Chapter 615: The Heat-Sensitive Lizardman, and the Knight Hartna Who Gave Up

"If you have any other skills, please bring them out! Otherwise, you can only regret that your life ends here, with no further opportunity to show them off."

Jier mocked sarcastically. He had just discarded the two broken Long Swords and casually drew his Hunting Sword, holding it in one hand.

He stepped on a broken Soldier Shield at his feet, flicked it up, and caught it with his left hand.

Although the wooden Soldier Shield made of hardwood had limited defense and was even cracked, his left hand was empty anyway, so taking a shield didn't matter; Jier was actually most skilled at sword-and-shield combat.

Hearing Jier's mockery, Knight Hartna merely twitched the nose on his scale-covered face, snorted a puff of hot air, stared unblinkingly at Jier's movements, and approached with long strides. It didn't look like he was the weaker one; rather, he was the one suppressing Jier.

Still using the two Long Swords in his hands, this time he struck with both swords in succession, but not attacking from the left and right as before; instead, he took the center line of the fight and pulled an oval trajectory from bottom to top, attacking Jier with the two Long Swords one after another.

Jier's left-hand shield blocked continuously, making a *clatter-clatter-clatter* sound against the wooden shield face, while his footsteps also retreated slightly in small increments following the force of the strikes.

He was not merely defending; his right-hand Hunting Sword struck out from time to time, relying on its own weight to deliver rapid attacks that required Knight Hartna to block with both swords simultaneously.

Both of them moved very quickly, but without the high-speed impact and the addition of immense power from when both sides were using Life Energy earlier, the scene looked far less shocking than before.

The Lizardman's body seemed somewhat peculiar; as the movements accelerated, the Lizardman's physical flexibility, speed, and reaction time were gradually improving, already exceeding the level a normal Human Warrior could reach, while Jier relied on faster reactions, the shield, and the offensive of the Hunting Sword to barely block Knight Hartna's continuous attacks.

In just one short minute, Knight Hartna launched fifty uninterrupted attacks at Jier. Jier blocked with great difficulty, and some missed attacks could only be blocked by the armor on his body, which caused some of the Metal Armor Plates on his body to be smashed, dented, and warped.

Just as Jier was having trouble coping, Knight Hartna suddenly stopped, his whole body twitching as he retreated. His mouth and nose were stretched wide, breathing continuously, and even some of the scales on his body were slightly raised; it was unclear what he was doing.

"What's going on?"

Jier was also surprised. Although he had been in a sorry state just now, the continuous defense not only made Jier feel exhilarated, but he also subconsciously imitated Knight Hartna's fighting movements during the battle; if he used dual swords later, he might be able to barely simulate Knight Hartna's fighting style.

No one taught him these things; he could only experience and learn them personally during the battle.

Knight Hartna opened his mouth wide, spraying out puffs of hot air: "Hot! Need water! Pour water on me—"

Jier raised an eyebrow. After hearing Knight Hartna's words and looking at the opponent's appearance, it indeed looked like he was suffering from heatstroke, but they had only been fighting for a short time, right? How could this Lizardman's body be so useless?

He had just warmed up, and the opponent was already too hot to function?

"Where am I supposed to find water for you? It's such a hot day, and there's a burning wooden house nearby. I won't kill you right now; go find the soldiers' water barrels in the surrounding collapsed Soldier Yingdi tents yourself."

Jier threw away the broken Soldier Shield in his hand and turned to walk toward Knight Hartna's Knight Shield on the ground not far away, even turning his back to the opponent.

But even though Jier had his back to him, Knight Hartna did not try to launch a sneak attack. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't at this moment.

The Lizardman's body heated up quickly due to the battle. The Knight hadn't realized this earlier, and because of the increase in body temperature, the Lizardman's movements had actually become more flexible and faster, and his strength had increased slightly; he had been quite satisfied with this temporary body.

But everything came to an abrupt end as his body temperature continued to rise.

When his body temperature rose to a vague limit, his entire body's strength suddenly dropped rapidly, his limb control became sluggish, his whole body became heavy and uncomfortable, and it felt as if a fire pit had been ignited inside his body, extending from the center of his torso to his limbs (his tail was broken). His mind was no longer sharp, his vision became blurred, his ears emitted a buzzing sound, and every breath felt like someone was pouring acid into his nose.

Moreover, this state would not improve just because he stopped fighting. In his blurred consciousness, Knight Hartna realized it was because his body was too hot, but why were Lizardmen so weak!

Knight Hartna, who had just thought the Lizardman body was quite good, changed his judgment and was very certain that Lizardmen were really weak.

Because although Humans were not strong (compared to some particularly perverted racial talents) and their physical qualities were average, at least Humans had no weaknesses and would not suddenly lose their combat effectiveness due to a short period of intense fighting, and Human endurance was considered strong among all life forms; in long-distance marches, many four-legged livestock were far inferior to Humans.

