The charging Caiman fiercely swung his blade.
Sword Qi, like a beam of silver light, soared into the sky, sliced through the night, and crashed into the earth.
Simultaneously, the holy staff raised by Claude fired a golden spear.
"Fourth-rank Holy Light spell: Spear of Condemnation."
Like the previous holy light spell.
The Spear of Condemnation only took effect on those the caster deemed sinful.
Thus, the Spear of Condemnation completely ignored Caiman, flying toward Zeno alongside Caiman's attack.
As Zeno raised her hand, a Leaf-Shaped Shield instantly appeared.
That mana—there was no doubt.
Another magical artifact!
The attack was blocked in an instant, and the shield subsequently shattered and vanished.
Zeno took the opportunity to activate her ability.
Several dead mages were instantly drained into withered corpses; the immense vitality refilled Zeno with power.
In an instant, countless vines erupted like an explosion, growing continuously in the air.
Like an erupting volcano, they surged frantically from the ground, filling the entire street and crushing buildings one after another.
Two swordsmen who failed to escape were instantly crushed into pulp, becoming nourishment for the vines' continued rapid growth.
This was the power of Zeno's full outburst.
She possessed the destructive capability to alter an entire environment.
Facing the thick vines pressing down on him, Caiman rapidly swung his longsword, shredding them one by one.
In the air, Claude and Elsa continuously bombarded the rapidly growing vines with holy light.
Zeno did not linger; as she landed, her body instantly merged into the earth, fleeing at high speed.
"Don't you dare think of leaving!!"
How could Claude just watch Zeno leave? He flew through the air, giving chase.
Zeno quickly manipulated the countless vines that were still growing rapidly.
The vines twisted toward the sky, coiling toward Claude in the air like a swarm of tentacles.
Claude quickly waved his silver staff, his golden holy light slashes shredding the approaching vines.
Seizing an opening, he raised his silver staff and aimed it at Zeno.
"Fourth-rank Holy Light spell: Spear of Condemnation!"
The previous attack was blocked by a magical artifact, so what about this one!
The golden spear pierced through the air, locking onto Zeno like a falling star.
Underground, Zeno used Clairvoyance to quickly lock onto the golden holy spear shooting down from the surface.
Countless wooden layers rose from the ground, hardening rapidly to block the way.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The golden spear rapidly pierced through the hardened wooden layers one by one, stabbing into the ground with unstoppable force and impaling Zeno's chest.
Holy light lingered in the wound, hindering Zeno's self-regeneration.
Tongmu.
Eye of Life.
Remotely observing the battlefield, Tongmu quickly activated its ability, injecting vitality into Zeno's body.
Her damaged body recovered at extreme speed, and Zeno took the chance to activate her ability again.
Thick wood spikes pierced through the ground, spinning as they locked onto Claude in the air.
Swish!
The wood spikes were incredibly sharp, like metal; they erupted from the ground, tearing through the air and leaving a trail behind as they impaled toward Claude.
Claude quickly deployed a defensive holy light spell, narrowly blocking the attack; by now, his holy light was more than half depleted.
This won't do; the Holy Light Tracking is about to fade!
I can't let her escape, I absolutely cannot!
He felt desperate, yet the terrifying vines below continued to spread and grow.
What on earth is this monster!
The wooden debris from the shattered spikes in the air now acted as countless seeds.
These seeds grew rapidly, attempting to imprison Claude in mid-air.
Claude raised his silver staff, summoning holy flames to burn the wood chips to ash.
I have to risk it all.
He took out a scroll and unfurled it without hesitation.
Elsa looked over in shock and uncertainty—that was a forbidden scroll!
What exactly did this Claude lose? Is he really going to throw his life away!
Unfurling the scroll, Claude forcefully pierced it with his silver staff.
The holy sigil expanded in the air along with the pierced scroll.
Claude's vitality rapidly flowed into the scroll.
At that moment, the massive holy sigil illuminated the entire town as if it were broad daylight.
Holy light, like an inverted volcano in the sky, erupted in a blinding torrent of flames, pouring downward.
