Chapter 97: The Final Battle at Belter

Everything was within Ryan's calculations. The paladins were merely pawns used by Ryan. Their intrusion into the orphanage was bound to raise Aneda's suspicions. She couldn't possibly believe that the paladins left without doing anything. Instinctively, she would check on the Chaos Altar and Belter, ensuring their safety.

Thus, everything fell into place, and the darkness of the orphanage was exposed.

The Grand Duke of Marlinburg and the Archbishop of the Sea God stood outside the orphanage, surrounded by heavy guards, watching the thick smoke billowing from within. Schultz shook his head slightly, his tone filled with hindsight fear, "If it weren't for Ryan, we would have never known such a vast Chaos Cult was operating right under our noses."

"I felt the wrath of our Lord Mannanen. He too is angered and has commanded me to eradicate the Cult of Aesthetics as soon as possible." Audrich's expression was grim. The incident was a severe blow to Marlinburg, the stronghold of the Ocean Church. As its Archbishop, he couldn't shirk responsibility. Luckily, Mannanen didn't intend to blame him but rather instructed him to swiftly erase this Chaos Cult from history.

"We need to suppress this matter, pushing all blame onto Edmund. We are the victims here!" Schultz had already made arrangements. Someone had to take the fall, and it certainly wouldn't be himself or Audrich, who took action against the Cult of Aesthetics. Hence, they immediately thought of Senator Edmund Huron, closely associated with the Cult of Aesthetics. After all, his close relationship with Aneda made him the perfect scapegoat.

"I agree. Such a debauchee is useless in the senate. It's about time he was expelled from the council," Audrich nodded in agreement.

In just a few words, the city's most powerful Duke and the Archbishop of the Sea God easily decided on Marlinburg's upcoming purge and reshuffling.

The world had no need for those who only understood art or relied solely on their lineage. They had been displeased with Edmund for a long time but refrained from acting out of respect for his father, the old Count Huron, and to see if the young man could reform. Since they were disappointed, there was no need for mercy.

"Here they come," Schultz suddenly said.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Amidst the collapsing rubble of the orphanage, Ryan and Belter emerged.

The griffin warhammer sparkled with lightning, and the blood-red battleaxe was filthy. Each clash between them produced earth-shattering sounds.

Days later, Belter had grown stronger. The healed Fallen Hunter's spirit was more ferocious: "Foolish barbarian, do you think you can defeat me? What are you?"

Ryan swung his griffin warhammer forcefully, its spreading lightning stinging Belter's nerves: "Your killer."

"Kill me? Don't joke! Taste this!" Belter pulled out a musket from his waist and fired several shots at Ryan. The deadly mercury bullets cut through the air towards Ryan.

To everyone's surprise, Ryan simply extended one hand, and a pale blue light radiated from it. Combining the mark of the Lake Fairy's Holy Grail and his psychic powers, Ryan had developed a new skill.

Psychic Stasis Field!

The whistling mercury bullets were completely halted by the pale blue field, frozen in mid-air. With a swipe of his hand, Ryan dropped the bullets to the ground.

Belter's frenzied spirit began to calm down, realizing Ryan might be even more challenging than Jacob.

Because he didn't understand Ryan.

But Ryan didn't give Belter a chance to think. The White Wolf Knight lifted his warhammer and charged towards Belter, striking fiercely at the Fallen Hunter's ribs from below.

"Clang!" The battleaxe and warhammer collided, the superhuman strength from the hammer forcing Belter to retreat. Gritting his teeth, the Fallen Hunter immediately rolled backward to escape.

The true faces of the combatants were revealed.

Belter was barely human anymore.

His face was covered with tumors and bumps, adorned with iron spikes and rings on every detail of his body, his head starting to deform. What used to be a lean figure was now bloated with overgrown muscles.

In Belter's eyes, the knight before him was handsome, about 1.85 meters tall, with black hair and blue eyes, not resembling a Nord. He wore a breastplate over full chain mail, with a red and white kite shield on his shoulder pauldron, featuring a sword piercing through a book, a silver skull at the book's center.

"Belter, I've chased you for thousands of miles, and today I finally see your face. But it seems quite different from the portraits?" Ryan casually commented, "If I had known I was chasing such a creature, I might not have accepted this mission."

"Ha, isn't this the famous White Wolf Knight of the Nord Kingdom, 'little bastard' Ryan? Your real father must be a big bastard, or else why would he abandon you, a little bastard?" Belter retorted, "And I heard you've switched masters? How is it, serving under the skirts of the Lady of the Lake, feeling good?"

