I'm an antique shop owner, so it's reasonable for me to know some magic

Chapter 441

What were you two doing in that corner just now?

Haliya turned her head and watched Ralph and Oliver walk towards her.

"Let's discuss the evacuation route later. The building's structure is unstable after the battle, so we need to be careful with the wounded."

Ralph shrugged and showed what he was holding.

"Oliver and I just found some materials and made a makeshift stretcher."

"They put a lot of effort into it."

Haliya got up lazily like a cat that had just woken up. Her body was neither plump nor tall, but it exuded youth and vitality, reminiscent of tender buds just sprouting from a tree branch.

"Oliver, wait a minute."

"how?"

"I haven't smoked for so long, and I'm craving it."

The gothic girl took out a crushed cigarette case from her jacket, seemingly intending to take out a cigarette and enjoy it.

"Could I borrow a light?"

"of course can."

Oliver fumbled for his jacket.

The next second, a pale white one-handed sword flew past his cheek.

His target was the back of Ralph's head, which was not far from them and had his back to the two men.

However, the latter seemed to have tripped over something on the ground, leaning forward and narrowly avoiding the attack of the bone blade.

"Are you crazy?"

Oliver was both shocked and furious.

Haliya's face was ashen, and she did not answer Oliver's question.

Excessive fatigue rendered her attacks weak and ineffective, allowing her opponent to dodge them in this manner.

Damn!

Not far away, Ralph, who had just gotten up from the ground, looked terrified and seemed to still have lingering fears.

“I don’t understand why you are so hostile towards me, Miss Harya. We were fighting side by side before…”

"No need to pretend anymore!"

She stood up, and a faint purple light shimmered on her wrist.

That's a magic circle for summoning skeleton soldiers.

"...What did you do to Oliver?"

Ralph's facial expression froze in front of Haria before slowly returning to calm.

His center of gravity shifted to the side, and his "injured" left leg bore the weight of his body without any burden, proving that everything before was just a facade to deceive others.

At this moment, the spy, entrusted with an important mission by the cult's higher-ups and lurking among the crowd, finally revealed his true colors.

"Personality implantation. A trick the cult discovered during the creation of Tupa that can implant non-existent memories and personalities into a body, achieving a similarity of seven to eight tenths."

"I just didn't expect you to see through me at a glance."

He talked freely.

Her tone, expression, and rhythm of speech were completely different from before, as if the person standing in front of Haliya was someone else dressed in the same clothes.

"Because a fake can only ever be a fake; no matter how close it gets, it can never replace the real thing."

"Come on, Miss Haliya, you don't have that kind of keen insight. The reason you were able to see through it is because someone gave you a warning in advance, so you were prepared."

Ralph chuckled and shook his head.

"If I'm not mistaken, it's him again."

"Just one person, yet they caused us so much trouble... Not only did they defeat the leader's secondary body and destroy the interdimensional portal, but they also left a message warning you to stay vigilant..."

"It would be a real shame not to cause him some trouble."

"What are you planning to do? Kill us?"

A skeleton soldier with blue flames emanating from its eye sockets appeared beside Haliya.

The skeleton soldiers did not attack immediately, but instead stood in front of their master.

“Kill you? How could I?” Ralph stepped forward, seemingly unconcerned about the gleaming blades in the skeleton soldiers’ claws.

“Those who can crawl out of the hellish battlefield will surely achieve great things in the future. Slaughtering such people is a heartbreaking waste.”

"Once the final mission is completed, I will bring you back to the Order and make you part of us."

"You're dreaming!"

Haliya gritted her teeth.

"Most members were like you before they joined the church, but after personally experiencing the greatness of our Lord and realizing their own insignificance, they will willingly submit and act together with us."

Invisible tentacles coiled around the skeleton soldier's body, and as they applied pressure, the soul fire in the skeleton's eyes dimmed further, and tiny cracks spread across its skeleton.

Haliya raised her hand as if making a finger gun and fired a jet of pitch-black death energy at the tentacle.

But such an attack is like an itch to the eerie tentacles.

Harya realized that she was no match for this strange man on her own, and immediately thought of asking for help.

The mysterious cult, as the mastermind behind everything, is universally hated. If we can attract the attention of other extraordinary individuals, perhaps we can defeat them by joining forces, just like before.

However, after turning her head and seeing what was happening behind her, the fighting spirit that had just ignited in Haliya's eyes quickly died down.

“Haliya…”

With a sharp blade held to his neck, Hilo trembled as he called out his companion's name.

She remained in the same position as the patient receiving treatment, but her circumstances had changed dramatically.

The extraordinary beings who had previously gathered together to celebrate their survival were now all gathered around her and the unconscious Lawrence.

Long sword... flames... ice blade...

Numerous different weapons and imminent magic were all aimed at the two of them.

Besides them, the nobles who lacked combat ability were like Oliver, blind and disoriented, like puppets.

"Could they all be..."

Haliya was incredulous, her voice even carrying a hint of despair.

“Not all of them.”

Ralph shook his head.

"Only about half... the rest are like Oliver, just temporarily under control."

"What exactly do you want? Are you trying to threaten him with our lives?"

Haliya did not lose her composure; she stared intently at Ralph across from her.

A complex look appeared in those light brown eyes, typical of Slavs.

“You are not important to him…or rather, we are not important to him either.”

"For such beings, the evaluation of a single individual is insignificant, but as long as they exist in human society, they have to take public opinion into consideration."

"Public opinion? You want to use our mouths to accuse him of baseless crimes and smear him?"

Haliya laughed at the other person's wild idea.

"I thought you had some evil plan, but it turns out this is all you've got?"

“Foolish. He is so powerful that no power or opinion in human society can sway him in the slightest, except by defeating him head-on with force.”

"is it?"

Ralph didn't take it seriously.

“You’re right, what I’ve done can’t cause him any physical harm, but what about his spirit? Has he truly reached a state of heartlessness?”

"He seems detached from worldly affairs, but like God in the Bible, he has always favored humanity. Otherwise, he could have simply broken through the gray fog blockade and left on his own."

"In my opinion, he most likely sees himself as the guardian of humanity and considers this his destiny."

"What could be more heartbreaking than being misunderstood, hurt, betrayed, or even exiled by the people you protect?"

"And as I just said, this final action wasn't for a counterattack, but rather to create a little trouble for him..."

He smiled and spoke.

"Even if it only has the slightest impact on him, we think it's a good thing."

"Time, time is the key."

(End of this chapter)