The wildfires and the storm gradually ceased their howling.
The torn earth and distorted starry sky slowly returned to normal, and under Omili’s mastery of the elements, the world finally quieted down once more.
After the tornado disappeared, Karen and the others fell straight into a pond, but even after climbing ashore, they were still filled with terror.
Karen first glanced around at the mass of trees that had been uprooted, the ground as if it had been plowed over several times, and then looked up at the sky:
“Did… did you see that figure in the sky just now?”
“I saw it too. It was that mage from earlier—she’s actually that powerful!” Anderson replied calmly as he poured the water out of his boots.
“I told you, right? She’s the powerful Elementalist from the Parra Chronicles! Only a Tier Nine expert could have such earth-shattering power!”
Kovado shouted excitedly—this was the first time he had witnessed the might of a high-tier expert.
But now they had a new question—just who was that Tier Nine Elementalist fighting against? Wasn’t she only supposed to have a private chat with the Priestling?
“Buzz—”
At that moment, a flash of white light, and Truth and Omili suddenly teleported right before the three of them, giving them another shock.
It was the Teleportation Skill again!
“I’ll admit you’re quite something, but even so, if you ever encounter danger you have to call me, okay? If you don’t, I won’t go making a big fuss, but…”
Without paying any attention to the three little weaklings nearby, Omili pleaded to Truth on her own, since as a Shadow Guard, it was her duty to protect every Holy Maiden.
If she ever failed, that petty-minded Goddess of Life would surely punish her.
Getting fired was a small matter, but if she wasn’t allowed to interact with the Holy Maidens anymore, that would be a real problem!
“Alright, got it. I’ll definitely call for you when I need you. And remember the promise you made to me, okay?”
Truth replied, and Omili nodded repeatedly, then vanished again with another “buzz”.
She appeared once more in the territory of the Crimson-Backed Centipede.
Without hesitation, Omili crouched down, frowned, and stuffed a few weeds into her mouth.
“How could this be, how could this be…”
Even now, Omili couldn’t believe she’d been defeated by a mere blade of grass.
Truth hadn’t been willing to reveal many details, so she decided to investigate on her own.
But she found nothing—the weeds were just ordinary weeds, bitter and astringent. Still, she wasn’t about to give up so easily.
“Just wait. I’ll find out what’s so special about this gully’s herbal lore. Just how is it so overpowered…”
After some time, the thoroughly soaked Karen and her companions started a fire on a patch of relatively flat ground to warm themselves.
They were deeply curious about Omili and questioned Truth, who merely said that Omili was her bodyguard.
It was completely normal for a young lady to travel with a Tier Nine bodyguard.
“Who would use a Tier Nine expert as a bodyguard?!” Karen shouted with a hint of despair.
Could everything Miss Elis said earlier be true? A Tier Six was just a messenger, a Tier Nine only fit to be a bodyguard?
Wait, are we really living in the same world?
Isn’t a Tier Six enough to become an honored guest of a Medium Family, enjoying a life of luxury, while a Tier Nine could found a Sect, look down on all rivals, and even challenge the Church?
That’s Tier Nine!
“Well, employment pressure’s pretty high these days,” Truth only shrugged.
“Employment pressure…? No way, even a Tier Nine can’t find a good job? Worst case, just become an Adventurer!”
“Uh…” Truth suddenly felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
Karen’s words made Truth feel like a stern elder scolding a grad student: why can others find jobs but you can’t? At worst, you could always deliver food.
To this, Truth could only say she didn’t understand—she wasn’t Tier Nine, after all.
“By the way, there’s something else.”
Anderson suddenly interrupted, not very interested in Omili’s background, since he knew Truth was a Holy Maiden.
But only assigning a single Tier Nine to protect a Holy Maiden felt a bit too simple, didn’t it?
This was a Holy Maiden!
Plus, there were rumors in Wangsheng City that every Holy Maiden had several powerful Shadow Guards hidden in the shadows.
Anderson guessed there must be at least two Tier Nines nearby dedicated to protecting Truth…
But that wasn’t his concern. What he was truly curious about was what had just happened:
“Who was that Tier Nine predecessor fighting just now? Could you… give us a little hint?”
“Oh, you mean that? Sure.” Truth cleared her throat and launched into storyteller mode:
“Ahem, just as my guard and I were negotiating a family business deal worth more than eighty thousand gold coins, a Demonic Sovereign shattered the void and appeared! Without another word, it unleashed a move called ‘Silver Bind,’ attempting to grievously wound us!”
“Demonic Sovereign?”
“That’s just a demon. Anyway, before I could react, my guard swiftly used ‘Wind Barrier’ to block all of the enemy’s flying weapons. Then, with ‘Forward Slash’ and ‘Steel Flash’ combined, she clashed fiercely with the demon!”
“With each movement, it was as if the world was being recreated, chaos filling the air, the river of time itself was cut off, past and future pierced through, a million miles of the void crumbled, and even the stars of the universe seemed destined to turn to dust!”
“What?!”
Karen and the others were left gaping in shock at Truth’s story.
What did she mean, “the river of time was cut off” and “the stars of the universe turned to dust”?
Wasn’t that a little too exaggerated?!
Was that why everything around them had turned into elemental particles?
Truth pointed at the devastation all around and continued:
“My guard and that demon fought all the way to the edge of the universe, stars shattered, the Dao nearly ground away by their struggle. In the end, the demon was no match for my guard and fled in panic, so the world and time could finally be repaired. But what was left was this ruined land, life in ruins, alas…”
“R-really?”
Kovado knew Tier Nine was strong, but he hadn’t imagined they could be this strong!
He didn’t really understand what “universe” and “Dao” meant, but just hearing it sounded incredible.
So even such a powerful senior could only obediently serve as the bodyguard of this wealthy young lady in front of them…
“Why would I lie to you? What good would that do me? And besides, you should really thank my guard. If she hadn’t kindly blown you away to protect you, you’d have ended up buried underground like that big centipede over there!”
When the ground fissures closed, that centipede’s body was caught halfway underground.
In the end, it had to sever its own body to escape, suffering grave injuries, and was still terribly weak.
“So we were saved by your senior guard… Th-thank you…” Karen replied, her face pale.
She hadn’t realized she’d been rescued by a Tier Nine.
How should she feel about this? It stung a little to realize she couldn’t even handle the aftermath of a true expert’s battle.
She knew she was weak, but hadn’t realized just how weak…
“So, are we going?” Truth suddenly cut off Karen’s gloomy thoughts.
“Huh? Going where?”
“To take down that centipede, of course! We can’t pass up this chance while it’s still weak!”
With that, Truth placed her left hand behind her back, pointed two fingers toward the Crimson-Backed Centipede’s position, and sent a streak of blood-red light flying swiftly in that direction!
In the Crimson-Backed Centipede’s territory, just as it was celebrating having survived the disaster unscathed, a red flash suddenly shot toward it without warning!
“Pu!”
The next moment, the red light pierced the Crimson-Backed Centipede’s body, slicing it clean in half, its agonized shrieks echoing through the surroundings:
“Chok chok!”