Yuri immediately activated her dormant ability, Impulse.
The Priest’s grip tightened around the empty blade, and Yuri’s body flashed past his arm. She appeared several meters away and caught her sword as it fell, her expression remaining calm despite the close call.
Andrea was already moving again.
She rushed forward and struck the Priest’s chest with her blade, then followed with a second slash across his shoulder. The first attack cracked several scales while the second cut through them completely, drawing a thin line of blood.
The Priest roared, his body suddenly twisted, and the air around him erupted.
A wave of freezing wind exploded outward, forcing Andrea to cross her arms as she was pushed backwards. Yuri dug her blade into the snow to stop herself from being thrown away.
The Priest stood in the centre of the storm, his blue scales glistening beneath the sunlight.
For the first time, Andrea’s expression became slightly more serious. "Did he get a dormant ability?".
Yuri flashed next to Andrea.
"His rank should still be Dormant. The addition of an ability doesn’t change much," Andrea said coldly.
The Priest punched in their direction. A small swirling storm of wind manifested around his arm as he threw the punch, but the moment it left his fist, the swirling mass began expanding rapidly. The wind tore across the snow, dragging chunks of ice into its path as it travelled towards them.
Yuri immediately flashed away while Andrea ran straight towards it. She lowered her body and slid beneath the edge of the swirling wind, her boots carving through the snow before she pushed herself forward and attacked the Priest once again.
A loud clanging sound echoed across the battlefield as her blade collided with the scales covering his body. The runes engraved along the weapon vibrated intensely, releasing faint flashes of light as they attempted to tear through the Priest’s defense, but the scales held firm.
Andrea frowned.
Since entering the Tower, she had learned that artifacts with runes engraved into them were almost always superior when it came to damaging powerful creatures. Their strength came from the runes themselves, allowing them to bypass defenses that ordinary weapons couldn’t even scratch.
Yet the Priest’s scales were repelling them with relative ease.
Andrea couldn’t help but wonder what kind of creature could possess flesh capable of resisting them.
She suddenly twisted her body and performed a quick somersault over the Priest’s arm before driving her heel into the side of his face. The impact snapped his head sideways, but the Priest merely growled and swung his fist down at her.
Andrea crossed her blade above her head.
The Priest’s fist slammed into the weapon and forced her down into the snow, but before he could follow up, Yuri appeared behind him.
Her black blade swept through the air in a smooth curve and struck the back of his neck.
Several faint marks appeared across the blue scales, but they remained intact.
The Priest turned around.
His eyes widened as Yuri had already disappeared again.
He brought both fists down against the ground.
A violent whirlwind erupted around him, expanding into a miniature tornado that swallowed everything nearby. Andrea was forced backwards while Yuri’s feet left the ground, her body being thrown several meters through the snow before she twisted in midair and landed on her feet.
The cold was different this time.
It wasn’t simply the freezing temperature of the wasteland. The wind itself carried a strange chill that seeped through their clothing and penetrated their bodies, sending shivers down their spines and making their muscles feel heavier.
The Priest emerged from the centre of the swirling snow, his blue scales glistening as the wind continued moving around his body.
"Do you understand now?" he said, his voice carrying through the storm. "The flesh of a god has granted me dominion over the blizzard itself... not even the chief could hope to oppose me now".
Andrea pointed her blade at the Priest.
"You’re still nowhere near as powerful as the Chief. I suggest you grow a little bigger before you consider mutiny."
The Priest brought his head down. "You won’t be alive to see my rise."
Yuri appeared a distance behind him. "Didn’t the Chief’s Awakened Ability give you your intelligence? How can you even think of betraying him?"
He glanced back at her, but for a long moment, he didn’t say a word. That was because the Priest genuinely wasn’t sure why he wanted to betray the Chief. The Ability Dominion should dominate his consciousness and keep his loyalty firmly attached to the Chief.
And yet, after consuming the blue scale, he felt as if his soul had developed its own intelligence. It was difficult to explain. His thoughts felt different, as though something inside him had finally begun thinking independently instead of simply following the will that had been placed within him.
The blue scale was something the Chief had handed to him. He had always had an inkling that it was special, but he had never actually dared to try consuming it. Even while carrying it, some instinct had warned him that whatever power was contained inside it was far beyond his understanding.
But now that he was far away from the Chief, and the Chief had expressly commanded him to win at all costs, his desire to consume the scale had strangely amplified. He could almost feel something awakening inside his mind with every passing moment.
And now, he felt like an independent being from the Chief.
He loved it.
"I now answer directly to the God of the Storm and Blizzard. Surely I have been elevated as a Divine Priest, with the ascendance of Godhood to support my claim."
Yuri raised a brow.
"You don’t have to pretend. The Chief is a horrible boss and you want to be your own boss. I certainly know a guy that would support you and your claim, although I don’t think he would fancy you calling yourself a god."
"Tsk."
The Priest’s face grimaced as Damien’s image flashed through his mind.