Chapter 415: Act 168 – The Divine Envoy
As Brendel lay dying and in a coma, the multi-headed holy dragon, having sustained injuries, went into a frenzy. It raised its numerous heads high and let out a long howl to the sky before turning its wrath upon the knights preparing to attack the Temple of Fire and Veronika, who were fleeing madly into the forest—seemingly intent on eradicating these insignificant beings that challenged its authority.
Thus, the knights were immediately met with disaster. They were already struggling to hold their ground, hoping to buy time for the priest to cast spells to aid them. But Amann’s death was undoubtedly a shocking blow, shattering the confidence of these backup knight members in an instant.
With the addition of several more heads from the holy dragon, their line collapsed in a mere moment.
Many knights were instantly bitten in half by the giant dragon head that suddenly emerged from the mist, and the battlefield became hellish, filled with the sounds of screams echoing through the woods.
Veronika, caught in the chaos of battle, furrowed her brow. While she defended herself with sword energy against the assaults of the mist-shrouded holy dragon, it was not her own safety or that of others that made her anxious—but the situation that she found unbelievable:
Amann’s death.
The moment she saw the look in Brendel’s eyes, her heart skipped a beat, but this Crusian war goddess had not expected Brendel to act with such reckless determination.
Killing a priest of the sanctuary.
After all, it was the sanctuary! A power that had held absolute dominion over Erluin, Cruz, and the entire Fire Alliance for over a thousand years. Even if the Cruz people held sway over the sanctuary council’s rhetoric, they still dared not oppose this behemoth.
The authority of the Temple of Fire was deeply ingrained in people’s hearts, revered by all, and standing against the sanctuary was akin to standing against the entire Fire Alliance.
Aside from the two exceptional wars of the past, no one dared to declare war on a sanctuary.
Even Veronika, whose status was far above Amann’s, did not dare to take action against him. She was a legion commander in the Empire, yet the Empire would not break ties with the Temple of Fire simply for one legion commander.
“That guy…” Veronika gritted her teeth, tightly gripping the Azure Sky sword so hard that her knuckles turned white. This female general understood that she must eternally bury everything she witnessed today as a secret deep within her heart.
She took a deep breath.
There has never been a precedent of a regional priest dying due to internal strife in the Temple of Fire; if word got out, it would be a devastating blow to the sanctuary, even threatening to shake the foundations of its rule.
Once a precedent is set, Veronika could imagine how the once-established prestige of the Temple of Fire would become precarious, and the kings who were already reluctant to submit to divine authority would naturally start to stir.
Even the formidable and powerful Emperor of Cruz must have pondered such thoughts at one point.
Thus, everyone who experienced this firsthand became the natural enemies of the sanctuary.
Even Veronika, thinking of the Temple of Fire’s secret judicial proceedings, couldn’t help but take a deep breath. She looked back, noticing the red-haired girl with a long ponytail had already brought Brendel’s corpse out of the forest.
She naturally assumed that Brendel had perished beneath that blow.
But for some reason, Veronika felt a sense of regret in her heart. The young man’s fierce personality had sparked her fondness, reminding this Crusian war goddess of her own youth.
In that era, she too had refused to yield to the world.
But unfortunately, he was an Erluin person.
Yet just as Veronika lamented silently, Xi had already crossed through the forest with the unconscious Brendel—after having rolled into that tree hollow and lost the Thunder Spear, she had miraculously escaped the first wave of attacks from the holy dragon without any weapons—this saved both her and Brendel.
Following Brendel’s instructions, the girl traversed south through the valley mouth and entered the last checkpoint outside the storm circle—the Ancient Abyss.
For the past two days, in order to reach the ‘Saintly White Stone’ spoken of by Brendel as quickly as possible, this pony-tailed girl had not slept even once. However, Brendel’s breath was growing weaker, which made Xi feel anxious and uneasy.
She feared that Brendel would stop breathing at any moment; her heart felt empty, unsure of how to face all of this.
She was lost in her thoughts and even found herself crying softly at times.
The further south she went, the sparser the trees became in her sight, and the forest floor changed from lush green to grayish-yellow. Though it was somewhat abstract to discern colors in this eternal night devoid of sunlight, Xi could still guess a general idea based on the vegetation, soil, and rock distribution on the ground.
The grasslands in this direction were scattered like tufts of a bald man’s hair, with exposed edges of rocks jutting out from the brown soil below. The trees were sparsely distributed in the mist far away, and the valley in this direction seemed to become desolate.
