Chapter 129 The Battle Begins

The towering ceilings, stone pillars, stained glass, and murals within the cathedral vibrated incessantly.

Accompanied by booming sounds, even the combined efforts of the Executioner and the Paladin could only slow the Destroyer Saintess's advance.

On the flank of the battlefield's center, the male bodyguard of the merchant association lurked in the interplay of light and shadow, observing the battlefield with calm and sharp eyes.

From the Destroyer Saintess's fighting style, it was clear that she could maintain a high level of self-healing even without a priest, keeping her physical condition in a balanced state.

Besides possessing strength and magic power absolutely superior to everyone else, the Destroyer Saintess would also choose to trade injuries when necessary, which only made her stronger, making it even harder for the Executioner and the Paladin to parry her.

Just by visual estimation, she had at least three pieces of equipment of [Pink Sacred] quality.

And because many of the key versatile cards were Tier 6, such as [Forced Dispelling], which could remove all status effects, and [Designated Purification], which could completely immunize against the same abnormal status for a period of time, their control was unable to significantly restrict the Destroyer Saintess, and they could only temporarily hinder her with numbers and cooldown time differences.

Forcing a direct confrontation with her was definitely not worth it, but at this time, his sister, the young master of the merchant association, as well as the priest, the lawyer, and his companions were all in the back row. He couldn't allow the Destroyer Saintess to advance any further.

The short sword in the male bodyguard's hand gleamed coldly. His figure blended into the silent air with imperceptible steps, preparing to launch a fatal blow.

At the same time, a pillar of fire soared from the ground, a trigger-type trap set on the cathedral floor by the merchant association bodyguard's sister. The Destroyer Saintess leaped gracefully to dodge it, her figure clad in black armor landing on the other side.

"Where did you go?"

The Destroyer Saintess seemed to be talking to herself as she spoke and raised her sword, slashing behind her without turning her head.

As soon as she slashed, the air in the entire area suddenly boiled, and a scorching energy spread at an indescribable speed. In that instant, it seemed as if any substance would be ignited.

At the same time, the male bodyguard also materialized, his short sword stabbing fiercely towards the Destroyer Saintess's back.

However, the Destroyer Saintess's combat awareness had already anticipated it.

The blazing longsword and the cold short sword crossed in the air, erupting in a loud metallic clang, and the smell of a foundry instantly filled the air!

…

Iklit Academy, Gerald Memorial Plaza.

The flickering images and the thunderous sounds of intense battle plunged the students watching the open-air giant screen into the meat grinder-like battlefield.

Such scenes usually only appeared at the end of the Shadow World—

When all the challengers solved the puzzles, arrived before the final powerful enemy, and began the final battle of the team siege.

But at this moment, the Destroyer Saintess, with her own strength alone, had already far exceeded the oppressive feeling of an ordinary Tier 5 Shadow World final boss.

Even though it seemed that they could barely hold her back on the screen, she was clearly still handling the situation with ease.

"This Destroyer Saintess… finding her feels even worse."

"If she drags this out until nightfall and activates her vampire powers, we're probably going to get wiped out directly. This timing is deadly."

If it were daytime, there would be enough time to fight the Destroyer Saintess.

But now, the countdown seemed to be falling on the heads of all the challengers.

In about less than an hour, the sun would set, and the vampire count, far away in an unknown location, would awaken. At that time, the Destroyer Saintess would be able to activate unknown vampire powers!

No matter what type of vampire power it was, it would be equivalent to an extremely powerful orange epic spell card effect.

In such a situation, it would directly overturn the scales of victory.

[The true identity of the Destroyer Saintess of the Resurrection Church has been confirmed as Adelise, a silver-level challenger from the Cretea Empire. Danger level: SS. All residents of the Southern Continent, please pay attention to her characteristics.]

A piece of emergency notice issued by the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association quickly appeared on the screen, and it also showed the key magic card effects used by the Destroyer Saintess—

[Blood Oath Pendant]

[Category: Equipment Card]

[Rarity: Pink Sacred]

[Tier: 1]

[Effect: Continuously consumes life force after equipped, gains all-attribute enhancement, grants the wearer a small amount of life steal ability.]

[Note: In the silence of the night, the blood-red contract must never be broken.]

