Go get the casters outside.
Pareth dashed straight forward, crashing through the walls to run outside. No time to cast the graveyard. She followed after Pareth. No sense in separating.
The paladins from inside were right on her tracks, jumping out of the broken hole after her. Running after Pareth through the orphanage’s garden, she saw a few things. At least six more paladins were running at them from the forest. Not only that, a dome-shaped shield sprang up above the orphanage and the nearby forest.
Trapped, uh?
No matter.
If there was one fighting style that Sofia knew exceedingly well from her readings, it was the Church’s. And the mana movements in the forest could only be one of two things : Priests or Templars. Pareth was already rushing at one of them, she had to take care of another one as soon as possible.
A priests’ control spells would be annoying, but what she feared from the dome shield tactic was the Templars’ signature skill, Holy Smite. According to the Church’s own books, Holy Smite called down the wrath of God from the heavens, striking the designated location with a burst of devastating holy light. And the Church was very proud of it, especially the part where it could be cast by multiple Templars at the same time to achieve an even greater effect.
Thirty seconds of casting time. So we have about twenty.
Pareth rushed ahead, Sofia deployed her wings as she ran. Barely out of range of the closest paladin’s sword, she took flight. She turned around as she flew up, and flew over the orphanage as fast as she could. Six, seven, eight. She counted the paladins coming out of the hole after her, their swords started glowing, they sent ethereal sword slashes her way. This was the reason she flew toward the orphanage, that was the best cover. She only had to dodge one wave of ranged luminous attacks before going toward another source of mana in the opposite direction from Pareth. Another Templar.
It was still in [Sanctified ground]’s range, the whole dome was. This was done so that she couldn’t run out of [Holy Smite]’s area of effect. But that also helped her, a 48% increase to physical stats was nothing to laugh at, and they couldn’t force her out of the zone. Not only that, but due to the peculiarities of the [Templar] class, that meant the templars casting it had to all be inside with her.
[Angel’s bolt]
Ready in ten seconds, I have to dodge until then.
There were more paladins running out of the forest’s edge. How did I not see them when I walked in?
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 125]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 130]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 108]’
Pareth was putting in a lot of work. She took a glimpse at his vision. He was fighting sword to sword with a huge man in glowing armor. Another Templar, no doubt.
The Templar’s huge claymore struck down. Pareth’s [Flying shields of light] appeared around the Templar’s head, blocking his vision and pinning him in place. As Pareth sidestepped the Templar’s weapon, his own sword struck down, morphing to a huge mace midway through the swing. The Templar’s flat topped helmet burst open and so did its contents. The mace stopped in between the heavy pauldrons where the head had been instants before.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Templar - lv. 232]’
Sofia was very visible with the huge wings and the lightning gathering in her hand. The paladins on the ground showered her with slashes of light. Though she dodged many, a few still hit true, slashing the bone armor and taking away a few hundred health points every time.
Seven more seconds. Choosing to take a few more hits from the light attacks, she flew straight until she was above the next Templar in the forest’s edge. Pareth dropped from the sky and Sofia followed him down. The second Templar had no time to stop casting before getting impaled top to bottom by a two meters long sword of light. Sofia kept flying through the leafless trees.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Templar - lv. 212]’
It was very difficult to avoid colliding with the trees considering how wide her wingspan was, and the devastating power of the bolt she was still channeling was hard to concentrate through. Its rampaging heat was setting the forest ablaze in her wake. But thanks to the many trees in the way, the paladins’ attacks were weakened by the time they reached her.
Her health passed the midway point.
Three seconds.
Pareth was running out of the forest, charging at the paladins, they were right about to collide.
Two seconds.
Sofia flew up out of the trees. Through the naked branches and gray trunks, she spotted the last Templar. He had already stopped casting Holy Smite, he was aiming a much simpler skill at her, the stronger version of the paladins’ [Slash of light] : [Light severance].
The paladins were busy dealing with Pareth, no longer attacking her.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 99]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 99]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 102]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 87]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 63]’
Sofia analyzed the trajectory of the Templar’s sword. That won’t hit my head, there’s no way this kills me.
Sofia released her bolt as the Templar brought down his shining sword. The attacks flew past one another, both hitting the mark.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 88]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 105]’
The violent burst of the bolt centered on the paladin reverberated on the dome shield, a third of the area was lost in the bright explosion, and the whole area shaken the resulting shock-wave.
[Light severance] almost hit Sofia, but Pareth appeared in front of her at the last second, soaking the devastating attack.
Then the force from the explosion followed, propelling her up and back until she collided with the shield before plummeting back down. Pareth, much heavier, wasn’t affected and fell straight down.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Templar - lv. 199]’
Sofia spat blood, the collision with the shield had been brutal, it had even shattered her wings. But no matter the pain, her thoughts had never been clearer. Falling, after deactivating her armor, she summoned out of her storage ring a health potion she threw directly into her mouth, crushing the glass vial under her teeth and swallowing the liquid.
