[Vol. 9] Chapter 68: Black Flame
Even special kinds of magic like curses or mental attacks couldn’t affect her. As long as the instant damage they caused didn’t reach the minimum danger level that the artifact considered a threat, the extra negative effects simply wouldn’t trigger at all.
Because of that, Violet didn’t need to bother identifying or reacting to those random attacks. She just ignored them completely.
While keeping a calm rhythm in her fight with the enemies in front of her, the priestess wasn’t in a hurry to do anything drastic. Instead, she took a brief moment to glance at the other two battlefields where fighting had started again.
Miss snow girl, as the candidate Holy Maiden of the [Eternal Winter Temple], naturally fought by using ice and snow magic as her main strength, combined with quick and graceful movements. Her fighting style was elegant and beautiful.
The leader of the [Scavenger Gang], however, was the complete opposite. A warrior sharpened through countless life-and-death battles, who had given up all unnecessary moves and focused purely on practicality.
Normally, both of them had their own strengths and weaknesses. They might face some trouble in certain situations, but right now, since most of the enemies’ attention and firepower were focused on Violet, the pressure on Moraya and Veranica had become very light. In fact, one could even say they were now fighting with ease.
As more and more corpses piled up, the two gangs’ attacks were getting weaker and slower. Anyone could see that they had bitten off more than they could chew. This carefully planned ambush was clearly falling apart.
But Violet didn’t think it was that simple.
The reason she hadn’t joined the fight right away was partly because she wanted to test the true combat power of the two girls, so she could judge their strength for future plans. But there was another, more important reason. Her priestly intuition had been faintly warning her of something.
She could feel that some kind of presence was hiding somewhere in this chaotic battlefield. Something dark, lurking in the shadows like a venomous snake, quietly watching and waiting for the right time to strike.
That presence was hidden very deeply. Its energy was so faint and well-concealed that even Violet could only sense it vaguely, unable to pinpoint its exact location. That was why she chose to hold back, to stay alert and see what it was planning.
Anything that could hide from her senses had to be far more dangerous than the mobs in front of her. Maybe these mercenaries and gang members were just pawns, sent here only to test the waters. And once it was confirmed that they couldn’t finish the job...
Just as that thought flashed through Violet’s mind, her eyes suddenly narrowed sharply!
Almost by pure instinct, the girl swung her [Eternal Scepter of the World's Heart]. A brilliant golden light shot out instantly, hitting Veranica, who was still fighting nearby, with perfect precision!
The light wrapped around her body, forming a thin golden barrier like a protective shield that completely surrounded her.
“...?”
The ice demon girl froze for a moment, surprised by the sudden help. Even her punch paused mid-air. She opened her mouth, ready to ask what was going on. But at that exact moment, everything changed.
A pitch-black flame, no bigger than a fingernail, yet so deep and dark it seemed capable of swallowing light, suddenly appeared on the body of the [Black Dogs] gang member who had just been knocked down by her punch and was now groaning in pain.
And in the next instant—
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion erupted!
A burst of eerie, burning black fire shot straight into the sky!
The poor injured gang member didn’t even have time to scream. His entire body, along with the blood flowing from his wounds, was instantly set ablaze, turning into fuel for the terrifying fire.
The black flame roared upward, more than three meters high, twisting like demonic claws hungry for flesh.
Although Veranica reacted quickly and tried to dodge, she was simply too close, and the explosion had come without warning. She couldn’t avoid it. In the blink of an eye, she was swallowed by the sudden wave of black fire.
In an instant, the strange black flames rolled and spread like a living thing!
They ate everything they touched. They could set on fire anything, flesh, metal, or rock, and spread like a plague. A few gang members who were too close and couldn’t dodge only got a few sparks on them, and in a blink they were turned into fresh fuel, their faces filled with unbelieving terror.
“Damn! What the hell is that?!”
“Help! Save me… ahhhh!!!”
Those touched by the black flame were terrified out of their minds. Some frantically slapped at the fire crawling on them, trying to beat it out; others only managed a short, sharp scream before being completely swallowed in a single breath and turning into new blazing fireballs.
Even worse, the rock ground under their feet caught fire too. The black flames rolled outward like a dark tide and spread wildly! One, five, ten… the black fire seemed to keep growing without end. In just a short time, the area burned jumped from a few meters to several times larger.
More and more people, friend and foe alike, were eaten by that hungry, terrifying fire and turned into new sources of flame that kept fueling the spread without stopping!
“Run!!!”
At last someone let out a blood-curdling scream. The two gangs, whose will to fight had already been broken by this disaster-like scene, scattered like birds and beasts! Even the brutal [Blood Claws] members, known for their cruelty, stopped fighting. They pushed themselves to run as hard as they could in the opposite direction of the spreading black fire, panicked and desperate.
Maybe they could face blades without fear, but no one wanted to become ash for no reason in the face of this unstoppable, tsunami-like force.
“This is…”
Violet didn’t bother with the fleeing scraps anymore. She floated backward a little and watched the strange black flames spreading, her silver-blue eyes flashing with a strange light.
She then glanced farther away. The moment the black fire appeared, the mercenaries had moved quickly and in order to pull back and regroup. It looked like they had expected the situation might turn out this way.
Seeing this, the girl’s silver-blue eyes narrowed slightly.
“Little Fang, come out.”
Whoosh!
With a small movement of her mind, a bright summoning circle lit on the ground. In the sharp, golden light, a giant dog stepped out. It was shoulder-high, more than a meter tall, golden all over with fluffy fur. It walked out proudly, shook its big head, and though it looked cute, a cold, sharp and fierce will spread out from it like a blade.
"My lord, what are your orders?"
Violet pointed to the mercenary leaders who had started running and were nearly past the edge of the rocky valley, her face calm.
“Catch the leaders of that group and bring them to me alive. If anyone tries to stop you, teach them a lesson. If they still won’t listen, you may kill them. And be careful to those black flames.”
“Understood.”