Chapter 367

The powerful impact driven by the rapid 【Beast Path】 made the sword strike Xia Nan unleashed almost cause the pink light around the blade to twist and adhere to the sharp shadow, leaving a pink arc of sword light in the air.

But it was precisely because of such a full-force strike with the addition of body inertia that when the blade, wrapped in a violent air current, landed on the surface of the seemingly indestructible pink barrier around the priest, the counter-shock force transmitted from the hilt was even greater.

If not for his keen perception, which allowed him to notice the moment the gem's energy erupted, coupled with his decent Agility attribute and extremely fast reaction speed, he had prepared himself in his heart beforehand and gripped the sword hilt extra tightly.

Otherwise, under the sudden impact of such a counter-shock force, it would not have been impossible for the straight sword to be shaken out of his hand due to a moment of carelessness.

Of course, even though he had prepared himself mentally, it did not affect the outcome of him being sent flying by the gem barrier.

【Tide Shaping】 took effect silently, and the 【Beast Path】 wrapped the powerful impact back onto himself; Xia Nan, who was flying high toward the rear, suddenly slowed down.

It was as if what surrounded his body was not invisible air, but a turbid, viscous liquid.

With force from his waist and abdomen muscles, support from his core strength, and a little help from gravity pulling,

Xia Nan, as if swimming in water, took advantage of the inertia of leaning back and turned his body two hundred and seventy degrees.

Just like a feather drifting down from the sky, his feet landed lightly.

With his dark eyes reflecting the dazzling pink light in front, Xia Nan's expression was calm, and he gently rotated the wrist holding the straight sword, as if to relieve the discomfort caused by the counter-shock force.

He had to admit that the priest named "Moxi" before him had strength that exceeded his expectations.

Although Xia Nan had not encountered many serious spellcaster enemies since he started, he had always maintained the highest degree of vigilance toward magic-related professions like "Mage" and "Priest," thanks to the high regard adventurers in this world generally held for them, as well as the stereotypes from countless entertainment works in his past life.

Even shortly after he first transmigrated to this world, before he had even obtained a professional level, he often rehearsed similar scenarios in his heart—if his enemy were a spellcaster who had made full combat preparations in advance, what should he do to achieve final victory and cut off the other's head.

And as his strength grew and his combat experience gradually increased, Xia Nan's ideas became more and more perfect; he even had targeted combat plans for different terrains and spellcasters of different strength levels.

The current combat environment was a fairly spacious church, and the enemy was an elderly spellcaster of the Priest profession whose strength was relatively unclear.

There was a certain distance between the two, but it was not too far.

Combining the above situations, Xia Nan adopted a combat plan that was not so aggressive, relatively conservative, and had a certain margin for error, wanting to use the speed and instant explosive power of 【Beast Path】 to close the distance with the priest and bring the other party into his attack range.

He intended to use Moxi's lack of understanding of his own charge combat technique to catch the other party off guard.

But...

【Radiant Prayer】, 【Light-Guiding Arrow】, 【Human Hold】;

Cantrip, 1st-level spell, 2nd-level spell.

Even if he was truly well-prepared, the casting speed of the old priest in front of him was terrifyingly fast.

If he used 【Beast Path】 to rush from the church gate to the very back, if he hadn't encountered any obstacles, a single breath of time would probably have been enough.

But the old priest's exaggerated casting speed made him like a "spell machine gun"; he had just withstood the scorching damage of 【Radiant Prayer】 when the 【Light-Guiding Arrow】 had already blasted over; he had just used the Snake Scale Arm Shield to block the damage when another 【Human Hold】 followed.

It forcibly extended the distance that should have been covered in an instant infinitely, and also gave the other party sufficient reaction time.

Even if he didn't know much about the Priest profession, Xia Nan could still be certain that this was absolutely not the casting speed that an ordinary professional should possess.

Even if the spell slots released were not high, to be able to cast spells continuously without gaps in such a short time... it was probably those high-level professionals who possessed relevant specialties.

At the very least, below lv5, there was no possibility of this.

But clearly, judging by the degree of magic condensation just now and the dissipating aura of spell energy, the other party's specific professional level was estimated to be around level five, and it definitely did not exceed his own by much.

"So... is it the power granted to him by that pink gem?"

Xia Nan's gaze swept over the pink gem in Moxi's hand, and his heart sank involuntarily.

It was only because he was relatively comprehensive, with physical fitness, combat technique level, and equipment quality far exceeding ordinary professionals, that he had forcibly withstood all three spells.

If it were any other adventurer, encountering such a combo from the opponent, they would probably already be able to call the villagers to prepare for the funeral feast.

And even so, when Xia Nan forcibly relied on his own "stats" and "mechanics" to eat a combo of three spells in a row, and rushed to the priest's side at a speed that could still not be called slow despite being delayed.

The other party actually still had one last trump card, using the gem's pink barrier to block his attack.

In the blink of an eye, one round of competition had ended.

On his side, apart from his right wrist and forearm being slightly sore due to the counter-shock, and his chest being slightly scorched by the radiant damage of the spell, there was no major issue—it didn't even count as a minor injury. The 5% radiant resistance provided by the 【Light-Bather】 specialty had limited effect because the amount of damage that could land on Xia Nan's body after passing through 【Infernal Pulse】 was not much to begin with; it was better than nothing.

On the contrary, Moxi the priest, who seemed to have the upper hand, now had a thick sense of exhaustion on his aged face, and there was little blood color.

It seemed that for him, the spell combo just now was definitely not an easy thing.

Consequently, the look the other party cast toward Xia Nan also became somewhat wrong.

Xia Nan was surprised by the priest's casting speed, and Moxi was equally astonished by Xia Nan's equally exaggerated performance in the face of the spell combo.

For a moment, he couldn't even keep his expression composed.

One could faintly see the outline of the pupils shrinking in his light eyes, and even the staff he held in his hand swayed twice subconsciously.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but before they could even condense into specific ideas, they turned into powder in the collision of their gazes.

There was no extra nonsense.

When the battle began, it could only end after one side died.

Xia Nan had just landed lightly from being knocked back, and the high-frequency sharp sound of the blade colliding with the energy barrier was still echoing over the church dome when the long wolf howl sounded once again.

Knowing that he had to maximize his speed advantage, he must never stand still and become a living target for the other party.

The pitch-black Winter Wolf with swaying mane circled its prey extremely patiently and gloomily, no longer pouncing forward like before, but testing and feinting while constantly applying pressure.

At the same time, Xia Nan also keenly observed that as time quietly passed with the wolf howl, the pink light shield that the priest had raised to protect his body, after expanding rapidly when Xia Nan was knocked back, was slowly shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This made him feel slightly relieved.

After all, with his current attack ability, he could not break through the defense of the light shield; if the other party could maintain the light shield like this, he might really have to consider how to take his teammates and escape from the church.

On the other side, for Moxi, the increasingly pale and exhausted expression also showed his gradually weakening strength.

It was obvious that he himself knew that things could not go on like this.

Otherwise, if this continued, he, who had exhausted his physical strength to support the light shield, would eventually become a lamb waiting to be slaughtered under the wolf's claws.

He had to regain the initiative in the battle!

"Hum!"

A high-frequency energy noise erupted in an instant.

Seizing the brief moment when Xia Nan feinted and retreated, Moxi decisively withdrew the pink light shield that was gradually shrinking and protecting his body.

At the same time, he gripped the staff tightly with his palm, lifted it up violently, and pointed the tip of the staff directly at the direction of the black-haired adventurer in front.

Boom—

A large amount of injected and filled mental power made the surrounding air distort vaguely.