Even though Princess Leah’s punch was as fierce as it was violent and literally knocked John’s teeth out of his jaw, the cultist leader was no ordinary human either-in the split second he touched the floor, he melted into it like a fish leaping into water.
“Is that an Earth Sect sacred art or an earth-element spell? Or could it be a camouflage?”
Princess Leah did a double take, before quickly realizing that she had been misled.
If John really had such an ability, couldn’t he have slipped into the ground and escape in the confusion just now? Why would he have to try to give the slip by hiding in the crowd, only to have his teeth knocked out?
Nonetheless, Princess Leah gave up on thinking after a brief moment of hesitation, and directly punched out with full strength at the spot where John had slipped beneath.
All at once, the floor crumbled three inches deep like a wok! The sheer force of the punch kicked up dust and debris out in a circle around her, but that was not the end.
“Ora-ora-ora-ora-ora!” As her fists rained down, each of her punches were piledrivers that hammered deep into the greened bricks, knocking the floor an inch down with ever further punch why debris flew wildly around her.
The cultists around her were left dumbstruck, with most of them thinking that they had run into some monster disguised as a human and left shuddering. Some who were more knowledgeable had become pale and were praying quietly. “Heavens, are the barbarians of the plains coming to invade Lancaster?”
Even Edward, who was still blocking the opening on the wall was sweating. He could tell that Princess Leah’s power had increased once again-as expected of the Warrior Princess, a hidden class alongside Eleena’s Saintess-in-training. That muscle strength had to be much higher than people of normal classes such as himself…
Moreover, Leah’s chain punches were not wasted. The debris and dust were rapidly outlining a humanoid form in a corner: John had merely conjured an illusion of him diving into the floor, all he did was cloak his form and hide in a corner! Still, it was obvious that he had skill in illusions since he could hide his name as well, although it was a pity that Leah had exposed him with sheer strength.
“What mutha-f*cking monster are you?!”
Knowing that he was exposed, the cult leader dispelled his illusion as he glared at the girl who looked skinny and frail, no different from an ordinary girl.
“I’m just a mage!” Leah declared, puffing her chest.
‘Who do you think you are fooling—!’
For once, Edward, Marni, and every cultist in the room shared the same thought.
That said, the Warrior Princess’s class abilities revolved around buffing her teammates and casting halos although she has various attacking skills as well. From that alone, her class was more resembling of a magic swordsman.
“You’ve forced my hand—there’s no going back now that it has come to this!”
John drew out a dagger he concealed in his chest and pointed its edge at Leah.
Both Marni and Edward rushed forward by instinct to help-while players could be revived after death, it was rather unpleasant to have a noble princess like Leah being killed right before their eyes.
The person in question, however, was not at all concerned. The cult leader was only Level 32 and far beneath her, just as it was proven from their clash just now that he wasn’t a Boss, but a normal small fry with an elite template.
If she were to be a little more arrogant, she could beat two of him even if she gave a handicap and fought only with one hand!
Still, cultists were a special local product for this world, and what made them most revolting was that they had some bizarre sorcery that varied according to the evil god they worshiped. Some evil gods would even personally turn them into aberrant lifeforms early on, each of which would have the potential to turn the tables even against high-level Players.
“Die!” John roared and flung his dagger at Leah, but just as the Players were at their most alert, he turned and ran.
“Stop him, Mister Marni!” It was in that moment when a drawback of the Players’ rich experience in combat presented itself with the worst timing—their instincts kept their eyes glued to the dagger, and when they eventually decided that the trick wouldn’t do much harm, they already missed their chance to prevent John’s escape. And John was sticking to his plan from the start to run towards Marni, at the same time confounding a few of his cultist followers with his illusion spells to run with him towards the exit.
With humans being social creatures, the other cultists who were left aimless naturally stuck to their group.
As a cultist leader who bewitched minds, John naturally was aware of that. In fact, most evil god believers were weak enough in heart and mind than the average person and were more prone to trickery and getting swept along by groupthink.
That was why John only needed to use a bit of his strength to beguile the stronger cultists, and the others would stick to their usual habits of following them to pour towards the exit.
“Hah!”
Nonetheless, with a loud battle cry, Marni dispersed the crowd with a single punch, knocking the first few cultists to the floor and unconscious.
Even though Marni died all the time and appeared to be a weakling, that was relative to circumstances.
He was usually instakilled by inescapable calamities or extraordinarily powerful Boss monsters. Compared to those, the noob cultists whose level didn’t even reach two digits didn’t even make Marni feel any pressure-if he really died to them, he might really have to consider retiring.
And yet, the cultists’ leader had achieved what he wanted: While Marni was subjugating the other cultists, he had used his disguise ability once more to evade Marni.
“After him! Boris and the others are coming to take the small fry off our hands. We can’t let him get away!” Leah shouted.
At the same time, she had whipped out a weird spherical object, narrowing her eyes as she tracked John’s escape route and promptly threw the dye ball which was made with a Junglewalker’s Hundred Huntings skill, hitting the cultist leader on the head.
But even though he could hardly disguise himself after being marked, John was rapidly approaching the surface after escaping the three Players’ encircling.
And for a master of disguise like him, everything would be alright once he slipped into a crowd.
Those minions of some unknown church would never find him!
Still, he ended up running into Players who were coming towards him just as he left the aqueducts.
‘No way! It’s such a short time between now and the ritual ground being found… they shouldn’t have the time to call the others! How did they know I was running this way?!’
Poor John would never learn for the rest of his life that there was a little gimmick known as the Player forums that allowed real-time communication.
Even if it was flooded with headlines of ‘Pink Flatfish Defeats Edward’.
