Chapter 542
World’s Number One Support
Eivass and his party, over a dozen people, descended all the way to the Fifth Ring without encountering any obstacles.
This made Sherlock frown slightly, finding it a bit strange.
“Your Highness the Saintess… how did you discover the Curse Master’s location?”
he confirmed.
The Saintess, her eyes covered with a white silk ribbon, lowered her head slightly and explained, “Curse reverse-tracking—using the curse dispelled by oneself to backtrack the opponent’s general location. This is a common skill among Church priests, learnable once one reaches the Third Tier of the Path of Devotion.
“Your Avalon priests all come to the Church for advanced studies after becoming Bishops. It is then that they learn some Mystical Arts unique to the Church… Eivass will also be able to learn them later.”
“So, any Bishop can master this skill?”
Sherlock pressed.
Hearing this, Eivass realized, “Are you implying this might be a trap?”
“…It’s not impossible.”
Pure White frowned slightly, and her steps paused.
She raised her head, seemingly closing her eyes to listen to the howling wind.
Then, Pure White opened her eyes and looked at Eivass and Sherlock, her expression turning solemn. “That Curse Master hasn’t moved since completing the curse.”
“Sounds even more like a trap,” Sherlock commented.
He glanced at the Pope’s Guards and said tactfully, “Do we need to call for more people?”
Upon hearing this, the young male elf leading the group chuckled. “No need.”
“Indeed, no need.”
Eivass nodded. “It’s more important not to let the enemy escape—if there’s a trap, we’ll just break through it head-on.”
Sherlock hadn’t participated in the Ascension Ritual that he and Isabel had just undergone, so he had no idea about the combat strength of the Pope’s Guards—a pair of Pope’s Guards could easily contend with a single Fifth Tier Extraordinary. Moreover, abilities involving time manipulation were rarely simple.
Not to mention, as an ageless race, they could easily accumulate vast combat experience, making them completely incomparable to the rapidly trained Fourth Tier Extraordinary individuals in Avalon’s Arbitration Hall, whose average age was under forty.
As for the enemy’s identity, they had a general idea.
Mr. Red Wine, Bram Stoker—he might indeed be Fifth Tier, but the possibility wasn’t very high. Even if he were Fifth Tier, he wouldn’t be able to defeat so many of them. Even if he wanted to target Eivass, there was no reason for him to provoke Her Highness the Saintess… Cursing Zomaid in front of the Saintess was already an insult and a provocation.
There were only two possibilities.
The first was that Mr. Red Wine didn’t know that Eivass would seek out Cardinal Loki with the Trolls at that time, thus coincidentally crossing paths with Her Highness the Saintess who was also looking for Cardinal Loki. His choice to curse the Troll Curse Master named Zomaid was for purposes of silencing, misdirection, or tracking.
This possibility was actually quite high.
After all, those three foolish Trolls had spent the entire day wandering around the port in the First Ring yesterday. A trio of Trolls of different colors walking together was far more recognizable than Eivass. It was perfectly normal for someone to pass on news of them, and for Mr. Red Wine to discover them.
—But why did the Curse Master choose to curse only one person?
After the curse was dispelled, he didn’t escape, nor did he try to curse Zomaid again or change targets. And the one cursed was precisely the lowest-ranking Curse Master in Troll society.
And the other possibility…
Another possibility dawned in Eivass’s mind.
Just as he had chosen to kill “Sherlock” in the Ascension Ritual to relay a message to Isabel—
“However, being cautious is indeed good. So, just in case…”
Pure White’s expression was solemn, and she whispered.
She stopped walking, clasped her hands together, interlocked her fingers, closed her eyes, and began to pray.
Eivass felt as if something was gazing at him at that moment.
