CHAPTER 564: CHAPTER 384: SAIN HAS NO IF LINE

"Huh?"

Seeing the scattered golden armor on the ground, Elsa’s expression was one of astonishment.

Never in her life could she have imagined that the first place she would see this set of armor outside the Painting World of Yanor Londo would be in such a form.

The familiar brass hue, identical patterns on the armor—could it be...

No, no, no, she hurriedly shook her head, thinking that the other party was the Fireproof Woman stationed at Yanor Londo, and a Fireproof Woman never leaves the bonfire, right? How could she be here in Yilushier?

Clearly, these two places don’t even border each other!

Next to the warm-feeling Yanor Londo couldn’t possibly be the snow-covered Yilushier, could it?

Maybe this armor belongs to another Dark Moon Knight?

But!

Just thinking about Ceder’s speculations during his presentation, what if Pope Shalivan really led an attack on Yanor Londo and they were forced into a defensive battle?

Then in the chaos, maybe a body ended up here...

Elsa shook her head more vigorously, as if trying to cast out all the chaotic thoughts in her mind.

"Crack!" She twisted her neck.

"Huff, huff..."

Standing where she was, she took several deep breaths, using one hand to rub her neck while tearing a scrap of cloth from a nearby building to collect the scattered brass armor pieces and tightly bound them on her back.

She remembered the Brass Woman always liked to lean against walls, and doing this often would surely cause wear on the armor, so by checking the armor’s wear condition, she might be able to determine its owner.

But Elsa wrapped the armor to carry it because she didn’t want to check closely, even if just to deceive herself a little.

After securing the armor, she didn’t continue to open another grave but turned toward the shortcut leading to the square, heading towards Shalivan’s Great Cathedral.

Her dejected appearance along the way was completely different from the revitalized spirit when she had just left the Painting World, as if she were a different person. Upon reflection, her good mood had barely lasted for half a day before ending.

How could such a wretched person exist in the world?

"What am I even doing..."

Walking along, she suddenly sighed and hammered a fist on the wall, causing the whole underground passage to tremble.

"They are residual shadows, which means they disappeared from history long ago. Now I’ve just discovered some potentially related armor; why am I getting so disheartened?"

She hammered the wall again, the passage teetering.

The adventurer’s handbook published who knows how many years ago has a rule: residual shadows are reflections of the past. When interacting with them in the dungeon, you can empathize, but absolutely should not truly invest emotions.

Someone once fell in love with a residual shadow; it was doomed to end in heartache. When the shadow disappeared, the person went completely mad.

"Thud!"

The wall was struck hard again, and Elsa suddenly clenched her teeth, her delicate face twisted into a grimace.

Even knowing that the shadows had faded, she still hoped for a light atmosphere when encountering things related to them, hoped to sigh "that was the best outcome" when knowing their endings, rather than coincidentally and absurdly reuniting with someone she met in a random tomb—without a doubt, with their corpse.

In the days before Sain appeared, even within dungeons steeped in tragedy, adventurers had the chance to alter the shadows’ tragic futures, creating warm and fictional story lines.

But the Sain Dungeon offered no opportunity for adventurers to change tragedy, not even giving the option of an IF storyline in the Painting World—something to offer even the tiniest bit of positive energy!

"Sain..."

Elsa murmured the name of the dungeon under her breath, suddenly understanding why her reaction was so strong: the residual shadows of Yanor Londo were exceedingly real, their expressions of goodwill genuine, and not even a couple hours after leaving the Painting World, she’d potentially found the Brass Woman’s corpse.

How does it feel? Like a friend who was chatting and laughing with you one moment suddenly dies abruptly in front of you!

The Sain Dungeon thrives on such abruptness and unexpected turns!

Elsa let out a laugh of exasperation.

She began to suspect that it was designed for her to find the brass armor in the tomb, that if she hadn’t befriended the Brass Woman, she probably wouldn’t have dug up the armor at all.

"Thud!"

The passage shook violently; she couldn’t stand it anymore and needed to vent.

Her gaze fixed tightly on the exit: Pope Shalivan’s phantom, your blood sacrifice starts now!

Elsa stepped forward with unwavering determination, her fists gripped tightly!

"Crackle—"

The next second, the passage collapsed, burying her anger-charged self underground.

"..."

After an indeterminate amount of time, the dust-covered Elsa appeared at the cathedral’s entrance, using her sleeve to wipe away the blood on her face.

Behind her, all the Pope Knights that formed the "legion" had fallen, instantly dissolving into dust, leaving the square a pristine white.

Did she single-handedly charge through the Pope Knights’ legion!? Such rapid improvement in strength?

She did manage to kill them all, but it wasn’t a reckless rush.

