CA - Chapter 102
Chapter 102
From her very first meeting with Delphine, Tang Qiu had a faint feeling that this elf was no ordinary person. Now, seeing her so completely at ease within the Blood Domain of a third-generation vampire, she was even more certain of her guess.
A water shield enveloped Delphine, insulating her from the pressure of the Blood Domain. As Tang Qiu chanted her spell, she watched Delphine out of the corner of her eye. She noticed the elf was just standing there watching, with no intention of making a move. The sound of her chanting paused for a moment. She turned her head to Delphine and reminded her, “We need to leave this place before the third-generation vampire enters the Blood Domain.”
“We?” Delphine glanced up at the thick, blood-colored mist overhead and said nonchalantly, “By ‘we,’ you don’t happen to mean everyone trapped in here, do you?”
Screams echoed from time to time. The four teams of priests from the Church had been too close to Rose Manor when the Blood Domain suddenly began to expand, giving them no time to retreat. Everyone, including the bishop from the Cinico Church, was trapped inside.
Tang Qiu had protected Jennifer’s team, but the other three were too far away, and their situation was unclear.
But they were certainly in more danger than her group.
Tang Qiu sighed deeply. Her grip on her staff tightened and loosened, revealing that she was not as calm as she appeared on the surface. She said in a low voice, “If it’s possible, of course I hope everyone can get out.”
Two-thirds of the Gosse Church’s personnel were here. She couldn’t escape on her own only to face a nearly empty church.
The sound of chaotic footsteps came from behind. Tang Qiu frowned and looked over to see elves carrying unconscious clerics, running toward them.
These were the clerics they had rescued from the dungeons of Rose Manor. When the Blood Domain had spread, they had been busy collecting the Holy Water of Light. Having just finished their count, they were now running to regroup with Delphine.
With Delphine as their pillar of support, the elves showed little panic despite being in the Blood Domain, though the pressure had made their bodies feel heavy.
An elf who wasn’t carrying anyone ran to Delphine’s side, whispered something in her ear, and then showed her the Space Gem in her hand, radiating happiness from head to toe.
Delphine took the Space Gem and glanced at it, a slight smile gracing her lips. Though she said nothing, it was clear she was very satisfied with the amount of Holy Water of Light inside.
Tang Qiu’s gaze lingered on Delphine and the elf for a moment, feeling herself infected by the joy radiating from them. She raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, “It seems you had quite a harvest.”
Delphine put the Space Gem away, winked at Tang Qiu, and said in a light tone, “Not as much as the payment you gave me.”
She held out her hand to a nearby elf, who placed a verdant longbow in it. The bow was woven from several intertwined vines and adorned with a few fresh, small white flowers.
Delphine held the bow in one hand and drew the string back with the other. A pale green orb of light slowly condensed on the bowstring, gradually elongating into a slender arrow.
The moment the arrow formed, the surrounding Blood Domain was shattered by an unknown force. Tang Qiu was pushed back several steps by the sheer power of Delphine’s aura, and her gaze on the elf grew more profound.
Delphine’s light green eyes narrowed slightly as she aimed at a certain area overhead. She released her fingers from the bowstring, and the green arrow shot out, tearing a gap in the blood-red mist. The Blood Domain trembled and then suddenly shattered into pieces.
She lowered the longbow, turned to Tang Qiu, and said with a smile, “Do you suddenly feel like giving me a bigger reward?”
Tang Qiu glanced at the collapsing Blood Domain, nodded, and said readily, “I can consider it.”
After the Blood Domain shattered, the elves carried the unconscious clerics and ran outward. The nearby Church teams also reacted quickly; Holy Knights began to escort the priests and clerics away. Tang Qiu watched as Jennifer and the others escaped the range of the Blood Domain. Just as she was about to turn and check on the other teams, the fragmented Blood Domain suddenly began to merge again, and at an even faster speed.
In an instant, the Blood Domain was restored to its original state and continued to spread forward.
Tang Qiu’s steps faltered, and Delphine frowned as well. A terrifying pressure suddenly emanated from a certain direction. Both of them turned to look simultaneously. Delphine sensed the state of the Blood Domain and said, “Evan is here.”
Tang Qiu’s brow furrowed. Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly sensed a trace of Lucille’s aura coming from the direction of that terrifying pressure. Her expression changed, and she said in a grim voice, “Lucille is over there.”
“Oh?” Delphine glanced at her. “Is that the Gangrel vampire who’s always with you? That’s a bit dangerous.”
Though she spoke of danger, she didn’t move an inch, showing no intention of going with Tang Qiu to help with the rescue.
Delphine didn’t want to confront a third-generation vampire, as it would undoubtedly consume too much of her nature power. She had more important matters to attend to later. Weighing the options, she chose to remain a bystander.
Over eight hundred bottles of Holy Water of Light were not enough to make her fight a third-generation vampire.
