Kane charged at Nova, gripping both giant cws together, and smmed them into the ground beneath Nova's feet. Nova immediately dodged with a side roll, but then numerous bone thorns erupted from the ground around her, piercing Nova's feet.

  Then, the long whips that had grown from Kane's back shed out at Nova. The terrifying sound of air being torn apart was like a death knell.

  Nova immediately summoned a shadow wall to block one of the whips, while the other one drilled into the ground, emerging from below to strike Nova's face. Nova quickly created a small shadow shield. 'Bang!' The shield deflected the bded whip that had ambushed her from underground. But after being blocked, the whip's bde immediately rotated, revealing a reverse bde attached to the back. This reverse bde viciously hooked into the shoulder of her severed right arm, piercing into Nova's bone.

  Nova used a shadow knife to try and cut the whip's body, but it got stuck halfway. The core inside was actually made of hard bone segments connected together. And Nova felt the whip tightening, trying to pull her in.

  Nova immediately used a shadow knife to cut off her shoulder flesh along with a piece of bone, sacrificing that part of her body to the whip.

  "Very brave, little girl." Kane was starting to get tired, breathing heavily. Nova quickly retreated until she was out of reach of the whip, then switched to the Healing Flower.

  The Healing Flower's effect activated. Nova's bleeding wounds healed at a visible rate, quickly returning to normal. Nova, on the other hand, gasped for breath. The previous bleeding and fighting had exhausted her.

  "What? Healing magic? How can you use two different types of magic?" Kane was very confused. Then he looked at the flower pinned to Nova's chest. "A magical item? When did you take it out?"

  "You can pay for a consultation. One shining gold coin per question," Nova said, catching her breath. "Or you can let me leave, and I'll give you a monthly free consultation."

  "Is that so? Then never mind. These questions aren't that important to me," Kane replied, having recovered somewhat. Then his body started to creak.

  'This guy's body is heavily protected, and he's very familiar with shadow magic. I can't defeat him head-on. But he's using up a lot of magic power, and he can't maintain this form for too long. If I can hold him off for a while, there's a chance to escape.' Nova considered the current situation and countermeasures. 'If it were just me and him, it would be fine, but my biggest worry right now is...'

  "Hey, Kane, why haven't you dealt with this 1200 shining gold coin bounty yet?" A voice came from afar, and then a man standing on two floating red crystals slowly descended from the sky. "I spent another 20 blue silver coins to hurry here."

  Nova knew that her biggest fear had come true. The Blessed of the Wealth Church had arrived.

  "Lord Brad, I think I need your help. This girl has a magical item with healing effects, and it's difficult for me to handle her alone," Kane honestly expined his situation.

  "What! A magical item with healing effects!" The Blessed Brad was stunned, then started calcuting profits. "If we put something like that up for auction, even after those greedy merchants take their fees and the exchange charges its commission, we can still make at least 700 shining gold coins! So, with a seventy-thirty split, I can get 490 shining gold coins!"

  "Oh my GOD, then you're the 1690 gold coin dy," Brad said, his eyes filled with excitement and greed. Then he stretched out his arm, opened his palm, and countless crystals of various colors emerged from his hand.

  "Come on, 1690 gold coin dy. Be good, and completely become the shining gold coins in my account, before I spend another 10 gold coins." As soon as Brad finished speaking, the various crystals sprouted transparent wings, emitted intense light, and fired at Nova.

  Nova had no time to dodge. She immediately enveloped her entire body in bck shadow. The crystal projectiles bombarded her, and the intense explosions were like a destructive fireworks dispy, bsting the surrounding trees into burning debris and creating countless craters in the ground.

  'I can't hold on much longer.' Nova felt that even with the full protection of shadow magic, her body still felt the throbbing pain from the explosive impacts. The shadow barrier was becoming thinner with each explosion.

  "30 crystals have been fired. That's twelve dazzling purple coins. Kane, attack!" Brad shouted after the bombardment.

