The Great Battle (Part One)

Matthew glanced at the Proxy had just joined the team. From the aura emanating from the newcomer, he could tell that this was the person he was looking for.

Matthew's hand trembled involuntarily again; he was terrified that he had failed to complete the task the Deity had given him.

He wasn't originally Proxy, or rather, he wasn't even Proxy of the Deity he believed in 10 minutes before the Trial began.

When the Deity he worshipped, the Dragon Lord of the Back-Head, who was also the Deity Monsa had previously worshipped, found him, he was still hoeing the field.

Because in the Block he was in, he was just a lowly First Order Profession, and there were more than twenty First Order Profession like him, and even five Second Order Profession User.

He didn't understand why the Deity would skip over these people and choose him instead. Shouldn't they have chosen those of higher rank?

But since it had already happened, he had no choice but to accept the task.

"His Proxy has also entered this Trial. I'm very curious about what He wants to do. He could have acted as if nothing had happened, and it wouldn't have been a problem even if He hadn't sent his Proxy."

"But He did it anyway, even before the Trial began, His Proxy were already in the Sun Domain."

"I'm very curious about His purpose. Is He trying to build a good relationship with us, which is why He participated in this Trial? I don't believe it."

"Since He dares to directly rob the Emerald Market, He clearly has no intention of cultivating good relations with us. You should know that the Emerald Market sends us Deity a small gift every year."

"That's a bit of an overstatement. Your main objective after you go in isn't to kill those Trial participants, but to find the Proxy exhibit related energy fluctuations."

"Use every method you can think of to mark the target's body or weapons, but remember not to let the target notice."

"After you've inscribed your mark, I'll give this Proxy a good talking-to after the Trial, if she hasn't descended to the Spirit Realm by then."

"Of course, if things don't go well, you must also do everything in your power to prevent those Trial participants from passing this Trial."

Matthew touched the tail behind him, the place where the mark was etched, which was why he hid it under his cloak.

He glanced at Fran, all he could see was her white robe.

"Should we etch this mark onto her back? No, the other Proxy will definitely warn her that there's something suddenly on her back."

"On the weapon? That won't work either. The other party often turns and strokes the weapon, instead of carrying it on their back. If I carve it directly like this, it will definitely be discovered."

Matthew walked forward with the group of four, racking his brains but unable to come up with a good solution; his palms were almost soaked with sweat.

Then he noticed something very strange: Fran was getting closer and closer to Harrison, who was flying in the sky, and was almost directly below Harrison.

Cyril seemed to be having a good chat with Fran, and he was unconsciously moving closer to Fran, so the three of them seemed to be walking to the side, leaving him alone and distancing himself from the other three.

"The attack on the Emerald Market last time really surprised me. I never imagined that there was anything in the world that could bypass the protection of the Spirit Realm. I thought there was nothing in the world that could break through the power of the Spirit Realm."

"I think there are many things that can break through the power of the Spirit Realm. For example, the power of Deity, or ' Aether,' and..."

"You've reminded me of something. I forgot that Deity power can rival the Spirit Realm, but whether those things you mentioned even exist is uncertain."

Cyril was beaming with excitement, as if he had finally found a companion with whom he could chat.

He greatly admired the insights of this new Proxy. Just as the other party had just said, although he had never seen Deity interfere with the Spirit Realm, various detailed records contained instances of Deity confronting the Spirit Realm.

This made him slap his forehead: as Proxy of the Deity, he hadn't even thought of this.

He didn't quite agree with what Fran said later; apart from the first ' Aether,' he had never heard of the others.

In fact, what Fran mentioned later was some research about the Spirit Realm that she had seen in the Northern Lands Society. Those mages had researched many things that had miraculous effects on the Spirit Realm, but their application was extremely demanding.

It's perfectly normal that Cyril didn't know these things, after all, the Alliance's defenses against mages were very effective, so it was even more difficult for an outsider Cyril to know these things.

"Aether is just a delusion of those Alchemist; there's no such thing as ether. And what you mentioned later, I've never heard of it..."

Although Cyril did not agree with Fran's ideas, he was still happy that someone could talk to him at this time. After all, before this, he and his two Dragon Clan brothers were almost always the only ones talking.

Cyril was still engrossed in his discussion with Fran, completely unaware of Fran's subtle movements or the change in their positions.

Cyril noticed the only unusual thing about Fran: the decorations on Fran body and the inscriptions on her weapon.

