Chương 80: Chapter 79: Our Lord’s Blessing

The one-armed skeleton warlord raised the spear in its left hand. Before Roderic could launch another attack, it moved first and closed the distance in an instant. Black mist and a blood-red aura erupted from its body as the spear thrust straight toward Roderic's face, trailing a streak of crimson light. Roderic's expression changed. He hurriedly ducked beneath the thrust, then swung his longsword diagonally upward from below.

The skeleton warlord abruptly leaped backward, avoiding the blade while sending its spear at him once again.

"Damn it. How did this thing get more agile after losing an arm...?" Maeve had also noticed Roderic's abnormal increase in speed and strength. She hesitated, glanced down at her palm, then cast several enhancement divine arts on herself. The instant the divine arts settled over her body, Maeve realized something was different. The lingering fatigue in her body eased almost at once. Her limbs felt much lighter, and strength surged through them again. Maeve tried clenching her fist.

The tension in her eyes immediately eased, and a broad smile spread across her face. She turned toward Torren and Brant in the distance and raised her right hand high. One blessing after another descended upon the two of them in radiant light.

"Our Lord has bestowed His blessing upon us!" Maeve's smile grew even brighter.

"Let us grant these monsters their final purification!" She lowered her body slightly and grasped at empty air with her left hand. A brand-new shield of light instantly condensed into existence. At the same time, Maeve opened her right hand, and a white spear of light slowly formed in her palm. It looked almost identical to the ones Zoe used. Maeve did not immediately join the fight. Instead, she circled around the battle between Roderic and the skeleton warlord, patiently waiting for an opening.

Seeing Roderic and the others grow dramatically stronger under the blessings, the ghostly blue soul flames beneath the skeleton warlord's helmet flickered violently. The next instant, it gripped its spear in one hand and thrust forward again and again. The spear's afterimages blurred together into a near-solid wall, each thrust coming at astonishing speed. Even with Blessing of Agility enhancing him, Roderic could barely keep up.

Just as the relentless assault made Roderic stumble and nearly lose his balance, Maeve moved. Her body became a streak of silver-white light. Her shield of light was raised before her, while the white spear in her right hand drove straight toward the skeleton warlord's chest. Clang! The two spears slammed together. Maeve's spear of light was knocked aside in an instant. The two ghostly blue soul flames beneath the skeleton warlord's helmet flickered twice. This thing... Was it mocking her?

Before Maeve could react, the skeleton warlord's spear shot forward. Crack! The spearhead pierced straight through her shield of light. Maeve did not even have time to retreat before the razor-sharp point grazed her side and tore through her armor. Blood sprayed into the air. Maeve let out a restrained grunt through the pain and tried to trap the spear with her shield again, just as she had before. But the skeleton warlord seemed to have seen through her plan. It simply released the spear.

With the resistance suddenly gone, Maeve lurched forward and nearly lost her balance. Then an iron boot rapidly expanded in her vision. Bang! The shield of light shattered instantly beneath the kick. Maeve was sent flying backward with it. She rolled several times across the ground before slamming heavily into the rock wall. The skeleton warlord retrieved its spear from the ground and raised it high, preparing to drive it down into Maeve as she curled up on the floor.

A streak of silver suddenly flashed in from the side. The skeleton warlord immediately turned and blocked Roderic's descending longsword.

"Zoe! Full power!" The skeleton warlord stiffened slightly, as though it immediately understood what was coming. It turned and tried to disengage. Roderic gave it no chance. Like a madman, he gripped his sword in both hands and slashed again and again through clenched teeth, sending one sharp arc of silver light after another at the skeleton warlord. The relentless assault forced it to keep defending, leaving it no chance to pay attention to what was happening behind it.

At that exact moment, a white spear of light carrying an overwhelming aura of destruction shot toward the skeleton warlord's back. It had just begun to twist aside when Roderic suddenly threw down his longsword and lunged forward. He wrapped both arms tightly around the skeleton warlord's waist. The skeleton warlord struggled violently. Roderic simply gritted his teeth and refused to let go.

"ROAR!" The skeleton warlord unleashed an enraged bellow. The next instant, violent white light swallowed both of them completely. BOOM! The explosion swept through the entire passage. Roderic was hurled away by the blast and crashed heavily onto the ground in the distance. Even the armor on his arms was nearly shattered. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

On the other side, Tanisha raised a light grid just in time, shielding the injured Maeve from the oncoming blast. Only after the violent shaking began to subside did Maeve slowly push herself up from the ground, blood streaking down from her head as she stared at the center of the explosion. Thick smoke and dust obscured her vision. Cracks covered the surrounding rock walls, while fragments of stone and showers of grit continued falling from the ceiling.

