West suburb of Tivian, inside the villa by the Moonflow River.
In the secret room, Smith stood before the altar built of blood-colored bones, conversing with the eye, ear, and facial features formed from a pool of flesh and blood within the altar, reporting information about Vanya to his superior, who was located somewhere unknown.
"That's roughly the situation, Elder Duval. I've already debated the faith of the Holy Mother and the cup mother with that Sister. As a Shining Light Church member, her reaction is very unusual, attempting to confuse the Holy Mother with the cup mother. This is clearly a result of being influenced by "true crimson mother." Coupled with the high possibility that she will replace Kirk, who was in charge of the Historical Scripture Department last time, she has significant potential for development. Therefore, I am requesting some suitable secret transmissions from our side for her to read, to deepen her Spirit Sight corruption."
Finally, Smith reported to the rolling flesh and blood ear within the altar, then stood respectfully in place, awaiting a response. After a moment's pause, the mouth within the altar finally opened slowly, responding in a hoarse voice.
"Your suggestion is good... If that Sister can access the library in the future, then she is worth developing... However, I need to discuss the matter of the secret transmission with others before I can reply to you. There aren't many suitable secret transmissions for corruption available in Tivian right now. I will contact you again soon..."
The mouth within the altar finished its reply, and then the ears, mouth, and eyes on the entire altar dissolved into wriggling flesh and blood. Silence returned to the secret room.
The Spirit Sight of secret transmissions has the ability to corrupt people's minds. Various organizations often use suitable secret transmissions to corrupt valuable targets, but not all secret transmissions are suitable for corruption work.
Some secret transmissions have overly strong Spirit Sight, causing people to lose control if they are not careful. The content of some secret transmissions is too direct, making people feel that there is a big problem at first glance, generating vigilance when their Spirit Sight is not deep. Good secret transmissions for corruption have mild Spirit Sight and obscure content, with nothing seemingly wrong at first glance, just like poison mixed in cigarettes and drinks, leading people into danger unknowingly...
These are the secret transmissions suitable for corruption. Compared to other secret transmissions, the number of such secret transmissions is relatively small, at least Smith doesn't have any here. To further corrupt Vanya, Smith could only rely on his superiors' allocation to obtain such secret transmissions.
Seeing the altar return to normal, Smith did not continue standing there but walked out of the secret room and sat on a chair outside, preparing to wait here slowly. At this moment, his expression suddenly froze, and his brows furrowed slightly.
At this time, Smith suddenly felt that the "Shadow" Spirituality within his body was being rapidly consumed. Smith knew this situation; it was a sign that he was being detected by the "Light" Extraordinary ability.
Suddenly standing up from the chair, Smith frowned tightly. He initially focused on using his Spirituality to resist the detection, but then he found that his "Shadow" was simply not enough to cope with this detection; it was draining away rapidly, and soon, nearly half of it was gone.
'This rate of loss... This completely irresistible detection... It's someone from the Church! Either a Red Rank "Light" Extraordinary, or a high-level detection Extraordinary item! A detection item much stronger than the Hui Jian Lamp!'
Clenching his fists, with a stern expression, Smith thought this. At this point, he had realized that something was wrong and immediately stopped using "Shadow" to counter the detection.
Because he knew that if the other party was potentially a Red Rank "Light" or possessed a high-level detection Extraordinary item, no matter how much "Shadow" he had, it wouldn't be enough. The result of continuing this hidden confrontation with the other party would be the depletion of his "Shadow," followed by being discovered. Then, without any "Shadow" Spirituality available, he might be forced to fight, which would put him at a severe disadvantage.
Therefore, after careful consideration, Smith chose to immediately stop the detection confrontation now, allowing the other party to discover him to conserve Spirituality for better combat later.
After stopping the Spirituality confrontation, Smith began to prepare for battle, while secretly clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, a surge of anger rising in his chest.
'Why! Why would someone conduct high-intensity Extraordinary detection nearby! The Church people have found this place! Where did something go wrong that attracted the Church people!'
Smith thought furiously, and in an instant, he locked his suspicion onto one point.
'It's that Sister! It can only be that damned Sister, she lied to us! She must have used some method to secretly transmit information to the Church, exposing our location! She fooled all of us! She had malicious intentions from the start!'
Smith thought this angrily in his heart, and at the same time, his killing intent surged, his claws began to grow longer, and black fur slowly grew all over his body. However, at this moment, his killing intent was not focused on the unknown enemy outside the villa, but on the Sister Vanya.
"Little bitch... You dare to lie to me... Watch me kill you first!"
With claws extended, Smith was about to follow the scent to find Vanya, but at this very moment, his nose twitched, sensing a scorching aura rapidly approaching from above his villa, plummeting towards his direction.
"That is..."
Smith's eyes widened, and he urgently flashed to his side. Then, a loud bang suddenly erupted above his head.
"Boom!!"
The ceiling above Smith's head suddenly exploded at this moment. Amidst the flying dust and scattered debris, a scorching flame suddenly blasted down, hitting the spot where Smith had originally stood. Large swathes of intense flames swept out like an explosion, igniting curtains, carpets, furniture, and so on. Smith shielded himself with his hands; the incoming flames ignited the black fur on his hands, but it was quickly extinguished by Smith rubbing against the wall.
