Made a Run for It
"BOOM!!!" The sound of an explosion came close to Heather, almost causing her to lose her ability to continue praying.
When Heather opened her eyes, she saw that Valerie's arms and head had some charred marks, and the light blue veil covering these charred areas had long since disappeared.
Valerie took a deep breath; she realized she had underestimated the other person.
She could have chosen to trust that Heather wouldn't be affected by the spear and instead charged straight at her opponent.
However, due to his own confidence, coupled with the strength Fran had just displayed, he had only barely reached the level of a second-tier Profession.
At most, the red-glowing Arts might be a cause for concern, but Valerie was completely unafraid. Her physical body could easily block the Arts, and given the vast difference in their physical abilities, the opponent might not even be able to hit her.
She had thought she could block the spear without taking any damage and dodge the attack, never expecting Fran to have the ability to make the weapon explode.
She took a deep breath, pushed off with her back foot, and flew towards Fran, skimming the ground, before launching a fierce attack.
She raised her left fist, pulled it behind her back, and then swung her arm with the force of a landslide, creating a loud crack in the air as she punched Fran.
Fran simply placed the large sword in the path of her fist, increasing the brightness of the red light.
As the saying goes, forces are reciprocal. If Valerie had punched Fran's broadsword directly, it would have been almost the same as Fran having slashed at her arm with the broadsword.
What Fran didn't expect was that the opponent's powerful and heavy blow, in theory, should have had such great inertia that the opponent would have no chance to change direction and could only obediently crash into Fran's greatsword.
As Valerie threw her punch, she leaned forward, and to Fran's astonishment, her entire body changed direction suddenly, like a fish in the sea, in the current.
While not as exaggerated as Fran's 180-degree flip when using Elven Swordsmanship, the opponent seemed to be altering the attack path by applying lateral force.
However, such an attack is extremely terrifying in actual combat. A fist wrapped in a light blue veil slammed directly into Fran's abdomen.
Her Scale Rock were shattered by the attack, and her body felt as if it had been hit by a large truck, sending her flying backward.
Fran mustered her willpower in mid-air to barely regain her senses. She spun around in mid-air, using her Elven Swordsmanship to change direction, before finally landing steadily on the ground.
When the punch landed on her, she felt her body go numb and she was completely unable to move. However, after flying slightly backward in the air, she regained the strength to move.
She looked down and saw some reddish-brown bloodstains on her black robe, but inside the robe, a tiny light was emanating.
This is Fran's special trait, [Light in Blood], which allows her to automatically heal injuries.
However, Fran had never suffered such a serious injury before, so only now did she truly understand the benefits of becoming the Proxy of the Lord of Radiance.
Just a few seconds later, her previously numb body regained full mobility, and Fran felt that she had definitely broken several bones during the attack.
But now when she touches it, she can't feel anything unusual.
"Why do Talent of this Proxy seem to be focused on healing?" Fran couldn't help but complain.
Then she looked at the two people opposite her, her expression serious.
Time is running out; we can't let this continue, or Fran will have to return to the Material Realm empty-handed.
"Let's find an opportunity to use the Blood of the Furnace directly."
Fran knew that the most important thing now was to get out of the barrier as soon as possible; nothing was more important than that.
She felt that even without the Blood of the Furnace, she wasn't without a way to fight, given her powerful healing abilities and the infinite sustain of Aether.
But what she needs most right now is time. The ten minutes that the Lord of Radiance mentioned are almost up, and if she doesn't leave soon, she'll miss that time.
Fran made up her mind, then raised her right hand as if grasping something.
Valerie raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised that Fran had survived that attack.
That punch wasn't just a simple, ordinary punch. With the enhancement from Heather, the Proxy of the god, if her punch had been thrown with a little more force, it might have seriously injured even a Second Order Profession User.
Even if the opponent possesses a protective spell, far surpassing the defensive capabilities of most armored Profession, they still don't appear to be a pure melee Second Order Profession User.
The opponent's physical abilities were not high to begin with, so there was no way they could be alive and kicking after taking that blow.
Just then, Heather behind her seemed to sense something. She opened her eyes wide in confusion and looked at the spot where Fran had just been hit.
