Amid the prayers, a radiance burst forth behind Paladin Bert Kaul. Within it appeared the shadow of some great being. The Paladin suddenly looked up, glaring at the Barbarian Cavalry with eyes wide, and let out a roar.
The barbarians couldn't make out the Paladin's expression, for golden light poured from his eyes and mouth.
Behind Paladin Bert Kaul, a beam of light pierced the clouds and fell upon Nicholas White's head. The road, which had been bright just moments before, seemed to suddenly darken. Only the two clerics, guided by the gods, had their way illuminated.
A priest and a Paladin personally blessed by the God Emperor! Jeo's heart surged. The God Emperor was watching over the Northwest Territory, and had sent His chosen clerics to save its nobles!
The Paladin suddenly spurred his horse. The white steed became a streak of light, and the Knight appeared before the front rank of barbarians like a fading afterimage. Before they could react, he had already killed two of them.
The last barbarian watched the two ranks ahead of him get sent flying in the blink of an eye. He didn't dare advance and immediately turned to flee. The three barbarians scattered in perfect unison to avoid being wiped out together.
A spear pierced one fleeing barbarian. The Paladin hooked a barbarian's curved blade and sent it flying toward another, then rode toward the third.
The Paladin suddenly put all his strength into his fist and caved in the barbarian's iron armor. But after that punch, Bert Kaul felt as if he were about to collapse from exhaustion.
"So this is Magic Turbulence? It's already this bad just after reaching Bristle-Wolf City. If we enter the Gallop Plains, won't it be..." Bert muttered to himself. Having spent so long in the Holy See and the Imperial Capital, he had underestimated the Gallop Plains' unusual magical environment.
Fighting thirteen Barbarian Cavalry had consumed too much of his Battle Qi. Bert Kaul now didn't dare casually use divine spells or combat techniques.
The farthest barbarian had been wounded in the back by the flying blade, but the Black Horse beneath him was already galloping. Shouting as he rode, he steered his mount around the path and soon disappeared.
Bert Kaul knew he couldn't catch that rider. Although he rarely took part in battles, he understood how important it was for both sides to control the situation. So, when he saw the barbarians, he had tried to kill them all to prevent his squad from being exposed.
Of course, Bert had underestimated Magic Turbulence and overestimated the barbarians' fighting spirit.
In the group behind Bert Kaul, Baron Jeo stared blankly as the Paladin dealt with twelve barbarians in two minutes. For the Human Race, barbarians who were merely physically strong were no real threat.
A single Senior Knight could suppress an entire barbarian force. In the heartland of the Human Race, it went without saying that a few hundred Barbarian Cavalry would be no match for a Legend. Even a thousand, or ten thousand, wouldn't be enough to withstand a single beating.
But the barbarians on the Gallop Plains were protected by powerful Magic Turbulence. That was the greatest obstacle preventing the Human Race's powerful fighters from reclaiming the plains.
For instance, Paladin Bert Kaul's class ranks were Senior Knight and Senior Priest. In other words, Bert Kaul could fight with combat techniques by using the Battle Qi in his body, and he could also cast divine spells through the blessings of the gods.
But all these Transcendent abilities required the body to continuously absorb magical elements from the environment.
A Mana-Wielder's body was like a reservoir of magic. Their muscles, meridians, and blood vessels constantly absorbed the magical elements most compatible with them. As a cleric, Bert could recover Battle Qi and mana more quickly in a Temple or Sacrificial Area.
However, once he neared the Gallop Plains, Magic Turbulence greatly slowed his recovery of Battle Qi.
After using combat techniques repeatedly just now, he was already feeling intense discomfort—a mix of weakness in his muscles and mental exhaustion.
With his Battle Qi depleted and the magical elements in the environment unable to replenish it, the Paladin couldn't fight at full strength for quite some time. For any Transcendent, having too little Battle Qi for a prolonged period could even lead to a loss of rank or a drop in class tier.
The more powerful the class, the more severely Magic Turbulence affected its wielder. Like a finely tuned sieve, Magic Turbulence kept the Human Race's High-Rank Transcendents out of the Gallop Plains.
"Brother, what should I call you?" After the Paladin had dealt with the Barbarian Cavalry, Priest Nicholas White asked Baron Jeo, "I can see that you're injured."
"Why?" The Baron didn't answer the Priest. He just stared blankly at Bert Kaul and muttered, "Why did you only come now?"
The Priest heard him but said nothing. Instead, he dismounted from his white horse. His expression solemn, he quietly recited a prayer, and a warm, white light shone from his body.
Drawn by the light beside him, the Baron turned to look at the Priest. Their eyes met for an instant, and his anguish, resentment, grief, and despair poured out.
The Baron could hold back no longer. Tears rolled down his cheeks, streaked with black mud. "Aaaaah..." he roared, releasing the emotions he had buried after losing his son.
Nicholas also shed tears. Just then, he had cast a divine spell to soothe the Baron's emotions. He hadn't meant to read the Baron's memories, but the Baron's emotions swept those memories straight into Nicholas's mind. "I'm sorry, Baron. We couldn't reach you in time."
"My Winx... he... he didn't even get a funeral..."
"My lord, please take me to the place where your Winx rests. Allow me to conduct his funeral. He sacrificed himself fighting the barbarians for the entire Northwest Territory. We'll inscribe his brave deeds on his tombstone and record them in the annals of the Bristle-Wolf City Temple."
As the Human Race's official religion, the Temple Alliance wasn't the temple or church of any one god. It was a religious alliance of all the gods worshipped by the Human Race. Every recognized god in the alliance held a divine office acknowledged by the Human Race and received official worship from the Human Empire. Not only in the religious capital, the Holy See, but also in every city's temples, shrines, and churches, all the gods worshipped in that region were honored.
These gods included Ancient Gods who had gathered great power within themselves over the course of history, ancient Beast Gods who had won the faith of intelligent beings through their strength in the age of ignorance, and new gods who had attained divine office. All these gods had once appeared in person in Alivia, becoming the most brilliant driving forces in the course of history.
The Temple Alliance was the gods' administrative office in the Human Empire. It honored not only True Gods whose influence extended across the world, but also local Demigods, heroes, and Legends in every city. The city temples were therefore also responsible for collecting and compiling stories and legends about local heroes.
"I'm afraid we'll have to wait a few days before going to Blue Magpie Castle," Nicholas told Bert.
"Blue Magpie Castle? Shouldn't we be going to Bristle-Wolf City?" Jeo had always been aiming for Bristle-Wolf City. Wild Bear Ridge was an unusual barony in the Northwest Territory, unsuited to Knight Order operations. The Knights in the barony were all skilled hunters, so the Count would leave Wild Bear Ridge out when summoning Knights.
And Baron Jeo hadn't come to Bristle-Wolf City in response to a summons. He had come because he'd spotted barbarians outside the castle. So he had no idea that his Count had already taken the city's Priests to Blue Magpie Castle.