"Ha! Just like you switched from the Lord of Pestilence to the Blood God, everyone has the right to choose. As for my real father, you probably won't have the chance to meet him in this lifetime." Ryan laughed even harder, his gaze growing more dangerous.

Such low-level verbal provocations couldn't shake his composure.

Elsewhere.

Veronica, in her fiery red leather armor, manipulated her fingers, chanting spell after spell.

"Shield of Sanctuary!"

"Scorching Gaze!"

"Fireball!"

The Shield of Sanctuary provided a transparent magical protection around the Sea God Knights and the Duke's personal guards surrounding Aneda, greatly enhancing their melee and magical defenses. The army's combat effectiveness was significantly boosted.

Next, the Scorching Gaze spell launched three beams of purifying white energy, causing severe burning damage to all Chaos creatures it touched. Veronica's spell instantly eradicated more than twenty Abandoned.

Finally, a Fireball exploded among the dark creatures, causing the Chaos cult to collapse and scatter.

The woman in the center was revealed.

It was Aneda.

This woman no longer possessed her previous beauty and maturity. Her once heavenly beautiful face was now wrinkled, her smooth skin like eggshells turned into old tree bark, losing its charming luster. Her glossy black hair became dry like weeds. In a blink of an eye, Aneda transformed from a mature, beautiful woman into an old hag on the verge of death.

"No~ No~ I don't want this, no, no!!!" The president of the Cult of Aesthetics frantically scratched her face until it was bloody: "No, no! This isn't how I should look! No!!"

"You were always like this." Veronica's fingertips glowed lightly, mocking, "Or should I say, you've always been like this."

"For your beauty, you've harmed countless lives. I can see countless wronged souls swirling around you."

"Aneda Klausner, it's time to pay your debts to those restless souls!" Veronica

chanted lightly, several white threads wrapping around Aneda's limbs: "The Net of Amintok!"

Aneda wasn't particularly strong, or rather, her strength had never been formidable. Her expertise lay in courtly and high societal interactions, not in swordplay. Her longevity was entirely due to forbidden surgeries, organ transplants, and bathing in human blood.

But the power she had to resist Veronica's Fireball had been depleted, turning her into an old hag.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ahhh!" The white threads formed a large net, tightly binding Aneda. A Sea God Knight captain, clad in deep blue cape and full plate armor, bearing the trident knight insignia, spoke, "Miss Veronica, the Archbishop has ordered us to take her life."

"Then what are you waiting for? Do it now!" Veronica said impatiently.

"Do it!"

The Duke's personal guards raised their spears, and the Sea God Knights lifted their tridents.

"You will regret this! Is it wrong to want to be on the winning side? Year after year, the beastmen grow bolder, and the barbarians stronger. Year after year, more mutants appear within the empire's borders, and the situation worsens. Humanity is fighting a losing battle. I am a pragmatist; the empire made me rich. But when the world ends, and all is in ruin, Chaos will keep me alive! I curse you, you will all turn to ashes in blood and fire!" In her final frenzy, Aneda screamed, her dry voice and hoarse yell casting her last curse.

However, the curse did not descend as she imagined.

The Lord of Pleasure had abandoned her.

In the next moment, several spears and tridents pierced her decaying body. Aneda Klausner, the president of the Cult of Aesthetics who had reigned over Marlinburg for decades, was officially declared dead. Veronica turned her body to ashes with flames.

"Now then..." Veronica tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, signaling the Sea God Knights and the Duke's personal guards to withdraw, "You all shouldn't get involved in the next fight. It's too dangerous. This is a battle between me and Ryan."

"Understood!" The Duke's personal guards and the Sea God Knights, led by Sir Robel, swiftly evacuated the few healthy orphans from the collapsing orphanage.

"Boom!" As soon as she finished speaking, a huge cloud of dust erupted from where Ryan and Belter were fighting.

The battle between Ryan and Belter had reached its climax.

"Haah!!!" Ryan's strength lay in his wrist strength and his extraordinary resistance to ranged attacks. The existence of the Psychic Stasis Field nearly rendered Belter's musket useless. The Fallen Hunter completely abandoned ranged attacks, wielding an axe in one hand and a sword in the other, launching a full-force assault on Ryan.

The Fallen Hunter's attacks were incredibly fast, each move a desperate attempt to trade blows. The sharp axe blade and the cold sword tip continuously swiped near Ryan's neck and throat, seeking to end his life.

