Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

Melina should have expected that they wouldn't be able to just leisurely fly around and recuperate their strength. But this kind of a move showed the Church's true desperation. Conjuring up a whole thundercloud to create a powerful lightning to strike Melina and Sienna down from the sky.

A careless move that clearly showed that Melina had made the right choice by snatching one of the Sacred Treasures. Losing even one had sent Heiliger into a frenzy. Sadly for her, throwing larger, stronger spells at Melina was hardly the right move.

They always took time to execute, so when Melina sensed a huge amount of mana gathering above her head, it instantly became clear to her what they were trying to do. Even while flying, it wasn't difficult to take hold of the mana construct Xio Ling was working on. In fact, the giant amount of mana meant that it was easier to do so undetected.

It was easy to interpret that Melina was panicking because of how Sienna was flying from side to side, seemingly trying to put distance between herself and the growing thundercloud. But in reality, when Xio Ling unleashed the devastating spell, all Melina had to do was pull on the part of the mana construct she had altered and change the trajectory of the spell.

Instead of striking them, it struck the ground. The crater created in the ground was massive. Anyone hit with that would have been turned into a pile of dust in an instant. But luckily for Melina, she wasn't just anyone.

Xio Ling, in his haste to get her, had used a very mana-intensive spell. From atop Sienna's back, she could see the mage looking somewhat pale. He had grown used to mana provided by the Chalice of the World and didn't think to restrain himself. Melina should be safe from him for a while.

Or so she had naively believed. Only when she saw a smile bloom on Heiliger's face did Melina realize that she couldn't just fly off to the Monster Realm and expect them to give chase.

Heiliger and the others turned and headed for the Town Hall. That was where all the civilians were hiding. With everyone fighting to hold back System users at the harbor, the inner city had been left with rather lackluster defense.

"Sienna, we have to go back. They're going to try to take hostages," Melina said.

Sienna snarled. Melina should have seen this coming. The moment Heiliger appeared in the inner parts of the town, they wouldn't be able to relax for a moment. People would be under threat.

As Heiliger, Xio Ling, and the other three System users approached the Town Hall, the dozen Sinclair soldiers left to guard it mobilized. There were some barricades set up around the Town Hall, but for the bulky System users, it was easy to just throw them aside.

"Level this place to the ground," Heiliger ordered loudly, raising her hand high.

Light emitted around her, and Melina recognized it as a stamina regeneration spell of some sort. No, not just stamina. Even Xio Ling perked up, that nasty, creepy smile returning to his lips.

The Sinclair soldiers charged forward as Melina also urged Sienna to return to the town as swiftly as possible. However, one of the System users rushed at him and activated some sort of skill by bashing his shield into the ground. This created powerful tremors that made the ground beneath soldiers' feet shift and quake, making them lose their footing.

The other fighter System user rushed at the Sinclair soldiers, holding dual swords in their hands, ready to slash at them. The soldiers, having lost their footing, couldn't defend very well, while the System user was seemingly walking on air. It was likely the work of the System user mage as he had his staff raised in the air.

"Fire, Sienna!" Melina commanded.

The wyvern roared and shot a fireball straight at the mage. This made him lose concentration on the spell that held up the fighter, making him fall on uneven ground. The mage was forced to erect a shield to protect himself from the incoming fireball.

But the fighter wasn't immediately helpless. In fact, he nimbly found perches on the uneven ground and struck the mostly helpless soldiers. Two of them went limp, and a victorious grin spread on the System user's face.

Melina's stomach lurched. He… He had just killed those soldiers like they were nothing more than props in his way. She couldn't believe the blatant disregard they had for human life. Or any life for that matter.

"Stop!" Melina bellowed.

"My, oh, my! Not so eager to run away now, are you?" Heiliger smiled victoriously and raised her arm. The fighting instantly stopped. "Why don't you come down here. Unless you want more blood spilled. Blood red does look good on the ground, doesn't it?"

Melina gritted her teeth and ordered Sienna to land. The wyvern was snarling and growling, tongue of flame dancing in her mouth.

This tale has been pilfered from Freewebnovel. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Control your beast, Melina. I wouldn't want my mage's hand to accidentally slip and destroy all of the Town Hall. I know that most of the rats are hiding in the basement. I wonder how strong the blast has to be for the bunker to cave in?" Heiliger said with a sickeningly pleased expression.

"Settle down, Sienna…" Melina muttered. The remaining Sinclair soldiers had managed to free themselves from the ground and rushed to her side.

"Awaiting for your orders, ma'am!" One of them whispered.

Melina frowned. They were deferring to her because she was Alistair's fiancée. She could see that they were ready to jump back into the fight and die for it, if it were necessary. But Melina couldn't let them die. She couldn't let harm come to the people of Sunglow.