The frantically growing vines on the ground melted away rapidly; even their terrifying growth rate could not withstand the holy flames at this moment.
A moment later, they were completely burned to ash by the holy flames.
Claude turned his wand, aiming at the now faint trace of the Holy Light Tracking.
The torrent of fire tore through the night sky, incinerating everything in its path.
The Leaf-Shaped Shield's uses were exhausted.
At this point, it seemed Zeno had no way to turn the tide.
No.
Zeno surged out of the ground, and a vine broke through the earth as well, curling around a fruit and handing it to Zeno.
Zeno's offensive power was actually not particularly outstanding.
What was truly terrifying about her was her powerful survivability and control.
This was Dalun Li's original intention when creating Zeno, and it was her strongest ability as a guardian.
The Life-Extinguishing Vine could grow without limit, absorbing and destroying all the vitality of an entire environment, and upon death, it would condense into a fruit.
Zeno inherited this ability.
The previous vines were an ability similar to the Life-Extinguishing Vine.
And the fruit at this moment was precisely the one formed from all the vitality absorbed after the Life-Extinguishing Vine's death.
She raised the Eternal Imprisonment Sword-Shield, aimed it at the incoming torrent of holy fire, crushed the fruit, and absorbed it directly.
Boom!
The flames instantly engulfed her along with the Eternal Imprisonment Sword-Shield.
"Die! Just die for me!"
Claude's vitality drained away rapidly as he watched Zeno, who was swallowed by the holy flames in the distance, with a near-maniacal gaze.
No life could survive such an attack!
Elsa watched the manic Claude and silently backed away some distance in the air.
Until he stopped the holy flames.
The ground where Zeno stood had completely melted, with thick white smoke billowing up.
Yet, in the center of the molten pit, Zeno still stood.
The Eternal Imprisonment Sword-Shield in her hand had melted and was destroyed.
But her actual body only had somewhat tattered clothes, and a piece of her head-armor was missing.
She's still not dead!
Claude wanted to continue the pursuit but spat out a mouthful of blood and fell from the sky toward the ground.
"Lord Claude!"
Someone quickly stepped forward to catch Claude.
Claude was on the verge of fainting, yet he forced his eyes open with sheer willpower.
"Don't let her go... don't let her escape!"
"Don't let her escape!"
Zeno wouldn't care about Bishop Claude's thoughts; she turned and ran.
As Claude was heavily injured, the Holy Light Tracking placed on the Life Casket completely flickered out.
Zeno wrapped the Life Casket tightly with plants and continued to flee toward the outskirts of town.
Caiman led the knight order in pursuit outside the town.
Elsa also ran outside the town, just for show.
She knew very well that without the Holy Light Tracking, it would be nearly impossible to find Zeno, who possessed such powerful abilities.
Internally, she felt a bit of schadenfreude.
That's what you get, Grey family, for secretly sending a masterpiece grade magic item here, not keeping it on your person, and hiding it away—now you've gone for the wool and come home shorn.
That same night, she secretly wrote a letter, reporting the information regarding the masterpiece grade magic item back to the Prince.
After all, this was a masterpiece grade magic item.
They could also look for it; perhaps they might obtain a masterpiece grade magic item.
In the latter half of the night, Claude woke from his coma.
Ignoring his injuries, he hurriedly asked about the whereabouts of the Life Casket and Zeno, only to find there was no news.
"Search for her! Find every trace related to her! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, find her for me!"
Throughout the night, the entire town was in a heated discussion about the battle.
The matter of the masterpiece grade magic item was destined to be kept a secret no longer.
There were others in the church at the time; many had seen Zeno directly snatching the magic item and then fleeing after a fierce battle.
Thus, the next day, all the adventurers in town were excitedly discussing the topic.
Their tone was full of admiration.
The strong were always respected, and a legendary powerhouse who dared to snatch treasure from the nobility alone was something they had never heard of before.
Who in the entire Northern Territory would dare to do such a thing? No one ever had.
Last night, they truly witnessed the history of the Northern Territory—a legend of the Northern Territory.
And the name of that legend was Zeno.
Rate on N.U.
