The combat area in the sanctuary was ringed by a perimeter of solemn stone pillars sculpted with divine statues; even the raging sea of fire could not encroach upon them.
High-speed clashes throughout the sanctuary kept ringing out with the harsh, cast-iron clang of colliding weapons.
On the walls between each pair of stone pillars, the intricate stained glass reflected blurred silhouettes as figures clashed head-on, pursued, and grappled in fleeting flashes.
Off to one side in the distance...
The Cleric was not only casting heals on the three frontliners intercepting the Saintess of Destruction at close quarters, but had also erected a pale-blue protective dome nearby to fend off the long-range area-of-effect spells she unleashed.
Yet beneath this shield, the figures in the back row could retreat no farther.
Behind them stood the high wall set with a rose window beneath the sanctuary's vaulted dome.
"Hyperion, I'll need your help shortly to keep an eye on the two unconscious challengers from the Creti Empire, and to keep me somewhat protected as well."
As Lanqi spoke, he turned and looked straight toward the distant Saintess of Destruction, Adelice, meeting her gaze across the battlefield—a gaze brimful of resolute murderous intent.
"Focus on the enemy. Leave everything else to me," Hyperion whispered beside him with quiet assurance.
Lanqi nodded, then took a step forward.
At that moment, each of the magic cards Lanqi casually held between his fingers glowed with a faint, shimmering purple light.
This flex—practically flaunting his arsenal—looked like an outright provocation.
No healing mage with an ounce of common sense would blow all their healing skills in a single breath, dumping every single spell into cooldown.
Overhealing was nothing but a waste.
Thus, to everyone present, Lanqi seemed to be demonstrating that all his healing spells were of Purple Rare quality—more than enough to take his sweet time toying with Adelice, the Saintess of Destruction.
The faint smile playing on his lips as he gazed at the Saintess of Destruction—thirty percent regret and seventy percent pity—looked all too much like an invitation, as though he were waiting for her to break through the lines and reach him.
"What good will that pitiful mana of yours do?!"
The Saintess of Destruction's expression twisted into a ferocious scowl. With a shrill cry, the blazing sword in her grasp swung with violent frenzy, roaring like a clutch of crimson vipers.
In an instant, the wild flurry of downward strikes erupted into a tempest of flames, hurling the battered Executioner and Paladin back into midair before they crashed hard onto the floor, while the male guard, who had been waiting for a chance to strike, was forced to guard himself and pull back.
In that moment, Adelice's oppressive aura surged even stronger; her killing intent made the entire sanctuary feel plunged into a sea of fire on scorched, annihilated earth.
Just seeing Lanqi's face and his ever-present smile caused the rage inside the Saintess of Destruction to boil over!
She knew that her inability to keep her composure wasn't just because Lanqi was an utter scumbag.
It was the demon standing behind Lanqi—the one with gray hair and a red dress, who had been singing continuously!!
As long as that demon kept singing, no matter how iron-clad her nerves were, she would become irritable and touchy.
Yet in the brief window after unleashing a large-scale Tier 6 spell to blast back her blockers, just as she prepared to dash forward, the Cleric's crowd control and the guard girl's traps delayed her charge once more.
After she managed to close the distance by only a few meters, the Executioner and Paladin, gritting their teeth through their wounds and agony, caught up to intercept her again.
Under these conditions, long before nightfall arrived, the Saintess of Destruction might well be successfully taunted by Lanqi all the way into the back row, forcing a desperate, life-or-death brawl between them.
In the distance, along the high sanctuary wall a dozen meters away from the center of the battlefield...
"Bro, stop taunting her!"
"Heal them, quick!"
As backline support, the Cleric and the guard girl both felt the sheer terror of what Lanqi was doing.
They had never seen a healer pull aggro this hard.
Even the frontline tanks couldn't hold her back!
"Don't worry, I'm starting my day job right now."
Lanqi smiled, sensing his teammates' worry.
That was completely normal, though. Teammates fighting alongside him for the first time were always a little panicked.
Once his words fell, Lanqi focused his gaze upon the scorching battlefield ahead and began playing out the healing magic cards in his hand, one after another.
At the same time, the faint magical shimmer characteristic of receiving healing began to ripple continuously over the distant Saintess of Destruction.
"?!"
Lanqi's move stunned everyone present for a second.
First off, that was not how healing magic was supposed to be used.
Dumping everything all at once was no different from throwing the match.
And furthermore, when everyone realized his heals were landing on the Saintess of Destruction, they started to dread that Lanqi had chosen to betray them—defecting to the Resurrection Church at the most critical juncture!
That would be utter despair.
Even the Saintess of Destruction was momentarily baffled, wondering if it was possible Lanqi was actually on her side.
However...
No matter how she thought about it, something felt off. He looked like he was trolling everyone, or maybe defecting, yet the mana radiating from him as he cast the spells was conspicuously, laughably faint.
It turned out he had never been concealing his mana—he was just truly that weak!
Heals like this possessed virtually zero restoration value; dropping more of them was essentially healing nothing at all.
Just as everyone's brains were about to short-circuit from Lanqi's bizarre play, Adelice's body—blanketed by that flurry of healing spells—experienced no noticeable recovery whatsoever. Instead, she stiffened instantly, followed by violent convulsions, as if enduring an unspeakable agony.
The first to react was the male guard, who materialized like a shadow leopard, dagger aimed straight at the nape of the Saintess of Destruction's neck!
Her battle instincts allowed her to endure the pain and jerk away from the strike just in time, swinging her blazing sword to knock the male guard away once more.
Blood trickled down her neck, making her pupils tremble with disbelieving fury.
A strike that under normal circumstances couldn't have even scratched her—one she could have easily countered for a kill—had bypassed her regular reaction time due to the intolerable agony wracking her body.
Even the Executioner and the Paladin caught on. Thrilled by their realization of the shifting tide, they charged at her again!
They finally understood what kind of white mage Lanqi was.
Pure mental harassment, psychological pollution, and torture of the enemy.
What an absolute, unadulterated bastard this guy was!
Yet right now, their side could not afford a war of attrition against the Saintess of Destruction; any amount of healing on themselves would only prolong a slow death.
What they needed instead was a specialized troll support like Lanqi, who could speed up the battle's pace and upend the board!
Parrying the underhanded ambushes of the Executioner and the Paladin, the Saintess of Destruction glared fiercely across the battlefield at Lanqi during a lull in the clash, her eyes wild like an uncontrollable beast, dripping with vicious murderous intent.
"Lanqi! Wilfort!!!"
A shrill, furious roar echoed through the sanctuary.
And with that, the Saintess of Destruction seemed to fly into a berserk rage!
Chapter 137