Weilin Te struggled to parry the opponent's slash with her greatsword, then drew her longsword to counterattack.
She was gasping for breath because the opponent's strength was simply too great; she had to exert her full effort to block every attack, leaving her with no room to breathe.
Beside her were two other Spirit Realm Rangers, except they were now lying on the ground with several wounds on their bodies.
Her opponent was naturally not the small-fry soldiers Furan had encountered; the robes he wore were embedded with a large red stone, indicating his status was higher than those guards.
Luka was the captain of the guard. After drinking the divine water, he obtained strength surpassing other guards, thus being granted the title of Guard Captain by the Priests.
He did not act like those guards, trying to knock people down as quickly as possible and then haul them all back.
This was his personal hobby—he enjoyed toying with his prey. After the other two Spirit Realm Rangers fell, Weilin Te had already lost the ability to pose a threat to him.
He was in no hurry to arrest all these outsiders; instead, he waited quietly for Weilin Te's stamina to be exhausted.
Whenever his target collapsed from exhaustion and he stepped forward slowly, an uncontrollable joy would rise in his heart.
This was a symptom that appeared after he drank the divine water. He had sought answers from the Priests, but they simply said it was the price of his power and that he didn't need to restrain himself—he should just vent it as it came.
Thus, he was in no rush to complete the mission the Priests had set long ago: to capture any outsiders and throw them into prison immediately, regardless of whether they resisted.
Weilin Te struggled to parry a horizontal slash from Luka. Knowing her stamina was about to fail, she had to launch an attack that would decide the battle.
Taking advantage of the gap before Luka could launch his next slash, she released the hilt with one hand and pointed it at him.
"Lightning Impact!"
A bolt of lightning flashed in her palm and surged toward Luka's chest, but what happened next exceeded her expectations.
The Lightning Impact did indeed cause damage, but its effect was limited; it blasted a large hole in Luka's cloth clothing, and the red stone embedded nearby was slightly chipped.
Yet the exposed skin was completely unharmed, as if no attack had hit it at all.
Luka frowned. He hadn't expected these outsiders to possess such tricks. Fortunately, his body had become incredibly tough after drinking the divine water; ordinary guards wouldn't have had such powerful defense.
With his fun spoiled by Weilin Te's attack, the duties assigned by the Priests regained priority in his mind.
He turned the sword in his hand, holding it horizontally. He decided to use his full strength in the next strike to make it impossible for her to block, and then drag all three of them to the prison.
But just then, he suddenly felt the sound of something flying through the air behind him, accompanied by a wave of heat.
By the time he realized it, it was too late to react. There was no other way; the divine water did not significantly enhance their reaction speed, so they simply relied on their defense to tank attacks.
He turned his head slightly and heard a "boom." A fireball exploded on his back with scorching heat, staining his skin red and burning a hole in the cloth on his back, revealing a slightly scarred back.
This caused him to feel a pain he hadn't experienced since drinking the divine water.
He turned his head back, but couldn't find where the attack had come from, so he turned around, facing his back toward Weilin Te.
Weilin Te behind him could hardly damage him, while the person he hadn't found yet—whose fireball could burn his skin—hadn't appeared. Thus, defending against the unrevealed attacker was the correct choice.
"Should we take these two along?" Furan asked.
The voice came from behind, causing a cold sweat to break out on Luka. He hadn't sensed at all how the other person had gotten behind him.
He hurriedly turned his head and took a defensive stance.
Weilin Te looked at Furan in surprise. She had seen Furan's movements clearly; the other girl had cast a Fireball Spell from a nearby rooftop and then leaped down.
Furan seemed to glide through the air, flying directly over Luka from the side. When she reached the air above Weilin Te, she suddenly dove down and landed by her side almost silently.
Her entire body seemed completely unaffected by inertia in the air, regaining her balance instantly after landing.
Faced with this movement that defied the laws of physics, she suppressed her questions for now and answered Furan.
"No, let's just go. I only happened to run into them."
She wasn't lying. The three of them had only cooperated to face the powerful enemy, Luka. Now that Furan was here, she naturally wanted to go with her actual teammate.
Furthermore, the two on the ground could no longer stand. If they wanted to take them along, they would likely have to defeat Luka.
Although she was confident they could defeat Luka now that her powerful companion Furan had arrived, there was no need.
Wouldn't it be better for the two of them to just run? They could leave those two to serve as a rearguard.
One must remember that the goal of passing the Spirit World Trial was to save this city. Without any information, it was better not to fight recklessly; they should collect information first.
"Alright, let's find an undisturbed place to discuss our plan."
Furan condensed a fireball in her hand and threw it straight at Luka, who was about to turn around.
Luka had no choice. Although the divine water gave them great strength and defense that was hard for blades to penetrate, it did not grant them fast reactions or agile bodies.
The fireball exploded in front of him. He endured the pain, and once the flames vanished, he only saw the backs of the two escaping. Judging by their speed, he knew he wouldn't be able to catch them.
Luka looked at the two still on the ground. They had crawled a short distance trying to escape, but Luka's attacks had seemingly broken their bones, leaving them with almost no strength; they hadn't crawled far at all.
---
"Slow... down." Weilin Te panted heavily, barely keeping up with Furan's pace, looking as if she might collapse at any moment.
She had just been in a struggle with an overpowered enemy like Luka and then immediately fled; her stamina hadn't recovered yet.
"Alright, let's rest for a bit then," Furan suggested, seeing Weilin Te's state and noting they had reached an empty alleyway.
The tension Weilin Te had been holding onto suddenly dissipated. She leaned against the wall, hands on her knees, gasping for air.
After Weilin Te had caught her breath for a while, Furan asked.
"What do we do now?"
She hadn't participated in many trials herself and was a bit unsure of what to do next, so she asked Weilin Te, who might be more knowledgeable.
After taking a deep breath, Weilin Te said:
"Lai Yi, I know why the son of that 'Grey Dragon' is participating in our trial. He came specifically for this trial."
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