Chapter 298: A Debt of Death

  Moriel smiled, perhaps because her facial features were too defined, the smile held no trace of amiability, instead looking aggressive. "I said it before, you saved me twice, and I will certainly repay you." Moriel's smile grew wider, but it still held not a shred of goodwill, only an aggressive authority. "Speak, what is your last wish in this world? As my thanks, I will do my best to fulfill your final wish."

  "Last wish? What do you mean by asking that?" Ethan was stunned.

  "What do I mean? Of course, I mean I'm going to kill you." Moriel looked at him. There was still no killing intent on her body or in her eyes, but Ethan could tell she was absolutely not joking.

  Having gone through so many trials, in terms of mental toughness and breadth of mind, he was absolutely not someone who was easily startled, and it was already very difficult for anything to surprise him. But his mind was now completely empty, a total mess.

  In reality, no matter who it was, encountering such a situation to this extent could not possibly be unsurprised. A dragon whom he had not only saved but also helped immensely—her first act upon recovering seemed to be to kill him.

  "Moriel, please be clear. The ones who dealt with you were those few Temple Knights just now. They are from Celeste, and have nothing to do with me..." Ethan retreated. He could only say this, hoping it was just some inexplicable misunderstanding.

  Although she looked like just a woman, Ethan was certain that in his current state, he was no stronger than a chicken before her. Lancelot being able to lead the Temple Knights to severely wound him, Ethan was certain that was because she was weakened. Now that the seal had been completed, although one couldn't say she had fully recovered, even if Lancelot and the Temple Knights were to return and stand on the same side as Ethan, the result would be the same.

  "Of course I know perfectly well, I don't need you to remind me. Rest assured, I won't forget the debt of those few. After killing you, I can accumulate my strength and go out for a while. I hear The Radiant Citadel is the most magnificent building on the continent today. I've always been curious, curious if I could raze it to the ground in half a day..."

  Although Moriel's expression hardened when speaking of the Temple Knights, and her anger and killing intent leaked out for a moment, her gaze and words were still clear and lucid, indicating she was very much in her right mind. She knew very well what she was doing. Ethan was retreating. She, on the other hand, was advancing towards Ethan.

  With two whooshes, Sylka and Rodhart, who were gnawing on the corpses, suddenly shot up from the ground and charged towards Moriel's back. But Moriel merely turned around, and in the blink of an eye, their charging figures became flying backward.

  With two loud booms, the bodies of Sylka and Rodhart flew backward and smashed two indentations into the rock wall. Their already broken bodies were twisted even more, like cockroaches that had been fiercely squeezed. They could only continue to slowly writhe their shapeless limbs, trying to regain their ability to move.

  Sylka, who had charged just now, though his movements were a bit crooked, had actually managed to coat his fist with a layer of blood-red Battle Qi light, while Rodhart had picked up a Temple Knight's longsword, his charred body completely enveloped in a expanse of snow-white sword light. That the sky full of sword shadows actually came from the hands of a charred zombie, if ninety-nine percent of the swordsmen on the continent were to see this scene, they would absolutely never pick up a sword again.

  The martial skills of these two had not weakened in the slightest compared to when they were alive. Ethan knew clearly that even he and Lancelot, facing these two, would have to devote their full concentration to dealing with them. But Moriel just turned, kicked out, and the two flew out.

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  Moriel's movements were simple. Extremely simple, just like kicking two soccer balls. It's just that this extremely simple movement was also extremely fast and extremely powerful. Neither Sylka's fist nor Rodhart's sword played any role at all; the people just flew out.

  A pure and direct movement, exactly like Gru. It's just that this woman transformed by the Black Dragon had no Battle Qi, yet was stronger and faster than Gru.

  Just as Rodhart and Sylka rose to attack and Moriel turned to kick them away, Ethan had already raised his blade in hand. Battle Qi and killing intent had already converged, this was out of battle instinct.

  But this strike ultimately was not unleashed. Because Ethan knew that even if Moriel's turn was indeed an opening, and this strike could indeed land, once it landed, the only one who would die would be himself.

  Although her appearance was that of a woman, her true body was a giant dragon. This strike could at most injure her, and it wouldn't even be a heavy injury. It was impossible to kill her. And once she was injured, the resulting situation might truly become irretrievable.

  "Lady Moriel, can you explain why..." Ethan was still retreating.

