Chapter 425: Act 177 – Battle in the Canyon (Part 2)
“Sacrifice a non-black creature to Bloodseat Vampire.”
“Designate Wind Elemental Spider.”
A line of eerie green text refreshed on his retina, ‘Treat Wind Elemental Spider as a creature card, do you wish to sacrifice it to Bloodseat Vampire?’
One? Brendel was momentarily stunned, but he nodded. Three battle indicators immediately joined the Bloodseat Vampire card. A wave of black flames ignited from Medephis, and a circle of black mystic patterns appeared on the pale skin of his neck and arms.
“Medephis!”
The latter understood immediately and suddenly grabbed Faina, tossing her toward Brendel. The noble lady screamed in fright, but her prolonged ‘ah—’ had not finished before she landed safely in Brendel’s arms.
Brendel instinctively caught the young lady, adjusting to a horizontal embrace. But Faina, pale with fear, stared at him blankly, her shallow chest rising and falling, seemingly oblivious to the situation.
“Brendel!” At that moment, Veronika suddenly said, “Look over there!”
Brendel was taken aback and instinctively looked up, suddenly noticing a sloping path down the cliff.
Undoubtedly, it was the passage that originally existed in the game—
“Quick, go!” He relaxed slightly and shouted, “I’ll hold them off—”
At that moment, Andisha had already approached behind them again. Brendel quickly signaled to Medephis. The cross-dressing vampire hesitated, then turned to face Andisha. He spread a pair of pitch-black wings in mid-air, igniting a ghostly blue negative energy flame in his hand, piercing towards the woman.
Andisha’s expression was as cold as ice. “Ignorantly alive!” With a fierce thrust of her right hand, a spiked vine cut through the air like a long whip.
But just then, the eerie green text on Brendel’s retina changed:
“Wind Elemental Spider enters the graveyard, mana burn effect triggered, please designate a target.”
Did this even need to be asked? Brendel immediately locked onto the woman: “Withering Lord Andisha!”
At that moment, hundreds of Wind Elemental Spiders disintegrated in mid-air, then instantly transformed into a stream of azure light entering Andisha’s body. The mana feedback was extremely unpleasant and harmful to her physical body. Andisha gasped and her hand movements slowed down.
Meanwhile, the vine whip had already carved an arc in the air; even a slight delay was enough for Medephis to be caught off guard. He was immediately struck in the chest—but Brendel’s effort had not been in vain, as before the whip struck, the vampire had managed to slam the blue flame onto Andisha’s shoulder.
The immense force instantly sent Medephis flying, crashing into the rock layer like a cannonball and sending debris flying.
However, Andisha let out a shrill scream. The soul flame was a fundamentally opposing energy to any living thing, and this negative energy caused damage that was hard to prevent. Even someone as powerful as her was no exception.
Though Medephis’ strength was still insufficient to threaten her, the sensation of injury was certainly uncomfortable, especially for such a powerful being. In fact, Andisha didn’t even remember the last time she had been wounded.
She never dreamed that this vampire would fight so aggressively—head-on. Despite Medephis’ upgrade, he was still merely at the peak of gold, something she had initially disregarded, only to find herself severely at a disadvantage.
Her anger peaked as Brendel repeatedly embarrassed her. She was thoroughly incensed. However, as she aimed to bypass Medephis to continue, she discovered that the vampire was eerily climbing up from the massive pit created by his collision with the rock, without saying a word.
He was covered in injuries; his left arm hung limply, almost numb, while his right hand pressed on his bleeding left shoulder—blood oozing from a wound—blood of the dead.
Though at that moment Medephis stood amidst the raging wind, looking like a frail girl, his gaze was steely, seemingly determined not to let Andisha pass.
Andisha said nothing more, her face cold as she whipped toward him again.
Brendel and the others were already running further away, and she certainly wasn’t inclined to play another game of hide and seek here.
However, just as Andisha swung her vine whip, Brendel, who was running with Faina in his arms, suddenly saw a hollow mystical sphere appear above his left shoulder—this was the Eternal Sphere.
The young lord concentrated and sensed, drawing out a white card—Holy Archangel.
“Show the card!”
“Pay the Eternal Sphere cost, place the creature into play!”
Ignoring Faina’s wide-eyed, sweat-drenched expression as she stared at him, he shouted inwardly; the next moment, two white magic circles appeared in mid-air, and two angels flew out with crossed swords.
“Please select the resurrection card—”
The eerie green text changed again on his retina.
“Fire Claw Lord, Fire Giant.”
Brendel saw Fire Claw Lizardman Lord Repal and Fire Giant step out behind the two angels. He immediately beckoned and grabbed the Fire Giant card, shouting:
“Sacrifice a non-black creature to Bloodseat Vampire, designate Fire Giant!”
