"Over there, there's another one!"

Loren knew it was Koranda coming to rescue him, so he wasted no time on unnecessary words and directly pointed out the enemy's direction for Koranda.

"Understood!"

Koranda's reaction was still swift. She activated her magic again, and the tree at the feet of the robed figure immediately came to life. Just as he was preparing to leap away, branches wrapped around his ankles and slammed him viciously towards the ground.

"Die!"

Before he even hit the ground, a cluster of sharp bamboo shoots sprouted from the earth. In the next instant, the robed figure's body was impaled by the bamboo, dead beyond any doubt.

Koranda's arrival was even faster than Loren had anticipated. Logically, Movila shouldn't have even reached her home yet.

The vigorous movement caused Koranda's still-unhealed wounds to tear open again. She clutched her neck, blood seeping between her fingers, and coughed incessantly.

Loren directly handed Koranda a bottle of magical potion. This whole situation made Loren feel rather guilty, though admittedly, only a little bit guilty.

"How did you discover I was in trouble, and how did you get here so quickly?"

After Koranda drank the potion and her injuries recovered somewhat, Loren took the opportunity to ask.

But before Koranda could answer, Loren's intuition sent another warning.

"Watch out!"

Loren shouted and immediately distanced himself from Koranda.

Hearing Loren's warning, Koranda instinctively tried to dodge, but her injuries slowed her down just enough. An arrow shot from behind pierced straight through Koranda's abdomen.

This was clearly no ordinary arrow. After entering Koranda's body, the arrow began to grow rapidly like a tree, draining her life force. In the blink of an eye, numerous branches adorned with green leaves had sprouted from the shaft.

"Argh!"

Koranda roared in fury and tore the arrow out of her belly with sheer force. As a Bishop of the Bountiful Church, she knew exactly what this was and how dangerous it could be.

When Koranda pulled the arrow out, its tail had already transformed into dense, intricate roots. These roots were coated in blood and bits of Koranda's flesh. By now, her abdomen was a bloody, mangled mess.

Behind Koranda, a large tree had transformed into the shape of a treant. It held a bow in its hand—the very source of the sneak attack.

"I knew the Greed Worshippers wouldn't be so easy to deal with…"

Loren slid both hands inside his black robe. When they emerged, he held a magic wand and submachine guns.

The wand shot out a beam of green light, enveloping Koranda and healing her wounds, while the submachine guns unleashed a torrent of bullets, shredding the treant into fragments.

"He ran away!"

The moment he created distance, Loren had cast the perception magic Entwined Roots. Through the magic, Loren sensed the enemy's true movements.

The treant was just a shell; the person inside had vanished before the bullets could hit him.

"He's behind you now!"

The Greed Worshipper's plan was simple: first eliminate the powerful combatant Koranda, then kidnap the non-combatant Loren.

But he had underestimated Loren, and he had underestimated Koranda.

Koranda, gritting her teeth against her grievous wounds, unleashed her killing move.

She suddenly spun around, pinning the person who had just emerged from the earth behind her to the ground. Koranda gripped his throat and unleashed a high-tier magic spell at point-blank range.

Instantly, the Greed Worshipper's body began to grow uncontrollably. Flesh burst through the skin, and skin retracted into the flesh. The erupted flesh continued its uncontrolled growth, finally morphing into irregular, grotesque flowers. In a short time, the Greed Worshipper had lost all human semblance.

This was the seventh-tier Bountiful Magic: Flesh Bloom.

The Greed Worshipper emitted some incomprehensible sounds. Unfortunately, his current body had lost the capacity for speech. Even Loren couldn't discern what he was trying to say.

So, with his last ounce of strength, the worshipper grabbed Koranda's wrist. The plants centered around them instantly began to rot and decay. The ground turned black, and their bodies also started to putrefy.

Eighth-tier magic: Corrupt Fertile Soil.

This magic corrupts a patch of land. Normal life within it will rot and wither, while simultaneously giving birth to some twisted creatures. Therefore, while this magic's killing power is strong, its consequences are equally severe.

In battles between powerhouses, every move is a killing blow. Since Loren wasn't taking any risks himself, he found the spectacle quite engrossing.

Koranda, deeply aware of this magic's horror, immediately severed her own wrist and fled the magic's area of effect. Yet, even so, much of her skin and flesh had already rotted away.

Finally, Koranda raised her one remaining hand and cast her final spell. Several giant trees erupted from the ground, strangling the Greed Worshipper who was no longer recognizable as human. Simultaneously, upon touching that corrupted land, these giant trees also withered and died.

Despite being creations of the sixth-tier magic Giant Wood Strangulation, they were no match for Corrupt Fertile Soil.

Fortunately, after Koranda's relentless combo of attacks, the Greed Worshipper had been reduced to a pulpy mess of flesh.

However, Koranda was now in a similarly wretched state. Her abdomen was almost entirely gone, with only a shred of flesh and meat barely holding her internal organs in, preventing them from spilling out completely.

Additionally, the skin on other parts of her body had ulcerated extensively. Pieces of rotting flesh would occasionally fall from her body. Combined with her previous old injuries, her condition couldn't possibly be more pitiful.

"Drink these…"

In a rare moment of generosity, Loren placed several bottles of magical potions in front of Koranda, while continuously casting healing magic on her without pause.

"Yes, Master Mentor… *cough*…"

While replying, Koranda coughed a few more times, expelling some fragments of internal organs.

"……"

Koranda was indeed in a pretty bad state this time. Loren temporarily swallowed the questions he wanted to ask her and focused entirely on treating Koranda's injuries.

Only after Koranda's wounds were no longer life-threatening did Loren take her back to her residence.

However, Loren didn't feel too much pity for her. Loren knew very well that the Justice Card was in Koranda's possession; otherwise, the injuries he had previously inflicted would have flared up long ago.

And now, Koranda would rather be beaten to this state than reveal the existence of the Justice Card. One could say she brought this upon herself.

Still, Koranda had, after all, come to rescue him, so Loren didn't comment further.

Loren speculated that Koranda probably thought he knew about the existence of the Tarot cards, which was why she was so stubbornly unwilling to use their power.

After escorting Koranda back, Loren didn't leave immediately. Instead, he first sought out Movila. Earlier, he had sent Movila to find Koranda and call for help, but Koranda had arrived much faster than Loren expected. So, Loren wanted to know what had gone wrong.

"Master, by the time I arrived at Koranda's home, she had already left to find you…"

Movila quickly explained. Her words also made Loren feel a sense of strangeness.

"So… how did she discover I was under attack…"