After the flames swept through, the area where the flames had struck was now a mess. On the deeply sunken and cracked ground, amidst the scattered burning flames, a figure in white armor slowly stood up from the gray smoke. He raised the burning longsword in his hand, pointing it at Smith in front, a muffled sound coming from his helmet.
"You're quite fast at dodging, you evil wolf. Let's see if you can still dodge after I burn your nose off?"
The Saint Knight Anrexius, who had broken into the enemy's formation, declared proudly to Smith. Seeing the appearance of the Knight opposite him, Smith gritted his teeth and muttered.
"Saint Knight..."
Saying this, Smith's body began to swell, his fangs began to grow, and the black fur on his body became even denser. Facing a powerful enemy, he began his Werewolf transformation at this moment.
Unexpectedly obstructed, Smith's plan to kill the Sister first before the big battle was immediately interrupted, but Smith did not give up.
Under the manipulation of his will, the group of imprisoned beast-humans under the villa rushed out of their cells, howling and running towards Smith's direction to support his battle. At the same time, three of these beast-humans broke away from the group, following the scent and rapidly running towards Vanya's direction.
The beast-humans created by the Werewolf's wolf poison possess similar physical strength to Black Rank beast-form individuals. Now, Smith had sent three of them to kill a Black Rank Healing Priest. According to common sense, this should be a very easy task.
As his body gradually expanded, Smith bared his beastly fangs at Anrexius in front of him. At this moment, he was fully prepared for battle.
...
On the other side, on the carriage in the forest, Dorothy, who was using a Corpse Puppet to monitor Smith's villa from the periphery, couldn't help but blurt out in a panic after seeing the fire meteor directly smash into the villa.
"Damn! They went straight in! Are you rescuing a hostage?! Aren't you afraid of them being torn apart?!"
Dorothy had never expected the Church Knight's action of directly charging headfirst towards the enemy leader. According to the An Yin Bureau's style, since they could use Wind Control to counter the Werewolf's sense of smell, infiltration would definitely be a better option. But she didn't expect the Church Knight they brought to just charge in like that. This is a hostage situation! And it's your own Church's hostage!
Dorothy could see that the White Rank Hunter Captain, who was still in the air at the time, was in a state of disarray in the wind, frantically flying to the ground to direct his subordinates to begin cooperating in attacking the villa. It was clear that he also hadn't expected that Church Knight to suddenly make such a move.
"Phew... It seems that for the Church, clearing out the cultists here is the primary task, and the safety of the hostages is secondary... With him doing this, Vanya is in some danger..."
Dorothy muttered to herself, and then she also began to take action to warn Vanya.
...
Somewhere in the villa, Vanya, who had been praying nervously while resting, suddenly felt the ground of the entire house shake. A loud noise came from outside, and Vanya, who was praying, was startled. She immediately stood up, looking around in a panic.
"Wh-what's wrong? What happened?!"
Vanya looked around in a panic, and at this moment, she felt a slight stinging sensation above her chest. The puppet mark hidden under her clothes reacted. After receiving this reaction, Vanya's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
'This is Miss Dorothea's hint!'
Vanya thought to herself. According to their previous agreement, this kind of hint represented the signal for action. After Vanya received the hint, she could start thinking of a way to escape from here.
'That noise just now... it seems the Church and the Hunter have started their attack... If I want to escape, now is the time!'
Vanya thought this, and then she immediately moved, quickly walking to the door of the room and opening it. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the guards who were originally at the door seemed to have been attracted by the noise just now.
Just as Vanya was about to leave, a fierce noise suddenly came from the corridor on her side. Vanya turned her head to look and then saw that several monsters with black fur all over their bodies, ferocious faces, sharp fangs and claws, and ape-like forms suddenly emerged from the end of the corridor. Vanya recognized these creatures; they were monsters controlled by Smith, and it was they who had kidnapped her here. And at this moment, they were clearly up to no good.
"Roar!!"
Howling, three werewolves rushed madly towards Vanya along the corridor. Vanya was startled and quickly ran to the right.
'Ah ah! These guys are coming for me! What kind of monsters are these!'
Along the long corridor, Vanya ran desperately in the direction away from the werewolves, while the three werewolves chased closely behind, their eyes fixed on Vanya full of appetite. The order they had received was to eat this Sister.
Werewolves possess the physical abilities of Black Rank beast forms, which are Rank 2 "Cup" and Rank 1 "Shadow". Vanya, as a Healing Priest, is Rank 2 "Light" and Rank 1 "Cup". There was an absolute gap in physical ability, making it impossible to shake off the opponents. As the werewolves ran wildly, they were quickly approaching Vanya's back.
This time, these werewolves possessed some beastly traits. Having some "Shadow" properties, they could sense the fear of their prey. They could smell the panicked aura on Vanya, and based on this aura, they believed Vanya was prey to be slaughtered, with no threat whatsoever. After approaching Vanya, one of them leaped up with all its might and pounced towards Vanya's back. Vanya's heart immediately jumped into her throat.
