Grand Slam

Freya felt as if she were submerged in ice water, pressed down by an invisible, massive stone, even her breaths carrying a bone-chilling cold.

Her body was completely unresponsive; only her eyeballs could still move futilely, reflecting the fading golden light from her Uncle Baroque beside her.

"No… it shouldn't be like this…" Since childhood, the minstrel's songs and the knights' legends had woven for her one beautiful dream after another of heroes saving the world and justice triumphing over evil.

She had also fantasized countless times about becoming the protagonist in those stories, sword in hand, slaying dragons, and protecting the innocent.

But reality? Reality was that she couldn't even move, only watch helplessly as Uncle Baroque fought valiantly to protect her, and see that terrifying stone monster approach step by step.

"Goddess Sasu…" Freya called out desperately in her heart, praying to her most revered deity of art, beauty, and love, "If you can truly hear the voice of your humble believer, please bestow a miracle! Please send a hero! Just like in the songs, a hero bathed in golden sunlight!"

Perhaps her prayer had touched a passing deity, or perhaps it was merely a coincidence of fate.

Just as the stone statue monster, Agnos, dragging its broken body, was about to reach out its poisonous hand towards her—a black-haired figure abruptly appeared at the edge of the nearby ruins.

The slightly dazzling sunlight shone from behind him, outlining his silhouette with a fuzzy golden halo. Freya couldn't see his face clearly, only the row of dazzling white teeth he revealed when he grinned.

He's here?

The hero… has he really come?

Time rewound slightly.

That earth-shattering explosion, like a depth charge dropped into a calm lake, its sound wave mixed with the tremors of the earth, clearly reached the depths of Agnos's main tomb chamber.

Xia Lin and Sera were facing a stone coffin that had opened a crack on its own.

"Something's happening outside! Quite a commotion!" Xia Lin's ears twitched.

"Mm," Sera's eyes, hidden behind her veil, flickered. "The aura here is unsettling. We shouldn't stay long. Let's go." She urged, seemingly uninterested in any treasures that might be in the stone coffin, wanting only to leave this troublesome place as quickly as possible.

"We've already come this far." Xia Lin's eyes glanced at the open crack of the stone coffin. He reached in, grabbed something, and quickly withdrew his hand.

A ring of ancient design, inlaid with a deep blue gem, lay in his palm.

He immediately activated [Item Appraisal].

[Thousand Faces Cantrip]
[Quality: Excellent]
[Effect: The wearer can designate one cantrip daily, choosing an enhanced effect. This enhanced effect is similar to a metamagic feat. This enhanced effect can be triggered up to 3 times daily.]
[Evaluation: For a warlock, this ring can make your little tricks no longer "little."]

"Invincible! Here, you take it!" Xia Lin's eyes lit up as he saw the stats. Without hesitation, he shoved the ring into Sera's hand. "Put it on quickly, let's go see what's happening outside!"

Sera took the ring, slightly stunned. Seeing Xia Lin's confident gaze, she quickly put it on. A faint arcane energy resonated wonderfully with her own warlock power.

The two wasted no more time and immediately retreated along the original path, heading quickly towards the exit of the tomb.

When they finally navigated the twists and turns, scrambling out of the underground tomb and back to the surface, they were both startled to see the smoke rising from the central area of the graveyard in the distance.

"Looks like there's some serious trouble," Xia Lin wiped the sweat from his forehead, panting heavily.

Sera frowned. "That burst of holy power… and this chaotic arcane energy… It has nothing to do with us. We'd best go around."

Xia Lin looked at the surrounding terrain. The exit of this old graveyard happened to pass through the center of the commotion.

If they were to detour, it would likely take several times longer. Who knew what other troublesome things might emerge from this cursed place.

"Detouring will take too much time," Xia Lin gritted his teeth. "We'll be careful and sneak through slowly. Try not to get involved in their mess." Sera was silent for a moment, then nodded.

Thus, the two silently crept towards the ravaged battlefield.

As they approached, they saw the scene before them: the three people they had encountered earlier lay on the ground. The middle-aged guard's chest was caved in, his life unknown; the unfriendly young man's face was ashen, seemingly lifeless; and the little blonde girl remained, lying like a broken doll, unable to move.

Not far from these three, a battered stone statue of a mage stood silently, covered in cracks. Its left arm was severed at the shoulder, and only half of its right arm remained. A faint blue soul fire flickered in its hollow eye sockets, as if about to extinguish at any moment.

"Just arrived, who's the good guy and who's the bad guy?" Xia Lin asked seriously, looking at the tragic scene.

Sera chuckled at his nonsensical question. "Your sense of humor is still so… unique. But, in my opinion, that stone lump doesn't look like any good sort."

Xia Lin immediately activated [Item Appraisal].

[Ancient Mage Stone Statue (Near Collapse)]
[Status: Energy core severely damaged, structure on the verge of disintegration, soul fire weak.]
[Evaluation: It's like an old computer with a broken cooling fan and a CPU half-fried. It could completely die at any moment.]

