"Waaahhhh——"

Even when facing Michelle, I had never encountered anything as bizarre as this. If I had to find a similar situation from the past, the only thing close would be when Claudia's hand got injured by Nicola's Condensation Sword.

But the opponent didn't even touch me!

"Feliciana!"

Vivianne naturally witnessed everything happening to me from below, but she was powerless and could only frantically call out my name.

Just when I thought I was really about to die, an inconspicuous black shadow shot up from one of the buildings below, accurately piercing the four-winged angel's back.

The four-winged angel shuddered, staring at me in disbelief for a moment. Then an intense explosion ripped through her from the inside out, completely shattering her body.

"Boom!"

So many abnormal things were happening today! Logically, angels shouldn't fear explosions. Even an explosion bursting from within their body shouldn't produce such an exaggerated effect - at most some internal injuries.

But thankfully, the blast didn't affect me, only shattering the four-winged angel. The shredded flesh and blood from the explosion quickly turned into disappearing light elements.

With the four-winged angel dead, the dissipation of light elements in my body immediately stopped. However, with one hand half gone, a large amount of blood still gushed from the wound.

Luckily, these were minor issues. After falling to the ground, I immediately used a "Heal" spell to treat myself. Fortunately my wings weren't damaged, otherwise I wouldn't know what to do.

"It was an arrow! Someone shot a cold arrow from behind that angel!"

I had no time to ponder the specifics of what happened, but Vivianne and Ron saw it clearly from below. If asked who shot the arrow, the only suspect would be him.

Sure enough, after confirming the enemy was defeated, a brown-haired boy jumped out from a window and appeared before us in the blink of an eye.

"Adrian!"

I smiled and greeted him through the pain. No wonder I couldn't find him - he had been hiding inside the house all along.

To be honest, while happy to see him again, I also felt a bit awkward. I thought my increased strength would let me show off in front of everyone, but in the end Adrian still had to rescue me. How many times has this happened now...

"I thought you all were tricking me before, but you really did come here too!"

Vivianne seemed surprised to encounter so many acquaintances in this cave. Anyone would probably comment on that.

"Are you okay?"

Unfortunately, Adrian didn't look too pleased. He just sighed, ignoring Ron and Vivianne beside him, and came over to me. Seeing my hand wound slowly healing, he didn't say much more, just a slight reproach.

"How did you end up in a place like this alone? Thank goodness Vivianne called out your name earlier! Nicola didn't come with you?"

"Don't even mention her, I obviously came to rescue you all!"

Again with Nicola, I couldn't help but give a wry smile. Of course Nicola's formidable strength had earned everyone's approval, which I understood. But this time she really couldn't help, so we had to rely on ourselves.

"You should know Vivianne was trapped in this cave for many days, and then you got into trouble too..."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I briefly explained to him the situation I had mentioned to Vivianne earlier. Finally, all the people we were looking for were gathered. Although there were some twists and turns, and one casualty in Mike that Ron and Cysper would have trouble accepting, I felt relatively better about it.

Come to think of it, for a 6th rank battle qi cultivator to be killed by a four-winged angel is unbelievable.

This battle qi doesn't seem that impressive after all...

"So it was that bastard Brennan..."

But upon hearing my account, Adrian looked angry, like a disappointed mentor.

"You call this a rescue? You ended up trapped in here too! You knew that cave was bizarre but still rushed in headlong. I thought you accidentally ended up here! And those Apostle angels could all use that light beam attack from the sky. It's lucky you took out those two-winged ones first, otherwise I couldn't have saved you all!"

"No problem, I still remember the approximate location of the entrance. Let's go back through that cave right away!"

Of course I understood why he was angry and could empathize. There was actually a lot I wanted to say, like about the phoenix that appeared in Makalan City, but now wasn't the time to slowly bring up those things.

Based on my previous guesses, this place was highly likely the world from 10,000 years ago when Beluto existed - it must be extremely dangerous. Although I hadn't completely confirmed this, after that recent battle I was utterly terrified.

Undeniably, my mentality had changed. That cave was indeed eerily horrifying, but after wandering through it I emerged relatively unscathed. But this world 10,000 years ago was different - seemingly peaceful on the surface yet harboring deadly threats. I almost lost my life!

How could I dare stay here any longer to verify my guesses? The Light God was no joke.

"It's not that simple to go back..."

Unexpectedly, Adrian was unwilling to take my suggestion. Waving his hand in vexation midway, he abruptly stopped speaking. Then suddenly, as if remembering something, he looked up sharply at the sky.

Although those angels were dead, the brilliant light enveloping the sky above didn't dissipate, even showing signs of intensifying.

This situation seemed ominous, reminding me of something I'd seen before.

"We'll catch up later, follow me quickly!"

He said no more, beckoning for us to follow as he took the lead, guiding everyone along the deserted street towards the village buildings.

"Is he the last person we need to find?"

Ron came up beside me, confused. "Since the target has appeared, why don't we just leave this place?"

"He must have his reasons for not rushing us. Let's just follow and see!"

I absolutely trusted Adrian. Plus the increasingly brilliant light overhead gave me an ominous feeling, so I naturally couldn't just turn back to look for the exit.

The village wasn't big, but there were quite a few simple houses. Surprisingly, despite the angels' appearance earlier, many villagers were still roaming outside instead of taking shelter indoors, completely oblivious to our group - very strange.

When we arrived at a rare two-story building, the overhead light had intensified to an undeniable degree.

"Quick!"

Adrian quickened his pace, rushing ahead to open the house's big door and urging everyone inside.

"You're back, what's the situation out there? Have those so-called Apostles arrived?"

Just as we entered, a middle-aged woman wearing thick glasses came downstairs, likely alerted by the door's sound as she greeted Adrian.

Who is this lady?

"It's fine, I found some companions who entered the cave and arrived here like us, but the 'Judgment' is about to begin!"

Adrian nodded casually in response.

"Are your preparations done?"

"Of course, I finished that ages ago! Is it coming?"

The middle-aged woman immediately looked extremely excited upon hearing this, merely glancing at my six wings before losing interest, her attention fully drawn outside as she kept craning her neck to look out.

"The brightness has indeed increased quite a bit since earlier. Looks like you were right again..."

"What's coming?"

Ron couldn't help but ask in confusion. Although he had just lost his superior, after a period of grief he had regained his spirit - befitting of a Star Glory knight with strong mental fortitude.

"Whose house is this?"

Vivianne frowned slightly, looking around at the cluttered interior.

"You'll find out soon..."

Adrian glanced at the two of them but didn't elaborate further. He seemed somewhat weary, but still patiently instructed:

"Besides Feliciana, everyone must not go upstairs. And it's best to cover these windows with some cloth!"

He went into another room and came back holding a bedsheet, which he promptly started tearing and hanging over the windows.

The windows already had basic curtains, but with an additional bedsheet layer, the room instantly became much darker.

"Let me help you!"

Though unclear on the situation, Vivianne could sense its importance from Adrian's demeanor and joined in without hesitation.

"What do you have upstairs?"

There were only two windows, leaving no space for me to assist. However, having seen Liana's memories, I could vaguely guess what he was referring to. As I went upstairs to look - sure enough, a thick layer of mud and sand covered the second floor.

So what we were about to face was...

Just as we finished covering the windows, the brightness outside suddenly intensified. Even through the bedsheet layer, the dazzling light was overwhelmingly radiant.

"Is this a lethal dose of light elements? How exciting!"

Though the blinding light didn't allow her to open her eyes, the middle-aged woman exclaimed excitedly, sounding like a lunatic.