Boom.
The explosion produced a cloud of smoke that covered the pope and the others. However, the wind blew them away soon, revealing another golden layer of protection that blocked their attacks.
Even though they were fighting, Pope Franz still led the group away, bringing them to their destination.
Theo glanced at them from time to time to check their strength and power. However, he never thought about interfering in this fight.
After all, the pope was still protecting them.
Though, it didn't mean Theo had no plan in turning the situation around.
He was simply waiting for the right time as he planned to kill all four of them.
Two of them brandished their swords once again and released two streams of light. With just a single glance, all of them could feel their sharpness.
The pope's bracelet turned into a long white staff with a yellow-colored gem on the tip of it.
A beam of light flew out of the gem and split into two, hitting each stream of light.
At the same time, the other three experts took advantage of this to launch an attack on Theo's position.
Magic Saint Fist Style, Twister.
The torrential Magic Power looped around and was about to hit them from the front.
The pope extended his other hand, and four translucent rectangles appeared. The three of them stopped the attacks while the other stayed behind the other three.
Surprisingly, one of them shattered the yellow screen and hit the last rectangle. With just this exchange alone, the pope could see that one of them was stronger than the rest.
And it was the one who had done the talking this whole time. In other words, he needed to be careful against the leader.
Theo and Agata had understood what the pope did as well. They locked the middle-aged man, making sure they targeted him first if anything happened.
Lorenzo, on the other hand, focused on his skill. As soon as the Teleportation Skill could be used again, he would send them away from this onslaught. Within that time, the pope should get some breathing time too.
'If only the four Great Holy Knights can help us… It won't be a problem to stop all these people.' Lorenzo thought before letting out a sigh.
It was truly a shame. After all, the four Great Holy Knights and the pope could easily suppress these five experts. At that time, their group could go to the Dark Poison Swamp without any incident.
Little did he know, Theo had been planning to force those four Great Holy Knights into the battle.
After a while, Lorenzo used his Teleportation Skill and sent them away, giving them another two minutes.
During that time, Lorenzo called the pope. "Your Holiness."
"Is something wrong, child?" Pope Franz gave a gentle smile as his head faced Lorenzo. Even though his eyes were covered with a blindfold, Lorenzo could still feel the soothing gaze from him.
"Actually, I don't understand why the four Great Holy Knights don't join in this mission. After all, if you wish for Theo to be safe, you only need them to stop those five experts. With their strength, stopping them is just a simple matter."
Agata glanced at Lorenzo while Theo kept looking to the front.
"If you owe someone and promise to help them, will you mobilize your War God Family or yourself alone?" Pope Franz answered his doubt with another question.
"…" Lorenzo fell silent for a moment before asking. "Do you mean implication?"
"Yes."
"If you move alone, that means even if you are holding the seat of a leader, the responsibility is only on you. If you mobilize the others, that means your Vatican is protecting this person. And you need to prepare your influence to handle this matter… And this is especially important for the church because it'll affect people's opinions about the neutral church." Lorenzo narrowed his eyes.
"That's correct." Pope Franz acknowledged it and added, "Though, it doesn't mean I'm not serious on this trip. I've promised to protect Theo, so until he reaches his destination, I'm going to protect him to the best of my ability. As for the rest of you, I'm repaying my little student's debts."
"I understand. Thank you for your explanation." Lorenzo nodded and realized he couldn't find any fault in Pope Franz's action.
Of course, acting like this alone was enough to make people judge him. And his influence would still take the brunt. But with how clear he stated that he only wanted to protect Theo to his destination, he should be able to minimize the damage done to the church.
He raised his head and frowned. "They're coming again."
"We're not going to let you escape!" The middle-aged leader shouted before raising his hand.
The Magic Power gathered and formed a huge long blade. The length alone reached 200 feet, allowing the man to reach the pope's defense from his current position.
Before slashing the pope's barrier, he said, "We still have time in order to kill this guy. For now, we'll exhaust the pope's Magic Power until we can penetrate his shield. Remember, don't injure him."
"Got it." The four experts nodded in unison.
The two swordsmen covered their swords with Magic Power and extended their swords like the middle-aged guy.
Meanwhile, the other two experts from the Griffith Family clapped their hands before opening them again.
A bluish light began to appear in the gap between their hands as they poured as much as Magic Power they could.
Two blue beams were released from two different directions while the other three waved their swords from above.
Seeing the incoming attacks, the pope released his skills again.
Two rays of light illuminated the incoming beams and suppressed them until they vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, the pope formed a translucent palm.
The palm caught all these blades and shattered them.
While looking at the progress, Theo asked, "How long can you hold them like this?"
The pope turned his head to Theo and replied, "If it's like this, one day… Probably. They are not aiming at my life, so it's quite easy. Even if they aim at you, they can't really go all out because they know what accidentally injuring me means."
"I see…" Theo narrowed his eyes, forming his plan in his head.