Talent: Town Evil Gale

Declan had already stealthily approached the target location. With a thunderous crash of shattering earth and stone, his dragon claws violently burst from the ground, cleaving the humanoid figure sitting cross-legged in the cave in two with a single strike.

"What is going on? Level Nine?" Declan's shocked voice echoed within their souls. "No, this is an undead!"

Before the words had even faded, ten chilling energy fluctuations erupted within a hundred-meter radius around Declan. Clearly, he had been quietly surrounded.

"It's a Necromancer! Get out of here!" Barn urged in a hurry.

In Gobada, if one were to ask which type of Sanctuary powerhouse held the greatest advantage, it would undoubtedly be the Necromancer.

They do not need to maintain magic power within their bodies, requiring only the most basic sustenance; the summoning of undead requires only spiritual energy, which can be rapidly recovered through meditation. More importantly, no matter how heavy the casualties among their summoned undead, it causes no direct harm to the Necromancer themselves.

This means that a Necromancer can maintain peak combat power for long periods with minimal food, and can remain in a safe position during battle, making it extremely difficult for them to suffer fatal injuries. They can be said to possess every advantage of terrain and the rules of combat.

Declan dared not linger, immediately casting an earth-tunneling technique to dive deep downward before breaking out at full speed in one direction. Barn did not rush to rescue him blindly; he had great confidence in Declan's stealth and tunneling abilities.

However, just as Declan was about to break through the encirclement, a long-lurking magical beast suddenly erupted from his escape route. Its ferocious fangs, like the gaping maw of an abyss, blocked his path firmly.

"What the hell is this! A shark?" Declan's voice, filled with shock and rage, entered Barn's mind.

Barn hesitated no longer, drawing his long spear, Mist Hidden, and diving headlong into the ground.

Relying on his newly comprehended Round Soft Profound Mystery, a dense layer of water-attribute battle qi swirled around Barn, pushing all the earth and stone obstructing his path to the sides. His tunneling speed was a full two times faster than before.

With Barn's appearance, the undead originally preparing to close in on Declan immediately split off five units, turning back rapidly to intercept this suddenly intruding enemy.

"Declan, how are you?" Barn asked anxiously.

"I'm fine. It's a magical beast! Shark-like, and its strength is not weak!" For a creature to be evaluated by Declan as "not weak," it was clear the opponent had already placed significant pressure on him.

Barn understood immediately; this was clearly a trap set by a Necromancer and his magical beast. But he had no choice now; he had to rescue Declan from the encirclement: "Hold on."

The undead's movement speed underground was far inferior to Barn's. Relying on the speed advantage of a Tiger-pattern Warrior, he made a sharp turn and charged straight toward the undead on the very edge.

When the two sides closed to within ten meters, the soil layer was forcibly pushed aside by the powerful shockwaves erupted by the two Sanctuary powerhouses. Only then did Barn see his opponent clearly—it was a Sanctuary Undead Skeleton, its entire skeleton shimmering with a diamond-like luster; it was a Sanctuary-level Skeleton King.

The Sanctuary Skeleton, holding a bone blade, was clearly stunned for a moment upon seeing Barn's half-human, half-tiger form, evidently shocked by the Tiger-pattern Warrior's appearance.

But the surprise lasted only an instant. The Skeleton King immediately raised its bone blade, attempting to entangle Barn to buy time for its companions to provide support.

Yet, it had severely underestimated Barn's strength. The moment it raised its blade, Barn unleashed the full speed of a Tiger-pattern Warrior. Under the influence of the Round Soft Profound Mystery, the resistance of the surrounding air and flying grit was reduced to the absolute minimum.

The cold glint of the spear Mist Hidden transformed into a meteor. It paused only for a split second before the Sanctuary Skeleton, then continued at undiminished speed, drilling back into the soil behind it.

It was not until Barn had departed that the soul fire within the Sanctuary Skeleton's skull finally realized what had happened and dissipated with a boom.

"Boom, boom—"

The aftermath of the battle between Declan and the shark-like magical beast became increasingly clear. Barn could already feel the violent aura of destruction radiating from the opponent—clearly, this was a Destruction Attribute magical beast.

