Chapter 241

As the waves were about to crash, Li En wished for at least a small fortress, a tiny shelter to shield from wind and rain.

Perhaps this was also why the Many-Faced Dragon didn't truly need any main quest—simply to survive, one naturally strives to acquire more.

"How's your condition? Can you keep going?"

"Yes." Dimon took a deep breath; his wounds had already healed over half during combat.

He had grown at least a head taller than before, his muscles bulked up another circle; standing beside Li En, he was almost looking down on him.

Prolonged use of the Giant's Gloves seemed to have granted him partial Giant traits. This was the poor man's cheat—using cursed items to piggyback on high-tier bloodlines—but the side effects were obvious: evolution inevitably skewed, and the bloodline became muddled.

"The strongest bloodline I can access still can't match the weakest Giant. At least in the early stages, I can borrow a bit more." Dimon didn't seem to think it mattered much.

Li En had ordered him to stop using it, but whether he listened was his own business.

Considering his Classical Knight's high-tier oaths granted strong resistance, overall, the risks were manageable.

"I'm fine too." Larry was in the best condition—her gear was absurdly durable, and now her crystal pupils were even more pronounced, as if signaling her "race" had advanced further.

"Give me some time." No one expected the former strongest member of the squad had now apparently slipped to the bottom.

The recent battle left Talia gasping for breath; she was unharmed, merely exhausted from prolonged combat.

As a Golden-blooded Assassin, her endurance was already impressive—yet…

"All three monsters were still wearing heavy armor." Compared to the Knights, her condition was indeed poor.

Talia sighed, preparing to adjust her combat approach; perhaps her main contribution to this squad had become guiding and tracking—they no longer needed her direct combat support much.

Li En's expression toward Talia was subtle—the gap between a true Spirit Heritage bearer and a backdoor user (ordinary warrior) was glaring.

After that incident, the Knight squad received the Heritage (Larry gained bloodline enhancement and Law Knight blessings); each of their growth rates had skyrocketed.

Talia was indeed progressing too, but the others were so absurdly fast that she appeared to stand still—yet her progress was still quite rapid.

"Any reaction?"

"None… Is that a good thing?" Li En glanced at the map and "compass" in his hand—no noticeable response.

"Of course it is."

This impromptu reunion of classmates wasn't just for gathering and chatting—the tavern upstairs suited that far better.

Li En had specifically come to the docks to attend this "appointment."

The Knights at the docks had entered the underground ruins via a tunnel beneath the Ship Graveyard, and now the "magic item" in their hands was measuring the distance to the newly established underground town of Huicheng.

Currently, there was no reaction—which was likely a good sign, indicating the current area lay beneath the underground town, meaning this tunnel held higher economic value.

"Ugh, these minotaurs—minotaurs deserve to die!"

The group they had just cleared were a band of underground minotaur monsters—a species vaguely resembling the Minotaur folk, yet entirely distinct on the evolutionary tree.

They were said to be descendants of an ancient deity from the Infernal Realm, natural labyrinth guardians—with absurd muscle strength and labyrinthine scent-tracking, they easily became killers of newcomers in underground dungeons.

In narrow dungeon corners, a muscular minotaur would suddenly block the path, forcing you into a trade-of-wounds, head-on clash—newbies died quickly under such pressure.

"Tch, broke bastards."

For Li En's group, these elite minotaurs, averaging at second- to third-rank strength, were merely time-wasting obstacles.

Now Dimon and Li En were efficiently looting the corpses, but sadly, these minotaurs seemed to have been born only recently—no valuables on them.

"Some Minotaur folk, dwarves, and gnomes collect horns—but Minotaur folk only value horns older than ten or thirty years as arcane materials; dwarves use large horns for horns and cups; gnomes collect juvenile horns for crafts—but the purchase prices are tragic."

As the squad's only "veteran," Talia still used her experience to aid her companions.

"Ah, so they're losing out?"

"Not necessarily. These minotaurs may be newborn, but they look like they're over thirty. This underground ruin is insane—they're born already in prime adulthood."

Watching Dimon and Li En happily harvesting materials, Talia shook her head—the Knights were growing too fast.

By the time one could handle opponents of this level, such loot identification knowledge should have been common sense from countless adventures.

She looked up at the four-meter-high ceiling, feeling an inexplicable oppression—even after growing accustomed to Shadow Walking, the utter darkness of this underground maze still unsettled her.

From her experience, this place was already deep enough to be unsuitable for recruits below third-rank.

"The aura of dangerous creatures is abundant all around."