Chapter 127: Victory! First Saint

"Fire!"

Following the order, hundreds of sharp arrows soared into the sky, forming a green rain of arrows that precisely covered the flank of the Light Temple's army.

These hunters from Red Leaf Forest were incomparably skilled in archery.

Their arrows could always find the gaps in the Temple Knights' armor, drilling into them and bringing up bursts of blood.

The Light Temple's army was already in chaos because of Roko's surprise attack and Martina's counter-charge.

Now, suffering a flank attack from Zewen's troops, the entire formation finally collapsed completely.

"Damn it!"

Bishop Marcus's face turned iron-blue at the sight.

He never imagined that a mere barony could attract so many reinforcements.

And they were all tough nuts to crack.

The situation was lost!

He made a judgment in his heart instantly.

If they continued to fight, their five hundred Purification Army troops would probably be completely wiped out here.

He took out a specially made signal flare from his arms without hesitation and fired it into the sky.

"Whoosh!"

A dazzling red light exploded in the sky, forming a giant flame cross mark.

This was the highest-level retreat signal of the Light Temple.

"Valerius! Break out! Let's go!"

Bishop Marcus let out a roar of unwillingness, controlled the "First Saint's Tear" to emit a screen of light, temporarily forcing Roko back, and turned to run.

"Want to leave?"

A flash of cold murderous intent crossed Roko's eyes.

"Today, none of you will be able to leave!"

The retreat signal suddenly appeared.

The Light Temple army, which had originally maintained its last bit of formation, instantly exploded.

The instinct to survive overwhelmed their faith in the gods.

The Temple Knights no longer fought, turning around one after another like headless flies, attempting to rush out of the encirclement.

The entire battlefield fell into complete chaos.

Battle cries, screams, and the sound of weapons clashing intertwined into a movement of death.

The military and civilians of Vanguard Valley, the hunters of Red Leaf Forest, and the Storm Knights led by Roko, from three directions, like a giant net constantly tightening, crazily slaughtered these fleeing enemies.

"Break out in separate groups!"

Bishop Marcus roared at Knight Captain Valerius.

He knew very well that if the two of them were together, the target would be too large and they would only be watched by Roko.

Only by running separately would there be a sliver of life.

Knight Captain Valerius understood.

He roared, and the Holy Light Battle Qi belonging to a Bronze Peak knight erupted without reservation, forming a dazzling silver halo.

"All Temple Knights! Follow me to charge! Open a bloody path for Bishop Marcus!"

This loyal and powerful knight captain, at the final moment, still chose to cover his superior's retreat.

He led the remaining dozens of elite Temple Knights, forming a cone-shaped charge formation, like a sharp knife, slamming fiercely toward the weakest part of the encirclement—the Red Leaf Forest troops led by Zewen Brick.

And Bishop Marcus, taking advantage of this opportunity, controlled the "First Saint's Tear," turning into a stream of light, and flew rapidly in the opposite direction.

He wanted to use the power of the holy relic to fly directly away from this damn battlefield.

"Zewen! Be careful!"

Roko saw Valerius's intention and immediately reminded him loudly.

Zewen Brick was also an experienced warrior.

Seeing Valerius's desperate posture, his eyes narrowed, and he immediately ordered the hunters under his command to form a defensive line, attempting to block the opponent's breakout.

However, the power erupted by a Bronze Peak knight who had burned all his Battle Qi was extremely terrifying.

The knight long spear in Valerius's hand seemed to have turned into a silver angry dragon looking for someone to devour.

"Those who block me die!"

He swept out with his spear, and several Red Leaf Forest hunters were directly shaken away by the powerful force, spitting blood and falling to the ground.

Seeing this, Zewen roared and personally took his hunting knife to meet him.

"Clang!"

Knife and spear collided, erupting with a harsh sound of metal friction.

Zewen only felt an irresistible giant force coming from the blade, his tiger's mouth instantly cracked, and his whole body couldn't help but retreat several steps, his chest surging with blood.

His strength, after all, could not be compared to the desperate Valerius.

"Die!"

A flash of murderous intent crossed Valerius's eyes; he didn't let up, and the spear stabbed out again, aiming straight for Zewen's throat.

