Chapter 2580: The Church Ring-Warlocks in the Sea of Fire

The Church Ring-Warlocks in the sea of fire naturally noticed Father François being captured. They attempted to rush over to save him while he was being "cursed," but they had to find a way to extinguish the towering flames first.

Xia De acted quickly. After obtaining the sin and confirming that "Miss Owl" had wiped those key memories, he tossed the unconscious old man onto the scorched, hot ground.

He raised his hand to stop the Ring-Warlocks, who were parting the sea of fire to approach him, from moving any further. Then, he took out the "Time-Sharing Potion" contained in the box and threw it onto the old man:

"Interrogate him in a while; you will likely make some very peculiar discoveries. Oh, so you are Ring-Warlocks from the Dawn Church and the Sun Church. Remember, do not let the Creation Church, to which this priest belongs, nor the local ancient Nature Church be the first to interrogate him."

The two high-ranking Ring-Warlocks leading the team were at the eleventh and tenth rings, respectively; it was impossible for such a small place to have a thirteenth-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi stationed there.

Consequently, the eleventh-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, whose body was visibly shimmering with the radiance of the sun, asked sternly:

"Is he a member of the Creation Church? You know the consequences of attacking Church clergy, don't you?"

Xia De appeared indifferent:

"What, you don't intend to make me go to the church with you to give a statement, do you?"

The remaining members went to extinguish the fire, while the two high-ranking, one eighth-ring, and two seventh-ring Warlocks stepped into the clearing surrounded by the sea of fire. Judging by the size of the Vista Parish, these two mixed squads were likely the local elite.

Miss Owl was somewhat uneasy, while Xia De stared at his "opponents" and smiled, reaching out to soothe her.

"Sir, I can guarantee that if this matter can be explained, you will not be harmed, and you have the right to defend yourself. Please come with us to the church. Both the Dawn Church and the Sun Church are fine."

The brown-haired Sun Church Ring-Ringed Ringed Shushi continued, but Xia De shook his head:

"Sorry, I have a date with some young ladies, so no one can keep me here today."

"Do it!"

Wary of the devastating and terrifying Black Moon sorcery from just a moment ago, none of the five dared to engage Xia De in close-quarters combat, choosing instead to use long-range attacks with great tacit understanding.

The eleventh-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi's Sun Spear exploded with golden thunder, while the tenth-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Dawn Church fired a decomposition ray made of light.

The three mid-ring Warlocks also had their own unique skills: Sorcery - 【Frozen Aurora】, Sorcery - 【Forest Illusion】, and Sorcery - 【Five Senses Stripping】. The five sorceries reached Xia De almost the second they were cast, and then, to the shock of everyone present, golden sunlight erupted from around him.

As his left hand restored the toy Dragon Scale Sword to a silver longsword and his right hand formed a dharma seal, an expanding golden shield radiating flowing light enveloped Xia De, blocking the five's first wave of attacks head-on.

"How is this possible? Our Church's Seaton Dharma Seal!"

In truth, Xia De's current sorcery was still quite different from the genuine 【Seaton Dharma Seal】, but at least the essence remained unchanged.

This was not the end. The moment the five sorceries hit the dharma seal shield, with a 'Bang~' sound, the seal shattered. The rebounding golden light forced the shocked five to hurriedly dodge or summon shields for defense. Of course, the illusion 【Forest Illusion】 and the curse 【Five Senses Stripping】 were not blocked, but Xia De had sufficient resistance, so it was not a big problem.

So, amidst the explosion of brilliant golden sunlight, Xia De, at the center of the blast, raised the longsword in his hand toward the sky and let out a roar—

Boom—!

That dragon roar made all the feathers on the owl on his shoulder stand up, while the five Church members and the other Ring-Warlocks who hadn't heard a dragon roar before felt their scalps tingle. Large numbers of animals were fleeing the forest, and the sunlight seemed to fall straight toward the center of the explosion's smoke at the sound of that roar.

The five were not injured by the rebound damage of the Seaton Dharma Seal, but in the dust after the seal burst, they all saw the man holding a glowing golden greatsword walking slowly toward them.

Although "Dragon Language Spell - Sword of Light" was replaced by "Dragon Language Spell - Teacher Save Me" in the later stages of the Moon Bay battle, Xia De had recorded it once more, so he could still use it at this moment.

The magnificent greatsword appeared as a translucent golden color, with ancient runes engraved in strings within the blade. The scorching light, following the appearance of that sword, made the air in the clearing at the center of the sea of fire even more scorched.

"Sunlight Greatsword... is this one of yours?"

The tenth-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Dawn Church, seeing this scene clearly, subconsciously looked at his companions this time. The brown-haired eleventh-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Sun Church, whom he was staring at, found it even harder to accept such a reality.

He took a deep breath to calm his mood, trying hard to find flaws to convince himself that the power used by the stranger was just another sorcery with similar effects. However, although the greatsword in the opponent's hand did indeed have differences from the "Sunlight Greatsword" he knew, it was also the genuine power of the sun:

"I don't know him, and his methods don't seem like ours... Sir, are you really unwilling to go to the church with us to talk?"

