Chapter 609: Fierce Battle! The Engagement with the Hartna Knight

Thump, thump, thump, thump-thump, thump-thump-thump-thump.

Jier opened up his stride, stomping hard against the ground to gradually accelerate his body.

As if fighting on horseback, he held the Dwarf Soldier Spear with both hands, aiming it forward at the Hartna Knight who was flickering and moving constantly some tens of meters ahead, slaughtering Mao Mao.

Jier's speed increased rapidly, but before he could get close to the Knight, the Hartna Knight suddenly crouched and leaped, jumping straight up seven or eight meters to evade Jier's charging strike.

Jier looked up slightly at the Hartna Knight, discovering that the opponent was not wearing a helmet; his hair was disheveled and his eyes were tightly shut. However, the person clearly noticed Jier.

"Unfamiliar footsteps. Everything that happened today—you were the one behind it, weren't you?"

It sounded like a question, but it was actually a certainty. The Hartna Knight opened his eyelids slightly, letting some light pass through the slits of his eyes, carefully sizing up Jier, this suddenly appearing New Knight.

Jier did not slow down, maintaining his high-speed run, and thrust his spear straight at a Defeated Soldier in front; since his speed was already up, he might as well take care of an enemy along the way.

With a *rip*, the tip of the Dwarf Soldier Spear pierced through the Soldier Shield that the Defeated Soldier had hastily raised, as well as the arm behind the shield, and even the Metal Armor Plate on his chest. Colliding with the man, Jier dragged his feet on the ground to decelerate, swung the spear in his hands heavily to fling the enemy impaled on the tip to the side, and then, with another vigorous swing, knocked away the circle of Defeated Soldiers who had rushed over.

Jier turned to look at the Hartna Knight, and the opponent happened to land and face him at that exact moment.

The two stared at each other. Jier saw that the Knight Armor on the opponent's body was covered in burn marks from flames, and some of the luxurious decorative metal on the exterior of the armor seemed to have deformed due to the high heat. The opponent's armor had originally been a streamlined, heavy suit; the curved shape of the outer plating could effectively deflect arrows and crossbow bolts, and it also provided good protection against some blades.

Of course, ordinary blades could not break through the nail-thick Steel Armor on the Knight.

But this armor, which had originally been quite handsome, did not look magnificent or good at this moment; some of the decorative metal on the surface had melted and deformed from being scorched by high heat, ruining the armor's original aesthetic and protective shape.

As for the joints of some Metal Armor parts, they were protected by a set of metal chainmail underneath, but at this moment, this chainmail was slightly seeping out some liquid, which looked very suspicious.

Relying only on intuition, Jier guessed that it might be pus from an injury, or tissue fluid from a bodily wound, which was only gradually leaking out because of the Hartna Knight's combat movements just now.

After all, this Knight had suffered a very serious injury before; his injury was so severe that he couldn't move at all and had fallen into a long coma. That he could still move now was already beyond Jier's expectations.

But when Jier turned his attention to the Hartna Knight's face, he was startled.

Because a large area of the Hartna Knight's face was covered in burns, and much of the skin had disappeared, as if it had been directly roasted by flames. The Hartna Knight's hair was also filthy and messy, and the hair near his face had curled and burned after being exposed to high heat.

Just thinking about how this young Knight, who had suffered such severe burns, had actually led his subordinate soldiers to force their way through the long Southern Mountains, one couldn't help but hold him in higher regard.

At the very least, if this injury had fallen upon anyone else, they would likely have been unable to bear the pain, right?

"Your injuries are so severe! But why didn't you find a way to seek help directly from the Nobles of the Southern Province? If the enemy could give you the 【Lizardman Transformation Potion】, couldn't they have given it to you as well?" Jier questioned loudly.

The Hartna Knight took a breath and did not answer directly; instead, he leaned his body forward, stepped on the ground, and after leaving craters in the earth, rushed rapidly toward Jier.

He held his shield with one hand and raised his Sword diagonally upward with the other, having no intention of answering Jier at all, even though he was also shocked inside.

