n

nChapter 281 “Monster Rhine”

nWith his ship coming to a near full halt, the timing was precisely midday when Du Wei came above deck. Seeing their lord coming out of the cabin, all of the nearby soldiers began gathering by his side with their weapons out and crossbows loaded. After Old Smoke received his command, he had ordered the guards to be vigilant, thus the reason for everyone to be armed.

nThat Rhine also came onto the deck, just a tad further up in front of Du Wei. His body was like a tower as he stood there, overshadowing everyone in his presence. Du Wei didn’t know where this guy got his weapon from, but Maximos did not lie. Rhine doesn’t use the sword. His weapon of choice was a giant battle axe of gargantuan proportion. That thing should weigh well over a hundred pounds, but he waived it so casually around like a broom, sweeping it left and right with ease. As he stood there squinting his eyes, Rhine exuded the wild aura of a fierce animal about to pounce at its prey.

nNow above the river, a large ship was indeed parked in the middle of the channel, blocking his way of passage. If Du Wei wished it, it’s possible to bypass the other by winding left or right, but it seems the foe has made up their mind to intercept his ship – those people had placed several rowing boats down on all sides of the river.

nThese guys have a lot of guts, blockading the river in broad daylight….. Du Wei was somewhat displeased by this: “I’d like to see what these religious frauds have to say!”

nBy now the other side has realized Du Wei’s ship has come to a full stop and was coming over to Du Wei’s ship with the smaller boats, each vessel riding dozens of people. All of these men wore large cloaks to hide what’s underneath, but with Du Wei’s exceptionally keen eye senses, he can see from afar the concealed swords and armor under those garments.

nAt the moment, Du Wei’s Golden Tulip banner has already been raised above the flag pole, but he’s not expecting a simple flag would be enough to scare the enemy away.

nFor one, the other side’s courageous enough to aim for the archbishop of a diocese, so what good will his Duke status do here? Secondly, they actually dare intercept his ship in broad daylight. It’s obvious enough that they knew Maximos was on his ship and was willing to offend him to get to this clergyman.

nOld Smoke stood at the front of the deck, staring down at the little boats approaching, “Who dares intercept the Duke’s ship! Hurry and make way!” He hollers using his booming voice.

nNot replying, the other side waited until there were only a hundred paces between them before the leader shouted: “Do it!”

nSuddenly, all the people riding the boats flung away their cloaks to reveal the weapons underneath, half with their bows drawn, the other half exposing their armor and swords in hand. Using a surrounding formation, the boats all gathered in front of Du Wei’s ship.

nMaking a cold laugh, Du Wei casually used a spell to accentuate his voice into the distance: “Didn’t you lot say your ships broken? Humph, can it be bandits trying to rob on the river? Heyhey, do all bandits these days wear the uniforms of the Holy Knights to rob people?”

nDu Wei’s voice was relentless and full of ridicule. Upon reaching the ears of these people, discoloration overtook their faces with only the middle-aged leader in the center boat remaining calm. Inhaling deeply, this person replied with crisp clarity.

n“Duke, we know this is your ship, but this is the Temple carrying out its internal affair. I ask that your Dukeship not intervene!” At that, the man slightly bows.

n“Nonsense.” Du Wei sneers: “The temple? Even the temple doesn’t have the power to blockade the river and openly intercept the ship of an imperial Duke! Who gave you the power to do such a thing? Is the ruling family of the Roland Empire not the Thorn Flower house anymore? Who gave the temple freedom to trample over the Empire’s law? You are intercepting my ship, a Duke’s ship, a crime worthy of treason! And your lie about your ship breaking down…. Since when did the Holy Knights start using such despicable means?”

nHis ending words were thunderously loud and the Tulip soldiers took it as the signal to step forward with their shields up to protect their lord. The crossbows were also ready for combat, but the range of these military weapons wasn’t suitable for long-range warfare.

nThe guy on the other boat looks to be the leader of the entire operation. After listening to Du Wei’s scolding words, he didn’t get upset; instead, his voice went deep: “Duke! We lied about our ship because there are several criminals wanted by the Temple on your ship. We’ve been instructed to capture them….”

n“What criminal.” Du Wei smiled.

