Chapter 45: Each Other

“You shouldn’t have cared about me.” The moment she entered the safe zone, her voice dripped with resentment.

“Nonsense.” Li En glared at her.

“Just a little bit more…” Her words brimmed with self-pity.

She regretted missing the chance to kill Maria.

“Stop it. There’s no comparison. Criminals are everywhere, each worse than the last, but reliable officers? Ha, go find me another few in the docks.”

Li En had no time to reason with her about the slim chance of catching Maria and killing her.

A woman consumed by emotion is impossible to reason with.

He stepped outside the incident itself and laid out the bigger picture and facts.

Keeping one law enforcer alive is more cost-effective than eliminating one criminal. Do the docks lack criminals? Do they lack all kinds of darkness, overt or hidden? You can’t even catch them all!

One good officer wasted on a troublesome criminal, and soon we’ll all be dead.

In Li En’s view, preserving one’s own strength steadily and harvesting enemies safely over time is the true path to survival.

“Come on, let’s regroup.”

The ambush was over—accurately speaking, after Maria fled, Li En’s squad, at his request, wisely retreated.

Killing these beasts was meaningless; their ecological structure (lacking a normal reproductive system) confirmed they were magical constructs.

Fighting something likely mass-produced? Even if we could afford the cost, it wouldn’t be worth it.

Li En glanced at his companions—all resting and healing. Dimon’s condition was bad; this battlefield was still too early for him.

He’d been hit hardest by Maria’s dark spell, drenched in blood at the time.

Yet now, his wounds had already begun to scab.

【Biological Rank: Raw Stone, Status: Strength 7, Physique 6, Agility 4, Racial Talent: Eat Well, Drink Well, Meat Also Good (Raw Stone)】

Was this a blessing in disguise? Not only had his strength grown slightly, but Dimon had awakened his orc racial talent—the best among low-tier ones.

True, the name was odd, but this accelerated metabolism ability, aside from the risk of gaining fat, was an excellent, practical gift for a warrior.

He was now wolfing down food and drink—he’d recover his combat readiness soon.

Larry’s condition was better; her gear was truly superior—even better than Li En’s. But her emotions were unstable; she kept unconsciously gripping and releasing her sword, clearly still too young.

Li En had confirmed: the woman’s madness had infected her. Larry was unfit to face Maria alone.

“Come on, don’t rush. We’ve already cornered her—we hold the upper hand.”

Though his words carried the exaggeration of morale-boosting, Li En spoke nothing but truth.

This bomb buried in the docks was bound to explode sooner or later; now it had detonated early, and someone else had stepped on it for us.

These beasts lurked beneath the docks—what was the mastermind behind it all planning? Let tomorrow’s troubles be Sallyman’s problem.

Li En’s squad needed calm above all else right now.

“Talia, can you track her now?”

“...Yes. But those beasts guard her. Assassination would likely fail.”

“Enough. Go find the big brute at the slave market—guide them there.”

Let the slave market bastards chew on this hard bone.

Either way, someone dying is profit. Help them find that bag, and they’ll thank us.

“Larry.”

“Here!!” The female knight startled violently and leapt to her feet.

Li En sighed and spoke directly.

“Compass—where are the children?”

Larry quickly operated it; the needle pointed south-southeast.

Li En turned his gaze to Talia; she closed her eyes, extended her hand, and pointed west—Maria’s direction.

“Good. Maria clearly has no time to bother with the children. Everyone.”

Li En clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention.

“What was our primary mission when we came down?”

“...Rescue the children.” After a moment of silence, Larry responded first.

“Good. Looks like you haven’t forgotten.”

If all Li En wanted was to kill Maria, he could’ve ignored her—the slave market and its backers would be dealt with eventually.

Explain? Say it was all a lie? Ha, reason with slave market bastards?

By the time they believed you, you’d already be dead.

Our team came down forcibly because of an emergency hostage crisis.

“Larry—never lose your reason. Don’t swing your sword wildly. Remember the pain it caused? (Referring to the children’s deaths provoked by taunting the Hunter’s Tail.) When you’re lost, remember your oath.”

His calm words were a senior’s rebuke—and also an expectation for the knight Larry.

“Clap.” Larry clenched her fist and struck her chest—the gesture she made when swearing her oath.

“For the innocent children.” She took a deep breath, her pupils regaining calm, her gaze filled with admiration as she looked toward her senior.

Li En glanced at Dimon—he’d nearly recovered, now testing the feel of the dual blades beneath the ogre gauntlets.

Li En nodded in satisfaction. Though currently the weakest, this younger brother was the most reliable.

He needed only time and strength; with the Hero Soul inheritance, he needed only to wait.

The Hill Giant Gauntlets were on Li En himself—this was precisely when combat power was most needed.

“Move out.”

The temporary squad split: three knights headed south to rescue the children.

Talia went to find the slave market’s leader—to drive the wolves to devour the tigers.

In this process, Li En pondered how to deliver Maria a fatal blow.

Perhaps he himself was best suited to end her—so how to create the opportunity?

—

While Li En’s squad rested, the slaughter in the underground caverns didn’t cease—it intensified.

Isolated mercenaries were ambushed by the beast packs; more young beasts evolved. Some of the broken-horned beasts’ stumps even began to regrow fully.

The younglings matured rapidly—clearly bad news for outsiders.

But this wasn’t even the most troublesome opponent.

“Where is it?!” The Horned Disciples of the Beast Church, guided by unknown means, found Maria first.

Seeing the mad woman still hopping around, holding her own severed head, the lead Horned Disciple felt his scalp tighten.

He wasn’t afraid of her power—Maria, once not even an extraordinary, was nothing before him in raw strength.

But her body had mutated this far—she was beyond redemption.

“At this point, she still retains human form? Former nun Maria truly possessed astonishing willpower.” Though internally shaken, the masked Horned Disciple pressed on: “Where’s the bag of Hero’s Blood?”

That was their true purpose. The cult had already suffered heavy losses by triggering the “younglings” early—they had to recoup.

“Plop.” Maria laughed happily and tossed the “gem” bag onto the ground.

“Crack.” The bag split open—only shards of broken glass spilled out.

“You, you—” The Horned Disciple wanted to rage, but knew it was pointless against Maria now.

“Where’s the real thing?!” He forced himself to demand.

“Heh. There never was a real thing.” Maria smiled sincerely in response to his accusation.

“You think I’m stupid?” This only enraged the Horned Disciple further—who in Huicheng didn’t know the item was with you? Are you reneging now?!

“Then it’s in a place no one can find. If you eliminate those hunters, perhaps I’ll remember.” Maria smoothly made her demand.

The Horned Disciples exchanged glances—they had no other options.

Maria had brought the item in; it must be nearby. Eliminating the intruders would help.

Without competitors, they’d have more time to search.

Maria, deceived into the trap, now happily set her own deception, following Li En’s scheme.

The truth is sometimes the hardest to believe.

Lies are sometimes merely what the listener wants to hear.

Fate once again played its cruel trick: opposing sides, using the same lie, deceived their own allies into driving wolves to devour tigers.

(End of Chapter)