Olivia moved swiftly.
Like a veteran warrior, she darted through the curtain of rain to the window of the house facing the street. Swinging Cross Grace, she smashed the window and leaped inside.
As soon as she entered, she sensed something akin to a bear trap beneath her feet.
It was a trap!
Anyone else leaping through the window would have been ensnared the moment they landed. Not far away, a Hunter had already drawn his bow, the cold glint of the arrowhead aimed directly at her.
Whoosh!
The arrow left the string, whistling through the air.
In this critical moment, Olivia displayed exquisite Body Control.
She pointed Cross Grace toward the ground and thrust it into the floorboards, preventing the trap from triggering while supporting her weight. Simultaneously, she twisted her body slightly, letting the flying arrow graze past her.
Failing with the first shot, the Hunter’s attacks came again. Arrow after arrow hissed through the air in a rapid-fire volley, blanketing Olivia. He was determined to gun down this nun who had dared to charge in.
But for Olivia, these were still avoidable attacks.
She continued to use Cross Grace to keep herself off the floor, twisting her body around the weapon with incredible agility, dodging every single arrow with nearly impossible movements.
"How is this possible?"
The attacking Hunter couldn't help but curse, feeling his common sense shatter. He couldn't understand how someone of the same Pilgrim class rank could evade his attacks in such a bizarre fashion.
Because he hadn't anticipated this, the Hunter ran out of follow-up moves, and his offensive stuttered for an instant.
Seizing the opportunity, Olivia kicked off Cross Grace, using the momentum to jump out of the trap's range. As she leaped, she didn't forget to hook the weapon with her foot, bringing Cross Grace back with her.
By the time she landed on the floor nearby, Cross Grace was back in her hand.
This sight made the Hunter gasp once more.
What followed held no suspense.
Olivia charged forward. No matter how the Hunter struggled in his death throes, he was no match for her. After a brief clash, Olivia pierced his heart with Cross Grace, completely erasing him from existence.
"It is but embracing death. Lord, I come to follow you!"
The Hunter showed no fear of death. With a crazed expression, he uttered those final words before his head slumped.
'As expected, a member of the Twilight Council.'
The Death Sovereign worshipped by the Twilight Council was exactly what the Church called the evil god of death.
Having dealt with the enemy, Olivia immediately turned around.
Her gaze swept over the doors and windows; traps were laid everywhere. Even though the Hunter was dead, the traps remained active.
She took a short run-up and leaped, choosing the window she had entered through. She soared over the traps, landing on the window frame without triggering anything, and looked outside.
As she looked, Olivia's expression darkened.
In that short span of time, the Church's clergy had fallen into a disadvantage. They were simply outnumbered by the transcendents of the Twilight Council.
'How are there so many Twilight Council members here... No, there are more people now than when I first came in.'
Olivia scanned the area and realized that in the brief time it took her to kill one Hunter inside the house, the enemy's numbers had increased.
Even if the enemies were multiplying, she couldn't just stand by. She rushed out, swinging Cross Grace and slashing at an enemy who had his back to her.
Splat!
The strike carved a bloody wound across the man's back, making him stagger.
She was about to cast a pain spell to hinder his movements and deliver a finishing blow when she sensed something was wrong.
'Why can't I feel his pain?'
A pain spell couldn't be cast out of thin air; it required the target to actually feel pain so the spell could amplify it and affect them. Perhaps at a higher class rank, she could inflict pain from nothing, but as a Pilgrim, she couldn't.
But that was the problem—why was there no emotion of pain coming from the target?
Anyone would feel pain after being slashed across the back like that, yet the man before her didn't show a hint of it.
Was that even logical?
Sensing something was amiss, Olivia didn't dare press the attack. Instead, she suddenly retreated to create distance.
Then, she watched as the man she had just wounded plunged his own sword into his chest, the blade protruding from his back.
If she hadn't backed away in time, that irrational attack might have wounded her as well.
"Are these people insane?" Olivia was inwardly shaken.
"They're corpse servants! Be careful!" Andre's voice rang out from nearby.
Just as he finished his shout, he was knocked to the ground. A group of men in black swarmed him and quickly tied him up.
He wasn't killed.
The other clergy members weren't killed either, but they were all being bound.
In a matter of moments, only a few resisting clergy members were left. This caused Olivia to instantly become the target of many gazes.
She held Cross Grace horizontally in front of her, her eyes scanning the people staring at her.
Every one of them looked like a normal person, yet a significant portion of them were not.
She realized it now: the enemy was a mixture of normal people and abnormal ones. The normal ones felt pain, could be affected by her pain spell, and could be killed. But the abnormal ones were different.
Recalling Andre's warning, she immediately asked in her mind.
'Magic mirror, magic mirror, what is a corpse servant?'
【Those who choose the Necromancer path can master the means to create corpse servants once they reach the Sensate level. They can turn intact corpses into corpse servants to be driven at their will.】
'A Necromancer at the Sensate rank?'
'Is such an entity hiding in the shadows right now?'
Olivia felt her heart tighten.
She watched as the last few clergy members were beaten down and tied up. Seeing all the Twilight Council members and corpse servants fixating on her, she hesitated for a moment before finally choosing to retreat.
She couldn't win.
In this situation, it was impossible for her to win alone. She didn't even know where that Necromancer was hiding.
She had to withdraw and look for an opportunity—or rather, look for more help—to change the tide of the battle.
Rate on N.U.
