Let's rewind time a bit.

Liens swiftly led Isabelle and the other four to Glen Village. Along the way, he erased the 'killing intent' generated by their actions and concealed their aura to prevent Antonio from detecting them.

They then split into two groups: Liens went to intercept the Evil God Antonio, while Isabelle and the others dealt with the infected villagers.

This approach would not only save the villagers but also weaken the Evil God's supply, allowing Liens, as the main force, to better contend with the Evil God's true form.

"Sigh~"

Alec sighed as he watched the villagers, whose bodies mutated and wailed continuously when stimulated by the Holy Light.

He knew this meant the villagers were deeply infected, and even if the corruption on them could be removed, it would inevitably leave significant sequelae.

Even if they survived, their future lives would likely be much harder than normal people's.

They had arrived too late.

Though he pitied the villagers, Alec did not stop the output of his divine art due to soft-heartedness. The light element in his hand transformed into purifying Holy Light, sprinkling onto every infected villager.

The gentle Holy Light was like a scorching sun in the eyes of the mutating villagers, burning every inch of their skin.

That pain made them wail uncontrollably, but the suffering did not come from their physical bodies; it came from the struggle and resistance of the corruption within their souls.

Their wails did not represent pain but rather angry roars, the resistance of the corruption controlling their bodies against the Holy Light's purification.

However, no matter how angry it was, it could not change the reality that it could only be angry.

Beams of light containing the power of restraint firmly bound all infected villagers in the square to their original positions.

Additionally, three Holy Knights on the outer perimeter of the square stood in a triangular formation. The light power on their bodies resonated with each other, forming a triangular prism-shaped light barrier that surrounded the square to prevent the spread and escape of the corruption.

Two Bishops, three Second-Tier Holy Knights.

This level of combat power was definitely considered a saturation-style cleanup operation for an incident involving only over two hundred infected individuals.

Normally, for an infection of this scale, the participation of one Bishop would already be considered very serious.

However, since this incident involved the Evil God's true form, even knowing Liens's existence, the Church did not want the operation to fail due to carelessness.

Therefore, even though the combat power of these infected villagers was not very strong, Alec and the others dared not relax in the slightest.

They purified the corruption with Holy Light while remaining vigilant for any unexpected occurrences.

"Hmm?"

Isabelle saw an infected villager, whose body had already swollen into a flesh monster, break free from the light beam's restraint.

She initially thought the Evil God on the other side had made a move and was about to strengthen the restraint, but then she saw the flesh monster kneel before her.

It kowtowed incessantly, constantly emitting roars that ordinary people could not understand. Strangely, she seemed to perceive a plea from those incomprehensible roars.

She did not know what it was pleading for, and to avoid any mishaps, she restrained it again.

It perhaps realized that the sounds it made could not be understood, so it stopped shouting, ignored the pain brought by the Holy Light, and slowly, word by word, uttered its final plea.

"Please… you… spare… Glen… Village…"

"Please… you…"

The sound was very difficult to produce and still hard to discern, but Isabelle and the others, who had been focused on this anomalous individual, clearly understood what it wanted to express.

Isabelle looked at Alec, asking how to handle such a situation.

Alec fell silent, then solemnly assured the person, "We will do our best to carry out the rescue. As long as there is hope for survival, we will never give up."

Upon hearing this, those bloodshot eyes, filled with blood and madness, seemed to show a look of relief. It gave up struggling and calmly awaited its destined fate.

"This is a respectable person. Let him go… Having been directly granted power by the Evil God, the corruption is rooted deeply, leaving no possibility of salvation."

"According to Liens's plan, the Evil God should have already detected our actions by now."

Alec said.

He took one last look at the person calmly awaiting death, as if he saw a strong soul within that monstrous body.

Without further words, the Holy Light in his hand emitted a dazzling glow, transforming into an object of destruction, instantly annihilating the body and purifying the corruption within it.

"May your soul receive the protection of Heavenly Light."

Alec silently prayed for this, then refocused on the other infected villagers.

At this point, Alec and the others were treating the infected villagers. The purifying Holy Light would gradually intensify, and those whose bodies had not returned to their original state after reaching a certain limit would indicate no hope of salvation.

Alec and the others sincerely hoped that there wouldn't be too many such people, but they also knew that there couldn't be few, as the Evil God's true form was 'watching' them from not far away.

Antonio gazed solemnly at Liens, who was not far in front of him. He found that no matter what methods he used, they would be severed, unable to affect the purification ritual happening there.

The opponent was like an invisible wall cutting off his connection with that side.

This method made him once again raise his estimation of the person before him and inwardly cursed his bad luck.

Waking up from a long slumber and encountering such a figure before recovering much power was truly not a fortunate event.

He knew he would probably have to expend all the power he had painstakingly recovered.

Of course, he had no intention of running away before even starting the fight.

Not to mention whether such behavior would affect his current 'host's' Sense of him, he himself was not of that character.

'Tactical retreat' was something he would only do as a last resort, not something he would do every time he encountered a slight threat.

He was a God, not a dog; he couldn't just flee at the slightest provocation.

No matter what, he had to test the depths of the person before him.

Whoosh~

His figure like a bow, his long spear like an arrow, Antonio's figure cut through the void, instantly appearing before Liens.

Sensing that his 'followers,' whom he had spent some power cultivating, were being eliminated, he knew that continuing the stalemate would not yield a better outcome, so he directly took the initiative to attack.

"Clang!"

Liens blocked the sudden attack of the long spear with his sword.

Then, before the impact generated by the sword and spear collision erupted, he transformed it into 'momentum' to amplify his next sword strike, using it to resist Antonio's continuous onslaught.

Clang, clang, clang…

In front of the Divine Statue Hall, two phantom-like figures flashed in and out, constantly intertwining, and the sounds of clashing weapons rang out like a rapid symphony.

Liens's expression was calm. He did not use his true strength but fought Antonio at his normal state.

Now was not the time to exert himself. His goal was to delay, to stall until Alec and the others had dealt with the villagers' infection and led the surviving villagers away from the battlefield.

Only then could he unleash his full power and complete a real battle with this opponent, with whom he had fought countless times before.

Although he had already roughly predicted the outcome of this battle, the necessary process could not be skipped.

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