### Chapter 167: Long Night Golden Radiance (Part Three)
What the…
In a moment of panic, Daniel’s urgent shout made my heart sink like a stone.
What does he mean by “don’t worry about the town…”?
In my line of sight, the Ordinary Man, bathed in golden light, unleashed a flock of light birds again. Dozens of white birds suddenly soared into the sky, twisting and gathering above us, forming a giant bird several meters long that flapped its wings and shrieked, swooping toward Miss Meiser, who had just knocked Karl flying. The man charged after it.
Staring at that glimmering silhouette, I stood there, slack-jawed. “You, what did you say…”
Buzz—
The piercing sound of a miracle drowned out my words, and the massive, glowing bird circled above the woman, its sharp claws reaching for her head. Its beak snapped open and shut, devouring countless writhing bl**d snakes. But soon, it was tangled up in more bl**d snakes, struggling in mid-air. The bl**d snakes around the woman were dwindling, giving Daniel the perfect opening to attack. He swung a glowing fist while reaching out with his other hand toward the bl**d Pearl.
Meanwhile, Karl, having been sent flying, crashed through a tree and was now on his knees, coughing violently, hand clutching his chest, bl**d spilling from his mouth. But his gaze was fierce as he glanced at Olivia, who had finally climbed back up not far away. Their eyes briefly met before they both fell silent, diving toward Miss Meiser from different directions.
They were really willing to throw caution to the wind, just to grab that pearl…
I understood the importance of that thing, but…
Quickly glancing back toward the town, under the night sky, there flickered a firelight, peaceful… I couldn’t see the Jester, but since he hadn’t made a grand escape into the sky, he couldn’t be too far. Maybe, if I looked from above, I could find him…
Boom!
A thick Ice Pillar shot up from under my feet, launching me high into the air. I crouched atop the Ice Pillar, forcing down my anxiety as I took a deep breath. My dark eyes darted around, trying to follow the golden light and flames to find that man who was darting around in the shadows.
…Nothing on the left… nothing on the right… toward the town…
Boom—
A tremendous explosion erupted below, scarlet flames shooting up to illuminate the dim sky again, startling me.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
In the next moment, a fierce wind howled from the flames, the heat rushing against my face. A figure burst forth from the inferno, swiftly closing in. Before I could react, “whoosh,” a woman in a red dress appeared before me, turning around and kicking. In a fluster, I raised my arms to shield my face, and a tremendous force slammed against my forearm.
Bang!
“Ugh…”
I let out a muffled grunt, my body flying backward like a cannonball. In my panic, I heard the wind rushing closer as the woman pursued. In a flash, I thrust my palm back and “bang bang” two jets of Ice Mist shot out, halting my backward momentum mid-air. With a glance, I caught a glimpse of that red dress flashing at my side.
She wants to block me…
My body reacted before my brain could connect the dots. “Bang bang!” I shot two jets of Ice Mist down, using the thrust to sh**t up several meters, narrowly avoiding the woman’s leg sweep that sliced through the air, and lunged at her—
“You think you can stop me?!”
I pushed her face aside with one hand and snatched her right arm with the other in a flash, yelling out fiercely, my eyes sparkling blue. A torrent of Ice Mist erupted from my body, intertwining with the surrounding Infernal Fire. With a sizzling sound, steam enveloped us, and our bodies tangled as we plummeted toward the ground.
“You did it on purpose; you let him go!”
“You were stalling us!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—
Our fists collided fiercely. My knee crashed into the woman’s abdomen, but she retaliated with a punch to my chest, a piercing pain shooting through me as if my heart was being ripped apart. I gritted my teeth, suppressing the pain that made it hard to breathe, and flipped her beneath me—at such close quarters, almost hugging in mid-air, all those fancy techniques lost their meaning. I grabbed her silver hair with one hand and “slap!” delivered a harsh slap to her face.
“d*mn woman—”
Miss Meiser’s right cheek quickly swelled up. She maintained a stoic expression, retaliating by grabbing my hair. Just as I raised my hand to slap her again, she punched me square in the face, sending stars dancing across my vision and a sharp pain coursing through me. My head snapped back, and bl**d surged from my nose.
Boom!
A muffled thud echoed as the woman’s back slammed against the ground. I pinned her down, the force jolting my head forward. My forehead crashed against her prominent nose—“thud!”—the sound reverberated before rolling off to one side, tumbling a few times before hurriedly getting up, one hand clutching my forehead, gasping in pain, tears welling in my eyes. I couldn’t help but touch my nose, feeling the sticky warmth of bl**d.
Dammit…
With a fierce expression, I looked up only to see the bl**d Pearl rolling away from the woman, “gurgling” as it went, getting stuck in a crack in the ground.
“…”
Huh?
Miss Meiser was getting up too, her cheeks flushed, her nose red, hair all disheveled. She swayed as she stood, instinctively touching her own nose, and she too had bl**d trickling down, dripping onto her lips, making her cold, beautiful expression look suddenly comical, like a fairy from a painting who had just fallen from the clouds.
