Volume 5: Gathering Storm 017. Shattered Emotions

  Tasia had always been pure and noble, never having been treated this way by anyone before. However, her temperament was such that she didn't fly into a rage, but instead gazed coldly at Du Fan, only speaking after a long while: "Is that enough?"

  Du Fan was stunned again, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond.

  Tasia slowly removed Du Fan's hand from her chest and pushed his body to one side, then struggled to get up, but before she could even crawl halfway, she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her head and almost fell back down again.

  She shook her head, hastily grasped the ancient wall beside her, took a deep breath, and then said: "We...where are we exactly?"

  Du Fan sat up, sighed a few times and said: "Isn't it obvious? We are now in the ancient city inside the cave. But if you want to ask me where exactly this place is, I'm sorry, I really don't know."

  "Is this the ancient city at the bottom of the cave?" Tasia frowned slightly, her face deathly pale but still looking stunningly beautiful. She slowly raised her gaze upwards, and her body trembled, "Saint Nicholas, they're probably..."

  "More evil than good......" Du Fan slowly spoke out the words that Tasia hadn't said, "And with such a big commotion just now, I don't believe the people of Roland Academy didn't notice. Although considering Orudas' current situation, it's unlikely they'll come looking for us to settle accounts, but I think we should still be careful."

  Tasia nodded slightly and leaned against the wall to stand up. After a moment, she said softly, "So Du Fan, what should we do next?"

  Du Fan noticed that this was the first time Tasia had called his name, and he felt a strange sensation in his heart. However, his face didn't reveal any emotion, and he simply said: "What else can we do? We have to go to the Divine Palace anyway, but before we go again, we need to make more preparations. Even if everyone else at Roland Academy is dead, that Oldras and Chris are not easy people to deal with."

  Tasia nodded slightly, acknowledging Du Fan's words. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Then... what do we need to do?"

  Du Fan said calmly: "This is just a small trick, I will handle it myself, Miss Tasia doesn't need to worry... and there's something else I want to remind Miss Tasia."

  Tasia was taken aback and said: "What?"

  Du Fan thought for a moment before suddenly saying in a low voice, "This vendetta between Nicholas-sama and Alfred-sama, we naturally have to avenge, but now is not the time. I know that you, Tasia-san, possess incredible magical powers, being an extremely powerful magician, however, I don't want you to act impulsively because of this. No matter whether Nicholas-sama and the others are dead or alive right now, we can't go over there to check on them, even if we knew they were still living, we also cannot go over there to rescue them."

  Tasya glanced at Du Fan and said, "Why say that?"

  Du Fan turned his head to look at the seemingly gray and white cave wall behind him, sighed and said: "That Wandering Soul Heavenly Calamity, Tasia, you wouldn't know, of course, it's clear that it's absolutely not something we can handle. Going would only be sending ourselves to death... Moreover, we still have a mission on our hands, how could we afford to lose sight of the bigger picture because of this?"

  Tasia let out a faint sigh, and a hint of helplessness flashed in her eyes, but she quickly concealed her emotions, only nodding slightly.

  After a moment, Tasia suddenly and quietly drew out the magic wand hidden in her sleeve and said: "I'll give you an invisibility spell first, so when we meet Orudas and the others later, it will have some effect."

  Du Fan nodded hastily as soon as he heard that he could save a magic scroll.

  Tasya took a few light breaths, her hands waving the magic wand lightly as she began to chant.

  However, her magic had only been cast halfway when a silver-colored Dou Qi suddenly shot out from an unknown corner. By the time Tasia realized it, she was too late to react. The Dou Qi hit her chest and abdomen, causing her body to shake violently as she flew backward.

  Dufan's face changed as he crouched on the ground, and he didn't care about his whole body feeling cold. He suddenly activated his Qi, just in time to squeeze in before Tasia crashed into the wall. For a moment, he became a human cushion, with softness in front and hardness behind, this mixed feeling between heaven and hell made Dufan slightly dazed.

  However, his daze couldn't change anything. Tasia's move was too intense, and the inertia from this attack sent her and Du Fan flying dozens of meters away, destroying countless ancient buildings before they finally came to a stop.

  Du Fan's chest and back were both in pain, fortunately the aura on his body had dissipated most of the damage, otherwise with this one blow coming down, even if he didn't become a meat pie, he would have spat out several mouthfuls of blood.

