Looking at Christina, who was immobilized and disarmed, Nino thought that no matter how formidable this Knight Princess was, she was now going to have to take a serious beating from her magic, right?
Nino’s gaze was serious and full of confidence as she quickly analyzed the situation in front of her.
This little frost mage had been chanting for ages; no matter what, she wanted to see some results from her offense, dammit!
But what Nino didn’t know was that Christina’s strength went far beyond this.
The Knight Princess removed the cross necklace engraved with the Parricio family crest hanging around her fair, swan-like neck. She wrapped it around the fingers of her right hand. Suddenly, a beam of light descended from the sky, shining directly upon her. The light gathered in the palm of her right hand, seeming ready to erupt at any moment.
“Have faith in the holy light!” Christina calmly uttered the necessary chant for this skill.
[Parricio Family Inheritance: Blessing of the Round Table Knight]!
The subsequent barrage of ice spike attacks and the hail strikes carried by the blizzard spell were all completely blocked by the wall of holy light surrounding Christina.
This was also an inheritance of the Parricio family, capable of 100% spell blocking. It could only be used once every twenty-four hours, but it was powerless against super-tier magic.
“O Sword of Justice, heed my call, return!”
The Knight Princess called out to the Sword of Justice, which had long since left her hand. The back of her right hand emitted a flickering light—this was the Sword of Justice responding to her.
The treasured sword floated in the air and instantly returned to Christina’s hand. She swung the sword, shattering the frost binding her lower body, and immediately cleared away all the previous dangers and obstacles.
So, did she cheat or not?!
Nino, utterly dumbfounded, was at her wit’s end. There was no more time for her to chant a new large-scale spell. She knew very well that Elliris had already entered the trial ground, and the Knight Princess’s current primary target was herself. Perhaps using a teleportation scroll to escape wasn’t a bad strategy.
Even if she ran away, Christina probably wouldn’t continue her rampage against Catherine and the other subordinates. After this analysis, Nino’s hand was already prepared to pull out a teleportation scroll.
“I must eliminate the witch… I must…” Christina, who seemed completely bewitched, raised the Sword of Justice, holding it overhead with both hands. Her next attack was aimed at the trial ground entrance of the Sela Temple.
“How could this be?! If she attacks that…!” Nino truly hadn’t expected that the controlled Christina would actually want to destroy the trial ground entrance. Nino also knew exactly what the Knight Princess’s current starting posture meant.
That stance was exactly the same as the one she used when fighting Uncle Marcus in the Tanatzk Underground Level 7.
No!! If the entrance is destroyed, Sister Ell will never be able to come out!
Nino instantly recognized the crisis. She bit her lip hard, glancing sideways at the Knight Princess. She could only hurriedly activate her magic now, trying to interrupt the attack as quickly as possible.
Christina’s eyes widened slightly. The Sword of Justice in her hand shone with dazzling brilliance in the wind. A violent holy energy spread out from her center, pushing everyone nearby away like a strong gale.
Nino wanted to activate [Ice Spike Rainstorm], but Christina’s sword aura interrupted her first…
[Parricio Family Inheritance: Dawn Slash]!
“Sister Ell!! No!” Nino’s tears instantly burst forth. Seeing the trial ground entrance before her destroyed by such a powerful sword beam, she collapsed powerlessly to the ground, naturally falling into a ‘seiza’ sitting position.
“Sister Ell… It’s Nino’s fault, wuwu… Nino didn’t protect you…” Knowing the situation was hopeless, Nino’s tears kept falling uncontrollably as she wiped them away with both hands.
…
“Hehe~ Don’t worry, Nino, I’m already back~ Don’t cry… A big string of snot is about to fall out.” A familiar, warm hand patted Nino’s back, comforting her. That feeling was all too familiar to Nino.
“Wah! Sister Ell!! When did you come out?!” Nino, her eyes rimmed red, turned her head with a stunned expression, then stopped crying and started laughing instead.
“Silly~ I’ve already passed the trial, you see how worried you were. It’s fine now, leave the rest to me.”
Elliris’s gaze was sharp, her eyes revealing a firmness she didn’t have before participating in the trial. Nino watched her, almost entranced. She truly felt that this elder sister was vastly different from before.
In fact, Elliris really couldn’t come out directly from the trial ground entrance. The goddesses could only teleport her to a place not far from the entrance, which happened to be close to Nino.
Christina, who had used two family-exclusive skills in a row, was panting heavily, showing how much she had expended.
“Finally… it’s over! I… did it!” For some reason, she felt a sense of great vengeance accomplished, making the Knight Princess’s tone full of relief.
“What exactly did you do?? Destroying a God Race relic just like that, shouldn’t I, on behalf of Goddess Phebeilia, demand proper compensation from you?” Elliris, standing not far away, couldn’t hold back any longer and angrily rebuked Christina.
“You! How can you still be out?” Christina was dumbstruck. She couldn’t believe how the witch in her eyes had managed to escape the trial ground.
“I don’t want to waste words with you now. You seem quite exhausted, so let me give you a little rest~”
Elliris, with a smile like a flower and a gentle, considerate tone, now had a clear course of action. A hint of a mischievous smile played on her lips. Elegant yet scheming—that was probably her current state.
[Light Bind]!
Countless threads of light emerged from her palm, instantly shooting towards Christina. Faced with such powerful suppression, the Knight Princess was probably in for a hard time.
“You! Mmmph…” Elliris didn’t bother with further talk. Deciding to go all the way, she directly activated the Divine Mark on her forehead, using a large number of light threads to wrap Christina up like a human-shaped rice dumpling and silencing her.
She had asked Goddess Phebeilia; her proficiency with [Light Bind] wasn’t high enough yet to evolve it into [Holy Light Chains].
However, [Light Bind] had absolute suppression against enemies of a lower level. With Elliris now at level 65 and the Knight Princess only at level 60, it was a complete mechanism overpower.
“Mmph! Mmmph mmmph!”
Christina, utterly unable to break free, actually still tried to struggle. Elliris seemed to have grown devil horns on her head—at least, that’s how it looked to Nino…
Elliris increased her mana output, making the light threads even more solid and tight.
Christina’s muffled protests disappeared, replaced by pitiful, faint gasps from the discomfort of being unable to move.
Coming out of the trial ground, Elliris had her previous alchemical potions back. She rummaged through her alchemical tools and finally found what she wanted.
[Soul-Dazing Incense]~
“Come on, come on, Your Excellency. Take a whiff. Just a little bit is enough to make you feel so good you can’t breathe!” Elliris opened the lid of the Soul-Dazing Incense vial and shoved it right under the Knight Princess’s nose. A dark, mischievous smile spread across her face, making Nino shiver behind her.
Next came the part everyone loves to see—the female knight’s defeat scene…