The gray mist surged forward like an ocean wave. At first glance, it seemed far away, but by the second glance, it was right before one's eyes. By the third, the mist had completely swallowed the crowd.
Leon stood within the gray mist. The panicked cries of the crowd sounded as if they were filtered through a thin membrane, impossible to hear clearly.
Under the shroud of the gray mist, visibility was compressed to the extreme. Ten meters away, one could only see a faint shadow; twenty meters away, even a silhouette was indiscernible.
Simultaneously, wave after wave of discordant, grating whispers drifted into his ears from the mist, stirring a sense of irritability and fear in his heart.
In the past, many people had lost their way and wandered in the wrong direction due to the compressed vision and the influence of the mist's whispers, ultimately becoming completely lost within it.
Fortunately, Leon had memorized the position of the guard squad before the mist arrived. He gripped his priest's scepter and moved toward the location in his memory.
He hadn't been far from the guards to begin with. After a dozen or so steps, he reached the squad and saw the captain of the guards, fully armed and on high alert.
Standing behind the captain was Old Hunter, the butler, his face filled with anxiety.
Upon seeing Leon, Old Hunter breathed a massive sigh of relief.
“Young Master Leon! Are you alright?”
Old Hunter hurried forward, quickly checking if Leon was injured, as if in that short time Leon might have tripped and hurt his head again.
“I'm fine.”
Leon shook his head to reassure Old Hunter.
He looked at the crowd behind the guard captain; there were only about twenty people, not even a quarter of the town's refugees.
“Is this all who found the guard squad?” Leon asked.
Old Hunter nodded with a heavy expression. “The gray mist came too suddenly and too fast this time. Many people didn't have time to react before being swallowed. They couldn't observe the guard squad's position beforehand.”
Leon's expression turned grim as he turned to look at the gray mist that seemed to have swallowed the entire world.
Generally, the early stages of being swallowed by the gray mist weren't dangerous because living beings were still in the “physical world,” and their connection to the mist wasn't yet tight.
Unless they were extremely close, the monsters in the mist usually had a hard time detecting creatures that only stayed in the mist for a short duration.
However, once someone stayed in the mist for a long time, they would gradually establish a connection with it. At that point, the risk of being discovered and attacked by monsters would increase exponentially.
“Time waits for no one. we can't delay,” Leon judged immediately. He turned to look at the captain of the guard squad, Ryan.
Ryan had clearly heard Leon's words. He took a deep breath and said, “Leon, I know you are a young master of the nobility and that you know Viscount Clyde. But even if the viscount himself were here, I would not agree!”
Ryan met Leon's gaze without flinching. “The longer we wait, the more hope they have of finding us! Even if you report me to Viscount Clyde after we reach Solainem, I will absolutely not abandon them and retreat from the mist right now!”
Leon was slightly stunned by Ryan's hostile words.
“Is my reputation really that bad?” Leon muttered to himself. He stopped Old Hunter, who was about to step forward and argue that the young master's life was worth ten thousand residents.
Leon said calmly, “Captain Ryan, I can deal with your offense later.”
“But from now on, please set aside your personal prejudice and grip your weapon tightly.”
“Once a light source is visible, the chances of those mist monsters finding us will greatly increase. During this time, you must prevent any monster from disturbing me.”
Without giving Ryan time to respond, Leon raised his priest's scepter high, his expression solemn. “O Sacred Light, your believer Leon here prays for the protection of your brilliance!”
Mental power surged from within his body, flowing continuously into the priest's scepter and finally gathering in the Brilliance Stone at its tip.
A dazzling sphere of light formed at the top of the scepter.
The light emitted by the sphere pierced through the gray mist. Despite being weakened layer by layer by the mist, it represented the power of the Sacred Light and could still maintain a glow dozens of meters away.
This bit of glow was enough for the lost townspeople in the mist to see.
The sphere produced by Light Prayer was attracting the townspeople to gather, but at the same time, it was like a lightbulb in a thick fog, attracting the mist monsters to attack.
After activating Light Prayer, the whispers in his ears grew louder, and the roars of monsters in the mist became clearer.
Ryan hadn't expected Leon's intent was not to order them to escort him out of the mist, but to use Light Prayer within it so that those lost could find the guards.
Amidst his shock and guilt, Ryan quickly snapped back to reality and shouted, “Monsters are coming! Everyone, on alert!”
The moment his voice fell, a monster with crystalline black claws and a body as dark as ink broke through the gray mist.
Its crimson eyes quickly scanned the crowd before locking onto Leon, letting out a ferocious roar at him.
It was as if Leon had held a giant lightbulb right against its eyes while it was sleeping.
“Protect Lord Leon!”
Ryan let out a roar, grabbing his greatsword and blocking Leon's front without hesitation, engaging the ink monster in combat.
Leon had some confidence in Captain Ryan's combat strength, so he didn't focus on the fight. Instead, he looked at the panel information flowing through his vision.
Although Leon always felt that “breaking through on the spot” was extremely risky—where one mistake could allow an enemy to exploit the gap during the breakthrough—it was quite a foolish move.
But now, he had no choice but to break through on the spot.
So... System Father, give me something good!
...
【Divine Art Performance Rating: Excellent】
【Light Prayer Experience +15】
【Light Prayer Lv1 (97/100) → Light Prayer Lv2 (12/300)】
【You have leveled up Light Prayer. You may choose one of the following three traits to strengthen it.】
【Source Energy: The mental power consumption of Light Prayer will be reduced, and the light intensity will double.】
【Radiance: The mental power consumption of Light Prayer will double, but the light intensity will increase fivefold.】
【Linkage: Synergizes with the divine art Healing. Every time you cast Light Prayer, it will heal friendly units within its range and deal burning damage to enemy units.】
...
Trait strengthening! Source Energy, Radiance, Linkage!
The improvement brought by leveling up the divine art wasn't just a numerical increase as Leon had originally thought; in addition to the numerical boost, he could also strengthen it with new trait abilities!
Leon quickly scanned the three traits.
“Source Energy reduces consumption and doubles brightness... not very useful in the current situation.”
“Radiance increases brightness fivefold at the cost of increased consumption... but five times the brightness in the gray mist isn't a good thing; it would attract even more terrifying monsters.”
“Linkage... holy crap? It can heal allies and burn enemies?”
Even half a second of hesitation would be an insult to the Linkage trait!
The moment Leon finished reading the effect of Linkage, he immediately decided on the direction of strengthening.
A single trait transformed an auxiliary divine art—which could only serve as a lightbulb or provide a flash for an entrance—into a divine art that combined healing and damage. It was incredibly powerful no matter how he looked at it!
【Strengthening Trait Selected: Linkage】
In an instant, the small sphere of light Leon held high underwent a change.
The light it emitted shifted from a purely incandescent white to a slightly reddish hue, like sunlight.
Where the light touched, a burning sensation descended upon the ink monster.
The burning power wasn't strong and didn't deal a decisive blow to the ink monster, but the scalding pain made the monster tremble all over, letting out a roar of agony.
In contrast, Captain Ryan, who was struggling with the ink monster, felt a wave of warmth wash over him. The soreness in his hands from clashing with the monster also eased slightly.
Though he didn't know what had happened, he understood this was a golden opportunity.
“Die!”
Ryan unleashed another battle cry, a red glow suddenly lighting up on his greatsword. He channeled every muscle in his body, slamming the greatsword down toward the ink monster—
Boom!
A massive roar echoed, drowning out the ink monster's cry of pain along with its life.
Rate on N.U.
