abcnovels
Chapter 95: I Entrust My Daughter to You!
Chapter 95: I Entrust My Daughter to You!
Anz's condition was beyond dire; it was an utter catastrophe!
Not only was he suffering from his previous injuries, but now his entire skin seemed to be melting, turning into droplets of oil that continuously dripped from his body.
To make matters worse, his left hand, which had been shielding his head, had vanished into thin air, leaving only a trembling, dark red skeletal remnant.
In a sudden, swift motion, Anz flapped his wings and fled from Jeremy's side!
Within moments, his figure appeared hundreds of meters away. Shivering like a wraith, Anz rummaged through his storage space and pulled out a vial glowing with an orange hue.
With a gulp, he downed the potion in one go, finally exhaling a sigh of relief. He lifted his head, his gaze toward Jeremy now a complex mixture of emotions.
Before today, if someone had told Anz that a mere level 39 runt could wound him to such an extent, he would have dismissed them as a drunken fool, spouting nonsense.
But after today, Anz understood that people were not all the same.
This realization only strengthened his resolve to kill Jeremy. The reason was simple: if Jeremy could inflict such damage at such a low level, what would happen when he reached level 70 or beyond? Anz wouldn't stand a chance of surviving then.
Since they were already enemies, Anz decided he must eliminate this threat in its cradle!
As the potion took effect, Anz's wounds began to heal at a visible pace. In less than half a minute, his injuries were almost completely mended, save for his left hand and the bat wings on his back, which were reduced to mere skeletal remains.
Flexing his right hand, Anz grasped his Knight's long sword and solemnly approached Jeremy.
Meanwhile, down below, following a brief respite, the Black Armored Cavalry and Golden Lion Weber, along with others, began to encircle Rafael and his group.
It was evident that once Anz became serious and truly regarded Jeremy as an opponent, Jeremy was no match for him.
The same held true below; Rafael and Beatrice, at the brink of exhaustion and unable to utilize their transcendental powers, faced imminent death.
Unexpectedly, a rumbling sound echoed from the distance.
If the hoofbeats of the Black Armored Cavalry had been like heavy hammers striking a drum, this new sound was like an unending tidal wave, exuding an aura of unstoppable force.
In an instant, the expressions of everyone present drastically changed. Only Rafael and Beatrice felt a profound sense of relief.
The backbone of Dawn City, the Ironclad Army, had finally arrived!
Suspended in mid-air, Jeremy had a clear view of the approaching force. A regiment of over ten thousand heavily armored soldiers, clad in uniform armor, was marching resolutely toward the City Lord's mansion.
Leading them was a figure wearing a golden helmet adorned with bull horns and a bronze suit of heavy armor, riding an earth-colored drake with an imposing presence.
Among the ranks, Jeremy spotted a familiar towering figure.
With a rhythmically synchronized march, Heber appeared, his face weary yet smiling broadly. "Jeremy, I've come to save you!" he shouted.
Heber was mounted on a bipedal land bird over three meters tall, its powerful legs propelling it forward with strides of ten meters or more.
In the blink of an eye, Heber charged ahead, breaking away from the Ironclad Army's formation and rapidly approaching the City Lord's mansion.
Meanwhile, Rafael and Beatrice exchanged glances of relief. Beatrice raised her hand to release the Emerald Shield, freeing Nina from its confines. Rafael,.
However, did not lower his treasured sword. His gaunt eyes remained fixed on Anz, who was hovering in the air. "Anz, your cause is lost. Surrender now, and in light of our past relationship, I may spare your life."
As for the nearby Golden Lion Weber and his men, Rafael paid them no heed, clearly considering them as good as dead.
Golden Lion Weber and his men turned pale, their resolve to resist crumbling. When they saw Rafael, whom they had believed to be on the verge of death, standing before them, they instinctively dropped their weapons and fell to their knees with a thud. "Lord City Master, it was that bastard Anz who made us do this! Please, spare our lives!"
…
The chorus of pleas for mercy did not elicit even a glance from Rafael at the kneeling men. Instead, it provoked a furious outburst from Anz. "I knew you spineless cowards couldn't be trusted!"
With those words, Anz's aura surged violently, forcing Jeremy to retreat a considerable distance in alarm.
A trapped beast is most dangerous, and if Anz were to launch a sudden attack now, Jeremy would be in dire straits.
However, contrary to Jeremy's expectations, Anz neither attacked him nor vented his rage on Golden Lion Weber and his men.
Instead, Anz's figure slowly began to approach the Ironclad Army, which was nearing the City Lord's mansion.
