Inside the sanctuary, the towering ceiling, stone pillars, stained glass, and frescoes shuddered unceasingly.
Accompanied by a barrage of thunderous booms, the combined and desperate efforts of the Executioner and the Paladin could do no more than slow the advance of the Saintess of Destruction.
On the flank of the battlefield's center, the merchant guild's male guard lurked within the shifting interplay of light and shadow, scouting the combat with calm, razor-sharp eyes.
It was already plain from her combat style that even without a cleric, she maintained a massive rate of self-healing, keeping her physical condition locked in an equilibrium.
Beyond possessing strength and mana that utterly surpassed everyone present, the Saintess of Destruction did not hesitate to trade wounds whenever necessary. Doing so only made her stronger, leaving the Executioner and the Paladin ever harder pressed to parry her strikes.
To the naked eye alone, she was draped in at least three pieces of Pink Sacred equipment.
Moreover, many of her pivotal utility cards were Tier 6—such as Forced Dispel, which cleansed every status condition from her body, and Designated Purification, which granted complete immunity to repeated abnormal statuses for a duration. The crowd control effects the defenders mustered could barely hinder her at all. They could only rely on their numbers and the brief cooldown gaps to stall her temporarily.
Clashing head-on with her was a losing proposition. Yet right now, his sister, the young master of the merchant guild, the clerics, Mr. Lawyer, and his companion were all lingering in the rear row. The Saintess of Destruction could not be allowed to breach the line any further.
The short blade in the male guard's hand glinted with a chill light. Merging his phantom-like steps into the silent air, he readied himself to deliver a fatal strike.
At that exact instant, a soaring burst of flames erupted from the floor—a trigger-activated trap laid across the sanctuary flagstones by his younger sister. The Saintess of Destruction leapt lightly into the air to dodge it, her black-armored form descending toward the opposite flank.
"Where did you go?"
As if talking to herself, the Saintess of Destruction raised her sword without so much as turning her head and slashed backward.
The moment she swung her blade, the air throughout the surrounding area abruptly boiled. A wave of scorching energy rippled outward at an unimaginable speed—for a split second, it felt as though every scrap of matter would burst into flame.
At the very same moment, the male guard materialized, his short blade thrusting viciously toward the Saintess of Destruction's back.
Yet her combat instincts had already anticipated it.
The blazing greatsword and the icy dagger crossed mid-air, erupting in a deafening metallic crash that instantly flooded the air with the sulfurous reek of an iron foundry!
……
Ikerite Academy, Jera Memorial Square.
The flickering projection and the unending thunder of fierce battle made the students watching from the stone tiers feel as though they were plunged directly into that meat grinder of a battlefield.
Normally, scenes like this only unfolded at the very climax of a Shadow World—when every challenger had unraveled the puzzle, reached the final boss, and launched their coordinated team assault.
Yet at this moment, the oppressive aura exerted by the Saintess of Destruction single-handedly far exceeded that of an ordinary Tier 5 Shadow World's ultimate foe.
Even if the challengers on screen appeared barely able to stall her, she was plainly fighting with room to spare.
"This Saintess of Destruction... finding her out almost feels worse than not finding her."
"If she drags this out until nightfall and unlocks her Blood Clan authority, it'll probably be an instant team wipe. This timing is lethal."
Had it been daytime, they would have had plenty of time to fight a war of attrition against her.
Now, however, a countdown seemed to loom over the head of every challenger.
In less than an hour, the sun would dip below the horizon, and the Blood Clan Count resting somewhere far away would awaken. At that point, the Saintess of Destruction would gain access to an unknown Blood Clan authority!
Whatever that Blood Clan authority might be, it would be equivalent to the effect of an overwhelmingly powerful Orange Epic spell card.
Under these circumstances, it would instantly overturn the scales of victory.
[The true identity of the Resurrection Church's Saintess of Destruction has been confirmed as Adelice, a Silver-rank challenger of the Creti Empire. Danger Level: SS. All residents of the Southern Continent are advised to take note of her characteristics.]
An urgent bulletin dispatched by the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association soon flashed across the screen, simultaneously displaying the effects of the key magic cards she employed:
[Blood Oath Pendant]
[Category: Equipment Card]
[Quality: Pink Sacred]
[Tier: 1]
[Effect: Continuously consumes vitality while equipped, granting an all-attribute boost and conferring a minor life leech capability upon the user.]
[Note: In the silence of the dark night, the crimson covenant shall never be broken.]
