The story of the black silk female knight

Not only that, Valensa also used a two-stage attack technique of spiked strikes, forcibly injecting a surge of Yang Flame Divine Power into the High Priest's body through her punches, blasting the High Priest away. His broken body crashed heavily into the ram's horns of the strange creature on the main altar, like a tattered rag blown onto a tree branch by the wind.

At the same time, Tia, Melody, and Harry rushed out from their hiding place, unleashing their fully charged attacks on the other Pokémon. They completely stunned the group of Pokémon who had just been drooling over Gil and generating their own power, wiping them out almost instantly.

At this point, Valensa successfully launched a surprise attack and suppressed the Elf High Priest, and the other elves were also wiped out and posed almost no threat... Next, as long as the hostages on Thousand Leaf Grass and Purple Leaf's side are also successfully rescued, this cult incident in North Blade Bay should be coming to an end.

However, when Tia and the others reunited with Valensa and looked in the direction of the hostages, they discovered that Thousand Leaf Grass had not only failed to rescue the hostages, but had also become a hostage herself.

She had been stabbed in the side of her waist, and blood was still flowing, staining her fishnet stockings and tabi socks red. Her delicate and lovely face was deathly pale, and her eyes were filled with disbelief.

With all the Pokémon being instantly suppressed as planned, Thousand Leaf Grass was still ambushed, which could only have been done by one of its own.

It has purple leaves.

She still maintained her gentle demeanor with impeccable manners, but she used Chiba as a human wall in front of her, with a sharp knife pressed tightly against Chiba's throat, the threat of which was self-evident.

“…It’s you.”

Valensa seemed unsurprised by Ziye's sudden betrayal, and merely sighed.

"Do you know? Actually, I've wanted to take action against you for a long time, but Cao Cao just wouldn't believe it and still held onto a sliver of hope for you... And yet you treat Cao Cao like this? You've personally torn up your last lifeline."

"You already knew?"

Zi Ye raised an eyebrow in surprise:

"When? Why? I don't think I gave anything away."

“There are many things that are suspicious, and they are all speculations based on the analysis of various intelligence reports. But what really made me take notice of you is that strange feeling I had when I first met you.”

Valensa shrugged, seemingly unconcerned about Thousand Leaf Grass being taken hostage.

"I feel like I know you, but I've never seen you before... Although I briefly mentioned that I might have met you when I was a child, after careful consideration, I finally figured out the familiarity I felt about you... It's the scent of an evil god's power. You're a cultist, and you've even undergone some degree of bloodline modification, so you could be considered a member of an evil god's kin. That masked woman who tricked the elves of Northblade Bay, that's you, isn't it?"

I advise you to give up resisting. Whatever your schemes, they are doomed to fail. No one in this world is more restrained by cultists than I am.

“I know… you were right about something before, the name of the Sunflower Duchess can indeed instill fear in any cultist now, and I did lose my composure because of you.”

Ziye nodded:

"I recently received a lot of messages from our allies in France, saying that the Sunflower Duchess is absolutely no match for them. If you are unfortunately caught in a fight, we suggest you abandon all plans and lie in hiding where you are. There is still a chance of survival."

"Then why did you deliberately expose yourself?" Valensa asked, puzzled.

"...because I can't wait for the next opportunity."

Zi Ye took a deep breath:

"I have been planning this carefully and cautiously for more than 10 years, and finally I have captured the Northblade Bay elves. Whether I can complete this ritual, which is of utmost importance to me, depends on tonight... Even if the risk is great, I cannot stand by and watch the ritual preparations be ruined by you. I must fight to the death."

"A pointless struggle."

As Valencia spoke, she glanced around again.

All the elves that were ambushed by Tia and her group have lost their fighting ability, but there are still more than twenty weak elves that were not affected by the ambush and are currently hiding behind Ziye.

The elven high priest, whose body was tattered and hung atop the altar, slowly climbed down, his body covered in wriggling flesh that was slowly healing, without a drop of blood.

"You don't actually think you can stop me by using Cao Cao as a hostage, do you?"

Valensa gestured for Tia and the others to prepare behind her, then took two steps closer to Ziye and shouted:

"A paladin will never compromise with cultists! Besides, I am deeply blessed by God. At worst, I can simply ask Her Majesty the Goddess to resurrect me. Your struggles are doomed to be in vain!"