"Melina, there's no need for all of this. Just return the chalice to us, and we'll leave the townspeople alone and be on our way," Heiliger said with a sweet voice.

"On your way to split the realms apart!" Melina hissed.

"I am disappointed that you failed to see the vision. The good it would do for the Human Realm, especially after witnessing the glorious results with your own eyes."

"Glorious?! It was a ruined wasteland! People were dying. The world was dying!" Melina hissed, remembering the horrible years she had spent in the apocalypse of her own causing.

"It was merely the first step, dearest Melina. The world had to purge its impurities. And it will be purged again. Now, be a dear and return the Chalice to me," Heiliger said, reaching out her hand towards Melina with a friendly expression.

"No!" Melina snarled, and Sienna too let out a threatening growl. All of the Sinclair soldiers tightened their hold on their weapons, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

Heiliger's expression turned cold. "I don't think you understand the situation you are in. Either you return the chalice to me, or I'll make sure that every person in this town dies. You think your little army of drow and elves is going to change anything. My System users aren't even fighting at their full strength."

"They are merely keeping your fiancé and the townsfolk out of my way. Should I give them the signal, my fighters would jump into action in earnest and wipe this town off the face of the planet in an instant."

Melina hesitated. She knew Heiliger was bluffing. There was no reason for them to go easy on Sunglow fighters and let their own numbers be culled down. Heiliger was merely saying this because she hadn't expected the Sunglow to hold out so well against System users.

If she were to give up the chalice here to save Sunglowers, in the end, it would end with their demise anyway. She knew that. She understood that.

But seeing the two corpses of Sinclair soldiers on the ground. The same soldiers who had joyously enjoyed her pastries not too long ago. Thinking that it could be Roxie, Adrien, Barrett, Erina, and others lying on the ground lifelessly…

Melina couldn't handle that thought. She couldn't let any of them die. So she stepped forward, holding out the Chalice in her hand.

Heiliger smiled. "I knew you were a sensible person, Melina. Of course, you're going to come with us. I'm afraid you're too powerful for me to so easily let you walk off freely."

"I'll go without any resistance if you leave the people of Sunglow alone. But should I witness any harm come to them, I will fight you with everything I have. My bag of tricks is far from running out."

Heiliger pursed her lips for a moment, but soon her smile returned. "Very well. But if anyone attacks us, I shall make sure that all of Sunglow is leveled to the ground in an instant."

"And my wyvern goes free," Melina said.

Heiliger narrowed her eyes. "We can't have that."

"It's that, or we're doing this the hard way," Melina hissed, taking hold of the surrounding mana and preparing a spell construct for the same lightning spell that Xio Ling tried to strike Melina with.

The System users all looked like they were ready to jump at her instantly. Had Heiliger not raised her hand, they likely would have. That, however, wouldn't have helped them. With the Chalice of the World in hand, she had the spell ready in record time, much faster than Xio Ling could hope to do.

The mage from Su Xien narrowed his eyes at Melina in annoyance, having realized that when it came to skill, he was outmatched. After all, she could control magic without the need to rely on the System. In some ways, that made her stronger and more flexible than mage System users.

"Very well. But it shall not come with us. It must remain here," Heiliger demanded.

"Deal."

Sienna protested with a whimper, but Melina sent her a feeling of reassurance over their links. This was a risky plan Melina was using, but hopefully, it would keep the casualties to a minimum.

"Dispel the cloud and hand over the chalice," Heiliger commanded.

Melina took another look around. Was it all right to trust this woman to keep her word? Would she not order the System users to attack the moment she handed the chalice over? Or does she fear Melina enough to keep up her side of the bargain?

With all the lives at stake, Melina didn't have much of a choice. She had to bet that Heiliger would keep her word and thus preserve as many lives as possible, or fight and lose people she cared about for certain. Melina dispelled the thundercloud.

Heiliger smiled and motioned at Xio Ling. The mage came over to Melina and took the chalice.

"Pity that you gave up so easily," he said, not hiding the disappointment that filled his expression. Melina couldn't care less about his bloodthirsty need for battle.

"Pity you're not as good a mage as you claim to be," Melina shot back.

"I sincerely hope we get a chance to test out which one of us truly is the better mage. One on one," he whispered, holding the chalice in his hand.

Melina just stared back at him. There was no need to reply to this lunatic.

"Restrain her! We're heading to the Monster Realm passageway immediately!" Heiliger barked.

Melina didn't resist when shackles were put around her hands. Neither did she complain when she felt them block her mana. It was alright. Melina would trust that Lord Eidranis would be able to put her spell to good use and turn this around.