Three Fools Sent Flying

Bai Xiaowen had previously used his Insight skill to examine these seven Divine Statue —spending over ten thousand Psionic Points on it! It was quite a painful expense, but now was not the time to save that money.

He knew that the Divine Colossus possessed an aura technique that could seal off space.

[Spatial Lock Aura: A unique skill of the Divine Colossus, sealing off a large area of space. Under the aura's influence, any teleportation items will be rendered ineffective.]

A Divine Colossus guarded the entrance to the stone steps, preventing people from escaping the Bright Pass along the steps.

"Xiao Wen, the space is sealed off, Richard and the other two can't leave either, right?" Li Shuyi said.

"It shouldn't be that bad," Bai Xiaowen shook his head and said. "First of all, the Spatial Lock Aura prohibits teleportation items, but our Awakened Ones' 'free return' after completing the main quest does not involve using items, so it shouldn't be restricted. Moreover, free return is a privilege granted to Awakened Ones by the Spirit Realm Rules, and its priority should be the highest value in the current plane of the world. Even if the Spatial Lock Aura prohibits all spatial teleportation abilities, it will not affect free return."

"So now we..."

"Let's move. Target Richard's trio. Put more pressure on them, forcing them to use their Free Return Authority to escape the Aaron Plane," Bai Xiaowen said.

"Good."

Li Shuyi rushed forward and quickly approached Richard, thrusting her twin swords at once.

Enraged, Richard drew his two-handed greatsword from behind his back to Block Li Shuyi's attack, shouting, "You wretched woman, are you insane?"

Bang!

A bullet whizzed past in the distance. Richard sensed it, but with Li Shuyi entangled with him, he was unable to break free. He shifted his body slightly and was hit in the shoulder by the bullet, blood splattering everywhere.

Richard's expression changed. Bai Xiaowen's shot had just taken away half of his Life Value!

After reviewing the combat logs, Richard screamed in horror in the Team Channel, "What kind of monster is this? Not only is its Critical Hit damage so high, but it also deals true damage! Are Earth's native Intermediate Awakened really this powerful?"

"Demon Cutter! Go help." The Awakened One's Holy Word were largely rendered useless by the Sluggishness Aura, leaving him with no choice but to place his hopes on Demon Cutter.

Demon Cutter, carrying the Holy Casket, became the primary target of the Divine Colossus 'Divine Colossus attack! He frantically dodged their attacks, leaping and bounding like a flea carrying a heavy load, hissing, "Help me... hold the Holy Casket!"

"Good!"

As soon as Holy Word took the Holy Casket from Demon Cutter's hand, the surrounding Divine Colossus focused their "gaze" on him, their terrifying Overawing Presence almost tangible.

Holy Word tore open a "Levitation" scroll, minimizing his weight. Although his movement speed was reduced somewhat by the Holy Frost Aura, under the effect of the Levitation, with each step Holy Word took, he "floated" forward a considerable distance like a master of light footwork, managing to barely evade the pursuit of the Divine Colossus for a time.

Boom! The voice of the sixth Divine Colossus roared like thunder, "Purify!"

A blazing white Purification Aura suddenly unfolded.

The Levitation effect on Holy Word was completely purified and removed, and his movements became sluggish again. What terrified Holy Word even more was that the negative effect of the "Purification Aura" on him was that it continuously removed his buffs!

"... Richard!"

Without the buffs, and given that Holy Word is a weak, Mental Specialty Awakened being, it's incredibly difficult for him to dodge the onslaught of the Divine Colossus while being slowed by the Holy Frost Aura!

Richard, who was being attacked by Li Shuyi, nodded slightly with a gloomy expression.

The Holy Word breathed a sigh of relief.

Two massive stone swords, carrying heavy wind pressure, cleaved down, but Holy Word's figure vanished from the spot. He had already used his Free Return Permission to leave the Aaron Plane World.

The Sealed Holy Coffer, originally held by Holy Word, will not be taken away by him since Holy Word does not have "ownership" of it, and it floats alone in place.

All seven Sealing Incantation were burning, varying in length, with the fastest one already more than halfway burned. The slowest Sealing Incantation, however, had only burned to about a quarter of its original length because the linked Divine Colossus had not activated its aura skill and thus suffered less damage.

Bai Xiaowen immediately notified Li Shuyi through the Team Channel:

"Don't take the Sealed Holy Coffer. If Richard wants it, let him take it, and take the opportunity to stab him a couple more times."

Li Shuyi nodded, completely focused on her fight with Richard, and didn't ask why.

Actually, it's quite simple; Bai Xiaowen has already seen through the Divine Colossus's modus operandi.

