Chapter 114: Child of the Beast

"Scout for evil." The radiance of Judgment spread out, and without a doubt, a sea of red appeared before their eyes.

The one glowing red like a lightbulb was, naturally, the Mind Flayer behind the dwarves. This was one of the few evil races in the Prime Material Plane!

"Break Evil!"

When the two Paladins charged out like mad dogs, all evil beings should have known the situation was dire.

"KIK?! SRUTFE! (Surface dwellers?! Kill them!)"

Accompanying the Mind Flayer's hoarse roar, the gray dwarves wearing collars immediately turned red-eyed and rushed to kill.

Their steps were somewhat sluggish, but the arms gripping warhammers and shields showed no hesitation; driven by their master's will, they fell into a berserk state.

No wonder the opponents Li En had encountered before were so weak; how could slaves be healthy and ambitious, especially without the master's whip driving them?

"Get lost!"

The silver holy sword emitted a dazzling light in the night; facing the "evil" rushing at them, the Paladin's divine duty was fully activated.

"Swish!"

The blade of holy power traced a perfect arc in mid-air; like a flying swallow, the blade skillfully dodged the blocking warhammer, and before the sword tip even fell, heads were already flying.

"Feather Fall" was activated; for other races, this leaping slash tactic was almost stupid, but against small species like dwarves, it was a tactic offering an almost crushing advantage.

"Evil, die!"

Li En danced among the short red crowd, sword light carving out half-circles.

With the help of spells, his leaps were explosive yet light, and his landings were as smooth and graceful as a flying swallow.

Unlike the reckless, head-on brawling style of those other Paladins, Paladin Li En at this moment moved as if he were an unarmored Sword Saint.

Every swing of his sword easily sent at least one head flying, whether through close combat or flying slashes, like a predator facing clumsy prey.

Gray dwarf warriors were never weaklings, but before him, they were like targets with no resistance.

"Truly beautiful." Behind them, the Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei narrowed her eyes, revealing an expression as if intoxicated.

She was seeing Li En's fighting style for the first time.

Unlike the expected blunt-stick Paladin, this sword technique, bordering on the Dao, combined with mature tactical choices, was not only a master's legacy but also a refined work forged through a thousand hammerings.

"More importantly, it is held in the hands of a perfect person."

Whether a set of combat techniques meets someone who fits them is purely a matter of luck; perhaps only one inheritor in over a dozen generations truly makes it shine.

And Li En might just be the most suitable person.

"So, this is his fighting style?"

Miss Shaliman was also somewhat surprised; she too was seeing Li En's combat for the first time. In her impression, this man was a somewhat strange gentleman, but on the battlefield, he was like a roaring lion.

Larry, who was a step late, had just unfolded his sword stance, while Li En himself had already cut a path straight through! He left not a single one for her!

Li En did not rely too heavily on the Wall Breaker's armor-piercing ability; even though every strike of his could penetrate the dwarves' armor, this fatal secret art remained hidden beneath the surface.

Sword skills, arm length, and explosive speed merely a few steps superior to the opponent, combined with the leaping slash tactic brought by spells, easily pierced the gray dwarves' small shield wall.

"Stop him! Bring me his brains!" A moment ago, the Mind Flayer was still roaring.

"Wait, we can talk." At this moment, the Mind Flayer was already planning to negotiate.

Too fast, too fast; when master-level sword skills were bolstered by speed-enhancing abilities, the dwarf defense line was pierced in mere seconds, approaching the Mind Flayer in the rear.

Talk? Could they gain more intelligence? The power of mind suggestion spread through the air, and Li En hesitated for a moment.

"Mind Blast" But it would be strange if the Mind Flayer's words were trustworthy! While shouting about negotiation, it was indeed preparing a psychic ability.

"Smack!" Sudden, intense pain from above directly interrupted the Mind Flayer's nearly instant-cast psychic ability.

It suddenly looked down and saw an ugly mechanical lizard puppet smiling at it.

In the upright lizard's hand was a metal wrench!

"Mind Blast" Rage had already filled it; this soul-sacrificing Mind Blast would stun everyone nearby.

But it was already too late.

The Paladin's holy sword was already right before its eyes.

Where were the slave warriors? Oh, they were already dead all over the ground.

Talk? How to talk? We'll talk in the next life.

The flying octopus head still looked very bewildered.

How did I disappear so quickly?

The octopus head that eats brains every month is a destined evil species.

The last memory in its two eyes was of wounds filled with anti-evil arrows, and its headless neck was spraying blood in great gushes.

Then, the headless flesh, of unknown origin from some intelligent life, collapsed limply.

"Too fast!" Miss Shaliman exclaimed in surprise, stopping the Mind Shield she was casting (absorbs damage and reflects part of psychic attacks).

