Within the hidden space of the Qiwen Temple, beneath the divine pattern of the Judge of Heaven, Dorothy, who had been sitting cross-legged here, remotely controlling the situation afar and dealing with Mr. Muktar, encountered an unexpected situation at this very moment.
Under the sky view granted by the temple system, Dorothy saw Mr. Muktar fleeing in a sorry state, struck by her lightning, directly escaping into the building next to the palace garden to avoid the lightning strikes. Seeing this, Dorothy did not hesitate at all and sent Corpse Puppets in to search, providing her with a view. The moment she discovered Mr. Muktar, she didn't think much and controlled the discovering Corpse Puppet to raise its gun and shoot. However, the moment it hit Mr. Muktar, she herself felt an unprecedented sharp pain in her chest.
"Cough!!"
With wide eyes, Dorothy leaned forward and coughed violently, directly coughing up a large mouthful of fresh blood. At this moment, Dorothy clutched her chest tightly. She could feel her clothes were warm and damp, with blood flowing out. She felt that her chest area was already rotten, as if countless holes had been pierced from her front chest to her back. The area behind her chest was Rotten, and the pain was so intense that it could make her faint, with large patches of darkness appearing before her eyes.
"How could this be…"
She murmured, with an expression of disbelief, and fell straight forward, collapsing onto the ground. Blood spread out on the ground. Under extreme pain, Dorothy's control over the distant lightning and Corpse Puppets completely broke. In the eyes of Mr. Muktar, who was hiding within the building next to the garden, what he could see was a significant drop in the Spirituality reaction within the distant hidden space, and the flesh puppets he could see around him, which had been searching everywhere, falling down one after another.
"Ha… ha… haha… you finally, tasted this punitive pain, haven't you…"
Clutching the wound in his chest that had just been shot, and looking at the controlled flesh puppet with a gun that had fallen to the ground, Mr. Muktar said with a smile. Maintaining his Eye of Radiance, he shifted his gaze and stared at the scene in the garden outside the building. He saw a familiar figure entering the building from the garden, the figure of a Sister.
'The most troublesome guy is gone, now it's time for the others…'
Thinking this, Mr. Muktar clenched the scimitar in his hand again and took out another talisman and several storage items from his Stone box. After using the talisman and storage items on his scimitar, the scimitar began to reflect faint silver light. Then, Mr. Muktar took the scimitar and drifted towards other places. During this process, in order to save the high consumption of Spirituality, after marking the gradually fading existence in the distant hidden space and other important targets, he closed his Eye of Radiance, allowing his eyes to return to normal.
On the other side of the building, within a long corridor, Vanya was walking quickly forward with her sword, attempting to search for Mr. Muktar's whereabouts. While searching, she anxiously used the information channel to try and contact Dorothy afar, wanting her to guide her in finding where Mr. Muktar was hiding. However, to her surprise, this time no matter how she called out, Dorothy, who was far away, did not give her any response.
'Miss Dorothy… Miss Dorothy… please show me the way, where is that Mr. Muktar hiding now?'
'Miss Dorothy… Miss Dorothy, what's wrong? Please reply… Where exactly is that otherworld leader? What should I do next? I need your guidance…'
Running down the corridor, through the information channel that had been opened by prayer before, Vanya frequently communicated and contacted Dorothy afar. However, she who usually received a response quickly, this time waited for a long silence, which couldn't help but cause deep anxiety, even panic, to arise in Vanya's heart, and this kind of panic, she hadn't felt for a long time…
All along, no matter what kind of crisis Vanya encountered, although she was anxious in her heart, she would not panic. She knew that as long as she could contact Dorothy, as long as she was watching her side and controlling the situation, all difficulties would eventually be resolved easily. Therefore, no matter what kind of danger she encountered, as long as she could pray to Aka, as long as she could still hear Dorothy's words, she always had a sense of security in her heart. She believed that no matter how bad the situation was, as long as Dorothy was behind her, everything would eventually turn around.
However, at this moment, she couldn't contact Dorothy, couldn't hear that familiar guidance and voice. Vanya immediately felt a long-lost sense of panic and helplessness. The last time she felt such emotions was last year in Prit, in the tomb of Bishop Deekt. At that time, she had not yet encountered Aka, nor had she known Dorothy. Similarly, the threat she faced at that time was also the Savior Descends Faction.
Panic and Shadi's helplessness lingered in Vanya's mind, making her whole state of mind chaotic and her face full of worry. And just at this moment, Vanya's mind's eye, which had been open, suddenly caught a sense of danger coming from behind her. Vanya's expression hardened, she gripped the sword in her hand and turned around to parry and block. With a crisp sound, Vanya blocked the sudden sneak attack from behind, and then she saw Mr. Muktar holding a scimitar.
