The Paladin in the Abyss

Another flash of sword light suddenly brightened, and the Succubus, unguarded against this sudden change, was a bit slow to retract a tentacle, which Lancelot directly slashed off at the sharp end, causing her to scream in pain and leap backward abruptly.

The combat had been too fierce just now, with Lancelot's wide and sweeping sword moves covering all the space within seven feet of him, preventing Bruto from stepping forward to help.

Kalalin and Alamir also found it difficult to lock onto the target with their spells due to Lancelot's close entanglement with the enemy, fearing they might accidentally hurt their teammates and thus hesitated to cast.

Now, as the Succubus moved away in pain, the two immediately threw out the spells they had prepared for a long time.

Although it was Kalalin's first encounter with a Succubus, he was familiar with such demons from legends (for well-known reasons, anything related to Succubi was a hot research topic among scholars).

He knew well that Succubi possessed high spell resistance, and at his current level, the probability that his magic would be resisted was higher than two-thirds, so instead of casting offensive spells at the Succubus, he chose to cast enhancement spells on Lancelot.

He unfurled a scroll and hurriedly recited a series of spells. Magic power was drawn by him through the Magic Net, flowing through the Arcane Runes on the scroll, which gently quivered as if ready to fly off the surface of the parchment at any moment.

Kalalin pointed his finger at Lancelot and uttered the last word of the spell, and suddenly, a blue light appeared out of nowhere above Lancelot and then surged into his body.

This was a Third Circle Haste Spell, significantly enhancing the recipient's attack and movement speed. Kalalin, seeing Lancelot's intent to engage the enemy, and aware of how dreadful the Succubus was, hesitated not a moment to use his once-daily capability of the Third Circle spell, casting the most suitable auxiliary spell for the situation.

Alamir's approach was much more straightforward. As a Priest of the Domain of Life, he had little combat experience. Moreover, his repertoire of offensive Divine Arts was quite limited, except for a zero-circle Divine Art common to all priests of good alignment: the Holy Fire Technique.

Although it's called the Holy Fire Technique, it causes Radiant Damage, and most Fiends from the lower planes are either completely immune to fire damage or highly resistant to it, but they cannot resist this type of damage.

A novice priest's casting of Holy Fire Technique had about the same effect as swinging a longsword, while a top-tier priest summoning Holy Flame had power comparable to the legendary Holy Sword. The effect of the Holy Fire Technique depended on the priest's Divine Art ability, which in turn was sourced from the depth of the priest's faith in their deity.

Mere verbal praise would not significantly enhance a priest's Divine Art ability (of course, if shouted loud enough, it might indeed attract divine attention, but this might not always be beneficial).

To obtain stronger Divine Art abilities, a priest must demonstrate long-term, physical commitment, striving to expand their deity's influence in the Mortal Realm. Methods include but aren't limited to: acting according to the deity's teachings, developing more followers, combating the deity's enemies, executing the deity's plans, etc.

But fundamentally, the core purpose is always to make the deity's Divine office more important and widespread across the Multiverse which directly impacts the deity's own divine power.

In a sense, priests are like sales representatives – the greater the contributions a priest makes to their deity, the stronger their Divine Art abilities. However, priests have heartfelt devotion to the product they represent—be it a deity or an ideology (otherwise, they couldn't be priests at all).

This notion might sound somewhat profane, but it is indeed the fact. Even deities have their limits, albeit these limits are far beyond what mortals can imagine. Deities cannot personally attend to everything; to promote (or defend) their faith, they must rely on mortal proxies, thus the relationship.

Of course, from a pragmatic viewpoint, untested devotion isn't very reliable. Other than observing a follower's actual behavior, there aren't many good ways for deities to measure the steadfastness of faith.

Alamir was certainly not a novice priest. In fact, during his ten years as a slave in the Succubus Palace, his faith in the Lady of Love never wavered, and he consistently upheld the Goddess's requirements to her followers in his daily "work".

This allowed his Divine Art abilities not only to remain strong but also to grow stronger. Upon regaining the opportunity to pray to the Goddess, he was immediately granted a Third Circle Divine Art, a clear testament to his capabilities.

A searing beam of light struck the unsuspecting Succubus, eliciting another agonized scream from the demon.

"Priest!"

The Succubus bellowed with rage. The quasi-divine abilities of this kind of demon enabled them to impersonate divine office holders, but it came with a vulnerability to divine arts, making the Succubi particularly susceptible to influence from priests and holy warriors, laying their identities bare.

But her troubles were not over yet; a rapidly spinning hammer, carrying immense force, hurtled toward her. Barely turning her head in time, the hammer grazed past her face and struck a large pile of Gold Coins, creating a delightful clinking sound as the coins collided.

Although she wasn't hit directly, the left side of the Succubus's face swelled as if she had been harshly slapped. Find adventures at empire

What kind of damnable Succubus uses a bloody hammer as a weapon?

In the blink of an eye, this thought flashed through her mind, and she instinctively looked in the direction from which the hammer had come.

Bruto, who had just completed his throw, hadn't yet managed to retract his arm when the cloth mask slipped from his face.

The red-bearded face of the Succubus was fully captured in her sight.

In the heat of battle, her mind went through a brief, complete non-magical blank.

Facing an opponent like Lancelot, even a momentary lapse could be fatal. The Human Knight, under the effect of a Haste Spell, instantly closed in on the Succubus. Glacier and Frostslash intersected, swinging horizontally and vertically at her.

Thanks to the four tentacles growing from her back, the Succubus propelled herself backwards in a defiance of common sense at the last moment, avoiding being cleaved in two. She flew backwards again, a deep gash from her left shoulder to her thigh, as copious amounts of blood sprayed into the air.

Lancelot hadn't expected the Succubus's agility to be of this caliber; his sure-kill strike failed to eliminate his opponent, slowing his pursuit momentarily.

The Succubus was likewise a veteran in battle. The demon's constitution allowed her to ignore the excruciating pain of her grievous wounds, seizing this brief opportunity.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Still airborne, she swiftly recited a spell and cast a life-saving healing spell on herself, then crashed into a small mountain of Gold Coins at the other end of the vault.