"What?" Vale was shocked as he even failed to maintain his speed.

Only when Cressida reminded her did he pick up his speed again to leave the place.

"How come they're unafraid of injuries? Although they have various techniques to heal their wounds, shouldn't they show some hesitation moving inside the Fire Pillar?" Vale couldn't help but comment after recalling what had just happened.

He can tell that the Runecasters were hurt since they reacted slower. The Fire Pillar activated the moment they stepped on the area he had targeted. It was a clean hit.

Although they managed to put up a defense in the end, it was already too late, as their skin and flesh had already suffered from the Fire Spell.

"Hmph They're already out of their minds, so don't think about facing them in a close combat battle. They won't care about their injuriesCareful!"

Cressida immediately warned when she noticed the Rune Characters being formed in front of them. It seems they had already placed these Runic Arts around the area before they even started whatever they were doing in that tunnel.

Vale also noticed those Magical Texts formed by the Runecasters, and since he had no idea what they could do, he would have a more challenging time responding to their attacks. With that in mind, he swiftly used his Spell Dispersion to stop the activation of those Spells.

Pssht~

The Runic Arts were swiftly deactivated like an ember doused in water. This confused Cressida, but she remained silent while observing Vale's actions.

At this moment, Vale could tell that the amount of energy he used to stop the runes from activating was more considerable than stopping Dark Spells.

He could tell that Spell Dispersion which he could normally use for more than a dozen times was now limited to at least 7 or 8 more times!

He would have to use them carefully from now on!

At the very least, Vale finally had a rough idea about the strength of these Runecasters as he took out three more Elemental Talismans.

He used them consecutively, and as it turned out, the three talismans he had hastily taken out used the same Fire Spell, Searing Chains!

They were Tier 2 Fire Elemental Spells and should be worth around 4 thousand zen for each talisman!

Soon, three Searing Chains caught three of the Runecasters as they burned them alive, and the one who wasn't targeted didn't even help his companions as he used the confusion caused by the Searing Chains to activate a powerful rune art.

This Runecaster actually has a range of 70 meters, and as soon as he got into range, he used all of his strength to target Vale

The latter didn't even feel anything, but he tried using his Spell Dispersion nonetheless. Unfortunately, the Rune was too fast for Vale, as he was hit by the attack before the Spell Dispersion activated!

"Vale, your body has been marked! That's a Rotting Rune!" Cressida was shocked as soon as she saw Vale's right arm marked by the Rune. She wasn't that surprised that the three Runecasters were killed since their mind was already being controlled and their reaction time had gotten a lot slower because of that.

Anyway, she was actually confident in deflecting various Runic Arts that were targeted at her. She had fought a few Runecasters before and she knew a proper way of dealing with them.

Furthermore, as a last resort, she could use her Banshee to transfer the Rune Arts marked on her. However, she can't do that with Vale since the latter wasn't contracted with her Banshee.

"This looks bad" Vale commented on the Rune that was on his right arm. Of course, he remained focused on the Runecaster as he ordered Yvaine to sneakily attack the man.

Yvaine restrained the man's movement and even absorbed his energy before Vale finished him off with his Ghost Hands.

As he planned to extract the Runecasters, he felt the Psychic entering his Magic Zone, so he quickly informed Cressida to leave the place.

"Hmm? How come the Rotting Rune hasn't disappeared yet? I already killed the caster." Vale asked in confusion while they were running away.

All types of Dark Spells, including curses, would normally stop working when the spellcaster dies unless you use a Forbidden Art.

This is why Vale initially didn't mind the Rotting Rune that marked his body.

"Not good It won't disappear with just that. You have less than five minutes to remove that thing. Can you ask your Dark Spirit to do something about it?" Cressida asked as she also secretly ordered her Banshee to delay the Psychic that was chasing after them.

They will certainly sacrifice themselves to accomplish this task, but as long as they buy enough time, the two of them should be able to leave the forest.

Once they left the forest, the Psychic would surely stop chasing after them.

"I can't remove it. It has already entered your body." Yvaine suddenly spoke in Vale's mind before he could even ask her.

"I see. Don't worry. I think I can do something about it." Vale replied with confidence as he remained calm even though Cressida was already looking so worried that he might die at any moment.

During his introspection with his Divine Sense, he actually noticed that his Incorruptible Body was fluctuating crazily

Then, a dark aura also started gathering around his body.

This was similar to when he massacred the members of the Snake Brotherhood in the slums of the City's Southern District.

His Incorruptible Body was acting strange once again!

'It seems I don't have to spam the Spell Dispersion on this Rune. The Incorruptible Body was suppressing it really well. It might even help me increase its level. This is impressive' Vale commented in his mind as he observed the mark on his right arm.

Cressida did the same and realized that Vale's right arm, which had started rotting, was acting weird. The Rotting Rune would glow to spread the effect on Vale's body, but his Dark Aura would also get stronger, and it suppresses the Rune. It could not spread on Vale's body at all!

Cressida's eyes lit up as she finally realized something.

'I see No wonder you accepted Master Sherah's mission. You're not affected by the corruption of the potion, and you're also unafraid of the flesh-rotting Rune. You must have the Dark Spellcaster's Blessed Physique, the Tyrannical Saint's Physique! Furthermore, this physique has already reached its peak! I can't be wrong!'

Cressida looked at Vale greedily as she considered her options. She had to deal with the person chasing after them if she wanted to devour Vale to take his physique.