Chapter 206: Sacrifice! (6K Bonus 3840)

However, although Herbert wanted to go cause trouble for the Holy Grail of Forgetfulness, he wasn't in any rush.

He had three purposes for this trip.

One was to visit his own camp to check on the situation and begin preliminary construction.

Another was to resolve the lingering issues left by the Holy Grail, to see what exactly it wanted to do to him.

For this purpose, Herbert had specially brought along the water-affinity mermaid Young Lady.

And the most important part was actually finding magical beasts to test the effect of the Fallen Angel's Conquest power.

He was going to grind levels!

And he also needed to grind some loot materials, otherwise it would be hard to explain when he returned.

"For now, let's try following the map provided by the monastery."

Before Herbert left the monastery, he had received a map that Bishop Rusty Nail had someone deliver to him.

It recorded the terrain of the safe zones the monastery had already surveyed, along with the detailed distribution of magical creatures within them, each annotated with its danger level and a description of its strength.

Although the Knight Commander said he wouldn't bother with Herbert and let him do as he pleased, he still handed this map over to him.

Hmm... a bit tsundere, really.

But then again, a man's tsundere act isn't interesting at all!

A middle-aged man covered in rusty nails with a rock style being tsundere is even weirder!

Ten moves and a polite refusal.

"Hmm..."

Herbert made a quick selection, temporarily avoiding those high-level magical creatures and setting his sights on the more numerous low- and mid-level ones.

For an appetizer, better to pick something easy.

And preferably with larger numbers, so they could provide more reference data.

"Mist Ant Swarm — although individual strength is only low-level, the numbers are huge, danger coefficient extremely high... no, this won't work, solo challenging them is still a bit dangerous."

Although the ant swarm basically met Herbert's requirements, after thinking it over again, he still gave up on it for now.

Herbert was clear about his own weakness — most of his abilities were passive, lacking area-of-effect damage capability.

If he charged straight in, he wouldn't die, but it definitely wouldn't be pleasant — chopping them down one by one, who knew how long that would take.

Although he could have Fu Leimei just sing a funeral dirge and send them all off, that would defeat the purpose of training.

After considering several more plans, Herbert finally decided on his target.

"Fu Leimei, we're setting out! Target —"

"Mist Ghost Wolf Pack."

Mist Ghost Wolf Pack.

A mid-level magical creature widely distributed throughout the Mist Mountains, often appearing in groups.

A single wolf pack's members never exceed thirty, but rarely number fewer than ten.

Ghost Wolf Packs move in highly coordinated groups with a strict hierarchy; the alpha wolf commands the entire pack's actions, and every ghost wolf in the pack knows its own role within the group, cooperating with great tacit understanding.

The ghost wolves' fur color resembles the mist, giving them natural camouflage; they are very adept at using the misty environment and can approach prey in complete silence.

As semi-spiritual beings, they can briefly phase their bodies, passing through narrow gaps or dodging physical attacks.

At the same time, their semi-spiritual nature also grants them additional resistance to certain types of magic.

These traits allow them to successfully escape danger when encountering threats in the Mist Mountains, giving them a very high survival rate.

Additionally, ghost wolves hold grudges.

Once they aren't completely killed, as long as one escapes, after a period of time it will bring back a whole pack.

And such dangerous and hard-to-eliminate, tenacious enemies naturally became the nightmare of the mid- and low-level cultivators from the Mist Monastery who went out to train.

Generally, they would try to avoid contact with them; once spotted, they would actively retreat, and even if attacked, they wouldn't easily fight back.

But in one corner of the mist, the situation was slightly different.

"Oops, my apologies, accidentally killed it."

The white-haired youth, holding the already-dead ghost wolf's corpse, smiled apologetically at the stunned wolf pack.

Then he tossed the corpse directly over, and it landed in front of the tallest alpha wolf.

The alpha wolf stared blankly at the youth, then lowered its head to look at its favorite she-wolf's... corpse.

Its eyes instantly turned red, and along with it, the twenty-plus ghost wolves around it flew into a rage as well.

