Maria drew her longsword and ran to attack Ariel with movements like a broken doll.

*Slash* *Clang*

Ariel deflected that poor sword slash quickly. She could see Maria was no longer the holy knight Maria, but a corrupted empty vessel driven by darkness to lure them here.

“Roar!”

A loud, deafening roar echoed from within the dark and suffocating passageway. Ariel used her magic vision and widened her eyes when she saw a giant mouth with a spiral sawtooth approaching.

It wasn’t a death trap, but a giant parasitic worm monster was approaching!

“The corrupted holy knight is no longer capable to wield the holy sword’s power! I will execute you on the spot. May the Goddess renders a favor to you, Maria!” Ariel twisted Maria’s wrist and grabbed the holy sword.

She pierced Maria’s heart with the snatched sword. It was a direct stab imbued with holy magic.

*Fwoosh!*

“!!!” Maria was blown up by the baptism of holy magic from within, but she remained upright.

“You are firm as usual, leader… Thank you, please get the Holy Princess out of here.” Maria held the holy sword that had pierced her heart. No blood came out as she had died a few hours ago, but her will remained intact shortly after she was purified.

“…” Ariel jumped back and nodded. She didn’t expect Maria’s lifeless body to still have a strong will.

She then gestured for the two girls behind her to run away. She would guard the rear because the giant parasitic worm monster was approaching.

“…” Maria smiled slightly and turned around like a broken doll. She rushed to attack the giant parasitic worm at the cost of her remaining existence.

*Boom!* *Rumble*

The ground shook, and explosions could be heard from behind. Ariel had no idea what Maria’s last will was doing, but she kept guiding Ella out of that dangerous place.

“Miss Ariel, the path ahead is blocked by the undead. They are after us!” Ariel’s aid exclaimed as she continued to run.

“It’s okay, Steph. They’re just low-tier undead. Come at my command, Holy Arrow. Clear our path!” Ariel stretched her hand forward and created a bow and arrow of light.

*Fwoosh!*

An arrow of light shot out like a stream, obliterating the undead in the way.

“…” Ella held the gold talisman, trying to contact her father and her grandfather, hoping it would be conveyed. She then held onto the teleportation talisman that Elysia had given her. She had no idea why it wasn’t working, but her hope didn’t just go away.

“Ugh, forked passage? Where should we go?” Steph stopped in her tracks as they arrived at the four-way fork. She still needed to comprehend which one was the right exit path.

“Keep going straight. Over here.” Ariel pointed to the passage ahead because she was sure they had not turned anywhere while following Maria earlier.

“All right. Please follow me, but I would appreciate it if you don’t repeat the same words as Maria, Miss Ariel. I get goosebumps because the curruption is so terrible.” Steph ran ahead.

“Haha, my bad. Holy Princess, we’re getting out of here. Are you still-” Ariel was about to ask, but she swallowed back her words when she saw Ella’s leg bruised.

“My apologies, but allow me to carry you.” Ariel immediately carried Ella without waiting for permission and ran fast with Steph. The situation was urgent, and she had to act quickly.

“Ariel.” Ella heaved a subtle sigh. She was saddened by the loss of three high-tier holy knights. “Why is that great demonic undead blocking us in that mountain? Why did he teleport us here? What exactly is this place?”

“I’m not so sure, but we seem to have been sent to a mysterious desert. We avoided this place by taking a detour, but we were sent here. The undead that invaded Oistol Town came from this desert.” Ariel squinted her eyes and summoned several light swords around her. She was ready to attack anyone who got in their way.

“Mysterious desert… This is a forbidden place, and here lies an ancient forbidden underground city. Why did the great demonic undead send us here? He even prepared thousands of powerful undead to corner us to underground.” Ella was confused.

“We can’t reveal the truth right now. For sure, that demonic monster wants us to die here. Our current objective is to get out of here as soon as possible before our holy protection runs out. Holy Princess, we were able to survive this far thanks to your divine battlesuit and blessing. We will get you out safely.” Ariel gasped slightly.

“…” Ella also felt a bit exhausted.

Her divine battlesuit continued to absorb her magic energy as she used it for divine protection in this forbidden zone, but she still couldn’t protect everyone. Her magic was inadequate, and it wasn’t enough.

She hoped the Goddess of Blessings could hear her prayers and help them. She also wished Elysia would come here. But Elysia would probably be disappointed that she couldn’t make good use of her divine battlesuit.

