Chapter 168: Leaving (Part 1)

  "May the Lord guide your evil soul to repent in purgatory." Yabin looked at Cardinal's head and his gradually softening body, the killing intent and anger in his bloodshot eyes had already dissipated. He traced a cross in the air on his chest with his finger, reciting a prayer with the pious expression and tone of a standard, devout believer.

  Although he had grown up under Raelas's teachings since childhood, and Elder Raelas had always hoped he could become a devout believer, he himself was not one. Even when he saw with his own eyes on the Barbarian Highlands Raelas summon that streak of white light across the sky with The Divine Aegis of the Gods, he still was not moved, thinking it was a miracle. He felt that it wasn't a god who saved him, but his own grandfather. However, since then, his words and deeds were completely no different from a believer's, or in other words, no different from Elder Raelas's. In his heart, there were no gods, only people.

  At this moment, Talise also had no gods in her heart, not even people; everything before her eyes seemed illusory, as if she had suddenly fallen into a completely unbelievable and incomprehensible world. Eschol's head had rolled to her feet, but she simply could not believe that this great mage, whose fame shook the continent and who was as renowned as His Majesty the Pope, had been beheaded, and what she could believe least of all was that it was Yabin, whom she had brought, who had cut it down with a single sword strike. She looked at Yabin with a dazed gaze.

  Yabin also saw Talise, hesitated for a moment, opened his mouth wanting to speak, but didn't know what to say. He knew that no matter what he said at this time, it was useless. The fact before them was shocking enough, and as for the truth behind it, let alone Talise, it would be difficult for anyone to believe.

  "Your Grace..." It was the shrill cries from the several guard warriors who had followed behind Talise, upon suddenly seeing the situation in the room, that woke her up. Only then did she remember. As a Temple Knight, she should not be dazed at this moment, no matter what; she should go and arrest this murderer.

  But that very moment of her being dazed at the door had already given Ethan enough time. The doorway wasn't too wide, and Talise had just managed to slightly block the guards outside for a moment.

  As soon as Eschol died, the mind magic power within Ethan's body completely subsided. Although it was still there, it no longer produced any effect. Right now, besides his broken arm and two broken ribs in his chest, there were no other problems with his body. Of course, a broken arm and two broken ribs would not be "no problem" for anyone, but at least his magic power was still there. He could still move, and that meant he was fine. Ethan took out a plant seed from his robe, waved it by his lips to get it stained with his blood, then infused it with almost all of his magic power and threw it at Talise's feet at the doorway.

  This seed was one of the several magic items given to him by Elder Lloyd in the Tulalion Forest. Although these items originally needed the natural magic of the elves to be activated. But according to Elder Lloyd, Ethan's blood, rich in the life force of the Leaves of the World Tree, could also produce an effect, and an even greater one at that.

  As soon as the seed hit the ground, it immediately exploded open.

  To be precise, it should be said that it grew open, but the speed of this growth, no matter who saw it, they would not think it was growing, but exploding. In the blink of an eye, that tiny seed instantly swelled into a large mass of thick thorns, and this mass of thorns immediately took root on the floor and continued its explosive growth, instantly growing into a patch of thick and dense thorns before Talise's eyes, completely blocking the doorway. Even the female knight and a few guards were pushed back several steps by the explosive thorns.

  These thorns were not limited to just blocking the door; they continued to grow at an astonishing speed, even quickly burying Cardinal's body within them. Yabin had no choice but to retreat. He picked up Aimee from by the wall.

  Ethan watched the rapid growth of the thorns with a bitter smile. He hadn't expected this thorny barrier to be so effective. His dagger was still in Cardinal's body, and it seemed there was no way to get it back now. The key was that he hadn't learned how to control it at all. At this rate, in a few more seconds, the room would be completely filled with these thorns. He hurriedly got up and went over to Jessica to remove the Paralysis Spell she was under.

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  The thorns had long been so dense that the female knight and the guards could no longer be seen; only their shouts and the sounds of their swords hacking at the thorns could be heard. However, these thorns were not only exceptionally tough, their growth speed was even more incomparably rapid. Even the longswords of the Temple Knight and the guards, infused with Battle Qi, could not cut a path through at all.

  "In this situation, no matter how you explain it, it's useless. You might as well come with me. I will find a way to heal your sister," Ethan said, turning to Yabin who was holding his sister.

  "Go? Where to?" Yabin gave a bitter smile. Outside the window, it was still a storm of intersecting lightning and thunder, but the shouts of the church guards had also begun to rise and fall outside. The strength of these guards, who had been specially trained by the Templars, was by no means comparable to ordinary soldiers. Just seeing them gather outside the window in such a short time was enough to show their outstanding quality. If they were to escape, perhaps there would be a chance for him alone in this fierce wind and heavy rain, but Aimee in his arms was absolutely impossible to leave behind. Yabin gave a bitter smile and said to Ethan, "You all go by yourselves. If you hurry, there's still a chance."