At the spot where Fran had just been struck, she felt a familiar fluctuation, the key difference between her as God's Proxy and other believers.
That is, possessing Divine Power. The Proxy of the gods can make preliminary use of the gods' Divine Power. This is why, although she is still at the First Order, her strength has already surpassed that of almost all First Order Profession. It is because the Divine Power is too strong.
She had only ever used this special fluctuation of Divine Power in her own divine spells and prayers.
This is the first time she has seen this kind of fluctuation appear on someone else.
While Heather was wondering, a ball of light suddenly appeared in Fran's hand, radiating complete Divine Power. Heather was now certain that Fran was also an Proxy of Deity.
Just as she was about to say something, the ball of light in Fran's hand suddenly exploded, emitting a blinding light that made it impossible for Heather to see what was happening.
"What happens?"
Fran directly used the Radiance she received from the Lord of Radiance.
After encountering the Lord of Radiance in the Emerald Market and negotiating with him about entering the central area, the Lord of Radiance immediately produced the Radiance that Fran was very familiar with.
"I originally wanted to save some more for later research in the Material Realm," Fran thought helplessly.
This time, the Lord of Radiance gave about three such Radiance, and said that these three Radiance could be brought into the Material Realm, and that if one wanted more, one should develop followers in the Material Realm.
Fran knew this was a way for the Lord of Radiance to motivate her. He was certain that Fran would be interested in these Radiance, so he directly used Radiance as a condition to entice Fran to help him develop followers.
The moment Fran received it, she wanted to return to the Material Realm to study this Radiance properly, but driven by the Spirit Crystal, she decided to finish up the matter of the Emerald Market first.
Although she might not need to use her Radiance in the fight, she could save it and find an opportunity to close in and use Blood of the Furnace to instantly kill Valerie, thus solving all the problems.
But Fran wasn't one to rely on luck; she simply used her Radiance directly, preventing Valerie from discerning her movements for the time being. She was...
Fran lunged forward, wielding her Radiance as she charged directly at the Church Warrior.
Valerie remained calm even when faced with such an indistinct scene. Having experienced countless battles, she knew that the most important thing in such situations was to stay composed.
She calmed herself down and listened carefully to Fran's movements. She heard Fran step forward, as if she was about to attack her.
Fran gripped her longsword in one hand and approached Valerie, stopping at a certain distance.
She was prepared to defend herself, but when Fran actually launched her attack, she was surprised to find that Fran's target was not her.
"Your Highness, hide quickly!!!"
Her warning came a little too late, not because she didn't warn Heather the moment she saw Fran's movement, but because she failed to anticipate Fran's intentions and warn Heather in advance.
Fran's attack was so fast that even Heather, who had heard the warning, didn't have time to react.
Heather could only lower her head slightly, but she could feel her body being torn apart by the Wind Element.
As Fran charged in, she was channeling [Howling Gale]. The Wind Element was extremely active in the current environment, so under this spell, unless Heather had any healing abilities, she would inevitably have to return to the Material Realm.
Just as Fran had predicted, Heather's entire body was sliced off by the sudden gust of wind. The divine magic that had been protecting her body could no longer be maintained, and she became ethereal the instant the wind sliced her apart.
Hearing the sound of flesh being cut open, Valerie knew that Heather had been sent back to the Material Realm by Fran. She said somewhat awkwardly:
"I'm going to have a fight with His Highness when I get back."
She still remembered that she was on the Battlefield, so she strained to open her eyes, trying to see Fran's location and movements.
But the moment she opened her eyes, she suddenly lost all her strength, her body collapsed to the ground, and out of the corner of her eye, she could only see Fran covering her head and bending slightly over.
Then she couldn't see anything anymore.
Fran's head was throbbing, a side effect of releasing the Blood of the Furnace. She couldn't control the spell, so each cast exhausted all her Mental Power; she couldn't control it.
"It's over, time to run."
Fran quickly calculated the time and found that there were still two minutes left until the agreed time. She breathed a sigh of relief, glanced briefly at the ground, and then ran directly towards the outside of the barrier.
This time, no one stopped her, so she ran straight to the edge of the white membrane, took a deep breath, and rushed towards the light outside.