*Rumble*

An earthquake once again shook the ground. Ariel hoped they could get out before the ground collapsed due to the aggressiveness of the giant parasite worm chasing them from behind.

Meanwhile, Elena and the Oistol Town’s warriors have entered the mysterious desert region. They eradicated tens of thousands of undead in a matter of minutes.

“We should have left one or two. Why are those undead so fragile and vanish so quickly? We don’t know their nest now.” Sylvia muttered casually.

“…” The surrounding warriors felt their pride hurt. They fought that undead with everything they had. Still, the girls of this divine group exterminated those monsters with almost no effort.

“It’s okay, I know the way. Follow me and we won’t get lost. Don’t get out of my divine protection or you may lost somewhere unknown because of the disturbance here.” Nell reminded everyone with a piece of advice.

“Those undead perished easily just because of light-type magic. If the accursed creatures didn’t have high resistance to magic and deadly curses, those Ruvoid Race would probably end up like those undead.” Elena commented casually.

“Wait, I can see a bunch of undead monsters there.” Nell put her palm to her forehead and used her magic vision to see far ahead.

“A sandstorm is brewing, can you wipe out those undead?” Elena turned around, asking the holy knights and priests to take their roles as they should.

“Affirmative!” Jonathan raised his golden sword. He was ready to exterminate the undead when they got there.

“We’re almost there. Keep running and get ready to attack.” Nell told everyone.

“Prepare for battle!” Jonathan spoke the Goddess’s orders with enthusiasm. He would once again fight for their Goddess.

When everyone arrived near the swarm of undead creatures, they immediately launched various kinds of magic. The first team paralyzed the undead, and the last unleashed the finisher attack with holy magic.

Around three hundred strong undead were annihilated in less than two minutes by the cooperation of a hundred people. However, there was a skeleton monster who survived, and it surprised everyone.

“What? A skeleton monster survived holy magic?” A holy knight was taken aback.

“That skeleton might just be lucky. We didn’t hit that one. I will send the last one to its friends. Ball of Light!” A priest extended his hand forward and unleashed a ball of light attack.

*Boom!*

A small burst of light hit the last skeleton. The priest felt somewhat relieved, but it only lasted for a moment. The skeleton was still standing there when the ball of light died down.

“That skeleton monster has resistant to holy magic?” Nell raised her eyebrows.

“That skeleton wants to say something to us despite being so scared. Wait a moment, don’t attack that skeleton.” Elena raised her hand, asking everyone to back off. She then used her eye’s ability to see that skeleton’s status screen.

<| Lv. 161 | Spirit Holy Knight | Dolla Khan | Female (172) | HP: 1,000 / 1,000 | EP: 1,000 / 1,000 |>

<| STR: 1 | AGI: 1 | VIT: 1 | INT: 1 |>

“Holy Knight General Jonathan, do you perhaps know someone named Dolla Khan?” Elena asked, but she was astonished. That skeleton didn’t seem like an ordinary undead.

“Dolla Khan, the second daughter of the Khan Clan of the Capital City of the Holy Central Region. She is a Spirit Holy Knight serving under the Holy Knight General Ariel Evadne. She is part of the guardian team in charge of protecting the Holy Princess directly.” Jonathan was confused as to why the question was suddenly asked, but he still answered.

“Could it be that the undead skeleton is Dolla Khan? That explains why that one is immune to holy magic, but why did she become a skeleton? Is she still Dolla Khan or the corrupted one?” Nell asked in wonder.

“She is Ella’s guardian team member? Then, Ella… What exactly happened to this place?” Evelyn covered her mouth in shock.

“It’s a forbidden place for a reason.” Vanessa whispered to Evelyn.

“Ella should still be fine. Look, Ely is still calm. She knew Ella was just somewhere.” Yuuki whispered to Evelyn from the other side.

“!!!” The skeleton was pleased. The Goddesses were so wise to recognize that she was not a monster. She received a dark magic curse while fighting to protect the Holy Princess from the undead invasion.

She could buy time for everyone at the price of her life, but who would have thought she didn’t die and go to heaven. She became one of the monsters she had to eliminate.

“…” Elena stretched her hand forward, gesturing for the skeleton to come closer.

“…” The skeleton Dolla ran over and knelt before the divines. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out of her mouth.

She had screamed many times while being bombarded with holy magic attacks just now, but her voice was nonexistent. She was a fleshless skeleton now, after all.

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