n“Your lordship, it’s the former archbishop of the central northern diocese, Maximos and his entourage!” This leader’s voice was loud: “I have here the signed arrest warrant by the presiding Judgement Lord of the Temple of Light. Maximos betrayed the temple and went against its teachings, he’s been judged to have committed treason. I’m here on behalf of the Judgement Lord to arrest him! Your Excellency, this is the Temple’s affair, I implore you to not interfere.”

nDu Wei didn’t expect this. The other party has an arrest warrant from the presiding judge?

nIt’s at this time the angry voice of Vice-bishop Lamu came from behind Du Wei: “Duke, don’t listen to his nonsense! The current presiding judge is a big conspirator with ulterior motives! He is the leader of the Xiéni faction; of course the guy would want nothing more than to kill us all on this side! Moreover, according to the Temple’s canon, if a high-ranking cleric at the level of archbishop is to be disposed of, the Temple must convene a meeting of the elders, and the Archbishop in question shall have the right to defend himself before the participants. Then when the decision is made, only the Pope can carry out the punishment with his personal signed document, only then will it take effect! The presiding judge does not have the authority to bypass the elder committee, let alone judge a cleric at the level of Archbishop!”

nWhen it came to the end, Lamu turned furious as he shouted into the distance: “Damn Geppede! This is clearly a conspiracy, a setup! The presiding judge is not empowered to issue such orders! You are openly trampling on the Temple’s canon!”

nUnfortunately, Vice-bishop Lamu wasn’t free to use magic to accentuate his voice like Du Wei did, thus his words didn’t reach far.

nDu Wei’s heart relaxed somewhat upon hearing this. The messier things become, the more he likes it. He was actually worried for a moment there because the other side said they are following orders from the pope. If that was really true, then he wouldn’t have an excuse to intervene no matter what he said. But now that it’s all a lie, he knows where the limits are.

nGlancing at Lamu, Du Wei whispered: “No need to be so upset Vice-bishop. Towards people like that, there’s no reasoning with them.”

nLamu’s face reddened from anger. Listening to Du Wei’s persuasion, he unwillingly nodded and added another sentence: “Duke, be careful, this person is called Geppede, a Holy Knight of the seventh rank from the southeastern diocese. His martial arts are very powerful.”

nDu Wei nodded and turned back to the man called Geppede in the distance: “Knight Geppede, don’t think you can cheat me by thinking I don’t know the Temple’s canon! According to the rules, the presiding judge has no right to make such an order, that’s usurpation of authority!”

nGeppede grunted, “Duke Tulip!” He said angrily. “I’ve already said it very nicely; it’s you who must meddle in the affairs of the Temple! You are not a member of the Temple, what gives you the right to challenge the validity of the presiding judge’s order. I give you one last chance. Duke Tulip, I have here the signed document by the presiding judge and the entire trial hall’s member list. In the name of the Goddess of Light and the discretionary power granted to me by the Temple, I will hereby carry out my orders. Don’t blame me for being rude, I’ve warned you!”

nDu Wei bellowed out a laugh after hearing this: “Rude…. Geppede, are you trying to scare me? Discretionary?”

nFrom afar, Geppede’s facial expression turned dark and gloomy. Furious in his voice, he roars: “Duke Tulip! I’ll give you to the count of ten to lower your weapons! The goddess of light is merciful and will forgive your mistakes! Let my people board and arrest the criminals, otherwise….”

n“Screw you.”

nNot waiting for the Holy Knight to finish, Du Wei suddenly lashed out with this sentence using his emotionless voice. Caught off guard, Geppede widened his eyes and reflexively retracted the words from his tongue. Looking at Du Wei, he roared: “What did you say?”

nFlicking his middle finger up at the guy, Du Wei made a disdainful face as he tipped an ear up: “What, you don’t have ears or something? I said ‘screw you’!”

nGeppede turns livid with anger, but Du Wei didn’t care and kept going: “I care jack** about your **ing judge and **ing command! Effective or not effective, I don’t give a rat’s ass, you understand?! I’m not a believer and sure as hell not one of your dogs! I’m an imperial official, a Duke of the Empire! Even if the Pope himself gives the order, it will depend entirely on my mood if I want to follow it.”

nThis slew of undiplomatic words sent Geppede into a fury rage. No longer trying to reason with Du Wei, he begins announcing his order: “I will now start the countdown. At the count of ten, we will begin if your people do not lower your weapons! One! Two! Three!”

