Burned to Ashes

"Want to take me on alone?"

The messenger watched Xia Tong approach step by step and sneered.

"Not going to get help from those Spirit Ashes of yours?"

Xia Tong sneered and ignored his nonsense.

The next second, he bent his right knee and launched himself forward like an arrow loosed from a bow!

The messenger's gaze sharpened, and the Finger Seal in his hand glowed once more.

Invisible black mist surged forth, instantly filling the space between them.

Standing within the thick black fog, Xia Tong closed his eyes and focused.

"No sound?"

As expected of a church messenger—he specialized in underhanded tricks.

The Demi-Human Queen's Staff in his right hand slowly began to glow as magic gathered within it.

Crystal Barrage!

In an instant, dozens of glintstone shards shot forward.

At the same time, guided by instinct, Xia Tong turned and fired another blast to his right.

Two consecutive Crystal Barrages covered nearly every blind spot around Xia Tong with their fan-shaped attack range.

Finally, when the second spell exploded, Xia Tong heard the faint clash of crystal fragments against metal.

Behind him to the left!

Xia Tong spun sharply and charged in that direction.

With Xia Tong's current eighteen points of Strength, the Lordsworn's Straight Sword felt almost too light and nimble in his hands!

With a swish.

The longsword swept through the air, stirring the black mist as it stabbed straight toward the messenger.

"So fast!"

The messenger cried out and hurriedly raised his weapon to block.

The Lordsworn's Straight Sword smashed hard against the messenger's broadsword.

For a moment, sparks flew through the black mist.

Now—Skill: Stamp!

Xia Tong gripped his sword with both hands, pouring all his strength into this strike as his focus flowed into the blade.

He stepped forward fiercely, and the Lordsworn's Straight Sword tore through the air as it swung upward.

Using a straight sword's agility to unleash an upward slash as heavy as one from a greatsword, the attack was simply too fast and too powerful.

Bang!

The messenger was sent flying by the tremendous force.

Just as he struggled to rise again, Xia Tong had somehow switched to the Shield of the Guilty and pressed forward.

Shield Bash!

The messenger had barely found his footing before Xia Tong rammed him head-on with the shield, sending him flying once again.

The sharp iron thorns on the Shield of the Guilty mercilessly pierced through his robe and leather armor.

Blood immediately stained the shield red.

The witch's eye on the shield, which had originally been closed, seemed to become veiled in a bloodthirsty crimson glow.

Then the Lordsworn's Straight Sword came down from above and plunged directly into the messenger's body.

He let out a pained wail.

Then he crossed his arms, and a wave of golden light abruptly rose before exploding outward from him in all directions.

Incantation—Rejection!

Xia Tong immediately felt an irresistible force strike him, blasting him backward with the shockwave.

The messenger shakily rose to his feet and pulled the Lordsworn's Straight Sword from his body, blood gushing out.

He looked at Xia Tong and the surrounding Spirit Ashes glaring hungrily at him, then suddenly howled loudly.

It did not sound like something a human throat could produce. It sounded more like the shrill scream of a soul being burned by blazing fire.

Along with that howl, a visible murky yellow aura rose around the messenger.

Howl of Shabriri!

As he howled, Xia Tong immediately felt himself becoming manic. Chaotic whispers filled his mind, driving him toward madness!

Fortunately, the Shield of the Guilty in his left hand occasionally sent out a cool sensation that slightly suppressed the agitation, allowing him to barely maintain his reason.

But Irina in the distance could not endure it any longer.

Her hearing had always been sharp, and this soul-piercing howl caused her unbearable pain.

Melina reacted quickly and covered her ears.

Then soft golden light shone from Melina's hands, sending Irina into a deep coma to protect her sanity.

Xia Tong waved his hand and gave the order for a full assault.

At once, all the Spirit Ashes rushed forward.

The Stray Wolves were the fastest, viciously tearing into the frenzied messenger.

Xia Tong charged forward as well.

He knew that while Howl of Shabriri had immense side effects, it could greatly increase the caster's damage.

This guy was about to use his killing move.

Just as Xia Tong had expected, after the howl, the messenger seemed to lose all sense of pain.

Or perhaps pain had instead become fuel for his strength.

The Fanged Imps' Forked Hatchets hacked viciously into his body, carving wounds deep enough to expose bone, yet he seemed utterly unaware.

From the messenger's pupils burst Frenzied Flame that was far fiercer and more surging than before.

"Die!!"

The flames were like a violent fire dragon, burning straight toward Xia Tong.

Frenzied Burst!

Xia Tong had no way to retreat, but he had allies.

On the other side, the shield-bearing Godrick Soldier and Lhutel the Headless stepped forward side by side, using their greatshields to firmly block the Frenzied Flame's path.

But this yellow Frenzied Flame seemed able to directly affect the mind.

Even with their eyes closed, even with shields blocking it, the sensation of their souls burning remained impossible to resist.

It was as though the anguished wails of tens of thousands rang in Xia Tong's ears at once.

Fortunately, Xia Tong was a mage-type warrior who primarily invested in Focus.

His twenty-five points of Focus granted him extremely high mental resistance.

At the same time, the Shield of the Guilty itself could greatly increase Focus, raising the limit of his sanity.

The madness found it quite difficult to devour Xia Tong's reason.

In the gap between the messenger's frenzied torrents of Frenzied Flame.

Lhutel moved.

The knight's lance in her right hand shot out abruptly.

The lance carried the deathly aura of the Mausoleum Knights and yellow sparks.

"Ha!"

The lance instantly pierced through the messenger's body and pinned him to the ground.

He convulsed violently, the Frenzied Flame abruptly stopped, and he fell straight down.

The two Fanged Imps continued relentlessly hacking at him and bleeding him dry.

The three Stray Wolves were also still tearing into him madly.

Repeatedly casting high-level incantations had already exhausted his mind, and with this fatal strike added on top, he could no longer rise.

"Do you see that girl behind you?"

"The scent of ashes on her... she is destined to burn too... just like me! Hahahahaha!"

The messenger laughed madly, using his last strength to curse them.

Then blazing self-immolation flames began to burn across his body.

At the same time, the Frenzied Flame spiraled out of control, bursting from his eyes like an erupting volcano and spraying in every direction.

"Fall back!"

Xia Tong shouted.

All the Spirit Ashes retreated in unison.

But one Stray Wolf was still struck by the scattered Frenzied Flame, and its entire body instantly ignited.

Fortunately, Xia Tong reacted swiftly and recalled it into the Spirit Ashes in time, preventing further damage to its spirit form.

Only a few breaths passed.

This powerful church messenger became a charred corpse.

A charred corpse completely carbonized from the inside out.

A Rune flowed into Xia Tong's body: 1,757 points.

Xia Tong lightly tapped the messenger's blackened body with his staff.

With a clatter, the entire corpse crumbled apart and turned into ashes drifting on the wind.

Bright moonlight shone down through the damaged dome and into the Pilgrimage Church.

Looking at the messenger's ashes already scattered by the wind, Xia Tong cursed fiercely.

"Damn it. I wanted to capture him alive and get some information out of him."

"It would have been useless. He was a madman whose mind had been bewitched by the Frenzied Flame. You could not have learned anything from him."

Melina appeared behind Xia Tong. Her tone remained cool, but she was clearly somewhat weak.