In his eyes, this person who had suddenly appeared clearly possessed strength beyond that of an ordinary person; this was undoubtedly a Knight-rank Warrior who could use Life Energy. But Jier's movement was sluggish, his footsteps were chaotic, and his combat movements were too slow.

Whether it was the flinging away of the soldier after piercing him with the spear just now, or the swinging of the spear to repel the surrounding soldiers, the movements were all too slow and lacked precision.

This was a New Knight who had only mastered Life Energy not long ago.

Sure enough, as soon as Jier spoke, that overly immature voice confirmed this point to him.

Although he was shocked that Jier knew what he was seeking, the Hartna Knight did not have time for idle chatter; he clearly knew that he did not have much time left and had to help his trusted Adjutant survive.

And if he wanted his Adjutant Piluo to survive, killing every single enemy without exception was the simplest method.

The rebellious Yeluba, Yeluba's trusted subordinates, the rebellious long-haired lynx Beast, and the person behind the obvious alien Beast rebellion—this young New Knight-rank Warrior in front of him.

Seeing the Knight charging over, Jier immediately thrust his spear.

But the olive-shaped Knight Shield on the Hartna Knight's left arm blocked it easily, causing the tip of the Dwarf Long Spear, which was emitting the radiance of a Magic Rune, to miss.

The spear tip, enhanced by Dwarf Magic, left a clear and deep scratch on the shield, and the next instant, the Hartna Knight swung his sword toward Jier's neck.

At the critical moment, the Hunting Sword at Jier's waist flew out of its sheath automatically and blocked this strike, though it was knocked away itself; still, it managed to buy Jier a crucial half-second.

Jier was scared out of his wits. He had thought that his spear strike would at least knock back or force the Hartna Knight to retreat; after all, he understood the sharpness of the Dwarf Long Spear after it tasted blood, and the Hartna Knight was charging over at high speed—the faster the speed, the greater the force of the impact against the spear, and the easier it would be for him to 'kill' himself.

But Jier had thought too simply. Although the Hartna Knight had not undergone years of combat and fighting, his martial arts training from childhood allowed him to use his olive-shaped shield to slide Jier's spear away.

Even if there was unknown Magic on the head of Jier's spear.

Jier retreated instantly, his feet tapping continuously, changing directions left and right as he backed away.

In the middle, he bumped into two Defeated Soldiers; these unlucky soldiers were directly knocked over by Jier and fell to the ground, crying out in pain. The Hartna Knight pursued relentlessly; he could easily see that the so-called Armor on Jier's body, while having some advantages in full-body protection, had too weak a defensive capability.

It was actually just the thin Metal Armor Plates used by his own subordinate soldiers covering armor made of hard cowhide.

Generally speaking, in the vast majority of battles, this kind of armor could protect the life of the person wearing it, and even in most battles with low intensity, this armor could keep the user from being injured much.

But once one fought against a Knight of his caliber, this armor was just a burden and could not provide effective protection.

The Hartna Knight moved faster, catching up to Jier in two steps and swinging his sword to hack.

Jier reached out and grasped in the air, summoning back the Sword that had been knocked away while defending autonomously; after gripping the hilt, white light wrapped around the blade, and he immediately clashed with the Hartna Knight's Long Sword.

*Clang! *

The Sun God Divine Power wrapped around the Hunting Sword dissipated partially due to the impact, but the blade, made of Magic Material, still steadily blocked the Hartna Knight's strike.

Affected by the recoil, the Hartna Knight let out a muffled groan, his pace slowed, and the festering, rotting skin under the armor on his right shoulder tore open over a large area. The pus and tissue fluid squeezed out by the movement flowed along his body to his armpit, then slid stickily across his waist, irritating another wound on his waist until it was both painful and numb.

"A Spirit weapon? Or forged from Magic Material? Very good." The Hartna Knight said, and as soon as he finished speaking, he used his right foot to kick up a handful of gravel and sand from the ground, covering Jier, and then, with his shield in front and his sword behind, he slammed head-on into Jier.

Jier did not expect the opponent to use such a low-down combat method. When he turned his head to avoid the incoming sand and gravel, he caught a glimpse of the Hartna Knight charging straight at him out of the corner of his eye. The opponent was moving at high speed, and Jier had no time to retreat further, so he had to cross his weapons to brace himself, using them to withstand the opponent's collision.