nWhen he counts to three, his right hand made a cutting motion with his sword to signal the archers. Knocked and ready, all of the bows had their arrows aimed right at Du Wei’s location.

nEvidently enough, those arrows are clearly wrapped in some kind of flammable substance. For when he counted to “five”, someone was quick to give each archer a share of the torch, igniting the arrow heads into flaming projectiles.

nSeeing this, Geppede’s nerve became reassured: “Duke Tulip, I’ve counted to five! You see it too, I’m sure you know what will happen when so many flaming arrows fly towards your wooden boat…. Six!”

n“Wait a minute.” Du Wei sighed.

nHearing Du Wei’s word, Geppede’s facial expression loosened: “Oh, you finally change your mind? Duke Tulip, though you are rude, but as long as you…”

n“You sure talk a lot of crap.” Du Wei raised his hands like he was swatting a fly in front of his face. Coughing once to clear his throat: “You think a few crummy arrows are so amazing?”

nAs he finished, he shouts to the sailors below the deck: “Brothers, they want to intimidate us with bows and arrows, what do you say we should do?”

nThe sailors all fell into a laughing fit, their fingers pointing to the rowing boats in the distance.

nThen, not waiting for Du Wei’s command, a dozen or so sailors ran up to the front of the hull and removed the tarps along the deck. Immediately, the things hidden underneath those covers were exposed!

nThese sailors were well-trained as if they had gone through some kind of rigorous training program. Moments later, the things were pushed to the forefront and aimed straight at the small rowing boats in the water.

nOriginally the people aboard the rowing boats all had proud looks on their faces, but as soon as they saw the objects sitting aboard the Duke’s ship, their faces collapsed. Even Geppede’s face changed as a result.

nThe things aboard Du Wei’s ship were nothing new, it’s the “Crossbow Cannons” dedicated for use on sea bound warships!

n(Should’ve been Giant Arbalists, but had to change it to match the next paragraphs)

nThis type of crossbow cannon was definitely not something mere bows and arrows can compete with. In this world where weapons are still stuck in the dark ages, these crossbow cannons are no doubt equivalent to long-range siege weapons. Though the name includes the word “cannon”, but it’s nothing like a modern day cannon. With an iron winch to act as the release lever and metallic bolts the size of a spear, the penetration force of this thing can easily pierce through a city fortification wall from a thousand meters away!

nIn naval warfare, this thing was considered to be the strongest long-range weapon a ship can utilize.

nFor the enemy, they never thought Du Wei would have something like this on the ship!

nBut let’s not forget, these ships aren’t those luxurious cruise boats used by the wealthy nobles, nor was it the cargo ships used by the merchants…..

nHis ships are refitted from pirate ships! What do pirates do? They rob and pillage out at sea! Occasionally, pirates would even fight with the imperial navy, therefore, weapons like these crossbow cannons would naturally be brought into the equation.

nCurrently there aren’t a lot of these crossbow cannons aboard the ship, only four, but all four were aiming at the enemy boats. As long as even one lands, the penetration force from the metallic arrow will tear a hole right through the enemy’s hull!

nTowards a weapon of such devastating force, the other side would naturally recognize it. As such, when they saw the crossbow cannons aiming at them, the men aboard the rowing boats turned ghastly pale.

nThen coming in at the perfect timing, Du Wei made a booming laugh and said to his sailors: “What are you all doing! Don’t aim at the small boats to the side; aim at the one in the center! Hmm, it’s the guy that opened his mouth earlier. Whoever can land a hit on his head I’ll reward him with a hundred cold pieces afterwards!”

nMany sailors cheered, and immediately turned the muzzle of the four crossbow cannons at Geppede’s boat. Geppede’s complexion suddenly took on a black and blue hue, making him look absolutely unsightly. Although he has the strength of a seventh level knight, but those are the most powerful siege weapons available to the navy! Moreover, there’s four of them aiming at him in unison, even he will get cold feet from this! What’s worse, the firing range of those arrows can reach up to a thousand meters, meaning the impacting force will dramatically increase due to his close range! Even if he’s confident in dodging the impacting blow with his skills, what about the comrades behind him on the boat? They will be destroyed by the resulting hit!”

