Chapter 46: The Three Versus One of Justice

No one expected, no one expected, that this serial killer case would ultimately evolve into chaos involving multiple parties, and even unearth the already rotten foundations of this city.

"When you smell a stench, something may have been rotting for a long time. When you can smell the toilet on the streets, the entire city's 'drainage' system is probably completely rotten."

"Well, that seems a bit disgusting. Let's say it more elegantly: if you smell corpse stench on the road, look at your feet to see if they are covered in corpses. If you don't see any, dig a little deeper, then avoid the spurting corpse fluid... uh, that seems even more disgusting."

At this moment, Li En had vaguely understood the reason for Maria's madness.

The Broken Tail case lasted no more than a year or two; before that, for eighteen or nineteen years, she was indeed a good nun at the Fuli Academy. What finally drove her to madness, Li En did not wish to understand.

He knew that unfortunate people often have many differences and grievances, endless to understand.

"What does it have to do with me? The greatest mercy I can bestow is to grant her release in the real world. She is guilty; kill her first, then we discuss cause and effect and gains and losses, then discuss how to correct things next."

Even though his heart was somewhat shaken, Li En's words remained calm.

Understanding, respecting, and then sending the criminal to death—that was what he intended to do.

Compared to him, Larry was too "innocent"; she actually considered the reasons behind the criminal's crime... For an enforcer, this is a quite dangerous signal.

Then, let this "senior" offer a little guidance.

"Since we are Paladins, then let us follow the Warrior's method... First judge the crime; if guilty, behead her first and talk later."

Judging and understanding grievances should be left to professionals, and only for the living guilty.

What I can do is eliminate her, a criminal worthy of death, to prevent the rotting area from spreading further.

She killed many people, right? If we let her go, will she continue to kill? Then, what are we hesitating for? Kill her first and talk later.

"... After killing her, we will investigate who gave her this power."

The meaning in Li En's words was very straightforward: solve the problem first, then solve the cause of the problem.

Li En had already noticed something amiss; behind Maria, there was likely a quite massive lurking force.

Perhaps they have already taken deep root in this city.

"Prepare to deal with her reinforcements; these small beasts could not have been raised by her alone. We may have to face at least an organization."

——

"That crazy woman indeed showed mercy. I just said she was full of lies and not worth a shred of trust, yet I ended up being sent on a errand."

The Horned Disciple "Hek" was very annoyed, leading a few small beasts alone through the cave, which was neither comfortable nor safe.

Especially those mercenaries, like mad dogs, who attacked without a word upon seeing her... Sometimes Hek even wanted to ask, who are the cultists, you or me? How can you be so crazy?

She also vaguely sensed that with the release and death of many cubs, the "atmosphere" here had become very wrong.

Various animal instincts would be triggered; those frantic mercenaries had already begun to fall into it, filled with aggression as they felt threatened.

What made Hek uneasy was that the Beast Factor within her, which was becoming increasingly difficult to control, would be further activated here.

"That woman... since she harvested these 'Little Horns' before, I wouldn't have needed to make this special trip. Heh, she spoke so decisively, yet she indeed softened her heart. I should have harvested them all before leaving."

At this moment, Hek was still muttering, but with the killing along the way and embracing the power of the Beast, her appearance had already differed significantly from the "human form" she had when she first arrived in this area.

Her twisted, growing ankles had transformed into reversed-joint, deer-like hooves.

Her body, about 1.7 meters tall, was forcibly stretched and thinned to over two meters; the cloak that originally covered her entire body now looked like a rag covering only her upper half.

Her many non-human features could no longer be concealed; her skin, pale as frost, resembled a frozen corpse, sharp teeth protruded from beneath the mask, but the most striking feature was the curved long horns on her head, like withered branches.

A slender, elongated existence like a ghost walked forward while speaking human words, trying to maintain the humanity that was becoming increasingly thin.

This relatively enclosed cave, with the awakening, hunting, and evolution of the small beasts, had gradually become a temple of beasts.

The ones most affected were not the outsiders, but rather these monsters who had already transformed and were wearing human skin.

The small beasts around silently watched her, needing no "token" to guide them like Maria.

In fact, her two horns were the material for the token.

The beast pack will follow the stronger one within the group.

"Crack!"

The monster imitating a human stepped on the unyielding skull of a dead mercenary and continued forward.

