Chapter 155: Trap

Four holy angels, one goblin airship.

"It's the Silver Knights! Run!" Nagelis shouted.

Lightning immediately dropped altitude and sprinted diagonally downward.

The region where Darkface City lies is patrolled by the Silver Knights, with goblin airships and holy angels constantly on duty; An Ge's group had the bad luck to run straight into them.

Lightning had just learned to walk on air and wasn't yet skilled; after running a stretch, he realized he couldn't outrun them and roared: "Fight them! Why run?"

The little angel let out an "Ow!" jumped upward, spun half a circle, and turned to face backward.

The little zombie gripped its ankle skillfully to keep it from being thrown off, and judging by the little angel's "Ow!", it probably meant: Hold on.

Facing one of the holy angels, the little angel spread its wings, and a beam of light flashed once.

Nagelis barely managed to cry: "Don't…"

One holy angel, struck by the light beam, melted away over half its body, smoking and spiraling downward.

After releasing the holy light, the little angel was dragged back by the little zombie, now seated backward-facing, showing off to An Ge: "Ow ow!"

"Good!" Lightning glanced back quickly, praised it, then turned to Nagelis: "What? You just want me to run? Fight them!"

Nagelis shot it an annoyed look: "You think only you know Holy Radiance? What if they do too?"

Whether Nagelis's jinx or the little angel's action had warned them, two of the other three holy angels suddenly halted.

Nagelis's heart sank—could it really be this unlucky? What you fear comes to pass? Floating in midair with no cover, if they unleashed Holy Radiance, they couldn't even dodge.

He slapped the unicorn blessing tokens he'd just swiped from Lightning's mother into the arms of the little zombie and the little angel.

"Don't I have one? Don't I have one? Give me one, give me one!" Lightning wailed in panic.

"You are a unicorn yourself!" Nagelis roared.

"Oh right, but even unicorns can't take Holy Radiance!!" Lightning wailed, leaping and twisting wildly, trying to make the holy angels lose lock on him.

Holy Radiance flared from the two halted holy angels.

An Ge leapt into the air, and a spectral shadow of Bone Lock erupted before him—then slammed into him—Ultimate Transformation.

An Ge, transformed into Bone Lock, spun and slashed down with a scythe—Boom!

The clash of energy exploded in blinding light, illuminating the entire sky; the beam was split in two—yes, split—split apart, lashing outward in two directions, creating a visual effect as if cleaved cleanly in half.

Then, An Ge was struck squarely by the second beam.

His purple-gold skeleton smoked, rolled backward through the air, flipped once, and landed back on Lightning's back; the searing bones burned so hot that Lightning shrieked in pain.

"Are you alright? An Ge, are you alright?" Nagelis twisted his neck, concerned.

An Ge's purple-gold bones gleamed brightly, hissing white smoke; residual holy light sparked faintly before fading—his Corpse of Mourning was utterly unharmed.

Less than ten seconds later, the purple-gold faded; An Ge returned to his original gray bones.

Nagelis exhaled in relief and hurriedly said: "Run, run! If the third holy angel can use Holy Radiance too, we're done for."

Their luck wasn't that bad—the third holy angel didn't use Holy Radiance, only kept chasing them relentlessly.

The goblin airship accelerated, drew near the two holy angels that had used Holy Radiance, and hauled them aboard.

Then it caught up to the third holy angel, which hadn't used Holy Radiance but still pursued An Ge's group; its bow-mounted crossbow fired a large net, ensnaring the angel and dragging it back.

Afterward, the goblin airship turned and flew away in another direction, abandoning the chase.

Lightning slowed to a stop; everyone watched the goblin airship vanish into the distance, hearts still pounding.

Though the scene was small, this ranked among the most dangerous encounters An Ge's group had faced since their debut—mainly because they were exposed in midair, and the enemy's Holy Radiance was devastatingly powerful; without Ultimate Transformation, they truly wouldn't have known what to do.