  Nova, having endured the barrage, felt pain all over. Then she saw the Beast Kane raise his giant cws and strike.

  "Ugh!" Nova used a shadow shield to block the attack, then immediately saw a fsh of light from the Blessed Brad's position. Several beams of energy shot towards Nova. One of them grazed her lower abdomen, burning a gash on her side. She smelled the scent of her own roasting flesh. The beams that missed her pierced through a row of trees behind her, and some of the trees began to burn.

  The giant cws didn't stop. They plunged into the ground beneath Nova's feet, and countless bone spikes popped up from the ground. Nova jumped up to block them, but immediately, the energy beams and crystal bombs from the Blessed Brad fired at Nova! The intense and terrifying barrage was almost impossible for Nova to resist, and she was bsted away, crashing into a rge tree.

  Nova coughed up blood and fell to the ground. Her head was buzzing, and her eyes and ears seemed to go on strike, briefly blinding and deafening her. Her whole body was shaking.

  Before she even had time to switch to the Healing Flower, Nova's instinct made her use the st of her strength to deploy a shadow shield. A giant crystal with transparent six wings smmed into Nova. Upon contact with the shadow shield, it unleashed an incredibly intense and dazzling light, like a small sun in the night. Then, it detonated in a terrifying explosion. Trees within a 20-meter radius were instantly pulverized and vanished, while trees within a 50-meter radius were reduced to ashes and charcoal. Trees within a 100-meter radius were set abze. The crystal bomb had cleared a rge area!

  When the smoke from the explosion dissipated, a figure emerged at the center. To be precise, it was a humanoid charcoal figure. This was Nova, barely surviving the massive explosion. Her entire body was charred bck, and bck, congealed burns slowly oozed blood. Her hair was burnt away. A crystal y fallen on the ground. It was one she had hidden inside her clothes. Now, her clothes were in tatters, revealing blood and bone beneath her burnt skin.

  "Haha, including this rge crystal, it only cost me 8 shining gold coins, plus 10 dazzling purple coins, and 20 blue silver coins." The Blessed Brad ughed loudly. His fingers were constantly calcuting, as if he were already counting his prize money. Right now, he showed no signs of fatigue.

  "And that shard of the Bsphemer is indeed on her. Kane, go capture the 1690 gold coin dy. We're going to be rich!"

  "Yes, sir, Mr. Brad." Kane finished speaking and walked towards Nova, strolling casually.

  And Nova couldn't hear their conversation anymore, because her ears were completely burned. She could barely keep her eyes open, only managing to stay conscious with great effort. Right now, her brain felt nothing but pain.

  'Am I going to die?' Nova thought. 'Mitty, not only did I fail to protect you, but I'm also going to die so soon. Mitty would be so sad if she saw me like this. And I didn't even eat a single cake for Mitty. If I die like this, what will I say to Mitty?' Nova's thoughts raced quickly, as if time had stopped. Suddenly, she felt the world become incredibly bright, as if she had entered a realm of light.

  'Is this the afterlife? Am I going to meet Mitty?' Nova accepted her impending death. 'Then I'll just die like this, even though I...' 'I'm still a bit unwilling,' Nova thought. She didn't know what she was unwilling about. Unwilling that she couldn't deliver the man's package? Unwilling that she couldn't fulfill Mitty's wish to 'eat lots of cake for me'?

  "Swallow that shard," a girl's voice seemed to echo in Nova's mind. 'Who is it?' Nova wondered, then she tried to speak. 'Mitty, is that you?' But in reality, Nova only opened her mouth. Her throat was completely burned, even leaking air.

  "Swallow that shard," this time Nova could even faintly see a slender hand pointing in a direction. This time, Nova didn't hesitate. Although she couldn't see anything, she still opened her mouth wide and bit in that direction.

  She bit into the shard the blue-skinned man had given her! 'Devour... Activate!'