Her health was soon back near the top. Spitting shards of glass and reactivating her armor, she healed her wings.
[Heal undead]
Slowing down her fall with her reforming wings, she still left two deep imprints in the soil as she landed.
She was light headed from the shock, but the paladins wouldn’t wait for her to recover, Pareth had already gone forward to greet them again.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 52]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 101]’
That was, in fact, more than enough to prevent any of them from reaching her. Sofia sat down and started casting [Graveyard of the righteous]. Pareth was still fighting and he was highly outnumbered. Although he hadn’t lost a single health point, his mana was running low as his [Shapeless armor of light] took hit after hit, there were still more than ten fully armored paladins surrounding him.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 108]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 112]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 105]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 87]’
Eight seconds later, gravestones sprung out of the ground all around the battlefield. As the graveyard skeletons started pinning down the paladins, the fight drew to a close. Unable to move, every single paladin fell under Pareth’s blade, one by one, until only skeletons were left standing amidst a pile of bleeding corpses in smashed armor.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 100]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 106]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 133]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 152]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 129]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 96]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 112]’
‘You gained a level!’ * 9
129. Sofia stood up. The shield isn’t fading. With no one left to provide it with mana, it should have died down. It couldn’t be a ritually created shield or she would be able to easily detect the source that had to be at the center. But there was no such mana flow coming from the orphanage.
A priest.
She had expected the shield to come from a ritual since it was a premeditated trap but it seemed not.
He’s outside.
“Hit the shield, get us out of here,” she ordered Pareth.
Curious, she walked up to one of the dead paladins and took off his helmet. She was half expecting a zombie from the dungeon under the Church, considering the name, but it was far from it. This was not only a human, but one she recognized. It had been one of the paladins standing guard in front of the dungeon the day she escaped from the Church. She knew since they often had their helmet off or their visor open in the Holy-See.
He was considered a monster? How? The dead man’s complexion was degrading by the second, but he was still hot, and there was no stench like from a zombie. As she wondered what exactly had happened for the system to label them like this, the shield broke under Pareth’s unrelenting assault.
Sofia’s mana sensing that had been confined was released, and she instantly spotted the disorderly mana of the priest dealing with the backlash of his skill being forcefully broken. Pareth didn’t lose a second, changing direction. Capture the priest alive.
Go get the casters outside.
Pareth dashed straight forward, crashing through the walls to run outside. No time to cast the graveyard. She followed after Pareth. No sense in separating.
The paladins from inside were right on her tracks, jumping out of the broken hole after her. Running after Pareth through the orphanage’s garden, she saw a few things. At least six more paladins were running at them from the forest. Not only that, a dome-shaped shield sprang up above the orphanage and the nearby forest.
Trapped, uh?
No matter.
If there was one fighting style that Sofia knew exceedingly well from her readings, it was the Church’s. And the mana movements in the forest could only be one of two things : Priests or Templars. Pareth was already rushing at one of them, she had to take care of another one as soon as possible.
A priests’ control spells would be annoying, but what she feared from the dome shield tactic was the Templars’ signature skill, Holy Smite. According to the Church’s own books, Holy Smite called down the wrath of God from the heavens, striking the designated location with a burst of devastating holy light. And the Church was very proud of it, especially the part where it could be cast by multiple Templars at the same time to achieve an even greater effect.
Thirty seconds of casting time. So we have about twenty.
Pareth rushed ahead, Sofia deployed her wings as she ran. Barely out of range of the closest paladin’s sword, she took flight. She turned around as she flew up, and flew over the orphanage as fast as she could. Six, seven, eight. She counted the paladins coming out of the hole after her, their swords started glowing, they sent ethereal sword slashes her way. This was the reason she flew toward the orphanage, that was the best cover. She only had to dodge one wave of ranged luminous attacks before going toward another source of mana in the opposite direction from Pareth. Another Templar.
It was still in [Sanctified ground]’s range, the whole dome was. This was done so that she couldn’t run out of [Holy Smite]’s area of effect. But that also helped her, a 48% increase to physical stats was nothing to laugh at, and they couldn’t force her out of the zone. Not only that, but due to the peculiarities of the [Templar] class, that meant the templars casting it had to all be inside with her.
[Angel’s bolt]
Ready in ten seconds, I have to dodge until then.
There were more paladins running out of the forest’s edge. How did I not see them when I walked in?
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 125]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 130]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 108]’
Pareth was putting in a lot of work. She took a glimpse at his vision. He was fighting sword to sword with a huge man in glowing armor. Another Templar, no doubt.
