Chapter 53: A Draw

Countless shadow tentacles reached toward the dark beast with a human head and canine body.

The dark beast, however, performed a nimble leap; the ground beneath its feet shattered with a boom, and it vaulted over ten meters high, landing on the roof of a building.

Those shadow tentacles were immediately incinerated the moment they made contact with its body.

Even shadows would be burned to nothingness!

The dark beast, like a Tiger King patrolling its territory, crouched atop the high-rise, and the High Priest's human head spoke in a booming voice: "Lin... you truly are deeply favored by that existence, to have even been directly bestowed such a powerful 'Strange Object'! Did you form a Cult? Did the previous believers also die by your hand?"

"Old man, you talk too much."

Blood surged from Lin's hand, transforming into a bow; a pale arrow emerged directly from within her arm, appearing to be made of bone.

Whoosh!

The bowstring vibrated, and the white bone arrow flew out, carrying an unstoppable determination!

"Bind!"

Olivia manipulated invisible threads that spread all around the High Priest; those threads were no longer just crystals of the 'Cocoon's' Spirituality, but seemed to possess lives of their own, actively hunting for their opponent while becoming even tougher.

This was her combining the ability of a 'Strange Object' with her own, achieving an effect where one plus one is greater than two.

Hiss!

The invisible threads swept past, and even metal street lamps and walls were sliced through smoothly.

They continuously closed in toward the center, squeezing the High Priest's escape route and forcing it to take that arrow head-on!

Pfft!

The white bone arrow collided with the High Priest's extended forepaw, laboriously piercing the skin and sinking into the pitch-black flesh.

"Hmm... at most equivalent to a Third-tier 'Darkness Chaser'; if not for that Strange Object, you would not be my match."

The pitch-black flames on the dark beast's body suddenly became incomparably vigorous, melting the white bone arrow; the High Priest was attempting to find a direction to break through, clearly extremely wary of those animated threads.

He stared at Olivia, his expression changing slightly: "Has the 【Cocoon】 already joined forces with the 【Scarlet Moon】?"

"Keep pinning it down, I'm going up for melee." Lin did not answer at all; a crimson light flashed in her eyes, her hands transformed into daggers, and she charged directly up the building.

"You..."

Olivia could only watch Lin's back, unable to utter any words of dissuasion.

Aaron watched this scene, also unable to help.

It was impossible for these two girls to fight while praying or maintaining a ritual.

"However... is this High Priest's combat awareness really this poor?"

He thought for a moment, and suddenly his heart chilled: "I have a feeling something is wrong..."

No matter what, the High Priest was an Extraordinary powerhouse who had completed the Eclipse Ritual and transcended the mundane!

How could such an existence, who had even half-stepped out of human constraints, be forced to this point by Low-rank Extraordinaries?

"Old man, die!"

Lin rushed onto the rooftop and saw the High Priest, who was confined to a very small area.

The High Priest looked back, a ferocious smile appearing on his face, as if a cunning old wolf had finally waited for its prey.

He leaped suddenly, entering the shadows, and his body vanished abruptly!

—Shadow Jump!

This was an ability the High Priest had kept hidden, and the next moment, it jumped out directly from the shadow behind Olivia, its sharp claws piercing through Olivia's lower abdomen!

To it, Olivia, who held the 'Flesh Scepter', was the true enemy!

Once she was dealt with, the remaining Lin could be finished off with a wave of the hand!

"Pfft!"

Olivia coughed up blood, but the wound on her lower abdomen was healing rapidly, with a large amount of flesh growing at the site.

This healing technique from the Flesh Scepter clearly exceeded the High Priest's expectations.

And Olivia took the opportunity to turn around and swing the Scepter violently!

Bang!

The sound of hitting an object came; the High Priest let out a miserable shriek and fell into the shadows, disappearing from sight.

"Olivia?"

Lin jumped down directly from over ten meters high; upon landing, the sound of bones breaking came from her legs, but she paid it no mind, her lower body turning into blood before reforming into complete legs, and she sprinted over.

"I... I'm fine!"

Olivia struggled to watch the surroundings: "Watch out for sneak attacks from the shadows!"

"I pray to my Lord..." Lin did not find the enemy and immediately prayed again.

Aaron shook his head, knowing the High Priest had already left.

After all, Olivia's strike earlier had also caused the opponent injury, especially that kind of life Vitality from the Flesh Mother Tree, which was lethal poison to a Black Sun Cultist!

'Could it be that the High Priest might even give birth to a little "dark beast"?'

Aaron thought with a mix of amusement and frustration, then began to respond.

Olivia used flesh magic to instantly heal herself and successfully counterattacked; although it counted as a decent move, this kind of healing was accompanied by corruption and still needed Purification.

At dusk, Olivia and Lin returned to the Department Store Branch.

"Sorry... if I had been a bit more cautious today, perhaps I could have kept him here..."

Olivia spoke first.

She felt there had been some mistakes this time; under the Lord's reminder, despite holding the initiative, she still couldn't keep the High Priest and instead exposed their trump cards.

"It's not your fault, it's that I'm too weak, and... the previous battle had a great impact on me... making me unable to continue using the 'Flesh Scepter'..."

Lin analyzed calmly: "If an Extraordinary with the 'Red' Element like me used the Scepter, the effect would definitely be better!"

She paused: "I made some mistakes this time. I can guarantee you that before I advance again, I will not take the initiative to look for trouble with those Black Sun heretics."

"My view is exactly the opposite."

Olivia suddenly said: "Now is the perfect opportunity... The healing magic of the 'Flesh Scepter' alone carries that level of corruption; the High Priest, having been hit head-on by it, must be severely wounded and unable to recover in a short time. It is the best chance!"

"You mean?" Lin's eyes lit up.

"Take advantage of this opportunity to raid the headquarters of the Black Sun Cult—Black Sun Town!" Olivia said: "It would be best to kill the High Priest directly!"

As for completely annihilating this Cult?

Olivia did not think that far.

After all, as long as the 【Black Sun】 still exists, even if they wiped out the entire group, the Black Sun Cult would inevitably rise from the ashes before long; this is a foreseeable outcome.

"You really are giving me trouble."

Aaron covered his forehead, his face full of helplessness.

"Although this plan is quite feasible, and Lin, holding the 'Flesh Scepter', could easily kill even a 'Darkness Chaser', I always feel there will be some variables... for instance, these cultists going crazy and summoning the 【Black Sun】 in the end, receiving a response or something... They didn't consider this aspect; do they think I will block it for them?"

"Sorry... if the 【Black Sun】 truly descends, I have absolutely no way to deal with it..."