Meeting Reisha made Ye Chui feel quite delighted. After all, he had inherited Wade’s memories and could sense Wade’s concern for this little sister. Most importantly, Ye Chui glanced sideways at Reisha’s graceful figure beneath her unconventional nun attire. Who wouldn’t want a sister like that?
Green approached Ye Chui at that moment, looking at the blood mist around them, which, though faded, still lingered. He said with concern, “What exactly is that blood mist? Wade, did you just kill them?”
“No, I let their leader escape by mistake.” Ye Chui turned to glance at the faintly visible outpost building, thinking of old Bond, a cold glint in his eyes. “There must be something in that outpost. We have to deal with it.”
“There’s definitely a blood altar there.”
Reisha put away her playful expression, saying gravely, “I didn’t expect evil spirits to appear in Stan Town. The blood altar uses human blood sacrifices to form a massive blood pool, nurturing evil spirits. This blood mist is formed by the evil spirits manipulating human blood. It seems the evil spirit has matured. We must find a way to eliminate it, or if it crawls out of the blood pool and takes physical form, we’ll be in trouble.”
Her delicate brows furrowed. “But with our strength, it might be a bit tricky…”
“You clearly don’t know what we’ve been through. This is child’s play. Leave it to us,” Debbie interrupted, seeming eager to oppose Reisha. She struck a confident pose, hands on hips, chest puffed out.
“This isn’t a game. Honestly, we might not even get close to it,” Reisha explained patiently, pointing at the outpost. “The blood mist there is denser. I’m not sure if my holy light shield can withstand it.”
“Your chanting doesn’t seem that impressive,” Debbie said proudly, pulling out her summoning key. “Leave this to me!”
Before Reisha could say more, a holy summoning gate appeared beside Debbie. With a “Ji Ji” cry, the little Valkyrie Ji Ji wobbled out, joyfully pouncing onto Debbie like a clingy child.
Debbie ruffled Ji Ji’s soft hair and pointed toward the outpost. “Can you take us there?”
“Ji Ji?” Ji Ji glanced at the outpost, her cute face showing a hint of disgust at the foul aura emanating from it. She nodded firmly. Despite her childish nature, as a Valkyrie, she understood what Debbie meant by taking them there.
Then, the little creature strained with effort. A faint glow already emanated from her, and as she concentrated, the light intensified, enveloping everyone. The others noticed it had a similar effect to Reisha’s light shield, repelling the blood mist.
“This… what kind of power is this? It’s even purer than the holy power summoned by a believer’s chant!” Reisha was stunned.
Debbie beamed with pride. This was the purest divine power. Believers relied on chanting to borrow divine strength, a second-hand power, while Ji Ji summoned divine power naturally. Happily hugging Ji Ji, Debbie started toward the outpost. “Let’s go! Ji Ji’s leading the way, mission guaranteed!”
“Ji Ji! Ji Ji!” the little girl cheered, waving her arms.
The others were speechless.
Ye Chui smiled at Debbie and Ji Ji, then his expression cooled as he turned to Nick and the others. The Blue Fox Mercenary Group, originally seven, now had only four left, their faces pale, clearly terrified by the situation.
Poor mercenaries, they had never faced such a scenario and lacked the ability to handle it.
Noticing Ye Chui’s gaze, Nick trembled, recalling Ye Chui’s earlier claim at the White Horse Inn about killing Thorne and Bilis. He had thought it was nonsense, but now he believed it completely. With a strained smile, he stammered, “Wade, we, we mean no harm… Okay, we did want to steal your mission, but we never meant to hurt you…”
With the blood mist still surrounding them and their sword aura useless against it, survival depended on Ye Chui’s group. He promised, “Are you going to eliminate the evil spirit? Our Blue Fox Mercenary Group will help, under your command!”
The other Blue Fox mercenaries, including the man whose arm Ye Chui had severed and who harboured deep resentment, all looked at Ye Chui with a mix of flattery.
“Fine, you can follow me,” Ye Chui said calmly, glancing at his iPad magic book. The map navigation marked the four as white dots, indicating no hostility. Otherwise, Ye Chui wouldn’t tolerate them. Bringing them along could provide some cannon fodder.
Hearing Ye Chui’s approval, the Blue Fox mercenaries expressed their loyalty with relief.
Ye Chui turned to follow Debbie. Under Ji Ji’s glowing, amplified light, the group quickly advanced toward the outpost.
“How have you been these past few years?” Ye Chui asked Reisha. He had heard from the old nun that Reisha died three years ago, but clearly, the old nun lied, and Riken’s hostility toward Ye Chui was her doing.
“Not bad, but it seems you’ve done well too, big brother. I heard you failed to awaken your magic book and was worried about you,” Reisha said with a smile. “News of a mage in Stan Town awakening the most useless magic book in history has spread to the Holy City via travelling merchants. (Ye Chui: What the heck!) I came to Stan Town to encourage you, but… sigh.”
A trace of sorrow crossed her face, likely thinking of Riken’s death.
“Your chanting is impressive. You’ve trained hard these years,” Ye Chui said, changing the subject.
“Pfft, she’s not that great. Her holy light took so much effort and isn’t even as strong as Ji Ji’s,” Debbie, leading the way, seized the chance to tease.
Reisha gave a charming smile. “Attacking and defending aren’t my strengths, so it’s fine.”
“Then what’s your specialty?” Debbie asked.
“I’m best at healing chants, restoring health and mana. I’m the best in the entire Holy City monastery,” Reisha said proudly.
“What the heck!?” Ye Chui’s body jolted, eyeing his childhood friend again. “So you’re a healer!?”
“Healer?” Reisha blinked.
“A term for restoring health and mana,” Ye Chui explained quickly, glancing at Debbie.
Debbie’s biggest issue summoning the adult Valkyrie was insufficient mana. With Reisha’s mana restoration, wouldn’t that solve it?
Debbie realised this too, a flash of excitement crossing her face, but the stubborn girl huffed, “I don’t need her healing.”
“Hehe…”
As they spoke, they reached the abandoned outpost. The blood mist grew denser, and despite Ji Ji’s holy light, a nauseating stench of blood lingered. The outpost’s gate was open, as if inviting them in. Inside, it was dark and eerie, with cold winds carrying ghostly wails, brimming with evil.
Green trembled. “Do we really have to go in?”
Reisha said solemnly, “We must… unless we can destroy the entire outpost in one go, but we don’t have that kind of power.”
“Not necessarily…” Ye Chui said leisurely.
The others turned to him.
In the outpost’s dark underground storage, a blood pool bubbled, reeking of blood and steaming with mist. Beside it lay a withered, rotting corpse. Dark believers had turned this place into a blood altar, summoning evil spirits, killing the bandits who once occupied it, and using the blood of passing caravans to form this pool.
A shadowy figure fled to the pool, panting heavily. It was old Bond, who had escaped earlier.
His face held disbelief, unable to fathom how the boy he raised became so powerful. But glancing at the bubbling blood pool, he sneered venomously, “As long as you step into this outpost, you’ll have no hope of survival. This is a cursed place, every inch infused with the evil spirit’s will…”
Suddenly, a loud boom shook the fortress. Debris fell from above, as if the outpost was collapsing. Roars that chilled old Bond to the core echoed. It was the roar of a black gold flame dragon.
Dragon roars?
Old Bond was stunned.
Boom!
A massive stone crashed down, striking his head.
