ATPnovel Chapter 351 Holy Light Untainted by Dust
Chapter 351 Holy Light Untainted by Dust
But at this moment, the edges of the scratches are covered by a soft golden halo, slowly but continuously repairing themselves.
"Are you alright, Captain?" Carl White's voice came from the side.
He slammed the almost life-sized Mountain Barrier tower shield he was holding onto the ground with a thud.
The shield surface was covered with crisscrossing cuts and dents, and in the very center there was even a deep cut that almost cleaved the relief mountain pattern in two, with the edges slightly curled up.
Carl's face showed fatigue, but his brown eyes remained bright and alert. He quickly scanned the surrounding quiet woodland to make sure no other threats had been drawn to the battle.
"It's alright. The Holy Light Shield absorbed most of the impact." Emily shook her head, her voice clear and steady.
She raised her hand, and a warm golden light flowed from her palm, gently enveloping Karl.
The shield warrior's left arm had a deep, bone-revealing wound that stopped bleeding and healed at a visible speed in the light, eventually leaving only a pale pink new scar.
"Thanks, Captain." Karl stretched his left arm and grinned. "That last 'Cross Slash' from that big guy was really powerful. If you hadn't cast 'Divine Protection' beforehand, my arm might be gone."
"It's my control that wasn't properly coordinated." On the other side, Helena White walked over, carrying her Frost Staff inlaid with an ice-blue gem.
The young mage's face was somewhat pale, and her breathing was slightly rapid, clearly indicating that the intense spellcasting and movement had exhausted a great deal of her mental energy.
A hint of self-reproach flickered in her icy blue eyes. "The duration of the 'Ice Chains' was 0.3 seconds shorter than I anticipated, giving it a chance to break free."
"No, Helena, you did very well." Emily turned to her sister, her eyes gentle yet reassuring.
"Without your 'Frost Nova' freezing its lower limbs in time, Karl wouldn't have had time to defend, and I wouldn't have been able to deliver the final 'Judgment Hammer.' We are a team; everyone contributes and learns and grows in battle."
Helena pursed her lips, nodded gently, and some color returned to her pale face.
"Let's take a quick rest and collect the loot." Emily put away her warhammer and walked towards the mantis leader's corpse.
"It's not safe here. The creatures of the Pale Woods have a strong sense of territory and a tendency to seek revenge. The commotion from the fight just now may have already attracted the attention of other predators."
The three of them immediately sprang into action.
Carl was on guard, while Helena began using her gathering skills to process valuable materials from the mantis—fragments of its hard, iron-like carapace, sharp sickle-like limbs, and any possible venom sacs or special glands.
Emily carefully removed a fist-sized crystal core from the mantis's smashed head, which emitted a faint grayish-green glow.
【Pale Blade Crystal Core (Grade B Material): Contains pure wind-attribute energy and a weak paralyzing toxin; can be used for forging, enchanting, or alchemy.】
Just as Emily put the crystal core into her backpack, she paused slightly.
Her private message lit up, and she was a little confused before opening it.
The sender's identifier listed two names side by side: [Marcus DuPont] and [William Rockefeller].
A faint hint of coldness flashed across the depths of Emily's azure eyes.
Instead of checking it immediately, she carefully stored the crystal core and then helped Helena collect the materials.
Only after the three of them quickly left the blood-smelling clearing and set up a temporary resting point in a relatively secluded rock crevice a few hundred meters away, and laid down simple warning runes, did Emily sit down against a cold rock and activate the communication device.
Karl was carefully polishing the burrs on the edge of his shield with a whetstone, while Helena closed her eyes and meditated, recovering her magic.
Both of them noticed the unusually calm expression on Emily's face after she summoned the light screen.
After Emily finished reading it.
The text slowly faded away on the pale blue screen.
A brief silence fell over the recessed rock face, broken only by the occasional hiss of an unknown creature from the distant forest and the rhythmic rustling of Karl sharpening his shield.
Emily turned off the light screen, looked up, and met the questioning gazes of Karl and Helena.
Both men had a clear questioning look in their eyes—they both recognized the names Marcus and William, and knew what kind of power and style these two represented among American players, especially in the Iron Curtain area.
"It's Marcus and William," Emily said calmly, her voice devoid of emotion. "They sent a 'joint invitation.'"
"A coalition?" Karl stopped what he was doing, raising his thick eyebrows. "A coalition for what? It's not like you're inviting us to raid a new dungeon, is it?" His tone was undisguisedly sarcastic.
"It's aimed at Lin Tian." Emily stated bluntly, briefly summarizing the core content of the communication.
Helena opened her eyes, a hint of surprise and unease flashing in her icy blue pupils:
"They...want to attack Lin Tian? Just because Lin Tian is the highest level?" The girl's voice was filled with confusion. "Isn't that...illogical? Is leveling up fast a mistake?"
Karl snorted heavily, his face showing unsurprised disgust:
"I knew it! What 'Imperial Barrier' and 'Arcane Truth Society'? They sound so grand, but at their core it's still the same old thing—those who obey me prosper, those who defy me perish! What 'maintaining order' and 'ensuring fairness'? Bah!"
They were simply afraid and embarrassed when someone slipped out of their control and got ahead of them, so they tried every means to bring that person down! It was nothing more than an invitation to murder disguised as a means to gain advantage!
He looked at Emily, his eyes sharp: "Captain, what do you think? The information these guys provide reeks of hypocrisy, down to the punctuation."
Emily did not answer immediately.
She leaned back slightly against the cold rock wall, her gaze seemingly piercing through its obstruction, directed towards the distant Holy Radiance City, or perhaps towards the unknown and brutal preliminary battlefield that would begin in seven days.
A brief silence fell over the recessed rock face, broken only by the mournful sound of the wind blowing through the forest.
A few seconds later, Emily spoke slowly, her voice still calm, yet like a long sword sunk into still water, clearly and steadily piercing through that gorgeous disguise:
"Carl is right, but it's not deep enough."