[Vol. 9] Chapter 66: The Power of One Priest!
For a moment, the battle that had been closing in from all sides turned chaotic with Moraya’s sudden joining.
Her presence greatly reduced the pressure on Veranica. The attackers hesitated, afraid of hitting her by mistake, and their fierce assault slowed down.
One was strong and fierce, the other elegant and graceful. Together, they actually managed to hold back the wave of nearly a thousand enemies, stopping them completely.
Seeing this, the young female mercenary who was commanding from the back grew anxious. Her eyes darted around quickly, and by chance, she spotted the black-haired girl standing quietly behind the two warriors, the same one she had argued with earlier.
The girl was wearing a simple but elegant white robe and holding a completely white staff that looked very expensive. She stood calmly among the chaos, totally out of place.
The mercenary leader’s eyes lit up. She suddenly got an idea and shouted loudly while pointing at her,
“Catch that girl in white first! She’s a priest, definitely their weak point! Grab her!”
As soon as those words came out, both Veranica and Moraya froze for a brief moment, exchanging confused looks.
The black-haired priest herself, who had been happily watching her companions fight, also blinked in confusion and scratched her head.
“...Me?”
They were stunned for a second, but the bandits and mercenaries, all veterans of countless battles, understood the command immediately.
They’d used this tactic countless times before, “Catch the leader first,” or “Go for the weakest one.”
Without hesitation, a group split from the main force, some continued holding Veranica and Moraya back to block their help, while others rushed full speed toward the black-haired girl standing at the center of the encirclement!
They were fast. In just a few seconds, they were almost upon her.
The man in front had a crazed grin, already tasting the joy of victory. His rough hand reached out, eager to grab the girl’s thin arm and push her down.
Such a pure, pretty little girl. Just imagining her terrified screams made him tremble with excitement.
But then... something strange happened.
That beautiful black-haired girl, the one with the sharp tongue, didn’t panic at all. She didn’t try to run, didn’t cast a holy shield, and didn’t use any magic from her shiny staff.
She didn’t even take a step back.
She just stood there firmly, tilting her head slightly, her face showing a weird mix of surprise, helpless amusement, and... was that pity?
The kind of look one gives to an idiot.
She watched quietly as the man came closer and closer...
His ugly face nearly filled her vision. His rough fingers were just about to brush her sleeve—
Then—
The black-haired girl’s mouth twisted in a look of mild disgust.
She gripped her pure-white, jewel-topped staff tightly with both hands, not like someone holding a sacred tool, but like someone grabbing... an ordinary wooden stick.
She twisted her waist, dropped her shoulder, and with a strong, fluid motion completely unfit for a gentle priest or her slender figure, she swung that holy staff upward, like it was a massive battering ram!
The staff sliced through the air, not with holy light, but with a terrifying, ear-splitting sound that tore through the air like thunder!
“BOOM!!!”
And then—
The battlefield suddenly fell completely silent.
Including Moraya and Veranica, who, though not really worried, were still keeping an eye on the situation, almost everyone instinctively stopped what they were doing.
It was as if someone had cast a freezing spell on them. Their bodies stiffened, their faces showed shock and disbelief as they all turned to look at the white-robed girl who remained calm and expressionless… and at the unbelievable scene before her.
The sight was so absurd and shocking that anyone who saw it would doubt their own eyes, and even their whole life.
Just a second ago, everyone was watching two powerful masters fighting bravely against an army. But in the very next moment, the “scene” suddenly changed, and turned into a petite girl in priest robes casually swinging her “staff” and hitting a home run.
And the thing flying away was… a huge, living man.
She had simply waved her staff, and that holy “stick” landed solidly on the unlucky guy’s waist and stomach. It was so fast, far too fast for a priest, that no one could even react.
There was no glow of magic, not even a hint of physical enhancement or inner energy. Only a pure, brutal, and unreasonable physical hit!
That tall, strong man with a fierce face didn’t even have time to change his expression from joy to shock before his body twisted and deformed in an instant.
The sound of breaking bones was drowned out by the terrifying crash, and then…
He turned into a human cannonball, flying backward along a straight, destructive path. At a speed hundreds of times faster than when he charged forward!
The air along his flight path was completely torn apart, leaving a horrifying vacuum trail. Anyone in his way, whether fierce gang members or well-trained mercenaries, no matter if they tried to block or dodge, it was useless.
No one had time to react, and no one could stop it.
Anyone even slightly hit by his body was thrown aside, coughing up blood, or worse crushed instantly as if trampled by a giant beast, their bones shattered and lives ended on the spot!
Broken limbs and shattered weapons flew everywhere, swept up by the violent gusts. That bloody, flesh-made vacuum path shot straight through the battlefield, all the way to the rocky cliffs at the valley’s edge.
Then, a deafening explosion shook the world!
“BOOM!!!!!!!”
It was like a mountain collapsing, the whole rocky valley trembling with a deep rumble! The “human tank” had finally reached the end of his flight, smashing into the cliff wall thousands of meters away with a sound that could only be described as his final scream.
When everyone looked up in horror, they saw a massive crater carved into the rock face. Spiderweb-like cracks spread out for hundreds of meters as stones fell down in a shower of dust.
At the center of the crater, only a vague, unrecognizable mass of blood and flesh remained, embedded deep into the rock.
As the echoes faded, the battlefield fell into an even heavier silence than before. The hot wind blew across the bloodstained ground, carrying the smell of iron and frost. Only the sound of shaky breathing and chattering teeth could be heard.
The priest girl who caused all this seemed a little embarrassed by both the explosion and the strange silence.
She looked down at her staff, still spotless and completely clean, and awkwardly rubbed her nose.
Under the countless stunned stares, as if everyone were looking at a prehistoric monster, she said softly, with a bit of guilt and innocence in her voice.
“W-What? You guys were the ones who came to pick a fight with me, right? So bossy… can’t I fight back a little?”