Elysia and Old Hunter accompanied Leon, along with a twenty-man escort from the Falcon Warband specially assigned by his father, William.
The situation in Eldenborg was complex and entirely different from Soleneum, hiding significant dangers.
Moreover, Leon would not just be staying in the church; he would have to go out and handle various affairs in the Southern Border.
To ensure his safety, William had decisively dispatched these twenty warband warriors to guard him throughout the journey.
The ox-horse carriage turned several street corners, met up with Miles—who was also heading to the far south of the empire—and then drove out of the capital.
During the journey, Leon acted as if he were completely unaware that Grand Duke Grant had targeted him. He continued to close his eyes and meditate to enhance his mental power.
【Ding!】
【The Meditation While Walking technique resonates with Sacred Light Meditation, triggering the special effect of Sacred Light Meditation—Synergetic Meditation.】
【Synergetic Meditation: While performing Sacred Light Meditation, you can simultaneously practice the Meditation While Walking technique.】
“The resonance effect is average...”
Leon discovered that the effects of Divine Art Resonance varied depending on the divine arts involved, and even the order of the resonance could influence the outcome.
Resonating the Prayer technique with Sacred Light Meditation allowed Leon to gain the effect of Deep Meditation.
On the other hand, resonating the walking meditation with Sacred Light Meditation provided Synergetic Meditation, allowing him to practice the walking meditation while distracted by Sacred Light Meditation.
However, since he possessed the Prayer technique and could already perform dual meditation through it, this Synergetic Meditation was somewhat redundant.
“It seems it’s better to use the Prayer technique to resonate with Sacred Light Meditation...” Leon thought to himself.
There was a lot of room for development with Divine Art Resonance. Over the past two days, besides meditation, Leon had triggered several other resonance effects.
The Hammer of Sacred Light resonating with the Hand of Divine Art could enhance the lightning shock synergy of the Hand of Divine Art.
Conversely, the Hand of Divine Art resonating with the Hammer of Sacred Light could increase the weight of the sacred hammer, improving the impact of its strikes.
Leon currently possessed thirteen divine arts, meaning there were 156 possible resonance combinations in total.
At the thought of this number, Leon felt a surge of joy.
A single Divine Art Resonance allowed his original thirteen divine arts to trigger 156 different resonance effects. That was incredible!
Even if not all divine arts could resonate with each other, and even if not all resonance effects were powerful or useful, having just a few like Deep Meditation was already a massive gain.
Furthermore, as he mastered more and more divine arts, the possibilities for resonance would only increase.
The strengthening trait of Divine Art Resonance not only supplemented his current power but also invested in his future!
“Brilliant Flame and Sacred Light Roar, which were grouped with Divine Art Resonance, certainly wouldn’t have been weak either. The only pity is that I couldn’t just grab them all...”
Leon sighed with regret and returned to his meditation.
...
Half a day passed.
The ox-horse carriage was not slow, and Leon’s group had already passed through the capital's defensive pass.
The roads, originally paved with hard stone slabs, turned into a mix of dirt and stone once they left the pass.
The carriage no longer moved as smoothly as it had within the capital's boundaries.
Two more hours passed. Leon’s group was now far from the capital, heading toward the nearest small town.
Right at that moment.
Boom—!
A sound like a massive bell tolling across the heavens and earth exploded, and the entire ground shook with it.
The ox-horses pulling the carriage were startled by the terrifying noise, braying in panic and lunging in all directions.
If the guard driving the carriage hadn't been highly experienced and immediately covered the animals' eyes with black cloth, the ox-horses would have surely broken free and bolted.
Inside the carriage, Old Hunter was startled by the bell-like explosion, while Elysia quickly spat out the lollipop in her mouth. She drew the fire-steel dagger Leon had given her from her waist, instantly becoming alert.
Leon’s eyes flickered as he pulled open the glazed window of the carriage and looked outside.
He saw black clouds descending, like ink spilling across the sky, instantly swallowing all light and plunging the surrounding fields into a bottomless darkness.
