A Suspected Chosen?

Even as Catherine was flung through the air by Anbaixiu, her face remained frozen in sheer confusion and disbelief. What had just happened? Why had he thrown her out? Wait, something was wrong—why was this lich also pinning her limbs with Mage Hand? Four glowing, pale-blue spectral palms clamped firmly around Catherine's wrists and ankles, stretching her out in a wide splay and leaving her suspended in midair in a thoroughly humiliating posture. Before Catherine could even struggle, a terrifying concussive force slammed into her back. The silvery-white blade ray struck Catherine dead-on. A strike capable of cleaving a city like firewood merely slashed open the back of Catherine's clothes, then propelled her high into the heavens. With Catherine absorbing the sword beam, Anbaixiu managed to evade it just in time. However, Naomi's wing was grazed by the slash. A massive gash tore across her right dragon wing, instantly making it impossible for her to remain airborne. Anbaixiu had no choice but to open his private pocket space so Naomi could take refuge inside, leaving himself suspended in midair using the Fly spell. Just then, a thoroughly disheveled Catherine dove down from the sky astride her giant eagle. Grabbing hold of Anbaixiu, she threw a vicious punch right at him. Her fist slammed into solid, rock-hard mithral. Catherine grimaced in pain, hissing through her teeth—proof that she had held nothing back in that blow. Clutching her aching fist, Catherine fumed, "You bastard! What did you just do?!" For the first time in her life, Catherine had been thrown out as a meat shield, and for the first time, she had been cast away like that. Her eyes reddened with fury, wanting nothing more than to fight Anbaixiu to the death! "You were the one who said you wanted to help me!" Anbaixiu replied. "If you hadn't blocked that sword strike just now, I'd already be dead. The blessing of the gods really is something!" A divine blessing truly was incredible. Under the moonlight, Catherine was completely immune to harm—not even the Silvermoon Knight's Divine Smite could breach it. "You could have at least told me beforehand! Just now, I..." Catherine stopped halfway, snapping her mouth shut and glaring at Anbaixiu with furious eyes. That moonlit sword strike hadn't harmed her flesh, but its potent holy energy had shredded her clothes into tatters. After being propelled into the upper atmosphere, Catherine had been forced to change her clothes before flying back down. The cloud cover up there was thin, and there was no telling whether this lich had seen something he shouldn't have. Unable to bring herself to say that out loud, Catherine could only keep glaring at him murderously. Anbaixiu had no idea what was running through her head. All he knew was that Catherine truly was invincible beneath the moonlight, and she had successfully baited away one of the enemy's lethal strikes. Seeing the look on her face, Anbaixiu knew the elven girl was genuinely enraged. He hastily apologized, "Alright, alright, it was my fault. But the situation was far too critical! How was I supposed to know the old codger wouldn't swing at the dwarves and would target me first instead? It was wrong of me not to consult you first. I can offer compensation to show my sincerity." "Really?" Catherine's tone softened slightly. She possessed a pure and benevolent soul acknowledged by the gods; if Anbaixiu offered an earnest apology, Catherine was willing to forgive him. Yet this lich was a compulsive liar with an endless repertoire of falsehoods. Catherine held little trust in him, suspecting his apology was mere lip service. "I'll give you half the gold coins I squeezed out of the dwarf Hoffman!" Anbaixiu said, wincing as if in physical agony. Never one to walk away empty-handed, Anbaixiu had used the pretext of renovating the Temple of the God of Alchemy to extort a hundred thousand gold coins from Hoffman. It wasn't an exorbitant sum, but parting with fifty thousand was already an immense concession for Anbaixiu. Catherine had no idea how much Anbaixiu had fleeced from the dwarves, but seeing this penny-pinching lich willing to part with actual gold to apologize made her accept his sincerity. "Hmph, I won't hold it against you for now," Catherine muttered, though most of her anger had already dissipated. "Thank you! As expected of the Elven Queen—far more magnanimous than an undead like me." Free flattery was something Anbaixiu could spool out all day long. He couldn't afford to anger Catherine right now; he still needed her as a shield. With the incident brushed aside for the moment, Anbaixiu peered down from the sky. The battlefield below looked grim. In a span of merely a dozen seconds, the dwarves' defensive line had been steadily pushed back. Even with legends entering the fray, they still couldn't halt the advance of those paladins glowing like lightbulbs. When it came to support capabilities, clerics were truly second to none, multiplying the combat prowess of paladins several times over. Once their numbers swelled, even legends of lesser caliber came under immense pressure. It wasn't that the legends couldn't win, but doing so would require putting their lives on the line. And if they staked their lives right now, what would they do when the Silvermoon Knight unleashed his next attack? Anbaixiu could clearly sense that morale on the dwarves' side was flagging. Those legends seemed thoroughly terrified by the previous clash. They couldn't bring out even thirty percent of their true strength, keeping most of their attention fixed on the Silvermoon Knight out of fear that a sudden strike would cut them down in an instant. The Silvermoon Knight had indeed wanted to turn the tide of the battle, but the frontline was currently intertwined in chaotic close quarters; bringing down his blade would have cleaved his own men in two. Therefore, the old man had set his sights on Anbaixiu flying overhead. That silver dragon was simply too conspicuous. Although their earlier council had concluded that it was merely a druid wildshaping into a dragon rather than a true time dragon, the