Seeing Xia De, who was carrying the greatsword, still advancing toward them, the five, harboring different moods, braced themselves to meet him. But Xia De did not swing his sword and instead raised his left hand:

"Fire!"

The fire in the surrounding forest immediately turned into a wall of fire, blocking them from Xia De. But then, the tenth-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Dawn Church, holding a longsword made of ice-blue flowing water, temporarily split the wall of fire.

The ice-blue longsword, which was nearly a spiritual weapon, slashed toward Xia De, only to be blocked by that Sunlight Greatsword. Under the sun's radiance, the longsword in the opponent's hand melted rapidly, and as the phantom of a red dragon flashed behind Xia De, he used only his physical strength to knock the tenth-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi back with a punch.

The scorching fire flow followed the hilt toward the glowing greatsword. The owl, suddenly feeling the heat, then saw Xia De raise the greatsword and swing it crosswise toward the front. Thus, the crossed firelight formed by the flame-colored sword marks forced the three mid-ring Warlocks, who had broken through the wall of fire separately, to retreat with just the residual heat, while the eleventh-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Sun Church deployed the Seaton Dharma Seal to block the final power of those two crossed flame sword beams.

The dharma seal shield and the power of the First Flame canceled each other out. The golden light formed by the voluntarily shattered shield counterattacked Xia De, but silver thunder broke through the light at this moment and struck the chest of the eleventh-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, forcing the four in front to retreat together.

In fact, if the five had not been intimidated by the "Black Moon Mark" at the beginning, and then voluntarily stepped into the sea of fire that could be considered Xia De's home field, and hesitated and feared because they saw many divine arts suspected to be from the Sun Church, it would have been difficult for Xia De to defeat them.

But at this moment, there were no 'ifs'; the battle had entered its final stage.

The tenth-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Dawn Church, who had just been knocked back, reached out his hands toward Xia De from the side. This sorcery of manipulating shadows had no effect at all, instead provoking Xia De to throw two shadow balls at him.

He did not dare to take them head-on and summoned the ice-blue water sword again to split the shadow balls.

"Lagley's Leap!"

The next second, Xia De arrived in front of him. Without attacking, he directly grabbed the ice-blue longsword with his hand. The water-style longsword rustled and froze. In the last second before the explosion, the devout Church monk heard the name of the sorcery—

"Passionate Frost!"

After a loud 'Boom~' sound, a huge mushroom-shaped dust cloud rose from the center of the forest, and the huge wind pressure generated by the explosion even suppressed the fire in the surrounding forest.

The disheveled few were actually not injured in this explosion, and when they went to look for their opponent again, what they saw was the young man "flying" in the air, no longer holding the Sunlight Greatsword—it was still the owl on his shoulder grabbing him and flapping its wings desperately.

He opened his arms toward the sun—this time it was a true praise to the sun—and then his hands closed and clasped together above his head.

'Ding-dang~' A sound like a bell appeared in the wind, and then the disheveled people all saw the light symbolizing the power of the sun gather in his hands. The jumping golden thunder exploded, and the sacred golden light formed the body of a spear, until it gathered into that most famous divine art of the Sun Church—

"Sorcery - Sunlight Spear!"

Xia De certainly did not know the Sunlight Spear; this was still a sorcery performed using the "Sunlight Spear Brooch" given by Iluna. The eighteen-year-old girl would make new alchemical items for Xia De every time she rose a ring, and there were quite a few brooches on Xia De.

At this moment, it was as if the sun was truly held in his hands, and the people on the ground truly felt the danger of this move.

And after the thunder finally exploded, that infinitely powerful Sunlight Spear was only thrown into the sea of fire. Although the jumping golden thunder didn't know how many trees it had knocked down, at least the fire on the east side was truly suppressed.

The Church members took this as the stranger's final warning to them, and then they watched the other party fly toward the deeper part of the forest in a very awkward posture, and then disappear into the air in the blink of an eye.

That was using "Lagley's Leap" to return to the ground in the dense forest with the owl.

The five stood on the scorched clearing and were silent together for more than ten seconds.

"Howard, he uses the Sunlight Spear better than I do."

Seeing that everyone from the Dawn Church was looking at him, the brown-haired eleventh-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi said dejectedly:

"I know what you are thinking, but I have never heard that any high-ranking Ringed Ringed Shushi among us has betrayed us in the last fifty years."

"Then the answer can only be here."

The tenth-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Dawn Church looked at the person lying in the center of the scorched clearing, and the group quickly gathered around.

"This is not a person from this parish... If he is really a member of the Creation Church clergy, according to the regulations, we should hand him over to the Creation Church. We have no right to interrogate the clergy of other churches."

The Sun Church Ringed Ringed Shushi said, while the tenth-ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Dawn Church, known as "Howard," shook his head:

"Ken, how can we easily believe the words of the person just now? He said this is a priest of the Creation Church, so is it?"

"You mean..."

"So we still have to interrogate him first. Yes, interrogate him right here, and then decide what to do next. I have a premonition that something big is about to happen here."