“Hiss— Hiss—”
From above the clouds came a dense, overlapping sound of bone-chilling hissing. Leon focused his gaze. What kind of dark clouds were those in the sky?
They were a sky full of bats, forming a surging dark tide like a city-destroying shadow before a storm.
Before the swarm of bats, a single figure hung silently in the air.
He wore a black swallowtail tailcoat, with blood-red hair falling down and a face so pale it looked as if it had never seen sunlight.
He simply stood there, and even the wind seemed to hold its breath around him. Everything was silent, as if even the air dared not disturb him.
Looking at that iconic red hair and the crimson pupils characteristic of a vampire, Leon recognized his identity.
Grand Duke of the Blood Tribe from the Nightmare Empire, legendary arcane thief—Grant Barnes!
“Are you Leon?” High in the sky, Grand Duke Grant looked down, his gaze like one looking at an ant.
“Tell me what you want first, then I’ll tell you if I’m Leon,” Leon replied, his gaze not wavering in the slightest.
“Oh? You have some guts.”
Before his voice even faded, a playful curve appeared at the corner of Grant’s mouth.
Immediately after, a pressure belonging to the legendary rank rose majestically from him, pouring down toward Leon without reservation.
“Only—did your father never teach you what kind of reverence you should have when facing a legendary?”
The pressure, as heavy as a physical weight, suddenly bore down. The ox-horses pulling the carriage trembled, their legs nearly giving out.
Inside the carriage, Leon felt a mountain-like weight fall upon his head, forcing his back to bend and his head to drop involuntarily.
This was the power of a legendary.
Even without truly making a move, the mere release of his aura made it difficult for Leon, who was only a Silver priest, to face him directly.
But...
“Who the fuck do you think you are!”
Leon forced himself against the pressure, snapping his head up and straightening his spine, his eyes staring deathly at Grand Duke Grant in the sky.
“A dead bat who’s lived two hundred years too long, trying to suppress me with nothing but your legendary rank!”
“If I had been born a dozen years earlier, I would have ripped off that last remaining chicken wing of yours long ago!”
In the sky, Grant’s face darkened instantly, and the smile on his lips vanished.
He had originally appreciated Leon's talent and wanted to chat with this genius priest, let him leave some last words, and then send him to his death.
But now, he had changed his mind.
“Since you don’t even know how to respect a legendary, I have lost all interest in speaking with you.”
Grant raised a pale finger and pointed it at Leon from across the distance.
“You should just die right now.”
At his fingertip, a point of black-red light flickered eerily.
The moment the beam condensed, a terrifying power rippled out, twisting and collapsing the surrounding space.
Grant indifferently flicked his finger.
That beam of black-red light suddenly shot out like a blade tearing through the sky, traversing a thousand meters in an instant, aimed straight at Leon.
“Be... careful!”
Sensing the destructive power contained within that black-red beam, Elysia’s emerald eyes contracted rapidly. She threw her fire-steel dagger and lunged toward Leon.
Leon had only just managed to cast Sacred Light Shield and Hammer of Sacred Light when he was knocked over by Elysia’s headbutt. The two of them tumbled out of the carriage together, rolling several times on the ground before stopping.
However, the expected beam of destructive black-red light did not arrive.
Instead, before it could touch the carriage, it was firmly imprisoned an inch away, like an oil lamp sinking into a swamp.
Looking closely, one could see that in that one-inch space, a pale blue barrier had suddenly risen, blocking the destructive beam that even twisted space.
In the sky, the surging dark tide of bats was being rapidly dispersed by some power, and gentle sunlight began to spill down once more.
As the light fell, two figures appeared in the air from the left and right, flanking Grant in the center.
“As a Grand Duke of the Blood Tribe, to personally sneak into the Heron Empire’s territory just to assassinate a Silver priest... I feel embarrassed for you just watching this.”
On the left, a man wearing a magic robe encrusted with gems spoke slowly, his tone filled with unconcealed mockery.
“It’s been a long time, Grand Duke Grant.”
On the right, a cold-faced woman in gilded heavy armor spoke calmly, her gaze sharp as a blade directed at Grant in mid-air.
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