  "Ah, isn't this the holy Tasia-san and the devout Dufan-sensei? To meet you in a place like this is truly a coincidence... or should I say, it's a fateful encounter?"

  With this sound, a figure with a yellowish-brown color and a faint silver light appeared in Du Fan's line of sight. Although Oudas looked a bit disheveled at the moment, he still had more elegance compared to Du Fan.

  The silver armor on his body was damaged in many places, several not-too-large wounds on his skin had already scabbed over, and even the long sword in his hand was covered with cracks.

  However, in stark contrast to this was the woman he held in his arms. The woman had no obvious wounds on her body, but she was pale-faced and had apparently fainted.

  Du Fan took one glance and recognized her, it was Kris.

  Ardas's eyes were evasive, and when he looked at Dufan, although he tried to cover it up, his face was still full of resentment. However, when he gazed at Kirsis in his arms, a complex expression mixed with tenderness and pity appeared on his face.

  Du Fan's eyes flickered slightly, and he already understood what was going on. He took advantage of Orudas' pause to glance around quickly, wanting to see if there were any other places to escape.

  It seems that he noticed Du Fan's haste, and Ordas' gentle gaze returned from Chris' body. He suddenly let out a soft sigh and said: "Both of you are clever people, how can you be so careless this time? You also know that after such a big commotion, I will definitely notice something. But do you really think that I, Ordas, am a timid mouse who doesn't even have the courage to come here and take a look?"

  Du Fan let out a faint sigh, but didn't respond. His gaze shifted again for a moment, yet he still couldn't find a suitable place to make his escape. Behind Orudas, there was another person staring at him with a resentful expression. Even if Du Fan could avoid Orudas' gaze, he would absolutely be unable to evade that guy's attention.

  Or perhaps he is the only chance this time?

  Du Fan thought for a moment, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head. He suddenly remembered that if Chenchen were here, even Ouerdas would be nothing. He couldn't help but look into his arms, but he was stunned.

  Chenchen is gone! Chenchen has actually disappeared!

  For a moment, Du Fan felt dizzy and almost fainted at the sight in front of him.

  Looking at Du Fan's suddenly pale and dark expression, Ouerdas suddenly smiled and said: "How... you're also afraid? Or... in front of the beautiful Miss Tasia, you don't dare to reveal your despicable true face?"

  Du Fan was taken aback for a moment, unsure of how to respond. Tasia, however, struggled out of his arms, her face growing even paler as crimson blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, almost staining her white robes red. She regained her icy demeanor and glared at Oudas, saying after a long while: "Long time no see, I didn't expect Lord Oudas to have learned how to launch sneak attacks too."

  The words had not been spoken yet, Tasia suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and Du Fan was stunned as he scanned her body with his spiritual power. He did not expect that the injury she sustained from Oudas's previous move would be so severe?

  But despite this, she still stood there, staring at Orudas with a gaze that seemed to pierce through him.

  Ardas smiled faintly and said, "Miss Tasia, our relationship is still good, so I won't make things difficult for you today. Since you've already suffered such a serious injury, it's up to you to find a way out. Whether or not you can survive depends on your own abilities. As for the young master Dufan behind you, I have some unsettled accounts with him that need to be sorted out, so I'll have to trouble him to stay. What do you think of this suggestion, Miss Tasia?"

  Tasya smiled faintly, and under the contrast of the fresh blood at the corner of her mouth, this smile was still beautiful enough to make one's heart flutter. She slowly shook her head and said in a cold voice: "Aldras, you'd better not talk so much nonsense? After all, you've already made up your mind to settle us two here, why bother making fun of us?"

  Aoldashahahaha laughed and swung his right hand, another surge of energy shot out from the center of his palm, and surprisingly, it was aimed at Tasia again.

  Du Fan's face changed, and he suddenly jumped up from the ground. A magic scroll that was hidden in his hand was thrown out by him, and it happened to collide with the aura of the fight.

  After a gust of wind, Du Fan and Tasia's figures suddenly disappeared from Orudas' sight. However, Orudas merely smiled coldly and gazed in the direction of the Divine Palace, saying in a low tone: "Run? Can you run away? Du Fan... do you really think that using the same trick twice in front of me will be effective?"