World Online

Jake turned around to look at the carriage where Father Joseph was seated. So did Ganshin, who put his sword down and retreated the moment he heard those words.

"I shall rely on your brilliance, Father." Ganshin slightly bowed down to the carriage.

Jake felt awkward. He didn\'t know what the etiquette was at this situation. Luckily for him, the depraved wolf roared at him at the right time, drawing him into battle.

It waited for long enough, and decided to howl at Jake, as if telling him to come back into battle.

Jake shook his head as he glanced at the wolf. It\'s body was filed with scars, with none of the wounds fresh.

The time that Jake spent carefully filling it with wounds was wasted. It had healed much of the damage that Jake had dealt.

"This is why I hate dealing with healers." Jake cursed as he went into battle.

His sword shone as he carefully locked eyes with the red rubies that were filled with anger and hate.

The depraved wolf made the first move, lunging at Jake. It\'s lightning attribute was no longer apparent, and it wasn\'t impossibly fast like when it damaged Jake.

So Jake could see where it was going, and he could counter it with relative ease. He moved to the right, and held his sword firmly as he went toward the wolf instead of away.

He was done wasting time slowly wearing out this wolf. At this point, no matter how many small attacks he would do, they would get healed someway or the other.

Better finish the battle and look at the battle between Father Joseph and the Evil Mage instead.

So Jake decided to take the risk. He decided to lunge at the wolf which hurled itself at Jake so fast that it couldn\'t stop anymore.

Jake moved slightly, and his sword protruded from his right flank, and it was the only thing that the wolf met.

It cut neatly into the wolf\'s neck, stretching to the middle of the torso, where it stopped. Jake yanked the sword out as he looked at the wolf that had halted.

The depraved wolf was bleeding, and the evil energy that was supposed to heal it didn\'t arrive like it expected. Even Jake was surprised when he saw that it was bleeding to death.

He half expected even this attack to be completely useless. But it seemed like the Evil Mage was preoccupied with something else.

So Jake did not waste another second.

"Despairing Strike!" His sword came down, cleanly decapitating the depraved beast, and finishing the battle much faster than he thought.

"The defense of this wolf seems way too weak. Weaker than when I fought it a few minutes ago. Maybe the evil energy did something to its skin that made it easier to pierce." Jake thought to himself as he turned around to look at what was happening.

Ganshin was no longer next to the carriage. He was elsewhere, taking care of the multiple wolves that had swarmed the caravan.

Jake was probably the only one who was doing nothing at all. The others were all taking care of multiple enemies.

Jake panned his head until it stopped at the carriage. The door was open, and there was a small staircase that someone clearly used to get off.

He looked at the Evil Mage\'s location, which he was all too familiar with at this point, and saw that the four feet incarnation of evil was still there.

But it\'s two eyes were not looking at Jake. They were pointed elsewhere.

"How could you be so stupid Jake! Of course, it was looking at the Father all this time. It knew who the strongest was!" Jake reprimanded himself.

He followed the Evil Mage\'s line of view and finally stopped at the old man that it was looking at.

The old man, Father Joseph clearly, was slowly walking toward the Evil Mage, back hunched and using a cane.

He had an astonishingly vibrant beard, white as snow, and not a single strand of hair daring to stand on the shining bald head of the old man.

He walked at a snail\'s pace, and his legs looked like they would give way any moment. And yet, the Evil Mage\'s smile that it had when it faced Ganshin was gone.

It was taking this opponent seriously because it knew. It knew that this opponent was out of its league.

Jake looked around one more time. There was no wolf in sight that would attack him. Every other wolf had an opponent taken.

So Jake decided to run toward Father Joseph, putting himself right in the middle of the biggest fight that was going to happen.

"Please, let me Father." Jake rushed to Father Joseph\'s side and held his left arm, letting the father use him as a support to walk faster.

"Ah! The Baron with surprisingly good manners. This is a dangerous place to be, even for one that has been blessed by god to be immortal." Father Joseph said with a weak voice, hoarse as could be.

For a moment there, Father Joseph felt like Nolan. Jake felt the similarities were uncanny. Two men who seemed to be on their death bed, and yet powerful figures that led powerful groups.

"It would be my honor to help you out against such a vile existence." Jake shook his head.

"You don\'t need to help me out, child. This thing that dared to stop this caravan that wishes to complete god\'s will, this thing will not survive today no matter what. And it will not be difficult dealing with it." Father Joseph said, smiling.

His teeth were perfectly white, shining as he turned to look at the Evil Mage. He slowly raised his cane, his mouth mumbling.

The moment he started chanting, the words that he was saying started materializing.

Jake could see letters in front of him, letters that he had no idea what they meant.

He recognized the language. It was latin. That, he knew.

The letters of gold slowly stopped a foot in front of Father Joseph, creating a full circle.

Father Joseph raised his cane and took it to all directions, completing the cross.

"Amen."

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