"I know."

Zi Ye nodded quite calmly:

“You are the chosen one of the Sun Goddess, so resurrecting the dead is not difficult for you. Moreover, I may not be able to kill the Third Miss, because you could strike me down with lightning speed at any time... I am also very familiar with the Sunflower Duchess’s various methods and amazing achievements.”

"Then you still..."

"So from the beginning, I never expected to use hostages to force you to back down; I was just trying to buy you time!"

As Ziye spoke, she suddenly kissed Qianyecao's lips. Valensa was about to unleash her speed when she saw a strange chaotic divine power being forcibly poured into Qianyecao's body by Ziye. This caused Qianyecao's eyes to roll back and her skin to turn red, making her look almost like those fallen elves.

Then Purple Leaf threw it with all her might, sending Thousand Leaf Grass flying into a wooden shed where goblins were kept, while simultaneously spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The blood swelled up as soon as it hit the wind, clearly indicating some kind of evil divine technique, and it looked extremely malevolent.

Valensa herself was not afraid, but Tia and the others behind her were not. She could only condense the divine power she originally intended to use to launch a sneak attack into a holy light shield to resist the evil blood.

But the blood wasn't sprayed towards Valensa and the others; instead, it was sprayed towards the elves who had just been blown up by Tia and Harry's magical attack.

Upon contact with the elves' skin, the blood quickly merged into their bodies, causing the elves to rise up like zombies. Their bodies underwent various mutations, transforming them into bizarre and disgusting zombie monsters. Their strength also increased dramatically, with almost all of them possessing the aura of a beacon.

"Do you think these are useful?"

Valensa dismissed it with disdain.

In the battle of the Radiant Rank, no matter how many summons there are below the Radiant Rank, they are still ants.

These mutated elves, mutated by absorbing the blood of evil magic, might pose some threat to Tia and her companions, but in front of Valensa when she gets serious, they are nothing more than small fry that can be wiped out with a few sword strikes.

Just as Valensa was about to annihilate these mutated elves, a silly laugh from afar forced her to distract herself.

Thousand-leaf Grass, who had just been thrown into the goblin hut, was unharmed, and the goblins, who were almost tortured to death by the elves, posed no threat to her.

But Thousand Leaf Grass was clearly affected by evil magic. Like those fallen elves, she seemed to be full of desire for males... Even though her waist was still bleeding, she still pushed the goblin down and was about to sit on it while drooling.

"hastily!"

Valensa, of course, couldn't just stand by and watch Chiba do such a thing to the goblin. She didn't even have time to wipe out the mutated elf that was insignificant to her. She unleashed her full speed and rushed to Chiba's side in an instant, kicking the goblin on the ground away.

"Ah! My lollipop is gone!"

Thousand-leaf grass seemed quite dissatisfied, glaring at Valensa with her watery eyes in protest... Her emerald eyes no longer held their usual clarity, only a hazy allure filled with desire.

This is the power of the evil god... Even the most resolute anti-demon ninja cannot resist the spiritual corruption; the rate at which the corruption value increases is terrifying.

If left unattended, Thousand Leaf Grass will most likely turn into something just like those lewd elves.

Valensa certainly has a way to save Thousand Leaf Grass, but it will take some time, and it is very likely that the evil god's son or his clan's Purple Leaf is still eyeing them covetously.

Valensa looked towards Tia with some concern, only to find that Ziye had no intention of attacking Tia and the others. Only the mutated elves were fighting Tia and the others, and the two sides were evenly matched, making it difficult to determine a winner for the time being.

Meanwhile, Zi Ye herself took the opportunity to work with the high priest of the elves to organize the remaining twenty-odd elves and planned to forcibly launch the sacrificial ritual!

This is Ziye's real plan... to use the Thousand Leaf Grass corrupted by the evil god to restrain Valensa, and to use the mutated elf group to restrain Tia and the others, in order to buy time for the sacrificial ceremony.

Chapter 67 Fierce Battle

As expected of someone capable of scheming against an elven tribe and even daring to frame Himiko, Ziye has made the most correct judgment for her in the current situation.

She was certain that Valensa would not stand idly by and watch Thousandleaf Grass be corrupted by the power of the evil god, and ride goblins like those fallen elves.

