Chapter 50: Drive the Tiger to Swallow the Wolf

"Where is Mother Maria?"

"Mom!"

"Little Martha peed her pants again, shoo shoo shoo, so silly, only knows how to call for Mom."

"Big brother, Kevin hit me again."

When the hypnosis spell was broken, the true disaster descended.

When a few brats make a scene in front of you, it is already hell for some people; if more than thirty children make a scene together, it is probably a desperate situation for some.

"Want some candy? It's fruit-flavored." The spider-person's six arms produced candies of various colors, vibrant and fragrant, looking anything but cheap.

"Don't rush. I'll help you change your pants. Little Susan, lend me your skirt." Two hands were withdrawn to tend to the child's clothes.

"Kevin, don't bully your younger brother." Two more hands were withdrawn to start disciplining the brat.

At this moment, Li En had to sigh, grateful that Larry was here.

Her six arms moved quickly, changing clothes, stuffing candy, and swiftly disciplining the brats.

This scene left Damon somewhat bewildered; he had probably never seen a "man" who loved children so much and possessed such strong maternal instincts.

Meanwhile, Li En himself was putting on new gear on the side, adjusting his equipment to make it more suitable for actual combat.

To be honest, Larry's gear was truly excellent, especially this suit of armor.

This silver armor was not only made of superior material but also enchanted with defensive magic, while being fireproof, acid-proof, and electricity-proof.

With these multiple enchantments plus magical metal, it was certainly the work of a master craftsman; it even included lightweighting (anti-gravity) processing specifically for spider-people. Li En didn't dare calculate its value.

Ordinary knight armor started at forty or fifty gold coins, enough for ten months' rent on Li En's house; without Miss Shaliman's gift, Li En couldn't afford it himself.

Enchanted armor was even ridiculously expensive; armor with even a slight enchantment doubled in price. This grade of magical armor could probably serve as a family heirloom passed down for generations in a knight's household.

This was not even the most expensive item on her body.

The most expensive item was now on Li En's feet.

"The boots... they should still fit, right? Looks like they fit, that's good."

Watching Li En try on her boots, Larry's face wore a mysterious blush.

This micro-expression made Damon behind her stare for a long time; was this guy acting a bit strange?

Wait, Larry was already very clingy to Senior Brother Li En before, and Senior Brother Li En didn't seem to resist... At this moment, Damon suddenly turned his head, deciding to pretend he saw nothing and heard nothing.

"Not bad. I really didn't expect you to have such a top-tier item as Speed Boots; I never saw you use them."

Li En was quite surprised; Speed Boots, Strength Gauntlets, and Holy Power Art—Su Er had said back then that these were the three-piece set for a novice Paladin to quickly take shape.

These boots came with a built-in "Speed Spell," allowing the user to gain nearly double running speed for a short period, especially suitable for melee combat requiring a charge.

And while Li En dared to specifically request Strength Gauntlets and Holy Power Art, he never even dared to dream of the even more useful Speed Boots.

After all, such purely speed-boosting enchanted equipment was extremely expensive to produce, and the demand was nearly infinite; most transcendent beings would not refuse to run faster.

When crisis strikes, even a mage complains about not having enough legs.

For a heavy-armor melee Paladin with no speed-boosting capability anywhere on their body, speed has always been the biggest weakness.

Sometimes, being one step short during a charge is the difference between life and death; although Speed Boots only offer short-term acceleration, they provide immense help on both offense and defense.

After being taught by Su Er, Li En knew this item was truly useful and had actively sought someone to inquire about its price.

Upon hearing it was priced in the thousands of gold coins and was available only at any price, he rationally chose to give up—he couldn't find even ten gold coins on his entire person.

"... True, your swordsmanship is too precise, and your footwork is very fast. You don't really need to worry about being unable to close in on an opponent." In Li En's view, Larry indeed didn't really need Speed Boots.

Among knights, Larry, who followed the fast-sword path, was considered the most agile; the short-legged weakness of Paladins was not obvious in her case.

Moreover, she was wealthy enough to own a war beast mount; a Paladin with a mount and one without were two different things.

Her swordsmanship system didn't require Speed Boots for "extreme acceleration in a short time" to forcibly close in on an opponent.

"... Truly excellent, truly excellent." And short-legged Li En really needed them.

Li En was testing the equipment while adjusting his armor.

"Let me help you adjust it."

"Sure, thanks."

This was a composite suit of armor, an assembly of a main piece plus many accessories; with Larry's help, Li En could adjust the tightness of many attachments.

