"Hey, you're not really going to throw your life away, are you?"
While Father Utravsky went to the back to prepare things, Emelyn White leaned closer to Lorne Disenk and whispered, his tone carrying a hint of imperceptible warning—and schadenfreude?
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"Even if you might have lucked out and beaten a few third-rate gangs, there's no way you can be a match for that muscle-headed guy!"
Ignoring the chattering Vampire priest beside him, Lorne began to seriously analyze the possibilities of this commission.
Bishop Utravsky, a Warrior Pathway Sequence 6 Dawn Paladin.
He had heard that the Warrior Pathway was also called the Giant Pathway, and now it seemed Bishop Utravsky's exaggerated height perfectly confirmed this statement.
Due to past killings, the other party had gradually developed a certain inner demon, somewhat similar to a problem of schizophrenia. Due to Beyonder factors, there were also signs of losing control mixed in. Bishop Utravsky possessed a magical candle that could manifest the deepest part of his inner self, which was that tyrannical inner demon. This way, he could eliminate it through battle.
This method of treating psychological illness was unheard of, and it piqued Lorne's interest.
But the consequences of failure were equally cruel. If he failed to defeat that inner demon, or if the battle dragged on for too long, his own spirit might be backlashed, lost forever in that world, turning into an unconscious Zombie, commonly known as a vegetable.
A Dawn Paladin possesses giant-like strength, can fill a radius of forty to fifty meters with morning light, can condense a Dawn Armor on their body surface, and can also condense a Morning Light Sword with purifying effects.
In addition, they can create a large-scale destructive Storm of Light that can directly destroy human bodies, eliminate Wraiths, and severely wound evil spirits.
This was simply a hexagonal berserker.
A Sequence 6's skills are much more numerous than mine, a Sequence 5, and each one is so practical—Lorne felt a hint of envy.
Originally, he thought that as a Sequence 5, facing a Sequence 6, even if the opponent was a Warrior skilled in direct combat, he shouldn't be unable to win. But after hearing the Bishop's detailed introduction of his abilities, Lorne only felt his scalp tingle.
Capable of both offense and defense, with single-target burst, area-of-effect spells, and ranged skills, and looking at the opponent's physique, he would likely be outmatched in pure strength.
"From your tone, you've fought the Father?" Lorne suddenly glanced at Emlyn beside him, who guiltily averted his gaze.
"I guess you haven't fought?" He added another jab.
"I—we Sanguine rely on wisdom, not brute force!" Emlyn's words lacked conviction, his voice weakening by a third.
Not only had he not fought, but when he was 'invited' by the Bishop to live permanently in the church, his parents rushed to save him. As a result, all three Sanguine went at him together, but couldn't defeat that giant, and almost got locked up together to 'listen to the Mother Goddess's teachings'.
After a moment of thought, Lorne ignored the outwardly strong but inwardly weak Vampire. He walked over to Bishop Utravsky, who was not far away, greeted him, and stated that he needed to leave for a while to prepare and assess the situation.
"No problem," the Bishop readily agreed.
"I guess he's trying to escape," Emlyn muttered, pouting, as he watched Lorne's departing back.
"The pendulum rotates clockwise, but the amplitude is not large."
Finding a secluded alley nearby, Lorne took out his pendulum and performed a divination.
This meant that the commission could be accepted, but the process would be somewhat dangerous, not a sure thing.
"I must plan a good strategy, otherwise, even if I win, it will consume a lot of my luck."
During this time, Lorne hadn't encountered anything particularly lucky, so he had accumulated a lot of 'good luck'. If he wasn't fully prepared, he estimated that this battle would consume at least half of his 'luck value'.
"What a pity, it seems it can only be one-on-one, otherwise I could ask Teacher Sharon or Marich for help—but the opponent's abilities seem to have a special attack against Zombies and Wraiths—" Lorne recalled the deadly purification ability and immediately dismissed the idea.
"He really didn't dare to come."
More than an hour later, Emlyn in the church saw that Lorne still hadn't returned, and became even more convinced of his guess.
This so-called 'hero of the east district' was probably just hyped up by the media, but in reality, his strength was mediocre. He probably didn't directly refuse the commission earlier for the sake of face, but now that he'd thought it through, he naturally ran away.
However, the slap in the face came quickly.
—
"Father, I'm ready."
Lorne reappeared in the church, carrying a bulging large backpack.
"What are you carrying?" Bishop Utravsky asked curiously.
"My tools for this battle," Lorne said cryptically. "As for what exactly they are, please allow me to keep it a secret. Because if you don't know, then the 'other you' shouldn't know either."
"Playing mysterious—" Emlyn muttered, but still instinctively retreated a few steps, hiding in the side room, only peeking out half his head to observe.
Following the Father's guidance, Lorne used his own spirituality to light the strange candle.