Finally, by this evening—though based on the time, Xi was uncertain if, in her weariness, she had miscounted a night or even longer—
She finally found the place Brendel spoke of, a conspicuous giant white rock in a pitch-black valley, which seemed to emanate a faint glow, filled with a sacred aura in this desolate valley.
Without needing any words, Xi understood she had found the right place.
The girl hurried over, nearly crawling, but at the critical moment, her nervousness, anxiety, and fatigue overwhelmed her and she stumbled, tripping over a protruding rock and falling to the ground.
Brendel was also thrown far away from the impact.
Xi gritted her teeth and scrambled up from the ground, ignoring the stinging pain in her palms and elbows as she hurriedly went to support Brendel. She placed her hand on his chest—though the young man’s wound had become pus-filled and festering, she felt powerless.
The girl only felt Brendel’s heart still beating weakly, but so faintly it was almost undetectable. Unable to hold back the tears blurring her vision, Xi covered her mouth and began to cry. She was cold and hungry; it seemed her backpack had gotten caught on a branch when she left the forest, and she hadn’t noticed it in her haste to escape.
As a result, all the food and emergency supplies were left behind.
The red-haired girl cried for a while before carefully placing Brendel in the large gap beneath the rock. She dared not leave him alone, so she could only sit dazedly beside him, hoping her lord would recover.
But the situation did not develop as she imagined.
The next morning, as Xi woke in a daze, she noticed that Brendel’s body was undergoing a change—simply put, his mana was leaking away, and for a powerful warrior who had entered the golden realm, this sign almost foretold death.
Although Xi did not understand this, the loss of power could not be a good thing, and she grew anxious, yet for a moment could find no way to stop it.
But just as she was feeling restless, a sudden voice echoed:
“Eh?”
It was a woman’s voice.
Xi was startled and immediately turned to glance outside the Saintly White Rock. The only one who could possibly appear in this place was Veronika, but to her surprise, she saw an eerie woman.
Or rather, she should say a creature with a woman’s upper body and a plant-like lower body.
The woman was unfamiliar to her, but Xi recognized the unconscious girl entangled in one of the woman’s tendrils—Faina, the young lady of Cruz.
She immediately realized this woman was the one who had killed Diya and reached for her short sword at her waist, but when she tried to pull it out, she found it was empty.
It was only then that Xi remembered she had already lost the short sword.
Grinding her teeth, she warily looked at the decaying lord, Andisha, and asked, “Who are you?” As soon as she spoke, she realized her voice had turned extremely hoarse, and her throat was painfully dry.
Andisha was also examining the red-haired girl—she appeared somewhat intrigued, even smiling—yet this dangerous woman did not cast a single glance at Brendel, focusing entirely on Xi.
“Little girl,” she said, her voice somewhat sentimental, “I feel like I know you.”
“I don’t know you.” Although Xi felt as if she was on the verge of collapse, she still protected Brendel with one hand, staring defiantly at the woman.
“No, no,” Andisha squinted her eyes, shaking her head, “What I mean is, there’s a scent about you that I’m very familiar with.”
Xi remained silent.
Andisha smiled slightly: “I remember now, that scent—it’s the Blood of the Gods!” Her eyes lit up, licking her lips, “Should I call you—the Envoy of the Thunder God?”
Xi’s expression changed drastically, her already pale face turned as white as paper.
The pain brought by the Blood of the Gods felt like a knife blade dripping with blood, sharp and visible. She still remembered the night she had been killed by that tree herder and then revived, followed by the nightmares that haunted her daily, almost driving her to the brink of collapse at every moment.
If it weren’t for her lord, Xi knew she would have long since become a mindless monster.
Just like the Earth Envoy she had encountered before.
She couldn’t help but glare at Andisha, knowing full well that this woman and that person from before were likely of the same ilk.
The tree herder.
“Tree… herder?” Xi almost choked but managed to ask nonetheless.
“Ah, you actually recognize us. But it’s not surprising,” Andisha replied. “Since you have the Blood of the Gods within you, you are naturally one of us.”
She tilted her head slightly: “But it’s somewhat strange; you seem to have your own will.”
“I am not any envoy!” Xi took a breath, retorting excitedly, “And I am not one of you!”
“No, no, no,” Andisha looked at Xi, her eyes growing brighter, “It seems this time I’ve hit the jackpot. Besides the Cruz princess, there’s an unexpected bonus. A lost envoy in disguise—who gave you the divine blood?”
Xi stared at her, remaining silent.
“It’s okay; I’ll find out.” The woman smiled slightly: “From now on, little girl, you are my trophy.”
Xi shivered: “You wish!”
“Oh? That’s not up to you.”
…
