Breaking Through

"Guest, entry is prohibited ahead."

As Fran walked to a large purple gate on the artificial hill, the two stone statues at the entrance came to life.

Those were statues of two knights, holding up what appeared to be greatswords stuck in their bases, their eyes glowing blue, like glass marbles.

As the two knight statues moved, Fran could see that their stone-made skin was coated with a layer of silver, a color like silver.

The two knights raised their greatswords and held them directly in front of the purple gate, signaling Fran could not take another step.

Fran also refrained from making any moves for the time being, because she knew that the Lord of Radiance would directly inflict some negative effects on the two statues in the next moment, making it much easier to attack at that time.

Besides, if we rashly start a fight now, wouldn't that just draw enemy fire? What if we haven't even retrieved our Short Sword yet...?

Meanwhile, Fran was also observing the strength of the two stone statues. They were about four meters tall and likely possessed special protective mechanisms, judging from the strength with which they lifted the greatswords...

These two stone statues must have some special blessing from the Spirit Realm, Fran can see magical auras similar to those from the Spirit Realm on her body.

These two stone statues are likely much stronger than ordinary First Order Profession, roughly equivalent to First Order lord, but far from Tier 2.

If it were Fran, before she reached the second tier, dealing with these two stone statues might have required several spells, because the statues had relatively high defense.

However, for Fran has now reached the second tier, it's a piece of cake. She can easily take down the two statues with First Order spell enhanced by her Mental Power.

Fran secretly guided the [Elemental Radiance], awaiting the Lord of Radiance's move.

The two stone statues have no intelligence and only act according to previous instructions; however, they have already notified the security forces of the Emerald Market as instructed.

Their eyes glowed blue as they looked at Fran without making any unnecessary movements.

Just then, a voice came from afar.

"Guest, please leave that area immediately. That's a restricted area; guests are not permitted to enter..."

Before the other person could finish speaking, a loud noise came from the sky. The security guard who was running over looked up in the direction of the sound and saw a scene that made him gasp in astonishment.

The barrier that required a pass to enter and exit was covered with a layer of white, which was spreading across the entire barrier at an extremely fast speed.

In just three seconds, before the security guard could even react to what was happening, white light enveloped the entire barrier.

At this point, security personnel could no longer see the low-rise buildings of the former Emerald Market through the transparent barrier.

It was as if the entire central area had been thrown into water filled with white light, so bright that the security guard couldn't open his eyes.

Just then, the two stone statues in front of Fran moved, not because they attacked, but because they were attacked.

"Crack!" A crisp sound of shattering glass rang out, and a flash of white light appeared on different parts of the two stone statues.

The left leg of the statue on the left lit up, and then that left leg fell directly down, detaching from the statue's entire body, causing the statue to lose its balance and kneel on the ground.

The arm of the statue on the right, which was not holding the greatsword, suddenly exploded, and the arm fell heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. The entire statue also staggered because it suddenly lost its weight.

The moment the light appeared, Fran immediately cast the spell [Elemental Radiance], and she even used Aether slightly enhance the spell.

Fran is still at the beginner level in using this second-tier spell, so she's not very proficient at it, but that's enough.

During this transformation of Elemental Radiance, Fran chose the Fire Element. Under the influence of this spell, Fran could feel her Mental Power being steadily depleted.

Furthermore, as a second-tier elemental mage, she could keenly sense that other elements in the air were waning, while the Fire Element was extremely active.

"Flame Ray!" Fran directly used a Fire Element spell. With the Battle Mage Corps ' version optimization, this Flame Ray could be cast instantly with only a small amount of additional Mental Power.

Several fiery red beams streaked through the air, leaving scorching trails, and hurtled straight toward the stone statue that had lost an arm.

Two rays pierced through the statue's chest, and one ray struck the statue's nose.

With the added Fire Element in the environment, Fran's spell became significantly more powerful. The stone statue's silvery-white exterior looked like it was made of paper, and the three rays passed right through it, striking the ground and creating several deep craters.

The stone statue's eyes, pierced through by the bullet, lost all their Radiance and fell backward to the ground, shattering into several pieces.

"That's quite powerful." Fran looked at the traces of the Flame Ray she had just released and felt very satisfied.