Even Eivass’s system panel reacted:
[You have felt the gaze of ‘Devotion’]
[You have felt the gaze of ‘Twilight’]
[You have felt the gaze of ‘Love’]
[You have obtained a temporary trait: Light Has Three States]
[Devotion/Twilight/Love – Light Has Three States: When you use ‘Holy’ type spell arts to inflict damage or engage in a contest, gain a +1 bonus (Blessing); your ‘Holy’ type shields, resistances, and status gain resistance to dispelling, gaining a +1 bonus when resisting dispels (Blessing); your attacks ignore ‘Unholy’ category bonus resistance. This trait lasts until the next midnight.]
The next moment, the Radiance behind Pure White surged and expanded.
Invisible pure white wings condensed and unfurled behind her, encompassing everyone, then shattered and dissipated like glass—
[You have obtained a temporary buff: Saintess’s Wings]
[Saintess’s Wings: You gain Strength/Valiant Spirit/Mana Surge, lasting for one hour.]
A Radiance bloomed on everyone, condensing into a light shield on their surface. Then, the light shield retracted beneath their skin.
[You have obtained a temporary buff: Shield of Radiance]
[Shield of Radiance: Gain moderate reduction against Light/Dark attribute damage; gain resistance to cleave/cut/pierce; gain protection against curses/instant death/plagues, lasting for fifteen minutes.]
The next moment, a gentle White Light emanated from everyone.
It condensed into a radiance that floated above their heads. It bloomed into a green light and sprinkled down like rain.
[You have obtained a temporary buff: Saintess’s Shelter]
[Saintess’s Shelter: You gain False Life – Third Tier; upon taking fatal damage, you will immediately receive a powerful healing. This effect can be used three times and lasts for thirty minutes.]
“…This should be fine now,” Pure White said calmly, releasing her hands. “I’ve applied some protective statuses and very good buffs to you. This should be fine.”
She appeared to be in excellent condition, showing no signs of fatigue.
Eivass’s eyes widened.
It was then that Eivass suddenly realized something: although he had now reached the Fourth Tier, it seemed he didn’t need to apply buffs himself.
Because in their temporary team, there was someone at the pinnacle of the Fifth Tier—undoubtedly the world’s best support.
Eivass’s perspective was too broad, so he only remembered that Pure White hadn’t completed her succession in the end… because the current Pope had awakened again.
According to the original history, Pure White would only have succeeded the Eternal Pope after the Church summoned the Heavenly Candlemaster Envoy, and this event was outside the players’ view, so Eivass didn’t have a tangible sense of it.
But thinking about it now… if she hadn’t gotten Amber Disease, Pure White would have been the next Eternal Pope next month.
—With such a support accompanying us, what is there to fear!
Eivass’s courage instantly swelled.
He recalled Pure White’s words: “I won’t let anyone suffer in front of me.”
With Gloria and Mercedes both dead, this sentence seemed somewhat ironic. Exaggerating, it could probably be made into an emoticon to express “I can’t do anything.”
But now, Eivass truly realized the value of those words—if Pure White doesn’t want you to die, it’s genuinely difficult to die in front of her.
…And it was under the strength of this very power that she couldn’t save her two friends.
Conversely, Eivass suddenly understood why Pure White had Amber Disease.
Possessing the power to save everyone, yet powerless against Amber Disease… forcing Gloria to live in agony, but at most, she could only prevent her from dying. The limit of her ability was merely to “maintain the status quo,” hoping the condition wouldn’t worsen.
—From this perspective, it wasn’t just Mercedes and Pure White who were tormenting Gloria.
Gloria’s very existence was also a torment to Mercedes and Pure White—
When mortals care for bedridden patients, even a few years can mentally exhaust them. Amber Disease was as terrifying as cancer for Elves… and with Pure White’s powerful salvation, she had extended Gloria’s life for two hundred years, but it also meant tormenting Pure White for over two hundred years.
…Could it be that Gloria and Mercedes’ actions were actually to liberate Pure White?
If they discovered that Pure White had Amber Disease… if they believed it was all their fault…
—At that moment, Eivass thought of another person.
“‘Premature Death’ is just a Necessary Evil…”
Eivass murmured.
…Speaking of which.
That man was currently in the Church.
(End of Chapter)
