Chapter 413: Act 166 – What Tactics?
“Priest Amann, stop him!”
Seeing Brendel running farther away, Veronika knew she couldn’t stop him and could only shout at Amann, who was not far away. But at the same time, she frowned, sensing that the Mistborn Hydra was already charging through the forest toward her from one side. She quickly turned and swung her sword at the two enormous heads blocking her.
The Azure Sky emitted an eerie light as it struck the first head of the Mistborn Hydra right on the nose, but the white mist only recoiled for a moment before returning to its original form, causing a push that sent the Crusian goddess of war back nearly ten meters.
As Veronika retreated, the second head dove toward her, and she let out a grunt as she rolled sideways to avoid the attack. The white mist rolled past her on the forest floor, crashing into the surrounding black pines, as if a fierce wind had swept through, blowing the azure-haired swordswoman’s hair up and obscuring her vision.
She couldn’t help but glance to the side and saw that the reserve knights of the temple were blocking the other two heads at the cost of their lives. They formed two lines in front of Amann, casting spells to buy him time.
When Amann got to his feet, he hesitated briefly on whether to stop Brendel or deal with the Mistborn Hydra. There was only one chance; if he chose to handle Brendel, none of the knights under him would likely survive.
But ultimately, greed for the Sword of Earth overcame his rationality. Amann raised his right hand and drew a fiery emblem of the Temple of Fire with the onyx ring on his finger: “In the name of the flames, you flee, but you cannot escape—” He pointed toward Brendel: “Flame’s Prayer, return to me!”
Brendel, who was sprinting away, nearly blacked out upon hearing the incantation. The Flame’s Prayer was part of the High Holy Words, used by this priest from Einck to deal with someone as insignificant as him. It was well known that in Vaunte, only two professions mastered more than seven-ring holy spells—witches and priests. The curses of witches and the prophecies of priests were known as near-divine languages, which were undoubtedly weapons among spells.
Especially for pure warriors with low willpower, although Brendel had reached the level of an Elementalist, it was unfortunately too low to be of any use. As soon as Amann’s incantation finished, he found himself appearing in front of a fire circle.
“Damn it!” Brendel cursed under his breath, immediately turning to face the smug Amann. Gritting his teeth, he said, “It seems the priest intends to keep me here!”
“Of course,” Amann replied.
“Let’s hope you won’t regret it!” Brendel didn’t waste time with banter, flipping the sword upside down and gripping the Sword of Earth with both hands, thrusting it toward Amann.
“Conceited,” Amann’s expression turned cold. Ordinary people would hesitate or fear confronting the Temple of Fire, but Brendel’s decisiveness made him feel his authority was being challenged. The priest coolly raised his left hand: “Defensive Wall!”
A golden hexagonal shield expanded from the center of his palm, causing Brendel’s sword to strike it and create a long trail of sparks.
Brendel knew this wasn’t magic but rather Amann’s elemental power. Meanwhile, the priest was preparing to complete his spell, and a red light enveloped his holy robe as Amann used a sacred spell to enhance himself.
“I advise you to surrender,” Amann said, dispersing the hexagonal shield in front of him while raising a hand to grab the Sword of Earth from Brendel’s hands—he caught the blade with the meat of his palm, and the sharp metal produced a piercing clang against his skin.
Holy Spell—Iron Fist, Sacred Power.
A priest enhances himself with holy spells, and in close combat, his abilities are no less than that of a fully armed warrior. Although Amann had only used two holy spells, Brendel could sense that his power was already on par with his own at non-maximal output.
Amann held onto Brendel’s sword, chuckling softly, “Although you are a heretic, the Sanctuary and the Temple of Fire have not yet reached a hostile state of war. According to the rules among nobles, you should believe that the temple I represent will not easily harm a prominent noble like yourself; Baron, you can still pay your own ransom—”
The priest from Einck took a moment to glance at his knights, who were still holding off the Mistborn Hydra, while casually proposing terms to Brendel.
That chuckle sounded oddly familiar.
The thought flashed through Brendel’s mind but existed only for an instant; the ongoing battle made him nervous. Gritting his teeth, he tried to pull his sword back—Amann held onto the Sword of Earth’s blade so firmly that he felt he wouldn’t be able to retrieve it without using all his strength.
After confirming this, Brendel exhaled, softly scoffing, “Oh? So what does the priest think I should pay to redeem my life?”
“The Sword of Earth, to lead the way for Commander Veronika, how does that sound?” To Amann, killing Brendel seemed like the safest option, but since Veronika wouldn’t agree, he had to settle for a compromise.
However, asking Brendel to hand over the Sword of Earth was practically impossible, let alone lead Veronika. He regarded the shrewd eyes of the priest with a quiet breath.
Amann.
One of the regional priests of the Sanctuary, though not the highest in rank, was definitely among the most troublesome figures in Brendel’s eyes. Amann’s elemental power was ‘Defensive Wall,’ among the lowest tier of minor elements, but in reality, the element grade didn’t determine everything in the Amber Sword—mixed elements could be weak and disorderly, and the existence force wasn’t invincible either.
