Pillar of Yita

The disparity in strength was indeed disheartening for Fang Hong, as the man in the grey robe easily sidestepped the ’Mirrorer’ and continued his charge towards the Magic Guided Conductor.

Luckily, Fang Hong hadn’t counted on the ’Mirrorer’ to accomplish much; he had already summoned the ’Military Governor III’—fortunately, both of these antique constructs were in stock at ’Silver Leaf and Purple Vine’, unlike the craftsmen who only supplied him with blueprints—and now, they proved useful.

Fang Hong activated ’Teleportation’, swapping places between the Military Governor III and the Mirrorer, bringing it beside the Magic Guided Conductor, then he commanded the former to activate the Overload Shield.

But it was at this moment—

The crystal on the Magic Guided Wand in the Magic Guided Conductor’s hand glowed, and an invisible force pushed the activating ’Military Governor III’ away, disrupting its startup. The man turned and grasped behind him, gathering that force in his hand, and actually managed to grab his charging enemy, suspending them midair.

Grip of the Giant, a Power System spell—

This thing, compared to the kind of spells Xiangzi used, was like comparing a witch doctor to a high sorcerer.

And it seemed that the Magic Guided Conductor hardly cared at all; he casually tossed the man, slamming him into the steps so hard his brains burst out.

It was only then that he looked at Fang Hong and said, ”Watch yourself.” Fang Hong turned around, only to discover with a start that, amidst the smoke, someone had managed to get close to him unnoticed, and the person’s concealment skills were so high that neither he nor Hilveld had detected them.

It must have been his earlier warning that made the men in grey realize the threat, prompting them to decide to deal with him, a comparatively weaker opponent, first.

Fang Hong’s reaction wasn’t slow, and he immediately sent his Energy Angel to meet the charge. The grey-robed person wielded a rapier, but after the clash of swords, the Energy Angel’s Balance was reduced by more than half, which gave Fang Hong a fright—there seemed to be too great a difference in Level.

The Energy Angel was an Agility System construct with not very high Durability to begin with, making the Evasion Value all the more critical, and Balance was tied to Evasion. After one hit, Fang Hong could only make it Blink backward in retreat.

But his mind remained cool, and he also had the Energy Angel activate a Magic Shield, knowing that once he retreated, the enemy would launch an aggressive assault.

It was indeed so, yet Fang Hong hadn’t expected that the enemy would disperse into a cloud of smoke to bypass his shield and strike—Shadow Dance, his mind exploded with the realization that this person was a Shadow Dancer.

And the strength of the Shadow Dancer was so much greater than his Energy Angel; just what Level was the enemy?

But by now it was too late to retreat, he could only watch the Shadow Dancer’s movements closely, trying to dodge vitals, to avoid a fatal strike. It was exactly at this moment, however, that a gunshot rang out—Hilveld had finally fired, hitting right where the smoke had settled.

The grey-robed man reacted swiftly, sidestepping to dodge both the flame and the bullet, but in doing so, he lost the opportunity to attack Fang Hong.

He seemed to realize the tide had turned and tried to disengage and pull back, but the Magic Guided Conductor had his spell ready. A ripple swept over, striking the grey-robed man as if he’d taken a punch to the face, sending him flying out the window, disappearing from view.

A few exchanges later, the plans of the grey-robed men were completely foiled, and they suffered losses. When the remaining five finally managed to escape from the Iron Golem’s offensive, they discovered that the Hall Guard Knights and Guards of the Temple of Knowledge had also arrived inside the hall.

Realizing they had no chance left, the men in grey didn’t care whether their fallen comrades were dead or alive; they turned and fled out the window. The Magic Guided Conductor didn’t seem inclined to give chase, merely pointing out to the knights, ”They’re cultists, block them, catch as many as you can!”

The Hall Guard Knights, by then clear on who was friend and who was foe, nodded to Fang Hong and the Magic Guided Conductor, then led the pursuit.

Only after the Magic Guided Conductor withdrew the barriers around the great hall did the monks and the Chosen seem to come back to their senses, still seemingly enthralled by the previous battle. The Bishop in charge of the sanctuary arrived late to find the scene in disarray, frowning at the sight.

But as a believer of Angina, he didn’t just leap to conclusions; he asked the others, ”What happened here?”

As someone on the sidelines, Fang Hong naturally turned his attention to the Magic Guided Conductor, but he also glanced at the man whose fate was unknown. Perhaps it was an illusion, but he thought he saw wisps of black smoke rising from beneath the man’s clothes, reminiscent of what he’d seen in the underground of the Black Holy City.

And the man’s body was withering away, as if being eroded.

Wasn’t that what happened to the minions of Dragon’s Claw, could this man be one of them? But he didn’t look the part.

”This man is connected to the events on Fenris Isle,” said the young Magic Guided Conductor at last, ”I’m here on orders from King Colin Ishurian and with dual authorization from Stargate Port to apprehend this man. Here is my mission credential, this man is tied to the Rain Listener Guild.”

Upon hearing this, Fang Hong turned his head, surprised; he hadn’t expected this matter to relate to him, that the man could be a high-ranking member of the Rain Listener Guild. But he didn’t seem like a Chosen.

With this thought, he couldn’t help but glance guiltily at the man a couple more times, but nothing struck him as out of the ordinary.

However, he was clearly not the main character here, so no one paid attention to his actions or expression. In fact, there were many more people in the room curiously looking at the unconscious man, only Hilveld exchanged a glance with him.