'Lord... save me!'
Just then, a hawk's cry echoed in the corridor. A flying hawk, appearing from who knows where, flew from the front of the long corridor. In the hawk's sharp claws, it was gripping a slender blade. At the tip of the sharp blade, a large ruby was embedded.
The flying hawk flew in front of Vanya and dropped the blade it was gripping. Seeing the blade thrown towards her, Vanya's eyes widened, and almost instinctively, she reached out and caught it in mid-air. The moment she gripped the hilt, the panic on her face instantly vanished, and her expression became as indifferent as usual. The beasts could feel that Vanya's aura suddenly changed at this moment. The panic from before was completely gone, replaced by a dangerous aura, a sharp killing intent.
In her indifference, Vanya closed her eyes, then saw clearly everything around her, everything behind her, and then... she gripped the blade, turned around, and drew a flashing cold light. The sword edge cut through flesh, and the black beast pouncing on her was directly decapitated by this unexpected blow, falling to the ground with wide eyes.
A terrifying counterattack. Vanya, holding the sword, took advantage of the beasts behind her being complacent and full of openings, and directly killed one with a preemptive strike. The remaining two werewolves stopped immediately upon seeing this. They faced Vanya, who was holding the blade, in a defensive posture, baring their teeth and full of hostility.
The first werewolf was easily counterattacked and killed due to underestimating the enemy. The remaining two werewolves who witnessed this scene saw their companion's death and began to change their attitude, going all out to deal with Vanya. They stood on all fours, whimpering and drooling, and simultaneously pounced on Vanya. Vanya held the sword and met them head-on.
For a time, sharp claws and sword light intertwined, roars and weapon clashes echoed. After not underestimating the enemy, the two werewolves were clearly much harder to deal with. Their strength was enormous, and their movements were agile. Under their dense offensive of back-and-forth pouncing, Vanya relied on her Spirit Sight to maneuver and dodge.
Although the werewolves' physical abilities were superior to Vanya's, their attacks were purely instinctive and lacked any technique. Under Vanya's Spirit Sight, none of the werewolves' attacks could be hidden. In the gaps between dodging, Vanya could also find room to counterattack.
But unfortunately, Vanya's movements were too restricted by the pincer attack. Every counterattack she made could not directly target the werewolves' vital points, only leaving various sizes of knife wounds and scratches on their bodies. Although these injuries caused the werewolves to be covered in blood, they were not fatal. For Extraordinary beings of "Cup", this level of injury was nothing and far from enough to stop them from acting.
The battle continued. Although Vanya relied on her Spirit Sight and exquisite swordsmanship to leave countless dense wounds on the two werewolves, the powerful vitality of "Cup" meant these small wounds could not hinder the werewolves' actions. As long as Vanya could not kill the two werewolves with a single blow, this battle would become a test of endurance and stamina for both sides, which was absolutely disadvantageous for Vanya, who only had auxiliary "Cup".
Speaking of which, this was mainly the problem of the Healing Priest profession itself. The Extraordinary ability to help others and oneself recover from injuries was almost useless in such a fierce solo confrontation without teammates!
In this fierce close-quarters combat, the Sunlight Spear, which had too long a wind-up, could not be used. Therefore, if Vanya wanted to win, she had to find another way, and Vanya indeed had such a method...
"Lord... enlighten me..."
Muttering devoutly with her eyes closed, Vanya's left hand, which was not holding the sword during the battle, suddenly emitted an orange-yellow halo. That was the light that only appeared when a Healing Priest performed healing. That light could heal the wounds of the injured and relieve pain.
Vanya activated her Healing Priest ability, but she was not injured at all at this time. This ability was not used on herself, but on her enemies.
Taking advantage of an opportunity, Vanya stroked the werewolf's arm with her left hand, which was glowing with healing light. Immediately, many small wounds on the werewolf's hand healed under the healing.
Where Vanya had stroked, the wounds closed, and the bleeding stopped. After seeing this scene, the werewolf whose wounds were healed felt a sense of surprise, even though it was a beast. It had not expected this human in front of it to help it heal.
Did it eat something wrong!
However, this surprise did not last long, and the healed werewolf immediately felt something was wrong.
The wound that should have healed was now experiencing a sharp pain, much more intense than when it was open! Furthermore, the healed wound began to bulge under the skin for unknown reasons, and the painful area was rapidly spreading and expanding. The "healed" werewolf couldn't help but howl in pain, its eyes filled with bloodshot.
And seeing this scene, Vanya breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.
'Phew... it worked. As Miss Dorothea said before, the healing technique enlightened by Aka can be used like this...'
'It can be used for... incorrect treatment...'
Vanya thought to herself. She had just used her ability to incorrectly treat the werewolf's injuries. When healing the wounds, she deliberately stitched the tissues incorrectly, connecting all the blood vessels incorrectly, causing large areas of blood clots and even blood backflow, resulting in extensive subcutaneous internal bleeding that turned external wounds into internal injuries and continuously worsened them!
This was a practical application of the Healing Priest's ability!