Chapter 884: Delay
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The moment those words came out, a change involuntarily came over the expressions of the Church members. The bishop’s heart tightened; killing the Princess on the spot was something that the other party was definitely capable of doing.

They had become somewhat stuck in a difficult position now.

“…Are you scared?” Grant narrowed his eyes, speaking with a hint of provocation in his tone, “You don’t even have the courage to fight us head on, so the only thing you dare do is to use a defenseless child as a threat against us?”

Benjamin gave a cold scoff, “Don’t talk about yourself as though you’re so noble and mighty. The things you’ve done to her are way dirtier than what I’m doing now.”

“We are carrying out the will of God. You, on the other hand, are digging your own grave.”

Saying that, Grant stretched out his hand once more, and gave a light dab. A piece of Holy Light spread out, and the great wall of light before him suddenly transformed; shapes similar to long spears began to slowly appear within it. Immediately, a cold, murderous aura filled the sky; the atmosphere became even more tense.

However, it was also at this moment that the bishop saw Grant’s actions, and nodded with understanding in his heart. He felt for a small, silver bead in his pocket, and crushed it. A discrete wave, carrying some sort of message, was sent out.

They were about to summon their men.

Along with that ripple, the troops of Holy Knights and priests around Pearl Lake suddenly began to move at the same time, hurrying towards Grant’s and Benjamin’s location. As though they did not want to be noticed by anyone, they were extremely careful as they hurried on, like assassins, quietly forming a circle.

Just as reinforcements for the Church were rushing over…

“Hand Her Majesty over, or I will let you sink in this place, along with your ship,” After condensing Holy Light to create a shockingly powerful force of long spears, Grant did not launch his attack, but spoke as such.

The other members of the Church hid behind him, carefully watching Benjamin’s actions.

The bishop was on high alert. The current circumstances were not so clear yet, and there was no guarantee of success if they were to rush into a battle hastily, but they had summoned their reinforcements. They only had to delay him for a while longer; when their aid arrived, they would be in an undefeatable position!

Because of that, they had to delay him here. They could not strike prematurely.

Benjamin did not immediately begin his attack as well.

“The enemy is the enemy. You don’t really think that I would believe your nonsense, do you?” Holding the Princess up, he suddenly created an ice blade in his hand through condensation, and held it against her neck. “If you don’t want her to die, fine. Exchange your lives for it.”

One of the priests suddenly yelled, “You’re full of nonsense! Downright foolish, wishful thinking!”

Swoosh!

From the side, an extremely thin ice needle suddenly shot out, bypassing Grant’s Holy Light spears in a dash towards the priest. However, a split second before it pierced through his heart from the back, Grant shifted his gaze, and a cluster of Holy Light shot over, blocking the ice needle.

The priest was so shocked that he broke into cold sweat. It was only then that he realized he had just escaped death, and immediately shrunk back.

However… Until then, neither party began to attack the other, as before.

“If you don’t want to die, shut up. You have no right to speak here,” Benjamin said coldly.

“A messenger of God can say whatever he wants,” Grant lifted his hand, and layers of Holy Light appeared around them protectively, forming a huge ball of Light, enveloping all the members of the Church in it.

The bishop gave a secret sigh of relief.

It seemed that he was really being delayed…

That devil seemed to be scared of the power and might of His Highness the Pope as well, so he had not struck hastily. However, he was unable to accept that the Black Nightmare Army had been destroyed, so he was unwilling to leave. All he could do was stay, holding on to his hostage and letting out angry remarks.

Thus, seconds and minutes passed by. Benjamin and the members of the Church remained in a stalemate for a long time, with the occasional small scale sneak attack and brief crossing of swords. However, they did not really start a fight. The ice blade was kept on the Princess’ neck, but had never gone an inch closer. The Princess had long fallen unconscious.

About half an hour passed.

“…They have arrived.”

The thick smoke in their surroundings slowly dissipated. All of a sudden, dozens of figures emerged from the thick smoke, flying in from all directions and encircling the ice ship. All of them were wearing the red robes of a bishop; more than a dozen eyes fell on Benjamin at the same time.

Following that, even more priests flew out from various directions. Like hordes of locusts flying through a region, densely packed figures stopped behind the bishops, and immediately, half of the sky was covered.

At the same time, silhouettes of Holy Knights appeared continuously on the face of the earth. They had crawled over along the ruins and arranged themselves in groups, as though knitting a silver-grey carpet. Everyone had their sights set firmly on Benjamin, who was in the air, with their shields raised up high in the air. They were ready to sacrifice their lives at any moment, to waste even just a bit of Benjamin’s spiritual energy.

Whatever it was… in just about ten seconds, the empty Pearl Lake had suddenly become bustling with life. Tens of thousands of eyes, filled with a pure intention to kill at the moment, fell only upon one person.

“There is no way you can escape now.”

Grant gave a cold snort, speaking every word clearly, with an impatience that he no longer had to hide.

Benjamin surveyed the dense circle of people around him.

“So… you’ve shifted every useful person here, just to kill me?” His expression was unchanging, as he kept his attention on Grant coldly, “Do you really think that having more people would be effective?”

Grant, however, did not have the slightest interest in exchanging nonsense anymore.

He moved his hand violently, and the Holy Light spears that had waited in the air for a long time finally began to shake, one by one. After that, the gigantic long spears pierced through the air, rushing straight for Benjamin!

At the same time, the bishops, leading countless of priests, began to cast Union Magic. Huge shafts of Holy Light began to condense where they were, and the light elements immediately reached a frightening density that had never been seen before!

Benjamin, however, raised an eyebrow.

At that moment, he suddenly opened his mouth and pronounced a short, quaint little syllable. Following that, a blue, sprite-like figure flashed over his shoulder, and right after that, numerous blue runes appeared around the entire ice ship.

In the next second, the Holy Light spears were the first to impact.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The long spears seemed to collide with some invisible wall, before they could get near the ice ship, and exploded violently. Dazzling Holy Light erupted in every direction, as bright as the sun.

They could see a great net suddenly appearing in front of the ice ship, made out of thin, blue strands. Upon closer inspection, every thin strand was formed by great amounts of water elements being compressed infinitely; as the great net spread, it blocked all the Holy Light spears.

“Hmph… You can’t do anything to me with just this.”

Benjamin’s voice rang out from the Holy Light that had erupted in various directions. The members of the Church were startled; however, as they lifted their heads to look, they discovered that the ice ship had suddenly rushed out from the dazzling bright light.

The ice ship was heading straight for the weakest spot of the circle.

The bishop was stunned at first. He then began to yell, in a panic, “Quick! Block him! Don’t let him escape!”