  "Go ask Archibald."

  The moment Ethan heard this sentence, he saw Moriel's seemingly not-so-mighty fist strike towards him. Even in his eyes, this fist became a blur due to its extreme speed. At such a speed, he could not dodge; at most, he could block. He crossed his arms, converging Battle Qi to protect his chest, and blocked.

  He blocked it. Moriel's punch landed right on Ethan's crossed arms, the strongest point where his entire body's Battle Qi had converged. The Battle Qi, condensed as if substantial and sufficient to block a strike from an Ogre warrior, was instantly scattered. He could almost only hear the creaking groan of his own arm bones. His arms didn't shatter, but in the next instant, he felt as if all the muscles and bones in his body had shattered.

  With a dull thud, Ethan crashed into the rock wall behind him. Compared to the two Dread Knights, Ethan's impact was unremarkable in both sound and force. The force of this punch had at least been dissipated by more than half from his block, so he didn't smash his body to pieces like Sylka and Rodhart, but he felt as if he had already fallen apart.

  How could it be like this? In his last moments of consciousness, Ethan could only barely piece together this sentence. From this impact, he felt as if his brain marrow had shattered into dozens of pieces, and it seemed as if muscles and organs from other parts of his body were also shaken and mixed in with it.

  Upon the ruins of Othello, there was now a stretch of silence.

  The white holy light flames had completely extinguished. On the battlefield scoured by the flames, not even a single corpse was left. Only tombstone-like broken walls and rubble remained. This former Drow city was now as silent and still as a ruin from a thousand years ago. Neither the Drow nor the Minotaurs had the leisure to clean the battlefield now.

  In a corner of these ruins, a massive pile of rocks suddenly shattered. The figures of the Minotaur High Priest and the Harpy Chieftain emerged from under the pile of earth. The instant the flames of Purgatory of Paradise poured down, High Priest Tima used all his magical power to forcefully tear up a layer of rock from the surrounding ground, covering both himself and Loralei beneath it.

  If it were any other Forbidden Spell, this level of protection would be no different from a piece of paper. Only the holy light flames of Purgatory of Paradise, while able to melt armor and flesh and even any magical protection, had no lethal effect on rock. High Priest Tima's specialization in earth magic just happened to allow him to save his life in the sea of flames.

  The Beholder Chieftain, however, was a bit too far from High Priest Tima and failed to make it into this shelter in time. The magical shield condensed from psychic power lasted for only half a blink under the holy light flames of the Forbidden Spell, before turning to flying ash along with his ugly body and half a roar.

  "Those scum from the Church..." Loralei gazed at the deathly silence around her, letting out a hoarse scream, which echoed lonely in the empty ruins. Although no corpses could be seen now, in the instant before she ducked into High Priest Tima's rock shelter, she had personally seen many Harpies let out panicked screams, only to be submerged by the white waves descending from the sky, then silently dissolve within them.

  The number of Harpies was originally not large, and for this battle, they had almost mobilized their entire force. If High Priest Tima hadn't pulled her back then, she would have long since lost her mind to rage and charged towards the fissure at the top of the cave, against the flames.

  Loralei looked at Tima and screamed, "I told you long ago that all those humans are treacherous maggots. Even the lowest Troglodyte is more trustworthy than them. You just had to believe that Cardinal's nonsense and cooperate with them..."

  "Enough." High Priest Tima roared, the two flames in his huge bull eyes almost bursting out. His current mood was only worse, more foul, and more irritable than Loralei's. He could barely resist tearing this noisy Harpy into two pieces.

  But he was able to endure. Unlike a common Minotaur who would directly turn impulse into action, he would assess the situation and remain calm. This was also the reason he was able to lead the Minotaurs to his current position. The High Priest took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "It's fine."

  "It's fine?" Loralei screamed. It seemed that aside from screaming, she had forgotten how to speak in any other way. She truly couldn't understand. If this was still "fine," then what on earth would be considered "not fine"?

  "I didn't expect Lancelot to pull such a trick secretly. That was my mistake. But I believe this Temple Knight was just a pawn they left behind. Lancelot and the other Temple Knights did indeed go to kill Moriel. You heard that dragon's roar just now. As long as Moriel is dead, Nighon will be our world. The bigger picture is set. What do the deaths of some people matter?"