Tang Qiu saw that Delphine didn’t want to face this third-generation vampire named Evan. She reached up to adjust her hood, lowered her eyes in thought for a moment, then suddenly took something out of her Space Gem and threw it to Delphine. She said flatly, “Take this as payment. Just hold off the third-generation vampire for a moment, give me a chance to get Lucille out of here. How about it?”
“No payment is enough…” Delphine began to refuse, but seeing a green object flying toward her, she instinctively raised her hand to catch it. The moment it landed in her palm, her eyes lit up. She stared down at the Elf Fruit in her hand and, without hesitation, changed her tune. “But this payment will do.”
No elf would refuse an Elf Fruit. After all, everything she had done since leading her people from their homeland was for the sake of this very green fruit in her hand.
After the Blood Domain collapsed and reformed, the cold, dark aura was even more ferocious than before. Of the four Church teams at the entrances to Rose Manor, only two had barely escaped its range before it closed again: Jennifer’s team and the one led by the bishop of the Cinico Church.
Although the two teams had escaped the domain’s range, they were still in danger. The Blood Domain continued to spread toward them. They had no time to rest, forcing their injured bodies to move as far away as possible.
As for the other two teams, one had been swallowed by the Blood Domain from the very beginning, suffering many deaths and injuries. Fewer than ten people had been lucky enough to escape when the domain collapsed. The other team was the one Karen was guarding. They had been too close to Rose Manor, and though they had struggled to flee when the domain shattered, they were still despairingly caught within its range when it reformed.
Although they didn’t have a bishop, they did have Lisa, who could use high-level light magic, so their casualties were not very severe.
But after Lisa resigned from her position as bishop, she had returned her silver-white staff to her original church. Using an ordinary light staff, not only was the power of her light magic halved, but the pressure of the Blood Domain was also becoming almost too much for her to bear.
Lisa’s hand was trembling, and bloody marks appeared on the back of her fair skin from the pressure. She whispered a spell, protecting Karen and the other clerics behind her.
Karen stood behind her, clutching her arm with a grave expression. When the Blood Domain first appeared, she and the other Holy Knights had held their ground with their longswords, buying time for the priests and clerics to erect a light barrier. Her arm had been struck by the dark energy, and now she could barely hold her own sword.
As a Holy Knight, her duty was to stand at the front, defending the Church’s clerics with her life so they could escape safely, not to stand here, passively waiting for death.
Karen lowered her hand and tried to grab the longsword propped up by her feet.
Lisa had been watching Karen’s every move. Seeing her pick up the sword again, she felt a wave of panic. She turned her head, steadied her emotions, and said as calmly as she could, “Don’t be afraid, Karen. I’ll get you out of here.”
“Trust me.”
Karen looked down at the sword in her hand without speaking. The hand she usually used to wield it was trembling. After several attempts, she still couldn’t get a firm grip, so she simply switched to her other hand.
When Lisa received no response, she felt a pang of uncertainty and couldn’t help but call out again, “Karen?”
Karen frowned. She looked up at Lisa, about to speak, when her expression suddenly changed at something she saw. She flashed behind Lisa with her sword, and a cross-shaped slash of sword energy forced back a pouncing dark shadow.
There was a reason Karen was called a knight genius. Even using her left hand, her swordplay was fluid, showing no signs of unfamiliarity.
Forced back by the sword energy, the shadow revealed its form. Its blood-red eyes stared at them with malicious intent. In the blood-red mist, several more figures slowly emerged, standing with the first vampire, licking their fangs with wicked expressions.
Lisa’s face instantly turned pale. Just resisting the Blood Domain was already a struggle, and now there were so many sixth-generation vampires… She bit her lip and turned to Karen. “You go. I’ll hold them off.”
Karen and the few other Holy Knights still able to fight stepped forward, shielding Lisa and the others. She held her longsword, her youthful face filled with seriousness and determination. “Priest Lisa, please take the others and retreat.”
“Karen!”
“I may dislike you, but protecting you is an order from Bishop Grace.” Karen paused, feeling her words were a bit immature, and corrected herself. “No, I should say it’s my mission as a Holy Knight.”
“Even if I must give my life, I will protect you until the very last moment.”
This was the oath she had taken when she became a Holy Knight, and it was deeply engraved in her heart.
This was a Holy Knight’s duty and destiny. If it could not be avoided, it must be faced with courage.
After speaking, Karen and the other Holy Knights charged forward to engage the attacking vampires. They were completely outmatched, but they did their best to buy time for Lisa and the others.
Some priests had already begun to flee with the clerics, but Lisa remained stubbornly in place, her eyes red as she watched Karen’s back. She raised her staff and continued to chant, but her voice trembled.
She just wanted to protect this golden-haired girl, to keep her from any harm. Why could she never succeed?
Comments
Post a Comment