The eerie green text changed once more: “Fire Giant enters the graveyard, self-immolation effect triggered, please designate a target.”
“Designate Withering Lord Andisha!”
Brendel threw out the card, but the pitiful Fire Giant had just been resurrected when it was hurled at Andisha, triggering a self-detonation. A tremendous explosion erupted, and a gold-red fireball scattered in the howling wind.
Although the massive explosion wouldn’t affect the Withering Lord significantly, the flying flames momentarily obscured Andisha’s vision.
Angered, she shouted, tearing through the flames and out of the explosion range—but before that, she saw a pale hand, covered in black patterns, ignited with icy blue flames, piercing toward her chest—
“This is impossible!”
Andisha’s eyes widened in shock. She refused to believe that a mere peak golden being could evade her previous strike. In that moment of startled reality, Medephis’ claw had already pierced her chest.
Was he faster than before?
Wait a minute?
Andisha gasped; she felt her defenses being breached. This was the power of spirit, a force that only one being could master in Vaunte.
The Undead.
Had that guy actually broken through the elemental force in an instant?
What a joke!
Andisha let out a grunt as the soul flame invaded her chest again, causing her considerable discomfort, especially since this attack carried the power of the element.
It could be said that this was the first time since her battle with Brendel that she felt threatened. She had no choice but to retreat. Of course, this didn’t mean that the High Priest of the Tree Shepherds had yielded; a mere newcomer to the elemental realm was hardly enough to make her flinch. She only needed to adjust her offensive strategy.
Andisha retreated, immediately unleashing countless vines from her back to ensnare Medephis. Although Medephis had entered the threshold of elemental force after two enhancements, he remained vastly inferior to Andisha. As he attempted to back away under the onslaught of vines, he was still a moment too late.
He suddenly felt his hands and right foot ensnared; the spikes pierced his delicate skin, causing bright red blood to flow out.
As the summoner, Brendel also sensed his summoned creature’s predicament at the same moment. He frowned slightly and immediately sacrificed the Holy Archangel that existed as a derivative.
Again, three battle indicators descended onto the Bloodseat Vampire card, further boosting Medephis’ power. At this moment, the cross-dressing vampire was already engulfed in black flames, but despite his struggles, he still failed to break free from the bindings.
Medephis could only awkwardly dodge Andisha’s attacks while in captivity. He was quickly hit several times, and even one of his wings was broken.
Medephis coughed up blood repeatedly, retreating again and again, but he remained stubborn, showing no intention of letting Andisha pass.
This attitude visibly infuriated the Withering Lord. The woman couldn’t help but scream as she attacked, “Get out of the way, you defeated dog!”
She yanked Medephis and swung him, attempting to toss the cross-dressing vampire down into the abyss.
At that moment, Brendel and the others had just approached that downward slope. The young man was helpless and had no choice but to sacrifice Fire Claw’s card again, but he hadn’t expected it to be futile—Medephis held out for only a few seconds before being swept away by the vine whip.
Brendel watched as the cross-dresser flew down into the abyss like a kite with its string cut, disappearing in an instant.
“Medephis!”
He couldn’t help but call out, but the abyss below would provide no echo. The young man took a deep breath. Andisha’s power was indeed beyond his imagination. Although he had had dealings with the High Priest of the Tree Shepherds before, the level of threat had never seemed so outrageous.
“Archangel, Repal!”
Brendel was forced to turn back, commanding his remaining two summoned creatures, “Block her!”
In truth, he didn’t want to sacrifice the Holy Archangel, as it was his only means of grave digging. However, at this moment, he could care less; any delay could cost him his life here.
But this time, the losses were colossal.
At least six or seven cards had to go to the graveyard, and with a lack of grave-digging means for a while to come, the number of usable cards would significantly decrease.
“Young boy, are you the summoner?” Veronika had watched everything Brendel did. However, only now did she have the chance to ask.
Seeing Repal and the Holy Archangel engage Andisha, Brendel did not answer, only nodding.
In such a situation, there was little to hide, and it was better to don that hat first. With that perception established, at least it would ensure Veronika wouldn’t guess his true identity.
At that moment, the group rushed down the slope, and Brendel surveyed the surroundings, coming to a decision in his mind. He turned back just in time to see Repal and the Holy Archangel, who had just exchanged blows with Andisha, being killed and returning to the graveyard as white light.
This made him squint; he knew that at this point, Andisha was fully unleashing her power without restraint.
The High Priest of the Tree Shepherds had completely descended into a state of rage.
Brendel knew his opportunity had come.
……(To be continued. For more exciting developments, please log in, support the author, and support legitimate reading!)