*Bang! *

The two collided. The Hartna Knight immediately planted his feet on the ground to exert force, his left hand also steadily bracing against the opponent's weapons, while the Sword in his right hand prepared to thrust forward immediately after stabilizing. The armor on Jier's body would be hard to block the Hartna Knight's Sword.

But to the Hartna Knight's surprise, after a moment of struggling in a test of strength, it was he himself who was pushed backward.

"Hm?" He widened his eyes, looking at the young man in front of him with an expression of surprise.

The Life Energy in Jier's body was circulating slowly, yet his strength was actually greater than the Hartna Knight's, especially when a Magic Tool on Jier's left forearm also activated; the Hartna Knight's feet kept scraping against the ground, but he could not stop himself from being pushed backward.

Was he actually losing in strength to a young man who had only undergone Knight Training for a short time and had presumably just been promoted to the Knight Rank?

Although surprised, he still used his shield on his left arm to stabilize the stalemate while thrusting with his Sword in his right hand.

Jier naturally saw the Hartna Knight's movement. He used the shaft of the spear in his right hand to block the opponent's shield, while his left hand used the Hunting Sword to parry the opponent's strike by a hair's breadth. Then, he exhaled to exert force, pushing his right arm forward fiercely, and the spear shaft pushed the Hartna Knight away with great force.

He threw the Hunting Sword in his left hand at the opponent, and then, holding the Dwarf Soldier Spear with both hands, Jier performed a standard spear thrust, aiming straight for the Hartna Knight's chest.

The Hartna Knight gritted his teeth in dissatisfaction, about to use his shield to block the sword thrown at him, when the sword Jier threw actually flew past the Hartna Knight's side.

'A mistake? No!'

Knight Hartna immediately recalled that the opponent's long sword was a Spirit weapon; although it had not yet reached the legendary level of flying automatically to kill enemies, its ability to autonomously protect its master was already quite formidable, so it was highly likely that...

Just as he was about to turn to block the long sword that would surely fly back from behind, Knight Hartna saw Jier following up with a standard long spear thrust.

Which one should he block?

Instantly entrusting the choice to his intuition, Knight Hartna braced his hands behind his Knight Shield, blocking Jier's direct spear thrust head-on. As for the long sword circling back from behind, he could only pray for good luck that it would not injure his head.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

The Hunting Sword was thrown out, flew more than ten meters in the air, and then immediately paused in mid-air; then, as if pulled by an invisible rope, it rotated and returned to Jier's position.

On its return path, it would inevitably pass through Knight Hartna's current location, and as for the height, it was exactly at the level of Knight Hartna's head.

But there was a threat behind and a crisis in front.

Jier stomped his feet on the ground and thrust his spear forward; the mere pebbles kicked up by his footsteps struck the nearby soldiers with a clattering sound, making them afraid to approach.

The tip of the long spear, shining with unknown mysterious runes, headed straight for the center of Knight Hartna's chest, appearing slow but actually fast.

The Knight Shield met it, and the long spear pierced exactly into the center of the olive-shaped shield.

A harsh and shrill metallic screech rang out; the thick, olive-shaped Knight Metal Shield was actually pierced directly by Jier's long spear, which then also wounded the left forearm of Knight Hartna, who was bracing it from behind.

The Metal Bracer on Knight Hartna's left forearm was not thin, but facing the Dwarf 【Sharp】 rune on the Dwarf Soldier Spear, it failed to provide good protection.

"Urgh..." With a groan of pain, Knight Hartna, fearing he would fall into another trial of strength and lose, quickly unbuckled the strap on his left forearm with his right hand, then pulled his left hand out from the opponent's spear blade, grabbed his shield with both hands, and twisted his body with force, causing his shield and Jier's long spear to be twisted away into the distance.

And as it happened, following Knight Hartna's twist, the Hunting Sword that had rotated past his head only shaved off half of the knight's ear before obediently flying back into the Sword Sheath at Jier's left waist.

"Ha!"

Jier's palm went numb; Knight Hartna's sudden twist had nearly broken the fingers Jier used to grip the spear shaft. After all, how could the grip strength of a human palm compare to the twisting force of the waist?

