Chapter 67: Seventh-Rank Holy Mage

As that boiling miasma poured directly onto the King, his magnificent royal robes and the flesh of his body began to melt in a single instant. Steam rose from the King’s body, and his screams echoed through the desolate area. His skin rapidly decayed, and writhing in agony, he began to shriek and wail like a madman.

Below, seeing that horrifying scene, the Phoenix could no longer hold back. Abandoning its attack on Arthur mid-stream, it dove through the air and rushed straight toward the King. Spreading all its remaining divine flames, it wrapped the King’s entire body in a protective blanket of fire. However, the fury of that miasma was so ferocious that even the Phoenix proved incapable of saving the King. Piercing through that sacred fire, the miasma continued to consume them both from the inside out.

Seeing all this, without wasting a single second, Arthur instantly deactivated his Asura soul body. The gigantic spiritual manifestations dissolved, and he returned to his normal human form. Panting heavily, he threw all his remaining strength into fleeing as far away from the range of the miasmal rain as possible.

High up in the sky, the Principal had completely poured out all the Sun-River water and miasma from his colossal black urn. The urn was now empty, and the lethal rain began to subside. However, the King was not dead yet; his supreme flames and the Phoenix’s protection had saved his life, but now he was in no condition to fight—let alone even stand on his feet.

Seeing this, the Principal let out a sigh of relief—a long breath of release. He chanted an incantation, shrank the gargantuan urn, and safely returned it to his spirit ring.

Down below, the King’s condition had become utterly pathetic. Faint flames still flickered around his body like a dying lamp, but his entire physique was severely burned. His charred, torn skin and chunks of flesh were visible from every angle.

In his wretchedness and helplessness, he began struggling to crawl and stumble away from the place. The Principal turned to watch him leave, but didn’t bother stopping him. He knew that the half-dead King would never again dare to seek revenge against him or Arthur.

At that very moment, in the direction Arthur was fleeing, he coincidentally ran into Kael.

Kael’s eyes immediately fell upon Arthur. Then, his gaze locked onto Arthur’s chest. From deep within Arthur’s chest, that brilliant, golden light was clearly peeking out—it was the divine energy of that legendary Sword Bone.

The moment he saw that glow, a greedy, wolf-like gleam flashed in Kael’s eyes. Greed and envy were practically the core roots of his nature, and even in this time of crisis, his priorities hadn’t changed. Decorating his face with a fake, sweet smile, he limped toward Arthur and spoke in a weak voice, "Arthur... brother, help me..."

Arthur looked at him. Although he didn’t hold much fondness for Kael and didn’t particularly like him, he still didn’t consider him an enemy. For a fleeting second, he thought about lending a hand in this time of crisis. Showing a bit of mercy, just as he stepped forward to lift Kael and guide him to safety, his sixth sense suddenly warned him—a dangerous shift had abruptly occurred in the surrounding ambient energy.

Without wasting a single second, Arthur jerked himself backward in one swift motion.

*Whoosh—!*

At that exact second, a sharp silver knife hidden behind Kael’s hand slashed through the air toward Arthur’s throat. If Arthur hadn’t reacted in time, that dagger would have pierced right through his neck.

Arthur narrowly escaped the fatal strike. He stumbled back, leaped away, and glared at Kael, trembling with rage.

On the other hand, Kael was shocked at how Arthur had sensed his foolproof strike. Even so, there was not an ounce of shame on his face; instead, a twisted, mocking smile floated across it.

"Arthur, why don’t you just hand over that Sword Bone inside your chest to me?" Kael said with a cruel laugh. "You’re just an ordinary Mage anyway. What on earth would you do with a legendary Sword Bone? Someone of the warrior-class like me needs these things, not you!"

Hearing this, Arthur’s blood boiled. Veins bulged on his face with fury. "I stepped forward to help you... and you tried to stab me in the back, you bastard!"

Losing control to his anger, Arthur gathered all his remaining energy into his palms and cast a powerful flaming spell. A blazing, massive fireball erupted from his hands and hurtled straight toward Kael.

Kael’s face turned pale with terror. He had never expected that the injured Arthur would retaliate with such speed. He froze in place as the fireball rapidly closed in on him. But before the fireball could reduce Kael to ashes, a blue light flashed through the air. In the blink of an eye, the Principal materialized between them. With waves of his formidable mana, he crushed the fireball right in mid-air, turning it into smoke.