The highest priority target among these seven colossi is the life form "holding the Holy Casket".

The next priority attack sequence is for life forms that have "contacted the Holy Casket".

The third attack sequence consists of life forms "existing in the Bright Pass".

Therefore, Richard's trio, despite their formidable strength, ended up in such a sorry state, with one member being expelled! They had become the targets of the Divine Colossus.

Now that the Holy Casket is unclaimed, the Divine Colossus's targets have shifted once again, turning their Richard and Demon Cutter, who had previously come into contact with the Holy Casket.

As for Goliya, although she had also come into contact with the Holy Casket, she was no longer a "living being" in the strict sense. The power of light and death clashed within her, causing her body to stiffen and even lose the ability to scream. All that remained was the excruciating pain of being worse than dead, intertwined with the regret of being deceived and betrayed.

This saved her from being targeted by the Divine Colossus —as a non-living being, Goliya was selectively ignored by the Divine Colossus.

On the other side, when Demon Cutter rushed towards Bai Xiaowen, trying to get close, he also failed.

The Holy Frost Aura and the Truth Aura both helped Bai Xiaowen, reducing Demon Cutter's pride and joy by a significant amount and preventing him from using stealth! As a ranged attacker, Bai Xiaowen was only slightly affected, and he could maintain the Desert Eagle's burst fire Suppression.

Even if Demon Cutter close, Bai Xiaowen's Combat Specialty has been trained to level 7, so he definitely won't be at a disadvantage.

But Demon Cutter couldn't take it anymore. Behind him, three Divine Colossus strode forward, their steps heavy and pounding! Although the Divine Colossus's agility was only 30 and their pace was slow, each of their steps was equivalent to ten of Demon Cutter's steps. They quickly caught up and their stone giant swords crashed down.

The Earthquake, and shockwaves spread outwards. Bai Xiaowen and Demon Cutter scrambled to dodge—due to its enormous size, the Divine Colossus's normal attacks already possessed some characteristics of area-of-effect damage, and the stone greatsword's swings were indiscriminate, forcing Bai Xiaowen to dodge as well.

In this chaotic situation, Bai Xiaowen's advantage in long-range shooting became apparent. In the gaps between rolling and dodging, he could often use the Divine Colossus as cover to shoot at Demon Cutter! Demon Cutter, on the other hand, found it extremely difficult to bypass the Divine Colossus's attacks and engage Bai Xiaowen in close combat.

It's as if three Divine Colossus have become the main tanks (MTs) standing in front of Bai Xiaowen, protecting his output... Although they are MTs that attack indiscriminately, Bai Xiaowen's survivability is stronger than Demon Cutter's, and he has a significant advantage as a ranged attacker.

Demon Cutter took several bullets in quick succession, the pain excruciating. If Bai Xiaowen hadn't also had his attack speed reduced by the Holy Frost Aura, his situation would have been even worse.

On the other side of the battlefield.

The battle between Li Shuyi and Richard also unfolded amidst the chaos of being surrounded and attacked by three Divine Colossus. Both were melee fighters, and neither could gain an advantage. Moreover, due to the effects of the Sluggishness Aura and the Despair Aura, neither of them was willing to use their skills to avoid excessive damage and long cooldown times.

However, during the battle, Li Shuyi secretly set up a "Strangle Trap"—an additional skill of her Gold Equipment, Basha's Entanglement, which does not require Divine Might.

In a moment of disarray, Richard stepped into a trap. Instantly, the ghostly phantom of the giant python Basha roared and coiled around him, inflicting damage and Imprisonment Richard in place.

Richard had already used up his chance to break free from control effects when fighting the Deep Freeze effect of the "Holy Frost Aura"—as a key target of the Divine Colossus, if Richard couldn't break free from the several seconds of hard control from Deep Freeze, no matter how strong he was, he would be taught a lesson by the Divine Colossus's terrifying 100 points of power.

Therefore, Richard was unable to escape the Strangle Trap.

"Collapse!"

The stone greatsword swung horizontally, and Richard was thrown far away as if he had been hit by a train engine.

This terrifying knockback effect has nothing to do with any skill; it's entirely caused by the Divine Colossus's normal attack. Of course, the fact that it can produce such an exaggerated skill-like effect is related not only to its 100 points of strength but also to its size.

Richard's Life Value plummeted. The other two Divine Colossus also pursued him, slashing down with their greatswords, one horizontal and one vertical.

Fortunately Richard's strength was also very high. His body, which had been stiff in mid-air, regained its mobility. He gritted his teeth and shot out a chain, which caught on a stalactite pillar. He shot out and narrowly escaped the giant's pursuit.