The entire grove grew grim and murderous; twenty-plus pairs of crimson eyes stared fixedly at the youth opposite.

"Hey, I already apologized, what more do you want?"

The youth spread his hands, saying innocently:

"Besides, it was clearly the one that attacked me first..."

"But since it's already dead, you don't need to be so sad — life must always look forward... hmm, seems you can't accept that reasoning."

Awooo —

In the ancient forest shrouded in mist, accompanied by the alpha wolf's shrill and furious howl, the grey-white wolf pack instantly turned transparent.

They swiftly vanished into the mist, then burst out simultaneously from all directions, pouncing toward the youth in the center.

They would avenge their fallen kin!

"Everyone saw that! You started it first!"

Herbert gripped his longsword shining with holy radiance, his eyes excited as he watched the magical creatures charging toward him.

"Now... I get to act in self-defense!"

Clearly the wolf pack struck first, yet it was Herbert who launched the first attack!

"Boiling blood."

Thump. Thump.

Herbert moved his foot, shooting toward the wolf pack like a white lightning bolt, steps light and swift.

At the instant he neared the pack, he swung his longsword sharply—a golden sword qi sliced through the mist, slashing toward the front few ghost wolves.

"Sacred Slash."

Those few ghost wolves reacted instantly, leaping agilely aside as the sword qi neared—but one still caught the edge of the blade, its body split cleanly in half, letting out a pained howl.

"Awooo!"

But that howl did not scare off the ghost wolf pack; instead, it stoked their ferocity.

The pack accelerated, arriving at Herbert's front simultaneously, biting fiercely at his vital points.

Neck, throat, back of the head…

Their bites inflicted not only physical damage but also a certain soul shock, causing the target brief dizziness, making them easier to devour.

Beasts show no mercy.

They tear apart their prey without reservation, with all their strength.

A dead prey is a good prey.

But… arrogant and powerful people do.

Herbert did not dodge; he let the fangs, capable of easily piercing leather armor, sink into his body.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

As fangs met flesh, they emitted a sound like metal striking metal.

"It doesn't hurt."

Feeling the bites that didn't even break his defense, and the nearly imperceptible soul shock, Herbert smiled with delight.

"Is this your full strength? Is this your absolute limit?"

Just as the wolf pack noticed something was wrong and prepared to loosen their grip and flee, dozens of sharp spines erupted from Herbert's body.

Hssss—

Several ghost wolves too slow to spirit-form were pierced straight through the skull, dead beyond doubt.

Puffs of blood mist bloomed across Herbert's body, staining his clothes red.

A few ghost wolves fast enough to spirit-form tried to escape, but Herbert cut off each of their heads with one sword stroke per wolf.

Spirit-forming meant nothing before a longsword infused with sacred power.

Hssss.

In no more than ten breaths, the wolf pack surrounding Herbert was reduced to only two or three left.

"Hmph~"

Herbert truly claimed he wasn't skilled against large numbers of enemies—that referred to thousands upon thousands.

Once the number reached a certain scale, even cutting grass became impossible.

But certainly not twenty mere wolves.

Everything happened too fast; even the alpha wolf had trouble reacting.

Half a minute ago, he was a leader commanding twenty wolves, playing daily with seven or eight female wolves.

Now, he had become utterly alone.

What exactly had happened?

After a moment of stunned silence, the alpha wolf became utterly furious.

"Awooo!!!"

With a pained howl, it leapt high into the air, jaws wide open, charging straight at Herbert.

The enemy was overwhelmingly strong—impossible to defeat. Only death awaited.

It knew.

But it still had no choice.

The alpha wolf was buying time for the rest of its pack.

If they could escape and join another ghost wolf pack, this hatred would be remembered.

As for itself…

The alpha wolf could not retreat.

It could only kill the enemy—or be killed by the enemy!

Just as the alpha wolf prepared to make its sacrifice, the enemy before it suddenly vanished into thin air.

!!!

Where?