  Ethan smiled, took out four scrolls from his robe, gave one to Jessica, and two to Yabin. "These were originally prepared for Hilton and Anderson. It seems they'll have to walk to Oufu by themselves."

  Upon hearing the word Oufu, Yabin hesitated for a moment, then sighed helplessly. In this situation, let alone Oufu, even if it were Nighon, he had no choice. No matter what kind of pirate ship this was, it seemed he had no choice but to get on it.

  The thorns were still growing frantically, but the sound of hacking at the thorns from outside the door suddenly stopped. Ethan's expression changed. Although he couldn't figure out what this signified for a moment, he was certain it was nothing good. He quickly said to Jessica and Yabin in an urgent voice, "Hurry up."

  One scroll could only transport one person. Yabin hastily stuffed a scroll into Aimee's hand and helped her unfold and use it. Jessica also unfolded her scroll, and both of their bodies were enveloped in a blue light of teleportation, then disappeared.

  Ethan waited until the figures of the two had completely disappeared, then he and Yabin unfolded the scrolls in their hands together.

  From the teleportation scroll being unfolded, activated, to completely transporting a person away, was no more than two or three seconds, the time it takes for a quarter of a yawn, half a breath, or a sneeze. The time from Jessica and the other being teleported first, to Ethan and Yabin opening their scrolls, was just as brief. And from the moment Ethan and Yabin began to open their scrolls, the blue light enveloped them as usual, and the next step was for the two of them to immediately leave this space filled with the smell of blood and the sound of wind, rain, and thunder. This was but a tiny bit of time. But because of this tiny difference in time for the same action, the result was already a world apart.

  Just as blue light also began to emit from the two of them, the walls on both sides of the room broke simultaneously. Two figures, with sword glows full of Battle Qi, charged straight towards the two who were enveloped in the teleportation light.

  Even after breaking through the walls, the sword glows were as sharp as lightning, their approach incomparably fierce and experienced.

  Teleportation magic can only transport a person away; it doesn't mean that once the scroll is unfolded, everything is fine. On the contrary, at this time, the person using the scroll cannot use any magic, and cannot even make large movements with their body, otherwise the surrounding teleportation magic array will dissipate due to fluctuations. Any mage with some knowledge would know this.

  The two swordsmen who had just rushed in were two old swordsmen nearing sixty years of age. They were undoubtedly Eschol's guards, Templars who had retired from Celeste. Although their bodies were no longer as vigorous as in their youth, their experience and skills had long been perfected. The moment they broke through the walls, they saw the light of teleportation magic enveloping the two, so without the slightest hesitation, they went all out, risking everything in a life-and-death gamble, and charged towards the two.

  If it were just two Templars, Ethan and Yabin might have been able to handle them. But now the teleportation scroll had already completely transformed into teleportation magic. As long as their bodies moved to parry or dodge, they would have to remain here, and there would definitely be more than just these two Templars here. But if they didn't dodge, even if they could really teleport back to Oufu, what would return would only be two corpses. For two Templars who had fought and killed on battlefields for several decades, killing two immobile people was as easy as peeling an apple, and it was absolutely impossible for them to fail.

  Ethan sighed in his heart and moved. The teleportation light on him dissipated instantly with his movement. At the same time, he reached out and pressed down on Yabin: "Don't move."

  Yabin's body trembled slightly, but in the end, he did not move. The teleportation magic light around him did not dissipate, but instead grew thicker and thicker.

  Just as he moved his body, a sword glow brushed a streak of blood on his back. This sword strike, which would have been absolutely fatal, only tore away some flesh. While dodging the sword thrust at himself, Ethan also reached out and swept his hand, Battle Qi condensed in his palm, helping to block the sword thrust towards Yabin.

  It was just this one block from Ethan that bought enough time for Yabin's teleportation magic to fully activate. He looked at Ethan one last time, his expression one of extremely complex gratitude, and then his figure completely disappeared.

  Ethan gave a bitter smile. In truth, he had no other choice in doing this. He had the ability to block this sword for Yabin, but Yabin might not have had the ability, and even if he did, he might not have come to help block a sword for him. Since he himself had to move anyway, it was better to help him out while he was at it.

  Although he had blocked these two swords, this had taken nearly all of his strength. He only had one hand that could be used as normal, and although the place where his ribs were broken had been treated by white magic, under the movement, the pain was already heart-wrenching.

  The two old Templars did not attack him again. Instead, they suddenly stopped, retreated a step, and stood on full alert. Being experienced meant being patient and understanding the situation. Now, in this state, this person was already a turtle in a jar. They just needed to prevent him from using another teleportation scroll, of course, on the premise that he still had one.