Glaring at both of them with deep, stern disapproval, the Principal scolded, "Foolish boys! You are students of the same academy and classmates, yet you’re fighting each other in the middle of this life-or-death crisis? Is your head filled with straw? Don’t you realize outside predators can take advantage of your stupid infighting? Instead of figuring out how to get out of here alive, you’re busy trying to prey on each other!"

The words had barely left the Principal’s mouth when he sensed a massive disturbance in the space and energy right in front of them. He snapped his head up to look alertly ahead. A short distance away, two figures were floating in the air—on one side stood the Leader of the Assassin Guild, dark shadows writhing across his body like serpents, and on the other stood the Leader of the Merchant Guild in his luxurious silk robes, wearing a cruel and cunning smile. Predatory grins plastered both of their faces.

Fixing his cold, piercing gaze on the Principal, the Assassin Guild leader chuckled deviously, "Principal, why don’t you hand over these two talented young students to us? I promise you, our guild will polish them into gems that can easily reach the seventh or eighth rank of greatness in the future."

The Merchant Guild leader immediately stepped in, his sharp voice cutting through, "Don’t listen to his nonsense, Principal! Our Merchant Guild has the resources and power to nurture both of them without limit. Entrusting them to me is the smartest choice you can make."

Seeing that the two of them were currently bickering and bargaining over staking claims to Arthur and pulling him to their respective sides rather than forcibly stripping his Sword Bone right away, the Principal let out a momentary sigh of relief inwardly... but just then, the Assassin Guild leader caught the slight relaxation in the Principal’s guard.

"You’ve thought long enough, old man!"

The Assassin Guild leader vanished instantly, ripping through space to lash a colossal Shadow Palm straight toward the Principal.

The Principal’s instincts screamed warnings, and he raised his hands to defend, but it was already too late. The heavy shadow palm shattered his protective barrier and struck him square in the chest.

*Boom—!*

The Principal flew backward through the air like a meteor, crashing into a distant cliffside and vomiting a mouthful of blood as he collapsed to the ground.

Seeing this horrific spectacle, Kael and Arthur felt their hearts leap into their throats. Both of them trembled with sheer terror. Their own energy was almost entirely depleted—though Kael still had a tiny fraction left, he couldn’t even fathom standing against these terrifying seventh-rank powerhouses. As the two of them panicked and backed away, a tiny, needle-thin space-time tear suddenly ripped open in the air right behind Arthur and Kael. The very next instant, that crack widened into a glowing portal.

A woman stepped out from within the sacred portal. She was draped from head to toe in pristine white holy robes. Her beauty was so unearthly and mesmerizing that anyone laying eyes on her would forget to blink; she looked like a celestial fairy. Her hair was golden, and her eyes were as calm and mysterious as the deep blue sea. She was no ordinary beauty—she was the supreme Priestess of the Church of Knowledge and Magic.

As soon as the Priestess’s cold, piercing gaze landed on the two of them (Arthur and Kael), both froze stiff like stone, shivering from the chill. A shiver ran down their spines, filling even their souls with terror. In a cold, authoritative voice, the Priestess commanded them, "Both of you... are coming with me."

For a fleeting second, Arthur was transfixed by the Priestess’s captivating, divine beauty and radiance—his eyes locked right onto her. But the very next second, as the reality of his deadly, life-threatening situation dawned on him, he wasted no time, quietly stepping through the glowing portal right behind the Priestess. A terrified Kael quickly scrambled and jumped in after them.

Far away, hidden within the darkness, Ethan watched all these events unfold with his own eyes, letting out a faint sound of irritation from his mouth—*"Tsk."*

Ethan’s blood-magic clone stood silently. He had clearly deduced that the Priestess was no ordinary person, but a dangerous Seventh-Rank Holy Mage who possessed several invincible divine artifacts of the Church. Confronting that seventh-rank entity with his current limited power to stop Arthur or Kael would have been absolute foolishness.

In one hand of Ethan’s clone, the Runic Sword still rested, while the glowing Dragon and Phoenix blessing pearls were held in the other.

With the power of all these combined, he could easily crush any powerful sixth-rank warrior, but tangling with a seventh-rank Holy Mage and the Church’s Priestess was still not within the scope of his long-term master plan. He cast one cold glance at the closing gates of the portal, and silently sank his shadow deeper into the folds of space.