The Templar’s huge claymore struck down. Pareth’s [Flying shields of light] appeared around the Templar’s head, blocking his vision and pinning him in place. As Pareth sidestepped the Templar’s weapon, his own sword struck down, morphing to a huge mace midway through the swing. The Templar’s flat topped helmet burst open and so did its contents. The mace stopped in between the heavy pauldrons where the head had been instants before.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Templar - lv. 232]’
Sofia was very visible with the huge wings and the lightning gathering in her hand. The paladins on the ground showered her with slashes of light. Though she dodged many, a few still hit true, slashing the bone armor and taking away a few hundred health points every time.
Seven more seconds. Choosing to take a few more hits from the light attacks, she flew straight until she was above the next Templar in the forest’s edge. Pareth dropped from the sky and Sofia followed him down. The second Templar had no time to stop casting before getting impaled top to bottom by a two meters long sword of light. Sofia kept flying through the leafless trees.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Templar - lv. 212]’
It was very difficult to avoid colliding with the trees considering how wide her wingspan was, and the devastating power of the bolt she was still channeling was hard to concentrate through. Its rampaging heat was setting the forest ablaze in her wake. But thanks to the many trees in the way, the paladins’ attacks were weakened by the time they reached her.
Her health passed the midway point.
Three seconds.
Pareth was running out of the forest, charging at the paladins, they were right about to collide.
Two seconds.
Sofia flew up out of the trees. Through the naked branches and gray trunks, she spotted the last Templar. He had already stopped casting Holy Smite, he was aiming a much simpler skill at her, the stronger version of the paladins’ [Slash of light] : [Light severance].
The paladins were busy dealing with Pareth, no longer attacking her.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 99]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 99]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 102]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 87]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 63]’
Sofia analyzed the trajectory of the Templar’s sword. That won’t hit my head, there’s no way this kills me.
Sofia released her bolt as the Templar brought down his shining sword. The attacks flew past one another, both hitting the mark.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 88]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 105]’
The violent burst of the bolt centered on the paladin reverberated on the dome shield, a third of the area was lost in the bright explosion, and the whole area shaken the resulting shock-wave.
[Light severance] almost hit Sofia, but Pareth appeared in front of her at the last second, soaking the devastating attack.
Then the force from the explosion followed, propelling her up and back until she collided with the shield before plummeting back down. Pareth, much heavier, wasn’t affected and fell straight down.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Templar - lv. 199]’
Sofia spat blood, the collision with the shield had been brutal, it had even shattered her wings. But no matter the pain, her thoughts had never been clearer. Falling, after deactivating her armor, she summoned out of her storage ring a health potion she threw directly into her mouth, crushing the glass vial under her teeth and swallowing the liquid.
Her health was soon back near the top. Spitting shards of glass and reactivating her armor, she healed her wings.
[Heal undead]
Slowing down her fall with her reforming wings, she still left two deep imprints in the soil as she landed.
She was light headed from the shock, but the paladins wouldn’t wait for her to recover, Pareth had already gone forward to greet them again.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 52]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 101]’
That was, in fact, more than enough to prevent any of them from reaching her. Sofia sat down and started casting [Graveyard of the righteous]. Pareth was still fighting and he was highly outnumbered. Although he hadn’t lost a single health point, his mana was running low as his [Shapeless armor of light] took hit after hit, there were still more than ten fully armored paladins surrounding him.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 108]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 112]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 105]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 87]’
Eight seconds later, gravestones sprung out of the ground all around the battlefield. As the graveyard skeletons started pinning down the paladins, the fight drew to a close. Unable to move, every single paladin fell under Pareth’s blade, one by one, until only skeletons were left standing amidst a pile of bleeding corpses in smashed armor.
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 100]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 106]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 133]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 152]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 129]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 96]’
‘You have defeated [Sinner Paladin - lv. 112]’
‘You gained a level!’ * 9
129. Sofia stood up. The shield isn’t fading. With no one left to provide it with mana, it should have died down. It couldn’t be a ritually created shield or she would be able to easily detect the source that had to be at the center. But there was no such mana flow coming from the orphanage.
A priest.
She had expected the shield to come from a ritual since it was a premeditated trap but it seemed not.
He’s outside.
“Hit the shield, get us out of here,” she ordered Pareth.
Curious, she walked up to one of the dead paladins and took off his helmet. She was half expecting a zombie from the dungeon under the Church, considering the name, but it was far from it. This was not only a human, but one she recognized. It had been one of the paladins standing guard in front of the dungeon the day she escaped from the Church. She knew since they often had their helmet off or their visor open in the Holy-See.
He was considered a monster? How? The dead man’s complexion was degrading by the second, but he was still hot, and there was no stench like from a zombie. As she wondered what exactly had happened for the system to label them like this, the shield broke under Pareth’s unrelenting assault.
Sofia’s mana sensing that had been confined was released, and she instantly spotted the disorderly mana of the priest dealing with the backlash of his skill being forcefully broken. Pareth didn’t lose a second, changing direction. Capture the priest alive.