Gone?

Where did he go!!?

Before the alpha wolf could search, a light laugh came from above.

"Your courage is decent."

Under the terror of imminent death, the alpha wolf instantly spirit-formed, nearly vanishing from its spot.

But it was useless.

Eat.

The transparent spirit-form was seized by the nape of its neck—those jade-like hands yanked it straight out of the spirit realm.

"But courage without strategy is meaningless."

"If you can't recognize your own strength, all you do is meaningless sacrifice."

"Apart from moving yourself, you save nothing."

With a sigh, Herbert effortlessly crushed the alpha wolf's skull, ending its unremarkable life.

The alpha wolf's final counterattack looked brave, but there was nothing worth mourning.

It did not fight for any noble reason.

In the end, they reached this point only because of greed.

They wanted to kill Herbert, and Herbert wanted to kill them.

No matter how you spin it, it's nothing but beasts killing each other, seizing everything the other has.

The wolf pack is dead; everything they had will be taken by Herbert.

If Herbert dies, his flesh and blood will become nourishment for the wolf pack.

There is no difference.

After killing the alpha wolf of the ghost wolves, Herbert felt a clear surge of power flow into his body.

"Huh..."

Unlike before, though the increase was small, he could clearly feel his resistance to magic had improved again.

His magic resistance had risen by about half a percent from its original level.

"Twenty-some ghosts raised it by half a percent—so if I kill five hundred, will I become completely immune?"

【"What dream are you having? The effect is strongest at first; afterward, it will definitely diminish."】

"I thought so too."

Herbert smiled; he was just talking nonsense—he never truly believed such a cheap thing existed in the world.

"But even so, any improvement is enough."

You can never have too much resistance.

"By the way, do you need the ghost wolf corpses?"

【"You don't have to say it—I've already collected them~ Though they're truly useless."】

A shadow tendril poked Herbert's shoe sole, announcing its presence.

"Fine, then handle this yourself from now on."

Herbert nodded and exhaled slowly.

It wasn't from fatigue.

Throughout the hunt, he had continuously felt life energy flooding into his body; now he felt no exhaustion, only... exhilaration!

"Not enough."

"I need more ghost wolves..."

Herbert stared at the trail of the ghost wolf he had deliberately let go, and smiled with delight.

"Go on—hurry and find your packmates to come seek revenge on me."

He waved to Fu Leimei, who was lurking in the shadows, and followed the ghost wolf's trail at a slow pace.

While Herbert effortlessly eliminated the monsters and reveled in the joy of his gains,

deep within the Mist Mountains, another group was enduring unbearable suffering.

In a swamp reeking of decay, a group of Holy Knights was trapped in desperation.

Their silver armor no longer gleamed, covered in scratches and dents, blood seeping from its cracks.

The lead Holy Knight's helmet was askew, revealing a face drenched in sweat and exhaustion, yet his eyes still burned with unwavering fire.

His sword, though dimmed, was held high; each swing came with heavy gasps, as if this simple motion had drained every ounce of strength.

"Holy... Slash!"

A dull blade of light shot forth, forcing back the boar-like monstrous creature.

Around him, the other four Holy Knights gritted their teeth and held on.

One knelt on one knee, using his sword to support his body, his other hand pressing against a wound gushing blood from his abdomen.

Another had crudely bandaged his severed arm and charged forward again, wielding a broken sword in his remaining hand for cover.

Their cloaks were dyed crimson, like withered bloodflowers in the swamp.

The monstrous creature's huge, grotesque body charged wildly around them, letting out chilling roars.

The boar monster stood over three meters tall at the shoulder, nearly as wide, its massive twin pairs of tusks jutting out, gleaming with sharpness.

Its hide was tough, coated in a layer of slime, utterly indifferent to ordinary slashes, like a moving armored vehicle.

Slime dripping from its body corroded black pits into the swamp, releasing a thick, pungent odor.

The smell made one want to vomit; inhaling it caused tears to stream and the body to grow weak and trembling.