combat prowess of this dragon knight still commanded deep wariness from the Silvermoon Knight. The spike that had impaled a fellow soldier had already been pulled out, and the Ryan troops were now well aware of how terrifying these anti-magic weapons were. Virtually no magical defense could withstand them, leaving thick metal armor as the only physical recourse. Yet a single breath from that time dragon could rot a paladin's armor away. Combined with anti-magic weapons, it formed an almost insurmountable combination. When an enemy's attacks could not be blocked and could only be dodged, they were no different from the Silvermoon Knight's Divine Smite. The dwarves had their own equivalent of the Silvermoon Knight—how could the Ryan forces possibly overlook such a threat? The Silvermoon Knight also understood that if this dragon knight were allowed to fight without restraint, no one on the Ryan side except himself would be able to hold him back. That was why his very first strike had been aimed squarely at the dragon knight. Yet that sword ray had actually been deflected? The distance was too great for the Silvermoon Knight to discern the fine details, but he knew with certainty that something had blocked his Divine Smite, stopping the strike from cleaving through. Though he had clipped the time dragon's wing, it had clearly fallen short of his intended goal. Now, he needed rest. For the next five minutes, he would be unable to unleash a second strike. *Old age catches up after all! If only I were ten years younger...* The Silvermoon Knight knew he was inching closer to death with every passing day. He ought to have been resting comfortably in the imperial capital, living out his twilight years in peace. Yet he knew the world had left little time for Ryan. The Silvermoon Knight only wanted to secure more advantages for Ryan before he died, preparing it for the catastrophic shifts ahead. A great war involving the gods would soon erupt across the Nine Kingdoms. Anbaixiu wasn't the only one sensing it; the Ryan Empire knew it as well, which was why they were acting with such desperate haste. Before that chaotic future arrived, the Silvermoon Knight intended to eliminate as many enemies as possible for Ryan, repaying the empire that had raised and nurtured him. Five minutes. He only needed five minutes, and he would be able to swing his blade once more! Even if this dragon knight possessed an artifact capable of withstanding Divine Smite, the Silvermoon Knight refused to believe it could be used without a steep cost. The next strike would surely finish him. Yet Anbaixiu's counterattack was not about to wait five minutes. Dense dark clouds suddenly gathered across the clear night sky that had once been dotted with sparse stars and a bright moon. Immediately afterward, massive hailstones came crashing down. Hailstones larger than human heads plummeted from the sky, pummeling the Ryan positions with deafening clatter. Even heavily armored paladins were knocked flat to the ground by these giant chunks of ice. Unfortunate soldiers who lacked sufficient defensive wards could lose their lives to a single direct hit. Standing beside the Silvermoon Knight, Alan swung his greatsword to shield his commander from the plummeting hailstones. No matter how enormous the ice, Divine Smite could still shatter it to powder. This was Alan's duty—he could not allow the Silvermoon Knight to squander an ounce of strength against these spell attacks. The horrific hailstorm lasted a full thirty seconds, inflicting catastrophic casualties on the Ryan army. At least a hundred men were crushed to death on the spot by the falling ice, with countless more wounded. The Ryan commanders had no choice but to order a temporary retreat. They pulled back merely a few hundred meters, halting just outside the hailstorm's perimeter to treat the wounded and reorganize their ranks. Wiping the ice shavings from his face, Alan couldn't help but say, "The eighth-tier spell Control Weather! Does the Dwarf Kingdom really have a spellcaster this formidable?" Once a spell exceeded the seventh tier, the casting difficulty skyrocketed. Not just any legendary mage could cast eighth-tier magic unless they specialized in transmutation. Yet the Silvermoon Knight shook his head. "It isn't Control Weather. This should be Ice Storm." "Ice Storm?" Alan exclaimed in shock. "How could that be possible? The area of effect is far too vast!" The Silvermoon Knight stared up into the sky, his brow furrowed deep. Having spent his entire life on the battlefield, he had encountered countless mages, and his judgment of spells was far more discerning than Alan's. This was indeed the fourth-tier spell Ice Storm, which normally reached its limit covering an area of roughly ten meters. Yet this particular Ice Storm was dozens of times more potent, and its coverage was absurdly massive. Could this dragon knight also be an exceptionally powerful legendary mage? Perhaps not merely a legend—the enemy possessed a way to drastically amplify the potency of all his spells, which undoubtedly pointed to a specialized artifact. Considering that this dragon knight could block a strike from his blade and amplify his spells to such an insane degree, just how many artifacts did this person carry? Which kingdom did this sudden dragon knight belong to? Or was he the chosen of some deity? And why was he opposing Ryan? These questions had no easy answers, and the Silvermoon Knight had no time to ponder them. He turned to Alan and ordered, "Pass down my command: all legends, take to the air with me. Priority objective—slay that dragon knight!" If a powerful mage were left free to cast at will, even a hundred thousand more Ryan soldiers wouldn't suffice; they would only be slaughtered in vain under those horrifying spells. Even though aerial combat was not a paladin's forte, the Silvermoon Knight was determined to eliminate the enemy spellcaster at all costs. Yet before the Ryan legends could even ascend into the skies, the second wave of magical bombardment arrived. This time, four roaring, blazing meteors descended! The ninth-tier spell: Meteor Swarm!