Chapter 130 War Goddess, Black Raven, And Sword Saintess



On the great desert, four unique people were staring at the skies above, where a great dimensional rift formed as a result of cracks in the dimensional space. Inside the rift was peeking a yellow eye with vertically elongated pupils similar to a snake.

The view of the rift made the youngest of the four — Silver Hound. Because Grace was technically more than 50 years old — shuddered when she thought the eye was meeting with hers.

When the voice from the rift resounded in the air, Silver Hound staggered, affected by the pressure the voice had carried.

Taking notice of her situation, Black Raven who had always been standing close to Silver Hound gently placed his hand on her shoulder, reinforcing her mana barrier with his own mana.

"We will control this realm soon. Until then, prepare thyself!"

By the time the rift, the eye, and the disturbances of evil energy in the skies subsided, the four people: Black Raven, Silver Hound, War Goddess, and Sword Saintess let out a long sigh.

Sadly, the world was unforgiving. As though the demon's intense pressure wasn't enough, multiple portals connecting their world to the other dimensions were popping several kilometers away from them.

"Not gonna give us even a short break it seems."

Despite the desperate sentiment behind her words, Nuria's voice clearly sounded confident and determined.

Rooaaarrr—!!!

Monsters emerged from the portals. There were many kinds of them, ranging from low-ranking monsters such as goblins and wolves to the highest such as dragons and worm deserts.

Fortunately, it seemed they only had 4 Colossal (S) ranked monsters among their convoys. Which was two dragons and two great worm deserts.

It was certainly a rare occurrence to fight against 4 Colossal ranked monsters in one battle nowadays. Not that it would matter.

If that was all they had, then they would stand no chance against the 2 legendary heroes and a relatively strong unregistered hero, with a youngster who would witness the spectacular battle unfold before her.

Nuria stepped forward, standing in front of the group. The halo above her head glowed with her crimson flame color. At that moment, the flame was spiraling her like a tornado but the size of her body.

As the flame disappeared, Nuria's appearance changed into a majestic and mesmerizing view of why she was called the War Goddess.

Her hair turned into a flame, moving by itself as though it had its own life. The halo and the angular wings expanded, floating a few centimeters away above her head, looking as though she wore a crown.

Nuria's unique reticle pattern of pupils lit bright golden color.

"Let's finish this fast guys!" 

The formal attire she had worn was now replaced by the red and silver armor set. Some parts of the armor were shrouded by the flames.

"I'm worried about my granddaughter, she must be feeling lonely without me in the new year's night."

Extending her hand outwards with her palm open facing the ground, she called upon her weapon.

A few centimeters under her palm, the flame flickered. A moment later, it burst out, extending and taking the form of a sword. When the flame dissipated, a beautifully crafted sword and its scabbard adorned with intricate carvings were revealed.

Unsheathing the sword, the masterpiece display of the sword was the first thing that caught everyone's attention. The middle part of the blade was a piece of art of carvings, its intricate pattern of birds, dragons, and plants was etched vertically from the lower blade to the middle.

Black Raven let out a chuckle as he witnessed the War Goddess' majestic form. Just as the rumors said, she was gorgeous. The glorious look in her eyes mirrored her appearance.

From the other side, Grace stomped the sand hard as she stepped.

"You're still keeping that artifact?" said Grace with an irritated tone.

Hearing the jealousy in her voice, Nuria couldn't help but tease her old comrade.

"Of course. This is a gift from him, how could I dare to lose this?" teased Nuria, sarcasm ringing in her words.

Grace spat at Nuria's words, clearly disgusted. But, she quickly the thoughts away and shifted her focus to the flooding monsters in the distance.

They were marching together but had no coordination. Fortunately, they didn't split up and kept marching forward, toward the group of four's coordinate.

Silver Hound was about to join in the fun when Black Raven stopped her, saying that she would be a burden rather than a help. It was harsh but necessary. Silver Hound had never given a mission beyond her level so she never experienced hardship in her life.