"If you hadn't had Ultimate Transformation, what would you have done?" Nagelis couldn't help asking—would you have pulled everyone into the Palace of Rest and taken the hit yourself, or used Lightning, your largest form, as a shield?

An Ge tilted his head, dragged a purple-gold skeleton missing its right arm from the Palace of Rest.

"Oh right, you could use Lock as a shield—clever!" Nagelis chuckled: Bone Lock, you've finally been turned into a shield.

But then he remembered—he himself had also been used as a shield, and a moving one at that—and his chuckle died.

"Why are there so many high-level holy angels who can use Holy Radiance? Last time you said when we met the Silver Knights, one of them could use it too—why so many? Only one high-level holy angel appeared when Heaven descended!" Lightning couldn't help asking.

Nagelis wasn't surprised: "If you had the chance to steal your boss's stuff, wouldn't you take the high-grade ones? Probably all the high-level holy angels have already been divided up by the Church's internal factions."

"Huh? Internal factions? Is Anthony one?" Lightning asked.

"Of course he is—he's one of the top two. You don't think he didn't grab his share? He's practically dismantling the Church right now." Nagelis sneered.

After a few quick topic shifts, the shock of the sudden ambush faded; Lightning asked: "Where to now? Still going down?"

An Ge shook his head: "Go back. Call for help."

Back at the oasis, he stuffed the Purple Bone Titans into the Palace of Rest, summoned the bone dragon, and waited until nightfall to silently fly back above Darkface City, hiding within the clouds.

"You think only you can ambush? We can too." Nagelis muttered.

Purple Bone held two spears, riding the bone dragon; Luo Ge stood on the dragon's head with twin blades; An Ge and the other three sat on Lightning's back, hidden quietly in the clouds.

Early the next morning, the routine patrol began again; Marcus, the goblin, piloted the airship as it slowly drifted through the clouds.

The goblin airship was merely a floating vehicle: a giant gasbag on top, with a cabin suspended beneath its center; though massive in size, its payload capacity was shockingly small.

This airship, fifty meters long and thirty wide, had a rated crew of twelve, one crossbow, two wind-element engines, and a front vortex array; at full speed, it reached three hundred kilometers per hour.

Normally, a patrol airship carried four holy angels and eight crew members; besides Marcus and his deputy, the rest had only one task—hold the holy angels.

Sigh, the whole thing was a tragedy. Yesterday's patrol lost one holy angel; luckily, they recovered the corpse, but it was badly damaged—needed extensive repairs before reuse.

The report was submitted; he expected reprimand—but none came. After describing the enemy's features, the higher-ups fell silent: no scolding, no reward—as if nothing had happened. The next day, they were ordered to resume patrols.

Marcus felt the higher-ups knew the enemy's origins.

Today, instead of the usual four holy angels, there were none—actually better, Marcus thought; these angels were useless and troublesome, once released they became wild dogs, impossible to rein in.

Every time he released a holy angel, he was terrified. What use did they even have?

Darkface City had been purged for centuries, yet never cleared; caravans kept coming and going, flying flags with special markings—meaning: Don't see me!

Marcus felt the Silver Knights and Darkface City had developed their own unspoken rules—these holy angels were unnecessary.

With this realization, Marcus ignored any irregularities; he simply did as ordered.

Another airship captain assigned with him didn't; he'd whispered secrets to Marcus, even vowed to report them—Marcus ignored him; soon after, that captain vanished.

Now, the Silver Knights had two goblin airships, but only Marcus's could fly; aboard was one human deputy, being trained to pilot the second airship—but he'd never graduated.

Marcus claimed humans were unsuited: their bodies didn't sense air pressure changes, making them prone to crashes. That was one reason—but more importantly, Marcus held back several secrets.

"Only a fool trains his deputy properly—what if he replaces me?" Marcus muttered.

At that moment, Marcus suddenly sensed a shift in airflow; he snapped his head up—he felt something flying overhead.

