As soon as the words were spoken, images of two dice appeared in the air. They spun on their own, stopped, and the numbers were displayed.
53. Inspection successful.
The bullet Isaac fired suddenly moved, piercing through the frozen space-time and striking Mary directly while everything else remained frozen.
Before Isaac could react, the second test followed.
"Check: Critical Hit. Is this shot considered a direct hit to Mary the Shepherd's vitals? Check value 10, Charisma bonus 14, final value 24."
The images of the two dice spun in the void again before coming to a stop.
35. Verification failed.
"Tsk tsk, Asa, you still need to work on your charm."
What's the relationship between critical hit checks and Charisma bonus? Does a high Charisma level make people more willing to put in more effort when firing?
Before Isaac could ponder the connection between Charisma and critical strike, the third check followed.
"Check: Slow. Did this hit cause Slow to " Shepherd " Mary? Check value 30, with a 15% bonus from Spirit Mediumship, final value 45."
The dice image rotated for the third time, resulting in 39. The check was successful.
"Things shouldn't happen more than three times; let's call it a day for this round."
The frozen world began to flow again with Carlo's voice, the sound of the wind filled the air, Fenri continued running, and the sound of sheep's hooves surged in.
Isaac stared at Mary, Mary had been hit by the bullet. Her body only swayed slightly, with no obvious wounds, but something had changed.
Mary's movements were a beat slower than before, as if they had been stretched out, and her originally smooth movements became sluggish.
The sheep sensed their owner's unusual behavior, slowing their pace slightly and their formation began to falter.
Isaac breathed a sigh of relief. The shot hadn't been in vain; the slowing effect, while not stopping Mary, at least reduced her mobility. "Keep your distance."
In response, Fenri let out a low growl, adjusted its direction, and maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far from Mary.
Mary tried several times to lead the flock to surround the sheep, but Fenri's speed advantage caused these attempts to fail, and the flock became increasingly scattered.
Isaac raised his gun, pulled the trigger again, and then entered that strange " Check Domain " once more.
"Check: Hit. Can Isaac Lessing hit ' Shepherd ' Mary in this shot? Check value 60, Dexterity bonus 12, final value 72."
This time, however, 88, the test failed.
"Tsk, my luck has turned around. Since a direct hit is out of the question, let's see if we can pull off some other tricks."
"Check... Explosion. Will this bullet explode in front of Mary? Check value 10, Charisma bonus 14, final value 24."
Isaac was taken aback. This could actually be tested?
22. Inspection successful.
17. Verification successful.
"Tsk tsk, your buff is really useful. Burns are a pretty good bonus, aren't they?"
The frozen world resumed its flow, and the trajectory of the bullet Isaac fired wobbled, even its speed slowing down against the laws of kinetic energy, destined to miss Mary.
Mary raised her hand, trying to block the strange bullet, but just as it got close...
It exploded.
Flames shot out in all directions, and Mary was thrown backward by the shockwave, large areas of burns spreading out. The flock of sheep stirred at the sound of the explosion, and several sheep were directly overturned to the ground by the blast wave.
It can actually explode...
Isaac was about to fire another shot when Carlo's voice rang out. "Don't rush to fire, let me calm down... let's check if Vilka is alright."
Isaac recalled Carlo's earlier statement about "no more than three": "Your test can only be performed a maximum of three times?"
To be precise, my mana bar is only enough for three rounds in a short period of time, and each round can check three effects.
Blue bar? Isaac still couldn't understand the strange words his boss was using.
He estimated that there were still four bullets in the revolver and spares in his pocket, so the ammunition was still plentiful. Although Mary's movements were a beat slower after being slowed down and burned, she did not show any signs of substantial weakness, and the wounds were slowly healing.
Should we increase the distance further...?
As Isaac was pondering this, he suddenly felt a fluctuation in the sky, a heavy and solemn pressure gathering. The sheep began to stir restlessly, pawing at the ground and bleating in fear.
He looked up and saw Vilka sitting on a white horse, her nun's habit billowing in the wind, her right hand raised, palm facing up.
A golden light gathered in her hand, growing brighter and brighter, as if she were holding a ray of sunlight compressed to its limit.
Noticing Isaac looking over, Vilka nodded slightly in acknowledgment, then waved her hand.
What fell was not the light she had gathered in her hand, but a vertical line of light that pierced through the sky like lightning, moving so fast that Isaac's eyes could not keep up.
The golden lightning struck Mary, pinning her to the ground. Arcs of electricity spread across the ground, scorching the surrounding grass.
Isaac looked closely and saw that the "lightning" that pierced Mary was actually a golden tree branch, or rather, a spear shaped like a tree branch.
It was this Golden Bough that fell from the clouds.
In the symbolic propaganda of the Church of the Golden Bough, the Golden Bough is both a branch growing from the earth to the sky and a lightning bolt falling from the sky to the earth. The former represents the grace of the goddess, and the latter represents the authority of the goddess.
Vilka is showing now is precisely the side of Vicania as a judge.
Mary struggled, convulsing, trying to grasp the Golden Bough that pierced her, but smoke rose the moment her fingertips touched the golden surface, and she could only let out a muffled scream.
The flock descended into complete chaos. The once docile sheep began to scatter and flee, some even trampling each other, completely out of the Shepherd's control.
Fenri stopped in her tracks, Isaac could feel her slightly tense up, more wary and even fearful of the Golden Bough that had fallen from the sky than of Mary.
The sound of flapping wings came from the air, and Carlo and Vilka slowly descended on their white horses.
Vilka landed back on the ground, her posture steady, showing no sign that she had just completed a judgment from the sky; it was as if the blow had been nothing more than a trivial matter for her.
Carlo also landed and was wiping something with the back of his hand.
After removing his hand, Isaac saw it—yes, it was a nosebleed.
Two dark red streaks flowed down, which Carlo wiped away, blurring half of his face.
"... Boss, are you alright?" Isaac wondered why Carlo looked the most disheveled after all this.
"Are you blind? Of course something's wrong." Carlo's voice sounded somewhat muffled. "Do you think maintaining the Check Domain is effortless?"