Chapter 190 | This Healer Is Built Different

The vast majority of the human dead wore only thin, coarse cloth garments, completely devoid of any protective armor or proper weapons nearby.

Some clutched nothing but a cracked wooden stick, some had empty hands, and others still tightly held a discarded cloth shoe even in death.

Only a few corpses wore standard-issue tanned leather armor, collapsed closer to the wall with chipped daggers and warped wooden shields scattered beside them.

Bai Xuan looked down at one of the young corpses. The deceased was barely in his early twenties, his eyes half-open, his pupils completely devoid of life. His sword was snapped in half, and the front of his shield was densely covered in claw marks from monsters.

Bai Xuan continued to look toward the town.

He recognized these dead in coarse cloth garments. When he first arrived in Calais Town two months ago, this group of people had gathered in the open space outside the town as refugees.

They had huddled under simple burlap tents, every one of them emaciated. Though their eyes were hollow and numb, there was still a glimmer of hope deep within.

Now, those tents were completely shredded and trampled by the monsters, their fragments scattered everywhere. Not a single refugee had survived, their corpses mixed together with the remains of the monsters.

Based on the impression Edmund White's style of conduct had left on him, Bai Xuan felt that he would not have pushed refugees to the front lines as cannon fodder.

Bai Xuan still remembered the gentle expression of that middle-aged noble, whose eyes lacked the arrogance and disdain common among nobility.

Back then, it was White who had taken the initiative to shelter these refugees, designating a settlement area outside the town, setting up tents, regularly allocating rations, and even hiring them to help with town repairs in exchange for pay.

Such a prudent man would not keep commoners outside the town to die. Ordinary refugees were utterly useless against monsters; it would have made more sense to bring them inside to maintain morale.

Yet now, even they had been put to use, the town had nearly fallen, and the defensive forces were completely depleted.

There could only be one answer: something must have happened to the White family.

Bai Xuan raised his gaze, looking past the cluttered corpses on the ground, and noticed a woman not far away. She was standing atop the torso of a massive ogre's corpse.

The woman wore a heavily worn gray travel robe, the fabric torn in multiple places to reveal hardened black leather armor underneath.

The surface of the leather armor was soaked in dark-red blood, making it impossible to tell if it came from her own wounds or from the monsters. She wore a pair of dark-silver clawed gauntlets on her hands, and blood was still slowly dripping from the tips of the claws.

Her looks were only slightly above average, with pleasant and symmetrical features that were not particularly stunning. Yet, Bai Xuan could not tear his gaze away from her face.

She stared intently at Bai Xuan. There was no relief from surviving a disaster in her eyes, nor any exhaustion from battle. Instead, it was as if a target she had been searching for for a very long time had finally appeared before her.

Bai Xuan instinctively knit his brows. He searched his memories, confirming he had never seen this face before.

Yet, the woman's gaze was not at all like that of a stranger. It was filled with anticipation, and even a hint of undisguised excitement.

Bai Xuan's fingers instinctively tightened, gripping the Staff of Guidance in his hand.

At the same time, he sensed a somewhat familiar fluctuation swirling around her.

He could not recall where exactly he had encountered it, but he was absolutely certain he had come into contact with it before.

Bai Xuan stared at the woman before him and asked tentatively.

“Do you know what the situation is with this town right now?”

His voice carried across the empty, post-battle field.

Upon hearing Bai Xuan's voice, something seemed to trigger within the woman. Her pupils contracted sharply, her breathing quickened, and her fingers hanging at her sides tightened.

She stared dead at Bai Xuan, as if confirming something, or perhaps digesting it. Being stared at like this sent an inexplicable chill down the back of Bai Xuan's neck.

Frowning, Bai Xuan instinctively pulled up his status panel and scanned her. A string of data immediately floated into his vision:

【Alexia (Avatar)】

【Class: Archduke of Desire (Incomplete) Lv.8 (Transcendent)】

【HP: 1354/1850】

【Mana: 270/480】

Bai Xuan's brow twitched violently. The class name “Archduke of Desire” far exceeded his expectations, and a chill spread up his spine.

The title of “Archduke” was already far beyond the scope of ordinary high-ranking demons. It was highly likely a Demon King-level existence.

Forcing down the panic in his heart, he expanded his global mental perception, scanning every inch of the rubble cracks beneath his feet, the fallen corpses, and the distant bushes.

The entire area was completely empty. There were no hidden magic traps, no concealed monster minions; from start to finish, she was the only one.

Bai Xuan withdrew his perception and looked back at Alexia. Her gaze had never left him. On that plain face, her eyes were hollow yet obsessive, carrying an indescribable strangeness.

“I finally found you,” she said, her voice hoarse and dry, as if her vocal cords had been eroded by mana for a long time. Her tone was wrapped in an obsession suppressed for years. “I have searched for you... for far too long.”

Bai Xuan's pupils contracted sharply. He instantly thought of the frenzied look in Ronid's eyes when he was consumed by desire before his death, as well as the aura Zane leaked when controlling the ogres earlier.

He had long been targeted by high-ranking demons, and this opponent was no low-level grunt—she was the avatar of a Demon King.

Even though her level was only Level 8 Transcendent, the psychological pressure brought by the title of Archduke alone was enough to make Bai Xuan tense.

“Have you mistaken me for someone else?” Bai Xuan asked in a flat tone, deliberately steadying his breathing. “I don't believe we have ever met.”

Alexia did not respond, only tilting her head slightly.

She leaped down from the cold corpse of the ogre and strode toward Bai Xuan, her pace quickening with every step.

Under the dimming sky, the metal blades of her clawed gauntlets gleamed with a cold, dark silver luster. Bai Xuan immediately held his Holy Light staff horizontally in front of him, entering a defensive stance.

She paused briefly three paces away from Bai Xuan, then suddenly lunged forward, her claws aiming straight for his chest.

This strike held some reserve; it was not a lethal assassination, but a simple test of his abilities.

Bai Xuan did not dodge. He swung the Staff of Redemption directly, unleashing his Redemption Strike skill to meet her head-on.

The Holy Light at the tip of the staff collided violently with the claw blades, the golden glow flickering intensely.

The sound of bones shattering echoed clearly from Alexia's arm on the spot, and the clawed gauntlet on her wrist deformed instantly.

Without any loss of momentum, the staff slammed into her torso, and the Holy Light at its tip erupted instantly. The blinding golden light, wrapped in shredded flesh and splattering blood droplets, sent her flying backward.