"Trial."

At this moment, the seventh and final Divine Colossus finally activated its unique skill:

The Judgment Aura!

[Judgment Aura: A unique skill of the Divine Colossus, subjecting enemies within a large area to judgment and Repentance for their sins. Every 10 seconds, enemies affected by the Judgment Aura will undergo a random attribute check; if the check fails, they will be trapped in Repentance State for 3 seconds.]

While in a "Repentance State," one is unable to perform any actions, which is equivalent to a fear effect. Being injured can wake one up—of course, no one wants to be "awakened" by the stone greatsword of the Divine Colossus, as the price would be far too high.

The first judgment effect after the aura was activated fell on Richard, and unfortunately, he encountered a "mental attribute check"!

Richard's four attributes were all bad, with Spirit being the lowest and Agility the next... This first Judgment effect forced him to "Repentance," and he knelt on the spot, leaning on his greatsword. Above his head, in addition to the eye pattern of the Truth Mark, a small, floating hammer phantom appeared...

The gavel represents the authority of the Justice Court, and at this moment Richard is the sinner of that Justice Court...

The Divine Colossus didn't care about any of that; it raised three giant stone swords high.

"Walk!"

Richard roared in the Team Channel, his voice filled with deep resentment! How much had he sacrificed for the Death God's Hand Bone? How many favors had he incurred? Now, all his efforts were for naught. Even as an important member of the Quill Family, the cost of mission failure was still an unbearable burden for him!

Bang! Bang bang!

Three massive, solid swords cleaved the open ground, creating deep cracks in the rocky landscape! Richard's figure, however, slowly faded and disappeared.

"Dio... damn bastard, if this were a different battlefield, my team could easily Massacre you ten times over! Don't let me ever run into you again!" Richard's roar echoed endlessly in the underground space.

"Goodbye and don't come back." Bai Xiaowen said softly in the direction where Richard and Demon Cutter disappeared.

Richard's squad is indeed incredibly powerful. All three members are Hero Class and have even mastered a powerful skill that seems to be called an "Awakening Skill"! In terms of raw strength, Richard to Bai Xiaowen's Elite Tier squad.

However, the competition in the Spirit Realm is not just about who has the highest stats or the strongest skills; there are also all sorts of variables! Only awakened individuals who can maximize the use of these variables and have enough strength to support their strategies will ultimately emerge victorious.

Richard's team was expelled, but Bai Xiaowen's team couldn't be said to have had the last laugh.

After "eliminating" the targets that had come into contact with the Holy Casket, the seven Divine Colossus, like tireless giants, have turned their attacks on the remaining life forms in the underground space!

"Dio! Why are you in such a hurry to drive away the fake prince and his companions? With the three of them drawing the colossus's attention, we still have a chance to survive!" Glandis's voice rang out, tinged with exasperation.

At this moment, Lady Glandis Grandis of the Northern Frontier was indeed in a very sorry state. As a high-level spellcaster, she was completely Hero Tier under the blockade of the Sluggishness Aura, and even dodging the attacks of the Divine Colossus was difficult.

Fortunately, she had a loyal protector— the Sword Saint Carlisle.

Carlisle was clearly Agility Specialty; carrying Glandis on his back and protected by the Holy Frost Aura, he was still able to dodge the attacks of the Divine Colossus time and again.

Bai Xiaowen had observed carefully that Carlisle's movement speed was limited and he didn't run very fast, but at the moment the greatsword fell, he could suddenly burst out, his figure instantly shifting a short distance to the side, so fast that he almost left Afterimage, dodging the greatsword's swing, which was amazing.

If there's anything regrettable, it's that Glandis's hair was disheveled and her clothes were in disarray due to the repeated acceleration and stopping of her movements, making her lose all the majesty of the Northern Frontier Highlord.

"Hmm, Carlisle's got some tricks up his sleeve..."

Bai Xiaowen secretly admired him. This frequent acceleration and deceleration... with a beautiful woman behind him, it was practically like enjoying a BO push service. The pleasure was indescribable, and only experienced motorcycle/bicycle/electric scooter drivers would understand and smile knowingly.

Bai Xiaowen's wicked thoughts didn't last long. At this moment, the attacks from the seven Divine Colossus had lost their priority and were indiscriminately targeting the nearest targets. He and Li Shuyi were also among those being attacked, and the battle was tense.

Hearing Glandis still nagging on and on, Bai Xiaowen sighed.

"Don't worry... Your Highness, we can still survive."

One more chapter is coming, I'm writing it now.