“What?!”
“Three layers of shields?!”
The undead rogue and the undead priest cried out simultaneously in disbelief.
As they watched the divine art Bemis’s Protection block the attack, the joy on their faces instantly vanished, replaced by sheer horror—
Are you even human?!
To directly wrap himself in three layers of defensive divine arts during a standard battle?
Granted, at the Bronze and Silver Ranks, everyone was taught to conserve their transcendent power. Because Bronze and Silver Rank transcendents had mental power, mana, Battle Qi, and arcane power that were far inferior to those of the Gold Rank, making it very easy for them to completely deplete their energy in battle.
Even for Gold Rank transcendents, although their transcendent power had increased tremendously, they still couldn't afford to squander it recklessly. If a battle dragged on or intensified, they too would face the risk of completely exhausting their transcendent power and having to wait for it to recover.
Take the undead priest, for example. Under normal circumstances, he never cast any defensive divine arts. Only when Leon launched an attack at him would he swiftly manifest a defensive divine art in front of himself to block the damage.
This approach had its pros and cons. The benefit was naturally that it conserved mental power to maintain peak condition, preventing a situation where one lacked the mental power to cast high-tier divine arts later in the battle. The drawback, however, was that it required exceptional combat instincts and vigilance. Otherwise, if one failed to cast a defensive divine art before the enemy's attack landed, they could easily be gravely wounded and defeated.
Who among them hadn't fought? Who lacked sufficient combat experience? It was highly unlikely they would ever panic and fail to cast a defensive divine art in time.
Therefore, whether it was the undead priest, the undead rogue, or the necromancer who had just been incinerated by the Sacred Flame, they all adopted this reactive combat style—only defending when attacked.
After all, you couldn't just waste your resources on invulnerability skills and stalling when it was the enemy's turn to defend, could you?
Yet, Leon... he didn't give a damn about resource costs! Before the battle even began, he had directly layered three defensive divine arts over himself. This was why he could effortlessly tank the combined assault of the acid mist and icy flames without needing to hastily cast any defensive divine arts.
From the very start, the undead priest and the undead rogue had intended to unleash a fatal strike right off the bat. They wanted to make sure Leon would have absolutely no time to react and cast a defensive divine art! But Leon... had three defensive divine arts active as his default state! He didn't need reaction time to cast them at all!
“Isn't he worried about completely draining his mental power?!” The undead priest's face was incredibly grim, his mind filled with bewilderment.
However, to Leon...
Running out of mana?
Leon, who possessed a second mana bar and could regenerate his mana at every single moment, had absolutely no idea what "running out of mana" even meant.
Is running out of mana even a thing?
Shouldn't this mana bar thing recover instantly after taking a single breath?
“I don't get it.” Leon raised his priest's scepter. His mental power surged back into the scepter, instantly summoning back the shattered Sacred Light Shields and the Moonlight Cloak.
“To think your attacks actually broke through two layers of my shields... It seems my defensive power is still far from enough...” Leon reflected on his performance.
Even though he still had a layer of Bemis’s Protection intact. Even if Bemis’s Protection were to shatter, he still had a physical body reinforced by the Golden Body buff divine art, the Power of the Three Saints buff divine art, and the Leaf of the Kabbalah Tree of Life.
But...
My defense is indeed a weak point, Leon thought. His defensive divine arts weren't numerous enough, strong enough, or linked well enough! Once he returned, he would have to find Bishop Miles and ask for a few more defensive divine art scriptures.
“Thank you for helping me find my weakness,” Leon said, nodding sincerely at the undead priest and the undead rogue.
Unfortunately, the two undead generals did not appreciate his gratitude. Instead of accepting Leon's thanks, they flew into a rage as if they had been deeply humiliated.
“You bas—”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The resonant hum of a bowstring echoed high in the sky. Beside Leon, the blue-gold giant drew its bow to a full moon, firing several hammer arrows in rapid succession at the cursing undead priest.