Ryan remained calm throughout. His expression was as still as water, his gaze as cold as ice. The faster Belter moved, the slower Ryan became. The griffin warhammer in Ryan's hands turned in a strange rhythm, constantly blocking Belter's attacks, with only sparks flying to show the intensity of their battle.

Suddenly, Ryan realized something. The White Wolf Knight's eyes shone brightly, and with a lateral swing of his hammer, he knocked Belter back a step. Then he launched into a whirlwind of strikes, forcing the Fallen Hunter to retreat repeatedly.

Belter was not weak; as a legendary mid-tier Fallen Hunter, he had controlled most of the Blood God's power over these days. Even at a disadvantage, Ryan couldn't easily overcome him.

He was waiting for the moment Ryan's stamina reached a critical point.

That moment arrived quickly.

After Belter blocked Ryan's final, most powerful technique, "Skull Crush," Ryan indeed entered a period of exhaustion, his offensive momentum slightly waning. But to Belter's disbelief, Ryan suddenly crouched down.

In an instant, a massive fireball whizzed past Ryan's head, directly hitting Belter. The explosion of the Fireball spell echoed throughout the area.

Ryan stepped back, letting out a breath, "Is that side taken care of?"

Veronica's fingertips sparkled with fiery red magical light: "That side was easy."

"Good, let's continue." Ryan reached out to high-five Veronica, and the witch nodded, "Let's go!"

"Ruin Flame Weapon!" Garen Witch's fingertips glowed lightly, not only did Ryan's griffin warhammer spark with lightning, but it also ignited with yellow, blazing flames.

Then Veronica began chanting the next spell, and Ryan knew what she was chanting. He accelerated his pace, charging towards Belter again.

A direct hit from a Fireball spell wasn't enough to severely injure the Fallen Hunter, but it did leave him in a sorry state. Belter's face was scorched black, and his front robe was burned off completely. The Fallen Hunter roared, "You little bastard, let's have a fair duel, just you and me!"

"You have nothing to wager, for you will die today!" Ryan leaped high, his warhammer clashing with Belter's battleaxe in mid-air, forcing the Fallen Hunter's feet into the ground, yet he still withstood the blow.

"Seventh Circle Magic, Blazing Breath!" Garen Witch completed her spell, three streams of terrifyingly hot flames bypassed Ryan, attacking the Fallen Hunter from three directions. Belter had no choice but to fend off Ryan, raising his axe and sword to block.

Ryan immediately drew his rune shotgun from his waist, aiming at Belter and pulling the trigger: "Bang!!!"

Five mercury bullets shot from the barrel towards the Fallen Hunter's head.

The mercury bullets and Blazing Breath arrived simultaneously, overwhelming Belter's defenses. The explosion and flames engulfed the area, and when he emerged from the smoke, his body was covered in burn marks, with several bloody holes on his chest and face from the mercury bullets.

Belter was in agony, unaccustomed to being in a fight where he could only take hits without retaliating.

Before the Fallen Hunter could counterattack, Ryan raised his right hand, the pale blue psychic fire burning in the palm of the White Wolf Knight.

"Psychic Storm!" Blue-white psychic lightning radiated from Ryan's hand, striking Belter directly. The Fallen Hunter howled in pain as both his soul and body were scorched.

Veronica's final spell was also ready.

Eighth Circle Magic, Flame Burst.

A giant fire elemental orb, larger than a bull, formed and exploded in front of Garen Witch. Guided by the witch's magic, the Flame Burst fireball flew straight towards Belter. Tortured by the Psychic Storm, the Fallen Hunter had no strength to react.

Flame Burst, a direct hit.

A massive shockwave swept through the orphanage. Amidst the intense battle and the power of magic, the orphanage began to collapse. Fortunately, bystanders had already fled the scene, leaving only the dead behind.

"Veronica!" A large piece of the ceiling fell towards Garen Witch. Ryan dashed to Veronica's side, shielding the witch with his body, and punched the ceiling, sh

attering it with his incredible arm strength.

"Is he dead?" Veronica avoided the flying debris within Ryan's Psychic Stasis Field, her face pale with exhaustion: "Ryan, my magic is running low."

"How much is left?" After a series of battles, Ryan too had expended a lot of energy, but his recovery was remarkable, so it wasn't a big problem for him.

"Little over thirty percent," Veronica gasped slightly, her calculations as an experienced Garen Witch allowing her and Ryan to maximize their damage output.

Ryan was about to respond when suddenly, noises came from the rubble in front of them. A blood-red shadow dashed towards them at an extremely fast speed.

___________________

(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)

If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters

Read Ahead

Patreon.com/INNIT