Chapter 308
Chapter 308. Great Battle (Part 1)
Matthew looked sideways at the Emissary who had just joined the group. From the fluctuation on the other party’s body, he could tell that this was the person he was looking for.
Matthew’s hand trembled unconsciously again. He was very afraid that he would fail to complete the task his god had given him.
Originally, he had not been an Emissary. Or rather, even ten minutes before this trial began, he had not been the Emissary of the god he worshiped.
When the god he worshiped—the Backwards Head Dragon Venerable, the god once worshiped in Monsa—found him, he had still been hoeing the fields.
Because in the fragment where he lived, he was merely a small First-Tier Professional. There were more than twenty First-Tier Professionals like him, and even five Second-Tier Professionals.
He did not understand why the god had skipped over all those people and chosen him. If a choice had to be made, should it not have been someone of a higher tier?
But since the matter had already happened, he could only accept this task.
“His Emissary has also entered this trial. I am very curious what He is trying to do. Clearly, He could have pretended that nothing had happened, and even if He did not send His own Emissary, there would have been no problem.”
“But He still did it. In fact, before the trial even began, His Emissary was already waiting inside the Sun Domain.”
“I am very curious about His purpose. Could He be trying to use this to build a good relationship with us, which is why He joined this trial? I do not believe that.”
“If He dared to directly rob the Emerald Market, then He would not have any thought of building a good relationship with us. After all, the Emerald Market sends us gods a few small gifts every year.”
“I have spoken a little too much. After you enter, your main purpose is not to kill those trial participants, but to find the Emissary carrying the relevant fluctuation.”
“Use every method you can think of to mark the other party’s body, weapon, or equipment. Remember, do not let the other party discover it.”
“After you carve the mark, I will properly pay a visit to this Emissary after the trial ends, if she has not yet descended from the Spirit Realm by then.”
“Of course, if the situation goes wrong, you must also do everything you can to prevent those trial participants from passing this trial.”
Matthew touched the tail behind him with his hand. That was where the mark was carved, which was why he had hidden his tail beneath his cloak.
He looked toward Fulan. All he could see on her entire body was a white robe.
“Should I carve this mark on her back? No. The other Emissaries will definitely remind her if something suddenly appears on her back.”
“On her weapon? That will not work either. She often turns and touches that weapon instead of hanging it on her back. If I carve it directly onto the weapon, it will definitely be discovered.”
Matthew walked forward with the four-person group. After thinking it over again and again, he still could not come up with any good method, and his palms were almost damp with sweat.
At that moment, he noticed something very strange. Fulan had been moving closer and closer to Harrison, who was flying in the sky. She was almost directly beneath Harrison now.
Cyril seemed to be chatting quite well with Fulan as well, and he had unknowingly moved closer to Fulan.
As a result, those three seemed to be walking beside one another, while Matthew alone had pulled away from the other three.
“The attack on the Emerald Market last time truly surprised me. I never expected an ability that could bypass Spirit Realm Protection to exist. I thought there was nothing in the world that could break through the Spirit Realm’s power.”
“I think there are many things that can break through the Spirit Realm’s power. For example, the power of gods, or Aether, and also...”
“You have reminded me of something. I forgot that divine power can contend with the Spirit Realm. It is just that whether the things you mentioned actually exist is uncertain.”
Cyril was full of excitement, as though he had finally found a companion who could chat with him.
He greatly admired this new Emissary’s insight. Just as the other party had said, although he had never seen a god interfere with the Spirit Realm, many minor records contained matters of gods contending against the Spirit Realm.
This made him pat his head. As an Emissary of a god, he had actually failed to think of this aspect.
As for the things Fulan mentioned afterward, he did not quite agree with them. Aside from the first one, “Aether,” he had never even heard of the rest.
In truth, the things Fulan mentioned afterward were some of the studies regarding the Spirit Realm that she had seen within the Northern Society.
Those mages had researched quite a few things with wondrous effects on the Spirit Realm, though their use was extremely demanding.
It was perfectly normal that Cyril did not know about these things. After all, the Alliance’s internal safeguards against mages were already quite effective, and it was even harder for an outsider like Cyril to learn of such matters.
“Aether is nothing more than the delusion of those alchemists. How could such a thing exist? And I have never heard of the things you mentioned afterward...”
Although Cyril did not agree with Fulan’s ideas, he was still happy that someone was willing to chat with him at a time like this.
After all, before this, when he was with the two dragonkind brothers, he had practically been the only one talking.
Cyril was still immersed in his discussion with Fulan and did not notice Fulan’s small movements at all, nor did he notice the changes in their positions.
The only abnormal point Cyril noticed about Fulan was probably the decorations on her body and some of the inscriptions on her weapon.