Just at this critical moment.

Two figures, one left and one right, appeared at Valerius's side like teleportation.

It was Roko and Fula.

"Your opponent is us!"

Roko's voice was cold.

He and Fula, almost at the same time, raised the longswords in their hands.

Both of them practiced the 【Flame Griffin Breathing Method】.

The Battle Qi in their bodies came from the same source.

At this moment, driven by the will of the two, the golden flame Battle Qi actually produced a wonderful resonance.

"【Great Sun Blazing Slash · Flame Slash】!"

Both of them used this sword technique at the same time.

Roko's slash was dominant and scorching, like a brilliant sun.

Fula's slash was swift and agile, like flowing lava.

The moment the two different golden flame sword auras intersected in the air, they didn't repel each other; instead, they merged perfectly like water and milk.

One plus one produced an effect far greater than two.

The merged flame sword aura didn't increase much in volume, but its color shifted from the original gold to a deeper, hotter dark gold.

On the sword aura, the phantom of the Flame Griffin became unprecedentedly solid, as if it were about to break free from the illusion and turn into reality.

A terrifying pressure far exceeding the Bronze rank permeated from that dark golden sword aura.

Knight Captain Valerius felt this power, and for the first time, a look of horror appeared in those cold eyes.

He wanted to dodge, but his body appeared stiff for a moment because of the full-force eruption just now.

It was this moment that decided his life and death.

"No!"

He could only watch helplessly as the dark golden flame sword aura slashed onto his body with an irresistible posture.

His proud Holy Light Battle Qi shield instantly dissolved in front of the dark golden flames.

The sturdy refined steel armor on his body was also easily cut open like tofu.

"Pfft!"

A soft sound.

Knight Captain Valerius's body was slashed open with a huge wound diagonally from his shoulder to his abdomen.

The dark golden flames invaded his body along the wound, crazily scorching his internal organs and vitality.

"Ngh..." Knight Captain Valerius looked down with difficulty at the terrifying wound on his chest that reached the bone, his eyes filled with disbelief and unwillingness.

He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end, he only spat out a mouthful of black blood mixed with organ fragments.

Then, this powerful and loyal Knight Captain of the Judgment fell heavily to the ground, completely losing all signs of life.

Roko didn't look at Valerius's corpse.

After sending out that combined strike, he immediately cast his gaze in another direction.

Toward Bishop Marcus, who was attempting to fly away with the help of the holy relic.

"Martina!"

Roko used all his strength to let out a roar.

On the city wall, Martina seemed to have a telepathic connection with him.

At the same time Valerius was beheaded, her cold and decisive voice rang through the entire East Gate.

"Activate the special magic-breaking crossbow!"

"Target, that glowing old thing in the air!"

"Shoot him down!"

Several dwarf craftsmen who had been waiting immediately turned the winch skillfully, aiming a giant bed crossbow with a strange shape at Bishop Marcus in mid-air.

The crossbow bolt of this bed crossbow was different from all the others.

Its tip was not metal, but a strange crystal that appeared gray-black, engraved with dense,

energy-disrupting dwarf runes.

This was a killer weapon specially built for Vanguard Valley by the dwarves of the Stone Hammer Tribe according to ancient blueprints.

It had miraculous effects when used against enemies who were good at using magic and Battle Qi shields.

"Fire!"

Following Martina's order.

That special magic-breaking crossbow bolt turned into a gray-black stream of light, carrying a sharp whistle that tore through the air, and soared into the sky.

In mid-air, Bishop Marcus was fully driving the "First Saint's Tear," attempting to climb altitude as quickly as possible and escape the battlefield.

He had already seen Valerius's death, his heart filled with shock and anger, but more than that, fear.

He just wanted to leave this place, which was like hell, as quickly as possible.

He felt the energy fluctuation coming from below, but didn't pay much attention to it.

In his view, with the Holy Light shield of the "First Saint's Tear," the attacks from the ground couldn't possibly hurt him.

However, he was wrong.

Wrong to an outrageous degree.

The moment that gray-black magic-breaking crossbow bolt came into contact with the Holy Light shield around him, the dwarf runes on the tip suddenly lit up.