“Miss Silvya!”
Suddenly, a glimmer of gold burst forth from the shrubs to my left, a faint dome enveloping me, and in the next moment, golden light cascaded down from above, forming and ringing the giant bell!
Ding— ding—
Bathed in golden light, Daniel leaped forth, brandishing a luxurious Holy Lance, arriving beside the woman in an instant. He thrust the lance forward just as Olivia, her hair stained with bl**d, materialized behind Miss Meiser, wrapping her arms around her waist and shouted, “Grab the relic—!”
Moon Step!
Boom—
The ground exploded beneath my feet, and in the whirlwind, I bent down, stretched out my hand, and snatched the fist-sized bl**d Pearl from the crack, gripping it tightly…
…It was warm, with a smooth texture.
There was no time to examine it closely; I quickly fell back. Before me, the suspended golden bell shattered under the assault of bl**d snakes. Daniel’s Holy Lance plunged into Miss Meiser’s chest, bl**d geysering forth, but the woman remained unfazed, kicking the Ordinary Man away and reaching back to grab Olivia by the hair, slightly tilting aside, and forcefully flinging her forward. Olivia screamed as she let go of her grip, being yanked close.
“Ugh ah ah—”
Karl, bloodied, suddenly burst forth, morphing into a brilliant golden streak, charging toward the woman. His blade of light struck her wrist that clutched Olivia, causing Miss Meiser to immediately turn, blocking Olivia with her body. But just then, golden light flashed again, and Olivia’s figure vanished, teleporting behind Miss Meiser, conjuring a Holy Lance and stabbing forward!
Clang—
Pfft.
Two strange sounds echoed softly as Miss Meiser swayed, the sharp lance piercing through her back and emerging from her right chest. Her slender arm flew up under Karl’s slash, and in an instant, bl**d sprayed forth. The two rapidly retreated, and Karl turned to me, shouting, “Throw the relic over! Hit her with everything you have for a fatal blow!!”
I instinctively mimicked throwing a ball.
The moment my hand shot up, an old servant’s words flashed through my mind.
[You must never let the Tear of the Goddess fall into the hands of the Holy Church… especially not those few who are acting with you tonight…]
That old coot was a heretic, trying to tempt me.
He and his master, the woman currently pierced by the Holy Lance, were all lying to me, claiming they wanted to k*ll the Jester, but when it mattered most, they let him escape… I never believed them.
But…
“Miss Silvya! What are you waiting for!!!”
Karl yelled anxiously from not far away, and Olivia flashed to my side: “Hurry! We take the bl**d Pearl and get out of here, casting miracles from a distance, coordinating with your area-of-effect attack to take down this heretic first, then find the Jester…”
As she spoke, she reached for the pearl.
“No.”
I shook my head, stepping back.
Olivia’s eyes widened in shock.
“You…”
“I’m going to destroy it.”
Without giving her time to react, in the next instant, pure white frost erupted from my palm. With the cracking sounds of breaking ice, a small ice hammer quickly formed, and I put all my strength into smashing it down onto the pearl in my hand!
“No!”
“What are you doing!”
Olivia’s panicked screams and Karl’s furious roar echoed in my ears. In my peripheral vision, I saw a flash of gold; Daniel was rushing toward me, but it was already too late.
The hammer struck the bl**d Pearl, “crack!” It shattered into countless fragments.
So fragile…
The scarlet light only blossomed for a moment, the bl**d Pearl fracturing under the impact, and red fragments sprayed out in front of me, turning into warm bl**d that flowed through my fingers and onto the ground beneath my feet.
…?
“What did you do!”
Daniel rushed in front of me, grabbing my hand, staring at the remnants of the pearl that had turned into bl**d, staining my entire palm, his lips trembled, a flash of murderous intent flickering in his eyes.
“Why did you destroy it?!” the Ordinary Man yelled, spit flying from his face, “Do you even know what you did?! Do you even understand what you just did!!!”
“You’re hurting me.”
I shook off his hand, frowning slightly. “Something like this shouldn’t exist…”
“What do you know?! You don’t know anything! That pearl—”
“Is that so?”
Just as I expected…
These people, they were waiting for the moment the bl**d Pearl appeared to make their move. The Jester had vanished, they didn’t care; the townsfolk might be in danger, but they never seemed the least bit concerned. These three had a very clear objective: just that pearl…
“So what do you think you know?” I wiped my nosebleed, countering him.
The Ordinary Man paused.
“We… we don’t even know what it is! The Saint can’t comprehend its principles! Why can the heretics transfer the medium in the Divine Reliquary?! Why can they steal the power of the Deity?! The answers to those questions lie within that pearl; how could you destroy it!”
“Daniel, calm down!”
Olivia interjected sharply, stepping forward, her head still bloody, but she ignored it, staring at the bl**d on my hand for a moment. Suddenly, her eyes widened, “No, no… that relic couldn’t be so easily destroyed; there’s no power of the medium hidden in that bl**d—this… this thing is fake, it’s Infernal Fire…”
