Chapter 624: Combat Technique

Sacrifice.

When the little doll whispered those two words with that strange, saintly smile, her small golden-haired head finally sank completely into the pool of blood, melting into it. It was as if the crimson surface had become a passage to another dimension, and the doll's head slowly descended into another space.

Yu Sheng had no idea what was happening.

Then a bolt of lightning that crossed the underground parking lot shattered the rest of his thoughts.

Several other white-robed Inquisition priests, who appeared to be of lower rank, had already steadied themselves under the Archsage's command. Pale golden radiance surged over their bodies, powerful psychic energy turned into thunder in their hands, and dozens of bolts of lightning materialized out of thin air in the underground space, striking fiercely at the enormous silver-white yokai fox in the center of the parking lot.

This lightning storm was the combined full-force attack of several priests, and its power was no less than the Archsage's earlier furious strike. Yet the silver-white yokai fox still didn't dodge—because not far behind her was her "benefactor."

Of course, by now he was practically the benefactor's corpse—except the corpse was still breathing.

The fox girl wanted to at least try to let her benefactor pass on peacefully.

So she let out a threatening growl, her protective aura violently roiling around her. Continuous thunder and gunfire created explosions around her, and in the smoke and flames, a sharp whistle suddenly rang out—a silver-white fox tail spouting fierce propulsive flames tore through the smoke, burning the air as it flew straight toward the distant tall figure in the gold-embroidered white robe.

The Inquisition's Archsage saw the bizarre fox tail flying out of the smoke. But having witnessed its power, he showed no intention of dodging. After quickly glancing back at the unstable rift behind him, he instead turned and faced the direction of the flying tail—the illusory crown of thorns wreathed in flames above his head crackled with lightning. His flesh swelled, his body suddenly shot up, and he stepped forward, opening his arms to embrace the flaming tail tightly against his chest!

The fox tail exploded violently. The violently erupting foxfire was compressed into a blinding "light ball" in the Archsage's arms. His body seemed on the verge of shattering, but it stubbornly restored itself, and the light swelled and then dissipated into nothing.

Even Hu Li was stunned by the sight.

But the other Inquisition priests and soldiers were greatly encouraged by this. They seized the brief opportunity to concentrate all their firepower on the dangerous nine-tailed silver fox.

Just then, a scream shattered the tacit coordination among the priests.

A white-robed "Sage" suddenly convulsed all over, curling up in agony. Blood almost instantly soaked his white robe from his chest outward. He was hoisted into the air by some invisible force, and only when his blood stained it did the outline of that invisible thing become visible—a sharp spider leg.

The leg flicked, tossing the pierced Inquisition priest aside, and then slowly dissipated in the air.

Spider?

Another white-robed Sage's psychic danger sense flared. His instinct forced him to look in a certain direction.

He saw a pool of blood—amid the spreading foxfire and dust, a patch of seemingly sentient "living blood" was surging across the ground. The pool grew larger, and something was rapidly taking shape within it.

The next second, he saw a figure rise from the blood.

It was a golden-haired doll—a face as lifelike as a living person, golden hair brilliant as sunlight, wearing an exquisite and gorgeous deep-blue long dress, with an elegant and tall figure.

In her hand, she held a frying pan.

The golden-haired doll looked down at herself, then at the cultists opposite.

Then she was so happy she almost jumped for joy. She turned her head and yelled at Yu Sheng: "Hey, hey, Yu Sheng! I grew! I grew!"

Yu Sheng was leaning against a pillar in the parking lot, and this almost made him choke on his last breath: "I saw, I saw, but is this really the time to talk about that—"

By now he had given up trying to understand what was going on.

On the other side, the cultists had already reacted. Several Bronze Knights charged at the golden-haired doll that had risen from the blood, and a white-robed Sage charged forward under their cover. In his hand, a silver sword wrapped in psychic lightning had appeared, and his whole body seemed encased in radiant light. He leaped high toward the doll, roaring: "Heretic!—"

Without turning her head, Erinn swung the frying pan: "I said I grew taller, are you deaf?!"

The silver sword smashed into pieces with a bang. The Bronze Knights around her hadn't even gotten close before their limbs were bound by golden threads that appeared from nowhere, and they were pinned to the ground by nearly invisible spider legs. Only the white-robed Sage was a real man—he didn't make a sound when he was slapped away.

Erinn cheerfully watched the cultist she had batted away, then turned to look at the tall figure before the rift, crowned with a thorny wreath of flames and standing like a god.

She walked toward him, frying pan in hand, steps light, faster and faster.

