Chapter 45: Mutual Deception (Sixth Update, 20,000 Words Complete)

"You shouldn't have cared about me." No sooner had they reached the safe zone than the woman spoke, her voice thick with resentment.

"Nonsense." Li En glared.

"It was just that little bit short," the woman lamented, her words full of self-pity.

She was regretting, regretting that she had failed to seize the opportunity to successfully kill Maria.

"Stop it. There's no comparison. Criminals appear every year, each more annoying than the last, but reliable officers? Ha, find me a few more in the Dock District."

Li En had no time to reason with the woman, to explain that she was now out of reach and that even if they pursued her, there was no guarantee they could kill her.

A woman overcome by emotion is hard to reason with.

He simply stepped back from the immediate incident and laid out the big picture and the facts.

Keeping one law enforcer alive is more cost-effective than eliminating one criminal. Does the Dock District lack criminals? Does it lack various forms of darkness, overt or covert? They are endless!

Wasting a good officer on a single troublesome criminal would soon wipe out their own side.

In Li En's view, the true path to long-term survival is to steadily preserve one's own forces and, while remaining safe, steadily harvest the enemy.

"Come on, let's adjust."

The skirmish was over. To be precise, after Maria fled, Li En's squad, at Li En's own request, had rationally chosen to retreat.

Killing these small beasts was meaningless. Having confirmed their ecological structure (they lacked a normal reproductive system), it was already basically certain they were magical constructs.

Why struggle to the death against something that can mostly be mass-produced? Even if their side could afford the cost, it wouldn't be worth it.

Li En glanced at his companions; all were resting and healing. Demons' condition was rather grim; such a battlefield was still too early for him.

He had been the most severely injured by Maria's evil curse; at the time, he had been covered in blood.

But now, his wounds had actually begun to scab over.

【Creature Grade: Raw Stone, Status: Strength 7, Constitution 6, Agility 4, Racial Talent: Eat Well, Drink Well, Meat Too (Raw Stone)】

Was this a blessing in disguise? Not only had his strength grown a bit, but Demons had also awakened his Pigman racial talent, and it was the most useful one among the low-tier talents.

Believe it or not, although the name was a bit subtle, this ability to accelerate metabolism, aside from the risk of accidentally piling on fat, was an extremely practical and high-quality talent for a warrior.

Right now, he was eating and drinking heartily and should recover his combat power very soon.

Larry's situation was even better; her equipment was truly superior, even better than Li En's. But her emotions were somewhat unstable; she unconsciously kept gripping and releasing her sword, a sign that she was still too young.

Li En had already determined that the woman's madness had affected her; the current Larry was not suitable to face Maria alone.

"Come, don't rush. We have actually driven her into a corner; we are already in a superior position."

Although there were exaggerated statements meant to boost morale, Li En was indeed speaking the plain truth.

This mine buried in the Dock District was going to explode sooner or later; now it had not only been detonated early, but someone else had stepped on it for them.

These wild beasts were lurking underground in the Dock District. What the mastermind behind them intended to do with these future troubles was something to leave for Miss Shaliman and the others to worry about tomorrow.

What Li En's squad needed most at this moment was calmness.

"Talia, can you track her now?"

"... Yes. But those wild beasts are protecting her. I'm afraid an assassination attempt will hardly be effective."

"That's enough. Go find the big guy from the slave market and lead the way for them."

Such a hard bone; let the scum of the slave market gnaw on it first.

After all, whoever dies is a profit, ha. Helping them find that bag of stuff, they'll have to thank us.

"Larry."

"Here!!" The female knight was startled, quickly standing up.

Li En sighed and spoke directly.

"Compass, which direction are the children in?"

Larry quickly operated it; the needle finally pointed slightly south.

Li En's gaze turned to Talia. She closed her eyes, but her outstretched hand pointed west, the direction where Maria was.

"Good. As expected, Maria no longer has time to worry about those children. Everyone."

Li En clapped his hands, attracting everyone's attention.

"What was our first mission when we came down?"

"... To save the children." After a moment of silence, Larry responded first.

