Chapter 73: 72. Friends' Game

72. Friends' Game

These small flowers growing wantonly everywhere are the servants of the Demon-Life Flower—Demon-Life Flower Lashers.

They are like flowers walking on roots, but those roots are covered in sharp blades; as soon as they bloom, they leap up and lash out at the crowd all around.

Even a light graze from those bladed roots is enough to shred their clothes into rags and send blood splattering from their skin.

The Lashers surge across the ground, as if a sea of flowers is spreading outward with Dorothy at the center, but this is a bloody sea of flowers; in an instant, the church is filled with crying and screaming.

"You!" Wendes turns his head to look at Elton, who also wears a look of confusion and panic, retreating under the protection of guards alongside Count Finat.

Wendes understands this is not Elton's scheme, but the fact that the stunningly beautiful girl who was supposed to be his fiancée has ruined his ceremony makes blood rush to his head.

"Acting so recklessly, where does this put the face of our Finat family! The cooperation with your family is cancelled!"

He grabs a Demon-Life Flower Lasher that lunges at him from the side, snaps it in two, and then lunges toward Dorothy.

The flower wings behind the half-elf girl decompose into several white floral vines, entangling the hand Wendes reached out.

"You think you can stop me with this?!"

Although he isn't wearing his equipment, he is, after all, a fighter who has been through many high-end battles; even if most of his power relies on his mount, he can still use his own body's force, amplified by magic, to shatter rock and pierce steel.

He exerts force through his elbow, intending to tear apart the flower vines entangling him.

"Urgh!"

However, the toughness of the flower vines exceeds his expectations; as he pulls with his elbow, it is instead his dress shirt sleeve and the skin on his arm that are torn open in an instant, as if those seemingly fragile vines hide countless hooked blades.

"This! How is this possible! How can you have this kind of power? You monster!"

Wendes feels the magic that should have amplified his attack movements being completely sucked away by those flower vines.

"Don't think this is enough!"

Their realms are the same, but there is a 2-tier difference in power; Wendes still manages to break free from the flower vines, and with a few strikes, he beats the attacking vines until they bend and scatter.

He turns and shouts to his family members not far away: "Where is my equipment?! Didn't I tell someone to bring it?"

More vines extend from behind Dorothy, rooting themselves into the void behind her; amidst faint sounds of thunder, the flower vines are nourished by magic and all regenerate.

No matter how many vines Wendes breaks, they all recover again.

"Are you kidding me? Only the Excellence realm can penetrate the dimensional barrier, why can you do it!"

Although Wendes can suppress the half-elf girl, he becomes more alarmed the more he fights.

"Senior!"

In the crowd, Leona's wings flap, sparks overflowing; this is a talent granted by her unknown bloodline.

Leona looks around; the church is covered in blood. The nobles have guards or their own training, so these little monsters won't kill them immediately, but injured people wailing in pain are everywhere.

Her rapidly beating dragon-blood heart pumps magic throughout her body, turning into gushing flames and scorching strikes delivered with her fists and kicks.

Fire burns those Lashers away, and the dragon girl shouts to Dorothy with tears in her eyes.

Dorothy controls the Demon-Life Flower to grow continuously, her pale golden hair fluttering, as if she hasn't heard her junior's shouts at all.

Leona flaps her wings to accelerate her run, arriving at the battlefield between her senior and Wendes.

"Senior, if you don't want to get married, if you don't want to marry Wendes, you can tell me, why hurt other people!"

Dorothy turns her face to the side and smiles indifferently at Leona, offering no explanation.

Her breathing gradually becomes rapid; she is, after all, a young lady who lacks training. Even though the Demon-Life Flower is temporarily entangling Wendes with its bloodthirsty, cruel offensive and high combat power boost, the opponent is a physically strong fighter. She is already swaying and unable to stand steadily, relying purely on some vines separated to support her on the ground to resist.

Wendes also notices this state and attacks with all his might.

"Haha, looks like even without my equipment, you're done for!"

A wind blade slices through the air, whistling toward her with the sound of thunder.

Wendes hurriedly retreats; the ground where he was standing is shattered with a boom. The flying bricks and stones are blocked by Dorothy's flower wings like a shield, but Leona nearby is hit by quite a few flying stones; the skin granted by her dragon-blood magic deflects the debris, leaving her only slightly flushed.

The person who fired the wind blade stands next to the servant who was helping him carry his equipment; the servant has already fainted and fallen to the ground.

Leon takes the equipment out of the box piece by piece and puts it on; the Finat family members who try to stop him are blown away by wind created by wind-elemental constructs.

Leon smooths his hair; he is in a set of cyan magic light armor, plants his Heavenly Demon Heavy Halberd on the ground, and his cape flutters, looking quite imposing, though a black magic staff on his back is a bit of an eyesore.