nDu Wei just had to smirk at this time to make things harder: “EH? Knight Geppede, why you stop counting? In this case, if you don’t count than I will. I don’t need to count to ten, I only need five then I will begin firing! One! Two-three-four…..””

nDu Wei was super quick in his countdown. By the time he reached five, an old and vigorous voice came from afar.

n“Duke Tulip, you are too impudent!”

nThe voice hasn’t even died down yet and Du Wei already saw a white figure flying up from the enemy’s main ship. Donning a white robe, an old man began drifting over to their location at rapid speed.

n“Mage?” Du Wei pricked a brow.

n“It’s the temple’s divinest, only the divinest from the hall of trials will wear a white robe.” Lamu’s urgent voice came from behind again: “Duke, this fellow is a member of the trial hall, be careful….”

nBefore he could even finish his words, the white-robed old man had begun casting a spell in mid-air. From both his sleeves, gusts of wind started to form and very soon, two small tornadoes were hurling towards Du Wei’s ship at the speed discernable to the naked eye.

nThe other side was very direct, say fight and they fight. But Du Wei’s not afraid. Making a sneer, Du Wei raised a sleeve and tossed a magic scroll directly at the oncoming attack.

nDu Wei had long expended the magic scrolls given to him by white-robe Gandalf, but luckily, there’s green-robe Gandalf by his side now. Gotta say, the eccentric old man got quite the skills in making magic scrolls. So during these days, Du Wei made it a mission to blackmail a lot of good stuff out of him. Seeing the two mini tornados sweeping at him, Du Wei did not hesitate in the least to throw one of the scrolls out. In a brilliant and violent gold light, an arch-shaped light curtain shielded Du Wei and his people from the coiling attack of the wind outside the barrier.

nThe voice of the divinest who’s chanting in the sky was vastly different from the chant of a mage’s. Like a priest singing in a cathedral, the sound was pleasant to the ear as if there’s some kind of mysterious power drawing you in.

nDespite having his first spell dissolved, the divinest remains unshaken. Immediately after the first incantation ended, Du Wei promptly felt a sudden tremor under his feet.

nIn one loud bang, the river under the boat suddenly exploded and sets off a big wave, swaying the ship fiercely in the aftershock. The deck wasn’t doing much better either. The sailors who were leaning against the crossbow cannons lost their footings, and some ended up falling overboard and directly splashing into the river.

nDu Wei grew angry and immediately shouted: “Fire! Hit their ship!”

nAt that, he stamped his feet and propelled his body straight into the sky, his finger constantly pointing at the divinest: “You religious old fraud lets fight then, think I’m afraid of you!” He scolds harshly without holding back.

nWaving his sleeve, Du Wei unleashes his signature move: Invincible fireball assault.

nAlthough divinests are tough, but Du Wei’s indiscriminate fireball assault would frighten anyone if he suddenly flings a hundred or so of these flaming balls at once. Besides, Du Wei’s specialty was pulling sneak attacks, which was exactly the case here. For example, that white-robe Ivory Teeth Shaman and green-robe Gandalf all suffered at his hands using this attack because they were careless. Caught off guard, the divinest was left with no choice but to retreat at rapid speed, his mouth inhaling hard.

nDu Wei immediately stared wide eyes at what he saw then!

nThis was the first time Du Wei witnessed a divinest performing their spells. Prior to this, he only heard rumors of there being priests capable of using special spells, said to be handed down by the Goddess of Light herself, and that their form of power was the true incarnation of the divine’s will. Of course, this claim greatly infringes on the Magic Union’s belief and was hence refuted by all mages in the union. To the regular magic community, they believed the special techniques used by the divinests are merely another form of magic, but elevated using the Temple’s status and rebranded as “divine techniques”.

nBut on today’s encounter, Du Wei noticed something vastly different about it!

nBy sucking in air, the old man’s chest swelled up and sent the alarm bells ringing in Du Wei. Noticing the oddity, he hurries to get away.

nBANG!

nCountless streams of air sprayed from the old man’s mouth and sent the hurling fireballs under Du Wei’s control into a chaotic mess. Colliding and exploding together from the conflicting impact, the vast majority of the fireballs didn’t make it, but those that did make it out of the smoking mess were repelled by a silvery light on the Divinest’s body which radiating a sacred glow.

