Melee Priest

"Uncle Musen... could you please stop getting in my way?"

Aise wiped the trickle of blood from the corner of his lips, staggering to his feet, looking a bit battered.

"You're so annoying... A thousand years ago, you were always hindering me..."

"Aise... a thousand years ago, we barely met a few times," Musen rumbled. "Why would you say something like that?"

Aise paused, momentarily stunned.

"I heard that the holy sword Xia Lun entrusted me to guard went missing again afterward..." Musen's eyes fixed on Aise. "You absorbed that corrupted holy sword's spirit, didn't you? Gained its memories, and that's why your obsession with Xia Lun has deepened..."

"Oh, is that it? So that's how it is..." Aise clutched his head in apparent pain, muttering to himself. "So that guy wasn't me... No, he should be me... Ah, I get it now. He secretly absorbed the sword spirit, and after I merged with him, I got infected..."

Aise wobbled in place, holding his head, his state clearly off.

Fragmented memories flickered through his mind.

With Musen's mention, he seemed to recall something crucial... but those memories, like fishing for the moon in water, slipped away just as he was about to grasp them.

"The goddess... she seemed to have met me before? What did we talk about?" Aise murmured. "What did that guy do to me?"

Not far away, Mian's eyes gleamed.

A opening.

Mian didn't waste the chance. Dagger in hand, he crouched like a leopard, then shot forward like an arrow leaving the string, skimming the ground toward Aise.

"Get lost!" Aise waved his hand impatiently. The temperature of the entire space plummeted, a chill spread, and a vast cascade of frost-white ice burst outward from him, flooding in every direction and filling Mian's entire view.

Mian gritted his teeth, conjuring a shield of flame before him. The fire shield clashed with the ice waterfall, heat meeting extreme cold, producing a hissing sound and a great cloud of white steam.

But it only held for a moment. The white frost surged like waves, swallowing the meager flame, forcing Mian back until he fell into a firm embrace.

"You alright?" Musen caught Mian steadily, his bald head reflecting the chaotic white light, grinning at Mian.

"Yeah! I'm fine." Mian quickly steadied himself. "Mr. Musen, give me some cover!"

"Of course, no problem!"

Musen let out a roar, throwing a punch that tore through the air with pure force. The ice waterfall shattered, and the impenetrable wall of ice was smashed into a massive gap.

Without hesitation, Mian charged forward again.

All around was biting cold. As far as the eye could see, there were sharp ice spikes, like the interlocking fangs of a dragon. Everything was a dazzling, blinding white, ice crystals glinting, a labyrinth so intricate it defied description, with no recognizable path forward.

At the same time, the cold clung like a living thing, trying to freeze his blood.

But Mian quickly sensed Aise's direction... the heat emanating from that spot was unmistakable.

A staff appeared in Mian's hand, its fire opal glowing red.

"Grasp of Embers!"

A massive hand of flames materialized before Mian, its five fingers spread like a blooming red lotus. Under his control, it plowed through a wide swath of ice spikes with ruthless efficiency.

This spell was truly powerful—far more than just "interesting," as Xia Lun had once called it.

Finally, Mian cleared a direct path straight to Aise.

"Annoying insect..."

Seeing Mian relentlessly closing in again, Aise finally lost all patience. "Do you have a death wish?"

Thick, ink-black aura erupted from Aise's body, coalescing into a chaotic longsword before him. The space around the sword warped slightly, as if the dream itself could collapse at any moment.

Even Xia Lun, facing this sword's assault, had to dodge or rely on his flame sword's properties to parry, never daring to take it head-on.

Chaotic energy was power beyond the rules of this world.

Using such a move against Mian was like killing a chicken with an ox-cleaver.

But for some reason, the sight of this man made Aise irritable, and he wanted nothing more than to silence him by the most direct means.

The chaotic longsword swung, sending a black energy blade flying. The terrifying aura locked onto Mian instantly. Mian found, to his horror, that moving even a single step was agonizingly difficult. The black blade came like a slow-motion nightmare, devouring even light as it passed, death trailing close behind.

At the last moment, the hand of flames slammed down on the ice beneath Mian's feet. The solid ice vaporized instantly, forming a deep pit. Mian dropped into it, barely dodging the lethal strike.

"Cough, cough..." In the narrow ice hole, Mian gasped for breath. In this life-and-death moment, his heart pounded so hard it seemed ready to burst from his chest.

This wasn't just an ordinary dream... Mian knew that dying here would be no different from dying in reality.

How to deal with him?

Another energy blade tore through the earth, grazing past Mian.

That was close...

A hair's breadth off, and Mian would have been sliced in two like the ice.

"Come out, you burrowing rat," Aise's taunt came from above. "Is that all you've got?"

A crimson magic circle blazed under Aise's feet.

Boom—

A scorching pillar of flame engulfed Aise. The fire rolled like a living thing, radiating heat hot enough to melt steel.

When the flames cleared, Aise stood unchanged, save for some scorch marks on his clothes, as if utterly unharmed.

"Compared to Father's flames... this is far too weak," Aise said with cold contempt, raising his sword again.

"Aise!"

Musen came charging along the path Mian had opened, each step leaving spiderweb cracks in the ice. With a roar, he barreled straight at Aise.

A black energy blade swept toward Musen's waist.

"Mr. Musen!" Mian cried out in alarm. At this range, Musen seemed to have no chance of dodging.

But just as the blade was about to hit, Musen's body suddenly shrank, becoming as small as a palm-sized figure, easily slipping past the energy blade. Then he rapidly expanded again, his bulging muscles straining his shirt, his iron fist raised high.

Even Aise was stunned by Musen's sudden trick.

Another heavy punch, like a comet striking the moon, slammed into Aise's face.

Aise was sent flying once more, skidding across the ice, leaving a long trail behind him.