But Lizardmen were not like this. To say nothing else, the weakness of the body overheating and collapsing like this was very fatal.

Because his body was overheated, the Knight stumbled in a daze toward the surrounding collapsed tents, dropped the weapons in his hands, and his tall body knelt down. In his blurred vision, he searched for water barrels containing fresh water among the various items broken by the battle.

Although his eyes couldn't see clearly and his ears were buzzing, Lizardmen were naturally sensitive to moisture. Relying solely on his body's instincts, the Knight quickly found half a barrel of fresh water.

First, he hugged it and gulped down more than ten mouthfuls of water, then lifted the entire barrel and poured it over his body from head to toe.

"Hoo—refreshing!"

The Lizardman's body shivered, and he felt refreshed and energized all of a sudden.

But his body was still very hot. Knight Hartna subconsciously searched for the water barrels still left nearby again, seemingly forgetting all the current circumstances, his whole mind set on getting some water to pour on himself to cool down.

Jier watched Knight Hartna's actions in silence, watching the opponent single-mindedly search for fresh water to pour on himself, seemingly having forgotten all about him, who was holding a sword and shield.

"Knight Hartna, you seem to have forgotten that you and I are currently in a battle?"

Jier asked.

But the Knight just paused, then continued to ignore everything and found half a bottle of strong liquor in the collapsed tent? He didn't care about much anymore; strong liquor was also liquid, also water. The Knight bit it open directly and poured it *whoosh, whoosh, whoosh* over his body.

Alcohol evaporated more easily and took away heat. Although this half-pot of strong liquor brought out the smell of alcohol when poured on his body, it was clearly cooler.

"Cough, cough! Knight? Knight Hartna? Look... about the fighting?"

Jier walked up quickly, chasing after Knight Hartna to ask.

But Knight Hartna turned his entire Lizardman face around, his brown-yellow vertical pupils staring at Jier: "No more fighting. You can kill me if you want. I just want to pour some water on myself to cool down right now. Honestly, I never realized before that getting one's body wet was such a comfortable thing..."

Jier's expression was almost unable to hold up. He didn't expect that after using the Lizardman Transformation Potion, the person would actually have some Lizardman living habits due to the Lizardman body factors.

Of course, perhaps this also had to do with the fact that Knight Hartna had no chance of winning the battle at this moment.

Not far away, the Adjutant Piluo, who had been staring closely at this side, could no longer hold back and crawled out from his hiding place upon hearing Knight Hartna's changed tone. The Blinding in his eyes had disappeared; although his vision was still a bit blurry due to the strong light exposure, he could barely see.

At this moment, he rushed over staggeringly. Although he was startled for a moment by Knight Hartna's Lizardman appearance, he still knelt halfway beside Knight Hartna and shouted loudly: "My Lord! You cannot just give up like this! The Lizardman Transformation Potion cured the wounds on your body; isn't this the result of all our hard work during this time?"

"For this, many of our people died or were injured to cross the Southern Mountains; many remained there, entering the bellies of Monsters and some indescribable strange things, and you suffered too much because of it. But now, is it really good to just give up like this? I will fight with you; there are still some soldiers who escaped nearby. Call them back to fight together. Even if we all fail in the end, it's better than giving up now!"

But Knight Hartna saw things more clearly than Adjutant Piluo. He understood that ever since the potion's effect wore off and his Life Energy was exhausted in the battle, he had basically lost the ability to turn things around.

Although his opponent was a running dog of the Church, it had to be said that there were reasons why many Knights defected to the Church.

Even though he was a young man who had only been undergoing Knight Training for a short time, he far exceeded the martial arts and Life Energy he had accumulated over years of practice just because he possessed various strange abilities bestowed by the Church of the Gods.

From the beginning of the engagement until now, there had always been a full supply of Cyan Divine Power supporting the opponent's various consumptions. The existence of this Church Divine Art ability made all the various tactical methods of consuming the enemy's Life Energy during a Knight's battle completely in vain.

Although Knight Hartna guessed that such a powerful ability could not be cheap, free, or have an infinite duration, he himself did not have the capital to persist until the opponent's ability disappeared.

If Knight Hartna knew that even when the 【Grass and Wood Source】 Divine Art ability on Jier expired, Jier could seamlessly connect to the next 【Grass and Wood Source】 and possess infinite energy, I wonder if Knight Hartna would still call the Church Knight a running dog of the Church of the Gods?

He would probably hesitate for a while, and then, ashamed of his family's honor, awkwardly join some Church of the Gods?

But he had no chance now.

Knight Hartna pushed away Piluo, who was emotionally agitated and encouraging him to fight again, and said in a voice that had changed: "You don't understand. It turns out that pouring water on a Lizardman's body is such a happy thing. Don't try to persuade me. With this time, it's better to help me find more water to pour on my body before this kid kills us, heh."

Adjutant Piluo was in despair. He felt despair as he watched Knight Hartna's tall and strong body not fighting, but only blindly searching for fresh water to pour on himself, scrubbing his scales, looking refreshed.