"About to die"? Looks like that last blast really did a number on it too." Xia Lin narrowed his eyes and signaled to Sera, "Let's wait a bit longer and see how things develop."

Although they didn't want to cause trouble, beating up a fallen dog was another matter entirely.

The two silently retreated behind a large toppled tombstone and began their "preparations."

"It's a shame I didn't bring a handy mace or a heavy warhammer," Sera said, looking at the stone statue with a hint of regret in her voice. "For dealing with these stone lumps, simple, brute-force physical attacks are the most effective."

Xia Lin chuckled, inverted the long sword in his hand, and gestured towards the stone statue with the pommel. "Isn't this a ready-made hammer? It's a bit light, but as long as the angle and force are right, smashing its stone head should be no problem."

Sera glanced at the sword hilt he was using as a hammer. "A hammer alone isn't enough; we need to add some 'spice' to it."

She pulled a strip of cloth from her wide robe, which hid who knew how many secrets, and asked Xia Lin for a bottle of holy water. She poured the holy water evenly onto the cloth until it was completely soaked.

Then, she carefully wrapped the damp cloth, which exuded a holy aura and a pungent smell, around the metal hilt of Xia Lin's long sword, coil by coil.

Xia Lin took out the reinforced gauntlets he had casually bought at Orlando's blacksmith shop from his space bag and put them on with practiced ease.

Then, he gripped the "hammer-sword" wrapped in a holy water-soaked cloth, took a deep breath, crouched slightly, spread his legs, and struck a standard pose for swinging a bat.

"Ready?" Sera looked at his comical stance, covering her mouth with her hand to suppress a mischievous smile.

"Anytime," Xia Lin grinned, "just waiting for this 'Stone Statue' to wake up from its nap."

Time ticked by, second by second.

The graveyard was silent, with only the rustling of wind through dry branches and the occasional caw of a crow in the distance.

About ten minutes passed, just when Xia Lin was starting to doubt if the Stone Statue had completely kicked the bucket – a faint sound of stone grinding against stone, "Crrrack..."

The Agnos Stone Statue, which had been standing still, suddenly had the faint blue soul fire in its eye sockets flicker violently, then burn intensely!

Its broken head slowly turned, making a "creak" sound, as if searching for something.

Xia Lin activated [Item Appraisal] again.

[Ancient Mage Stone Statue (Energy Depleted)]

[Status: Structural Integrity below 15%, Soul Fire extremely unstable, at the end of its rope.]

[Evaluation: It has awakened, but it is not far from eternal rest.]

"Now!"

Xia Lin suddenly leaped out from behind the tombstone, his "hammer-sword" whistling through the air, striking Agnos's unguarded back of the head at a tricky angle with great force!

Thump--!!! A dull, heavy thud! Like smashing a ripe watermelon!

The back of the statue's head, under the heavy blow of the metal hilt wrapped in holy water-soaked cloth, instantly spiderwebbed with cracks, and large chunks of cracked stone mixed with a black powder emitting a foul odor scattered everywhere!

The dual impact of physical force and divine energy was remarkably effective!

"Wha... who is it..." Agnos's broken head abruptly turned, and in its hollow eye sockets, the two intensely flickering soul fires stared fixedly at Xia Lin.

But strangely, she showed a bewildered yet nostalgic expression at the sudden sneak attack, if a stone statue could make expressions.

She opened her cracked stone lips, seemingly wanting to say something, and uttered a dry syllable: "It's..."

"Don't let her cast!" Sera's cold, urgent voice pierced the air like an arrow.

The silver runes on the ring on her hand suddenly lit up, and a shadow energy, deeper and more condensed than ever before, gathered and compressed in her palm!

An [Eldritch Blast] nearly twice as thick as before shot out, slamming hard into Agnos's already cracked chest!

Boom--!!!

A huge hole was blasted directly into the statue's chest, sending cracked stones flying. The faint blue soul fire flickered violently, almost extinguishing.

Xia Lin didn't hesitate.

He roared, pouring all his strength into the "hammer-sword" in his hand.

"From Toremo's batting zone! Adventurer Xia Lin! A grand slam to clear the bases!!!"

The metal hilt wrapped in holy water-soaked cloth, in an unstoppable grand slam pose, fiercely, precisely, and irresistibly – smashed into Agnos's face, which was only half-intact.

Bang--Crack--!!!

This time, it wasn't a dull thud.

It was like hard ice being shattered by a sledgehammer.

Agnos Stone Statue's already dilapidated head could no longer withstand this devastating blow.

It exploded and shattered instantly, like a target hit head-on by a high-speed projectile.

Countless large and small stone fragments mixed with black powder scattered in all directions.

The largest piece, still carrying a wisp of faint blue soul fire from its hollow eye socket, like a kite with a broken string, spun and flew high, high into the gloomy sky...

Then, like a burnt-out firework, it silently dispersed in mid-air, vanishing into nothingness.

The will of the great mage Agnos, along with her stone body that had housed her for thousands of years, finally met its ultimate, complete demise at the hands of two unknown adventurers, in an almost comical manner.