At the same time, she didn't take advantage of Valensa's opportunity to heal Thousand Leaf Grass to attack Tia and the others... She knew very well that in this situation, her companions were Valensa's biggest limitation, and she and the Elf High Priest were absolutely no match for an evil Holy Knight who no longer had any scruples.

So Ziye cleverly chose not to defeat Valensa, but instead prioritized completing the ritual... As long as this ritual succeeds, she can be promoted, and even if she still can't defeat Valensa, she can abandon this place and run away.

As for Tia, Melody, Gil, and Harry, that's a different story.

The dozen or so mutated elves fused with the blood of evil magic were indeed a threat, but they should absolutely not be allowed to get Tia and her companions into a difficult battle.

The three musketeers cooperated extremely well and their abilities complemented each other. Starting from the Pearl level, they often killed enemies of higher levels, and when fighting against enemies of the same level, they could defeat two or three times their number.

Tia's strength has reached the peak of the Lighthouse. She can even use various trump cards, including time-based techniques. Before coming to the Four Islands Alliance, she fought against cultists with Valensa for half a month. She also has a lot of experience in fighting against mutated elves.

It could have been a one-sided victory, but in reality, Tia and her team fought back and forth with more than a dozen mutated elves, and even seemed to be struggling, making their moves quite conservative.

Because Tia and the others were well aware that once they defeated these dozen or so mutated elves, what would they do next when faced with the cult ritual presided over by Ziye? Should they stop it or not?

Watching helplessly would be too awkward, but trying to stop them would mean facing two powerful figures, Zi Ye and the High Priest of the Elf Clan, which would basically be suicide.

Therefore, the best way is to be held back by the mutated spirits... The enemies of the Radiant Rank can only be dealt with by Radiant Rank allies, and the best help is to avoid being a hindrance.

Valensa understood this point after just a few glances at Tia and the others, realizing that the key to this battle was actually speed.

It was clear that she had cleansed the evil spirit from Thousand Leaf Grass first, while Purple Leaf had completed the ritual first.

Normally, cleansing oneself of the contamination of an evil god is a very troublesome matter. Not only is the contamination from the power of an evil god extremely potent, but the conflict between the contamination itself and the holy light can also be fatal to the contaminated. Therefore, cleansing oneself of the contamination of an evil god cannot rely on brute force; it must be done with the utmost care, like a medical surgery.

But Valensa was different; besides being a paladin, she was also an evil god.

The evil god power used by Ziye is clearly different from that used by Valensa, but just as both water and fire elements belong to magical elements, all types of evil god power are chaotic divine power.

A qualified mage cannot be proficient in fire magic but unable to control earth element, because all elements belong to magic power, and controlling magic power is a fundamental skill for mages.

This principle also applies to evil gods and the power of chaos... which is why Valencia was very restrained by cultists.

Cultists cannot use the power of chaos themselves; they can only borrow it through some means.

Attacking Valensa with such evil magic is like an ordinary person using a magic scroll to unleash magic against a magician... Unless the scroll's power far exceeds the magician's limit, the magician can easily dispel the spell or even take control of it.

The pollution on Thousand Leaf Grass is essentially a form of evil magic, equivalent to the magic released from the magic scroll that Purple Leaf has torn open.

For a normal priest to dispel this contamination, it's like a warrior fighting against magic; they can only use anti-magic weapons or their own bio-energy and magic to create a conflict.

In addition to using the normal methods of dispelling evil spirits, Valensa can also use the instincts of her evil god bloodline to control the evil god power that caused the pollution, allowing it to leave the spirit of the Thousand Leaf Grass on its own, or at least not cling to it.

With this two-pronged approach, the pollution within Thousand Leaf Grass was being cleared very quickly. At this rate, it would definitely be completed before Purple Leaf and the Elf High Priest's sacrificial ceremony.

Zi Ye made a quick decision, simplifying the ceremony and speeding up its pace.

According to the normal procedure of the ritual, the elves participating in the ritual need to first have a large party with the men who are to be sacrificed, and absorb all the men's essence and life force to temporarily store in their own bodies. Then, together with their own souls, they need to please the evil god so that the evil god can bestow power and blessings and promote them to the position of ritual presiding officer.

