"Your attack just now would have injured, or even killed, Yuan Ling!"
Ye Feng glanced at the scarecrow next to the Goblin Great Priest, stained with his own blood. He narrowed his eyes, remembering that the Goblin Great Priest had obtained more than just his blood before.
"Whoosh! Hiss!~"
Ye Feng grabbed Alak and flashed to Yuan Ling's side.
"Wh… What?"
"My attack just now would have injured the Saintess?"
Alak looked at Ye Feng in confusion.
Ye Feng said nothing. His gaze sharpened, and faint starlight reappeared in his hand, though much less than before.
"Damn, the starlight in my body is running out!"
Seeing this, Ye Feng couldn't help but feel anxious and quickly reached out to scratch at Yuan Ling.
"Ah!~"
Yuan Ling cried out in surprise, her face instantly turning red.
Alak also frowned deeply, as Ye Feng's actions seemed like a molestation.
"Hoo~!"
Ye Feng's movements were swift. In a short while, he had some threads illuminated by starlight in his hand.
"These threads… seem to be some kind of runes… very similar to those on the Goblin Skeleton Staff!"
Yuan Ling's pupils contracted, her face filled with surprise and confusion.
"Look over there, the goblins are going mad! Attacking their own leader!"
At this moment, Xiao Lü pointed towards the altar.
"Quack! Quack!~"
The Goblin Priest that was still mobile, along with the remaining Goblin Knight and Goblin Priest Guard, let out strange cries and attacked again. However, their target was not Ye Feng and his group, but the Goblin Great Priest.
"Crack!~ Crack!~"
"Boom!~ Whoosh! Clang!~"
"Pfft!"
"..."
A torrent of dark lightning, mental attacks, and arcane energy of various attributes surged towards the Goblin Great Priest.
Seeing this, Ye Feng's expression changed. The Tang Dao in his hand flashed rapidly, instantly severing the threads on Yuan Ling.
This time, he didn't directly discard them like the threads on his own body. Instead, he flashed to the side of the Goblin Priest pinned to the ground by Alak and wrapped the threads around it.
"Quack!~"
The Goblin Priest let out a miserable cry and turned into a pile of dust… while the Goblin Great Priest on the altar, bombarded by the various attacks of the goblins, remained unharmed…
"This… Gulp~!"
Alak swallowed hard, finally understanding the meaning of Ye Feng's words.
"Don't look at me, I don't know what those threads are either. I just figured it out by instinct~"
Facing everyone's questioning gazes, Ye Feng spread his hands helplessly.
Just as he had anticipated, after consuming the reinforcement fruit, he had indeed advanced to Gold rank, but something else seemed to have happened…
For example, the starlight gradually fading within him, which seemed to be a very special power…
"Quack!~"
"Damn humans! Damn angels! Kill them all!"
At this moment, the Goblin Great Priest spoke again, facing Ye Feng and the others.
"This guy…"
Ye Feng frowned slightly. He noticed that the Goblin Great Priest's speech seemed a bit strange, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was…
"Quack~ Quack!"
"Owooo!~ Woo!"
"Clang!~ Clack!~"
"Boom!"
As the Goblin Great Priest finished speaking, the remaining Goblin Priests, Goblin Knights, Goblin Priest Guards, and other goblins who had arrived on the pyramid from a distance charged towards Ye Feng and his group.
What caught Ye Feng's attention was that figures that looked somewhat mechanical, like puppets, crawled out of the black magic circle beneath the Great Priest's feet. Among them, one figure wielding a heavy sword exuded a powerful pressure.
"Saintess… Saintess… Could that… could that be Sir Flame Ranger Knight!"
Alak pointed at the puppet-like figures, at the one exuding immense pressure, his voice filled with disbelief.
"It… it seems so…"
Before Yuan Ling could answer, Xiao Lü chimed in, "Why would Master Flame Ranger appear from the Goblin Great Priest's magic circle? And he seems to be severely injured…"
"Should we go up and ask what's going on?"
After Xiao Lü spoke, Alak looked at Yuan Ling with a questioning gaze.
"That… that is indeed Master Flame Ranger… but… he… he has no trace of life left…"
As she reached the end, Yuan Ling's eyes welled up with tears. "Master Flame Ranger said before that he was leaving to do something very important… I never expected…"
"Bang~ Whoosh! Hiss~"
Ye Feng sent a Goblin Knight flying and, with starlight appearing in his hand, quickly scratched at a shriveled figure. He immediately discovered threads composed of runes.
"Everyone be careful, the figures that emerged from the Goblin Great Priest's black magic circle are likely its puppets, just like the scarecrow earlier!"
"Whoosh!"
Before Ye Feng could even finish the word "puppet," the Flame Ranger, whom Yuan Ling and the others had been discussing, suddenly vanished from his spot and instantly appeared before Ye Feng and his group.
"Screech!~"
A pure red light flashed, and Alak, Xiao Lü, and He Shang all spurted blood and were sent flying backward.
"Clang!"
Only Yuan Ling managed to block the Flame Ranger Puppet's heavy sword strike with her Xue Yi. However, the red light from the opponent's heavy sword grazed Yuan Ling's arm, leaving it bloody and mangled…
"Ugh~! Ah!"
"Ah!~"
Xiao Lü, Alak, and He Shang cried out in agony as they lay on the ground. The wounds inflicted by the Flame Ranger Puppet's attack were rapidly burning.
"This… the red light isn't just fire-attributed arcane energy… it's more like True Essence?"
Feeling the fluctuations of the red light emanating from the Flame Ranger Puppet's heavy sword, Ye Feng was greatly shocked.
"Clang!"
The Flame Ranger Puppet engaged Yuan Ling's Xue Yi in another clash. Yuan Ling instantly spat blood and was sent flying, her arm gripping Xue Yi being hit by the True Essence wave, even showing bone.
The Flame Ranger Puppet did not stop there. Before Yuan Ling could hit the ground, it raised its heavy sword, its red True Essence surging, and chased after Yuan Ling to attack.
"Clang! Clang!~"
Seeing this, Ye Feng charged forward with his Tang Dao, blocking the Flame Ranger Puppet's attack.
What surprised Ye Feng even more was that his Tang Dao, which was usually invincible, was actually blocked by the puppet's fiery red True Essence…
"Whoosh~ Hiss!~"
"Clang! Clang!"
Ye Feng brandished his Tang Dao and engaged in a series of clashes with the Flame Ranger Puppet. During this time, starlight appeared in his hand several times, and he scratched at the puppet, attempting to sever the rune threads as he had done before.
However, the Flame Ranger Puppet was not inferior to Ye Feng in combat skills or speed, and was even slightly stronger. Ye Feng couldn't get close enough to grasp the rune threads…
Furthermore, the Flame Ranger Puppet's fiery red True Essence occasionally struck Ye Feng, causing him immense pain.
This pain was not just a searing sensation but also extremely penetrative, reaching almost to the bone marrow, and it felt like it was about to ignite the arcane energy within Ye Feng…
Ye Feng even felt that if he hadn't advanced to Gold rank and still had a large amount of energy from the reinforcement fruit within him, that red True Essence would have instantly taken his life…
"Clang! Bang!"
After another collision, Ye Feng was sent flying far by the Flame Ranger Puppet, sustaining several more wounds, and his recovery was slow.
"Ye Feng, let me!"
At this moment, Yuan Ling's voice reached Ye Feng's ears. Although her voice was not loud, it was filled with determination.
…