One of the arrows was aimed dead center at the undead priest's mouth, forcing him to shut up and flee with everything he had.
But no matter how desperately the undead priest dodged and maneuvered the Corpse Dragon, the light hammer arrows of sacred light relentlessly pursued him, leaving him completely overwhelmed.
He frantically commanded his summoned corpses and undead to act as meat shields while simultaneously ordering the Corpse Dragon to counterattack the blue-gold giant summoned by the Hammer of Sacred Light. He was struggling immensely.
On the other side, while Leon ordered the blue-gold giant to keep the undead priest pinned down, he reached into his robes and pulled out a red-covered fairy tale book.
Rip!
With a sharp tear, a page was ripped from the Red Fairy Tale. The page rapidly transformed, turning into a two-meter-long glowing spear in Leon's hand.
Gold Rank • Bemis's Light Spear.
“Come and fight!”
With the light spear in hand and three layers of defensive divine arts active around him, Leon took a step forward, instantly closing the distance to the undead rogue. He swung the light spear violently, slamming it down like a bolt of lightning descending from the heavens.
Seeing this, the undead rogue flicked his fingers, instantly recalling the soul daggers to his hands. Twisting his waist, he channeled the full force of his skeletal frame to swing a dagger against the incoming light spear—
Boom!
In the next instant, the undead rogue's body was sent flying like a golf ball, tumbling a dozen times through the air before barely managing to stop himself.
Shaking his dizzy head, the undead rogue stared at Leon, who had just blasted him dozens of meters away with a single spear strike. His jaw dropped in disbelief.
“I... can't even overpower... a priest?”
As an arcane thief, although he wasn't as simple-minded and physically robust as a bloodline warrior, he still possessed a considerable amount of strength! How could he possibly lose in a contest of raw strength... to a priest?!
“You look surprised?”
Just as he was reeling from shock, Leon's voice echoed directly in front of him once more.
The soul fire in the undead rogue's eye sockets flared up violently. Refusing to back down, he lunged forward again, pouring his arcane power into his entire body. His soul daggers, trailing icy flames, stabbed viciously toward Leon—
Boom!
In the next second, his body was sent flying backward like a punching bag once again.
Leon held his pure white light spear, a pristine white glow shining in his eyes, as he looked calmly at the undead rogue.
The Power of the Three Saints, the Golden Body, Close-Range Enhancement, and the physical reinforcement from the Kabbalah Tree of Life—all of these combined allowed him to easily hold his own in close combat against a peak Gold Rank arcane thief, without showing the slightest hint of being disadvantaged!
Furthermore, his close-combat arsenal was far from limited to this!
A Wind-Whisper Heavy Cannon ring materialized beside him, and he vanished from the spot along with it.
“Over here!”
The undead rogue whipped around, thrusting his soul daggers, wrapped in freezing icy flames, toward his rear.
But before he could even touch his target, his movements suddenly slowed down, as if his speed had been halved—
Triple Speed Debuff!
A Gold-rank slowing divine art had already landed on him, making his every move feel as if he were trapped in a swamp.
Right at that moment, the holy light spear in Leon's hand, the fully charged Wind-Whisper Heavy Cannon beside him, and another dim, brown beam erupted simultaneously!
The beam from the Petrification Curse was the first to hit. The moment it pierced the undead rogue's body, a layer of gray stone instantly spread across him, completely freezing his already sluggish movements and turning him into a stone statue.
Immediately after, the compressed airflow from the Wind-Whisper Heavy Cannon ring shot forward with a sharp shriek, piercing straight through the undead rogue's petrified chest.
The final blow came from the light spear, blazing like the morning sun. Swung with all of Leon's might, it traced a pure white arc through the air and pierced directly into the undead rogue's skull!
Crack!
The skull shattered, and the flickering soul fire within was completely extinguished by the surging Sacred Light.
The undead rogue was dead!
Rate on N.U.