The moment the candlelight flared, he felt a trance, as if his soul had been drawn from his body, placing him in another world.
Immediately after, the surrounding light and shadows rapidly transformed. He suddenly felt himself experiencing a real, incredibly fierce battle, swords clashing, flesh and blood flying—*Pa!* At the end of the battle, Bishop Utravsky fell heavily into a pool of blood, his breath gone.
Lorne glanced at the 'corpse' and shook his head slightly.
"Fake. But you have a talent for acting."
A moment later, the giant-like corpse slowly got up, looking down at Lorne, and said with a twisted face: "It actually had no effect—"
—
—
You're quite clever."
No, it's mainly because your death didn't fit my style at all, not a single bullet hole on you—Lorne twitched the corner of his mouth, complaining inwardly.
He looked at Utravsky, who was transformed by the inner demon, and showed a smile.
"Can we negotiate? Can you just disappear? It would be good for both of us."
"Are you joking?" The inner demon Utravsky retorted.
"No, I'm very serious," Lorne said, quickly setting down the backpack behind him and opening it deftly. "But since you're unwilling—"
"Then I'll have to ask you to disappear!!!"
Before his words finished, a strong premonition of danger made Utravsky instantly condense a set of silver-white Dawn Armor, and a giant sword glowing with morning light appeared in his hand. He roared and charged directly at Lorne.
Lorne quickly retreated while pulling out a uniquely shaped black long gun with an extremely long barrel from his backpack.
"Times have changed, Father."
The next moment, he pulled the trigger!
"Dada dada dada!!!"
The muzzle furiously spat out flames, and countless scorching bullets rained down like a storm!
The silver-white armor on Utravsky's body instantly developed countless spiderweb-like cracks, and the powerful impact momentarily halted his forward momentum.
"Damn it!" He roared, swinging his greatsword, deflecting a few bullets with a clang, but more bullets still heavily struck his body.
I must close the distance! He immediately realized this, enduring the constantly bursting cracks and intense pain on his body, he leaped forward against the hail of bullets, raising his greatsword with both hands, and brought it down on Lorne.
Whoosh!
Premonition of Disaster allowed Lorne to perceive the opponent's attack trajectory in advance. He quickly drew another gun from his backpack, then abruptly bent backward and retreated.
"Boom!"
Utravsky's two-handed greatsword heavily struck the ground, instantly pulverizing the hard flagstones, and spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread outwards.
What terrifying power!
Can't give him another chance! Lorne's heart tightened. Holding a submachine gun in each hand, he furiously poured bullets onto the recently landed giant.
Utravsky seemed to want to summon a Storm of Light for a ranged counterattack, but each time he raised his hand, his spellcasting would be interrupted by the dense rain of bullets.
The opponent's firepower suddenly doubled, making it difficult for him to parry for a while, forcing him into passive defense. But years of combat experience did not make him panic; he endured the attack, patiently waiting for an opportunity. He didn't believe the opponent could keep shooting forever!
"Click."
Finally, one of the gun barrels made a crisp empty sound.
"Oh no, out of bullets," Lorne subconsciously exclaimed.
Now's the time!
Taking advantage of the weakened firepower, the giant Bishop suddenly condensed a blinding Storm of Light and hurled it at Lorne as a feint.
While Lorne rolled to dodge, his massive body erupted with astonishing speed, instantly advancing with his sword, cutting off the empty submachine gun in Lorne's hand. The other gun also flew out of his grasp due to the immense force.
He no longer had those annoying weapons!
Without giving Lorne any chance to breathe, the 'Giant' Bishop's attacks followed one after another.
One sword, two swords, three swords—he was like a tireless killing machine, his storm of attacks maintained for dozens of seconds without weakening.
Vertical cleave, diagonal slash, horizontal sweep, direct thrust! The simplest swordsmanship, yet in his hands, it unleashed the most extreme destructive power.
Lorne kept jumping and rolling, appearing disheveled. In a short while, he was forced into a corner, with nowhere left to retreat.
Seeing this, Utravsky took a step forward, leaped forcefully, gripped his sword with both hands, aimed at Lorne in the corner, and was about to cleave him in half with one strike!
"Mental Storm!"
At such close range, Lorne's Mental Storm struck instantly! This caused a momentary delay in Utravsky's movements. But he did not change his action, still wanting to use inertia to completely eliminate the target in the corner!
"If your brain stops working, you won't dodge." Looking at the giant blade coming at him, Lorne, forced into a desperate situation, showed a smile on his face.
"I never said I only had two guns."
He quickly pulled a ripper from his embrace. At such close range, combined with the 'Robot' ability's enhancement, he aimed at Utravsky's face in an instant. The silver-white helmet there, having been continuously struck by earlier bullets, had not fully recovered and was now covered in cracks.
"Goodbye."
"Bang!"