Chapter 142: Ambush

"Empire. Mind Flayer. Rebirth Shellship."

Sallyman frowned; since the day before, she had been experiencing intermittent auditory hallucinations.

It seemed something was screaming beside her ear, yet when she searched carefully, she felt no source.

It was deeper underground.

"This is the Brain's psychic cry—it's calling its entire race. This sound has likely transcended dimensions."

Mind Flayers were an ancient imperial civilization, once possessing a powerful interdimensional culture.

They even developed a complete supernatural and technological system based on psychic energy—the clearest evidence being their shellships (psychically driven!).

They never earned an era's title because they were too harmful to other intelligent species.

The more their population grew, the fiercer their wars with other races became; their parasitic population growth model created irreconcilable social contradictions—one Mind Flayer needed to consume one living brain per month, so the more numerous they became, the more intense their conflicts with other races.

Their empire never stabilized before being overthrown by "slaves" who were doomed to die anyway.

Thus, their kind spread across every corner of the multiverse, infamous as a "harmful cockroach nest."

Seeing them makes you nauseous; stepping on them makes it worse; ignoring them? Heh, they'll Exinsi you—and your entire race—is entirely possible.

"Will they come?" Li En was curious. If he truly heard a call from another dimension, he wouldn't come unless the benefits and perks were clearly explained.

"They will. They definitely will," Kuku said with certainty, yet his face was full of disgust.

"For Mind Flayers, once a kin calls, nothing else matters—at least there's a good meal. Many struggling, poor relatives will show up," Zi Qiangwei still smiled, but her smile carried disdain.

Normal intelligent beings generally despise Mind Flayers—these endless dimensional trash.

Their current main business is interdimensional slave trading, primarily serving lower-dimensional demons, devils, and evil deities.

Wherever their shellships pass, numerous disappearances follow.

Yet at this moment, Zi Qiangwei's expression toward Sallyman grew increasingly peculiar.

"To hear the Mind Flayer Brain's interdimensional broadcast? She must have exceptional compatibility with Mind Flayers."

Zi Qiangwei herself possessed psychic abilities, but this was one of the Snake's bonus traits—how could a snake infiltrate minds without psychic power? A mature Snake Witch could crush ordinary psychic users.

Yet Sallyman, who had not fully awakened, had heard the Mind Flayer broadcast—something Zi Qiangwei herself hadn't heard.

"67123," Sallyman casually recited a string of numbers—as if she'd clearly decoded the encrypted broadcast coordinates.

"Little Sallyman, want to become a Magical Girl? You'll be stronger than me," Zi Qiangwei continued, half-joking, half-serious.

"No," Sallyman's face twisted with disgust.

"Sssss (At your age, still dressed like a twelve-year-old girl, always fluttering ribbons—so embarrassing.)" Sallyman stated her reason.

The two Sallymans rarely agreed on anything—but they agreed now.

Yet from Zi Qiangwei's clenched fist, it was clear this wouldn't come without cost.

"Smack!" The iron fist of love arrived as scheduled.

"Why is Auntie hitting me!" One Sallyman felt unfairly treated.

But now that Sallyman was part of the temporary squad, it was indeed beneficial.

Like having a long-range radar in aerial combat—searching for psychic users requires psychic users; every psychic is a mental radar, and as soon as you power on, you risk detection.

"Over here—one, two… wait, only one, but it seems stronger."

With the enchanter and psychic working together, their combined willpower amplified Sallyman's psychic ability, allowing her to detect Mind Flayers in advance.

This slight reconnaissance advantage could mean the difference between life and death.

"Psychic Shield," Sallyman cast her first psychic ability, granting Li En a barrier that nullified and reflected psychic attacks.

Though a low-level psychic ability, it was the first choice among psychic users in internal conflicts.

Layering defenses was always a wise choice.

"Protection from Evil!" Li En also cast a divine spell on himself.

This spell offered moderate defense against evil creatures, but more importantly, it granted the paladin temporary immunity to mind-control effects—and immunity to possession by ghosts or parasitic beings.

In a sense, the paladin's reputation as the natural enemy of evil creatures was justified—his divine spells were almost all tailored to specific evils.

Protection from Evil was only a first-rank spell, yet it ranked among the top three in a paladin's spell list—effective, affordable, and low-cost.

"Heavy Step."

Finally, after failing N times, Li En completed the speed-enhancing spell—but he never ended up using it; his spell level was too low, and the duration too short.

Sallyman used psychic stealth to conceal him, letting him silently crouch on the cliff wall, waiting. She probably truly thought he was a Lizardman—Lizardmen loved this kind of ambush terrain.

Long Zhao kept Li En steady, allowing him to hold his breath and wait for the target.

Finally, the Mind Flayer squad passed by.

He waited patiently—even as some spell effects faded—without rushing to strike.

The squad numbered over twenty, but the real target was only one.

And it was always last.

Finally, it arrived beneath Li En.

"Die, evil!" Paladins don't strike without warning—but they can announce their arrival with Smite Evil!

As the Mind Flayer was suddenly blinded by radiant light, it looked up—and saw the paladin who had "descended from the heavens."

It froze.

But its tentacles instinctively lashed out; this high-level Mind Flayer monk instantly completed a rapid spell.

"Psychic Burst!" A vortex of psychic energy erupted instantly; nearby slaves were directly injured, spitting blood.

The Mind Flayer was confident it could immobilize this low-level knight for several seconds—then its slaves would swarm in.

