Raphael seemed to kill the grease-covered puppet with ease, leaving the Saints around him stunned.
The Saints of the Rose School naturally knew what changes would occur after receiving the Mother Tree of Desire's Grace. They had even planned to flee while the grease-covered puppet held their enemies back.
Yet, to their surprise, that Saint was killed after injuring only one enemy.
The Saints on Raphael's side were surprised as well. Whatever else they might not have known, the aura emanating from that grease-covered puppet had clearly approached the level of an Angel. They had expected it would take some effort to kill him, yet Raphael had won so easily.
Soon, however, Raphael could no longer maintain the state of "externalized union with the Dao."
His attacks remained fierce, though, showing no sign of weakening.
That was the advantage of union with the Dao. Although using its externalized state was still somewhat taxing, it had almost no side effects, nor did he become weaker after the enhancement ended.
For a time, the Rose School's Saints lost all desire to fight, each searching for a chance to escape.
Just then, an enormous arm suddenly appeared in the sky. Its skin was shriveled, like the arm of a dried corpse.
Strange skulls, slick tongues lined with sharp teeth, and exposed eyeballs covered the arm.
It was the arm of Abomination Suah. The instant it appeared, the forest that had withered or mutated under the curses was suddenly flooded with surging spirituality, and those withered or mutated trees underwent further changes.
Some sprouted new branches, but instead of leaves, clumps of feathers grew on them.
The new branches on other trees were structures pieced together from bones of varying sizes!
In short, not a single tree remained normal. The animals in the forest