"Hiss—!" With a sharp, ear-piercing shriek pouring into his ears, Barn finally broke through the rock wall and saw the two beasts locked in combat.

Declan was already covered in blood. It was hard to imagine that the opponent's attack power was so formidable that it could inflict such injuries on a Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, a creature renowned for its defense and speed, in such a short time.

The opposing magical beast was faring no better, its blood staining the ground red. Just as Declan had said, it was a ferocious shark with blue-black skin, bony fins, and a maw filled with fangs like an abyss—evidently, a powerful magical beast from the deep sea.

The Ferocious Shark was completely unaffected by moving underground, circling and charging as if it were in its natural element, the sea. Declan, relying on the innate talents of a Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, constantly shifted and dodged in small areas, his dragon claws and tail seizing every opportunity to launch counterattacks.

The shockwaves from the battle between the two Sanctuary magical beasts had pushed the soil in the area to the surroundings, forming a massive hollow.

Seeing this, Barn did not hesitate. Wielding Mist Hidden, he charged straight toward the Ferocious Shark.

The speed of a Tiger-pattern Warrior was unrivaled in the Yulan Continent, and even among the Sanctuary powerhouses of Gobada, it was considered second to none. The terrifying speed left the shark with nowhere to hide, and the sharpness of the Divine Artifact Mist Hidden made its pride-and-joy fish-skin defense as fragile as tofu.

"Agh—!"

The severely wounded Ferocious Shark let out a miserable howl, but instead of retreating, it became even more violent.

Just as Barn was about to join forces with Declan to finish off this formidable enemy, a thin, small figure burst out of the ground from a corner. That withered hand gripped a short staff and pointed it toward Barn from afar.

A pale green light suddenly shot out. Barn intended to dodge, but Declan, who was not lightly injured, was right behind him; he had no choice but to grit his teeth and take the blow head-on.

"Ugh—"

With a muffled groan, the pale green light sank directly into his body.

Above his soul sea, the green light condensed into an arrow, piercing straight toward his spear-shaped soul.

However, Barn was a Soul Mutator; his soul was far stronger and more solid than an ordinary person's. His spear-shaped soul suddenly shone with brilliant light, and that soul arrow dissolved rapidly, like residual ice exposed to the midday sun.

Barn opened his eyes abruptly and pointed his left hand as well. Ice-blue magic power surged out, condensing into three Ice Javelins in mid-air, which shot toward the shadows in the corner.

He did not have deep research into water-element magic, and with only the strength of a Holy Magus, he could only instantly cast the Level Four magic, Ice Javelin. However, when a Level Four spell is driven by the magic power of a Holy Magus, its might is already comparable to the magic of an Eighth-Level Magician, enough to injure a Sanctuary Necromancer.

The opponent clearly had not expected that a Sanctuary Warrior could take his long-prepared soul curse head-on. But a Necromancer could not be without an Undead Guardian. The withered figure retreated rapidly, and a massive Sanctuary Bone Dragon instantly blocked the path in front of him.

"Clang, clang, clang."

The defensive power of the Sanctuary Bone Dragon was already comparable to a Sanctuary Giant Dragon. The Ice Javelins struck the bone dragon, leaving only a few shallow white marks.

"A Necromancer Holy Magus dares to get so close to a Tiger-pattern Warrior!"

Barn raised his spear, and a layer of murderous white-gold light suddenly swirled around his body, rapidly dispersing the residual power of the Necromancer Holy Magus's curse.

The Town Evil Gale—the innate talent of the Tiger-pattern Warrior, or rather, the Divine Beast White Tiger.

Unlike the Azure Light of the Azure Dragon Family that protects the soul, the innate talent of the White Tiger Family is called the "Town Evil Gale." It can form a golden light domain around the body, capable of dispersing the vast majority of negative effects such as curses, poisons, freezing, binding, and mental interference, while also weakening enemy attacks.

Relying on this talent, Tiger-pattern Warriors are almost immune to control-type magic cast by Holy Magi, and their speed makes the attack-type magic of Holy Magi difficult to land.

Therefore, Tiger-pattern Warriors are known in the Yulan Continent as the "Nemesis of Holy Magi."