Wendes's eyes are about to split: "Leon! That's my equipment! When did you—"

"What's yours? Does Rams agree?"

Leon clenches his palm: "Although I've tested this set, it doesn't quite fit when used; I'm really not used to it."

Some Transcendence realm defensive gear will adjust itself into a structure with stronger defense through morphological changes; this comes from the ability of magic to shape matter.

And by the Excellence realm, this is basically standard for every piece of equipment, so there is no such thing as it not fitting someone else.

It's just that Wendes's equipment is a set of battle armor, and he isn't quite used to wearing it.

"Wuwu."

As soon as Leon appears, Dorothy immediately says tearfully: "You finally came to pick me up."

In full view of everyone, facing her deliberate affectation, Leon can only smile.

However, this scene is completely taken in by Leona.

Eh? Didn't this man only meet Senior once? How could he...?

His melee class is only just trained to Tier 2; his current physical strength can't handle wielding such a heavy giant weapon, but it has a built-in skill to release storm magic, so it can be used as half a magic staff.

The halberd blade emits the sound of wind and thunder; a Heavenly Demon Hurricane rises on the spot, condensing into a whirlwind that lashes toward Wendes.

Wendes knows the power of this well; he rolls continuously in a sorry state to dodge the attack of the storm.

Leon looks at Count Finat and Elton Campbell beside him: "Get lost, you two; this is none of your business anymore."

Just as these two and Wendes's two brothers are about to leave, Dorothy tosses two flower clusters at them; they turn into Lashers and start tearing at the two of them.

The Count and Elton have their flesh torn, screaming incessantly.

Leona rushes over to pull the two Lashers away.

"Senior, don't do wrong things anymore."

Dorothy smiles at the dragon girl; that momentary beauty leaves the latter stunned, but her heart is even more complex and chaotic, and she cries uncontrollably: "Why did it turn out like this?"

Leon looks at Dorothy: "Have you vented your anger?"

He wants to clear out the others to ensure there are no distractions for the battle with the Extermination Knight.

As a registered Sky Knight of the guild, and currently cooperating with the Order Sky Knight Regiment, he cannot cause a bunch of deaths, or he would lose the title of justice and become a wanted criminal who launched a massacre.

However, since Dorothy has been holding it in for so many years, Leon won't interfere with her taking revenge.

The half-elf girl giggles: "Not yet, but let's leave it at this for now; we'll deal with my big brother and father later."

Leona seems to finally realize something and glares at Leon: "This is your doing, isn't it!"

She snaps: "Who are you? You appeared yesterday, how did it become like this? How did you bewitch Senior? Stealing, stealing a bride?! How can you do this!"

She looks at Dorothy again: "Senior, tell me, you're just being coerced by him—"

"Stop talking, Leona."

Dorothy calmly stops the half-dragon girl's eager words.

"Yesterday, I already told you."

The girl is stunned: "You mean, finding your own path? Is that eloping with a Sky Knight you just met?"

Dorothy shakes her head, her gentle demeanor as beautiful as a forest nymph.

"You never understood me; you never knew what I wanted."

"I, I..."

"You are too simple, too immersed in your own imagination."

Leona is speechless for a moment.

"Because you are a bit like me in this regard, I have always stayed with you."

"But now I have things I want to do. With you blocking my way so relentlessly, I can no longer treat you as a friend."

Leona is struck as if by lightning; her body sways, and even with her thick tail for support, she can no longer stand steadily and falls directly to her knees on the ground.

"Hurry and go; it will be very dangerous here soon," Leon says to her.

Leona grinds her teeth and looks at Leon: "I'm not leaving; I don't accept this... You, I've remembered you..."

Dorothy comes before the half-dragon girl; seeing her approach, the latter eagerly reaches out, but is nimbly dodged, and her attempt to hug Dorothy's legs misses.

The half-elf girl shakes her head and sighs: "This game of friends is over."

Leona's pupils shrink violently; her whole body goes limp, and she can no longer move.

Dorothy releases a few Lashers to carry her out of the church.

After Leon's help, Wendes is also captured, tightly bound by the flower vines Dorothy releases.

The Demon-Life Flower vines suck away the magic he draws upon; without magic, he cannot break free from the heterodox vines of the Demon-Life Flower.

Outside the church, the sounds of intense fighting grow louder.

Lancelot charges in, with the Black-Armored Knight following closely behind; the several Calamity-Ending Thunder Blades floating around them slice everything they see along the way into dust.

"I'll go to the side and not interfere with you," Dorothy says, retreating into the distance while binding Wendes.

Leon and Lancelot lock eyes, and the battle begins.