Watching this, a chilling thought crept into Jeremy's mind: "Could the Ironclad Army also be the enemy?"
The more he pondered it, the more plausible it seemed.
But before Jeremy could voice a warning, the sound of taut bowstrings creaking filled the air.
The noise emanated from within the Ironclad Army.
Simultaneously, an array of lights began to glow among the ranks, an ominous prelude that pressed down on everyone's hearts like the calm before a storm.
A deep, resonant shout rang out from somewhere within the Ironclad Army: "Fire the Mountain Arrow!"
With a sharp twang, countless arrows were loosed from the Ironclad Army.
These arrows seemed almost alive, converging mid-air into a massive, singular projectile.
Inside the City Lord's mansion, Rafael took a moment to explain to Nina with interest, "The Mountain Arrow is the Ironclad Army's ultimate opening strike. "
"It not only combines the strength of the entire army's archers but can also target enemies beyond visible range. "
"The arrow that once blinded the Shadow Dragon was a Mountain Arrow!"
The massive arrow was a kaleidoscope of colors, imbued with various elemental forces—fire, ice, lightning, shadow, wind. Any power you could imagine was present within this arrow.
Rafael's smile had barely faded when he realized with shock that the Mountain Arrow was aimed directly at his mansion.
His expression froze as he came to the painful realization that Taal, whom he had nearly considered a son, had betrayed him as well!
In this moment of crisis, Rafael's first reaction wasn't panic or rage.
Instead, he was overwhelmed by a sense of betrayal and failure. "Why do you all betray me? What have I done wrong? Is my life truly such a failure?" For a fleeting moment, Rafael was engulfed by a death wish.
At this critical juncture, it was Beatrice who showed greater decisiveness.
In this critical moment, Beatrice, despite being a woman, exhibited even greater decisiveness than Rafael.
The Mountain Arrow, the Ironclad Army's first lethal strike upon engaging the enemy, possessed a formidable power that was far from ordinary.
Even Rafael and Beatrice, as experts of Transcendental Awakening, faced the real possibility of being instantly obliterated under the force of the Mountain-Piercing Arrow.
As for Nina, who had only just achieved the rank of Profession-Awakened, her chances of survival were even slimmer.
The Emerald Shield had only just been deactivated, and reactivating it so soon was impossible.
Gritting her teeth, Beatrice scooped Nina into her arms and darted away from the City Lord's mansion as fast as she could, striving to distance them from the imminent explosion.
As for Rafael, Beatrice had no means to assist him.
With a deafening "boom," the Mountain Arrow struck the heart of the mansion.
Another mushroom cloud, identical to the previous one, billowed into the sky.
Beatrice, who had just managed to escape the City Lord's mansion, narrowly avoided being caught in the core blast of the Mountain-Piercing Arrow.
Nevertheless, the powerful shockwave sent her flying.
With a gasp, Beatrice spat a mouthful of blood that splattered onto Nina's collar.
Staining her chest with a crimson hue.
Severely wounded from successive blows, Beatrice could no longer maintain consciousness and was on the verge of passing out.
Just before succumbing to unconsciousness, she anxiously glanced toward the spot where her husband had stood.
To her immense relief, as the mushroom cloud rose, a lone figure remained standing amidst the inferno at the explosion's center.
This blast of the Mountain Arrow had jolted Rafael back to his senses.
Standing at ground zero, Rafael's body was ravaged, with not a single part left unscathed.
His once-platinum robes, which had enveloped him entirely, were now incinerated, exposing his emaciated, skeletal frame.
It was a sight that belied the image of the valiant City Lord who had once grown Dawn City to its stature.
Indeed, Rafael understood that he was utterly spent, teetering on the brink of death.
With a silent, resigned smile, an immense surge of platinum light erupted from his body, far surpassing any power he had previously displayed.
This light expanded rapidly, enveloping everything within a kilometer radius.
In the distance, Anz and Taal's faces simultaneously contorted in alarm.
Transcendental realm auras flared around them as well.
Yet compared to Rafael's, theirs were like mere candle flames against the sun—utterly incomparable.
Anz, agitated and exasperated, shouted, "Has this old fool gone mad? Using his transcendental realm like this, he's definitely planning to die today!"
Rafael laughed heartily, his voice booming, "The end of a king is never silent. Anz, Taal, come and keep this old man company!"
With another explosive surge, the platinum transcendental realm expanded once more.
In the midst of the chaos, Jeremy suddenly heard Rafael's voice filled with hope and urgency. "Jeremy, I entrust my daughter to you."