The width is secondary. The main thing is probably its depth, right?"
Aurelio shook his head and said, "How could such a large river be shallow? And it's summer now. The snow on the snow-capped mountains has melted. It's relatively rainy in this area in summer. Now is the time when the water volume is the most abundant. We can't wade across."
"What should we do? Take a detour?"
"That's the only option." Aurelio replied, "If I remember correctly, this river will flow all the way east, reach the south of Ventona, then turn southeast and finally flow into the sea. There are many villages near Ventona. It should be easy to find another bridge or a ferry. We don't have a map. This is the safest way."
"Okay, let's do it!" Gloria nodded and said, "I hope we don't encounter tributaries or... don't let us reach the seaside."
"Compared to these, what's more worthy of attention is probably the enemy. There may be militias or wild beasts or something."
"Don't worry!" Gloria suddenly raised her voice. She stopped smiling and looked at her companion seriously. Then she drew her sword from her waist. She held the sword in front of her, stared at the blade, and then said solemnly, "I swear in the name of this sword! No matter what kind of danger I encounter, I will stand in front of you and protect your safety. Even if it costs me my life, I will not retreat! I am your sword and shield!"
Aurelio stared into her eyes and felt that there were two blue flames burning in them. He felt that these eyes were too dazzling and looked away.
Gloria put away her sword, and the two set off on their journey. They entered the forest again and advanced along the edge of the forest. They maintained a distance of a dozen feet from the riverbank, which was just right. They could get the cover of the forest and wouldn't get lost because they were too far from the river.
They advanced carefully, being extremely careful when crushing long grass or bushes. They only advanced one mile into the forest after half an hour.
Just as Gloria was getting a little impatient and was about to urge her companion, her wrist was grabbed.
She turned around and saw that Aurelio had already crouched down, so she also followed his example and hid behind a bush. She looked in the direction her companion pointed and saw a team of militias coming towards them.
There were fifteen militias in that team. The captain was walking in the front, carrying a flag. The flag had a complex emblem on it, exactly the same as the rebel flag in the abandoned camp. He had a curved sword at his waist and was wearing a worn-out chainmail. The other fourteen people behind him were more like peasants in their outfits. Most of them were not armored, and the rest only had simple leather armor. The weapons they held were also different, almost all of them were farming tools.
Aurelio saw the weapon at the captain's waist from a distance and thought, "Another curved sword. It's really strange."
Seeing the militias getting closer, Gloria whispered, "What should we do?"
"Fight or flight?"
The female knight didn't think twice and made a throat-cutting gesture with her hand. She added in a low voice, "I won't flee!"
Aurelio nodded gently and said, "Okay, you observe the situation of the enemy."
Gloria smiled and thought, "It must be because of my hair. It's very concealed in the forest."
She poked half of her head out of the bush and continued to watch the movements of the enemy. The fifteen people were advancing in a disorderly formation and were now passing a clearing not far away. The captain in the front shouted an order, and the fourteen people behind him stopped one after another. They disbanded the formation, and each of them found a suitable place to sit down and start resting. The captain chose a place with soft soil, inserted the flag on his shoulder into the soil and stood it up, and then sat on a fallen dead tree. Beside him was another militia.
As soon as the rest time started, those militias began to talk loudly. Aurelio pricked up his ears and listened carefully to the words of the militias. However, he didn't get any meaningful information. Those militias were just chatting. The content of their conversation was mostly gossip about other peasants and things like the current war situation. They didn't mention a word about it.
Gloria didn't know the content of their conversation. She only heard them laughing from time to time and thought, "Now is a good opportunity. Their vigilance is low." She turned to Aurelio and said, "Shall we go?"
Aurelio first nodded and then quickly shook his head and said, "No, we need to make a plan."
"Plan?" Gloria didn't think so. "Do we need such a thing to deal with a dozen militias?"
"Everything should be done carefully."
"Okay! Carefully." Gloria said reluctantly. "You take out the captain, and I'll protect you beside you. If their captain is dead, they probably won't want to fight anymore, right?"
"Maybe." Aurelio said expressionlessly. He just remembered the enemy from last night. The last enemy, after seeing two of his comrades die, didn't choose to flee but instead quickly rushed towards him. He thought, "Fanaticism makes them determined. These people are not easy to deal with."
After warning the female knight again, he slowly recited another spell.
He slowed down the casting speed to the slowest, trying not to blow the surrounding bushes so as not to make too much noise and alert the enemy not far away. Under his skillful control, the magic energy slowly and quietly gathered in his palm. Almost without any sound or light, it was just like a gentle breeze passing through the forest, making a few of the tiniest branches tremble slightly. For ordinary people without magic training, they couldn't detect such a slight trace at all.
The casting that originally only took a little more than a second was slowed down to twelve seconds. Finally, an ice pick about a foot long, with a thickness in the middle like a human forearm and extremely sharp ends, emerged from the fluctuation of magic energy. The ice pick was suspended in his right palm but didn't emit cold air around.
Aurelio turned his head. The female knight had her right hand on the sword hilt and her left hand tightly gripping the shield. Her eyes were sharp, pointing directly at the place where the enemy was. Her expression was like a female lion hunting.
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, and he started aiming. He straightened up a little, only showing his left arm and half of his face. He moved the joints of his elbow and wrist to turn the ice pick in the general direction, and then his index finger and ring finger bent from time to time. Every time his fingers bent, the ice pick turned a few minutes or even seconds of an angle to the left or right. He calibrated for a long time before determining that the tip of the ice pick was already directly facing the target to be sniped.
"Get ready, three, two, one."
As soon as the countdown voice fell, the ice pick flew straight out with a whistling sound, and at the same time, the cold air appeared around. It flew towards the enemy like an arrow, and the target had no reaction.翻译一下第八章的内容请再提供一些小说章节的英文翻译.如何更好地进行小说章节的英文翻译?