CHAPTER 577: CHAPTER 574: DEFINITELY THE STRONGEST

Whish—

Ronald was whirled through the air by the tentacle for several minutes.

Meanwhile, Catherine, who was in a similar predicament, suddenly made her move.

A strong magic fluctuation emerged around her, and then, the flight of the tentacle abruptly stopped as an invisible force dragged them to the ground.

Upon reaching the ground, the three of them each had their own way of landing.

Once they had steadied themselves, Catherine began explaining without anyone asking:

"I have used a spell to predict, and this is the most suitable landing spot."

"Any further or closer would have made trouble bigger."

Although it was their first official meeting, Bapulor showed no signs of being an outsider, following Catherine’s explanation, he continued to ask:

"We can keep running for a while now, isn’t there a place with absolutely no trouble?"

"..."

"Nice thought, but such a place does not exist."

Catherine raised her eyebrows, then turned her head and tossed a smile Ronald’s way:

"For a Great Wizard in possession of the original scriptures, always thinking of running away is quite a rare trait."

"It’s probably a professional habit..."

Ronald shrugged his shoulders.

In the midst of the previous battle, Bapulor’s decisiveness to flee was certainly incredibly quick. While he was still pondering how to fight, the cult Magician had already completed the actual act of escaping.

And in fact,

This was indeed the most reasonable choice at the time.

Catherine might have been able to hold her own against many, but being detained by several Great Wizards was an undeniable fact; Ronald would not be defeated immediately, but being suppressed by a manufactured deity was also hard to avoid; as for Bapulor himself, the troubles brought by gigantism made certain actions difficult for him.

And choosing to leave?

Both Wizards and manufactured deities would have to consider the civil war within Barrier Mountain; no one would choose to pursue Ronald and the others at such a time.

It was probably thanks to the experience accumulated during the cult Magician’s fleeing career.

Bapulor’s choice was, after all, the right one.

"Hehehe, just a moment."

Sensing Ronald and Catherine’s reactions, the cult Magician smiled, and a special magic fluctuation began to surge in his hands.

In just a few seconds, three masks, the material of which was strikingly similar to human skin, appeared in Bapulor’s hands. As he handed them to the others, he also explained:

"Here, just put them on simply."

"Let’s change our appearances first."

Ronald wasn’t surprised by this, while Catherine’s expression changed the instant she took hers:

"This thing... seems to have abilities beyond just altering appearances, right?"

Bapulor nodded and said with a tone like offering a cell phone with a recharged plan:

"Once you put this on, it can also block the detection of Prophetic Spells, quite suitable for our current use."

"..."

"I think I know what type your companion is now."

After a few seconds of silence, Catherine gave Ronald a subtle smile.

Then she promptly put on the mask, transforming her once beautiful and aggressive face into that of an ordinary onlooker.

On the other side, Ronald and Bapulor did the same.

After putting on their masks, they all changed into completely different appearances from before.

At that moment, Bapulor took a look at Catherine, his eyes focusing on her striking red hair.

He immediately pulled out a potion quite thoroughly:

"Need to dye your hair? Just pour it on?"

Catherine took the potion, shook her head, and tossed her red hair.

Then, with a swift motion, she swung her arm back, cutting her long, tied-up hair into shoulder-length. Next, she poured the potion on, and her hair color changed from bright red to a pure, undiluted black.

Watching Catherine decisively change her appearance in such a manner, Bapulor turned his head to look at Ronald,

"So... what do we do next?"

Facing such a sudden event, coming up with a comprehensive strategy on the spot was not something Ronald could easily do.

So he simply thought aloud while sharing the intelligence he had.

Three heads were definitely better than one for analyzing the situation.

"First off, the unified trend in Barrier Mountain is now definitely unstoppable. In the fight earlier, I sensed the state of that Fake God, and it will continue to grow stronger over time. The probability of a victorious frontal assault is very slim..."

After Ronald finished sharing his intelligence bit by bit, Catherine also started to add the reality she understood,

"I’ve done some predictions before, and some neutral parties such as the Astronomy and Prophetic departments have managed to escape. However, given both of your identities, I think it’s better not to make contact with these people."

"Plus, even if Barrier Mountain suffers severe damage after this battle, their actions to unify forces have certainly been successful. If we were to launch another attack, we’d need to face the Fake God again, as well as several Great Wizards."

Catherine’s analysis stirred Bapulor’s curiosity. He asked the black-haired girl in front of him without thinking,

"Miss, I still don’t know what your strength is like?"

"I saw your fight on the mountainside, and I feel like you were holding back, right?"

Catherine smiled and answered Bapulor’s question with the tone of a declarative sentence,

"I am definitely the strongest Wizard of Barrier Mountain."

"In a one-on-one fight, I would have no trouble handling both of you, and I could hold my own against that Fake God. That’s about the size of it."

Thankfully, this was not the kind of team where such conversations could lead to a life-and-death split.

After Catherine reached such a strong conclusion, Ronald didn’t say anything to dispute it, and Bapulor nodded quite happily,

"Good, I like strong allies the most!"

Then Bapulor turned his head back to Ronald,

"So, what exactly are we going to do?"

Ronald spread his hands with a plea for help in his eyes, returning to Catherine, who claimed to be the strongest on the field,

"You’re a local. Do you have any helpful news?"

"Pfft—"

Catherine’s mouth clearly twitched.

But she suppressed her expression, then combined the newly received intelligence with her predictions once more,

"His name is Gale Donik, originally just a country boy who’s never been to Chunda before. Or more accurately, he’s never really been here..."

The spell slowly ended, and Catherine opened her eyes again,

"From now until the day the seal breaks."

"If we don’t go to Barrier Mountain, we’ll also need to deal with two groups of pursuers."

Ronald wasn’t concerned about how formidable the so-called pursuers were but was curious about the content of Catherine’s first statement,

"From what you said... the seal will definitely be broken?"

Catherine nodded in response,

"I’m certain of it."