Golden light surrounded Daniel. He knew that at this point, escape or retreat wasn’t an option.
’Maybe this is actually a good chance to see what this strange power really is,’ he thought to himself and decided to delay the retreat plan for a while.
The priests formed a triangular formation around him, their hands raised, tongues whispering prayers that vibrated the air at high frequency.
Golden chains shot toward him from all directions.
Daniel only glanced at them. With a short step, he moved aside, grabbed the first chain with his arm, twisted it, and with a harsh and merciless motion, threw it back toward its owner.
The priest screamed and was thrown backward, but at the same moment, another appeared behind Daniel.
A fist of light hit Daniel directly in the chest. The impact sounded like cracking stone.
Daniel didn’t move. He just exhaled, then drove his elbow into the priest’s stomach. Bones shattered.
Three more priests appeared in the air using [Holy Step] and simultaneously fired [Judgment Pulse] from above.
Golden energy rained down. The ground beneath Daniel caved in, and a wave of dust rose.
But Daniel emerged from the smoke. Dark lines rippled across his skin, and his eyes gleamed like silver flames.
He raised his hand, but not to attack. A faint tremor of the Law of the Moon spread through the air, so subtle it couldn’t be seen, but it altered the gravitational flow around him.
The priests’ beams of light bent off course. One of them struck another priest directly, sending him crashing from the sky.
"Damn it!"
One of the priests shouted and traced a glowing symbol of light on the ground, while the others gathered around him.
[Radiant Domain] activated.
An aura of light spread out in a hundred-meter radius, suppressing the darkness inside Daniel’s body. For the first time, Daniel felt heaviness.
The priests used [Light Resonance] to merge their energy, and above their heads, a massive shield began to form.
From within the shield, a spear of light burst forth with a howling sound, [Solar Strike].
Daniel didn’t dodge. The skills these priests used somewhat reminded him of that monster he had faced inside the tomb.
He raised his right hand, redirected the trajectory with his left arm, and caught the spear.
Energy surged through his body, splitting the ground beneath his feet, but he didn’t move back. Using that same force, he spun the spear and hurled it toward the sky.
In an instant, another explosion echoed across the heavens. Light and darkness collided so violently that it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.
The priests staggered back. One coughed up blood.
Another was panting heavily, his hand trembling.
But Daniel still stood straight, not a trace of exhaustion on his face.
"It’s not over yet, monster!" The old woman who had healed Drael earlier that day shouted in fury, as if angered by the contemptuous expression on his face.
At that moment, all the priests began chanting a spell that shook the air.
The golden light around them turned into pure white. The ground cracked, space stretched like fabric, and the pressure grew so intense that even Daniel took a step back.
The air itself made the sound of breaking glass.
The priests’ golden light reached its peak, but within that brilliance, a shadow moved silently.
It stepped forward and, in the next moment, vanished. The sound of bones breaking came from behind one of the priests.
Before he could even scream, his body was thrown through the air and smashed into the ground.
"What—?!" The second priest turned his head, but all he saw was a dark fist emerging from the light, slamming into his face.
The golden light around him shattered like glass.
The remaining priests screamed and swung their chains through the air using [Solar Chain].
Dozens of radiant chains shot toward Daniel, but instead of defending, he moved forward.
The chains coiled around his body. The golden light sizzled against his skin, the smell of burning flesh filled the air.
But Daniel only looked at them calmly... then his muscles tensed, and all the chains snapped with a sharp crack.
"What—?! Impossible!" the high-ranking priest shouted.
Before they could chant again, Daniel used the Law of the Moon to create a gravitational wave around himself.
The direction of force suddenly shifted. All the priests spun in the air, up and down reversed, and they lost control.
Daniel seized the moment. In an instant, he appeared before the third priest and slammed his palm into his chest.
The priest’s golden light exploded, and his body fell like a meteor.
One of the priests screamed,
"Radiant Domain—open it! Now!"
But before he could finish shouting, Daniel spun swiftly and appeared behind him.
He wrapped his hand around the priest’s neck, calmly, without anger, and then squeezed.
The sound of snapping bones faded quietly within the light.
The glow around them began to fade.
The priests were gasping for breath. Their robes torn, faces burned, and the golden light surrounding their bodies flickered weakly. You could even see fear in their eyes.
Daniel stood in the air, blood dripping from his fingers.
But his eyes were calm, like someone finishing a daily exercise.
"In the name of God, [Divine Shackles]!" the priests shouted together.
Thick golden chains burst from the ground and wrapped around Daniel.
For a moment, it seemed they had actually caught him. The light was so bright that even his shadow disappeared.
But then the air froze. The light trembled.
A faint sound spread through the space, a whisper that resembled death.
Daniel’s eyes turned pitch black. Lines of gray energy flowed across his skin.
The golden chains decayed one after another, turning to dust.
All light within several dozen meters faded. The priests felt something crushing their chests, their life force weakening.
Their faces turned gray, their lips trembling.
But just before Daniel could strike the final blow, he suddenly felt something.
The space had grown heavier. He narrowed his eyes.
High above the sky, a golden network of intertwined magic lines appeared. It looked like the Grand Priest was secretly interfering.
He didn’t want to take any risks. He gave one last look at the priests.
The silver moon shone behind the clouds, and gravity broke at a single point. The air pressure shifted, and Daniel vanished with a single leap.
The light returned. The priests floated in the air, panting heavily.
Several were wounded, some unconscious, and one of them coughed and said,
"He... he escaped..."
A few of the priests tried to chase after him, but an old voice echoed from inside the temple.
"Enough. Let him go."