Maeve gritted her teeth and slowly raised her trembling right hand. Her mana felt sluggish, but she forced it to circulate and cast a healing divine art on Roderic, who still lay face-down in the distance. Only then did she cradle her injured arm and stagger back to her feet. A burst of agony immediately tore through her ribs. Maeve sucked in a sharp breath. Her ribs were probably injured too. But she did not dare remain where she was.

Dragging herself forward on unsteady legs, she headed toward where her warhammer had fallen earlier. Along the way, she cast a simple healing divine art on herself as well, suppressing some of the pain. Maeve drew several deep breaths. Then she suddenly coughed up a large mouthful of blood. She wiped her mouth and turned toward Torren and Brant. After receiving the enhanced blessings, the two of them were still covered in wounds, but they had already begun steadily pushing back the second skeleton warlord.

Now there was only one question. What had happened to the Peak Gold-level skeleton warlord? The smoke gradually thinned. The skeleton warlord slowly emerged at the center of the blast. Almost all of its pitch-black armor had disappeared. Its once-smooth, jade-like bones were covered in cracks, and tiny fragments of bone occasionally broke loose and fell to the ground. Even the ghostly blue soul flames in its eye sockets were flickering weakly.

"Rod... you all right?" A light cough came from nearby, followed by the clatter of armor.

"I'm all right... Almost ended up returning to our Lord's embrace..." Roderic staggered back to his feet. When he looked down, he discovered that his silver-winged longsword had been twisted out of shape by the explosion. It was clearly unusable. The skeleton warlord's spear had fared even worse. The blast had melted clean through it, leaving it in two pieces. But there was some good news. The black longsword had landed right beside Roderic. A severed hand in a black gauntlet was still gripping its hilt tightly.

Roderic's eyes immediately lit up.

"This must be our Lord's blessing!" He hurried over, tore the severed hand from the hilt, tossed it aside, and picked up the black longsword. Then he leveled it once more at the skeleton warlord in the distance.

"Monster! You're out of tricks this time!" But the next instant, pain flared through his chest and arm, forcing a grunt from him. He did not waste any time. Roderic knew this was his only chance. This time, he did not charge. Instead, he dragged his heavy feet forward one step at a time until he stood before the skeleton warlord. Without the slightest hesitation, he brought the black longsword down in a diagonal slash. The black blade struck the skeleton warlord's already cracked spine.

For a moment, the sword became firmly lodged in the hardened bone. Roderic clenched his teeth, gripped the hilt with both hands, and poured the last of his strength into forcing it downward. Crack! After nearly two full seconds of straining, the spine finally snapped. The skeleton warlord's upper body crashed to the ground. Roderic did not relax for even an instant. He immediately wrenched the sword free, aimed at the creature's skull, and drove the blade down with all his strength.

The sword pierced straight through the skull. Only then did Roderic finally release the hilt and drop heavily onto his ass. On the other side, Torren and Brant's battle was also nearing its end. This skeleton warlord was only Low Gold-level, and it carried nothing more than an ordinary longsword and shield. Its fighting style was nowhere near as troublesome as that of the Peak Gold-level skeleton warlord. With the full-strength blessings enhancing them, Torren and Brant quickly began gaining the upper hand.

Torren met the incoming longsword head-on and knocked it aside. Brant immediately seized the opening, stepped in from the flank, and severed the skeleton warlord's shield arm with a single slash. Once it lost its shield, the skeleton warlord could not hold out much longer. Two streaks of silver crossed in rapid succession. The bones across its chest shattered one after another, and the ghostly blue soul flames in its eye sockets finally went dark.

After catching their breath for a few seconds, Torren and Brant put away their weapons and hurried back toward Roderic and the others. By then, Roderic and Maeve were sitting against the rock wall while Tanisha slowly cast healing divine arts to treat their injuries. Roderic still had enough strength to give the two men a slight nod.

"Well done. With the blessings enhancing you, the two of you can handle even Gold-level enemies now." He coughed lightly twice, then slowly closed his eyes and rested the back of his head against the cold rock wall. Torren and Brant exchanged glances, and neither of them could help smiling a little. They were covered in wounds themselves, but a single word of praise from Roderic was clearly enough to lift their spirits.

"Let's rest for a while." Maeve pressed a hand against her ribs and spoke between breaths.

"Tanisha needs time to recover her mana too. If we charge deeper into the dungeon in this condition, we're just asking to die." Roderic did not open his eyes. He simply gave a small nod.