With time running out and the mission urgent, Ziye canceled the party and had the elves bleed themselves and the sacrificial men at the same time, changing the method of sacrifice from behavioral sacrifice to the most basic blood sacrifice.

A wicked god with lustful attributes would definitely prefer party-like sacrificial acts. Changing it to a blood sacrifice would certainly be less effective, but it's still better than failure. There's no time to hesitate now; it's all about speed.

On one side, Valensa was gradually absorbing the evil god's power from Thousand Leaf Grass's body, while on the other side, the blood of the elves and men was constantly converging towards the altar. Both sides were progressing rapidly.

Ultimately, both finished almost simultaneously, or perhaps Valensa finished a little faster.

However, as a user of evil magic, Ziye realized faster than Valensa that the pollution she had left in the Thousand Leaf Grass could not be sustained, so she accelerated once again at the end of the ritual.

In a typical blood sacrifice, the blood of the offering needs to be slowly released, but Ziye clearly doesn't have that much time.

When the blood in the sacrificial men and elves was still about half full, she skipped the bloodletting stage and used the blood that had already been collected to pray to the evil god for blessings and favors.

The evil god was naturally quite dissatisfied with this crude and incomplete ritual... Valensa could clearly sense how much the evil god's consciousness that descended during the ritual disliked it.

However, the evil god still bestowed a power upon Ziye, allowing her to begin to advance and her aura to continuously grow stronger.

Valensa, having already cleansed the pollution from Chiba's body, immediately took action. Her Noble Phantasm, Six Flowers, split into six floating cannons and unleashed a barrage of Sunfire Rays at the ascending Purple Leaf.

Zi Ye, who was receiving the blessing while enveloped in blood-red light, had no way to dodge or defend herself. A look of panic appeared on her face, but it quickly turned into a smug smile.

Valensa acted rather hastily this time, not allowing the Six Flower Floating Cannons to completely disperse, but instead concentrating them in a 70-degree angle in front of Ziye and firing them simultaneously from the front to increase firepower, since Ziye had no way to dodge anyway.

But there are meat shields.

Perhaps Zi Ye had given prior instructions, or perhaps she was controlled by the evil god... The elven high priest, whose body had been nearly blown apart by the power of the Yang Flame God, rushed in front of Zi Ye and blocked five of the six Yang Flame rays that were aimed at her.

"Hmm?~~"

Despite being burned through by five scorching rays, the elven high priest showed no signs of pain and even seemed to groan comfortably.

Her long robe had already been almost completely destroyed in the previous attack, and now five large holes had been burned through her fair and voluptuous body.

Each large hole is as thick as a forearm, its walls charred black and emitting a faint smell of flesh. The muscle tissue and body organs inside are completely fused together and fixed by the high temperature, allowing one to see the light behind them through the hole.

Even the highly regenerative buds were nowhere to be seen at the cave entrance, clearly indicating that their recovery limit had been instantly breached by the domineering Yangyan divine power.

...This elven high priest doesn't seem to be pretending to be weak; he's genuinely incompetent, probably the weakest Radiant-ranked priest Valensa has ever seen.

But thinking about it, it's normal. After all, it's a rank that was reached through sheer age... It's like a game character who hardly kills any monsters and just relies on AFK experience to reach the maximum level for over 300 years.

She has all the necessary attributes and passive abilities, but her actual combat ability is abysmal... In fact, she could have used defensive spells, but she insisted on using her body to block them, and as a result, she was quickly crippled.

Kill her while she's sick!

Valensa quickly made a judgment... It would be good to take down the elven high priest first, and then she could confidently fight Ziye one-on-one without worrying about her companions.

Unfortunately, in the few seconds that the high priest of the elves sacrificed himself to block the cannon, Zi Ye was able to receive the blessing bestowed by the evil god.

She also disliked the fact that the Elf High Priest was too weak, but she couldn't give up on him easily.

Even the weakest Radiant Rank is still Radiant Rank, and still has a strong suppressive power over those below Radiant Rank. They can attack Tia and the others to distract Valensa, and if necessary, create an opportunity for themselves to escape!

So Valensa and Ziye made their moves almost simultaneously.

Valensa's Six Flower Floating Cannons unleashed another Sunfire Ray, locking onto the Elf High Priest's head. She herself charged forward, wielding Moon Kiss, intending to finish off the Elf High Priest completely.