“What is that thing?”
“Is it some kind of special equipment? It looks like a wreath of grass?”
“That beastman nun can draw a sword from thin air, and now she’s putting on a hat from thin air?”
“Just how many different abilities does this beastman saint have that we don’t know about?”
Inside the Adventurer’s Guild indoor duel arena, the spectators were buzzing with discussion, faced with yet another completely incomprehensible ability.
Only one person in the entire arena could see through the anomaly on Niubao, and that was the Pale Witch of Transgression, Bemore.
“Heh, is it coming?” Bemore chuckled softly.
This was that woman’s classic magic ritual, one she used frequently even back in the Continental Mages Academy days. It had stunned everyone back then too, even making the magic tutors exclaim in amazement, “How can there be someone like this?”
Now, this special ritual, even at half its full power, was enough to scare these southern adventurers out of their wits.
“As expected, only I can defeat you,” Bemore muttered coldly to herself.
Others saw her talking to herself and thought she was a weirdo.
—
Dark-colored plants materialized out of thin air above the beastman nun’s head, twisting and weaving into a crown covered in thorns.
“?” Red Ghost was full of doubt, but she didn’t overthink it, her crimson great tachi sweeping out in a horizontal slash.
At the critical moment, a shield appeared once more around the beastman nun’s body. It wasn’t a light shield, but a layer of deep red shield.
The slash hit it, and the sensation was like cleaving into soft, rubbery gel—abnormally tough. The blade sank deep into the red shield but couldn’t break through, instead seeming to get stuck.
If a light shield was a pane of bulletproof glass, then a magic shield was a wall of soft rubber, its thickness determined by the caster’s magic power.
The fact that Red Ghost’s slash could cut into it at all was a result of her blood qi enhancement. Without the blood qi, she wouldn’t have been able to budge this layer at all.
Even though it’s often said that “qi” is born to break shields, whether one can actually break a shield ultimately depends on strength.
What level was Samimi’s shield?
The demon-hunting nun’s magic shield, like those of frost mages and mountain mages, belonged to the highest grade of protection.
Even the explosions of an ordinary fire mage couldn’t break my shield. You two tachi swordsmen, just dabbling in a bit of blood qi, think you can slash through my “Thorn Entanglement”? That’s sheer fantasy!
You physical battle aura brats can only hack away at low-level shields like a fire mage’s fire shield or a thunder mage’s lightning shield.
Samimi casually commented while sipping her tea.
The beautiful referee beside her was utterly dumbfounded, her hand trembling and spilling hot tea, which dripped onto Samimi’s head, scalding her scalp.
“!!”
At the same moment, the golden sword and the paladin sword instantly slashed out from within the deep red shield, as if slicing through water, meeting no resistance at all.
Red Ghost was horrified. She hastily drew her wakizashi, facing the two swords with her two blades.
But this time, Niubao’s strength and speed had increased dramatically. Red Ghost had been known for her strength since childhood and had never lost in a contest of raw power, yet now she was being forced back step by step.
“You—!”
She knew the other party had some kind of enhancement amplification, but being overpowered in strength by a “cow” still infuriated her to the extreme.
Niubao didn’t speak, her twin swords continuing their relentless pressure.
“Argh!” Red Ghost’s arms went numb, but she still gritted her teeth and held on, refusing to retreat.
The twin heroes’ tactics continued. With Niubao held up by Red Ghost, Blue Ghost could quickly sheathe her sword and launch another quick-draw strike from behind.
However, her blade was also caught in the deep red shield, utterly unable to cut in, even more annoying than the previous light shield.
Moreover, this bizarre shield showed no signs of dissipating. Its energy was stable and sustained, maintained over a long duration, unlike the light shield which shattered on contact and had cooldown limitations.
Even more terrifying was that the beastman nun could completely abandon defense. Her twin swords no longer needed to block horizontally or vertically; she could directly charge forward, unleashing a series of thrusts.
“Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!” Blades and swords collided incessantly.
Her center was wide open. Under normal circumstances, she would have been gutted by a single slash long ago, but Red Ghost simply didn’t dare to attack—she couldn’t break the shield!
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!” Sword light poured down like rain.
The offense and defense had completely reversed. Red Ghost could only desperately block with her twin blades. But she was clearly not skilled in such defensive swordplay. The great tachi was even less suited for close-quarters blocking. She could only rely on her wakizashi to barely hold on, still being forced to retreat repeatedly.
And her mentality was starting to crumble—even with her sister joining forces and unleashing their crimson battle aura, they still couldn’t defeat this beastman nun?
This was actually quite normal. In traditional settings, the oni race were beings of great strength, easily angered and brutal, often not very high in sanity.
Niubao was completely different. She was a top-tier combatant with maxed-out sanity, showing no emotional fluctuations no matter the attack, and firmly trusting the pastor behind her, allowing her to fight without any reservations.
The most shocked ones were actually the elite adventurers watching the fight.
The strength of the young pastor and the beastman nun far exceeded their expectations. Especially since earlier, the beastman nun kept displaying various incomprehensible “invincible abilities.”
There weren’t many magic users present, so no one could provide a professional commentary. It wasn’t like before, surrounded by people who understood.
For southern adventurers, magic was like southerners in the real world seeing snow—if you didn’t go out and experience it yourself, you might never witness it in a lifetime.
As for why magic users were so scarce? The reason was simple—young mages were almost all monopolized and trained by the Continental Mages Academy.
“…”
Blue Ghost was also sweating profusely.
She glanced toward the corner of the duel arena and saw Samimi hopping around from the scalding, completely unaware that danger was approaching.
At this point, there was no more room for chivalry.
Blue Ghost understood clearly that if they didn’t take out that pastor first, this fight was impossible to win.
She had underestimated these two saints, thinking the twin heroes were invincible together, but today they were the ones being taught a lesson.
But it was too late for regrets now. As long as they cut down that blonde pastor, they would still be the number one doubles team!
All pity vanished from Blue Ghost’s eyes as she burst forth at full speed. Where she passed, only a red-and-blue afterimage remained in the air.
“Hey, move away a bit! You don’t have to pour tea on my head just because you’re scared!”
At this very moment, Samimi was complaining while casually pressing her hand against the beautiful referee’s rear, gently pushing her away and taking a little advantage in the process, completely unaware that the crisis had already arrived.