"Ten minutes." But not long after the words left his mouth, a wet dragging sound suddenly came from deeper inside the cavern. Roderic's eyes snapped open.

"... I knew it wouldn't be that easy." Then hurried footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the entrance. Roderic immediately turned his head toward the sound, alert. The person who appeared in his field of vision, however, was Gern. He was hurrying toward them with several burly soldiers. In his arms was a bulging burlap sack, with crisp clinking sounds constantly coming from inside.

"Roderic!" Gern waved at him from a distance.

"I brought supplies!" Before anyone could react, Gern set the burlap sack down and began pulling out one beautifully packaged potion after another.

"These are healing potions, and these are mana potions..." He quickly shoved several dark-red and deep-blue potions into their hands.

"You brought all this...?" Roderic looked at them in surprise. Under his gaze, Gern instead began to look a little embarrassed, though there was also a trace of dissatisfaction in his voice.

"We might not be able to help much, but supplies like these can at least take some of the burden off you, right?" Gern scratched his cheek.

"To be honest, those noises just now nearly scared us to death. This is the best stuff we could find in town, so hurry up and use it." The guards beside him immediately stepped forward to help distribute the potions, twisting open the caps as they went. Several others pulled a number of earthenware jars from another sack. The jars were filled with flammable oil, and a strip of oil-soaked cloth had been stuffed into the mouth of each one.

They quickly lit the cloth strips, then put all their strength into hurling the jars down the passage deeper into the cavern. Crash! Crash! The jars shattered one after another. Flames immediately roared to life across the middle of the passage, forming a wall of fire that temporarily blocked the monsters from advancing. After drinking the potion, Roderic found that although the effect was somewhat limited for someone at his level, it was at least enough to suppress the constant pain running through his body.

Tanisha, Zoe, and the others drank the mana potions as well, and some color gradually returned to their previously pale faces. As the wall of fire ahead began to weaken, Roderic pushed himself back to his feet. He first gave Gern a slight nod of thanks, then turned once more toward the depths of the cavern.

"Thank you for the support. Leave the rest to us!" Gern's eyes were slightly red. He nodded firmly. Leaving the sack full of potions behind, he turned and led the town guards back toward the entrance. All of them were only around Bronze rank. If they stayed any longer, there was not much else they could do to help. Maeve watched them leave. The smile on her face slowly faded. The flames ahead were already dying down.

Through the wavering firelight, they could see a massive dark-red slime slowly crawling toward them, surrounded by a cluster of black-armored skeletons. Maeve let out a quiet sigh.

"I just hope no more big ones suddenly show up." As the remaining flames gradually faded, Roderic slowly straightened. Torren and Brant moved into position behind him.

"Torren! Brant! Stay close once we move!"

"Got it!" Maeve drew two deep breaths and forced down the pain in her ribs. She took position behind the three men and slowly raised her right hand, reapplying the blessings to them. But before they charged, there was something even more important to do. As the massive dark-red slime continued writhing toward them, Roderic suddenly stepped aside. Zoe came into view behind him. An entire row of white spears of light had already formed around her.

The next instant, every spear became a streak of light and shot toward the approaching monsters at once. The moment the spears struck the slime's dark-red surface, they detonated one after another. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The violent explosions tore the enormous slime apart. Masses of dark-red sludge sprayed in every direction. Before the explosions had even fully subsided, Roderic raised the kite shield he had recovered earlier and charged forward at the head of the group.

◆ ◆ ◆ Inside Blackstone Dungeon's Core Chamber, Owen could not stop cheering. He had never imagined that just nine points of Divine Power could make such an enormous difference to those divine arts.

"I can't even imagine how strong these divine arts would be if they actually had a god backing them." The thought sent Owen's imagination wandering again. But as for becoming a god himself? No thanks. Owen had absolutely no intention of doing anything like that. If he could somehow become human again someday, that alone would already be more than enough for him. The thought had barely crossed his mind before the battle on the screen pulled his attention back.

Roderic's movements were no longer as sharp as they had been at the beginning, but he was still rapidly cutting down the black-armored warriors along the front line. Torren and Brant stayed close beside him. Neither of them was seriously injured, but the occasional Silver-level black-armored warrior mixed into the formation still caused them plenty of trouble. Maeve, meanwhile, leaned on Tanisha for support and only occasionally found an opening to reapply a few blessings.

As for Zoe, she focused on sending spears of light arcing into the deeper parts of the cavern, continuously clearing out the monsters farther back. Owen watched the entire battle line slowly push forward and finally felt a huge weight lift off him.

"Stupid Rockspring! Just wait. I'm finally going to get a good look at what you really are!"