Chapter 216 – Unexpected ally.

The radiant arc of glistering yellow came from out of nowhere. It traveled at an astonishing speed and connected with a bunch of those rubbery tentacles. They were in the process of wrapping around some screaming caravan travelers but were cleanly severed by the thin arch of energy.

Roland had witnessed similar techniques in his life and this seemed to be some kind of cutting skill. The bright golden color made it stick out from the rest as it mostly represented the divine or the holy element. Energy attacks like this took on the coloring of their respective element. When there was no element mana took on a pale blue color instead.

“Is that a woman? Did we have someone with us like that?”

Senna the halfling was the first one to point toward the person that produced this long-range attack. Just a moment ago running away was the only option but now there seemed to be someone on the level of this monster helping them out. To his surprise, he knew who this person was.

“It’s the girl from the guild?”

The previously tied up har had been loosened and their color had changed into a bright yellow. Her hazel eyes had turned into a brighter tint of dark yellow as well. Yet the most eye-catching thing about her was the bright golden weapon that she was holding. From this location, it looked like a condensed beam of light but it wasn’t quite that.

‘Is that a concentrated aura blade?’

Before Roland made any speculations he activated his identification skill once more. There as before he only received mundane classes and stats. It was clear that the person there was not an Analyst but possessed a higher tier battle class. Some kind of item was used to fool his analyzing skill and he didn’t even notice that anything was wrong.

If her name was actually Melaina was also up to debate. For now, she looked like an ally but was she strong enough to defeat this malformed monster. In her right hand, she was holding a hilt of a sword. From the hilt, a bright golden radiant crystallization was shooting out. To the untrained eye, it might have looked like some kind of laser sword but it was not made from light.

This was an advanced aura skill used by various classes possessing it. From what Roland had read it could materialize an insanely hard weapon. The most common was a sharp blade that could even slice through mithril depending on the person using it. Then there was the color which made it seem that this woman was related to the church and the words that she spoke confirmed this.

“Filthy creature of the Abyss you will not take any more lives, this I swear on the name of Solaria!”

Her voice was stern, she did not sound like the ditzy untrained guild worker that he met before. It was now clear that this woman was good at acting the part of an inexperienced guild instructor but in reality, she was a somewhat battle-hardened member of the church.

“Is that woman part of the Solaira church? Could she be from the golden order?”

Orson asked while standing to the side. While the ray of light sliced through the monster its attention shifted to the new foe and gave everyone here some time to think.

“The golden order?”

Grisalde asked without knowing what the human was talking about.

“You don’t know who the knights of the golden order are? You really are stupid, how did you survive this long.”

Replied the halfling while narrowing her eyes.

“Why you little…”

“Stop it, now is not the time to argue that woman might be from the golden order but that doesn’t mean that she can defeat that tier 3 monster alone.”

Roland was quick to interrupt the two idiots from having a fight in the middle of a life and death situation. While no one explained he already knew of this order of knights that belonged to the church. They were handpicked by the church and acted as judges, juries, and executioners whenever the occult was involved.

They were a small group of powerful individuals that possessed specialized skills and classes. If they wished they could rally troops belonging to the church and also to the nobles. The kingdom had a symbiotic relationship with its main religion thus lending aid to their strongest members was a given.

Even within this knight order, there was a distinction between positions. The most influential members were the golden inquisitors that only answered to the pope. How far into their ranks this woman reached was unknown to him. Why she was here alone in the middle of nowhere was also a big question.

‘Did she know that the Abyssal Cult was here? But wouldn’t it be better to gather a large force to take them out instead of going in solo? She was also affected by the illusionary relic…’

Roland did not have enough information to figure out how this person ended up here. For all he knew she was undercover for a different reason and this was just a coincidence. But this worked in his favor as now the battle might not be hopeless.

While the tentacles that surrounded the whole area still remained they didn’t seem as active as before. The monster was focusing its attention on the woman that was able to wound it. The appendages that she had slipped through also seem to be affected by the golden energy as they weren’t regenerating at all.

Finally, she charged forward, her foot hit the ground and created a small indenture. Her speed was truly tremendous, not even Roland who could boost his agility with his runic armor would be able to reach such speeds. However, the monster she was facing wasn’t a slouch either.

The multiple tendrils and tentacles shot out instantly while the monstrosity cried out with its many mouths. It was as if a hail of bullets was coming her way but she did not stop with her advance instead she just lowered herself to minimize any potential points of impact while also increasing her speed.

While a normal person would have been instantly impaled and absorbed by the monster she was able to outpace it. The tendrils connected with the ground under her while she slipped past them. Yet she did not get past unscathed, some of them managed to graze her body.

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These monster attacks were shooting out in rapid succession. She did not manage to dodge them all as she sustained some grazing wounds. Even then she continued to get close all the way until she was in close quarters combat range.

‘Why is she getting so close…could she be…’

Roland wasn’t sure why Melaina was rushing into danger this much. After showing off that ranged attack it made sense to keep distance and use it more often. It was capable of slicing through multiple tentacles at once and posed a real threat to the monster. That is if she could fire it off repeatedly.