nThe first failure of the Du Wei’s fireball assault was a little irritating for him, so he summoned his wand by willing it out of existence in his hand. Flashing repeatedly, the crystal on his wand fluctuated with energy from Du Wei’s power. And as soon as Du Wei finished his quick chant, a fire bird comprised entirely of flames opened it wings and shot directly at the divinest, the sharp sound created by the friction between the fire and air sounded very similar to a bird’s call.

nThe divinest was no push over either. Pointing in quick succession at the river, the water below gushed out like a long hose and shot straight into the sky to form multiple water masses. Following the command of the divinest’s moving fingers, the water masses shot out like water bullets and collided into Du Wei’s fire bird, the resulting impact created a cloud of fog due to the water evaporating from the searing heat.

nAnd the fighting down below was also getting quite busy right now.

nThe divinest’s intervention just then created a big tidal wave, causing Du Wei’s boat to wobble uncontrollably and decommissioning two of the crossbow cannons in the process. Du Wei saw through the foe’s intent and timely called for the immediately firing of the siege weapons, but it was too late. With only two of the siege weapons left, the effectiveness was far and in-between with the first arrow landing five meters away from Geppede’s boat in the middle. Even so, this was enough to send those onboard into a terrible fright from the aftershock.

nLuckily the aim of the second shot was very good and didn’t disappoint.

nWatching the oncoming arrow coming at him, Geppede knew he couldn’t dodge; otherwise, those behind him will perish. As a seventh level knight, and as a holy knight, his pride wouldn’t allow him to abandon the comrades behind him.

nSteeling his heart, he drew his sword and charged head on into the javelin like arrow flying at him. Gleaming a sharpness of an eagle and the ferocity of a lion, his speed reaches full velocity as he slices down at the death reaping projectile. What came next was a clear and crisp “peng” sound of metal bending!

nGeppede body’s trembled uncontrollably and even his hand holding the sword was about to let go due to the numbness circulating across his body. But the all-out blow of a seventh level knight was not to be taken lightly, and immediately, the arrow head became crooked from the resulting impact. Even so, the projectiles fired by these crossbow cannons are no simple matter either. Despite having its arrow heads damaged and velocity changed, the initial inertia propels the metallic arrow to continue forward even at a slanted pose. Making a whistling sound against the wind, the object ruthlessly smashes into Geppede’s body!

nFortunately for Geppede, he does have some skills. Despite having some of his ribs broken from the impact, he was able to break free by pushing himself away with his sword.

nIn the end he did get out of the way, but this left his comrades wide open behind him. The two archers aboard the small rowing boat only had lightweight armor to begin with. With a loud “plop” sound, the heads of the archers were literally smashed off of their bodies, brains and skull fragments splattered everywhere onto the river surface. And the comrades behind the archers weren’t much better either. Getting pounded in the stomach, it’s obvious enough that their spines were snapped in half from the steep curve they were bent in. Lastly, but fortunately, the remaining two furthest back were able to react in time. Jumping into the river, they were able to come out unscathed.

nGeppede was not only a seventh level knight; he’s also a holy knight of the Temple. Suddenly suffering this big failure, his heart flew into a monstrous rage after recollecting himself. Breaking out into a loud roar, he robbed one of his companion’s swords and stamped his feet against the water, propelling himself like an eagle towards Du Wei’s ship.

nThe one to face him was Rhine, loyal protector of Lord Maximos. Rhine’s size was the biggest, so it’s natural he would become the obvious target for Geppede as he was in the air. Under his fury, the Battle Qi of this seventh level knight reached its peak and manifested itself into a vindictive coat of blazing silver – the specialized Dou Qi used by only the Holy Knights. Making a whistling sound as it slices through the air, adding in the fact that Geppede was coming down from above, the momentum from his attack gave Geppede the illusion of someone capable of cutting this big man (Rhine) into two halves with ease!

nAt the same time, Du Wei was in the middle of the sky struggling to deal with this divinest, their fight evenly matched. Du Wei summoned even more fire birds to peck at the divinest during this time, but the guy was a master of the water, deflecting everything he threw at him with the water pillars. Regardless of what both sides used, there are no weaknesses to be found in their defenses.

nBy now both men are annoyed by their fight, but Du Wei’s situation was by contrast slightly better. His body only suffering some splashes of water on his clothes, meanwhile the divinest had charred holes all over his white clergy robe and even his hair was a little burned.