Due to their physiology, goblins were highly sensitive to air pressure and airflow; with minimal training, they could accurately sense changes—effectively built-in altimeters and barometers.

Goblin airships weren't just invented by goblins—ninety-eight percent were piloted by goblins.

Now, Marcus sensed airflow disturbance—something large flying above the airship.

But the giant gasbag blocked his view; he couldn't see what it was, yet his hand was already on the throttle—push it fully forward, and the wind engines would surge, leaving the enemy behind.

"Hey, over here." Marcus focused upward—then a voice came from the airship's left.

He turned—there, at the same altitude, was yesterday's unicorn, flying side by side; on its back, three "people" and a dragon, the dragon waving its tiny claws at him.

"Attack!" Marcus shouted, hand moving to push the throttle—but as he pressed, searing pain shot through his arm; a shadow blade lay across his wrist, cutting deeper the harder he pushed.

Luo Ge's form slowly materialized, his shadowy face with slits for eyes and mouth; the slit of his mouth curved upward in a smile:

"I thought I'd get two holy angels—none at all. Back when I was on the ground, enemies always chased me—turns out you were the one sabotaging them. Tell me: shall I cut you down now, or surrender first and then die?"

Marcus trembled: "Surrender… also die?"

"Oh, surrender first, then die—you get reincarnation. Get cut down directly? No. You'll be mind-scoured like them." Luo Ge gestured around; the crew lay sprawled, dead—when had they been killed?

Honestly, Luo Ge, a Lord-level Shadow Warrior, assassinating ordinary humans—just thinking of it made him feel insulted.

"If I die, no one pilots the airship—I'll lose my pressure and airflow sense. Do you want a dead goblin with no value?" Marcus trembled, yet spoke clearly and logically, leaving Luo Ge momentarily stunned.

"My lord!" Luo Ge couldn't decide—he handed it to Nagelis.

Nagelis told An Ge: "Don't come over." Then fluttered over and asked: "How do you guarantee your loyalty?"

"I can't guarantee it. I was severely injured; after healing, I must take Church-supplied medicine regularly to suppress it—otherwise, my whole body itches and rots. Forget it, just kill me." Perhaps recalling the agony of his condition, Marcus shuddered and accepted his fate.

"Uh… the medicine you mean… isn't this it?" Nagelis pulled out the Corrosion Scar remedy.

Luo Ge suddenly emerged from a crack in the deck: "Lord Nagelis, come take a look."

In the cabin, they saw a strange iron sphere, one meter in diameter, engraved with complex magical runes.

Nagelis looked—and his legs went weak: "Disintegration Array!?"

The runes etched on the sphere were unmistakably a magic crystal disintegration array—a device that instantly shattered a magic crystal and released all its energy; in short, a magic crystal bomb.

Nagelis lunged at the array, moved with dragon-like speed, deactivated it; the iron sphere split open with a clang, revealing a cluster of magic crystals inside—arranged in a way reminiscent of a Magic Egg Cannon's shell.

No wonder the airship carried no holy angels—it was a trap! Thank goodness I was cautious, sending Luo Ge, the Shadow Warrior, ahead to quietly eliminate everyone—if An Ge and the others had boarded, the array would've detonated and killed them all.

With the power of this disintegration array, even Bruce's true form might be blown in half.

Dragging Marcus down, he looked—and his face turned pale: "When was this brought aboard? When I reported yesterday? Was it the deputy? No wonder he kept delaying me, preventing me from inspecting inside—no wonder no holy angels boarded—no wonder…"

Nagelis slipped him the Corrosion Scar remedy and had An Ge perform a "miracle"; Marcus's curses echoed across the airship: "Church of Light, I %#+￥*! Silver Knights, I %#+￥*!"

Goblin airship +1.

At dusk, the goblin airship drifted slowly back to the Silver Knights' base; no one paid it any mind, no one intercepted it—even though today it flew unusually high, until it hovered directly above the base's high command and dropped an iron sphere.