As a spider-person, Larry's build was larger than Li En's "degenerate lizard-person," so when worn, it was still a bit loose and needed further adjustment.

The openings for the left and right hands facilitated exertion of force, but the four gaps (for auxiliary limbs) on the back meant this armor offered almost zero defense for the back.

There was no time to modify it now; they would just have to make do.

"Big brother Larry, do you have any more candy..."

Having only spoken two sentences, Larry was pulled away again to manage the children.

"Mom, Mother Maria, where is Mom..."

The most critical thing was the ones crying for Mom.

When one child cries out for Mom, soon it spreads until everyone starts shouting for Mom.

"Your mothers..." Facing the crying children, the honest Paladin opened her mouth but didn't know what to say.

A long pain is worse than a short one; sooner or later they would find out. She gritted her teeth and decided to speak.

"Your mothers? They are waiting outside. Follow Big Brother Larry to find them. By the way, your mothers have delicious food in their hands; if you're late, be careful they might eat it all."

But Li En directly trampled on Paladin virtues and told a lie.

"I knew Mom went to the amusement park first. Big Brother Larry, hurry and take us to find her..."

Watching Larry being dragged away by the children, Li En smiled, continued integrating his equipment, and prepared for a tough battle.

Perhaps in the future he would explain properly to the children, even apologize for his lie, but definitely not now.

"... I will now grant your mothers release." Right now, I am only a warrior.

Preventing this "mother" from appearing before the children again might be the only thing I can do right now.

Li En touched the Hero's Sword in his hand; although the sword's appearance had not changed in the slightest, he vaguely felt that something had changed within it, as if some things were different.

Before, it had been in a state of completely ignoring him; Li En could only use it as a "hard" good sword.

But now, he could feel a slight connection established between them.

"It has acknowledged me—er, only acknowledged me a little." This connection was quite thin; Li En wanted to actively borrow its power, yet he could borrow nothing.

He feared that to truly unleash its power, he would need relevant Hero hardware, such as a profession, bloodline, or something similar.

"Never mind, it's better than a blank slate; at least it's a good thing." Li En himself was quite open-minded about it.

If it truly fully revived and unleashed its full power, Li En would be about ready to run; he would be recognized one hundred percent.

"Li En."

At this moment, a suddenly arriving female voice made him pause.

Was this voice entering directly into the heart a supernatural ability?

"Look up, fool."

He looked up suddenly, only to see a large gray python.

It—she silently looked at Li En and flicked her tongue.

Those eyes actually revealed joy; Li En was even more surprised that he could see joy and relief on a snake's face.

He even doubted whether he was a bit sick.

"Slap!"

The gray python, still holding a large bag in its mouth, dropped it directly in front of Li En.

"It's me, Miss Shaliman. There are some things here that you might need."

—

While Li En was busy flipping through books, in a corner of the cave, Maria was still happily hunting.

She still held a human head in each hand, and one of them was even humming a little tune.

She urged the small beasts beneath her feet to speed up this final hunting season.

It seemed that, along with shedding her disguise, her mindset had also become more youthful.

And with her help, those scattered squads could not stop the beast horde and were hunted down one by one.

So far, the slave market has suffered heavy losses.

More and more small beasts completed their evolution, growing broken horns; at this point, she no longer fed them but directly harvested those mercenaries, turning them into "Little Horns."

Two people wearing masks stood behind her the whole time.

Was it protection? Or surveillance? Or perhaps both?

"Heike is dead."

One of them suddenly spoke these words in a calm tone.

"Truly useless."

With simple communication, the discussion about a companion's life or death had ended; it seemed there was no human feeling between them.

Dead is dead; one less useless person to share food and divide labor.

Their greedy eyes looked at the bag of "Little Horns" that Maria was holding; for them, "dieting" was a necessity to maintain their humanity.

But for them, who were eternally thirsty, it was also a painful act to curb their instincts; eating a little of the delicious food right in front of them should be fine, right? Or perhaps they should eat Maria too, so they wouldn't have to worry about exposure.

"Maria?! Hand over the goods, and I'll leave you a whole corpse!" A sudden roar stopped their internal strife.

Guided by a shadow, "Roar of the Volcano" Kverduf finally blocked the target he had been expecting.

He stared fixedly at Maria, noticing the human head she was holding—the lifeless head of his third-in-command.

"... Never mind, die. I will find the thing on your corpse."

(End of this chapter)