Chapter 58
Wait for Me to Save You
Night fog spread through the forest as the sound of horse hooves rumbled like muffled thunder over the muddy woodland path.
Lucy held tightly onto Olivia’s waist, her waist-length silver hair whipped up by the fierce wind. The scorching light condensed at the tip of the Gear Staff pierced through the fog, leaving behind a bizarre trailing glow.
After the first warhorse was brought down by Venomous Fang, more cultists with golden flames burning in their eyes emerged from the mist.
Their muscles bulged and swelled under the blessing of divine power, and the warhorses exhaled white breath mixed with bloody foam even the strongest warhorses could not endure such a long-distance charge.
"Three o’clock direction!"
Olivia suddenly shouted sharply.
She yanked the reins, forcing the packhorse to turn sharply. A thrown spear grazed Lucy’s ear and embedded itself into a tree trunk, its quivering shaft emitting a buzzing hum.
Lucy’s pupils contracted sharply.
Three dark green fangs shot out in a triangular formation.
The leading cultist did not dodge, allowing the fangs to pierce through the chest of his warhorse.
At the moment when the mount wailed and collapsed, golden lightning shot from that man’s eyes and struck directly toward Lucy’s face.
Having witnessed this move in the princess’s boudoir, Lucy dared not underestimate it. In her sea of consciousness, the witchcraft model rapidly switched to a Tier-1 witchcraft.
Fractured Crystal Reverse Scale Shield!
A blood-red dragon-scale shield formed at the critical moment, colliding with the golden light and exploding into countless crystal shards.
Lucy let out a muffled groan, feeling hot liquid seeping from her nasal cavity.
Without time to wipe it away, and with a slight stabbing pain in her brain, Lucy threw another Venomous Fang behind her, nailing the fallen cultist to the ground completely.
But at this moment, another warhorse rapidly approached.
"Coming from the left!"
Olivia gritted her teeth and jerked the reins again, narrowly avoiding another thrown spear.
Lucy flung another fang with a backward strike, pinning the approaching cavalryman and his horse to a tree trunk on the left.
The corrosive venom instantly melted through the throat bones, smothering the screams in boiling bloody foam.
"The horse can’t hold on much longer!"
The horse beneath them suddenly stumbled. Olivia clenched her teeth, feeling the trembling of the reins in her palms.
White foam was already overflowing from the mare’s mouth and nostrils, soaking its chest. The muscles twitched uncontrollably under extreme strain.
Yet the warhorses of the pursuers, under the cultists’ frenzied lashes, continued to shorten the distance tirelessly.
"Seven… eight… nine…"
Lucy silently counted the kills, her mental strength burning like boiling thorns, stabbing into her sea of consciousness.
The improved meditation method made her mental strength far tougher than that of an average basic witch apprentice, but the continuous spellcasting still made her fingertips tremble slightly, like a bowstring stretched to its limit.
When the tenth cultist, along with his horse, was nailed to a tree, she suddenly pressed her temples auditory hallucinations caused by the rising contamination value began to erode her sanity.
The mist was suddenly torn apart by a blinding golden light! This beam, much thicker than before, charged forward with a booming explosion.
"Watch out!"
Olivia instinctively pulled the reins to swerve, but the exhausted packhorse fell to its front knees at this moment.
It was, after all, just an ordinary horse bought by the roadside. After carrying the weight of two people and running continuously for dozens of minutes, it had finally reached its limit.
At the critical instant when the two were about to fall from the horse, translucent light wings, three meters long, suddenly unfolded behind Lucy.
[Phase Wing Leap (Basic Witchcraft, a short-distance displacement spell triggered by simulating the magical veins of the “Banshee’s Phase Wings” and activating trace amounts of phase energy.)]
The brilliance of Phase Wing Leap poured down like moonlight. The falling pair were lifted two meters by the feathers of light, as the deadly golden beam swept past the soles of their boots.
That single golden beam, clearly more powerful than any previous one, pierced through over ten spruce trees in succession.
Amid flying wood chips, the penetrated trunks burst apart one after another, igniting eerie golden flames.
Still maintaining the Fractured Crystal Shield, Lucy quickly shielded Princess Olivia behind her.
As the sound of hoofbeats gradually slowed, the remaining cultists finally surrounded the two.
Although many cultists had been slain along the way, more than ten had still managed to catch up.
Bishop Woven, holding a staff adorned with double serpent gold coins, dismounted. The Saint Radiance of the Scales on his brow flickered with his steps.
"Your esteemed Highness, the Princess."
