The battle zone inside the cathedral was surrounded by solemn stone pillars carved with divine statues. Even as the sea of fire raged, the flames could not touch the pillars.
Rapid clashes resounded across the sanctuary—iron-like weapons colliding in bursts, echoing against the sacred walls.
Between each pair of pillars, stained glass murals reflected blurred figures—shadows of bodies colliding, chasing, entangling in combat.
At one side of the cathedral—
The cleric not only healed the three who were desperately stalling the Destruction Saintess, but also raised a pale-blue barrier to resist her ranged spells.
Behind this defense, the rear-line fighters had no space left to retreat.
Their backs were against the high wall beneath the rose window.
“Hyperion, I’ll have to trouble you to watch over the two Comatose Knights of the Kray Empire, and… protect me a little.”
Lan Qi turned as he spoke, locking eyes with the distant Destruction Saintess, Adelis. Her gaze was filled with murderous resolve.
“Don’t worry about the others. I’ll handle it.”Hyperion’s quiet, assured voice carried confidence.
Lan Qi nodded and stepped forward.
In his hands, several magic cards shimmered with violet light.
It looked like a deliberate provocation—
No sane healer would dump every healing skill at once, throwing all their cards into cooldown.
Overhealing was wasteful, reckless.
So to everyone watching, his display meant only one thing: all of his healing cards were rare purple quality, enough to keep the fight going against Adelis herself.
He wore his faint, elusive smile—part regret, part pity—as though waiting for the Destruction Saintess to break through and reach him.
“Your pitiful mana—what use is it?!”
Adelis’s expression twisted, her blazing longsword whipping like a scarlet viper, hissing and roaring.
A strike slammed down, flames surging. The executioner and paladin were hurled into the air, smashing down hard, while the male bodyguard had to withdraw defensively.
Her killing intent spread like wildfire—suffocating the whole sanctuary.
But what ignited her fury the most was not Lan Qi himself.
It was the gray-haired, crimson-dressed demon behind him—still singing.
As long as that demon sang, her nerves were fraying, her rage uncontrollable.
She tried to advance during a brief opening—but once again, a cleric’s restraint spell and the bodyguard girl’s traps stalled her.
Dragged back by the wounded executioner and paladin, she barely gained ground before being intercepted again.
If this dragged on, before night fell she might be drawn fully into Lan Qi’s baiting trap, forced into a desperate final clash.
At the high wall’s edge, ten meters away—
“Brother, stop taunting her!”
“Just heal already!”
Even the rear-line cleric and bodyguard sister were unnerved.
They had never seen a healer who could pull aggro this hard.
Not even the tanks could hold it back!
“Relax. Time to do my job.”
Lan Qi smiled, calm.
New teammates always panicked the first time. He was used to it.
As his words fell, he scattered card after card, flooding the battlefield with healing spells.
But then—
The glowing aura of healing began wrapping the Destruction Saintess herself.
“?!”
Everyone froze.
Healing wasn’t meant to be used like this.
Using every card at once—foolish.
And worse—he was healing the enemy!
Had he betrayed them?
Was he joining the Resurrection Church at this critical moment?
Even Adelis faltered—could he be an ally in disguise?
But no. Something was wrong—
His mana was so weak. He wasn’t holding back. He was actually that feeble.
The heals had almost no restorative effect.
Instead—her body jerked violently, seizing in unbearable pain, spasms tearing through her frame.
The male bodyguard, quickest to react, struck like a leopard from the shadows, blade darting for her neck!
Adelis twisted away on sheer instinct, sword lashing, blood streaming from her throat—her eyes wide with disbelief and rage.
She should never have been scratched. Yet here she was—unable to control her own body.
The executioner and paladin surged forward, emboldened.
They finally understood: this was the kind of white magician Lan Qi was.
Not healing, not support—
a tormentor of minds, a corrupter of spirit, a sadistic debuff specialist.
It was infuriatingly effective.
Against someone like Adelis, normal healing meant only a slow death.
But Lan Qi’s twisted “heals” accelerated the fight, shifting the tide.
The Saintess, snarling and bleeding, glared at him like a beast unchained.
“Lan Qi Wilfort!!!”
Her scream split the cathedral, her body bursting into a berserk frenzy.