She did not think for a moment that in such an environment, seeing a monster like her, who would not attack proactively?

Perhaps, in her subconscious, she still considered herself an ordinary woman as in the past.

"If you ask me, Big Boss Diego should have just killed that woman directly, then searched for those gems himself. Heh, then I could have gotten two pieces of meat..."

The monster trying to maintain humanity through muttering was actually losing her humanity more and more.

"Oh, found it, here, it's here."

Turning a corner, she found the secret door to the safe room.

Her slender, withered-bamboo-like fingers pressed the mechanism on the wall; the rock door slowly opened with a cracking sound.

She... it looked at the children still asleep inside the secret room, counted them one by one with her fingers, and revealed a satisfied smile.

"One, two... all the Little Horns are here. That woman didn't lie. How about I eat two first? It doesn't matter if the count doesn't match; just say they got lost on the road by accident."

Pure children held an uncontrollable attraction for this human-beast who had completely fallen.

The mask covering her ugly face was opened; beneath the single eye, sharp teeth and a vicious mouth occupied more than seventy percent of her face.

It leaned in, sniffed, slowly opened its blood-filled maw, shaped like a python's mouth, preparing to swallow a sleeping head first.

"Boom!"

But a shield suddenly thrown directly knocked it, mask and all, flying away.

The damage was minor, but the insult was extreme... That hideously ugly one-eyed ghost face was completely exposed to the world.

"Ha, ugly monster, no wonder you need to wear a mask."

In terms of mockery, Li En, who had just jumped out, was quite talented.

"... Ugly? Me? Me? Back then, I was a famous beauty..." The human-beast still subconsciously murmured denial.

"Ha, you, a woman? Sorry, I really couldn't tell."

Li En's words delivered the most direct humiliation to the Horned Disciple who could no longer survive in the beast world.

It spun around abruptly, a ghostly blue flame seeping from its single eye, emitting a non-human roar from its throat; rage made it forget its human speech.

It tried to curse and shame the man who had humiliated it, but only produced a hideously unpleasant, low growl, like a threatened beast baring its teeth.

"Judgment of the Sin Domain."

And facing its angry glare, that bastard man shamed it further with light; its light-fearing single eye blinked repeatedly under the glare.

While all of Hek's attention was drawn to Li En, the climbing attackers had already reached their position.

"Snap!"

A stone struck the mechanism; the suddenly closing mechanism door isolated the secret chamber where the beast-man and the children were located.

"Die! Evil!"

Accompanied by a roar, the "Spider-Man" trailing spider silk descended from the cave ceiling, executing a standard Spider-Man flying kick.

That kick landed squarely on Hek's face!

But before it could even steady itself, the young female knight had already begun a new round of assault. As the senior had said: don't overthink it; strike first, talk later.

"Sin-Breaking Slash!"

To climb the cave ceiling, Larry's four arms were completely empty.

But on the remaining two swords, she had condensed all her holy light.

The twin swords traced silver half-arcs, meeting precisely at the monster's throat and chest; in a mere instant, she had swung four times in succession.

This time, the blood-red sinner was struck squarely.

The massive wound pierced by the Sin-Breaking Strike burst forth with copious fresh blood; the other wounds were no less severe.

Who said paladins don't ambush? In the paladin squad Li En brought, everyone had learned to ambush; those who couldn't ambush were the obedient students of the academy.

As long as I shout it out before (or during) the strike, it doesn't count as an ambush! It doesn't violate the knight's oath.

"Armor-Eroding." And the one attempting to unleash the ultimate technique was Damon, charging in close.

Its equally massive form slammed into him, forcing the retaliating Hek to retreat repeatedly.

At this moment, Damon had actually saved Larry; Larry, who had removed her armor to climb, was actually quite vulnerable.

The fragile bones of the spider race are known to all; a single collision could cause injury.

No race is perfect; at least not at lower levels.

"Snap!"

Damon, acting as a meat shield, was knocked flying by Hek's counterattack of monstrous strength in the next instant.

Most of its injured wounds had already healed, but the wound caused by the Sin-Breaking Strike still bled profusely, making it howl in agony.

And the thing causing even more pain was already right before its eyes.

"Evil-Breaking Slash." Li En's holy sword, wielding silver light, had also arrived before its face.

The paladin squad, lacking any knightly decorum, successfully executed a righteous three-against-one under Li En's leadership!

(End of this chapter)