His gentle voice formed an absurd contrast with the charred corpses scattered across the ground. "On behalf of the Golden Cult, which worships the one true god, I invite you to stay at the Holy See for a few days."
His tone was calm, as if speaking to two stray lambs.
Olivia’s nails dug deep into her palms.
"What if I say no?"
As soon as the words fell, two cultists wielding short-handled axes charged forward.
"Venomous Fang!"
Two venomous fangs shot out swiftly.
But Bishop Woven softly chanted, "By the protection of the great Lord of Golden Worship!"
Two phantom gold coins floated in the air, each refracting distorted light.
The Venomous Fangs instantly bounced away upon touching the light, their trajectories deflected into the ground.
Ding!
Two crisp sounds rang out as the Fractured Crystal Shield rippled where the short-handled axes struck.
"His gold coins can interfere with witchcraft!"
Cold sweat beaded on Lucy’s forehead. The backlash from high-intensity continuous casting caused her head to ache, while the contamination value within her stirred restlessly.
Olivia suddenly grabbed her wrist.
The silver-haired girl’s pale lips curved into a determined arc, her black hair, dampened by the mist, clinging to her delicate face, making her look both desolate and stunning.
"Lucy, I must not fall into their hands!"
Lucy’s expression shifted slightly as she understood Olivia’s intention. She also recalled what Lilith had told her a few days ago.
A witch could open a planar anchor large enough for a quasi-divine being to pass through. Once the passage was opened, the entire Principality of Kolo and even the Kingdom of Cordova would be polluted by divine power, becoming nourishment for the evil god.
But...
"This isn’t the time for that."
Lucy interrupted the words forming in her throat, her eyes burning as she spoke each word clearly, "Do you trust me?"
Olivia’s beautiful black eyes widened slightly.
Feeling the strength in Lucy’s palm, she subconsciously nodded.
"Wait for me to save you."
These words etched into her mind like a spell.
The next moment.
The light wings behind Lucy unfolded once again, and her body shot diagonally upwards.
"You're not getting away!" The Saint Radiance on Bishop Woven’s brow emitted a massive golden beam that struck the airborne figure.
With a thunderous explosion, the Fractured Crystal Shield and the golden beam were destroyed together.
Using the explosion’s shockwave from the Fractured Crystal Shield, Lucy was flung backwards into the forest. The golden interception beam from Bishop Woven incinerated the shrubs along its path into ashes.
When the smoke cleared, only a few drifting silver feathers remained in the air.
Several cultists who had not yet dismounted were about to give chase, but Bishop Woven stopped them.
"No need to pursue."
The Golden Cult had yet to firmly establish itself in the Principality of Kolo. This attack on the Duke’s castle had nearly exhausted all their available forces; chasing further would bring no worthwhile gain.
Woven crushed a glowing silver feather underfoot, then turned to Olivia with a confident smile. "It seems the witch understands… how to read the situation better than the rumors say?"
The princess gazed in the direction where Lucy had disappeared, slowly loosening her clenched fist.
The lingering warmth in her palm turned into a silent vow. When she raised her head, her face had regained the political mask belonging to Her Highness the Princess.
"Wasn’t Your Excellency the Bishop inviting me as a guest? When shall we depart?"
Woven was momentarily stunned but quickly smiled. "How about right now?"
...
In the bushes, Lucy was struggling against the dizziness.
Her overtaxed mental strength filled her vision with static noise.
But this was no time for rest. She had to stop them before Olivia was taken out of the forest.
The Golden Cult needed the witch as a barrier for a spatial anchor. For now, the cultists not only wouldn’t harm her, but would do everything possible to ensure Olivia’s safety.
And she still had at least two days.
Taking a bottle of Devouring Contamination Potion from the medicine box, Lucy raised her head and drank it down. "System!"
[Name: Lucy Felicia]
[Rank: Level-1 Apprentice (Mental Strength: 14.2)]
[Meditation Method: Bramble Loop Meditation II]
[Witchcraft: Basic Magical Trick (Basic), Basic Ring of Resistance (Basic), Advanced Magical Energy Storage (Basic), Advanced Screech of Agony (Basic), Basic Venomous Fang (Basic), Basic Phase Wing Leap (Basic), Basic Ultrasonic Shockwave (Tier-1), Basic Fractured Crystal Reverse Scale Shield (Tier-1)]
[Skills: Devouring Contamination Potion (Advanced), Silverleaf Awakening Potion (Intermediate)]
[Equipment: Gear Staff (+2° magical energy), Midnight Dissector’s No. 3 Alchemical Scalpel]
[Contamination Value: 44%]
[Academic Points: 83]