“Don’t come here, Miss Tylene.”
Messai shielded Tylene behind her. Her hands were already tightly grabbing the hilt of the sword on her waist. She was prepared to unsheathe the sword to face her enemy head-on at any moment.
The inquisition leader walking toward Messai was emitting an intense killing intent. It was clear that the target he wanted to kill was the person standing behind Messai, the frost elf Tylene.
“Messai... the Holy Tree Enluci appeared to be very angry and disturbed.”
“Holy Tree?”
Messai turned her head around and took a glance at the little sapling in Tylene’s hand. It was frantically waving around its two branches.
If it had been a little kitty instead, the World Tree might be showing its fangs like someone had stolen its fish jerky. That said, the grievance between the World Tree and the Heresy Tribunal was far worse than stealing fish jerky.
“Regardless, step back first.”
Messai once again turned her eyes back to the incoming inquisition leader. He had taken out a magic wand and a dagger from his robe and was walking straight toward Tylene.
The frost elf Tylene also noticed that dangerous stanger walking toward her. She immediately started stepping away, keeping her distance from Messai.
Messai’s eyes were fixed onto the inquisition leader. Cold sweat filled her hilt-holding hands.
Never has she hesitated this much to draw her sword. The person she was facing right now was an inquisitor from the Holy Church, a comrade-in-arms.
If Messai was to aim her sword at the inquisition leader, it would be akin to committing an act of betrayal against the church. She will be sent to the Holy Church’s Sacred Parliament and be tried by them.
Messai was not present in the eyes of that inquisition leader at all. His eyes were fixed onto the frost elf Tylene. Or perhaps, it would be better stated that his eyes were fixed onto the World Tree in Tylene’s hands.
A twisted sort of malice and anger filled this inquisition leader’s eyes. A certain voice was muttering in his ears nonstop. It was telling him to ‘Destroy that damned sapling!”Kill that elf!’
Finally... Messai did not stop him. The inquisition leader brushed past Messai and continued to walk toward Tylene.
The inquisition leader raised his dagger. Practically no one will notice that there were dark gray mists present on that short dagger...
At this moment, the roots of the World Tree Tylene held in her hand started to extend. A large amount of sharp thorns appeared on the World Tree. It seemed to be prepared to take on the incoming dagger.
But, the sound of steel colliding replaced the sound of a dagger stabbing into flesh...
In the end, Messai ended up acting.
“She... is not the target!”
Messai blocked the inquisition leader’s attack toward Tylene with her sheath. Even though her sheath was forged with the highest quality Adric Steel, it still failed to block the dagger’s attack completely.
Cracks appeared on the sheath. Messai’s hand also felt slightly numb. But, she had managed to block the attack for Tylene.
Messai’s dissuasion did not produce any effect at all. This inquisition leader seemed to have lost his ability of speech. He could only see the frost elf and the little tree sapling in his eyes.
What he wanted to do was to snap apart that sapling!
The friction from the collision of the dagger and the sheath brought forth fiery hot sparks. The inquisition leader ignored Messai and once again began walking toward Tylene who stood behind her.
An indescribable sort of magic power began to gather in the wand he held with his other hand...
Messai knew that she would not be able to retreat now. Because of that, she smashed the hilt of her two-handed sword onto the inquisition leader’s chin. Then, she smashed her shoulder into his abdomen.
The impact forced the inquisition leader back several steps.
In the end, Messai managed to rescue the frost elf. She braved the danger of being labeled as a traitor to the Holy Church to save the frost elf.
But, the reason why she saved the frost elf Tylene was not because she was very fond of Hearthstone. It was also not because she wanted to curry favors from that Chaos Demon. Instead, it was because of the teachings from her God — that one should protect the weak.
As a knight, she had once sworn that she will never attack the weak and helpless... That was the justice Messai believed in. To others, her justice might be incomparably childish and filled with contradictions.
“I will repeat myself. She is not the target!”
Messai had no idea what was going on with this inquisition leader. He had lost the ‘life’ in his eyes. But, as an assassin, his movements were still so nimble.
Magic power one cannot catch with one’s naked eyes was emitted out from the inquisition leader’s wand. The magic power turned into sharp blades that rushed to attack the frost elf.
Golden rune inscriptions started flowing out from Messai’s sword hilt. She shielded Tylene behind her again. A sound similar to glass shattering resounded throughout the entire tavern.
The defensive magic Messai created in a hurry was unable to stop the inquisition leader’s attack. The armor on her shoulder has been torn to pieces. Blood was flowing out from her shoulder.
After the few collisions, someone finally noticed that a battle was happening in the tavern. At this moment, a purely white-colored magic formation appeared under the inquisition leader.
White-colored magic runes appeared and encircled around the inquisition leader to restrict him...
That was a confinement magic from the Order System.
Messai looked around. She soon discovered the Gray Mage Lursk. That confinement magic was unleashed by a sage of Norland.
Gray-colored mist appeared on the inquisition leader’s body. The confinement magic started to shatter.
Not even the confinement magic from a sage was able to stop that guy’s movements.
In order to prevent the inquisition leader from committing even more dangerous matters, Messai chose to utilize the sword hilt, a hilt with a weight stone attached to it, to smash at the back of the inquisition leader’s neck while he was still confined.
Messai swore that if an ordinary person was struck by that attack of hers, the bones in their entire neck would be shattered. But, she knew that the body of an inquisition leader couldn’t possibly be that weak.
No... bones.
The sensation Messai felt when she struck her hilt onto the inquisition leader’s neck was different from that of a human with bones. Instead, she seemed to have struck some sort of soft creature.
The inquisition leader didn’t faint from Messai’s attack. Instead, it started to struggle even more violently. Seeing that the runes confining him were about to be shattered, a large amount of purely white runes formed another layer of confinement around the inquisition leader’s body.
The Gray Mage Lursk’s confinement magic had completely confined the inquisition leader.
At this moment, two inquisitors walked out from the crowd. When Messai saw them, she was prepared for another battle. But, the two of them actually grabbed the out-of-control inquisition leader and dragged him away from the tavern.
Messai heaved a sigh of relief. But, a sense of gloominess filled her heart.
Those two inquisitors must’ve seen her attacking the inquisition leader. Once the mission ends, she will definitely be sent to the Sacred Parliament to be questioned.
“Wait. Messai... your shoulder is bleeding.”
Messai was planning to leave when the frost elf called for her from behind.
“This is only a graze. You should be careful these days.”
The wound on Messai’s shoulder didn’t reach her muscles or bones. But, it was no graze either. Tylene was able to tell that Messai only said that to comfort her.
“Please accept the Holy Tree Enluci’s gratitude. And my own gratitude too.”
The World Tree Tylene held in her hand suddenly extended its root to touch Messai’s wound. The moment the root reached her wound, Messai felt a miraculous sort of feeling.
Affected by the power of the World Tree, the flesh on her shoulder began to rapidly grow back.
The World Tree began to exhibit its powers. At the same time, it was unleashing its aura. The World Tree seemed to be doing that deliberately.
At this moment, it was no longer the inquisition leader that had lost control. The other inquisitors in the tavern also began showing signs of losing control.
“Golden Dr. Boom! Sir Lorian! Didn’t I tell you that I will definitely be able to open...”
At the moment when a mage was showing off his golden legendary card to his friend, an inquisitor that lost control over himself flipped over his Hearthstone arcade machine and started walking toward the frost elf.