Eve's expression became extremely grave.
She followed the sound to look at the assassin who was not within her field of vision.
"Your concealment magic... has been seen through."
Lin Gui was not particularly surprised.
"She is a spirit, after all."
"To them, any concealment magic is as transparent as glass."
He watched the elven assassin approaching step by step below.
Warning bells rang loudly in his heart.
Previously, while observing the battle, he had thought the opponent was a living person.
He had been confident that the Shroud of the Gloomy Night could perfectly hide the existence of himself and Eve.
That was why he hadn't planned on leaving.
Who would have thought...
This was not a person at all.
But a spirit whose strength was absurdly high.
And now, even if they wanted to flee, it was already too late.
The speed the other party had displayed was definitely enough to reach them before the flying vessel could even start up.
More troublesome was the fact that spirits naturally ignored physical and magical obstructions.
Eve's Holy Light Barrier was almost completely ineffective against her.
Even if he used Soul Attachment to briefly grant the barrier soul properties...
Even if the Holy Light Barrier itself was at the Legendary Rank.
After being boosted by Soul Attachment, it could at most exert a Mid Rank power level.
Using Mid Rank defense.
To block an assassin who had just instantly killed ten Transcendent hunters?
It was a fool's dream.
Lin Gui took a deep breath.
His oak staff slowly descended, and he landed on the ground.
The Shroud of the Gloomy Night faded away, and his figure was completely exposed.
Lin Gui spread his hands, making an effort to make his expression look sincere:
"I have nothing to do with those hunters."
"I'm here to save the elves in the cages."
"Truly, my relationship with elves is actually quite good."
"For example, I know Clotina from the Shadow Clan of the Night Elves. I'll let her come out and testify."
As he spoke, he patted the pocket containing the glass bead.
Once.
Twice.
It was quiet inside.
Clotina didn't react at all.
The corner of Lin Gui's mouth twitched, and he gave a couple of dry laughs:
"Ahaha... she might be a bit... shy?"
The elven assassin watched him quietly.
After a few seconds, the corner of her mouth pulled back.
"Are you trying to make me laugh?"
"Elves being friendly toward humans? Why don't you say that some beautiful elf threw herself at an impossibly ugly human like you?"
Lin Gui: "..."
The corner of Lin Gui's mouth twitched. He was only just barely able to stop himself from mentioning a certain white-haired elf who had kidnapped him and forcefully 'settled' things with him.
"And besides..."
She drifted forward half a step, her eyes completely devoid of ripples.
"Even if you really do have a relationship with elves..."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"For me, those weak elves aren't even worthy of being called my kin."
The elven assassin's indistinct killing intent exploded instantly.
Lin Gui's scalp tingled.
And at this very moment.
Behind him, Eve's aura suddenly changed.
A sacred golden light emerged from around her body, looking like physical flames of light.
A pair of wings formed purely of light slowly spread out behind her back.
Runes flowed along the edges of the wings, and every feather was as clear as if it were real.
Even more startlingly.
A blurred, majestic phantom appeared behind her.
The phantom wore armor, possessed six wings on its back, and its face was hidden within the light.
It was like... an angel walking out of myth.
A majestic power spread out like a tide.
The air was vibrating slightly.
The elven assassin's footsteps stopped.
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze falling on Eve.
For the first time, a look of... keen interest emerged in her eyes.
"The Hall of Heroic Spirits?"
She said softly, her voice carrying a trace of surprise.
"A Saintess of the Holy Church of Light..."
"Actually appearing in a place like this."
She looked Eve up and down in her current sacred and solemn state.
The corner of her mouth hooked into a playful arc.
"It really is..."
"A surprise to me."
She didn't step forward to interrupt, but instead watched like a cat playing with a mouse to see what tricks the other party would pull.
Eve's aura instantly climbed to its peak.
The mana fluctuations she displayed at this moment had unexpectedly reached the strength of the Low-tier Legendary rank.
An ethereal and hurried voice reached Lin Gui's ears:
"I cannot hold out for long."
"Quickly think of a way, or use this chance to escape!"
Before her voice had even finished falling, she had already turned into a streak of golden light, proactively meeting the elven assassin!
Even though she couldn't see spirits and couldn't harm spirits—meaning her attacks were destined to miss.
Even though she could only rely on sound to vaguely determine the opponent's position, leaving her nearly helpless.
But she understood.
If the opponent wanted to harm her, she had to first break through this defense boosted by the Hall of Heroic Spirits.
Just as Old Scar could judge rank through power levels, so could Lin Gui.
As long as the opponent really hadn't reached Legendary...
She might not necessarily be able to easily tear through the defense of Eve's Legendary mana.
"Holy Blessing: Light Armor!"
"Radiant Barrier!"
"Divine Grace!"
