Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

"Right on time, Your Eminence," the mage grinned victoriously as he looked at Heiliger.

Sienna roared angrily, while Melina felt like her heart was about to stop as she saw Heiliger holding the Codex of Origin in one hand and the Stone of Sacrifice in another. Meanwhile, the mage from Su Xien held the Chalice of the World in his hand.

"Well done distracting her, Xio Ling. I'm not going to lie, Melina. I'm quite disappointed in you. I expected more from you. Some tricks and traps. But you've become soft," Heiliger said with a smile as she shook her head. "Oh well. There's no harm in ending things quickly."

"I'm not letting you get away with this!" Melina snarled and gathered the mana around her, teleporting right in front of Heiliger.

She wanted to grab the treasures, snatch them from her hands. However, the moment she appeared next to Heiliger, the mage Xio Ling appeared next to Melina, an angry ball of lightning crackling in his hands. Melina only had half a second to react to erect a shield.

Meanwhile, Heiliger reached her hand forward. Melina didn't know what spell she had intended to use. She wasn't a mage, but rather a priest, with heavy focus on support, healing, and debuff spells. It must have been one of her debuffs that she was preparing for Melina.

She had no intention to be on the receiving end of that and jumped back, erecting another protective shield, specifically strong against debuffs. But to her surprise, Heiliger changed her aim to Sienna, who was flying at them, jaws wide open.

"Sienna, no!" Melina yelled, trying to warn the wyvern.

But there was no way for the wyvern to avoid it. Melina saw dark energy erupt from Heiliger's palm and flew towards Melina's beloved familiar. She had no choice but to erect a hastily formed shield. She had no time to pinpoint the location of impact and instead made a huge shield to make sure Sienna wasn't hurt. Debuffs were no joke.

Some could slowly eat away at the target's life and were extremely difficult to cure. Melina couldn't risk something like that hitting Sienna. Not after what had happened to her.

However, as Heiliger's spell collided with Melina's shield, she could feel a strong drain on her mana. Just what had she tried to unleash?

Melina's focus on the shield had left her open to attack from Xio Ling. The mage hurled another lightning orb at her at near point-blank range. She didn't have the time to protect herself properly, instead managing to grab hold of the spell as it was about to collide with her chest. She redirected just far enough for it to strike her shoulder instead.

The pain was intense. Had Melina not been wounded time after time during her excursions with the Church, she likely would have doubled over from pain. But this wasn't anything new for her. She gathered ambient mana around her, teleporting next to Sienna.

With a safe distance between herself and the enemy, she took one of her healing waffles out of the pouch she had prepared beforehand. The pain eased almost as soon as she swallowed the first bite, and after the second, the wound had almost fully closed.

"A-Are you eating a waffle?" Xio Ling exclaimed in surprise.

"I am," Melina confirmed and stomped her foot on the ground, making rocky spikes erupt from them. They went straight for the mage and Heiliger, forcing them to separate.

Melina couldn't allow them to get those three Sacred Treasures together. She had to retrieve them before they could do anything. Draining the mage of his strength was also crucial. If he were too tired, then he wouldn't be able to perform the realm separation ritual.

Mentally, Melina sent Sienna the command to attack the mage, while she decided to focus on Heiliger. The debuffs the Archbishop possessed were too dangerous for Sienna. Besides, Melina was familiar with Heiliger's fighting style. She was certain that with the right application of magic, she could defeat her or at least disable her for long enough to get the…

A sudden surge of mana flew towards Melina from behind. She just barely managed to react in time to erect a protective shield. She winced as a fireball collided with it, eating away at more of her precious mana.

Three System users were behind her: two fighters who were running at her and a mage behind them. They must either have gone around the barricades set up at the harbor or gotten through them. No, with the direction they had come from, it didn't make much sense. It was far more likely that they sneaked their way here just as Heiliger and Xio Ling had.

Melina channeled fire magic, one of the easiest for her to use, and threw up a wall of flame to stop the advance of two fighters. Meanwhile, Sienna was spewing flames at Xio Ling, who was teleporting all over the place to avoid her. The wyvern was trying to keep Heiliger and Xio Ling apart, but it was clear that she wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

They were overwhelmed. Melina couldn't stall this out to wait for reinforcements. If only she could get those Sacred Treasures and destroy them. But then Melina realized something. She didn't need all three treasures to buy herself more time. She just needed one.

Sienna was already doing an excellent job of pressuring Xio Ling. His battle style had completely changed from where he had fought Melina, switching more to defensive shield and hit-and-run tactics to manage Sienna. The wyvern, however, was very powerful. She had evolved twice after all, and while her newest evolution wasn't combat-related, it certainly made her into a more powerful creature.

The wyvern heated the surrounding air with pinpoint precision, thus exerting pressure on the mage as he had to either keep a distance or a constant shield up to mitigate the constant heat. Even Heiliger was keeping a good distance from the wyvern and instead focusing on supporting Xio Ling by providing occasional shields and healing.

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But Melina, due to her bond with Sienna, had no issue enduring the sweltering heat the wyvern exuded. She took the opportunity and teleported right next to Xio Ling while commanding Sienna mentally to increase the heat.

The mage appeared shocked when Melina appeared next to him, not at all bothered by the heat wave Sienna was exuding. He and Heiliger were both holding up shields to keep the heat at bay. But with their shield focused on repelling the heat—not great use of shields, really—Melina needed to apply a bit of condensed mana to the shield for it to shatter.

Xio Ling recoiled, hit by the heat wave, and Melina struck him with the lightning bolt at the same time, making him seize up for a moment. That moment was enough for her to push the mage down and pull out the Chalice of the World hidden in his robes.