Jier drew his sword and charged forward again, while Knight Hartna also picked up the Sword at his side and clashed with Jier once.

This time, Knight Hartna circulated the Life Energy within his body in advance, ensuring the injury on his right arm would not worsen under the protection of the Life Energy, and then the two swords crossed.

Clang!

Knight Hartna twisted his wrist, and the heavy Magic Material Sword guided Jier's long sword to turn along with it as it moved.

The knight turned faster and faster, raised his hand, and let the long sword in Jier's hand follow the momentum toward the sky, while he retracted his own weapon in advance and slashed upward, intending to sever one of Jier's arms.

But white light surged on Jier's long sword, instantly illuminating the entire Yingdi when it pointed toward the sky, blinding everyone, friend or foe alike.

Of course, his own weapon would not harm him; Jier had simply closed his eyes in advance, so the blinding white light of the Sun God Divine Power caused him no harm, but it was different for others.

Knight Hartna's eyes had not yet recovered from the long-term dark environment; he had been squinting during the previous battle, relying more on combat intuition and his sense of hearing to judge Jier's position and attacks.

At this moment, as the blinding Divine Power of the Sun God shone down, he could not help but painfully close his eyes and shed a large amount of tears. There was no help for it; even if Knight Hartna could endure physical pain, at such a close distance to Jier, squinting his eyes could not avoid the most intense blinding effect.

When eyes are stimulated by strong light and tear up, that is a bodily instinct, not controlled by the human themselves.

And the others around, including the Defeated Soldier and the long-haired lynx Beast currently in combat, were also blinded by Jier's indiscriminate blinding white light.

The Mao Mao, which had been moving nimbly, tumbled to the ground, their long tails cautiously whipping around to probe the surroundings. The Defeated Soldiers who had formed small groups to fight were shouting and backing into each other for protection, panic-stricken as they swung their weapons wildly at their surroundings.

Even some Villagers who had been looking over curiously from the Mine entrance were now covering their eyes with both hands and being dragged back into the Mine. And on a treetop outside the Jiedian in the distance, Xueya Site, who had been watching through a Telescope, had already dealt with the remaining sentry soldiers and was waiting here for the arrival of Bata'er Jiaoshi and the other Warriors at any moment, but facing the vast whiteness before his eyes, he could only manage a wry smile.

Fortunately, he had heard Jier say that the blinding effect of this weapon was temporary, so he was not worried, merely hugging the tree trunk beside him tightly to prevent himself from falling from the tree.

But the others on the battlefield did not know this!

Many people were shouting in panic, with people who could not understand the situation yelling things like "I'm blind! I'm blind!" or "What's going on? What happened?"

Knight Hartna was relatively calm; some in his former young knight squad had possessed similar weapons, so he was not overly panicked: "A Divine Power weapon? Heh, so you are a dog of the Sun God Church. Possessing the strength of a Knight Rank, yet willing to do errands for the Church, where is your dignity?"

"What dog, what dignity. I am not a dog of any church, nor do I need you to question my dignity. My sword is wielded for the weak!" Jier retorted.

Unexpectedly, Knight Hartna, while slowly retreating, said: "Oh, you came for the Villagers captured by Yeluba. Are you from the Agricultural God Church? No, a New Knight hired by the Agricultural God Church, right?"

Jier said no more and charged forward.

He swung his sword!

But Knight Hartna, relying solely on his hearing, grasped Jier's attack direction and the angle of the weapon's swing, and by using his own sword to lead, he deflected Jier's strike.

Jier frowned and swung his sword repeatedly, but as a fellow knight, even with Knight Hartna's serious injuries, his movements were simply faster than Jier's. "Striking after but arriving first" was no longer enough to describe it; it was as if Jier were the one who was severely injured.

"This isn't right! Why are your movements so much faster than mine?"

Facing Jier's shout, Hartna chuckled; although everything before his eyes was still a vast whiteness, he used his right hand to deflect Jier's long sword with his own, while his left hand formed a fist, the slightly reddish light on the fist showing through the knight's Steel Armor Gloves, and struck fiercely at Jier's abdomen at close range.