Originally, she had planned to strengthen her side's front line's anti-mental capabilities; this was the most useful playstyle for her side's mentalists.

She never expected this powerful Mind Flayer to not survive three seconds in front of Li En; she hadn't even finished casting her spell.

And with the master suddenly dead, the mental network connecting master and slaves instantly collapsed; some gray dwarves died on the spot, while others fell into madness. Mind Flayers are not so kind-hearted as to let slaves without masters leave safely.

This skirmish started quickly and ended even faster; when Li En lowered his sword tip, he himself hadn't expected it to be so easy.

Reality is not a game comparing data and stat panels; in the face of superior swordsmanship, sword, and soul abilities crushing them, if the front line doesn't hold, the strongest back line is just one slash away from injury and two from death.

In this process, the back-line caster might only have one round of reaction time; Lord Lord Lord Kuku's "fatal" surprise attack interrupted its casting, which was equivalent to declaring its resistance over and its death.

While Li En was still breathing deeply to adjust, Lord Lord Lord Kuku, humming a little tune, had already started searching for loot.

The perfect "Li En and Lord Lord Lord Kuku Combined Strike" — at least for now, Lord Lord Lord Kuku was picking up treasures one by one with a clear conscience.

"Uh, killed too fast, how do we gather intelligence?"

"Rest assured. Mind Flayers won't have just these few slaves."

The fallen gray dwarf slaves numbered only eight; this quantity is not small for a standard patrol squad, but compared to a Mind Flayer's standard slave configuration, it is indeed a bit few.

Moreover, when it sends them out on tasks, it doesn't just bring battle slaves—the gray dwarves are strong, but they're truly clumsy at labor.

"You—you who are you?" Indeed, deeper within the village, they found some underground gnomes busily at work.

Their necks bore no mind collars—those things cost resources, and in the eyes of the mind flayers, these weaklings were unworthy (gnomes possess innate mental resistance; direct enslavement yields poor results).

They searched through this ruin, using the underground gnomes' small stature and nimble dexterity to find what the mind flayers sought.

Around them, some gray dwarf overseers remained, but none had joined the resistance—some had gone mad, others had fled.

The lucky ones far away had avoided the psychic shock of their master's death; Li En's party had no interest in chasing them.

Li En raised his right hand; holy light illuminated the area, the knight's honor and title calming these panicked little gnomes.

Underground gnomes and mushroom folk are among the rare slightly benevolent lifeforms of the underground world, though the former often survive in crevices of rock walls, and if unlucky, live in abject misery—especially when gray dwarves and dark elves dwell nearby.

This group before them was clearly even more unfortunate—they had encountered mind flayers, an alien race devoted to conquest their entire lives.

"There is a mind flayer clan—they still have a brain."

The intelligence they provided had been verified as real, yet it described a dire situation.

This meant that if the brain was not too far from here, it likely already knew of Li En's party's existence.

But Li En had long known this—the Eternal Hero Hall of the Heroic Souls had been infiltrated by the utterly evil mind flayer brain, the greatest joke of this world.

Mind flayers are nearly destined to be evil beings, for their very birth and survival guarantee the death and suffering of countless sentient lifeforms.

Their young are tadpole-like, yet dangerous parasites requiring a sentient being's brain and body to become their new flesh.

The flesh beneath the mind flayer's head just now was probably some poor soul's.

To sustain their life's vitality, as parasites they must regularly consume sentient beings' brains raw.

Their brain is a collective of dead mind flayers' brains—an extremely terrifying artificial construct.

The entire clan consists of parasites and enslavers, evil beings that must constantly devour other sentient races—and thus, they are true enemies of the continent.

They are opposed and even hunted by most sentient races, forced to survive only in the underground world or dark corners of major cities (sewers, black markets).

"They're searching for an animal? A very beautiful white stag?"

Mind flayers, possessing interdimensional travel ability, once had their own interdimensional empire—their eyesight is exceptional.

They were searching for something valuable, yet from the gnomes' feedback, the searchers they dispatched were merely some seemingly ordinary white stags.

Li En examined the drawing—it looked no different from a normal deer, except its pure-colored eyes were slightly unsettling.

"Child of the Beast—this is the Child of the Beast."

Violet Miss Zi Qiangwei, who had been watching along the way, spoke up voluntarily, her ever-smiling face now serious.

Was this an implication that this was an event demanding serious attention?

"It is the direct bloodline of the Beast—the 'Prince' of the Beast clan."

She drew a deep breath and spoke plainly of the gravity of the situation.

"Each one can create a Magical Girl!" She turned to look at the gnomes.

"How many?" The Child of the Beast rarely appears alone—its appearance signals the worst possibility.

"Uh, the brain said there might be four." This, it seemed, was the worst possible development.

(End of Chapter)