An invisible fluctuation spread out,

and Bishop Marcus's proud Holy Light shield, under the interference of this fluctuation, actually flickered violently like a punctured balloon, then shattered with a boom.

"What?"

Bishop Marcus was horrified.

Before he could react, that magic-breaking crossbow bolt slammed into his back heart.

"Pfft!"

Blood stained his gorgeous bishop's robe red.

The intense pain made him let out a shrill scream.

The Holy Light power in his body instantly became chaotic.

He could no longer maintain his flight state.

His whole body fell heavily toward the ground from a height of tens of meters.

"Boom!"

A muffled sound.

Bishop Marcus smashed a not-so-small pit in the ground, falling until he was dizzy and disoriented, not knowing how many bones he had broken.

The "First Saint's Tear" in his hand also slipped out and rolled to the side.

"Well done!"

Roko was overjoyed at the sight.

"Hart!"

"Yes, Master!"

Captain Hart, who had been waiting on the side, immediately led a team of Storm Knights, rushing toward the fallen Bishop Marcus like a tiger descending a mountain.

"No, don't come over..."

Bishop Marcus struggled, wanting to get up, but the intense pain coming from his whole body made it incomparably difficult for him to even move a finger.

He could only watch helplessly as those black devils surrounded him.

Cold sword blades were placed against his neck.

This arrogant, high-and-mighty Bishop of the Light Temple was now as wretched as a stray dog.

With the two highest commanders, one dead and one captured,

the last bit of resistance will of the Light Temple's "Purification Army" completely collapsed.

The remaining Temple Knights either knelt and surrendered or were chopped into meat paste by the angry military and civilians of Vanguard Valley.

A tragic and incomparable city-defense battle finally ended with the comprehensive victory of Vanguard Valley.

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled over this land soaked in blood.

The flag of Vanguard Valley still fluttered high on the city wall.

Roko walked to the "First Saint's Tear" that had rolled to the ground and bent down to pick it up.

The crystal felt warm and moist in his hand, and the majestic and pure Holy Light power inside was still flowing slowly.

【Ding! Special energy item "First Saint's Tear" detected, absorb?】

The system's prompt sounded in Roko's mind.

Roko didn't choose to absorb it immediately.

He carefully put this precious trophy into his Space Ring.

Then, his gaze turned toward the distance.

He knew that this victory didn't mean the end.

Quite the contrary.

This was just a beginning.

In the depths of a magnificent temple at the distant headquarters of the Light Temple.

On a soul altar specially used to monitor the vital signs of high-level clergy.

The two soul fires representing Bishop Marcus and Knight Captain Valerius suddenly flickered violently, then extinguished with a bang.

At the same time, the crystal ball in the center of the altar used to sense the location of holy relics also suddenly lost its light and became gray and dark.

The priest guarding the altar was scared out of his wits upon seeing this scene and rushed out of the temple, rolling and crawling.

Soon, a roar of extreme anger came from the deepest part of the temple, shaking the entire holy mountain.

"Who is it!"

"Who on earth! Dares to kill my bishop! Take away my holy relic!"

"Pass my order! Dispatch Temple Adjudicators! Investigate this matter thoroughly!"

"I don't care who he is, or which family he comes from!"

"I will turn him, and everything behind him, into ashes!"

At this moment, Vanguard Valley was still immersed in the joy of surviving a disaster.

They didn't know that they had already provoked a terrifying enemy.

The noise of the battle gradually subsided, and the afterglow of the setting sun dyed the entire battlefield a tragic dark red.

The air was filled with a thick smell of blood, mixed with the fishy smell of mud and the stench of burning, making people want to vomit.

Inside and outside the city wall of Vanguard Valley, there were broken corpses and broken weapons everywhere.

The cheers of victory, after a brief eruption, were soon replaced by suppressed crying and painful groans.

Roko stood at the gap in the city wall, looking at the messy scene in front of him, his heart not filled with much joy, only heaviness.

In this battle, although they won, the price was equally heavy.

Countless living lives had fallen forever on this land.

They used their flesh and blood to defend the dignity of their home. ===== CHAPTER 128 =====