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Author's note: since some people have made several comments to me about the name of the kingdom of Balsac, because of its similarity to ball sack, I have decided to change it to Balsahty (so it still retains the original term 'balsa' in Spanish, and its meaning can still be applied).

 

Chapter 113

"The Ambush." Part 3.

 

A growl charged with annoyance escaped Darla's throat, who with the appearance of the new saint was well aware that she would very soon lose her title as high priestess, and become a mere attendant to the brat who was the new pontiff's favorite.

But with the death of the previous pope, the kindly man who had adopted her, brought her to the temple and raised her almost as if he were her father, she had lost her most important ally.

And with the Berkeley priest now in power, the only one left alive among the other four people who knew the real reason the previous pontiff had been so supportive of her, she had been left without resources. Especially after the failure and the great loss the temple suffered with the annihilation of the entire group that had gone to hunt the black dragon that came to Elinor during the summoning of the heroes.

Now, more than ever, I need to get hold of whatever is inside that tower that the demon king wants for himself. She thought. If I succeed, not only could I become more powerful, but I may be able to win back the favor of the goddess Mhiralla and have her remove the blockage from my system. She wished things were that easy, but despite how hard she had worked over the last few years to improve her situation or how much she had prayed and pleaded with the goddess to at least allow her to level up again, she had never received an answer.

The only thing she had gotten were two prophecies.

A loud bang against the opposite window of her carriage caused her to let out a small scream and jump against her seat as she saw the back of one of the guards blood stain the opposite glass through which she had been watching the knights fight a few feet away from where the carriage was.

One of the horses pulling the vehicle whinnied in fright and the carriage jerked for a few seconds with some violence as the coachman took control of the horses again.

“What the hell are you doing? Kill those things at once so we can get out of here! The longer we delay in getting to that tower the more chances the demon king will have to fulfill the prophecy and his darkness will destroy the world! Jhil Ezhil!” Darla growled, the golden light of her ability spread five meters around her, beginning the healing of the knight who had crashed into the window. One of the priests traveling with her opened the door of the carriage with the intention of finishing the healing, but at that moment a group of four knights dressed in black and dark blue, with the coat of arms of the kingdom of Bhallys stamped on the silver plate that tied their cloaks to the right side of their chests, approached them mounted on horses.

“Greetings, saint of the kingdom of Balsahty and priests of the temple of light. His majesty Prince Dantel Ivon of Bhallys invites you to move to the safety of his carriage.”

“I thank you for your majesty’s kindness," she answered immediately, getting down from the carriage. The priests coming down with her were indignant at her behavior.

“Wait a minute! What about us?” One of them reproached, bringing his hand to the small leather pouch strapped to his waist, where he kept another small sack full of dried zhalem flower petals and two vials of zhalem flower extract.

“His majesty invited only the saint. If you wish to follow us, it will be at your own risk.”

****

Meanwhile, several meters away, Kalysto was waiting for the cooldown of her skills to pass.

[You have gained 2000 experience points!] x10

The former waitress frowned, certain that she had frozen far more monsters than just ten.

“Sense of mana!” She whispered, needing to burn off the excess mana in her body before it began to do more damage to her than her new passive regeneration skill could heal and spreading her mana around. Noticing that there were twenty-five other monsters besides the massive Sajhun that were still alive despite being frozen.

Knowing that it was only a matter of time before their systems would alert her to their deaths as soon as they finished suffocating. She drew her bow and placed a knee on the ground hoping that by staying low, her arrows could not be seen by the knights. She watched as some Dark-Jhuns along with a small pack of white wolves began trying to advance in the middle of the frozen monster pond she had created. Taking advantage of the fact that she could use the fallen body of the Sajhun to hide herself she took out a couple of arrows from her inventory, along with a small vial of holy water which she drank immediately and then and as soon as she finished, she whispered:

“Purification!” The soft golden glow surrounded the arrow and Kalysto immediately launched it at the first Dark-Jhun’s head, which dissipated in an instant as the usual itch that she felt as the holy water healed her body spread through every pore of her skin.

[The passive skill Regeneration has been raised to level 4!]

[You’ve gained 4000 experience points!]

And then she turned around, using the thin spaces between the frozen bodies around her to attack her next target.

“Purification!” she whispered, launching an arrow. “Purification!” she shot another. Both arrows hit their targets, one disintegrating the head of a Dark-Jhun, while the other managed to move in time, causing the arrow to only vaporize half of his head before burying itself in the huge wolf behind him.

[You gained 4000 experience points!] x2

“Purification!” she continued throwing, taking out the last of them that was stalking her just in time to avoid the bite of one of the white wolves.

[You’ve gained 4000 experience points!]

[You have gained 3000 experience points!] x10

[You have leveled up to level 27!]

[You have leveled up to level 28!]

“Ice daggers!” she muttered as soon as she dodged a wolf’s bite. But a blue window appeared before her instead.

[The skill Ice Daggers cannot be used at the moment. The user must wait 0:40 minutes before being able to use it again.]

“Shit! Ice blades! Water blades!” She threw them at her enemy’s eyes.

Another white wolf lunged at her and Kalysto dodged it in time, throwing a punch against his jaw, leaving him stunned long enough for her to touch one of the frozen bodies next to her.

[You’ve gained 3000 experience points!] x5

“Ice manipulation! Mana manipulation!” she whispered, causing the ice surrounding the ground and the bodies of the monsters she had attacked earlier to turn into sharp spikes that pierced through the entire pack of wolves surrounding her.

[You have gained 3000 experience points!] x15

[You have risen to level 29!]

[You’ve leveled up to level 30!]

“Oh, how I’ve missed this!” she whispered as she saw the huge amount of points she was gaining.

And Kalysto got excited at the thought of gaining many more.

 

****

 

Several hours after the ritual ended and the summoning room was empty, the bluish, glowing liquid that filled half of the chalice remained calm. And the wisps of shadows that once swam in it had now almost vanished completely.

The female figure covered by a dark cloak approached the huge chalice, and with the tip of her index finger, touched the glowing liquid, which immediately turned black.

“Show me what those who call themselves my enemies are doing!” she commanded in a soft voice, her dark mana connecting with that of one of his ravens, projecting into the chalice liquid what her familiar saw.

Five horse-drawn carriages, along with nearly a hundred knights mounted on their horses together with another hundred escorting them, were fighting the horde of a little over twelve hundred monsters that had ambushed them.

“Ha! Stupid humans, the more you slay my monsters, the more their blood will nourish the earth that gives life to the tower!” smiled the feminine figure surrounded by shadows.

”... And the more powerful will be the treasure it will give me.”

 

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