NOVEL WEB Ch. 122
Chapter 122: Red-Level Mission Rewards
"Roar—"
The Skeletal Dragon, naturally possessing immense power against spiritual entities, emitted a roar imbued with draconic might, which further weakened the Darksun Apostle, whose form now consisted of nothing more than a flickering Soulfire.
"You’ll never catch me!"
No longer crazed like in the beginning, the Darksun Apostle now sounded more desperate than anything, his fierce tone failing to hide his inner weakness.
"Roar—"
Another thunderous roar followed. Under the command of Anthony-Rook, the Skeletal Dragon—having gained sentience—didn't give the enemy any room to speak.
A single breath of undead flame sent the Darksun Apostle’s Soulfire staggering.
Next, a gaping maw lunged forth.
With Lucia Heigel's Mercury Seal in place, the Darksun Apostle’s Soulfire was nearly devoured entirely.
"Ah—"
A wretched scream rang out. Caught in the aftermath, Janna’s body suffered localized distortion due to the sonic contamination emitted by the Darksun Apostle.
"The power of contamination this Apostle commands is at least a hundred times stronger than normal Darksun Contamination. Even under the protection of the purification barrier and auditory suppression, he could still pollute me with just the shriek of his Soulfire."
From her position at the battlefield’s edge, Janna observed that the Darksun Apostle’s combat strength wasn’t particularly impressive. However, the shield he cast and his ability to corrupt others with mere sound were truly repulsive.
After sustained assault from two full-fledged First Tier Wizards, only then was his barrier finally broken. Coupled with the Darksun Apostle's [Revival] trait, Janna came to understand just how difficult he was to kill.
"Huff—"
Just as Janna became distracted, a sudden gust struck.
As the barrier laid by the Celestial Finch shattered, Janna's body was hit by a dark wind, freezing her in place.
"Possession—"
"You’re absolutely right. Serving Darksun is your honor."
Her thoughts paused briefly.
Watching the two Wizards still besieging that fake "Soulfire" not far away, Janna understood—
All the Apostle's hysteria had merely been a prelude to seizing her body.
"Don’t worry. I’ll let you die peacefully—"
"Is that so?"
A faint smirk formed at the corner of her lips. Although the situation was somewhat off from Janna’s predictions, the general development still followed the script.
Buzz—
A flash of silver-white light burst from Janna’s eyes. In an instant, she activated her A-level talent—【Spirit Phase Travel】.
"Snap—"
Just as the Darksun Apostle's soul was about to enter her body, Janna, now in spirit form, swung a long whip, lashing it violently onto the Apostle.
"You— You’re a Soul Wizard!"
"No. I’m just a trap waiting for you to bite."
What did that mean?
"Finally, I've got you—"
A persistent voice echoed once more from behind the Darksun Apostle.
As he turned to react, a transparent crystal orb erupted from the ground behind him.
"How dare you!?"
Without granting him any chance to struggle, the orb radiated dazzling light.
The Darksun Apostle’s Soulfire was instantly sealed inside.
"You did well."
Retracting the crystal orb that now contained the Apostle’s Soulfire into his Interdimensional Storage Pouch, Anthony-Rook looked at Janna with unmistakable satisfaction.
"That was all thanks to the Headmaster's foresight—"
A few hours ago, when Janna landed on Anthony-Rook in her Rook form, the unique fluctuation in her soul immediately caught his attention.
With a brief probe, Anthony-Rook discovered that Janna possessed the extremely rare A-level talent—【Spirit Phase Travel】.
This surprise allowed Anthony-Rook to swiftly devise a plan to "capture alive" the Darksun Apostle.
At the heart of the plan was Janna’s 【Spirit Phase Travel】 talent, combined with Anthony-Rook’s deep understanding of the Darksun Apostle.
The rough plan had been in motion ever since the two entered the Shadow Rift:
Anthony-Rook pre-placed a soul alert barrier around Janna;
He buried a Soul Sealing Crystal near the edge of the barrier in advance;
He leveraged the Skeletal Dragon’s racial advantage to weaken the Apostle’s Soulfire. Even if something went wrong, Janna’s talent would prevent possession.
It was this somewhat risky three-step plan that allowed Anthony-Rook to truly capture the "Darksun Apostle" alive. And in doing so, he obtained a top-grade material for soul experiments.
"Janna Roland—I've taken note of you. You’ll be credited for this mission, and I’ll compensate you afterward."
"You truly are a generous wizard!"
Good talent, courageous, clever, and even had a sweet mouth.
From a holistic standpoint, this quick-witted female apprentice could easily outshine any peer in Turin.
What surprised Anthony-Rook even more was that, although they hadn’t interacted much before, this apprentice didn’t seem unfamiliar to him even in his soul-weakened state.
"Could it be Extraordinary Charisma?"
"A human with Extraordinary Charisma?"
He pondered silently but quickly dismissed the idea.
Even though this apprentice had high Charisma, there remained an intangible barrier separating her from reaching the threshold of "Extraordinary".
"Could she be from the [Witch Cult]? But that group of bewitching witches shouldn’t reach such high Charisma values at the apprentice level—"
Rubbing his temples in thought, Anthony-Rook gave up investigating further.
Regardless of Janna’s true identity, in Anthony-Rook’s eyes, she was an apprentice of White Coral Academy—
A gifted student who might one day bring immense honor and resources to the Academy—
"System, open the quest interface."
Unlike the speculative Anthony-Rook beside her, Janna couldn’t wait. She lowered her gaze and immediately opened the System Quest Panel.
[Main Quest: Seek out and eliminate the remnants of the Darksun Church (Completed);
Quest Rating: A-level;
Quest Rewards: Talent EXP +1000, Skill EXP +4000, Constitution +0.5, Luck +0.1, Insight into the Law of Purification *1;]
Seeing the red text on the Quest Panel, Janna couldn’t help but pause.
Besides the newly added “Quest Rating,” the increase in two stats and the shimmering, never-before-seen “Insight into the Law of Purification” reward filled her with immense joy in that moment.