Chapter 101 – Tricky Battle

Since their hostile identities had been confirmed, there was nothing more to say. The High Priest would never let Punk go, determined to “purify” this heretic who had blasphemed the Goddess, while Punk would never retreat, intent on obtaining the mage’s spell notes and that invaluable Master-level Robe before him.

Though Punk was somewhat puzzled why the enemy, as a High Priest who believed in a deity, possessed no clerical levels but only mage levels, he temporarily set this doubt aside in the face of the impending battle!

It seemed the one who couldn’t hold back first was the High Priest clinging to the cave wall. The fire of madness in his eyes suddenly blazed, and in less than a second, an almost instant-cast spell was unleashed!

“Die—!”

Along with the High Priest’s roar, a fiercely burning compressed fireball shot toward Punk!

“Formal-Level Evocation Spell—Fireball: Creates an explosive fireball to attack the enemy!”

“So it seems the opponent might be an evocation school mage!”

Facing the incoming fireball from the enemy’s attack, Punk calmly analyzed the High Priest’s information! Then he used a Kinetic Burst to strike the fireball mid-air!

“BOOM!!!”

The two explosive spells collided in mid-air, a violent roar echoing throughout the cave. Shattered flames scattered in all directions, while the residual waves of the kinetic explosion created cracks on the ground.

“Raaaaaagh!”

At the same time the two spells collided mid-air, Golem Number One roared loudly and charged at the enemy, its claws wreathed in abyssal energy gleaming with a bloody red light!

“Damn bastard, how dare you let a filthy thing like a golem tread upon the sacred ground of Goddess Tisha Xia’er!”

The High Priest’s face twisted as he watched Golem Number One charging toward him. While cursing incessantly, he hurriedly released the spell he had just completed!

“Take this!”

A red light glowed beside the High Priest, and a magic circle with burning flame runes materialized from the air. As Golem Number One approached, a swiftly solidifying slender elemental creature emerged from the magic circle to block its path.

Formal-Level Summoning Magic—Summon Fire Elemental: Summons a fire elemental burning with high-temperature flames to fight, duration five minutes!

Possessing some resistance to elements, Golem Number One fearlessly confronted the fire elemental. Under the High Priest’s control, the fire elemental embraced Golem Number One like a passionate lover, its high-temperature flames immediately spreading across the golem’s entire body!

“Do you think Golem Number One is my only means?”

Punk muttered lowly to himself, having already completed a summoning circle on the ground!

Formal-Level Summoning Magic—Summon Evil Tiger: Summons three powerful evil tigers that understand basic coordination to frenziedly attack the enemy, duration three minutes!

“ROAR!!”

Accompanied by several terrifying roars, three black tigers covered in inscribed runes leaped out from the magic circle and pounced toward the High Priest!At the same time, Punk unleashed three consecutive “Kinetic Bursts” to completely seal off the High Priest’s retreat. In this situation, if the High Priest chose to stand still, he would have to face three well-coordinated evil tigers. Once entangled by these three tigers, he would be completely suppressed by Punk’s torrential spell attacks. But if he chose to retreat, he would have to deal with the three “Kinetic Bursts” blocking his escape! However, after neutralizing the spell threat, he would immediately be overwhelmed by the three tigers closing in!

A dilemma was placed before the High Priest, and this choice demanded immediate action!

“Huff… huff…!”

Punk gasped for breath, having cast four spells in under two seconds—it was too strenuous. If not for the System’s assistance, the final Kinetic Burst would have nearly failed.

But… such an all-out assault had its advantages. Now, the situation was in his favor!

“You damned brat, I’ll slice your flesh piece by piece and offer it to the great Goddess!”

Facing the onslaught of the three fearsome tigers, the High Priest showed no trace of fear. He continued to scream madly, then tore open a section of carapace on the back of his spider-like lower body.

“Hehe… haha… haha hehe…”

After ripping open the armor, a series of green runes arranged in circular patterns lit up on his withered spider abdomen. Within the dozens of circular runes, maniacally laughing faces emerged. These ethereal forms materialized into frenzied specters that surged out from the High Priest’s body, coalescing into slender, eerie dark green energy chains that writhed wildly in midair.

The chaotic, mad laughter echoed ominously through the gloomy cave!

“Followers loyal to Goddess Tisha Xia’er, the time has come to devote yourselves to the great Goddess! Now, go and hinder the sinful enemy—I shall purify them all!”

The chains floating in the air obeyed the High Priest’s command without hesitation, shooting toward the three evil tigers.

“Don’t even think about it!”

Seeing these soul-formed chains, Punk immediately recalled the dark green spider he had fought outside the iron door. Back then, the frenzied specters emerging from that spider had also formed dark green chains, whose binding energy had forcefully dragged away his fully-powered Golem Number One. If these chains entangled the three evil tigers, his summoning efforts would be wasted!

“Do you really think the same tactic will work twice against the same mage?”

Without hesitation, Punk employed the countermeasure he had prepared even before breaking through the door.

As a low chant swiftly concluded, a faint purple, translucent sphere flew toward the tangled mass of chains in midair.

“Formal-Level Conjuration Spell—Kinetic Stasis: Create a field that halts kinetic energy, lasting ten seconds!”

When the High Priest released the dozens of bizarre specters, Punk realized they were far from easily dealt with. After all, even Golem Number One’s full-powered attacks had been dragged away by the spectral chains during the encounter with the dark green spider. Thus, Punk intended to halt the chains’ movement, allowing the three tigers to break through the defense and attack the High Priest!

“I won’t let you succeed!”

The High Priest’s pupils contracted as he roared. Though mad, he was no fool—Punk’s intention was easily discerned by the battle-hardened High Priest.”Loyal servants of the Goddess, stop that spell now!”

At the High Priest’s command, a dark green chain immediately transformed back into over a dozen wraiths. These spirits fearlessly ignited themselves, turning into fiercely burning green fireballs that charged toward the pale purple sphere!

“Kinetic Stasis,” as a standard support spell, couldn’t withstand such a powerful attack. Intercepted mid-flight, the Kinetic Stasis erupted in mid-air, forming a spherical domain covering approximately ten cubic meters. Within this pale purple domain, all moving objects instantly came to a standstill, as if someone had pressed a pause button!

“Haha, just a kid after all. Pray to the great Goddess Tisha Xia’er before death arrives!”

Seeing the Kinetic Stasis erupt in the air, the High Priest let out a sinister, maniacal laugh. The dark green chain had already tightly bound three tigers with menacing force. Simultaneously, the laughing High Priest rapidly launched dozens of blazing fireballs from his hands. Though individually not particularly powerful, these fireballs flew one after another toward the stasis domain suspended in the air.

The successively launched fireballs entered the Kinetic Stasis domain one by one. Under the influence of Kinetic Stasis, all the fireballs immediately halted their flight. Thus, dozens of fireballs remained suspended mid-air, radiating intense heat.

Seeing this situation, Punk broke out in a cold sweat. Once the Kinetic Stasis duration ended, all these fireballs would come crashing down simultaneously. The consequences… would be exceptionally troublesome!

“Damn it! Since I appeared here, the enemy must know I defeated the dark green spider. How could they not anticipate I’d have countermeasures against the dark green chain? Even so, they seemingly impulsively used the dark green chain anyway. I should have realized they were waiting to counter my magic… Damn, I fell for this madman’s crazed act. Still lacking experience!”

Punk cursed inwardly. But now he had to devise an effective response before the Kinetic Stasis ended. Otherwise… he might very well suffer serious injuries!

(End of Chapter)