Eve chanted rapidly as armor and shields glowing with golden light condensed and overlapped around her.
The light flowed and runes flashed, making her look like a divine envoy who had descended into the mortal world.
The final form was complete.
She suspended in mid-air, her light wings spread wide.
The six-winged angel phantom stood majestically behind her.
Layers of light armor covered her entire body, and the radiance flowed like water.
Sacred and powerful, she looked like an inviolable avatar.
She raised her hand, a light-forged longsword pointing directly at the empty space in front of her.
Her voice was solemn:
"Come."
The elven assassin tilted her head.
There was no trace of fear in her eyes; instead, they flickered with an increasingly thick...
Excitement.
"Heh..."
She let out a low chuckle.
And then.
Her figure vanished into thin air.
Not even a residual image was left behind.
The elven assassin's figure flickered in and out of the light.
Her movements were not violent, yet they were frighteningly precise.
Every time she appeared, she struck exactly at the weakest points in the mana of Eve's shields.
"Crack!!"
"Clatter!!!"
Shield after shield constructed with massive amounts of mana shattered one after another like they were made of paper.
Eve tried to counterattack during the gaps in the opponent's attacks.
But they all missed.
The opponent's speed was very fast.
Ultimately, Eve could only passively defend.
The opponent's voice followed her like a shadow, whispering in her ear:
"The mana node of the Light Armor is three inches from the left shoulder blade."
"The weak point of the barrier is at the side of the right knee."
"Divine Grace? Heh... there is a gap in the circulation at the back of your heart, with a width just enough for a needle to pass through."
"Little girl, your defensive magic isn't very proficient; there are so many flaws."
She spoke with arrogance and a tone of instruction.
"When I strip away your last three layers of armor..."
"I will use this wooden stick to pierce through your eye socket."
"I will scramble your brain, but keep your face intact."
"After all, it would still be a pity if a face like yours was just gone like that."
Eve gritted her teeth, wanting to try and use the Church to pressure the opponent.
"I am the Holy Saintess of the Holy Church of Light! Aren't you afraid the Church will look for trouble with you?"
"The Holy Church of Light?"
The elven assassin cut her off with a sneer.
"When 'Holy Light' Loth, the Ninth Pope, died at my hands, he pissed his pants."
"'Iron Wall' Carnes, the Seventeenth Holy Knight Commander, was cut into seventeen pieces by me and fed to imps."
"You humans always love to glorify yourselves..."
"In reality, you are laughably weak."
Eve's pupils shrank sharply.
Those names... were all top-tier powerhouses recorded in the secret annals of the Church as having disappeared or fallen in battle.
Some were even titles the Church didn't reveal to outsiders.
How could she know?!
"Who... exactly are you?!"
"When you go to the Netherworld Sea..."
The elven assassin's voice was suddenly close, almost grazing her ear.
"Ask the previous Saintesses and Holy Saints."
"Perhaps... they will recognize me."
"After all, I have a habit of revealing my appearance when I kill a powerhouse."
"Crack!"
The final shield shattered.
Eve's face was deathly pale, and her light wings trembled slightly.
The elven assassin drifted in front of her and tilted her head.
"Sigh, I'm really getting more and more talkative."
"I can't help it; after being cooped up for over a decade, I always want to say a few more words."
"Chatting with you was very pleasant, little girl."
She raised her hand, the tip of the wooden stick aimed at the final shield on Eve's brow.
"Now... let me send you to see your predecessors."
In the instant the wooden stick was about to strike.
Another chant rang out at the same time.
Low and steady, it carried a strange rhythm.
It was Lin Gui.
The tension in the corner of Eve's mouth relaxed slightly to an imperceptible degree.
The elven assassin's movements paused, and she looked at the suddenly relaxed Eve in surprise before turning her head to look.
"You're still pinning your hopes on that High Rank mage?"
She laughed out loud, her voice full of disdain.
"With his strength, even a brat on the wasteland would be more of a threat than him."
Eve, however, smiled softly.
"Assassin lady..."
"Talking too much isn't a good habit."
"I suggest you kill me right now."
"Otherwise, you won't have another chance."
The elven assassin sneered as she judged the magic the opponent was about to cast based on Lin Gui's chant.
High Rank magic—Shadow Pierce.
A common attack spell of the darkness element.
Among High Rank attack magic, it was an inferior spell that didn't even rank well.
Against her in her spirit state, let alone High Rank.
Even an Epic-tier shadow spell would not be able to cause any substantive damage.
"How pathetic and laughable, for the weak to attempt to strike a stone with the soft."
"The weak should honestly stay in the filthy sewers forever, eating the scraps of the strong."
However, just as her ridicule arose.
Lin Gui's chant had just ended, and his staff had just fallen.
A terrifying sense of crisis originating from the depths of her soul exploded with a roar without any warning!!