Seeing Mr. Muktar appear again, the anxiety on Vanya's face immediately disappeared, and she began to concentrate on dealing with the enemy seriously. Mr. Muktar, seeing Vanya again, didn't say much and immediately continued to launch fierce attacks on Vanya. Vanya, unable to fight back, began to passively parry continuously as before, using a dense sword defense to block Mr. Muktar's sharp and continuous attacks. Immediately, the sound of weapons clashing continuously echoed again.
Continuous offense and continuous defense, the battle scene that had just occurred in the garden was now replaying inside the palace. And soon, Vanya discovered that the battle at this time was a little different from before. Her sword, while blocking Mr. Muktar's attacks, began to show continuous fine cracks. These cracks became denser and spread out continuously during the clash with Mr. Muktar's scimitar. After a while, the entire sword body began to show cracks.
Vanya, who had fought against the "Shadow" Extraordinary multiple times, understood that this was "Shadow" weapon corrosion! Mr. Muktar had used a talisman to enchant his scimitar with "Shadow".
Since he couldn't directly break through Vanya's defense woven with high-level sword skills, he would find a way to shatter her weapon. As long as she had no weapon, there would naturally be nothing to parry with, and then there would only be one-sided slaughter. This was the method Mr. Muktar thought of to deal with Vanya.
During the continuous clashing of weapons, the cracks on Vanya's sword kept spreading, quickly covering the entire sword body. It seemed that with just one or two more hits, the entire sword blade would be directly shattered. At that time, Vanya would lose her tool for parrying and could only rely on her physical body to deal with Mr. Muktar's attacks.
And just at this moment, beside them, the corridor window suddenly shattered violently. From outside the shattered window, a concentrated stream of cold air rapidly sprayed towards Mr. Muktar, accurately hitting his body. Mr. Muktar's attack was suddenly interrupted by the incoming cold wind, and one of his arms was covered with ice chips, quickly making it difficult to move.
Attacked by the cold wind, Mr. Muktar was shocked. He knew that this ice control ability belonged to Shadi's ancient spirit. Shadi gained the ability to control cold by being possessed by that spirit, but if he used this ability to attack himself who was protected by precepts, Shadi himself would suffer ten times the harm. Was he not afraid of this tenfold cold?
With such a question, Mr. Muktar looked out the window, and then what he saw was a strange figure in the distance outside the window.
That figure was wearing Shadi's military uniform, but beneath this ordinary clothing was not a normal human body. Instead, it was a crystalline body of frost, a delicate ice sculpture carved into Shadi's likeness, lifelike.
This Shadi, whose entire body had turned into ice, raised one arm, continuously spraying frost forward while walking forward. Although his entire body was constructed of ice, his mobility was not restricted in the slightest, just like a living ice sculpture.
"This is… an Elemental Body!"
Looking at Shadi, who had completely turned into solid ice, Mukhtar muttered in disbelief. He now understood why Shadi was unaffected by the counter-damage. It was because even if he was affected at this moment, it didn't matter at all.
Elemental Body, an ability that all Extraordinary of the Elementalist path would gain after reaching the Crimson Tier. It allows them to completely transform their body into the element they can control for a short time, manipulating elements by becoming the element themselves. In the form of Elemental Body, Crimson Elementalists not only gain super adaptation and tolerance to physical attacks but also become immune to elemental damage of their own attribute.
In other words, the current Shadi is immune to the damage caused by frost. When Shadi attacked Mukhtar with frost, and Mukhtar countered the damage tenfold, the damage Shadi received was still frost damage, and the current Shadi is already immune to frost, so countering it was like not countering it at all.
Simply put, the current Shadi deals ice damage and has 100% ice resistance. Even if Mukhtar returned the ice damage he received, enhanced tenfold, to Shadi, Shadi would still be unaffected in the slightest. This Elemental Body was a partial ability that Setuot allowed Shadi to barely unleash beyond his tier after spending a lot of time synchronizing with Shadi's soul.
As he walked forward, Shadi continuously released his frost forward, attempting to completely freeze Mukhtar. But unfortunately, although the current Shadi possessed Elemental Body, the power of the Frost Wind he released was still at the Chalk Tier, unable to instantly freeze Mukhtar, which gave Mukhtar room to maneuver.
At the moment his body was gradually stiffening and about to be frozen, Mukhtar trembled as he took out a talisman from his body. Not long after he took out the talisman, his entire body was frozen and covered in white frost, incredibly stiff. However, at this moment, a faint light began to emerge on the talisman Mukhtar had taken out. The trace of light outlined the symbol of a blazing sun. When Vanya saw the talisman, she originally wanted to snatch it, but after seeing the talisman had started to glow and understanding what that symbol was, she immediately turned around and ran. Then, a deafening roar came from behind her.
"Boom!!"
Suddenly, the talisman in Mukhtar's hand, covered in frost, erupted in fierce flames, followed by a violent explosion. The powerful blast sounded behind the fleeing Vanya. She herself was blown away directly by the airwave and fell heavily to the ground. When she got up again, she turned around and saw a corridor that had been blasted into ruins and was still burning. However, Mukhtar's figure was nowhere to be seen in the ruins. Obviously, he had quickly left after self-detonating to thaw himself out during the explosion. This was a self-harming method of breaking control, relying on his thick skin.