With the added power of the active Fire Element and Dragon Flame in the environment, her Flame Ray might be comparable to a normal second-tier spell.

The First Order spell she cast was already this powerful; she couldn't imagine what would happen if she cast a second-tier spell that had been enhanced.

Just then, Fran suddenly heard a whooshing sound in the air. She looked up and saw a giant sword flying and spinning in the air.

It was the stone statue that had fallen to the ground because of its broken leg. It threw out the greatsword in its hand and then grabbed the greatsword of its dead companion with its other hand.

Fran saw the greatsword spinning towards her, but she wasn't alarmed at all. She jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack.

Fran could easily dodge such an attack that was launched without even adjusting her posture.

The stone statue is now using a greatsword for support, trying to get up from the ground.

Fran didn't give it that chance; she channeled Greater Fireball in mid-air and launched it upon landing.

The stone statue didn't stand up from the ground until the fireball hit it. Its body was too heavy, and it had lost the integrity of its limbs, so how could it stand up so quickly?

Fran aimed for the statue's head, but as the statue struggled on the ground, it slightly raised its body, allowing its neck to take the hit.

With a loud 'boom,' the statue's neck exploded on the spot, turning into several pieces that fell to the ground.

Its head lost its bluish glow, and its eyes lost their glassy texture, turning into the appearance of jade.

After dealing with the stone statues, Fran looked around but couldn't find the security guard who had tried to call her back.

"Time is tight, let's ignore it and just leave." Fran didn't have much time to deal with the security guard, nor did she need to; she could just leave.

Five minutes after Fran's footsteps had left, a figure emerged from behind a piece of broken stone. He looked around fearfully, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't see Fran.

He was a Spirit Realm being, and if Fran really killed him, the resurrection alone would make him work for nothing for the past two years. So, he would never dare to risk his life against such an enemy.

With so few Spirit Crystal each month and no resurrection bonus, why risk your life?!

After Fran stepped through the purple gate, she was intercepted by several waves of people.

Some of them were Magic Creature- like creatures made of jade, their eyes obscured by a layer of light, making it impossible for them to see their surroundings. Fran easily dealt with them.

There is also a group of humans made of jade, a squad capable of both ranged and melee combat. There are shield soldiers who carry large shields to absorb damage in front, and jade mages who wield jade staffs in the back.

However, after Fran cleaved the shieldbearer's shield with a single blow using her Sunflame, she used magic to kill all the Emeralds behind him.

However, the security forces had no effect on Fran, and Fran did not encounter any second-tier defensive forces during her journey.

She didn't know if the Lord of Radiance had directly dealt with those second-tier defensive forces, or if there were never any second-tier forces here to begin with.

But none of that mattered. After Fran defeated four waves of intercepting enemies, she used the map that the Lord of Radiance had previously scouted to reach the room where the items for sale were stored.

The warehouse door was no longer blessed by the Spirit Realm. There were faint Radiance on the handle. Fran placed her hand on it and gently pushed, and the door opened.

The moment the door opened, Fran saw her Purple Shortsword, which was placed closest to the door, seemingly because it had just been put into storage.

Fran stepped forward, reached for the Short Sword Short Sword with her right hand, and took it in her hand.

"At least the Short Sword wasn't lost." Fran checked it over and, finding no signs of damage, breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, she turned her gaze to other parts of the warehouse, where many weapons and equipment were piled up.

"I'll just take some and go," Fran thought to herself.

Actually, there's nothing particularly good in the warehouse. The truly good items, such as those that could be considered the main auction items, are all bought up shortly after arriving in the warehouse.

At this point in time, the most valuable item is probably the Purple Shortsword in Fran's hand.

Fran didn't bring a large package to carry these things. She came for the Spirit Crystal Spirit Crystal, which were transported by the believers. She just needed to retrieve her own belongings.

So Fran did a quick selection and took seven or eight easily portable weapons, which she strapped to her body, along with some special metal materials.

"Alright, let's go. That guy said we can just go straight out of this barrier in the central area."

Fran returned the way she came with the items. Because she moved quickly, she encountered no further obstacles inside until she was outside the artificial hill.

"See, I told you someone would steal things!"

Fran spotted two figures dressed in the robes of Priest from the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents. They were even in a fighting stance, seemingly up to no good.