With the Knight in this state, wouldn't his persistence over these days become a joke?

Thinking of this, he looked viciously at Jier, at this outsider holding Knight Hartna's Knight Shield, a running dog of the Church.

"It's all because of you! Because of you, things have turned out this way! The situation was clearly very good this morning; I was almost able to drive Yeluba away and let Knight Hartna regain control of the entire Yingdi, and I would have been able to... I would have been able to, been able to demonstrate my own value and defend the honor of my family!"

Piluo gritted his teeth and drew his slender Cavalry Sword; the slightly curved tip of the Cavalry Sword was very suitable for hacking while mounted. He gripped his weapon and strode toward Jier.

Knight Hartna took a moment to glance at Piluo, sighed slightly, did nothing, and said nothing, continuing to seek some simple and direct pleasure in the final moments of his life.

Because of the wounds on his body, he had spent the previous dozens of days in too much pain. So, in order for his Spirit to find peace after death, he hoped this last bit of time could be a little happier.

"Ya—"

Piluo shouted, gripped his sword with both hands, and charged at Jier, delivering a Heavy Cleave straight toward Jier's head.

Although Jier was wearing a Metal Helmet, Jier estimated that being hit hard by a Cavalry Sword held with both hands would still leave him dizzy for a long time. And at that moment, Piluo could try to swing his sword to cut Jier's neck.

But he thought too much.

Jier simply raised Knight Hartna's Metal Shield; this olive-shaped Knight Shield, which had a hole in the front, easily blocked Piluo's heavy strike.

It not only blocked it, but because of the olive shape, the front of the shield was also arc-shaped and very smooth; only a portion of the force of Piluo's Heavy Cleave was absorbed by the shield and transmitted to Jier's left arm, while most of the swinging force slid and deflected along the opponent's weapon, hacking heavily into the ground to the side.

"Oh, this shield is not bad!" Jier examined the shield in his hand; the shield was 1.2 meters long, over 40 centimeters wide, and not very thick, but the shield as a whole was like a boat, with the bottom of the boat facing the enemy and the hull side facing Jier, held by Jier from the inside.

The inside of the shield had some gorgeous decorations; the Knight's emblem, the family motto, and even the Knight's code were engraved on thin plates made of gold, hanging on the inside of the shield. Furthermore, there were hooks on the inside of the shield for hanging some secondary weapons, making it convenient to hang some short axes, one-handed Meteors, and armor-piercing Short Swords, ready for the right hand to quickly switch weapons.

The entire outer side of the shield was very smooth, with some textures intentionally left during forging on the surface, but they were not obvious; clearly, in terms of decoration, it gave way to the practicality of the shield. Its overall weight was not light, because the materials were solid, and the shield, made largely of sturdy steel, weighed about twenty-plus kilograms. This weight basically ruled out the possibility of use by ordinary Human Soldiers; only a Knight of Knight Rank or a Warrior could smoothly use a shield of this weight.

Twenty-plus kilograms was basically the weight of all the primary and secondary weapons and spare weapons of an ordinary Warrior, plus ten kilograms of full-body Armor, which was the combat load of a fully armed Warrior.

But think about it, a formal Knight, with a Sword and shield, weighed nearly fifty kilograms, basically the same as the body weight of an adult female; plus Knight Hartna's set of Knight Armor weighing nearly one hundred kilograms, ordinary people basically could not hurt such an armed formal Knight.

It was the same at this moment; although the Armor on Jier's body was far inferior to the Armor of a formal Knight, his improvised Armor was heavier than the heavy Soldier Armor of the Defeated Soldiers and had a higher level of protection.

Paired with the original Knight Shield of Knight Hartna and the equally heavy Hunting Sword weighing over ten kilograms, Jier was simply a small-sized Knight Hartna; Piluo's continuous attacks did not achieve a single result.

Jier either blocked the attacks casually with the shield or used the Hunting Sword, which was much heavier than the Cavalry Sword in Piluo's hand, to easily parry the offensive, then used a little force to knock Piluo's weapon away.

He did not kill the opponent in one blow either; after knocking away Piluo's weapon, Jier took the opportunity to step forward and kick him while the opponent's guard was wide open, humiliating the opponent.

Of course, when Jier did these things, he was watching Knight Hartna, who was pouring water on his body to the side.

But Knight Hartna only cared about pouring water on his own head and did not look even once at the humiliation his Adjutant was suffering.

"Really? Knight Hartna, I am going to kill your Adjutant, you know? Not fighting? If your body is too hot to fight, you have poured so much water on yourself, you should have recovered by now, right? I specifically allowed the two of you to attack me together! Not going to try?"

Facing Jier's suggestion, Knight Hartna remained unmoved, only caring about finding water, drinking water, and pouring water on his body.

And Piluo said nothing, desperately launching attacks at Jier, even though it was of no use.

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