Chapter 191: First Encounter with an Enemy

"So, you really believe the God of Good is benevolent and the God of Evil is wicked."

Li En was slightly surprised; he had assumed most people shared his own understanding and wariness of these churches.

At the very least, they shouldn't blindly believe.

Let them go. Most of them never had the chance to be educated; their early understanding came from heroic tales and fairy stories, where the God of Good and His Church were never depicted in a negative light.

The Snake found it quite amusing to mock the region's abysmal average education.

After his initial shock, Li En glanced at his temporary companions and offered a brief explanation of the slave market's equity structure, without overly challenging their beliefs.

As the Snake himself had said, Li En had underestimated the weight of religion in this world—recall medieval Earth: who dared question the Church's righteousness and nobility?

This world is polytheistic, and while no single church holds supreme authority, the reputations of most Gods of Good are indeed higher than those of any royal family.

Li En did not claim the Church of Good was a group of hypocrites; on the contrary, it greatly contributed to the world's stability, morality, and kindness. Many Gods of Good were worthy of respect, and whenever evil deities or world crises arose, they were always the first to respond.

Yet in Li En's view, they remained human organizations—filled with both goodwill and malice, nobility and baseness.

Massive organizational structures inevitably breed corruption and malice; for those wielding immense power, becoming evil might require nothing more than a single thought.

To ordinary locals, the Church of Good radiates an aura of purity—ninety-nine percent of it is good, and any problems are mere exceptions.

"I only clarified these issues after talking extensively with Larry," Di Mon admitted; only recently had he gained clearer insight into the current reality.

These past days, he had obtained numerous slave market ledgers and correspondence letters, and his attitude toward the once-revered had grown increasingly rational.

Nobles like Larry were the most rational—they lived within the Church of Good and knew firsthand that its followers were ordinary people, many of whom joined merely for a meal.

But most commoners had no chance to dispel their illusions; they held impossibly high expectations of the Church of Good.

The irony was stark: the poorer and more suffering one was, the higher one's expectations and trust in the Church of Good, and the more easily one fell into blind belief.

"The God of Good is merely a powerful individual. He can ensure the broad direction stays correct and doesn't violate His own doctrine—that's already enough. Never mind He often has His own selfish motives. Look, aren't some Churches of Good outright enemies of each other? If they were all right, all noble, how could there be conflict—or even deadly battles?"

Blasphemous words, spoken by a Holy Knight, carried unexpected persuasiveness.

Li En used this statement to end the topic; he had no intention of convincing anyone, because it was impossible.

He merely hoped that, since they had met, they wouldn't blindly believe in so-called Gods of Good—otherwise, they might fall into a trap or be tricked into becoming expendable cannon fodder.

"So… that's why you're a Free Ancient Oath Holy Knight, and don't worship any God of Good?" Di Mon asked at last.

"I simply refuse to entrust my fate to someone else's morality and limits."

His calm words were the most blasphemous of all—this man had doubted the conscience and morality of gods from start to finish.

Yet this was merely an individual's rational cognition—seeing gods as equals. He could not entrust his life and future to lofty, distant so-called deities.

A few looked at him in shock, others in dawning realization; to them, these words were utterly incomprehensible.

Yet the golden radiance glowing upon his slowly drawn blade revealed he had not betrayed the essence of the Path of Good.

"Exorcise Evil."

A surge of radiant power erupted along the blade, cleaving a small stone gargoyle still clinging to the cave wall directly in two.

Li En's Dragon Eyes scanned the walls on both sides and above, spotting dozens of trembling small stone gargoyles, awakening from their slumber.

"Exorcise Evil! Shatter Blade!"

Even more aggressive was Di Mon, who had seemed so calm until now.

His cleaving axe, bursting with radiant energy, obliterated a small stone gargoyle in a single strike.

Li En glanced at Di Mon—surprised, yet approving.

Even with Su Er's inheritance, Di Mon's progress was remarkably swift.

"Looks like I need to work harder—another sword technique mystery, and Di Mon got it first."

Su Er's sword technique inheritance was relatively complete; perhaps more than talent, it demanded time and hard labor. "Snap."

With a snap of his fingers, Li En completed a rapid spell.

The thrown magic missile struck the loose stones above—each minor force explosion was too weak to injure, but enough to shatter the linking stones beneath the small gargoyles.

"Crack!" Two small gargoyles tumbled to the ground; one even landed headfirst and shattered.

Unactivated, they were nothing but ordinary stone.

More small gargoyles activated—they were remnants from the last beast outbreak, having slept through the past two days' purges.

One by one, crimson eyes glowed in the darkness; awakened gargoyles called out to their kin, and floating monsters appeared ahead and behind.

"Knights ahead, we hold the rear!"

The adventuring party sprang into action—the female knight, shield in one hand, spear in the other, took position at the rear.

Her raised round shield emitted a deep blue glow, seemingly drawing the attention of the gargoyle swarm.

The dwarf, axe raised, roared and swung at the gargoyles approaching from behind.

The gnome illusionist began casting; hazy illusions enveloped the two frontline warriors, enhancing their defensive capabilities.

After using overmagic to cast protective illusions on two allies, the gnome illusionist paused, then began preparing a magic missile.

With small gargoyles and the dark environment, many spells would suffer abysmal accuracy.

Magic missiles were indeed weak, but they could still disrupt—this was just the entrance to the underground ruin; they had to conserve mana.

The monk silently drew his hand crossbow.

His skill wasn't sufficient yet; smashing stone with bare hands wasn't impossible, but under current conditions, it would cost him more.

The frontline still relied on the two warriors, though their spear and axe were ill-suited for stone—they could only slowly hack, sending chips flying.

"Need help?"

A voice suddenly came from another direction.

The gnome illusionist whirled around—and saw, amidst a pile of monster debris, the black-armored Holy Knight smiling calmly, as if at home.

"Fifteen of them, and it's over already…"

Only four or five more gargoyles had arrived; the party had killed just one. Yet the two Holy Knights had already finished everything. The illusionist noticed the orc, struggling to pull his axe free from the gargoyle's body.

How could anyone drive an axe blade so deep into stone? What brute strength? What weapon?

They looked like ordinary battle-axes and swords.

He was momentarily stunned and didn't respond immediately—but Li En didn't pause.

With a soft chant and simplified gestures, he completed the spell—the black-armored knight suddenly appeared atop the centaur!

He had reached the center of the hovering swarm of small gargoyles!

"Sacred Sword—Exorcise Evil."

The radiant Sacred Sword suddenly dimmed; the blade, now without light, carved a crescent arc through the air.

"Snap!"

The moment his boot touched the ground, a rain of shattered stone followed.

Each small gargoyle was cleanly split in two—heads and chest cores severed with precision. This midair slash had destroyed most of the remaining gargoyles.

"Boom!"

The last remaining gargoyle was struck by the thrown axe; a burst of radiant energy exploded, blowing off half its body.

When two equally "low-rank" Holy Knights acted, merely ten seconds had passed—and the anticipated grueling battle was already over.

"Keep moving."

Li En simply picked up Di Mon's axe and tossed it back, then walked toward the darkness ahead.

As if the skirmish had merely kicked aside a small pebble on the path.

(End of Chapter)