Chapter 10: Schemes

"You..."

Valentina tried to pull the bullets from her face, but the submachine gun bullets were small and embedded deeply. After struggling for a long time, she had only managed to extract a few when the next wave of bullets already came assaulting. Valentina could only raise her greatsword to block.

But this time Loren was aiming at her body. The moment the bullets contacted Valentina, starting from the impact points, flames began to explosively ignite, instantly engulfing Valentina in flames.

"There's also explosive ignition enchantment."

The vines shattered by the anti-magic enchantment also ignited at this moment. Valentina let out a series of agonized screams—the pain of being set ablaze wasn't something ordinary people could endure.

But Valentina didn't just wait for death either. She rapidly recited the honorable name of the God of Bountiful Harvest, and then elements gathered upon her body.

A phantom image of thorns suddenly lit up on her, and the flames on Valentina were repelled, revealing her charred skin. Her skin had already been burned through one layer, her face disfigured, yet her gaze remained resolute.

Immediately after, roots suddenly grew from her legs, piercing into the ground. As the roots penetrated deeper, a piece of Valentina's charred skin fell off, exposing the newly grown skin beneath.

"Third-tier magic, Thorn Armor. Second-tier magic, Rooting. You sure know quite a few spells for a knight. But isn't a warrior using mobility-reducing magic in front of a marksman looking down on me a bit?"

"You blasphemous bastard, I'm starting to feel fortunate about planning to kill you back when you hadn't been exposed yet. It really was the right choice."

"Likewise."

Loren had known Valentina's true nature from the beginning—saying this was just to provoke her.

The submachine gun once again spewed tongues of fire. The phantom thorns on Valentina were instantly torn apart—this time it was the anti-magic enchantment again. But not just that—Loren had two guns.

One gun shredded Valentina's shield, the other tore through her flesh. When the first bullet hit Valentina's face, it shot straight through her neck. Valentina reacted quickly—before the bullet could tear through her neck, she raised her arm to protect her head. Instantly, her arm became utterly shattered.

"Reflection Shield!"

Valentina roared furiously, plunging her greatsword into the ground. A shield phantom appeared before her, and the bullets reflected back toward Loren the moment they contacted the shield.

Loren had anticipated this—he had already stopped firing during the wind-up phase of her skill. With just a slight sidestep, he dodged the bullets, though several bullet holes appeared in his black robe.

This was a martial technique—the anti-magic enchantment was useless. Skills that required shouting the name were martial techniques, though of course there were chuunibyou mages who insisted on shouting spell names too.

"You blasphemous bastard, I'm starting to feel fortunate about planning to kill you back when you hadn't been exposed yet. It really was the right choice."

Valentina's greatsword plunged into the ground suddenly lifted forward, cracks appearing in the earth. Shockwaves erupted from the fissures. Loren simply performed a sideways roll to evade Valentina's attack—this was the confidence of a high-level player, casually reacting to any skill with a wind-up.

Until now, Loren hadn't formally demonstrated his void-walking ability before Valentina. The real killing move was still to come.

Taking advantage of Valentina's sword not yet being retracted, Loren directly threw two smoke grenades at her feet. The area wasn't ventilated, and smoke instantly obscured both their vision.

"Here!"

Even with thick smoke blocking, Valentina's perception remained sharp. She raised her greatsword and slashed toward Loren's direction. The power gap between them was vast—if this strike connected, Valentina was confident she could directly kill Loren.

"Missed?"

When her slash hit empty air, Valentina clearly froze for a moment, nearly losing balance from the greatsword's momentum. Fortunately, she had cast Rooting earlier.

With vision obstructed, Valentina couldn't assess the situation, so she plunged her greatsword into the ground again. Immediately, a shockwave blasted out, dispersing the thick smoke, but the black robe suddenly enveloped Valentina's face.

That wasn't all. Before Valentina could react, she felt a dagger stab into her eye, so she tensed her muscles, tightly clamping down on the dagger.

"Tch, is the gap between us this big?"

No matter how desperately Loren hammered the dagger's hilt, the blade couldn't advance another millimeter. Meanwhile, Valentina had already punched Loren in the chest—she didn't have time to raise her greatsword now.

Taking this punch, Loren was sent flying backward, even rolling several times on the ground. The strength disparity between them was too great.

This was also within Loren's expectations. After all, Valentina was a late-game BOSS. Worth mentioning—even until the game's late stages, she still hadn't become an angel.

"Cough cough..."

Loren felt like his internal organs were about to shatter, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, yet he still maintained a smile of certain victory.

"True madman."

By now Valentina had pulled out the dagger. The black robe had somehow tangled around her body, so she could only temporarily tear a hole in the black robe to ensure her vision.

Only then did she see what was under Loren's black robe—magazines almost covered Loren's body, especially the circle of bombs tied around his waist, as if prepared to perish together with her at any moment.

"Know why I like wearing black robes?"

Watching Loren struggle to rise, Valentina suddenly felt an ominous premonition.

"Because no matter how many runes I write on the black robe, others can't see them."

As the words fell, Valentina saw densely packed runes emerge on the black robe. These runes looked very familiar to her, especially since they were mixed with symbols of the God of Bountiful Harvest.

"Honorable God of Bountiful Harvest, you are the master of life, the mother of all living beings. All worldly abundance is bestowed by you. Your loving kindness nurtures all things in this world. At this moment, I offer this devout Bountiful believer, please grant her your child-bearing. Praise Bountiful."

Generally, sacrifices required the offering to be unable to resist, unless the offering itself was a devout believer of the sacrifice target.

"What the fuck are you doing!"

Loren's words made Valentina break out in a cold sweat. At this moment, she could already feel her stamina and magic power being drained, her belly gradually swelling.

"It's over, dear Knight Valentina."

Loren took out a folding knife, spinning it in his hand as he stepped closer to Valentina. By now Valentina was already pressed to the ground by her belly, the outcome seemingly predetermined.

"Blasphemer, die!"

The moment Loren approached Valentina, spikes suddenly pierced through Valentina's skin, instantly turning her into a spiked ball. Loren was similarly impaled.

However, the scene Valentina imagined didn't appear. Loren simply took a step to the side, revealing his completely unharmed body.

"Was this within your calculations too..."

Looking at the completely unscathed Loren, Valentina smiled with resigned acceptance.