Sure, this could be the time for her to gain a few experiences of fighting strong monsters. At the same time, this was also too dangerous for her. She would be dead first before she got any experience from this.

Silver Hound could only clutch her chest when she heard the throbbing facts stabbing her.

Now, the three <S> ranked heroes — actually two, because the other one had lost 70% of her original stats and now only possessed an overall <D> rank stats — stood side-to-side with the War Goddess as the center of their formation.

Without waiting for instruction, Black Raven cast his skills first. As he muttered a word of chant with his lip, he drew a circle on the sand with his finger. Nothing seemed to happen as he did that. But when he finished the chant, the shadow of the marching monsters expanded. It was two times larger than earlier.

"Shadow Manipulation: Gluttony…" Black Raven muttered under his breath.

Burst—!

Thousand of shadow vines jutted out from the blob of shadow beneath the monsters, catching everything that move above them with ultimate strength. 

The low-ranking monsters immediately glued on the shadow, unmoving. Meanwhile, the stronger monsters put up a futile resistance. 

No matter how many times they broke the shadow vines, they would keep growing and bringing them to the ground, even the dragons and the other flying monsters. Not only the monster on the surface that was caught by the vines but also those moving underground.

The great worm deserts were pulled out from their habitat by the shadow vines, trapping them in the blob of the expanded shadow.

When all the monsters were trapped in the shadow, Black Raven said to the War Goddess:

"I've prepared the stage for you, Nuria Crimson. Now, burn them all as you did in the great war 40 years ago."

Nuria grinned.

"Thank you, shadow."

Then she looked at Grace. Noticing Nuria's gaze on her, Grace met her eyes. Staring at each other for a while, they nodded in acknowledgment of each other the next moment.

"Like the old days?" said Grace as a wide smile painted her face.

"Like the old days. But it seems it'd be slightly off this time," came Nuria's reply, her face had the same smile as Grace's.

Grace rolled her eyes at Nuria's comments. How could she even find the time to joke around in this situation?! Although, that came as a fact from the start but still…

Unsheathing her sword, Grace mirrored Nuria's stance.

Nuria brought her sword in front of her chest, enchanting it with her Emberheart's flame. 

The enchantment surged through the blade, causing its form to morph from that of a single-handed sword to that of a formidable broadsword. However, this transformation was a mere illusion brought forth by the flame's power; the sword's true size remained unchanged.

With the flames reaching their zenith, Nuria drove the blade deep into the sandy ground.

"Get ready, Grace."

"I know!"

A few moments later, a pillar of fire burst out beneath the trapped monsters, burning them down to a crisp.

Some of the monsters still survived Nuria's flame, mostly the high-ranking monsters. They were on their deathbed, though.

After the pillar of fire vanished, Grace dashed forward with solid momentum. Her movement speed was beyond the human's limit. She looked like a human-size bullet.

Whilst running, she also zig-zagging her way out as she swung her sword around. It might seem more like nothing but for flashy style. In reality, it had its own benefit to swing her sword like that.

Getting closer to the trapped monsters, Grace jumped high into the sky. For some reason, she defied gravity, floating in the sky as though she was a balloon.

Then as she swung her sword from below, she looked as though she was lifting heavy masses of objects. At that moment, her sword glowed a radiant white light under the moonlight.

As the tip of her sword reached the peak point, the glow beamed even brighter. Then illusionary blades and slashes suddenly make their appearance, ravenously ravaging the monsters on the ground.

Splurt—! Growl—! Sraaah—!

The once quiet night was now filled with the gruesome noises of death and the beautiful sounds of the blade effortlessly sliced through the monster's bones and meats as though they were a paper.

'Wow... It's beatiful...'

Silver Hound, who could do nothing but watch the battle was captivated by Grace's mesmerizing, beautiful, yet also flashy swordsmanship.