[Vol. 7] Chapter 94: You Use a Follower, So I'll Use a Follower Too! Sounds Fair
The black-haired girl took a step forward, casually waving a hand at the others.
"I'll take care of this guy. You guys just deal with the rest of those nuisances."
"Huh?"
Both Qionghua and [Tree Branch], including [Tree Bow], were momentarily stunned. However, a certain thief girl took this as a perfect excuse to flee, immediately dashing off to lure away the enhanced but still inferior militia, leaving the battlefield open in the center.
Even as she ran, she still put on an act, calling out, "Boss, be careful! That guy’s no joke!" But it was obvious. She had no intention of helping.
"But..."
Violet glanced at the green-haired young man, who seemed hesitant to speak, and smirked slightly.
"Haven't you always wanted to test the true strength of the [Priest]? Now that I’m stepping forward on my own, why are you hesitating? Don’t worry, small fries like this can’t hurt me."
Caught off guard, Enrique hesitated for a moment. Seeing that the black-haired girl was serious, he could only shake his head helplessly.
"Alright, just be careful... Everyone, follow me!"
With the distractions finally gone, Violet turned to face the half-bear warrior standing alone before her. She didn’t even draw a weapon. Just stood there with her hands casually clasped behind her back, watching him with the calm, superior air of a master instructing a junior.
"You don’t seem worried about them escaping at all."
"Can they escape?"
"Good point... Creating a space like this, one that’s clearly tied to some kind of law-based power... Looks like your Church of Truth has found itself a pretty powerful backer."
Marcelo raised an eyebrow but said nothing. The aura around him surged violently, unleashing the long-accumulated power forward in an instant!
BOOM!!!!!
The attack was far stronger than before. Several times more powerful, sweeping forward in a diagonal slash. More than half of the gray flames surrounding the half-bear warrior surged forth, twisting into a violent storm that roared toward the black-haired girl.
Yet Violet neither dodged nor defended herself. She didn’t even cast a spell. Before Marcelo could fully grasp what was happening, a massive golden figure appeared out of thin air, blocking the attack right in front of her.
"A contracted beast?!"
The half-bear warrior muttered in shock as a giant golden hound, over three meters long, let out a thunderous howl.
"Awoooo!!!!!"
A hurricane-like pressure erupted from its body, blending two completely opposite auras. One wild and ruthless, the other divine and noble. Though the force carried no magic, it stirred up a powerful wind, shaking trees and houses as if caught in a raging storm.
As the attack approached, the beast’s eyes flashed with a fierce light. Rather than dodging, it simply lifted a massive paw and slammed it directly into the spinning gray-flame storm.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!!!!!
Flesh met raw magical fury in a direct collision. A storm powerful enough to tear through blacksteel was shattered on impact, scattering like torn cotton under a blade. The force from the beast’s extended claws didn’t stop there.
It tore through the battlefield, ripping apart houses and leaving a massive imprint on the earth, as if a titan had pressed its hand into the land. Five deep, terrifying claw marks stretched across the distant mountain, disappearing into the darkness.
Marcelo, who had been at the center of the attack, stood no chance. He was struck head-on, unable to react before being launched into the air like a broken puppet. His body crashed through the forest in the distance, vanishing amid the rumbling destruction.
"???"
On the other side of the battlefield, Enrique and the others were completely frozen in place, staring in stunned silence.
Before they could even process what had happened, the black-haired girl climbed onto the golden beast’s broad back. With a light tap, the hound pushed off the ground, vanishing like a flash of lightning as it dashed toward Marcelo’s landing site.
"......"
A heavy silence filled the air for a long time.
It took quite a while before [Tree Branch], was the first to react. While using vines to restrain the mutated militia members, he whispered to Enrique, still shaken by what he had just witnessed.
"Captain, that golden hound… what kind of magical beast is it? With that kind of terrifying power, speed, and sheer destruction… No wonder Miss Violet was so confident…"
Swallowing nervously, [Tree Bow] barely managed to suppress his shock and shook his head.
"I don’t know either. But judging by the strength of that last attack, that beast must be at least at the sixth or even seventh tier in terms of power. Even if it’s not a true Mythical Beast, it’s probably not far off."
"Incredible… No wonder the [Priest] dares to travel alone even without the protection of [Lightscale]. So this is Miss Violet's real trump card…"
Enrique glanced at Le Qiaoqiao, who was still fighting nearby, but he didn’t dwell on discussing others behind their backs. He quickly refocused on the battlefield.
"Sophie and the others should be arriving soon. Let’s finish securing this area and then go support Miss Violet. She has the upper hand for now, but the enemy is too strange. We have no idea what might happen next. Better to be cautious."
"Understood."
……………………………………
"Cough… cough, cough…"
Leaning against a massive tree—one so thick it had only partially split from the impact. Marcelo, now covered in wounds, coughed violently.
But instead of blood, a dark gray mist-like substance spilled from his mouth, dissipating into the air like fading shadows. The eerie dark flames that had once burned across his body had completely extinguished, leaving only his hollow, blinded eye still faintly swirling with traces of the strange energy.
"Ah~"
Not far away, the golden-haired hound appeared with the black-haired girl on its back.
…Though it looked like she had teleported, in reality, it was just an illusion caused by their extreme speed.
Seated on the broad back of her pet, Violet looked down at the half-bear warrior from above. Her expression was eerily calm, like she was gazing at a dead man. Or perhaps she was simply evaluating whether he was still a threat.
Given her height, she normally wouldn’t be able to look down on Marcelo with such an overwhelming presence, even while he was slumped on the ground. But thanks to a certain large dog, she had the perfect vantage point. And since it felt great, the priestess had no intention of getting off anytime soon.
"Cough… cough…"
Struggling to suppress his coughing, Marcelo lifted his head, using his cracked and battered sword to support himself. Gray mist-like energy still seeped from the corners of his mouth like blood. But despite his injuries, his lone eye remained wide open, staring at the mysterious girl and her terrifying beast, as if trying to make sense of them.
"You… just who are you people? How can you possess such power? Beyond the legendary… no, even stronger?"
Violet clicked her tongue and tugged at the golden fur beneath her, signaling her snarling mount to hold back. Then, in an almost casual tone, she replied.
"Why are you so surprised? Do you really think you're the only one who can borrow power from some evil god, while the rest of us are stuck swinging primitive weapons like cavemen, just waiting to be beaten up? Even if you barely close to being a god's follower, you're still far from it, old man~"
Marcelo flinched, his already tattered armor rattling as a few broken plates fell to the ground with an eerie clang in the dark forest.
Clearly, her words had truly shaken him.
"You… how do you know—"
"I know far more than you think."
Perched high on her mount, the priestess rested her chin in her hand, looking down at him with an amused yet unreadable smile.
"Hey, old man, don't tell me you actually believe your master is the only god in this world? Ever heard of a chain reaction? The reason you’ve never encountered anything like this before is simple. You were too weak, too low-level to even be qualified. But now that you’ve climbed a little higher with that borrowed power, naturally, you’ll have to face much bigger players."
"Now, spill everything you know. And don’t make me get rough with you… lapdog of the Church of Truth."