Chapter 143: Chance Encounter

"Die."

The holy sword, stained with blood, swung wildly, its holy light nearly extinguished.

Compared to the past, without infinite holy power, Li En spent his own strength with every Exorcism Slash.

Compared to before, he had to adjust his tactics and conserve his energy.

For the first time, he understood the weakness of Su Er's sword art—it was merely an enhancement of Exorcism Slash, meaning even more holy power was consumed!

The knight, gasping heavily, was backed into a corner; his dimming holy light revealed his weakness.

The slave warriors, armed with fine weapons, surged forward, ready to send him to his death.

"ELDER (Furnace Fire!)"

But unlike other holy knights under siege, Li En had another mana pool!

Flame descended from the sky.

Furnace Fire erupted before him, directly burning a pool of magma.

The approaching gray dwarves and beast-touched slaves collided with it, instantly engulfed by the sea of fire.

"Aaaah!"

Amid screams, Li En gained precious breathing room.

The firestorm separated him from his attackers, allowing him to regain his composure.

Li En grew even more grateful for Kuku's gift—Dragon Language magic was truly effective.

Especially in instant-cast and armor-piercing spellcasting, it was a practical battlefield combat magic forged for war.

The fading flames gave him time to recover, but through the fire, the mind flayer's dark gaze still locked onto him.

The monster continued to thrash the tentacles on its face.

As if to say: I'll wait until the fire dies, then overwhelm you with numbers.

But Li En laughed. He drew his thumb across his throat, making a gesture any sentient being could understand.

"Kill him!" A silent roar echoed across the battlefield—the mind flayer could hardly wait to feast on the holy knight's brain!

This holy knight had the audacity to ambush! He must be a rare mutant!

As it whipped its slaves with psychic energy, forcing them to charge through the flames—

"Boom!"

Its formation was attacked from behind.

A six-armed holy knight charged ahead, swinging a magic sword, while behind her, the murmurs of spellcasters echoed.

"Fireball!" A shrill cry rang out as an orange-red fireball drifted toward them.

"Boom!" An explosion like a mortar blast spread flames like incendiary shells.

Dozens of slaves were blown away; those on the perimeter were forced back.

This area-of-effect spell, long seen as the mage's hallmark, performed as reliably as ever—yet—

"Is there a third-ring or higher mage in our group? Is it Victornia?" Li En was surprised; in his memory, alchemists weren't skilled in combat magic.

The next moment, Li En watched the flames fading from Salmann's hands.

He also noticed the vacant look in her pupils and sighed.

This girl is ill—and probably untreatable.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Li En took a deep breath and charged straight at the startled mind flayer.

"Die, abomination on that tentacled face."

Pincer attack—civilized. Enjoy it, brain-eater!

"Exorcism Slash!" This time, the holy power he squeezed out was his final Exorcism Slash.

Five minutes later, only the corpses of slain slaves and the decapitated remains of the mind flayer remained on the ground.

Li En sat aside as Lari tended to his wounds—she was surprisingly skilled at this.

Li En checked on the others; the candidates for the Heroic Souls were in decent condition, though all bore signs of fatigue.

"Failed another ambush? That's enough."

Violet Rose smiled, offering advice to her senior.

Clearly, she had held back.

She concealed her presence from dangerous foes and gave the newcomers experience.

"Hmm." Li En lowered his blade, staring at his hands, lost in thought.

He felt something within his body, on the verge of bursting forth.

"About to advance? Your vow should be tied to eradicating evil, right?"

"No… wait."

Li En closed his eyes and recalled: when he slew these mind flayers, he had indeed felt the vow's feedback.

Eradicating evil was the holy knight's duty; fulfilling it granted steady progress—but Li En's feedback clearly exceeded normal levels.

Especially after beheading the mind flayers, his holy power surged noticeably; his knightly advancement seemed to have exceeded expectations.

I vow to fight to the death for humanity—and the bottom line of humanity! Only the third vow seemed active.

"It seems mind flayers are regarded as enemies of 'humanity.'"

Constantly devouring human brains and emotions, they were naturally seen as "enemies of man."

Slaying these mind flayers granted Li En more than expected on his holy knight path.

It seemed he no longer needed to return to Huicheng for training (ordinary holy knights would pray and meditate in a chapel, completing specific trials to break through bottlenecks)—just rest somewhere, and he could advance.

It appeared classical holy knights had certain advantages; Li En didn't need divine approval or aid.

Though advancement was theoretically slower, steady progress would come as long as he kept "eradicating evil."

"I feel like the holy knight path is brutally simple—just kill, kill, kill." Li En's words would be unthinkable for an ordinary holy knight—bordering on sacrilege.

"You just realized?" Kuku had something to say; as a "demonic goblin," he'd suffered greatly from it.

He couldn't remember how many holy knights he'd seen who drew their blades before even speaking (because they couldn't win otherwise).

In his memory, holy knights were even more violent than berserkers or barbarians, often launching attacks with zero reason.

But this was another kind of stereotype: ordinary warriors and berserkers could coexist with "evil"; holy knights and evil creatures always ended in mortal combat.

Since combat was inevitable, striking first was natural.

"Rest for now—this tactic won't work anymore." Li En, now de facto leader, made his judgment.

No need for a third probe; two failed ambushes followed by a direct assault meant their hunting method had likely been exposed.

"The intel must've leaked. Who'd randomly cast sonic spells?"

This wasn't within the main brain's range—the mind flayers had no reason for real-time communication. But if someone carried the intel back to the main brain, it could spread the information to every mind flayer.

In a sense, each mind flayer was a fragment of the main brain, a signal relay station.

"But this also means we hurt them. Ha—of the five mind flayers we killed, at least two had advanced. These monsters, normally capable of killing elite warriors, died so pathetically—the main brain must be furious."

As a holy knight, Li En also had to boost morale.

How? Shout "win, win, win." To keep team morale high before death, endlessly repeat "winning."

And Li En spoke truth: the results were here—everyone had gained plenty of loot; mind flayer possessions were valuable.

"Indeed, if we continue, we'll suffer heavy losses." Seeing others agree with Li En, Violet Rose smiled in approval.

"From what I know of these octopuses, once they realize we're hunting their lone squads, they'll set traps to lure and surround us. Next time we ambush, we might face three to five mind flayers."

As she spoke, she gestured.

"They have spatial teleportation. Mid-battle, two or three might suddenly appear."

Li En sucked in a sharp breath. Though his hunts had gone smoothly, they relied on the shameless "warrior shields, brute-force magic-killer" tactic.

In a true positional battle, if mind flayers clustered together, it was no different from mages grouping up.

Then, they'd use slaves to drain you, disrupt and weaken you with psychic abilities, and occasionally unleash high-ring psychic powers—deadly.

"Should we notify the other squads?"

"No—they'll think you're scheming, trying to seize control." Victornia answered instantly, full of resentment—she'd been burned before.

"Then let's rest first—is there a suitable spot nearby?" Others agreed; without a priest, their team struggled with sustained combat.

Indeed, after checking the map, a suitable supply point was found.

"The spiderfolk village isn't far." Though the spiderfolk had returned to the surface with the main force, their abandoned huts were far more comfortable than camping outdoors, and the higher elevation meant fewer nighttime troubles.

But upon arriving at the village, Li En immediately regretted it—the place wasn't empty; others had arrived first.

"Tusked disciples of the Beast Cult? And dark elves… how are they talking together? Didn't Mordosdilka put a bounty on those tusked disciples?" It seemed their arrival was poorly timed.

(End of Chapter)