Corresponding to the magic card attributes, the screen zoomed in on a piece of jewelry that seemed to be embedded in the Destroyer Saintess's chest. Its shape was irregular and twisted with blood threads, like hardened blood, flashing a mesmerizing dark red color in the light.

This was clearly the piece of equipment that was causing her to gradually gain the upper hand in the battle against the Executioner and the Paladin.

She would only get stronger as she fought.

The Destroyer Saintess, who had previously appeared in the real world but whose true identity could not be known, was now finally revealing her true face, and the core equipment attributes that were identified and recorded when she rampaged in the real world were also beginning to be displayed one by one.

The camera quickly switched and locked onto the jet-black armor wrapped around the Destroyer Saintess's body.

[Life-Death Reversal Armor]

[Category: Equipment Card]

[Rarity: Pink Sacred]

[Tier: 6]

[Effect: The lower the life status, the higher the recovery effect is enhanced. Immunizes against fatal damage when fatal damage is received. Cooldown time: 30 days. Cannot be stacked with other effects that immunize against fatal damage.]

[Note: The shadow of death is dancing, and the carapace of life emerges from its cocoon.]

The screen simultaneously showed a close-up of the bloody longsword wielded by the Destroyer Saintess, and a split screen appeared—

[Blaze Bringer]

[Category: Equipment Card]

[Rarity: Orange Epic]

[Tier: 4]

[Effect: Gains life steal effect upon attack, with burn and healing reduction. Damage caused by this weapon will not trigger enemy magic card effects.]

[Note: The scorching death cannot be resisted.]

The remaining purple rare quality and blue precious quality cards used by the Destroyer Saintess Adelise in the previous battle were all versatile cards well known to Iklit students, mostly used to resist spells and remove control, which almost everyone at Tier 6 would bring.

"The Destroyer Saintess is invincible, even if a Tier 6 vampire fought her all night, it might be difficult to kill her."

"If they keep fighting like this, even if the priest runs out of mana, they're still doomed."

"Hang in there… priests!"

The students watching on the steps couldn't help but clench their fists, and even their throats became a little dry from constantly talking.

The traitor they had finally caught was too terrifying, and the setting sun was like a countdown, only providing the brave challengers with limited protection.

"Isn't there another healer?"

They suddenly remembered.

Lan Qi's class was actually a White Mage.

Because he was too much of a novice, everyone had almost forgotten that his combat profession was a healer.

In the current back row position, Hyperion had further tied up the unconscious female priest, and Lan Qi had cast a mysterious spell on the female mage who had lost her will to fight but whose motives were unknown, stopping even her cries. Then, Hyperion began to knock out the noble female mage as well.

After dealing with these two variable prisoners and handing them over to the young master of the merchant association to watch over, Lan Qi and Hyperion should also be able to join the battle with peace of mind.

"Even if two healers can balance the battlefield, the challenger side can't afford to drag this out!"

Logically speaking, the combat configuration of this challenger team was quite balanced: two tanks, two healers, and three damage dealers.

The problem now was that night was approaching, and the challengers were the ones who needed to make a quick decision!

If they couldn't break this balance, at this moment, it was already a dead end!

"Wait, has anyone seen Lan Qi fight?"

Someone suddenly asked a question that stunned everyone.

The surrounding students shook their heads with wide eyes.

"That's right, why is this guy a White Mage??"

"I'd find it reasonable if you said he was an evil shaman or a weird warlock."

The students near the steps suddenly realized that this team battle didn't seem so simple!

One of the terrifying things about Lan Qi was that no one had ever seen him really go all out.

Regarding Lan Qi's strength, the most questionable point all along was his third-round entrance exam, the practical test.

The most widespread version of the story about that battle, whose records were personally sealed by the Dean of the Sages' Academy, was that Lan Qi and Hyperion happened to encounter the examiner Ferrat, who suffered from cardiovascular disease, and thus侥幸 (jiǎoxìng, by luck) won the duo team battle.

Thinking about it now, it felt increasingly wrong.

Perhaps the examiner Ferrat's sudden cerebral hemorrhage was the masterpiece of Lan Qi and the Poet of Great Love!

Could it be that Lan Qi, besides messing with people's minds and drawing aggro in non-combat situations… even had ways to induce an enemy's blood pressure to explode in combat?

Instantly.

Everyone nervously looked at the screen—Lan Qi, who had already taken out several healing magic cards and was smiling.

(End of Chapter)