Chapter 252 : Chapter 252
Chapter 252. They’re Finally Here
Benedict looked at the scene before him and could not say a word.
He watched as his own chieftain, Stanley, together with the stone bricks beneath his feet, turned into a mass of fiery-red liquid that flowed across the ground while radiating a horrifying heat.
He no longer knew what to say or what to do. He could only stand there and watch it happen.
And it was not just him. The mercenaries at the side, as well as the people from the Church of the Goddess of the Currents, were all terrified by what they saw.
They had originally thought that today’s dispute was about whether the lord of Snow Bear Territory had truly received aid from the Alliance, but everything that had happened now had completely overturned their expectations.
They had never imagined that not even a second-tier professional stepping forward would be able to break through Fulan’s line of defense.
They had also never imagined that the issue stopping them would not be whether Fulan truly represented the Alliance, but whether they could break through Fulan’s defense at all.
Benedict took a deep breath and forced his mind to calm slightly. He looked at Fulan and at the large mass of red liquid beside her, his mind going blank.
At that moment, Fulan gave a small wave of her hand, and the fiery-red liquid let out a sizzling sound as if it had encountered something.
Then they witnessed another astonishing scene: all those things that had become red liquid changed back.
That included the stone bricks on the ground, as well as the corpse lying there, its face strikingly similar to that of their chieftain.
“Chieftain!” Several beastmen rushed forward recklessly and dragged their chieftain’s corpse back from behind. Then they placed their hands on Stanley’s body.
The wide-open eyes on Stanley’s face already explained everything. He was dead.
“Bring that corpse back.” Benedict’s voice trembled slightly, but even more than that, it carried the icy tone of an order.
That single sentence calmed those beastmen who had rushed forward. They glanced at Fulan, then dragged the corpse back with them.
Only after giving that order did Benedict recover a little of his usual state of mind when thinking things through. He began analyzing the situation before him.
He looked at Fulan and understood that she was no longer an obstacle that could be crossed lightly. She was a barrier that could only be removed if all of them joined forces.
But who would still dare to go up now?
If this had been earlier, Gillian might still have been stirred by him into going forward to fight Fulan, but now...
He looked at Gillian’s expression. Her face shifted uncertainly, her teeth clenched, and no one could tell what she was thinking.
For the moment, he gave up thinking about the present situation and instead began thinking about the future of his tribe.
Their chieftain was dead. That was no small matter for the entire tribe. There had long been many within the tribe watching that position with hungry eyes.
They were eyeing the chance to become second-tier. This was the beastman tribe’s special method: it allowed a first-tier professional to advance steadily to second tier, and only the chieftain had access to such an opportunity.
Now that the chieftain was dead, all kinds of voices would likely arise within the tribe. That might even include his own...
He looked at the utterly lifeless corpse of the chieftain, and at the beastmen beside it who looked as though they were about to cry.
Perhaps this was a bad thing for the beastman tribe, but for him personally, it was not entirely a bad thing.
However, even if he wanted to lead the tribe back now and fight for the position of chieftain, he could not.
That was because the beastman tribe had also signed a contract with the lord of White Dragon Harbor.
Only by fulfilling the basic terms of that contract could they safely return to where they had come from.
At the very least, they had to see that azure chest. Otherwise, they would suffer the punishment of the contract.
Benedict turned and glanced back, only to meet Patrick’s eyes. From the other man’s gaze, he could see both helplessness toward the situation and a desire to leave as quickly as possible.
He smiled at Patrick, and Patrick smiled back at him. That made him resolve to stand with the mercenaries as quickly as possible, find that chest, and get his tribe home as soon as they could.
On the side of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents, after witnessing that scene, all of the goddess’s followers shut their mouths and turned their eyes toward Bishop Gillian, hoping she could produce the right plan.
Gillian, meanwhile, was staring at Fulan and at the stone bricks, which had become somewhat uneven because of the spell Fulan had just used.
“I am very curious now about why she came here.”
She knew what Fulan’s current performance implied. Fulan possessed a powerful Spell Ring. Either she was extraordinarily gifted, or her background was exceptional.
And mages like that did not appear in the Northern Frontier. Or rather, they would never appear anywhere except on the Alliance’s sky islands.
Those mages valued true geniuses, believing that such people could push spells to an even higher level, and they extended the same favor to their own children.
The fact that Fulan had appeared here was itself the strangest thing of all, especially with her standing at the center of this entire incident.
Gillian folded her hands together, her fingers moving against one another without pause, then continued,
“Since a second-tier professional cannot break through this defense line, then I suppose a team led by a second-tier professional should be able to.”
“Capture her. Perhaps we can even exchange her with the Alliance for a ransom.”
At Gillian’s command, the forces of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents began to move.
Because she had made no preparations in advance for her followers today, the manpower they had gathered was still somewhat insufficient.
Gillian looked coldly at Fulan, her resolve already set. No matter what happened today, she would seize Fulan here and now.
The power Fulan had displayed had shocked her and far exceeded her expectations.
Now that the beastman chieftain was dead, the forces of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents should be the strongest side present.
“Bishop, we are ready.”
A priest spoke softly to Gillian, and she nodded, waving a hand to dismiss him.
What Gillian intended to use was the Church of the Goddess of the Currents’ unique Collective Prayer, which could gather the faithful together and unleash far greater power.
Under that Collective Prayer, her divine arts would be amplified to a degree far beyond that of a normal second-tier divine art.
Although it would still fall short of the third tier, the difference would only be that small final gap.
But just as she was about to activate the Collective Prayer, a shrill whistling sound reached her ears, accompanied by something like a burst.
She raised her head and looked to the south, only to see a group of tiny black dots appear in the sky and rapidly grow larger.
“They’re finally here.” Feeling the alert from the metal plate hidden beneath her robe, Fulan knew that the Battle Mage Corps was about to arrive.
Among the Alliance’s armed forces, there were naturally specialized mobile units. The Alliance had specially developed this kind of flying craft.
It was fast and easy to control, but its drawback was that using it consumed far too many gold coins.
At a critical moment like this, the Alliance naturally had to deploy such vehicles. Only with them could they cover in a few hours the distance that had taken Fulan five days on horseback.