Chapter 522: Is This Dead Skull Just Teasing People?

From the sorcerer Radiad, Anthony noticed that these sorcerers of the Alliance all had some degree of arrogance; upon closer analysis, he found they had simply lived too easily.

They had been driven off the ground by the Undead King's overwhelming numbers of undead, but they didn't feel defeated—only that you had more people.

Living atop the Starburst Array had already placed them beyond defeat, leaving them without any sense of crisis; combined with the Array's invincibility, it gave them a feeling of omnipotence.

Thus, aside from the Undead King, they feared no one, and ultimately cultivated this arrogant mindset—even knowing it was the God of Life, Radiad still dared to stroll up boldly.

In truth, even if Feti hadn't acted, Radiad couldn't have harmed the God of Life; not to mention that its true body now rested on Anthony's shoulder, even the branches of the Life God's pool were beyond Radiad's power to destroy.

But now, Hayden, fully aware that they were the Pope and Archangel from the Divine Realm, still treated them this way—beyond arrogance, there was a more important reason: this world's Church of Light was pathetically weak.

There was no god at all, only two Archbishops left—Archbishops who couldn't wield divine will were worse than ordinary mages; they were just charlatans.

And Hayden happened to know one of them personally, aware of his strength, so naturally he paid even less heed to the higher-ranked Pope.

Even if the Pope were ten times stronger than the Archbishop, what difference would it make?

Unfortunately, he didn't know that Anthony, this Pope, was protected by a god—and that very god stood right beside him, now having extended a mental tendril to stick to him, which was awkward.

Hayden first froze, surprised: "Leishina's mental tendril?" No sooner had the words left his mouth than a tremendous force surged, dragging him forward and slamming him against the ground repeatedly.

On the first impact, Hayden's form exploded apart, dissolving into a cloud of smoke.

Anthony's mental tentacles, once four, split into countless filaments, then whipped violently—stripping a layer from Hayden's smoke.

Hayden grunted, panicked, and dove desperately toward the floor.

Losing a layer of smoke was equivalent to severing a large chunk of his form; though not painful, the loss of form was devastating—if torn a few more times, he'd be reduced to nothing but a soul.

How could mental tendrils be used like this? Leishina's mental tendril was only one strand—once stuck, it could only pull off a tiny bit of form. No, something was wrong, something was wrong!

Thud—Hayden slammed headfirst into the floor; his smoke couldn't penetrate it.

He snapped back to awareness and saw Anthony shimmering with divine light, a beam of light connecting him to Anthony—the Shield of Protection.

"This Shield of Protection is incredible—everyone else uses it to defend, but he uses it to grab people. This is way too practical," Negril grumbled.

Who could have imagined that the most practical use of the Shield of Protection wasn't protection at all, but capturing targets? The Shield of Protection, self-governed by its own law, was a divine technique: upon activation, it formed a barrier while simultaneously pulling the user toward the target.

Once formed, anyone outside wishing to attack inside must first shatter the barrier—not some ordinary protective spell or magic shield, but a true barrier. This level of defense could only be broken by someone like Locke, a freak, and even then, only after the barrier had been weakened by the Breath of Rest.

Granted, the Shield of Protection wasn't as thick as those of the Holy Heavenly Realm, nor as thick as those of the Prime Material Plane—but it was still a barrier. Its greatest flaw was that while active, nothing outside could attack inside, and nothing inside could attack outside.