Jier saw this punch, and his empty left hand tried hard to open and move, striving to block this unusual punch from Knight Hartna.

He succeeded; because his palm had a shorter distance to move, it just barely managed to block in front of the opponent's fist.

But the next moment, Jier's left hand felt as if it had been struck by lightning, and a shivering sensation spread from the place where his left palm had caught the opponent's fist.

In such a thrilling battle, Jier actually shuddered.

He then discovered that his left hand was in unbearable pain, and as if it had been placed in ice water for a long time, it was stiff and unable to move.

Knight Hartna retracted his force and retreated after landing the punch, as if his plan had already succeeded the moment he hit Jier's palm.

"Your teacher didn't teach you this, did he! New Knight." Although Knight Hartna could not see, he knew his punch had done its job just from the deep breath Jier had taken and the lack of subsequent movement.

He had just gathered a portion of his own Life Energy into his left fist, but rather than increasing the power of the punch, he projected this portion of Life Energy into the enemy's body through the impact of the punch.

Knight Hartna was not proficient in this move either and had been forced to use it during the fierce battle, feeling some internal doubt, but having succeeded in one strike, he knew he had won.

Life Energy is an extremely personal power; apart from the user themselves, it is very dangerous to others. When Jier underwent Knight Training, he relied on contacting the portion of Kela's Life Energy that Kela had sent into a wooden puppet to activate the Life Energy within his own body.

That was only a tiny bit of Life Energy Kela had provided, and if one were to do as Knight Hartna was doing now—forcibly sending a portion of one's own Life Energy into an enemy's body through close-quarters combat contact—it would cause extremely serious Life Energy damage.

Although detaching Life Energy from the body is a high-difficulty task, and after the Life Energy leaves the body, it must first pass through Knight Hartna's own knight gauntlet, then penetrate the thick cowhide glove Jier wore over his armor, before it could finally touch Jier's palm.

Yet even after such consumption, Jier's entire left hand was still unusable.

Knowing things were dire, he immediately retreated.

And Knight Hartna, who could not see, did not retreat but advanced, chasing Jier to kill him, his Sword held at his side, ready to strike a fatal blow at any moment.

Jier turned and ran, his left arm hanging at his side as if it were not his own, his right hand swinging his long sword to block the weapons being swung wildly by the Defeated Soldiers he passed.

After passing through a few people, Jier turned his head and saw that Knight Hartna himself was also being interfered with by the weapons swung wildly by the blinded soldiers. At first, Knight Hartna could actively bypass them, but this caused the distance between him and Jier to widen.

Although the knight was quite confident that Jier, this New Knight, could not dispel the Life Energy he had invaded with in a short time—not that it was impossible, but it required a quiet environment, sufficient Life Energy within one's own body as a backup, and finally, one had to carefully control one's own Life Energy at a one-to-one ratio to consume the invading Life Energy.

But at this moment, at this time, where could there be a quiet environment for Jier to slowly concentrate on controlling the energy within his body and remove his Life Energy?

Although he had this confidence, Knight Hartna was still worried that Jier was a Church Knight who had defected to the Church and possessed some special Divine Art items to help the other party reverse the current unfavorable situation.

Therefore, he had to catch up with the other party as soon as possible; even if he could not see anything right now, he had to take advantage of the fact that the other party had one arm that could not be used to kill him.

"Get out of the way! Don't block the road!"

He shouted, but Knight Hartna had overestimated the deterrent power of the Blinding state on others.

He knew it was a temporary state, but the others did not; the Mao Maos and Defeated Soldiers on the field were all in a chaotic mess, shouting and yelling at each other, and as long as it wasn't someone of their own race, they would attack and strike down whoever it was!

Knight Hartna had just chased for two steps when he was blocked again by a pair of soldiers who were swinging their weapons wildly after being affected by Blinding.

This time he was no longer polite, directly identifying the positions of the two people blocking the way through sound, then casually blocking the other party's weapon swing with his left arm, and then swinging his sword to cut both of them, along with their armor, into two pieces.

Knight Hartna did not stop, following the sound of Jier's footsteps, which were heavier than others, and chased after him closely!

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