"Good. It seems you haven't forgotten."

If the goal was merely to kill that Maria, Li En could have even ignored it; the slave market and the people behind them would be dealt with sooner or later.

Explain? Say it was all a scam? Heh, reason with the scum of the slave market?

By the time they believed you, you'd probably be dead anyway.

The reason our group forced our way down was always the hostage crisis caused by the sudden incident.

"Larry... Never lose your reason at any time. Do you forget the pain brought by reckless sword swings (referring to the death of children caused by provoking the Hunters)? If you are truly lost, think of your oath."

Calm words, a senior's reprimand, yet also an expectation for the knight Larry.

"Clap, clap." Larry clenched one fist and knocked on her chest, the gesture she made when she swore her oath.

"For the innocent children." She took a deep breath, her pupils returning to calmness, and her admiring gaze turned toward her senior.

Li En glanced at Demons; he had recovered almost completely and was familiarizing himself with the feel of the dual blades under the Ogre Gloves.

Li En nodded in satisfaction. Although he was currently the weakest in strength, this junior brother was indeed the most reassuring.

All he needed was time and strength, and with the inheritance of the Heroic Soul, he only needed to wait for time.

And the Hill Giant Gloves were in Li En's own hands; at this moment, combat power was most needed.

"Let's go."

The temporary squad split forces immediately; the three knights headed south to rescue the children.

And Talia went to find the leader of the slave market to drive the wolves to swallow the tigers.

In this process, Li En was also pondering exactly how to deliver a fatal blow to Maria.

Perhaps he himself was the most suitable person to deal with her. Then, how should he create an opportunity?

—

While Li En's squad was resting, the slaughter in the underground cavern not only did not cease, but intensified.

The scattered mercenaries encountered ambushes by the beast horde; more and more small beasts completed their evolution. Among them, the broken horns of some Broken-Horned Beasts even began to gradually become whole again.

As the cubs gradually matured, it was clearly not a good thing for outsiders.

And this was not even the most troublesome opponent.

"Where is it?!" The Horn Disciples of the Beast Church, guided by some unknown force, found Maria first.

Seeing the madwoman who was still hopping around energetically while carrying her own severed head, the lead Horn Disciple felt his scalp go numb.

He was not afraid of her strength. Maria, who had not even been an Extraordinary before, possessed power that was trivial in his eyes.

Rather, her body had mutated to such a degree that she was likely beyond any chance of turning back.

"At this stage, you can still maintain a human form? The nun Maria of the past truly possessed astonishing willpower." Although his heart wavered slightly, the masked Horn Disciple continued to press her for the bag of Hero's Blood.

This was the fundamental reason they had come. Having prematurely activated the "cubs," the Order had already suffered great losses; they had to at least recover their costs.

"Snap." Maria laughed cheerfully and tossed the bag of "gems" directly onto the ground.

"Crack." The bag burst, revealing nothing but a floor covered in shattered glass shards.

"You, you..." The Horn Disciple wanted to fly into a rage, but knew that getting angry at the current Maria was utterly meaningless.

"Where is the real one?!" He could only grit his teeth and press on.

"Heh, there was never a real one to begin with." Smiling, Maria responded sincerely to the accusation.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" This only enraged the Horn Disciple further. Now, who in the entire Radiant City didn't know the item was with her? Did she want to renege?!

"Then, it is in a place no one can find. If you eliminate those pursuers, perhaps I will remember." Going with the flow, Maria put forward her own request.

The Horn Disciples looked at one another, seemingly having no other choice.

After all, Maria had brought the item inside with her; that bag should be somewhere nearby. Eliminating those intruders would be for the best.

Without competitors, their group would have more time to search.

Maria, who had been tricked into entering the trap, thus went along with the deception Li En had set, cheerfully laying down her own trap.

The truth is, sometimes, the hardest thing for people to believe.

Lies are, sometimes, merely what the other party wants to hear.

Fate successfully played its prank once more. The two opposing sides, using the same lie, successfully deceived their respective "allies" into a scheme of driving wolves to swallow tigers.

(End of this chapter)