High-level elements represented more possibilities, and lower-level elements can similarly unleash immense power when applied appropriately, as evidenced by Amann.
Relying on the ‘Defensive Wall’ element as a backup, he compensated for the priest’s weakness of needing time to enhance his spells in one-on-one combat. A fully powered priest was someone not just warriors but even wizards would not dare face head-on.
In Vaunte, a fully powered priest was referred to as near-divine, and in Brendel’s impression, the only professions capable of directly confronting a priest in this state were probably berserkers in a rage state and a few special advanced professions.
Not to mention that Amann was several levels above him; this guy might only need a third of the BUFF to knock Brendel down.
This absolute gap in power left Brendel silent for a moment until Amann spoke again.
“Want to stall for time, Baron?” Amann chuckled; “Maybe you are too confident that Lady Veronika won’t kill you, but that doesn’t mean others will regard you the same way.”
Brendel was taken aback.
“Your loyal subordinate is hiding not far from here, but it looks like that beautiful lady is more like your companion, Baron. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to see anything happen to her, would you?”
Amann glanced toward the forest.
Yet he didn’t realize that his words ignited Brendel’s anger. If Brendel had a bottom line, it was everyone related to him. Perhaps it stemmed from experiencing the heavy history of the past, witnessing the deaths of the Valkyrie and the regent princess, and seeing too many stories of loss and sorrow.
Brendel knew that to break away from such heavy chains, he needed to smash that history and change it with the strength he possessed; thus, he would never allow anyone to use such threats against him.
In an instant, he made his decision.
Brendel’s arms trembled with the sword, and he exploded with strength, forcibly pulling the Sword of Earth from Amann’s grip. The blade slipped from Amann’s hands, and he took an involuntary step back. But as soon as he retreated, Brendel closed in.
From Amann’s perspective, Brendel moving in was to prevent him from opening up the ‘Defensive Wall’ element again, but at this moment, the priest from Einck was surprised—at such close range, he couldn’t open the ‘Defensive Wall,’ but Brendel wouldn’t be able to avoid his attack either.
Let’s not forget, priests have more than just enhancement spells.
“Neglecting the rear,” Amann sneered, extending his fingers, each tipped with a cross-shaped halo. “Holy Strike!”
He shouted, and five light bullets shot out in an instant—Amann didn’t go all out, fully aware that such a simple attack wouldn’t injure Brendel. Thus he was already prepared for a second strike.
To him, Brendel could only dodge to the side to avoid the five holy strikes. But after firing, Amann raised his hand, a Binding Spell already set at Brendel’s anticipated route.
However, what happened next nearly caused the priest to lose focus and drop his spell, risking a backlash—
Because he didn’t wait for Brendel.
He saw Brendel charging straight into the five holy strikes, knowing those five strikes, although not fully powered, would still be lethal if they all hit someone with only golden-level strength!
This guy has gone mad?
Amann stood there, wide-eyed as his holy strikes illuminated Brendel, hitting him in the shoulder and abdomen one after another, but he felt no joy—putting aside whether Veronika would cause trouble for him, the key was—
The young man, though covered in blood, continued to advance.
“How is that possible!”
Amann momentarily couldn’t react; he only knew that even Veronika would be severely injured from enduring his five holy strikes, but how could this guy appear unharmed?
Berserker?
But the calmness and clarity in Brendel’s eyes told him otherwise.
In that hesitation, Brendel rushed into Amann’s close range. Amann believed that if Brendel attacked with his sword, the protective spell on his holy robe would still assist him—the holy robes of priests were passed down through generations with incredible defensive capabilities. Earlier, he had even used his robe to withstand the attacks of the Mistborn Hydra, so he presumed the robe would easily protect against this young man’s assault as well.
But Amann didn’t anticipate that Brendel would actually grab hold of him.
“Bastard, let go!” Amann hadn’t expected that a golden-level swordmaster would grapple with him like a thug, but he quickly realized this method was effective. When restrained, he found he couldn’t cast spells.
As a respected priest, this was the first time Amann experienced such a thing. In a moment of panic, he felt Brendel pushing him in a certain direction.
However, Brendel was accustomed to this; players in combat were always resourceful and knew how to restrict a wizard or priest far too well.
Although it wasn’t completely effective, he was confident Amann wouldn’t react in time.
Just a few seconds would suffice.
Brendel guessed correctly; for a moment, Amann couldn’t figure out how to counter such an absurd tactic. As he was in a fluster, he suddenly heard Veronika’s voice behind him: “Be careful!”
Amann instinctively turned his head.
His face turned pale as he realized that his knights could no longer hold against the Mistborn Hydra, and the huge head was crashing through, sweeping through the few people over there and heading toward him.
“That brat isn’t trying to take me down with him, is he?”
Amann’s face changed dramatically as he guessed Brendel’s true intention.
……
(TO BE CONTINUED. For more chapters and to support the author, please visit the official site!)
