The Cardinal walked hastily and just directly jumped at the crack made by the curse beasts in the first level of the laboratory.
His expression did not seem to mind the state of the laboratory as he had already expected this.
He shrugged and looked at the unconscious people on the ground, thinking that they were dead because of the sudden awakening of the beasts.
These beasts must have awakened so violently that they indiscriminately hurt the people in the laboratory.
He no longer visited the second floor as he disdained the filthy sight inside that place and went down directly to the third floor.
Finally stepping on the second floor, confusion and doubt flashed in his heart. He expected to see more chaos and anxiousness at this level because of the great commotion created by the beasts.
But to find that the third floor did not have any conscious person inside immediately struck a sense of alarm in the Cardinal's heart.
"Not good!" He immediately went in the direction of the secret room in haste.
The moment he reached the point of the mechanism, his heart dropped.
The mechanism was activated!
No longer thinking anything, he immediately used his token and entered the pathway. Like a person rushing to chase a departing carriage, the Cardinal rushed down to the secret room in a panic.
That is because he noticed that every pathway has been opened without even triggering the traps set in each of the checkpoints.
Finally, his eyes already saw the door to the secret room. He saw that faint light seemed to have seeped through the gaps of the door and saw he immediately raised his vigilance and took his artifact staff to ready for a fight.
"Wisey buddy, be with the master… I'll face the enemy approaching." Inside the secret room, Baobao decides to face the approaching Cardinal while Eli is not yet done with her blessings.
It seems that Eli is yet to wake up from her trance as her consciousness was deeply connected to the heavenly realm as she pleaded for heaven's blessing. That meant that she would be also vulnerable to attacks from the approaching enemy.
"Alright, please stay safe." Wisey knew that this is the only choice they have.
Until Eli wakes up, they have to hold on.
Baobao stood up and nodded. He turned his furry head to the direction of the door and their usual gentle black round eyes flashed with ruthlessness and ferociousness.
He calmly opened the door, stepped out, and closed it.
He looked up and met the Cardinal who was shocked to see a cursed bear inside. The two, a man and a furry panda had a stare down for a moment.
"You…" After some time a flash of realization appeared on the Cardinal's face and his expression darkened.
In Prasinos, there is no other person who could have used a Panda as a contract beast other than the inventor named Eli.
Baobao seemed to have also understood the expression on the Cardinal's face and immediately decided that the person in front of him must not have an opportunity to reveal his Master's name.
"Take no step further…" Baobao opened his mouth and warned the Cardinal.
"Impudent… you trespassers!" The Cardinal shouted in retaliation.
"We are not the ones who are impudent. It is you, abominable people who defiled the temple with your evil!" Baobao replied.
"What do you, a cursed bear know?" The Cardinal replied.
"I know nothing but the fact that you betrayed the one you served before," Baobao answered with a matter-of-factly tone.
Even though he was not someone who understood people's nature, he knew that people like the Cardinal were evil and someone who he had to take down.
Someone who betrayed their master is an evil person, and the Cardinal who was supposed to be a servant of the Great One is one of them.
Hearing Baobao's reply, the Cardinal's already angry expression became even uglier.
In the end, he took his staff and struck it on the staircase where they were currently standing.
"You shall meet your demise here. It is useless for you to even attempt to protect your master." The Cardinal said as wisps of purple light appeared from his hand and flowed to the golden staff that he was holding.
Baobao no longer replied and stood on all fours.
They were fighting on an underground staircase and it was such an unfitting place to fight.
Should he get overboard, the commotion that the fight would cause might also lead to him indirectly harming Eli.
And so he quickly flashed in front of the Cardinal and pushed him upwards.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Cardinal was caught off guard as he did not even expect that Baobao possessed such a high speed.
Now he could only suffer under Baobao's aggressive attack that constantly flung him upwards like a kite.
If not for his quick reaction to cover his body with a layer of protective mana, he would have long turned to jelly from Baobao's pummeling.
Before his eyes, he saw that he was slowly being pushed upwards until they reached the destroyed first level.
In just a few attacks from Baobao, he was already pushed to the surface of the ground!
"Puff…" The Cardinal glared at Baobao with hatred as he spat several mouthfuls of blood. He did not expect that the opponent would think so far ahead and force them to fight on a different battlefield.
What's more, since the first level was already destroyed and a large gaping hole was already opened in it, the rain from Eli's blessing was continuously showering them at the moment.
He was not able to notice it before as he did not even use his mana nor engage in a fight the few moments he was exposed to the rain.
But now that he was facing Baobao, he finally realized that the torrential rain from the Paladin's blessing actually weakens them, the curse users, and strengthens the other party!
No wonder, Baobao is so protective of his master that he chose to step forward and fight him head-on! It is because the rain must not stop until the battle is won!
The curse power in his body seemed to have been greatly suppressed!
This time he could only feel angry and frustrated. If only he was able to receive a spirit fragment from Lord Raven, he would have not worried about this matter.
Because those who received a fragment of his spirit would have an innate resistance to heaven's blessings.
He believed that the paladin's blessing is just similar to the normal priest's blessing. As such he had the confidence that only the spirit fragment carriers could only resist it.
However, too bad. Lord Raven only limited the distribution of the spirit fragment to the temple people for the reason that he still abhorred having the carriers walk around heaven's territory (the temple) freely and expose themselves to the guardians and the heavenly realm.
Lord Raven would rather have the Vanderford and the Vesala carry the fragments as they did not have a strong connection to the temple.
On the holy island, the only people who could carry the fragment were the Pope and the Paladin, who compared to him and the rest of the priests in the temple, who were relatively distant from the matters of the temple.
It could be remembered that the Pope only joined them a few decades ago, but even as he was ordained, he did not perform a lot of duty inside the palace.
Instead, the Pope spent his years of reign outside the temple, roaming around and 'spreading' the works of the temple.
As for the Fake Paladin… she was just a girl they created for certain matters. She did not even receive any temple training or task at all.
Meanwhile, as the battle outside was happening, Wisey was worriedly watching Eli who was still kneeling on the ground praying and pleading for heaven's help.
As the rain outside the temple flowed down to the hole created by Baobao's pummeling. The rainwater also slowly dripped and flowed all the way to the secret room, wetting the floor Eli was kneeling in.
As the room was filled with heavenly light, Wisey did not notice that the rainwater slowly reached the foot of the stone bed.
The water continued to flow around it then at some point, it seemed that the water found its way to get inside the stone wall and flowed through it.
Katcha!
After some time, a clicking sound caught Wisey's attention. She flew behind Eli and noticed that a lever latch appeared from the other end of the stone bed and revealed itself to them.
"Eli-chan! A mechanism appeared in the stone bed!" Wisey forgot for a moment that Eli was still in a state of concentration as she exclaimed rather excitedly.
Fortunately, at the moment, Eli finally reacted. Her originally obsidian black eyes opened, and in her eyes flashed a golden flame before fading to normal again.
She stood up and walked in Wisey's direction, without any words uttered, pulled the lever latch, and opened the mechanism in the stone bed!