The greatest lesson Elsa learned from Solar was maintaining calm in combat.

```

Ignore the terrifying appearance of the monster, ignore the exhilarating background music, ignore the whistling of the cold wind, and concentrate entirely on designing strategies, on how to kill the enemy. Do not be afraid to waste time; steady and sure actions, minimizing costs to kill the enemy and achieve victory, are the best ways to save time.

She probably won’t act recklessly anymore.

Placing the brass armor at the entrance, she pushed open the doors of the cathedral, the holy and solemn atmosphere hit her face, only to be swallowed by the raging flames, as the boss, [Phantom of Pope Shalivan], appeared here.

When the boss appeared, she just walked slowly forward until the opponent charged at a speed so fast it was like a flash, the Sanction Greatsword shooting out with precision and ferocity, only then did Elsa move.

When she first fought the Phantom of Shalivan long ago, she only felt that this move was too fast to defend against, but now as she sees it.

"Much slower than Ornstein!"

Elsa raised her greatsword to block, as the Sanction Greatsword touched the broad blade, she suddenly exerted force to shake it and changed the position of the greatsword, a miraculous scene appeared, she managed to deflect the attack of the Sanction Greatsword!

It wasn’t a bounce back, just a special defense technique, only usable when observing the battle calmly; she rarely could use this move before as she always fought with surging passion.

The enemy’s attack was diverted, usually people would seize this chance to attack, but the Phantom of Shalivan did not react, it was the perfect time to attack.

Yet Elsa paused for a second, then raised her sword to block again, intercepting the Sin Blade coming from a tricky angle!

If she had launched an attack just now, she’d probably already be impaled by the flaming Sin Blade by now, the Phantom of Shalivan could also feign a weak spot.

Seeing the opponent was not fooled, the phantom simply stopped pretending, immediately unleashing a swift and impenetrable series of cuts.

Dodging and blocking simultaneously, Elsa couldn’t help but internally complain:

Where did it weaken, clearly its raw strength hasn’t changed much compared to before?

She finally found an opportunity to attack, the heavy greatsword cleaved into the Phantom of Shalivan, as if striking a large block of hard diamond, instead her arm was numbed by the reverberation.

Couldn’t cause damage after all! Luluwo, you lied!

Less than a second’s pause, Elsa’s shoulder was slashed, instantly appearing blood-soaked.

When striking her, the Phantom of Shalivan paused for a moment, she immediately seized this opportunity, vigorously swung her sword and struck the phantom.

A full-force blow had an effect, a wound appeared where struck, and something similar to liquid splattered out!

Elsa took another slash, but this time, seeing the Phantom of Shalivan already beginning to rise, she eased the force considerably.

This time again had the sensation of striking something exceedingly hard, leaving not a scratch on the Phantom of Shalivan.

The attack was ineffective, it should be regrettable.

But Elsa suddenly widened her eyes, as if she had discovered something!

Could it be that very classic mechanism...

The battle continued, but she adopted a somewhat odd attack rhythm.

One light, one heavy, repeatedly cycled, hitting random areas, not appearing to aim to deal damage.

Her body collected multiple wounds, some places still burning with Sin Flames, looking quite ridiculous, but her facial expression carried some excitement.

Seems she found how to effectively damage the Phantom of Shalivan’s illusion.

This guy... this guy is immune to weak attacks!

Only powerful moves can damage him, and the damage won’t be reduced, just leaving normal wounds.

No wonder Luluwo said sometimes attacks are effective and sometimes not, turns out it’s because of this.

At this moment, the flaming Sin Blade pierced Elsa, transmitting the flames ruthlessly onto her, her petite figure instantly transforming into the new era Flame Fist.

Phantom of Shalivan flung his arm and Elsa was thrown, flying until she hit the wall and stopped.

Though staying calm during battle is crucial, when the injury is too grave, inevitably one may still be powerless.

From the wounds visible on the Phantom of Shalivan, Elsa might have already depleted a whole fifth of his Life Force by now! Achieved through continuous trial and error!

"Next time, I can do better."

Elsa murmured softly, rolling her body to the cathedral’s door before being enveloped entirely by Sin Flames, tightly hugging the brass armor, then decisively twisted her neck.

People burned by the Sin Fire witness horrifying visions, she wouldn’t want to endure pointless torture here, much better to end it herself.

Today’s battle for her was an attempt, unexpectedly achieving unanticipated results during the attempt.

Given her current spiritual power, estimating that after dying this time she has to return to the Resurrection House for some recovery before coming back.

But it didn’t matter, next time she returns, she certainly wouldn’t be alone!

Not long after, at Lake Lienia.

Having bedded down before midnight after a long time, Luluwo decided she’d sleep soundly this time.

Yet right when she started to conjure sleepiness, almost into dreamland, Tami sent an urgent magical transmission.

"What do you mean the strategy to beat the Phantom of Shalivan has been discovered?"

Awoken, Luluwo initially carried some anger, but upon hearing Tami’s words turned bewildered.

Her morning speech roused people to challenge Shalivan’s Phantom, unexpectedly the strategy was found tonight.

The current adventurers... efficiency is terrifyingly high, isn’t it?

In that instant, Luluwo felt a panic that she might be falling behind the times.