Compared to the ambush on the top floor of the Ankara Hotel, this attack was distinctly more "down-to-earth," lacking the oppressive psychological weight that had descended the moment the assailants appeared back then.
However, the difference likely did not lie in the strength or caliber of the attackers in either incident; rather, Karen's own power had grown so rapidly that his sensory perception had naturally shifted as well.
It proved the old adage that, more often than not, the changes in the world merely depended on the height of your own vantage point.
It was just that most people, having eyes atop their heads, easily developed an inflated sense of superiority when viewing things. Karen's situation was the exact opposite: before he could even familiarize himself with one level, he had leapt to the next, leaving him not yet fully acclimated.
The second wave of the assault was already poised to strike. Across from them, the giant warrior and the assassin had steadied—even enhanced—their conditions.
Drew gripped a gemstone in each hand and said to Karen, "Minister Karen, I leave the protection of my young master to you."
"All right."
At this moment, Gisen was enclosed within the red boundary Drew had erected earlier. Karen rose and stepped behind the barrier to guard him.
Gisen turned his head toward Karen and asked, "What is the meaning of this? Could it be..."
Trailing off, Gisen checked himself. He knew certain things should not be said, especially right now.
"I'm worried someone might launch a sneak attack from behind," Karen offered as a perfunctory excuse. Folding his arms, he just stood there. Clearly, he had no intention of making a move.
Gisen switched his tone, saying, "You should find a way to get me out of here."
"I will, but not right now. Exposing our backs to the enemy at a time like this would be the height of stupidity."
"If something happens to me, you won't escape responsibility."
"My security duties were stripped by you. Have you forgotten?"
"You..."
"The one who took over my duties is my immediate superior. Do you think I care whether that dwarf runs into trouble?"
Drew shot one final glance at Karen, then focused all his attention ahead.
The second wave began.
The first to move was the giant. His body resembled a ferocious beast as he charged at the pavilion, the ground shaking in rhythm with his heavy strides.
Unlike before, Drew did not stay inside the pavilion. He lunged forward proactively, crushing the gem in his left hand, and the phantasmal outline of a black whip materialized in his grasp.
The giant swung a fist at him. Drew dodged nimbly with a slight sway of his body, and the whip wrapped around the giant's ankle. Pulling with leverage—
*Bang!*
The giant was flipped head over heels by the powerful force.
Crushing the gem in his right hand, Drew produced a purple dagger and plunged it straight toward the giant's chest.
Yet at that exact instant, the giant's body liquefied, its outer flesh turning into molten lava that surged at Drew.
Drew bit down and crushed a small gemstone between his teeth. In a flash, a blue sphere of light enveloped his body, shielding him from the terrifying lava while allowing him to drive the dagger home!
*Thwack!*
A direct hit.
As Drew retreated, the dagger remained buried in the chest of the giant, whose frame had shrunk considerably.
Yet in the next second, the giant's body shriveled rapidly like a deflating balloon, revealing a sinkhole beneath it.
Behind Drew, the figure of a man materialized. His charcoal-like body radiated horrifying heat as he locked Drew in a bear hug, causing the blue barrier protecting Drew to melt away rapidly.
Drew expanded the barrier outward, attempting to create enough room to break free.
Just then, the assassin struck, sweeping past like a gust of wind.
Drew tore himself free and fell back before the pavilion, a gruesome wound torn across his chest.
Not far off, the assassin stood poised, fresh blood dripping from his dagger.
Meanwhile, the charred "giant" retreated before the third black-robed man to receive healing.
Fighting while wearing the opponent down and receiving continuous healing—what was clearly a lethal ambush felt almost as leisurely as afternoon tea.
The Key to the Rubik's Cube had already been operating beneath Karen's robes. The array enveloping them overhead had not been thrown together in haste; it had likely been activated using a sacred relic, and one of no small caliber.
It was precisely their confidence in its efficacy that gave the attackers the impression they had all the time in the world.
Furthermore, they must have gathered sufficient intelligence: before they made their move, neither the Whip of Order nor the Regional Administrative Office had mobilized any personnel.
They truly had nothing to fear.
And yet, striking and purging them was the most difficult task of all, because they were not heretic spies from other religions; they were "devout" believers of Order, and their service records were even impeccably clean.
A colleague you trusted implicitly might very well be a member of this organization.
That was why Bern had told Karen that his method for investigating the identities of the newly promoted batch of bishops was to look at who was clean, treating the cleanest two or three as prime targets for scrutiny.
It was a last-resort approach of sorts: the less greedy you were, the less advantage you took, and the more strictly you adhered to your principles, the more likely you were to be a member of this cabal.
Drew lowered his head, glanced at the wound on his chest, gritted his teeth, and produced yet another gem in his hand.
Karen now grasped Drew's fighting style. While Drew's intrinsic strength was decent, it was far from astonishingly powerful. Those gemstones were functionally similar to the totems sealed on Ashley's arms by her parents, except Ashley summoned monster beasts, while Drew summoned "weapons."
In a quick skirmish, such a style offered a huge advantage. But once dragged into a war of attrition like this, his stock would be depleted first, and second, his combat patterns would be thoroughly figured out by the enemy.
Both the assassin and the warrior were increasingly aiming their attacks directly at Drew's physical body.