nDu Wei may be floating in the sky, but he didn’t forget to observe the situation down at his ship.

nHe may not be very fluent in martial art, but even he would learn something by now after spending so many days in the presence of Hussein and Rodriguez, both unparalleled masters of the sword.

nAgainst a seventh level knight that has compressed every ounce of his Dou Qi into the sword for one strike, most people would choose to avoid it, but this Rhine…..

nThis monster actually had absolutely no intentions of dodging… Who knows if it was because his massive body’s too bulky and couldn’t move in time, or was it his inner consciousness forbidding him, either way, he’s not moving!

nHolding his gargantuan battle axe, Rhine, like a wild beast, roars and physically stepped up to receive Geppede’s attack from above with his weapon….

nSeeing this, Du Wei’s heart instantly sank.

nIt’s true he really admires this Rhine, there’s no lie in that, but watching this big man going head on against a seventh level knight with a mere axe (no Dou Qi used here), Du Wei can already foresee the bloody scene that’s about to unfold. Instinctively, he closes his eye and turns away. He simply can’t bear to see this big guy get cut in two….

nBut it was exactly after Du Wei closes his eye that an ear deafening roar like a muffled thunder reaches out to him.

nBang!!!

nThis sound nearly overtook the entire river!

nBy the time Du Wei opens his eyes again, the first thing to come into his sight was the eagle like Geppede flailing about in the air, blood gushing out like arrows across his face as he flew backwards….. No, it’s not fly, it’s shooting backwards!

nIn one loud bang, Geppede, this seventh level knight has been sent shooting back into his rowing boat. Not slowing down in the least from the impacting crash, a gaping hole was blown through the bottom!

nPleasantly surprised, Du Wei hurries to turn his sight on Rhine but was welcomed with the picture of numerous cracks and a human shaped hole in the sturdy ship deck. Blinking a few times, Du Wei had trouble devouring this image. Then the next thing he knew, a loud roar like muffled thunder came from underneath. First was the dusty arm, then the dusty body, Rhine crawled out of that hole unscathed without a spec of injury.

n“Damn it!” He said, “It’s so painful from that hit!” Rhine suddenly uttered a thunderous roar as powerful and dominating as a lion’s roar!

nWatching this, Du Wei lapsed out for a moment from being overly shocked…..

nWithout any Dou Qi, purely physical strength of the flesh, he was able deflect a seventh level knight’s vindictive blow? And, he was able to beat the foe till they puked blood and crash back into the boat! To top it off, this Rhine’s not hurt, merely sore from muscle pain?

nThis guy … Is he really human?

nBut this moment of distraction gave the divinest the opportunity to gain an advantage over Du Wei. Repeatedly calling for more water pillars, the fire birds under Du Wei’s control quickly lost the edge and were eventually doused out into puffs of smoke and vapor.

nAt this moment, the sky above where the two were making their confrontation was filled with a thick fog, impairing the vision of both parties. By the time Du Wei noticed the situation, it was already too late and he has already fallen into the enemy’s ploy.

nFollowing the foe’s extended laugh, Du Wei’s body suddenly sank, his whole body unable to move as if there’s a heavy weight pressing in at him.

nBinding magic?

nDu Wei’s after all a sixth level mage himself now, even if he fell into a binding spell of the enemy, he should be able to break free from the shackles using his own methods. However, as he exerted his magic to forcefully loosen the grip on him, he found that his spell hadn’t the slightest effect!

nThe divinest repeatedly sneered: “Stupid fellow! You think this is magic? It’s impossible to disarm the Temple’s divine power! This power is the holiest of all forces! It’s not some magical element that you magicians think it is!”

nIndeed, Du Wei cannot break free from the binding of this sacred force. By now the divinest had pulled a silver nail out from his pocket, those old lips curving into a grin: “Duke Tulip, I won’t kill you, but this holy nail will seal your magic for good once I pierce it into your heart. At the very least, you won’t be able to make trouble for us again in the future.”

nOnce done, he quickly pounced towards Du Wei with the nail in hand, the goal clear, it’s Du Wei’s heart.

nBut how can Du Wei just submit like so? In times of crisis, his brain went into overdrive…. Holy power?

nThen the only force capable of dispelling this holiest of holy powers should be the darkest and most vile force in this world.

