The dagger pierced into her shoulder, tearing through and leaving a gaping wound. For Maria, such an injury was not severe, but it was enough to put her into peril.
Even the Forbidden Lord of Cinder must have felt a brief flicker of surprise.
In his plan, once he easily brushed aside this woman’s weapon, his off-hand blade would sink into her head like a knife into fruit, taking her life in an instant. Yet this woman, carrying that peculiar power, reacted decisively, releasing her weapon at the mont of the parry, dispersing the force.
It was precisely that which spared her from imdiate execution.
But death had not left!
At the instant the dagger pierced through, Maria threw herself backward, straining to widen the distance between herself and the Forbidden Lord of Cinder. The move seed foolish, retreating while off balance in such close combat often ant being pressed down and killed.
But on the battlefield, trust in comrades is the most basic principle.
“Repel!”
The forest was the Lady of the Lake’s domain. As a priestess of the Fairy Cult, Liline’s miracle carried extraordinary force here. Ripples of air, visible to the naked eye, spilled from her wand, slipping past Maria and entwining the limbs of the Forbidden Lord of Cinder.
The aura of repulsion bound him with divine force, locking even a transcendent in place.
Thanks to the ti her comrades had bought, Pastor Arthur managed to seize the Bell from the mutilated corpse of the priest whose chest cavity had been caved in.
Rolling across the ground, Arthur ignored the briefly restrained Lord of Cinder. He unfurled the scroll once more, summoning the sonorous, ancient toll to echo above the forest canopy.
Dong… Dong!
The chi rang out again. Arthur’s iron face flickered with disbelief. The bell was supposed to be simple to command, it should lull the Lord of Cinder back into slumber. Yet he shattered the chains of air with a single effort, breaking free as if the toll ant nothing at all!
The bell had failed?
Arthur realized with horror that they had lost their last ans of control. At so point, the Bell had been tampered with, robbed of its power. A quiet thanks was due to the ever-resourceful players of the Church…
“Arthur, run! Run!”
Even as she tended Maria’s wound, Liline cast blessings from afar, layering buffs onto Arthur. Clear-headed despite her beauty, she knew their three Black-Iron ranks, though seasoned against Chaos, were no match for the Forbidden Lord of Cinder. The only right move was to retreat and call reinforcents to gang up on him.
Calling for backup, that shaless instinct had been etched into the bones of every NPC aligned with the goodly factions.
Maria included.
Pulling Liline back with her, Maria gripped the Sun Emblem Necklace tightly. If things turned worse, she would imdiately contact the Luminous Cathedral to request support: a human-shaped tank, the Church’s militant arm, the Steel Nun Dolores for long-range teleport intervention, anything.
The Forbidden Lord of Cinder did not chase at once.
He restrained the frenzy clawing at his heart. Whispering voices of killing intent gnawed at his mind, urging him to slaughter, to destroy, to spill rivers of blood. If not for the tornt he had endured, burned by the First Fla down to every bone and shred of soul, his will would have already collapsed under Chaos, leaving him nothing but a crazed beast, swinging his greatsword at all in sight.
He stepped slowly toward the Farron Greatsword. The scorched half-draconic face flickered with a strange rembrance.
Lifting the blade, crimson mist surged from his body, wrapping around the weapon. The rust dissolved in an instant, molten fla coursing like living magma through the steel. The blood-haze dispersed in an explosive surge.
“Fire… I understand… She… dies…”
The twice-burned Lord of Cinder whispered, his golden slit pupils cutting across space, locking onto the black-clad nun who shared that sa taint of Chaos.
The killing intent crossed distance like a pure, sharpened edge. Maria felt the gaze fall on her, heavy and rciless. Clearly, after being stoked as fuel for fire, the Lord of Cinder had undergone unknown changes. His malice singled her out as his foremost prey.
No need to ask, Chaos was to bla.
As she fled through the forest, Maria’s heart sank. She really was cursed with misfortune. Ever since ascending to transcendence, Chaos had brought her no benefit, only disruptions and trouble. Of course, higher powers were similar, but their touch was far subtler, concealed.
Bang! Bang!
Sudden gunshots halted Maria and Liline mid-retreat.
“The sound is faint, with distinct aftershock airflow. Steam rifles. Roughly one kiloter straight ahead,” Maria muttered, pressing her hand to the dry black soil. Her keen senses and scholarship combined into a deadly tool of battlefield reconnaissance.
Tremors resounded from all directions.
But from ahead, the vibrations were different, steady, forceful, leaving no careless traces. Swift, ordered, yet without the chaos of panicked flight.
“Soldiers,” Maria concluded with confidence.
“Huh?” Liline panted heavily, cheeks flushed, lips parted, gasping with a hazy expression. The slightly indecent look betrayed her pitiful stamina.
Maria, by contrast, had run this long without even breaking a sweat, her crimson pupils gleaming with layered, eerie light in the forest dusk. An idea ford in her mind.
“Let them fight.”
The noble council’s military had chosen this mont to arrive, surely seeking a taste of the Lord of Cinder’s “hospitality.” Clearly, the nobles’ insider players had reached the main questline of Kindling. Let them witness the Forbidden Lord of Cinder’s condition firsthand, it would surely prove… enlightening.
“Oh…”
Still a little dazed but seeing no flaw in the reasoning, Liline pursed her tempting red lips and nodded agreent.
She trusted Maria deeply. After all, neither of them belonged to the clergy of the Radiant Sun faith…
From that alone, one could glimpse Liline’s wisdom masked in apparent simplicity. She was not nearly as naïve as her appearance suggested.
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