"Don't let her grab the chalice!" Heiliger screeched.

But it was too late. Melina had already jumped on Sienna's back, and they were flying towards the edge of the town. Heiliger healed Xio Ling almost immediately, and they both set off in pursuit. Melina couldn't help but chuckle.

It didn't matter that Xio Ling could teleport. He couldn't mindlessly teleport up into the air. The chances of him landing exactly on Siena were low, and teleporting anywhere else would mean a quick tumble down to the ground.

"Let them chase around for a while. They can't do anything to us in the air anyway," Melina said.

Obviously, she couldn't keep this chase up forever. But this was a precious chance to buy more time and to recover the mana she had used up.

Reinforcement from the Monster Realm hadn't arrived a moment too late. The System users had been relentless in their onslaught, eager to push past and break down the barricades. Many fighters had already exhausted the spells they had gained from Melina's pastries.

Alistair feared to think what would have happened had they not had her barrier spells. It would have been a slaughter. While Alistair knew that the Church was ruthless, he never thought they would attack civilians like this without an ounce of hesitation.

Currently, their losses were minimal, although each life lost weighed heavily on everyone and lowered their morale. It was somebody's neighbors who had died. Or a father, brother, sister, or lover. The fact that Sunglowers basically knew everyone in their town only made each loss all the more painful.

But when the elves arrived, riding on their wyrms and wyverns, a new wave of hope came through the ranks. Elves were much better equipped to deal with System users. Their monstrous mounts could move with amazing agility and speed.

Physical attacks most of the time couldn't pierce their tough scales, and magic had a limited effect except for ice. However, the wyrm riders had countermeasures for that, using either earth magic to block the ice or fire magic to melt it.

The battlefield got chaotic as the System users tried to use ice skills to get to their wyrms while elves and Sunglowers were doing their best to repel their attacks. Melina's large area wind spells were great at blowing the large fire spells right back into enemy ranks.

Alistair and Elowen, as the two strongest fighters on the Sunglow side, picked their targets carefully, going for the largest threats to mitigate the risk from other fighters. They would often team up and fight a single strong opponent.

As it turned out, they were a great team. They were both able to move at great speed. Elowen thanks to his wind abilities and Alistair thanks to his lightning abilities. They were also both boosted by Melina's special pastries that strengthened their respective abilities.

Alistair attacked from close by, defending with his shield and using lightning to paralyze and slow down opponents. Elowen would follow up with powerful wind strikes, which often resulted in a severed limb or two. In this way, they were able to effectively eliminate many threats.

But something didn't feel right… It was too… easy. It was true that the elves gave them huge support, but in Alistair's memory, the System users appeared stronger. Many of them should have been at a much higher level than Alistair and Elowen. Unlike Melina, they hadn't reached their Master class yet.

Not to mention that Heiliger wasn't here, and neither was that mage that had attacked Melina. This made Alistair anxious.

Then he heard a roar reverberate from deeper in town. Sienna. Alistair threw a glance back, and he swore that for a moment he glimpsed the wyvern flying in the sky with Melina on her back.

The next moment, the sword struck his shield—he barely had raised it in time to protect himself. With an annoyed growl, he let out a burst of lightning, which went through his shield, the enemy's sword, and straight into their body. Funny thing, metal—it conducts electricity.

But this opponent was tough. Although the lightning had made him take a shaky step back, it wasn't nearly enough to put him down. It was a massive man, clearly experienced in combat. Alistair couldn't afford distractions.

Yet the unpleasant nagging kept up. If she and Sienna were in the sky then it was safe to say that she was fighting now as well. Had Heiliger and the mage found Melina? Was she fighting them alone?

It was time to bring out the big guns.

Alistair lunged forward, forcing the large System users on the defensive. He used some kind of protective skill to deflect his attacks. But even so, this gave Alistair the chance to let out a loud, sharp whistle.

The System user ignored it, going for a counterattack. Big mistake. Alistair raised his shield for defense, absorbing his strikes. After the third strike, the man's shadow rippled, and out jumped Knight.

The nightmare let out a loud neigh, his red eyes glowing ominously. Alistair didn't yet know or understand the full extent of the horse's abilities, but whatever he was doing, it made the System user crumple to the ground, screaming in horror. Some sort of attack on his mind, most likely.

Alistair used the opportunity to dispose of the man.

[You've defeated <Swordmaster Steven – Level 35>. You've gained + 250 exp.]

Alistair shook his head. It disgusted him that he had to gain experience this way. He didn't want it. Not anymore. The thought of gaining levels didn't excite him anymore. All he wanted was to live peacefully with Melina.

"Knight, we're going to find Melina!" Alistair pronounced.

"Are you insane? We're only holding on here thanks to your command," Elowen objected, having been fighting nearby. Elven hearing likely helped him to hear Alistair's words.

"I saw Melina flying on Sienna! I believe she's in the middle of the battle with Heiliger," Alistair snarled.

"Stick to the plan! Melina isn't helpless. Besides, if she's on Sienna's back, that means that she can lead them to the Monster Realm. Trust her. She isn't helpless," Elowen said, and used his wind shield to repel an attack directed his way.

Alistair hated this. He wanted to go to Melina. Stay by her side. Protect her. But another System user was rushing his way. Should he leave, it would leave more Sunglowers unprotected.

With an angry bellow, he struck the System user while the nightmare raged through the battlefield, making the System user scream in horror. He could only pray that both he and Melina would be able to hold out long enough.

But a moment later, a thunderous roar of lightning erupted and struck the heart of Sunglow, making the ground shake and everyone on the battlefield pause and stare. The noise was so loud it hurt Alistair's ears. But that wasn't what he worried about.

Melina.