Under the healing spells, the glowing reddish hue of the "giant" turned black once more. His injuries had not actually healed; rather, through injury suppression and blessing enhancements, his combat effectiveness was maintained at a high peak.
Gigantifying once again, he charged at the pavilion just as he had before. He did not seek out Drew, because he knew Drew would proactively intercept him.
And indeed, Drew stepped in front of the giant once more, locking him in close-quarters combat, while the assassin's silhouette hovered brazenly around them, waiting for the next opportunity to deliver a crippling blow.
Gisen spoke up, "You should go help him! He won't last much longer!"
Karen countered, "You know how to fight."
"I don't have much combat experience."
"Yet you know how to fight."
"Nothing can happen to me! If I fall, many people will be in trouble."
The corner of Karen's mouth curled into a mocking smile. "You know how to fight."
"If Drew goes down, you won't escape either. You ought to understand that!"
"You ought to understand even better that their target isn't me—it's you. If you die, they'll have no reason to kill me."
"Karen, are you a priest of Order or not?!"
"And what about you? Are you?" Karen shot back. "After your death, the Church leadership will surely take this incident seriously. Perhaps they'll even launch a sweeping purge. That would benefit the Church. Sacrificing one person for the good of the entire Church—aren't those the very words you just said to me?"
Gisen fell silent.
Karen continued, "Why is it that Wolflen can die, but you can't? That makes no sense."
"Karen, I am the next-generation family successor chosen by my ancestor! If an accident befalls me here, do you honestly think my ancestor won't drag you into it? This isn't about whether security was your duty or not—you cannot control human emotions!"
"You're far older than me, yet why do you act like a child? What I despise most are people like you who never stop babbling about who is in their family and what their family is like. It's truly childish, ridiculous, and pathetic."
Half of these words were directed at Gisen, and the other half at Karen himself.
Both were descendants of "Temple Elders." Gisen's elder was of ancestral stature, separated by who knew how many generations, so seniority-wise, Gisen's standing was not even as high as Karen's.
Who was nobler than whom, who was less expendable than whom... Heh, comparing such things was utterly pointless.
The assassin seized an opening and struck again, after which both sides disengaged once more.
One of Drew's arms was completely ruined. In his other hand, he clutched a black gemstone, blood dripping incessantly down.
The giant returned to his position to begin receiving treatment once more.
Drew glanced back, then returned his gaze to the front.
He knew full well that he could not withstand the next onslaught.
Sure enough, in the next clash, Drew managed to bind the giant once more, but his own chest was pierced through by the assassin. Like a kite with a severed string, his body plunged backward, tumbling onto the pavilion steps.
He tried to stand, but had already lost the ability to do so. All he could do was lift his head toward Gisen above, wanting to speak, but frothy blood choked his mouth, rendering him unable to utter a sound.
The giant warrior and the assassin returned to their spots to receive healing and blessings. As for the black-robed man who had been controlling the entire situation, Karen noticed that his gaze would also land on him from time to time.
It seemed they truly knew each other.
Karen had guessed his identity, but he had never imagined that this man, who should have been serving a post elsewhere, would suddenly return to Yorktown. Of course, that might also be a rare way to deflect suspicion.
What surprised Karen even more was that this fellow actually belonged to Davins's organization.
Did he genuinely believe in that organization, or were they merely using each other?
Suddenly, Gisen, whose expression had still betrayed palpable tension just moments ago, looked as though he had cast off every burden. A smile even crept onto his face.
At the same time, seeing this, the mortally wounded Drew also smiled, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Gisen retrieved a green orb from his pocket, within whose depths a faint golden glow could be discerned.
"Your attack on me was doomed to fail from the start, for I have already completed its attunement and activation. This is a protective sacred relic bestowed upon me by my ancestor, containing a conceptual spell left behind by him.
"Once activated, my family will know that I am in peril. At the same time, it will grant me the most impenetrable protection."
Beyond the pavilion, the aura of the three black-robed figures shifted noticeably. Clearly, they had not anticipated that their quarry would carry such a sublime sacred relic—no, it had transcended the rank of a sacred relic, having received the blessing of a Temple Elder.
This alone showed just how much that Temple Elder favored this handpicked descendant.
Gisen crossed his arms before his chest as the orb floated above his head:
"Sub-Forbidden Curse—Order: Silent Bulwark!"
The orb began to dissolve, and beams of light poured down from within as a powerful aura of protection surged forth.
To Gisen, he only needed to hold out for this coming stretch of time, and rescue would naturally arrive. He even said to Karen in a contemptuous tone:
"I originally wanted to win you over, but now, I have no such desire. Karen, our score... we'll settle it slowly after this is over."
Yet just as this sub-forbidden curse unfurled halfway, it ground to a halt, as if meeting resistance from the surrounding environment.
Gisen froze, staring upward in disbelief. The orb had dissolved halfway, only to appear completely jammed.
"My apologies, Director. If you were going to employ such a powerful defensive spell, why didn't you mention it earlier? To protect you, I had already laid down a defensive array here. Look at the mess we're in—the two have clashed."
Crushing a bead in his left hand, a rune flashed, revealing a hilt. Karen drew the Sword of Diamans and slashed straight out.
*Crack!*
The orb detonated on the spot, and the half-cast sub-forbidden protective curse came to an abrupt end.
"Director, what score did you say you wanted to settle with me?"
Chapter 658