Chapter 145: Sword

War requires no reason; a meeting is enough.

No reason is needed to slaughter the Beast Cult; a meeting will do.

"SOL (Holy Sun)!"

With calm words, a holy orange-red glow enveloped Li En.

A paladin, holding a holy sword, faced evil and launched a righteous provocation.

Anger? Hostility? Neither is needed.

The nightmare of the "Holy Mother's Great Family" was just yesterday; every time Li En passed a new orphanage, he had to hesitate repeatedly before daring to enter. The children's eyes, expecting the "mothers" to return yet filled with disappointment time and again, felt like needles pricking him, making it hard to stay long.

"Perhaps only Larry, with such thick nerves, can face those disappointed eyes time and again, and visit those children again and again."

Li En mocked himself; he would rather fight cultists to the death than fear the eyes of children.

Every time, his skilled words, directed at those childish eyes, left him speechless and full of flaws.

"Damn it! It's those filthy bastards again, so many little beasts, they're still doing evil!" But the roar from Larry behind him left Li En somewhat speechless.

Perhaps she wasn't as thick-skinned as he imagined; "filthy bastard" was probably the dirtiest word she could muster.

Li En shook his head; how could a paladin not know how to mock?

"Yo, isn't that the street-rat Beast Cult? Your master is that deformed one whose brains were squeezed out, pfft, truly ugly, just like you."

The masked acolytes, their angry single eyes glaring over, met Li En's triumphant, joyful smile.

"... You were driven out of the city, which earned me a noble title, hehe, thanks..."

Why do paladins become so fanatical when facing evil? Why do they attack "evil" with near-madness in the eyes of others? Perhaps it is simply because...

"Damn evil, for the children!" Larry had already charged out.

Li En sighed; perhaps this was the reason. Attacking evil with near-madness is simply because...

They have witnessed too many tragedies born of evil!

The reason knights swing their swords fanatically may simply be to prevent tragedies from happening again.

"... Face me, filthy beast."

With Larry's small frame, he'd be gone in a few hits; leaving the hate to me, the senior, is the way to go.

Li En's eyes transformed into vertical pupils of dim yellow; the next moment, accompanied by the radiance of the sacred blazing sun, the might and power of a dragon crushed the entire field.

But in reality, the dragon eyes alone were enough...

"Dragon! Dragon! Dragon!"

From beneath the cultists' robes, and from the cages following them, little beasts ran out.

They instantly stood upright on two legs; their originally pure eyes filled with hatred, they lunged forward on all fours, completely transforming into vicious beasts with sharp fangs and teeth.

And those acolytes, their gazes fixed on Li En, burned with an unnamed rage of bloodline, while inwardly craving that if they just ate him, they would immediately ascend and evolve.

At this moment, even the Great Horn Priest, who was locked in combat with the dark elves, paused for an instant.

"A True Dragon? Such a pure pseudo-dragon?!" His instinct for evolution had been activated.

It seems the higher the rank of the Beast Cult, the less "devout" they are.

Excessive rationality made them reject instinctual recognition... whereas those mad little beasts had already recognized Li En's identity as a Dragonkin.

And at this moment, Li En actually cared little about his identity being exposed. The kingdom openly despised Dragonkin, but there were still plenty of pseudo-dragon experts; as long as you didn't flaunt it, it was fine, of course, provided you had the ability to face those "storms" and "accusations."

But now, he had to thank his Dragonkin identity; countless evil beasts surged forward, the hate pulled so steadily.

"Kill that dragon! Dig out his dragon eyes!" The Great Horn Priest's roar turned this into a mandatory order.

The acolytes moved as well, transforming into human-beasts and joining the beast horde.

This was a nightmare that made one's scalp crawl, a horde of beasts capable of easily drowning Li En.

They rushed toward Li En, packed densely on the sturdy web-bridge woven from resilient spider silk.

Yet the bridge remained steady; it was said that this processed spider silk could not even be severed by fire.

"Is that so... then let's try. ELDER (Furnace Fire)!"

Suddenly, flames rained from the sky; a vast amount of Furnace Fire burned upon the web-bridge, instantly turning some little beasts into charcoal!

"Dragon! Dragon! Dragon!"

But a portion of them continued to advance.

Those acolytes who had already transformed, even with parts of their bodies instantly carbonized, still stepped forward on the web-bridge.

Li En had never before encountered life capable of withstanding dragon fire head-on... but thinking of the "Holy Mother" who could heal while burning, this near-infinite vitality was the most frustrating aspect of beasts.

Seeing them, they were about to reach the Shi Zhu area where Li En and his group stood.

With the bloody battle imminent, Larry had already tried to stand in front of Li En.

The evil aura rushing toward them made the paladin instinctively angry; if it were Su Er, he would have drawn his sword without hesitation and charged into the crowd.

Li En's "Su Er Fire" had already burned out, and even the Furnace Fire had extinguished; his entire mana had been drawn upon the Third.

"SKERVA (Sword)!" Finally, the Third Dragon Word was spoken.

That was, in fact, not a "spell."

Calm words, accompanied by the posture of wielding a sharp sword in hand, turned an illusory slash into reality.

"SKERVA (Cut)!"

It was still the same Dragon Word; Li En merely elaborated further on its meaning.

But the invisible sword began to perform a "cut"... targeting the web beneath the beast horde!

"Useless! This is demonized spider silk capable of entangling a great dragon; although it has lost its processing value, this..."

"Crack."

The Great Horn Priest spoke too soon; the web suddenly began to tilt.

Li En closed his eyes, and in his memory, that knight appeared... that old knight who swung a sword at the gods!

"SKERVA (My sword, cuts through all things)!"

Will became the blade's edge; my fury against injustice and tyranny drove me to swing this sword, my sword.

"SKERVA (My sword, shatters all things)!"

"Kakakakaka!"

Within the phantom, it seemed an old knight swung his greatsword.

This was the true legacy of the hero-soul—the sword that shatters all things—now gripped once more by posterity.

"SKERVA (Sword)!"

His final cry was Li En's own understanding; his pupils were stained with blood, yet the youth was not calling out the name—he was calling out to the one who gave him this sword.

This "name" was never a incantation; he had always been calling for "the sword."

"SKE"

"Enough." The violet rose behind him halted him, and made him open his crimson eyes.

Li En opened his eyes, and saw a landscape utterly different.

The webbing once strong enough to hold a dragon had been utterly torn apart.

"Aaaaaa!"

"Dragon dragon dragon!"

"Damn it."

His blurred vision saw little clearly, but the screams reaching his ears made him smile with delight.

The evil screams were the most pleasing music to a knight.

At this moment, holy light encircled him; the overflow of "evil deeds" from his exhausted holy power directly forced him into ascension.

But a stronger Demon had already spread its invisible wings and arrived before him.

His furious horns had fully bestialized; the anti-gravity authority allowed him to cross the heavenly barrier.

Li En laughed—it was finally worth it.

Laughing loudly, he drew his longsword.

"This evil is worth fighting!"

(End of Chapter)