The elven assassin's pupils shrank violently!
She turned her head instantly and looked toward the deep shadows of the Shadowmoon City ruins.
There, a pitch-black magic circle had unexpectedly emerged at some unknown time.
The target at the center of the ring was a...
Dull glass bead.
It was exactly her core soul vessel that she had hidden in the dark to stabilize her soul body!
How could he know the location?!
The elven assassin's mind went blank.
Yet her body had already instinctively turned into a streak of light, shooting toward the soul vessel!
Saintess, slaughter, toys—all of them were thrown to the back of her mind.
At this moment, there was only one thought in her mind:
She absolutely could not let that Shadow Pierce... touch the bead!
Even a slight bit of damage would cause her to be heavily injured.
And in the distance.
Lin Gui lowered his oak staff.
His gray eyes were calm as he watched the elven assassin's figure as she panicked and returned to save it.
Sitting on his staff, Lin Gui flew over.
He caught Eve as she fell from mid-air.
Blood was overflowing from her mouth, the light wings behind her back were shattering inch by inch, and the connection to the Hall of Heroic Spirits was forcefully severed.
Her face was as pale as paper.
The flying vessel was summoned, and Lin Gui gently placed her on the back seat.
His gaze swept toward those three iron cages in the corner covered in black cloth.
He pulled out that key from his storage space and threw it toward the cages with a snap!
With a 'clirr-clang' sound, the key landed on the snow beside the cages.
The elves inside seemed to be startled, and a slight commotion came from within.
Lin Gui had no time to confirm if they could open them themselves.
The flying vessel's wind pressure cannon was activated instantly.
"Buzz—BOOM!!!"
A violent airflow erupted backward, kicking up snow and debris several meters high.
The flying vessel was like an arrow released from a bow string as it shot out through the narrow streets of the ruins!
Brushing nearly against broken walls and eaves, it rushed out of Shadowmoon City at a speed that was almost out of control and plunged headlong into the mist-shrouded wasteland.
Ten seconds later.
The elven assassin's soul-shadow followed the soul thread back into the glass bead and instantly returned to her original spot.
The ruined temple was empty.
There were only the embers of the campfire, a floor full of corpses, and the three iron cages that were still locked.
The aura of the flying vessel had long since disappeared into the end of the gray mist.
Not even a trace was left behind.
The elven assassin stood still, her soul body trembling slightly due to violent rage.
Fury burned in her eyes, but it was quickly overwritten by an even stronger emotion.
It was bizarreness.
That weak human mage...
Just how had he discovered the hiding place of her soul bead?
She carefully recalled every single detail.
From her appearance to the slaughter to the battle with the Saintess.
And then, she grasped two points... that she had previously subconciously ignored.
First, that inexplicable pressure from the soul level after she had killed Old Scar.
Second, after she had shed her gray robe disguise and completely revealed her true spirit form.
That human...
Seemed to have always been looking her in the eyes when he spoke.
Not toward empty space, and not by judging the position through sound.
It was for certain that he was looking her in the eyes.
The elven assassin's pupils slowly contracted.
A ridiculous yet horrific thought surfaced in her mind.
He...
Can see me in my spirit form??!
Just as the elven assassin was focusing her mind on her thoughts.
A hurried rustling sound suddenly came from the entrance of the temple.
Immediately following that, dozens of soul-shadows poured in like a tide.
The one in the lead was exactly Alyia, who had left not long ago.
Behind her was a group of Night Elf spirits with anxious expressions.
They were clearly the clansmen she had just found in the city.
"It's right ahead!"
A young elf pointed toward the depths of the temple, their voice trembling.
"Those humans have locked our fellow kin in cages!"
Before their voice had even finished falling, Alyia's gaze had already passed over the campfire and the corpses.
It landed on that elven assassin who was standing quietly in the center of the temple ruins.
Time seemed to freeze for an instant.
Alyia's pupils contracted sharply.
Shock, astonishment, and disbelief.
Ultimately, it turned into a surging anger that was almost about to burst forth.
"Lynn Celine Aethel Shadow!!"
She squeezed the name out almost from between her teeth.
Every syllable was wrapped in icy hatred.
"You... criminal who betrayed the tribe!"
"You actually still dare to appear here?!"
The elven assassin known as "Lynn" slowly turned around.
She looked at Alyia, the corner of her mouth pulling into a mocking arc.
"Criminal?"
She repeated softly, as if she had heard some joke.
"Compared to the 'crimes' of you people..."
"Who brought the entire Night Elf race into destruction..."
Lynn tilted her head slightly, her eyes condensed with frost.
"Those things I did back then..."
"What could they even be counted as?"
She paused, her voice suddenly dropping low.
Carrying a trace of almost cruel softness.
"Don't you agree?"
"Sister Alyia."
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