Chapter 242: Still a Great Battle (Part 3)

  Talise, extremely embarrassed, waved her hand to defend herself: "It's not like that, it's because there's a very important mission that requires me to follow this..."

  "I don't care about this, and you don't need to explain to me," Knight Tamika said flatly, his voice as dry as wood. "I don't want to know what you're here for either. Just get out of my way and don't be a nuisance."

  "His Majesty has a mission?" Talise froze. She understood that Knight Tamika and his Templar subordinates would generally only be dispatched under the orders of His Majesty the Pope.

  "You don't need to know this. Get lost." This sentence from Tamika was directed at Ethan.

  "How to 'get lost'? Never learned. Why don't you show me how first?" Ethan looked at him and sneered. He knew very well that this was a man who preferred to kill with a blade rather than threaten with words. The fact that he was now speaking to him this way, telling him to get out of the way, meant one thing: he had reservations, and he wasn't very confident. He wasn't confident he could accomplish his task with Ethan's interference.

  In mid-air, the figure of the giant green mantis, darting and weaving, was already starting to totter. The flashes and rumbles of magical bombardment continuously lit up its huge body, and fragments of green carapace and juices flew everywhere. The mantis's miserable shrieks had not ceased for a moment.

  On the mantis's back, Luya continuously used the Leaves of the World Tree to channel nature-based healing magic into the mantis's body, but its life force was still continuously draining away amidst the rumbles. The combined lethality of the dozens of mages' elemental magic was enough to flatten a mountain. If Master Aiden hadn't warned them aloud to be careful of the Elf on top, to prevent the magic from blowing the Elf and the Leaves of the World Tree to smithereens, this mantis, even if forged from fine steel, would have long been reduced to nothing, not even dregs.

  If there were Dispel or Purification spells within nature magic, the situation would definitely not be so dire; perhaps it would be the mages who were suppressed. This enormous War Mantis was slowed down alive by the countless curses, its agility and flexibility reduced, and only then was it treated as a living target.

  "Eh? There are still Pegasus knights?" a mage suddenly saw the figure of a Pegasus in the distance approaching.

  This Pegasus seemed not the slightest bit afraid of the magic flying everywhere. Instead, it charged straight over. A person on top waved their hands and shouted, "Everyone, stop!"

  A bolt of lightning struck out from a mage's hand, hitting the Pegasus squarely. With a miserable shriek, the Pegasus plunged into the forest, and the person who had been shouting fell down, flailing their limbs.

  "What was that Elf screaming about?" The old mage who had struck the lightning blinked his cloudy eyes and glanced at the person and horse that had fallen. He muttered to himself.

  "It doesn't seem to be an Elf, it's a person. There's another one over there," a mage with better eyes answered, pointing to another Pegasus approaching in the distance. He squinted to look. "Eh, the person on top seems to be..."

  With an earth-shattering shriek, the War Mantis made one last desperate struggle, lunging forward and smashing a mage who couldn't dodge in time into a pulp of flesh. At the same time, its already heavily wounded abdomen was struck by two of Master Aiden's Thunderblast Bombs and an ice blade from a great water mage. Amidst the flying fragments and juices, the War Mantis was severed in two, and its huge body finally fell from the sky.

  "You are not my match." Knight Tamika looked at Ethan. He still had a wooden face, like a statue, showing no joy or sorrow, with no signs of life or desire visible. Instead, the jet-black longsword in his hand seemed to be moaning and struggling, a ghost-like, bloodthirsty moan.

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  "Right, I'm not. I know." Ethan also looked at Knight Tamika. He admitted this, but the gap between them wasn't that large. The other party knew this too, which was why he was wasting his breath talking to him instead of just coming up and slicing him in two.

  Two Templars moved up from behind, sandwiching him between them. Although these two were not very high-level masters, just assisting Knight Tamika from behind was enough. Talise stood awkwardly to the side, not knowing what to do.

  "I'll say it one more time. Get lost. Or I will definitely kill you. His Majesty the Pope only told Lord Lancelot he wanted you alive. He never told me. Those who interfere with my affairs must die."

  "Eh? His Majesty the Pope said he wanted..." Ethan seemed a bit surprised. And at this moment of surprise, as his aura slightly loosened and his attention lapsed for an instant, Knight Tamika opposite him had already struck.