After walking for a while, Cyril realized that Fran's robes looked like a mage's robe, but he had never seen this style and pattern before.

The staff Fran held in her hand had patterns unique to each Sect used to enhance spells, as well as runes specifically used by the Alliance mages to enhance their spellcasting.

Cyril could even sense a strange fluctuation emanating from this weapon...

However, he suppressed his curiosity for the time being and began discussing the topic with Fran, intending to ask her about it later.

Fran gave Cyril's reply a few perfunctory replies, then glanced to her side and upwards out of the corner of her eye—that was Harrison's position.

Harrison breathed a sigh of relief after Fran joined them. He cleared his mind and didn't let a single word of Cyril and Fran's conversation enter his brain.

After careful consideration, Fran decided that the time was right, and now was the time. She was certain that the flying creature was the very fast Proxy.

She slightly concentrated her Sunflame, ready to imbue Sunflame weapon with them at any moment, but she did not place her hopes solely on the Sunflame ' attack hitting her in one hit.

Her other hand, which wasn't holding a weapon, was secretly channeling a spell, and the diamond-shaped crystal at her waist was slightly warm.

She is using Aether to channel her second-tier spell [Heart of Quicksand].

This is another ingenious use of ' Aether ' that she discovered: when using ' Aether ' to slowly replace the Mental Power consumption of Channeling Spell, the spell fluctuations are difficult to detect.

She began Channeling Spell as soon as she joined the team, and her conversation with Cyril along the way was to buy time and prevent them from noticing her actions.

When Fran's ' Aether ' had completely replaced her Mental Power and even slightly enhanced the effects of her spells, Fran believed it was time.

"About three hundred years ago, a famous Alchemist attempted to find ' Aether '..."

Just as Cyril was explaining to Fran the existence of ' Aether ' to his predecessors, he suddenly noticed a red glow emanating from Fran's rod.

This surprised Cyril, who was completely baffled as to what Fran was doing. Was making the stick glow fun?

But then he saw the red light fly upwards, heading straight for Harrison was flying in the sky.

Cyril then recognized it as Sunflame Arts; these were the trial Trial who knew Sunflame Arts, and that was the key target of their Trial.

However, Cyril was too slow to react, or rather, his reaction time was not fast enough to alert Harrison immediately, so he could only watch helplessly as the red light hurtled toward Harrison's head.

Fran leaped high into the air, and just as she was slightly above Harrison's height, she instantly used [Sky Strike].

This Combat Technique mobilized all of Fran's strength, allowing Fran to smash the red stick at Harrison at a speed far greater than if she were simply falling due to gravity.

"Watch out, get out of the way!" At the critical moment, a warning from the bloodline rang out, a unique way of communication used by the Dragon Clan.

If they had used their voice to warn him at that moment, his head would probably have been smashed to pieces by Fran before the sound even reached Harrison's ears.

Although Harrison's previous performance showed he wasn't particularly intelligent, it's clear that his Proxy demonstrates his exceptional abilities in another area.

With his exceptional combat instincts, Harrison immediately sensed the change in airflow and sound as an object rapidly passed behind him, and he predicted the direction of the weapon's attack.

But it was too late. He could only use his extraordinary agility to swing his head to the side and shake his body so that the stick hit his back.

This was Harrison's habit; the faith in the Sky Dragon not only granted him powerful flight abilities but also gave him defensive capabilities akin to steel.

In the past, he would deflect attacks away from his head because although the attacks were unlikely to harm him, the powerful kinetic energy would still cause him some side effects such as dizziness.

Therefore, when dodging attacks, he tends to use his strongest defensive feature, his two wings on his back, to block them.

However, he never expected that the attack would be Sunflame Arts; otherwise, he would have definitely chosen to use one hand as a sacrifice to dodge the attack.

"Ah!!"

The crimson light, after striking down, almost melted his shoulders and back, and directly melted the base of one dragon wing, while the other was only slightly severed.

The sharp pain in his back made him instinctively activate his ability and rush forward at high speed. His flight ability did not rely on the dragon wings behind him; those were merely symbolic.

Although cutting off the dragon's wings would weaken his flight ability, he does not rely on the physical flapping of the dragon's wings to achieve flight.

As he flew away, a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes. Whoever it was, he would make the person who attacked him pay the price.

He turned around in mid-air almost instantly, trying to use his flight ability to attack in the opposite direction, but he didn't see the person attacking him, only a cloud of yellow sand covering the sky.