Corresponding to the card's details, the screen zoomed in on an ornament that appeared fused into the Saintess of Destruction's chest. Irregular, twisted, and webbed with crimson veins, it looked like hardened blood, glinting with a disorienting dark-red sheen beneath the light.
It was clearly this piece of equipment that had allowed her to gradually gain the upper hand against the Executioner and the Paladin.
She would only grow stronger the longer she fought.
Having wreaked havoc in the mortal world in the past without her true identity ever coming to light, the Saintess of Destruction had finally revealed her face. As a result, the properties of the core equipment documented and appraised during her previous rampages began to appear on screen one after another.
The perspective swiftly shifted, locking onto the pitch-black armor encasing her body.
[Life-Death Reversal Armor]
[Category: Equipment Card]
[Quality: Pink Sacred]
[Tier: 6]
[Effect: The lower the user's vitality, the greater the boost to healing received. Nullifies fatal damage upon receiving a lethal strike (Cooldown: 30 days). Does not stack with other effects that grant lethal damage immunity.]
[Note: The shadow of death dances while life's carapace breaks free from the cocoon.]
Simultaneously, the screen showed the blood-stained greatsword she brandished, splitting the display in two:
[Blazing Emissary]
[Category: Equipment Card]
[Quality: Orange Epic]
[Tier: 4]
[Effect: Grants life leech on hit, inflicting burn and reduced healing. Damage dealt by this weapon will not trigger enemy magic card effects.]
[Note: The death that sets the heavens and earth ablaze is irresistible.]
The remaining Purple Rare and Blue Precious cards Adelice had used in the battle were utility cards familiar to the students of Ikerite. Most served to resist spells or break crowd control, standard inclusions for virtually any Tier 6 combatant.
"'Invincible' is written all over her face. Even if a Tier 6 member of the Blood Clan fought her all night, they might not be able to put her down."
"If this keeps up, the moment the clerics run out of mana, it's all over anyway."
"Hang in there... clerics!"
The students watching on the steps could not help but break into a cold sweat, their throats growing parched from the nonstop chatter.
The exposed traitor was far too terrifying, and the sinking sun ticked down like a timer, granting the valiant challengers only a fleeting reprieve.
"Wait, isn't there another healer?"
They suddenly remembered.
Lanqi's combat vocation was, of all things, a white mage.
Because his antics were so unhinged, everyone had nearly forgotten that his formal role was that of a healer.
Back in the rear row, Hyperion had finished binding the unconscious priestess even tighter, while Lanqi had cast an enigmatic spell on the noble female mage who had lost her will to fight. Her sobs instantly ceased, after which Hyperion knocked her out as well.
With these two unpredictable captives handled and handed over to the merchant guild heir to watch, Lanqi and Hyperion should finally be able to join the battle without distraction.
"Even if two healers can stabilize the front, the challengers can't afford to drag this out!"
In theory, the challenger party's composition was extraordinarily balanced: two tanks, two healers, and three damage dealers.
The problem was that dusk was rapidly approaching. The challengers were the ones who desperately needed a swift resolution!
If they could not break this stalemate, it was already a dead end!
"Wait a second... has anyone here ever seen Lanqi actually fight?"
Someone posed the question, catching everyone off guard.
The surrounding students blinked in bewilderment, shaking their heads.
"Yeah, why the hell is that guy a white mage in the first place?!"
"If you told me he was an evil god's shaman or a bizarre warlock, I'd find it way more believable!"
The students near the stone steps suddenly realized that this team fight might not be nearly so simple!
There was something terrifying about Lanqi—the sheer horror of the fact that to this day, no one had ever seen him go all out.
When it came to Lanqi's actual combat prowess, the most dubious point had always been his third-round entrance exam: the practical combat test.
The Dean of the School of Sages had personally sealed those records. The prevailing rumor claimed that Lanqi and Hyperion had merely lucked out in their two-person trial because Examiner Ferrat happened to suffer an acute cardiovascular incident.
Looking back on it now, that story felt increasingly suspicious.
Examiner Ferrat's sudden cerebral hemorrhage was almost certainly the handiwork of Lanqi and the Poet of Great Love!
Could it be that aside from wrecking people's mental state and drawing infinite aggro outside of combat... Lanqi even possessed a way to make his enemies' blood pressure explode mid-fight?
Instantly.
Every pair of eyes turned nervously toward the screen—where Lanqi, already drawing several healing magic cards, was wearing a gentle smile.
Chapter 136