"Don't let him get away! Chase him!"
Seeing Mukhtar escape during the explosion, Shadi, who had an Ice Body outside the corridor, couldn't help but shout loudly. Hearing Shadi's words, Vanya naturally understood that she couldn't give the other party any breathing room, so she immediately held her long sword and continued to run towards the depths of the building. Shadi also followed closely behind. Just as he was about to follow her into the Royal Palace building, a sound suddenly came from behind him.
"Mr. Muktar! Where are you? We're here to help you!"
Hearing this voice, Shadi turned his head. What he saw was countless Savior Sect armed personnel who had already entered the palace garden and were charging straight towards him. Seeing this scene, Shadi's heart couldn't help but clench. He knew that with such a large number of Savior Sect members appearing here, his side on the other battlefields within the Royal Palace was probably in dire straits.
...
Within the vast Baruk Royal Palace, Vanya ran around various corridors and rooms, searching for Mukhtar's whereabouts. But this huge palace was like a labyrinth, making it impossible for Vanya deep inside to find Mukhtar's figure. She could only wander aimlessly through the palace, searching without purpose.
"Ahead... turn right... after entering the collection hall, turn left..."
And it was at this moment that a long-lost familiar voice sounded again in Vanya's heart. Hearing this voice, Vanya's originally dejected mood suddenly lifted. The haze that had just enveloped the depths of her heart dissipated considerably. She gripped the sword in her hand more firmly and followed the voice's guidance, traveling through the Royal Palace. Before long, she found the figure she was looking for.
In a hall, Vanya discovered Mukhtar, who was currently fleeing. At this moment, he was in a sorry state. His luxurious robe was burnt and damaged, and more than half of his thick beard was also burnt away. His entire body was charred black, with large areas of burn marks everywhere. When he heard Vanya coming, he looked at her with a resentful expression.
"It's you again..."
Seeing the injured Mukhtar, Vanya's expression hardened. She took a quick step forward and charged straight towards Mukhtar, extending a single hand not holding a sword to grab at Mukhtar, seemingly trying to seize him to prevent him from escaping. Upon seeing this, Mukhtar immediately swung his sword back towards the approaching Vanya, while Vanya raised her sword to block again.
Seeing Vanya blocking with her sword again, a hint of smugness couldn't help but arise in Mukhtar's heart. After the previous battle, he already knew that the sword in Vanya's hand was on the verge of collapse, and it would only take one or two more heavy blows to completely destroy it. Now Vanya was still using her sword to block, which was simply seeking death!
"Clang!"
As the curved saber in Mukhtar's hand slashed down, the crisp sound of weapons clashing echoed through the space again. Under the heavy blow, the sword in Vanya's hand shattered instantly.
However, what Mukhtar didn't expect was that after shattering the blade, his curved saber didn't continue to slash straight down, cutting Vanya in two, but instead struck a vibrant, thick, bright red flesh tentacle. This was precisely what appeared from Vanya's sword after it shattered, the thing hidden beneath the shell of the tough blade, the true secret hidden within the sword in Vanya's hand.
Mukhtar's curved saber slashed onto the flexible flesh tentacle, drawing a large amount of blood but failing to sever it. Instead, the tentacle struggled and twisted in pain, wrapping itself around the entire blade. The curved saber in Mukhtar's hand was immediately restrained.
Under Mukhtar's perception, he was indeed aware that this sword was some kind of "Cup" Extraordinary item. However, since Vanya had not used the corresponding ability before, Mukhtar concluded that the conditions for using this sword's ability must be quite strict, so he relaxed his guard. But he didn't expect this ability to be so bizarre!
Taking advantage of the tentacle from the sword wrapping around the opponent's weapon, Vanya wanted to continue reaching out to touch Mukhtar. Seeing this, Mukhtar simply threw away his weapon and floated backward, trying to get away from Vanya. At this moment, strange movements suddenly appeared around him.
In the luxurious hall of Baruk Royal Palace, various metal candlesticks, metal vessels, metal armor, and metal weapons suddenly trembled all at once. All the metal objects in the entire hall rose into the air at this moment, flying straight towards Mukhtar, sticking to his body, completely surrounding him.
These metal objects didn't directly harm him but surrounded him, enveloped him, blocked his vision, and restricted his movement. Mukhtar was thus interfered with and restricted by these metal objects, and then caught up by the closely pursuing Vanya. At this moment, an orange-yellow halo appeared in Vanya's hand, which was the light of healing representing the Holy Mother's Path.
With the assistance of countless metal objects, Vanya finally successfully approached Mukhtar. She reached out her hand and used the light of healing in her hand to touch Mukhtar's battered body.