A while passed before Bai Xuan slowly lowered the Staff of Guidance. His fingers were still slightly numb from overexertion, and even now, he could not process the outcome before him.
He had originally prepared himself for a protracted battle. Even if she was just an avatar, a Level 8 Transcendent Archduke of Desire should, by all accounts, possess self-preservation magic or emergency backlash measures.
Yet, she had no room to resist at all and was instantly defeated by a single Redemption Strike.
Either Alexia had fought two Level 8 monsters in a row before this battle, leaving her HP and mana nearly depleted and causing her combat strength to plummet;
Or the Holy Light attribute possessed absolute suppression over abyssal monsters, making the difference in damage when they clashed akin to a hot knife slicing through soft wax.
The residents and adventurers of Calais Town had originally started walking toward the gray-robed woman, intending to go forward to thank her, cheer, or simply breathe a sigh of relief.
But in the next second, they saw the white-robed man and the gray-robed woman confront each other.
The two spoke in hushed tones. They were too far away for anyone to hear the content of their conversation, and immediately after, the gray-robed woman suddenly lunged at the white-robed man.
The gratitude and cheers died in their throats.
Everyone watched helplessly as the white-robed man raised his strangely shaped staff, its tip suddenly bursting with golden light.
The gray-robed woman was sent flying backward like a stone thrown with immense force. The dull sound of bones shattering and flesh slamming into the ground traveled over a distance of a hundred meters, clearly reaching everyone's ears.
The woman crashed heavily into the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust before collapsing motionless on the spot.
The scene fell into a dead silence. Everyone who had just taken a step forward instinctively drew their feet back.
The middle-aged adventurer unconsciously gripped the sword at his waist. Beside him, the cat-eared demi-human archer had already nocked an arrow, unsure whether to aim at the white-robed man or the fallen woman.
Crouched by the base of the wall, the dog-eared youth gripped his dagger tightly. His eyes remained fixed on the white-robed man's back, his muscles tense.
“What is going on...” a woman in coarse cloth murmured, her lips trembling as half her body still shook from the terror of the recent monster tide.
She muttered to herself, her voice only audible to the two people beside her, “Why did they start fighting? They were clearly wiping out the monsters together just now.”
“I don't know!” Beside her, a middle-aged woodcutter with a face covered in dust shook his head blankly, his eyes frantically scanning between the white-robed Bai Xuan and the dust cloud.
“I couldn't hear what they were saying at all, and then they suddenly started fighting.”
In the back, a young townsman whose arm had been scratched by a monster had red-rimmed eyes. “That woman was helping us all along. When the monsters rushed into the town, she was the one who stopped the first wave that broke through.”
“But the white-robed man killed the giant ape and defeated the entire monster tide!” the middle-aged adventurer ahead of him who was gripping his sword interrupted in a deep voice.
He had witnessed the unpredictability of Transcendent experts, and his mindset was far calmer than that of the ordinary townsfolk. “Without him, that woman wouldn't have been able to stop the monster tide. Calais Town would have been razed to the ground long ago.”
No one dared to step forward. They stood there, watching the white-robed man stand motionless at the edge of the dust.
From beneath the dust, a thread of faint pinkish-purple light slowly seeped out. A soft, swirling, misty halo, like ripples flowing across a lake, diffused outward bit by bit through the gaps in the dust.
The first to see the halo clearly was the cat-eared demi-human archer, whose vision far surpassed that of humans. Her finger holding the arrow trembled violently, nearly letting the fletching slip as she gasped.
Several ordinary townsfolk beside her followed her gaze, and one after another, they looked on in wonder. A hunched old man leaned on his wooden staff with both hands, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
His cloudy eyes stared fixedly at the dust, his voice hoarse, broken, and trembling with disbelief. “She... she's still alive...”
The middle-aged adventurer knit his brows, his tone filled with astonishment. “How is that possible...”
Scattered exclamations and whispers rose from all directions of the crowd. The voices of men, women, young, and old mixed together, buzzing and echoing across the open field outside the town, completely filling the once dead silence with fragmented noise.
Bai Xuan did not look in the direction of the chatter. He stared at the dust cloud, his brows furrowed tightly.
Alexia slowly walked out of the dust.
Her gray robe was torn in multiple places, exposing the form-fitting dark leather armor underneath. On her left shoulder was a clearly concave wound that was healing itself at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Blood lingered at the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were exceptionally bright, and a playful smile hung on her lips. Her demeanor was like both a desperate gambler who had just won big and a curious child who had stumbled upon a novel toy.
Bai Xuan immediately pulled up his status panel.
【Archduke of Desire (Incomplete) Lv.9 (Transcendent)】
Bai Xuan stared at the panel data. He had just personally defeated her, yet this fellow's level had actually increased.
Did she automatically become stronger upon surviving a near-death experience, or did she advance whenever she took fatal damage? He could not figure out the mechanics for now, but this was absolutely the worst-case scenario.
Alexia did not lunge at him again. She stood at the edge of the dust, tilting her head as she looked at Bai Xuan, as if reassessing someone she had never seen before.
“It really is you,” her voice was slightly lower than before, carrying a suppressed, indescribable excitement. “How on earth did you do it?”
Bai Xuan gripped his staff and did not lower it. “I don't understand what you're talking about.”
“Stop pretending.” Alexia took a step forward, her leather boots grinding against the gravel on the ground with a faint crunch.
“When the monster tide was wiped out earlier, all the dissipating life mana vanished into thin air, and even the very concept of their existence was erased.”
She stared intently into Bai Xuan's eyes. “The source mana split from my body has also decreased. I am certain it was stolen by you.”
Bai Xuan's pupils contracted sharply. He instantly understood what she meant. She was referring to the experience and Pleasure settled by the status panel after he killed her avatar.
Previously, he had always taken it for granted that it was a reward from the status panel, a gift from the system. But what if it wasn't the system, but his own ability?
His trait, 【Digitalization】, might not just be converting information into a status panel display, but rather presenting things that he himself had not yet realized.
But what about drawing cards? What about the Subordinate Contract? Were those cards also part of his own ability?
He suppressed these thoughts, his face devoid of expression. “I am just an ordinary Healer.”
Alexia chuckled softly. “An ordinary Healer? The power in you comes from several different existences. I have never seen such a unique individual.”
She paused briefly, her gaze scrutinizing Bai Xuan. “Furthermore, in just two short months, the speed of your strength's growth defies common sense. It is more like recovery. Are you truly a pure-blooded human?”
Bai Xuan did not respond. Reflecting on his past, he had only come into contact with two external forces—the evil god and the goddess. There was no third transcendent source.
The true nature of the status panel had always been a mystery, and countless fragmented memories surged in his mind.
Back in Klara Village, the monsters controlled by Zane happened to destroy the village where he was hiding, forcing him into a secret passage and causing him to accidentally fall into the Chamber of Sealing.
Rate on N.U.