Swamp Boar.

Outside, this was a mid-tier monster, but within the Mist Mountains, its power had risen to the high-tier realm.

Though sharing the high-tier level with other monsters, its massive size raised its danger level by another notch.

Its threat level was certainly no lower than that of a same-tier Earth Dragon.

Especially in swamp terrain, all its abilities were significantly enhanced—it was one of the most dangerous monsters marked on the Knight Captain's map.

Each charge of the Swamp Boar shook the Holy Knights' defenses to their limits.

"Hold on! Stand firm!"

"The monastery brothers must hear our cries for help!"

That map was not given only to Herbert—every knight of the Mist Monastery who went out on missions received a copy.

They were well aware of the danger the Mire Boar posed.

Of the five, only the leader had just recently reached the High rank a few days earlier; the rest were all only Mid rank.

With the strength of their five, even at full strength, they would not have actively provoked this enormous magical beast.

Needless to say, they had previously clashed with a pack of Mist Ghost Wolves and only barely managed a temporary escape; by now they were already utterly exhausted from the back-to-back battles.

Their faces were written with pain, their eyes held a faint despair, but not a single one among them harbored the thought of retreat.

They silently chanted sacred incantations in their mouths, trying to draw one last surge of strength from their faith.

Holding on with bitter effort in this abyss of despair, waiting for a turning point that perhaps would never come.

They could not retreat.

Because at this moment, behind them, a party of adventurers lay weakly on the ground.

Also a five-person squad, but by now three of them had already drawn no more breath; the only two remaining both looked extremely weak.

To tell the truth, their strength was not weak at all — even a notch stronger than the Holy Knight squad.

The party had two High-rank professionals, and the remaining three were all only a single step away from High rank.

Such a party was by no means unknown within the Frost Crystal Kingdom; over years of adventuring they had also carved out a certain reputation for themselves.

True weaklings would never have the courage to come to the Mist Mountains — although this was only the outer, already-charted safe zone, it still carried considerable risk, exactly as it did now.

After exerting themselves to the limit to slay the High-rank magical beasts required for their mission, they had no time to rejoice before being ambushed by a magical beast that had long lain hidden in the mire.

Two High-rank professionals were slain on the spot, one of them; among the remaining three Mid-rank professionals, two were also gravely wounded — the battle had been one-sided from the very start.

If the Holy Knights had not rushed over upon hearing their cries for help, these five would by now have all perished in the Mire Boar's belly.

If it had not been for rescuing these few, these Holy Knights would not have risked engaging this High-rank magical beast.

But even after the Holy Knights arrived and joined the battle, the situation did not improve in the slightest.

Although the Holy Knights could still hold out for the time being, they had absolutely no means of counterattack.

Their only hope was that other comrades from the Holy Monastery out training nearby might notice their peril.

Although in truth every Holy Knight's heart knew this was almost impossible — the odds were far, far too slim.

But to simply abandon those two and flee?

They could not.

Fleeing and leaving those who called for help behind had never been among the Holy Knights' options.

If they would have chosen to do something like that, they would never have shown up in the first place.

Then now, all they could do was wait to die?

No.

There was still one way.

The leading Holy Knight drew a deep breath, clenched his jaw tight, and forced his body to stop trembling from the pain.

His face was pale as paper, yet it carried a certain resolute steadfastness; great beads of sweat kept rolling down his forehead, mixing with blood and grime to blur his vision.

His figure stood at the very front of everyone, his gaze fixed with steadfast resolve on the magical beast gathering its strength over there.

Gripping his sword without looking back, he said hoarsely, "You take the wounded and leave — I'll hold this position!"

"Fao'er!? What are you going to do…"

One of the young Holy Knights cried out in shock, wanting to say more in persuasion, but was held back by the middle-aged Holy Knight beside him.

That Holy Knight, who looked far more weathered than his true age, shook his head and said through gritted teeth, firmly:

"We're leaving!"

He turned his head, dragged the young Holy Knight along, and strode with the other two toward the two surviving adventurers.