After walking for some distance, Cyril finally realized that the robe on Fulan’s body seemed to be a mage robe, but he had never seen this style or the patterns on it before.
As for the club Fulan held in her hand, it had patterns unique to various faiths for strengthening spells, as well as inscriptions that Alliance mages specifically used to enhance spellcasting.
There was even a strange fluctuation he could sense on this weapon...
However, he first suppressed these curiosities in his heart and continued discussing the earlier topic with Fulan. He planned to ask about these things later.
Fulan casually responded to Cyril a couple of times, then looked up to the side out of the corner of her eye. That was where Harrison was.
After Fulan joined them, Harrison had relaxed. His mind was now completely empty, and he had not let even half a word of Cyril and Fulan’s conversation enter his head.
After judging carefully, Fulan believed the timing was right. It had to be now. She was certain that this one who could fly was definitely the fast-moving Emissary.
She slightly gathered Sunflame, ready to attach it to her weapon at any time. But she did not place all her hopes on Sunflame’s attack landing in one strike.
Her other hand, the one not holding the weapon, was secretly guiding a spell, while the rhombus crystal at her waist became slightly hot.
She was using Aether to guide her Second-Tier Spell, [Heart of Quicksand].
This was another wondrous use of Aether that she had discovered: when Aether slowly replaced the Mental Power consumed to guide a spell, the spell fluctuation became extremely difficult to detect.
The moment she joined this small group, she had already begun guiding the spell. Her conversation with Cyril along the way had been to delay time and prevent them from discovering her movements.
When the Aether in Fulan’s hand had fully replaced her Mental Power and had even slightly strengthened the spell’s effect, Fulan believed the time had come.
“About three hundred years ago, there was a famous alchemist who tried to search for Aether...”
Just as Cyril was explaining to Fulan the relevant history of predecessors exploring the existence of Aether, he suddenly caught sight of red light rising from Fulan’s bat.
This made Cyril freeze. He did not understand what Fulan was doing at all. Was making her bat glow fun?
But immediately afterward, he saw that red light fly upward, charging straight toward Harrison in the sky.
Only then did Cyril recognize it. Was this not a Sunflame technique? The main targets they needed to strike down in this trial were precisely those trial participants who knew Sunflame techniques.
But Cyril failed to react. Or rather, his reaction speed was not enough to let him immediately warn Harrison. He could only watch helplessly as the red light smashed toward Harrison’s head.
Fulan leapt high into the air. The moment she rose slightly above Harrison’s height, she instantly used [Heavenly Sky Strike].
This Combat Technique mobilized the strength of her entire body, allowing Fulan to smash the red bat toward Harrison at a speed far greater than what gravity alone could produce.
“Careful, dodge quickly.”
At the critical moment, a warning originating from bloodline rang out. This was a unique information-transmission method of dragonkind.
If he had used sound to warn him at that moment, then before the sound reached Harrison’s ears, Harrison’s head would already have been smashed into pulp by Fulan.
Judging from Harrison’s previous behavior, he was clearly not a particularly intelligent person. However, since he could become an Emissary, he was naturally outstanding in another direction.
Relying on his extraordinary battle intuition, Harrison immediately detected the change in airflow and sound caused by an object rapidly cutting through the air behind him. He predicted the weapon’s attack direction.
But by then, it was still somewhat too late. He could only rely on his extraordinary bodily flexibility to fling his head to the side and make his body sway rapidly, causing the bat to smash into his back.
This was Harrison’s habit. The faith of the Sky Dragon had not only granted him powerful flight ability, but had also given him a defensive ability akin to steel.
In the past, he would make attacks deviate from his head, because although attacks were difficult to use to injure him, powerful kinetic force would still cause side effects such as dizziness.
So when dodging attacks, he tended to use the strongest defensive part of his body, the wings on his back, to block them.
But he had absolutely not expected that what was attacking him was a Sunflame technique. Otherwise, he definitely would have chosen to sacrifice one hand in exchange for dodging the attack.
“Ah!!”
After the red light smashed down, it almost melted his shoulder and back. It directly melted the root of one dragon wing, while the other was left barely connected.
The sharp pain from his back made him subconsciously activate his ability and fly forward at tremendous speed. His flight ability did not rely on the dragon wings behind him. They were merely a symbol.
Although cutting off the dragon wings would weaken his flight ability, he did not rely on the physical flapping of those wings to fly.
As he flew away, a flash of viciousness crossed his eyes. No matter who it was, he would make the person who had attacked him pay the price.
He almost instantly turned around in the air, wanting to drive his flight ability again and launch an attack in the opposite direction.
Yet he did not see the person who had attacked him. He saw only a sheet of yellow sand covering the Sky-Screen.