  His reluctance to act was because he could see this person wasn't easy to deal with; he just wasn't confident. This wasn't just a feeling from their exchange, but the fact that he had assassinated Archbishop Eschol was enough to make one wary. Completing His Majesty the Pope's mission was the top priority, so without confidence, he could first try using words or something else to make him not interfere. But since such an excellent opportunity to strike had suddenly appeared, he certainly wouldn't let it pass.

  Only dead people are the least troublesome, and dead people are also the most reliable. This principle had long been branded into Knight Tamika's mind. So when his opponent's aura loosened, he struck out almost instinctively.

  Originally, his strength was superior, and the situation was also in his favor. A strike launched by seizing the momentum seemed to have no reason to fail.

  This strike, when unleashed, had no heaven-shaking momentum. Instead, the air was immediately filled with a faint scent of death. Even the putrid, rotten smell from the fireball mixed with Necromancy earlier couldn't compare to this. This smell wasn't pungent; you didn't need to smell it with your nose. It naturally seeped into one's very marrow.

  With a soft whoosh, a large tree rotted. It didn't shatter or break; it rotted. Like incense that had finished burning, it couldn't maintain its own shape and just silently fell, collapsing into powder.

  What was also pulverized into dust were the clothes on Ethan's chest to his lower abdomen. He could clearly feel how the Battle Qi and magical power in this strike were calm and profound as the sea, and the astonishing power from its integration with the killing intent. The soft armor he got from the Paladin Order, like rotten paper, directly became flying catkins in the sky from this glancing blow.

  But it was just a glancing blow. With a twist and a sidestep, Ethan managed to dodge Knight Tamika's strike. This blade just missed him by a hair's breadth and then shattered a large tree not far behind him, but it failed to hit him.

  "Eh?" For the first time, Knight Tamika's seemingly wooden face was completely occupied by astonishment.

  If this strike had been parried, he wouldn't have been surprised. Even though it was an excellent opportunity, he also knew that this opponent's strength wasn't so lacking that he would be killed by this sudden strike. What he wanted was a hasty parry, which would completely seize the upper hand and initiative, allowing him to press forward step by step and not give his opponent another chance to use Necromancy before killing him.

  But the opponent had actually dodged completely. For experts of their level, for a locked-on strike to actually miss was almost unimaginable. What missed wasn't just the blade, but also the momentum, technique, judgment, killing intent, and spirit. Only a gap in strength could allow for a complete dodge; otherwise, there was only parrying.

  Although this opponent was not simple, his own strength absolutely could not achieve this step. The only explanation was that this opportunity wasn't a real opportunity, or rather, it wasn't his opportunity, but his opponent's.

  By dodging the opponent's strike, he had already seized the complete upper hand, having gained the initiative in momentum. But Ethan did not take the opportunity to attack Tamika. Instead, he turned and ran.

  Fighting was absolutely out of the question. It seemed Talise would not help him, and the opponent had two Templars. Just like Tamika, Ethan had never intended to fight from the beginning. But he didn't want to defeat or drive away the opponent; he wanted to run. As long as he could get to the Elves, whether to help them or have them help him.

  But to turn and run directly while someone like Knight Tamika was fully on guard was no different from directly offering his neck. So Ethan feigned a lapse in concentration, lured the opponent into striking, and then dodged with his prior preparation. This was the best chance to escape. Knight Tamika had just struck out, and naturally, he could not compare to Ethan who was prepared. With just two leaps, Ethan had already charged into the forest.

  As if he felt that simply running like this wasn't enough, Ethan also shouted back, "Good wife Talise, hold them back for me."

  Hearing this sentence, Knight Tamika and the two Templars just froze in surprise, shooting a wary glance at the female knight to the side, while the female knight herself almost jumped up.

  "You two, stop her," Knight Tamika said after a moment's pause, then left the sentence and chased after Ethan's retreating back.

  Tamika charged out without any defense, while the two Templars simultaneously drew their swords, which had been sheathed, with a clang, and blocked Talise. Although they found it hard to believe, the fact that they were walking together was a fact, and the fact that they had reminded and parried for each other just now was also a fact. They couldn't not guard against this possibility.

  "That bastard is talking nonsense! Don't believe him," Talise's face was the color of a pig's liver, and she jumped up and down on the spot, furious as thunder. She was actually the one who most wanted to chase after him, but facing the swords of two Templars, she didn't dare to charge forward.

  With a miserable shriek from a Pegasus in mid-air, Ethan, who was running towards the War Ancient Tree, looked up and saw a person flailing their limbs as they fell from above, landing right in front of him.