nThinking up to here, Du Wei dared not hesitate and promptly released a dark object from within his storage ring, gases as dark as ink swirled about inside.

nThis was the dead spirits collected from the dark mage Du Wei indirectly killed from before. Sure enough, this kind of thing was the greatest natural enemy of the holy power. Wrapping around Du Wei’s body, the miasmic mist began to rot and infect the invisible chains, loosening it enough for Du Wei to forcefully break free.

nOnce out of the way, Du Wei hurriedly retreated, making sure to give as much distance between him and the divinest.

nThe old man’s strength wasn’t necessarily higher than his own, but the issue was his lack of knowledge regarding the Temple’s divine power, putting him at a disadvantage. At the moment he was angry, so angry that he’s about to bring out his Nirvana’s bow and directly blow the old man to smithereens to vent his frustration. But just as he was about to carry out this thought, an indifferent voice of a woman came from behind him: “Go take care of your people, leave this guy to me.”

nStunned for a second, Du Wei turns around and was welcomed with the beautiful face of Nicole with her eyes closed: “Nicole, you….”

nQueen Medusa made a bland smile, but that chuckle of hers remains devoid of emotion: “Didn’t you take me on the road with you because you wanted me to give you a helping hand? No need to explain yourself. Since I followed you out here, it’s only right I do this. Hmm… According to your human nature, this is the so called mutual exchange, right?”

nWith that said, Queen Medusa flew towards the divinest with her robe fluttering from the wind.

nDu Wei‘s heart became moved and accepted the offer. Slowly, he descended.

nThe deck has become a mess by now. The other side originally planned to overtake the ship by their superior numbers, but out of expectation, their leader, Knight Geppede was sent flying by Rhine’s devastating blow with the battle axe. This impedance will of course lower the momentum of the attackers.

nAlso, the Tulip soldiers were all equipped with crossbows, making the level of difficulty in boarding rise exponentially. Adding in this Rhine with his monstrous strength, any person unfortunate enough to face off against this giant with his battle axe will be immediately severed and smashed back down into water. The enemy did have a few strong characters, but these warriors were all around the third level, nothing threatening in the face of Rhine’s onslaught.

nMerely after two to three pushes, the assailants were forced off of the ship. As for those unable to escape, they can only jump into the river to save their lives.

nThe remaining archers on the rowing boats continued to fire their arrows at Du Wei’s men, but the Tulip soldiers were well prepared since the beginning with their shields raised early on in the fight.

nAngered by these annoying arrows, Rhine decides to retaliate by picking up one of the enemy’s corpses. Holding the body by the legs, he rips the human corpse in two!

nThe natural born strength of this giant was indeed appalling. Throwing the two halves of the corpse into the other side’s boat, the archers that were constantly harassing him moments ago couldn’t ingest the gruesome scene and began throwing up to the side. Mangled meat, bowel fluid, and all sorts of bodily excrement’s were splattered about on the boat, some ending up on the attackers boot.

nBy now Geppede has been fished up from the river. This seventh level Holy Knight was pale like paper once out of the water, drenched and soaking wet, he was absolutely ghastly from how weak and powerless he looked. From the corner of his mouth, blood continues to stream down the side, indicating how injured he really was inside. Now that he’s defeated, Geppede and everyone on their side can only place their hope on the battling divinest up in the sky.

nAs long as the divinest can defeat the magician on Du Wei’s side, they can still make a victory here today.

nBut this idea only lasted long enough for the people to think about it because a loud exclaiming voice quickly broke them out of that illusion. From above the sky, a white silhouette, heavy looking, came crashing down at one of the boats!

nBang!!

nTorn asunder, a gaping hole was blown through the hull by that object and was about to sink at any moment.

nOthers looked, but they all fell into a desperate fright once recognizing it!

nIt’s not some random thing that fell from the sky, it’s the divinest that everyone placed their hope on! Only issue, the old guy’s been turned to stone! When he fell from the sky, the old man was still a statue, but once it smashed into the boat, the statue was shattered into countless pieces.

n“Dead…. Is he dead? His grace fell victim to a petrification magic and died….”

nGeppede’s jaw were gaped open, unable to take in the reality: “How can this be!! How can Duke Tulip have such a powerful sorceress by his side?!”

nOther than Du Wei himself, it’s likely no one else would know of the reason for this divinest’s demise.

n