The Archsage sensed a strong danger from the approaching figure. In his field of vision, it wasn't just a golden-haired doll coming toward him—behind her was a vast, invisible phantom. Its spirit body radiated ominous portents in another dimension. The phantom stirred restlessly, occasionally thrusting parts of its limbs into this world, disturbing the flow of psychic energy in the air.

"Fall back!"

The Archsage suddenly shouted to those around him. At almost the same moment, his already superhuman body swelled again. A marble-like texture covered his skin. His originally human eyes were burned by psychic energy into two hollow sockets, blinding lightning filling the eye sockets. The thorny crown above his head also gained substance, golden crystalline spikes fusing into his skull, emitting an indescribable "sanctity."

This was exactly the form that the Inquisition's "Sages" constantly depicted in their doctrines—

Perfection attained, approaching the divine.

They imagined the majestic form a god should have, and they constantly made themselves approach that form, even if only for a moment, even if it meant burning their lives (most of the time, burning others' lives).

Now, he possessed the form of a god and power far beyond his own limits.

"Cannot... be disturbed..."

The giant-like "Archsage" murmured lowly and stepped forward to meet the golden-haired doll walking toward him. Each step shattered the ground. His marble-sculpted body seemed to channel boundless power—and Erinn, who had just returned to her normal human height, once again looked quite... petite in front of such a "giant."

The golden-haired doll looked up, thought for a moment.

"Goddammit. So I grew for nothing?"

She muttered crudely, but then a brilliant smile burst onto her face.

"Good thing I have a taller one—"

The next second, her figure suddenly collapsed into a cloud of blood mist, vanishing from the physical dimension in the blink of an eye.

The Archsage was about to raise his hand and smash the golden-haired doll at his feet. He hadn't expected this, and he stood there dumbfounded for a moment. In that instant of hesitation, his spiritual vision saw the vast phantom that had always been hidden in another dimension suddenly "cut" into the physical dimension.

A giant spider abruptly appeared where Erinn had vanished—its terrifying spider body seemed forged from obsidian, its carapace covered with profound and mysterious symbols. Its upper body was female, its face seventy or eighty percent similar to Erinn's, but with black hair hanging loose and blood-red eyes. The gorgeous long dress was replaced by an insect-like carapace.

This "Spider Goddess" was even a head taller than the giant Archsage.

The Archsage looked up in shock. The next second, he saw hostility filling those blood-red eyes. The spider body reared up high, and two terrifying legs stabbed down toward his upper body.

He reacted quickly. Before the legs stabbed down, he raised his hands, grasping two balls of lightning as he met the "blasphemous abomination" before him.

But the Spider Goddess dissolved in front of his eyes in an instant—the Archsage didn't even have time to figure out what had happened before he felt a gust of wind at his feet. The golden-haired doll "cut" back into the physical dimension, swinging her frying pan and slamming it hard into his knee.

The height was just right.

The giant's scream shook the underground garage.

But to be fair, the giant's health bar was indeed thick. A high-ranking Inquisition priest was no ordinary person. Even though one leg was crippled on the spot, he still didn't fall. He even reacted quickly, bending down to grab at the golden-haired doll beside his leg, who hadn't adjusted her stance after the pan strike.

In the next instant, Erinn's figure vanished again. The giant Spider Goddess instantly "cut" into reality, and with a full swing, her palm smashed down.

The Archsage's danger sense flared sharply. He felt that if this palm hit, even he might not survive. He hurriedly twisted his body back, raising his hand to block—but before the block connected, the Spider Goddess "switched" back to the golden-haired doll. Erinn spun a full circle, wound up the frying pan, and slammed it into the Archsage's knee again!

After the hit, her figure vanished again. The Archsage was now furious and alarmed, but though this was his first time facing such a bizarre opponent, he quickly understood the doll-spider pattern. Enduring the excruciating pain from his crippled legs, he clapped his hands together, and a spreading thunderstorm erupted from him, expanding rapidly in all directions!

But in the next moment, from the gap right above the ground, a golden-haired figure only 66.6 centimeters tall popped out. Little Erinn, holding her frying pan, hopped and skipped forward, leaped up, and smacked the pan down onto the Archsage's toe...

The thunderstorm dissipated instantly along with the giant's scream. The 1.67-meter golden-haired Erinn emerged from the air again, swinging her frying pan in a jumping chop, this time hitting her opponent's shin...

Circle around, duck under, stand up, and go for the feet.

It was like a combo etched into her bones.

Yu Sheng, watching from the sidelines with his heart already stopped for over ten minutes, couldn't even bear to die, so he insisted on watching the whole thing through.

(End of chapter)