No need for further explanation.

No need to waste any more time arguing.

As the only High-rank professional who still had fighting strength left, only Fao'er could briefly keep the magical beast occupied.

Although it was cruel, this was the only way to save the others.

Most importantly, Fao'er had already made the resolve to sacrifice himself.

One must not let a comrade's sacrifice be in vain.

"Brother, the Monastery will remember you."

"Mm."

That was the final exchange between the middle-aged Holy Knight and Fao'er.

From the moment Fao'er resolved to sacrifice himself to the moment the other four withdrew with the wounded, altogether it had not taken more than half a minute.

Even the Mire Boar had not yet figured out what these fellows were trying to do before they had swiftly broken away from the battlefield and were charging off into the distance.

"Fao'er!"

"You have to survive! Remember to run!"

Hearing that young man's tear-choked shout as he departed, the corners of Fao'er's tightly set mouth couldn't help but curl upward, and he let out a dry chuckle.

So young, ah, haha!

That child might not understand now, and would feel anger at his departure, but one day he would come to see clearly what the truly right choice was.

If his left leg weren't broken, he would certainly have tried to escape once the others were out of danger.

But now…

"Haha!"

He suddenly burst into hearty laughter, and the abruptly surging aura made even the Mire Boar opposite, which had been about to give chase, pause for a moment, not daring to act rashly.

After the laughter ended, he raised the longsword in his hand high and shouted aloud.

"My Lord, You are the Lofty Blazing Sun!"

"It is the radiance that burns away all evil!"

"Please, in the end, shelter your faithful, and grant this sacrificial soul a sliver of strength!"

Hum—

Accompanying his final summons, the longsword, which had already grown dim, suddenly blazed to life at this moment.

Throughout this battle, he had actually called out to the divine countless times.

But only at the very end, bolstered by the sublime will of sacrifice, did the divine hear his call.

The divine heard his prayer, and bestowed Its power.

Feeling the blazing sun-force that suddenly surged yet at the same time burned him from within, Fa'ao's eyes flared bright.

He had not expected the divine to, at the final moment, bestow its grace upon a dying man like himself.

"Praise… the Sun!"

Fa'ao wished to rely on this last strength to swing one sword, but his body, with its oil spent and lamp dry, could no longer support any further movement.

The divine had granted the power, but he lacked the capacity to wield that gift.

Is it pitiful?

No…

"Thank You."

Fa'ao held his longsword high, glared furiously at the restless monster, and kept the stance of an imminent downward slash.

One second.

Ten seconds.

Thirty seconds.

Fa'ao felt his body begin to tremble little by little, and felt the power on the blade gradually fading.

But even so, Fa'ao still gripped the sword in his hand tightly, facing off against the enraged monster.

One minute.

When a minute had passed, Fa'ao's spirit could not help but begin to slacken.

It's enough, isn't it?

They have already escaped safely.

I too have already… no need to keep struggling, right?

The instant the thought of giving up surfaced, the sun-force on the blade instantly dropped to only twenty percent.

"Heh heh, it's over."

At the moment the blade dimmed, Fa'ao had utterly resigned himself to fate, and the mire boar could no longer endure and lunged forward…

Clang—

A golden blade descended from the sky, slicing through the mist, arriving in an instant, and hacked viciously into the mire boar's right foreleg.

Hiss!

Blood—spurting, flesh—splitting!

The mire boar's massive body suddenly lost its balance, and just before it was about to crash into Fa'ao, it toppled heavily to the right.

Boom!

"ROAR!!?"

Fa'ao's eyes, which had already grown dim, suddenly blazed at this moment, and he cried out involuntarily.

"Holy Slash!"

The next moment.

An angel with blood-colored wings dove down from the sky!

Extra-chapter progress (40/227)

……

Updated 12,500 characters, that should be enough, right!

Is it featured? Is it featured?

Urgent urgent urgent urgent urgent urgent—

Hmm hmm hmm ha uh ahhhhhh!



(End of this chapter)