BXBX NOVEL Chapter 442 Battle In The Village (2)
"Oh heavens… Come in, let's look into the poor girl's injury." Eli deliberately used a saintly tone to mask the real tone of her voice.
Hiding behind her mask, in which even her pupils could not be seen, was a great amount of vigilance.
An old man and a young woman about her age appeared in her sight. It is not hard for her to deduce that these two people were the Pope and the fake paladin.
She had the Pope disguised as an old man lay down the fake paladin in a wooden bed as she acted busily to prepare for her 'treatment'.
But while she was doing so, she was watching each and every expression on the enemy's face.
Leon and the rest who were hiding on the barrier array clearly saw everything that had transpired. In their hands, were their respective weapons, ready to attack as soon as the Pope or the Fake Paladin made a move.
Eli examined the Fake Paladin's face only to see that she looked like she was really infected by the curse with the purple veins in her skin.
But Eli knew that this was merely a scheme for the two to really gauge whether she was really a holy mage or not.
A cold smile appeared on her face, these people would not hesitate to kill all hope for humanity just for their own gain.
'Why not give them what they wanted?' Eli decided.
"I'll start the treatment." She softly said. She positioned herself on the edge of the bed where the fake paladin's head was resting.
This way, every action that she did would be visible to her companions on the other side of the room, watching from the barrier, and the Old Pope who was watching from the side. This also eliminated her blind spot, on having the Pope ambush her from the back.
Without a warning, she gathered the purest energy into the tips of her fingers, but she controlled it in such a way that neither the Pope nor the Fake Paladin would feel the true extent of her holy powers.
It was just enough to prove her identity as a holy mage, but not to reveal her strength.
'I will trick you until the last minute…' Eli decided.
When the Pope saw that Eli was starting her treatment, he immediately increased his senses to see if Eli was actually a holy power user.
He did detect a little bit of Eli's power; it was indeed significantly higher than any other high priest in Prasinos but it will be a piece of cake against Rachana!
And so he smiled in the end, casting Rachana a signal.
Her powers are weak!
Seeing the Pope's signal, Rachana also rejoiced inside. If the holy powers of the true paladin are weak then she can freely deal with her and finally take her position. Become the 'real' paladin!
All that is needed was to strike once the paladin channels her holy powers. She would be vulnerable at that moment because she had to focus on 'healing' the patient.
Eli saw that the two wanted to complete the entire act and could not figure out when they would be striking back.
Could it be that while she was healing?
Or when she finished?
In the end, she did not think much and did not stand the ceremony.
Without waiting for the Pope or the Fake Paladin to react, she immediately pressed her fingers on Rachana's forehead.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"
Immediately, an overwhelming surge of pure holy power flooded Rachana's spirit, it was like she was being fried in an ocean of lightning as she shouted in agony.
"B*tch!" The Pope did not expect the sudden turn of events and immediately extended his hands straight to Eli's neck.
Swosh!!!
Before he could see, he felt an overwhelming bloodlust directed toward him and the cold wind started to touch his arms.
The Pope immediately sensed the danger but it was too late for him to retract his hand.
Slash!!
A spray of cold blood stained the floor and a decapitated aged hand flew into the air.
"Aaaaaah!!!" Another scream of agony rang in the hut.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Instantly, the men wearing dark cloaks rushed into the hut's ceiling, walls, and doors, starting a fight.
Randel, Nathan, and Dio immediately assisted Leon and Eli.
Leon immediately engaged in a fight with the Pope who was now delirious with the pain of having his hand cut off.
He threw countless words of profanities towards Eli and Leon, "You d*Mned mortals! I will see to it that your soul will be food to my powers!"
"B*tch! B*tch! B*tch!!!" Rachana was covered in pain as she could feel her head almost explode with the wave of holy energy running to her body.
Eli did not let her guard down and observed her opponent.
Rachana already threw several mouthfuls of dark purple blood but she was still able to shakily stand up and face Eli.
Her dark midnight eyes gleamed with an eerie light as a tint of blackish purple aura seeped out of her body.
"I will kill you! Kill you!! Kill kill kill!" Without discriminating between enemy and ally, Rachana started to go on a rampage.
She shot dark purple energy bombs everywhere claiming the lives of almost half of their men. Luckily for Leon and the rest, they were quite an expert in fighting in such chaos that they were able to dodge the attacks.
As for Eli, she was doing her best to dodge the attacks and cast a counterattack with her holy powers.
Whenever her holy powers intercepted Rachana's energy ball, a violent shockwave would hit both parties, causing Eli to also sustain injuries.
'It seems like she was really a tough opponent.' Eli realized that her powers were only barely stronger than hers.
Also, from her perspective, Rachana's power was bizarre.
The blackish-purple aura of her powers tells Eli that it was not an ordinary power.
Something in it was mixed, and Eli found it a great mystery.
Especially during the clash, she felt like she was not facing a curse user who wields the powers opposite hers, but a mix of both, making her pure holy power twice less efficient as she expected it to be.
Even so, she knew that it was not time for her to try to think of a way to defeat the Fake Paladin.
Eli immediately scanned the surroundings and saw that the trio was already almost done with finishing the other men.
Leon on the other hand has been holding off the Pope to ensure that he could not come to rescue the Fake Paladin. The Pope was caught off guard in the first place and so, his attacks were not a threat to Leon.
The only thing Leon needed to think of was to avoid getting touched by the Pope.
As for Rachana, she was struggling to stand and Eli was sure that she was already injured heavily by the surprise attack she did earlier.
And so with one last attempt, she mustered her powers to force Rachana's body to crash heavily on the nearby trees before sending the signal to the four men.
"Go!" She shouted on the battlefield.
Upon hearing the signal, Leon Dio, Nathan, and Randel threw a smoke bomb to cover the entire battlefield with smoke and they immediately ran to the barrier hopping into the portal.
As soon as the portal closed, the barrier also quietly dispersed, making it so that there would be no residual mana traces that can be detected at the point of teleportation. Leon and the crew also deliberately attacked the area with their casting magic to conceal any residual traces.
This would immediately make it look like the traces of mana detected would be associated with their attacks during the battle and not for escape.
As for their game plan to fool the Pope, it is all thanks to Dio's surveillance puppets. Leon had already instructed him even before the commencement of the mission to set up decoy traces of the true paladin's escape.
Fortunately, even though the plan almost failed, it was still used to their benefit.
It took a few minutes for the smoke to disperse. The smoke bomb used by Eli's party was mixed with several ingredients by Kayden, and so the air itself was poisonous to the enemy who did not take the antidote beforehand.
"Find them! They should not be able to run that far!" The Pope looked at the mess around and his bleeding arm, he gritted his teeth and ordered the surviving men to commence the chase.
"Contact the men left in the Villa! Search the entire place and even the nearby territory! Let's see where those wretched people could hide!"
On the other hand, Eli's party immediately arrived at their original rendezvous station. They were all panting when they finally got out of the portal.
"Huh… I'm glad we made it back alive…" Nathan looked at everyone and commented with great relief.
"Yes, it is such a relief…" Eli answered but at the next moment, she felt the world around her darken and flipped upside down.
"Eli!!!" The men shouted in alarm.