"How is this possible…" Yet the leaping knight didn't stop.

The psychic storm was completely ignored—the radiant blade was already before the Mind Flayer!

"Damn it!" The Mind Flayer was utterly terrified; its body erupted in multicolored light as every magical item activated.

Clearly, it was wealthy—it had layered itself with Stone Skin and multiple shields—but—

"Smite Evil." Where the blade struck, one shield after another exploded—shattered outright.

One slash. Another slash.

After closing in, the knight's rapid, precise strikes forced the Mind Flayer to stagger backward.

"Save me! Save me!"

The psychic plea echoed through the area—but had already been neutralized and silenced (Zi Qiangwei: Good job. Keep blocking its psychic sense.).

The Mind Flayer instinctively fell back, leaving only a few slaves foolishly rushing to its aid.

Due to long-term mental control, slaves moved with extreme sluggishness when not under direct command—especially under psychic shock.

"Exactly. Whether psychic or enchanter, your main battlefield role is still support and positioning—we don't need to lead the charge," Zi Qiangwei, nearby, still had time to teach Sallyman battlefield control.

In actual combat, enchanters always fought this way.

The seemingly effortless yet deadly hypnosis, commands, and charm—all were high-risk spells that eroded the opponent's mind, requiring direct confrontation with their will and soul.

Killing the weak was easy, but fighting the strong meant overcoming their multiple resistances.

Those who became strong usually had exceptionally resilient minds—forcing control consumed too much energy and yielded poor results.

Controllers and buffers (enhancing allies, weakening enemies)—these were the enchanter's (mind-controller's) battlefield roles.

"Look at that Mind Flayer—it fights the same way. It only uses Psychic Burst for control; its real strength lies in forcing its slaves to fight. Sallyman, you need to raise some tank minions in daily practice," she also taught her "little Mind Flayer" how to improve.

This was indeed true—excellent enchanters always carried a few disposable slaves.

But if Li En, still swinging his sword, had heard this, he'd likely feel it carried a hidden meaning.

"Die, trash!" But at this moment, Li En simply felt an immense sense of satisfaction from slashing.

Though the shields had activated, Li En hadn't yet mastered spell disruption.

"Just slash more times."

But this was merely a "shield-breaking" exchange—just more slashes!

"Foul, disgusting hairy monster!"

The smooth-skinned "Octopus Guy" descended into hysteria—he realized he was trapped.

Was this wide-area plea a death trap?!

His tentacles flailed wildly, glowing faintly with psychic and arcane energy—since ranged psychic attacks failed, he'd use direct contact!

This Mind Flayer monk had indeed trained his tentacle techniques; over a dozen practitioners had died from his embrace—once he wrapped his prey, he could pour psychic energy into their body, then thrust his tentacles into their brain.

But light came rushing toward him.

"Zzzzz!"

The next instant, the psychic roar turned to static; the floating octopus head stared blankly.

The final image in its vision: the young knight still swinging his holy sword.

Random punches kill the master? No—combat has no miracles, only strength and weakness.

The wildly swinging holy sword carried terrifying radiant power, piercing straight through the evil's defenses.

Those tentacles, the spells, the psychic energy blocking the way? Hmm—no sensation. Perhaps they'd been absorbed into the holy blade.

"Clang."

Li En's holy sword was already sheathed; the headless corpse gushed blood.

He didn't even bother looking—the slave warriors, now within arm's reach, froze instantly, blood spurting from all seven orifices as they collapsed.

Cruel Mind Flayers never granted slaves freedom or the possibility of betrayal.

When the master died, the final psychic pulse carried away all nearby slaves.

As for those farther away—they wouldn't return to desecrate the corpse; why would they trouble the saviors?

The first battle lasted less than a minute, leaving a field of corpses—and Li En wore a cheerful smile… then began looting with even greater delight.

These magical items aren't cheap; on ordinary days, he wouldn't even dare look at the prices when passing by shops.

Previously, when he killed the slave market boss, he got his hands on a batch, but some were broken, and others were too unusual to dare use.

Now these are legitimate spoils of war—even if he can't use them, selling them would net him a fortune.

Li En wasn't stingy; though only he had struck the blow, the others had come along too, just lying in wait was best for him.

Right then and there, they divided the weapons and armor taken from the slave warriors—none of it was bad; many were even enchanted, better than Li En's spare gear.

Take what you want; if you don't, toss it into your space bag and wait for your share of the gold.

"Let's go, next one." Instantly, the temporary hunting team's morale soared.

The mind flayers, once deemed super-dangerous creatures, had now become walking treasuries in Li En's squad's eyes.

Never mind anything else—these cross-planar traders were incredibly wealthy.

Li En turned to Sallyman and tossed her a ring, presumably one that enhanced mental abilities.

He could see that defeating this troublesome monster had been mostly thanks to Sallyman.

Without her mental ability, which subtly overshadowed the enemy's, it would've been impossible for Li En to hide before it; in many cases, a spellcaster was already half-dead once a melee fighter closed in.

Without her, they couldn't have defended against most of the mental attacks.

"Huh? Where's the ring?" Poor Sallyman stared blankly—she'd clearly caught it.

"Sssss (Does it look good?)" The snake-haired hood wearing the ring looked rather comical.

"Yeah, looks good." Li En spoke the truth—he was looking right at Sallyman's face when he said it.

(End of Chapter)