“Thirteen.”
“Don't...”
“Twelve.”
“Please...”
“Eleven.”
Roly's body began to twitch violently. The vines creaked under her struggles, and deep purple bruises formed on her pale green skin.
“Ten.”
“No! No! I don't want to choose! Please... Please spare them... They are innocent... They're all just old people and children...”
“Nine.”
“I curse you! I curse you! You will die a horrible death! You will die a death a hundred times worse than mine! Ten thousand times worse!”
“Eight.”
Roly's voice turned into a wail. The crying squeezed from the depths of her throat, echoing across the empty ruins.
“Seven.”
“Mother Goddess... Mother Goddess...”
“Six.”
“I curse you!” Roly's voice suddenly rose. “I curse your name to be forgotten by everyone! I curse your bones to rot in a corner where no one will ever know!”
“Five.”
Her body went limp. Her limbs stopped struggling, her head drooped, and her long, pointed ears sagged on both sides of her head.
“Four.”
Her lips quivered, a faint sound squeezing from her throat, so quiet it was almost inaudible.
“Three.”
Roly suddenly snapped her head up.
Her mouth opened.
She wanted to say, “I'll choose.”
She wanted to reach out and point at those light spots.
She didn't care anymore.
She didn't care who the demon was, who the traitor was, or whether the Mother Goddess would punish her.
She only wanted the remaining people to live. Even if only half of them could, even if only one could.
“I—”
She couldn't finish her sentence.
A pillar of emerald-green light plummeted from the sky, striking Ethan directly.
The light pillar was as thick as an adult's arm. It shot out from the depths of the ruins, moving so fast it left only a green afterimage.
The emerald-green light drew a straight line through the air, its edges constantly shedding tiny energy particles.
The light pillar struck the very center of Ethan's chest.
A ripple spread across the surface of his wood armor.
Then, the light pillar was deflected.
The moment the emerald-green light contacted the wood armor, it shattered into a flurry of light spots, like water splashing against a stone wall. The spray scattered everywhere, but the wall remained completely unmoved.
The light spots drifted in the air for a few breaths before completely dissipating, leaving not a single trace behind.
Ethan looked down at his chest.
The wood armor was completely intact.
He raised his head again, looking toward the direction the light pillar had come from.
Atop a half-collapsed stone tower deep in the ruins stood an Amons woman.
She was just over three meters tall, wearing a dark green short robe that fluttered loudly in the hot wind.
In her hand, she held a bone-white short staff, the emerald-green crystal embedded at its tip still glowing.
Her skin was pale green, her long, pointed ears extended diagonally upward from the sides of her head, and her amber eyes stared intently at Ethan.
She was very young.
She did not yet have the facial markings characteristic of a Priest. Her skin was smooth, and although her cheekbones were high and prominent, they lacked the withered, sunken texture of the older Priests.
Her mouth was slightly open, revealing dark green teeth, and her breathing was rapid.
She was a newly promoted Priest.
She was likely the last trump card left behind in Red Sand City, hidden deep within the ruins, having somehow evaded the previous Earth-attribute Wizard's attacks.
Now that she saw an outsider, she had made her move.
Ethan looked down, glancing at the spot on his chest where he had been hit.
“Is this kind of attack from a Priest?”
The Priestess raised her short staff once more.
Emerald-green light condensed at the tip of the staff, growing brighter and increasingly dazzling.
A second light pillar shot out.
A third.
A fourth.
Light pillars erupted one after another from the tip of the staff, drawing straight lines through the air, all landing precisely on Ethan.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions merged into a continuous roar. Emerald-green light detonated repeatedly on Ethan, sending shockwaves rippling outward layer after layer.
The surrounding gravel was repeatedly kicked up, and debris was swept into the air by the blast waves before raining back down.
The sand at the center of the explosions had already been melted by the high temperatures into glass-like crystals, and the affected area was expanding.
Ethan stood right at the center of the explosions.
The runic patterns on the surface of his wood armor glowed slightly with each explosion, then returned to normal.
There were no cracks.
Not even a single scratch.
His body remained completely motionless under the continuous impact.
The ground beneath his feet had been blasted into a shallow crater, but the spot where he stood remained perfectly intact, like a wooden stake firmly driven into the sand.
The Priestess's pupils contracted sharply.
She maintained her posture, pointing the short staff forward, but the light at its tip had begun to flicker unsteadily.
Every time the light tried to gather, it was forcibly suppressed back, as if hesitating.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
Seven consecutive impacts should have flattened even a small hill.
The aura of the outsider before her was clearly not even at the Sentinel level, yet he had withstood seven of her attacks.
He hadn't even suffered a scratch.
This was impossible.
Unless...
...he possessed some extraordinary treasure.
A flicker of greed flashed in the Priestess's eyes.
Yes, that had to be it.
That was the only explanation.
The defensive treasure on this outsider must be of an extremely high grade, high enough to ignore Sentinel-level attacks.
If such a treasure fell into her hands, her combat power would increase at least threefold.
Threefold!
Threefold!!!
She raised the short staff once more.
This time, the light at the tip of the staff was even more blinding than before. The runic patterns inside the crystal spun frantically, drawing in all the surrounding energy particles.
Boom!
The eighth light pillar was a full size thicker than the previous seven, its emerald-green light blindingly bright.
Wherever the light pillar passed, the air was directly torn apart, producing a piercing, explosive roar.
The gravelly ground was plowed into a half-meter-deep trench by the residual energy along the edges of the light.
The light pillar struck Ethan directly in the face.
The light of the explosion swallowed him whole.
Then, the light dissipated.
Ethan was still standing in the exact same spot.
The wood armor on his face was completely undamaged. The runic patterns flowed slowly, emitting a soft and stable glow.
“How nostalgic,” Ethan spoke.
His voice was leisurely, sounding exceptionally clear amidst the aftermath of the explosion.
“Back then, a single Zhuoya could kill me so many times without me being able to resist. Now that I have new power, your attacks can't even break my defense.”
The Priestess's short staff froze midair.
Her eyes reflected Ethan's figure, reflecting that completely intact, emerald-green armor.
Greed grew frantically in her heart, overriding her reason, overriding her fear.
She had to get it.
The defensive treasure on this outsider definitely exceeded the Sentinel level.
Perhaps it was even a Guardian-level treasure.
For such a treasure to fall into the hands of an outsider who wasn't even Sentinel-level was a complete waste.
Exerting force through her feet, she charged straight at Ethan. Swinging her short staff in an arc before her, the emerald-green light condensed at the tip into a crescent-shaped light blade, slashing toward Ethan's neck.
Ethan raised his right hand.
He opened his fingers.
The ground exploded.
A wood pillar erupted from the sand.
The thick, dark brown wood pillar thrust upward from beneath the Priestess's feet, throwing up gravel and debris.
With a quick shift of her feet, she forcefully sidestepped half a meter mid-charge.
The wood pillar grazed her waist, the fierce wind it kicked up tearing a slit in the hem of her robe.
Rate on N.U.
