Chapter 51: Meeting an Old Friend in a Foreign Land

"Die. I will search slowly on your corpse." For certain existences, combat requires no great reason.

And someone's tactic of using a tiger to devour a wolf had naturally succeeded.

Originally having no grudge, even potentially being cultists and a slave trader boss on the same side, the moment they met, they unsurprisingly threw themselves into a bloody fight.

After all, using wolves and tigers to describe these two sides would probably be an insult to them.

The suffering they created in a single day exceeded what those two pitiful animals would endure in their entire lives combined.

"No matter what you are, you are no different before my flames; feel the dragon breath of the True Dragon!" The first to attack was the slave trader boss, thoroughly enraged by the death of his subordinates.

Kverduf, whose limbs had already completely deformed, directly pressed the mechanism on his cheek and tore open his iron jaw with one hand.

With the concealing armor removed, a twisted, deformed, grotesque "dragon jaw" was revealed.

The one who launched the first surprise attack was Kverduf; this huge mouth, half-snake and half-crocodile, suddenly spat out an orange-yellow flame breath.

The flames surged forward, turning the rock walls, the half-air, and the ground into a volcanic zone covered in raging fire; this was the origin of Kverduf's title, "Roar of the Volcano."

"Dragon breath? Pfft, wipe the machine oil from the corner of your mouth, foolish artificial dragon."

The horned fighter boss, sneering, stepped forward while tearing off the rags on his body.

In just an instant, he became even more massive than the small volcano giant dragon, Kverduf.

"Mortal, come face the power you have never seen." The giant two-horned demon crouched low, looking down at the tiny fake dragon.

With malicious fangs and sharp claws, they directly tore and bit into each other.

Flames and shockwaves began to erupt; both sides' combat postures were unusually ugly yet efficient, and the first to be affected were actually the mercenaries brought by Kverduf.

Maria, the closest one, was instead smiling as she watched the death match before her, seemingly completely unconcerned by the "magma" already scorching her feet.

Meanwhile, Talia, in the shadows, retreated without hesitation according to Li En's request.

Regardless of who won or lost between the two sides, it would be good for their own side; the important thing was not to get dragged in.

And the moment she stepped out of the cave entrance, she was almost blown away by the shockwave from behind.

Kverduf's "volcano" attack wave, capable of altering the terrain, was far too unfriendly for the small-statured Talia.

The lethal high temperature coming from the cave behind, Talia sped away.

Her current mission was to deliver the intelligence to Li En.

As for Maria? Although her scent had become very mixed and strange, as long as she was still within this city, Talia could eventually track her down.

"She cannot escape. Preserving oneself is the only way to have a future." Li En was right; a detective with a sense of smell as keen as hers was far more precious than the new criminals that appeared every year.

She walked away quickly, but those small beasts following her clearly showed the other party did not intend to let her go just like that.

"Isn't this Talia? What, now that you're a police officer, you don't recognize old acquaintances?"

A horned fighter, actually leading a pack of beasts, had actively followed up.

The small beasts surrounded her from all directions in a circle, blocking Talia's escape route.

And at this moment, a slightly slender horned fighter stepped out voluntarily.

"You are..."

Talia's inquiry received no immediate response.

After a long silence, the horned fighter's hoarse and unpleasant voice finally emerged.

"Class 21."

A simple noun made Talia's face fill with terror, her pupils shaking violently.

"You... are you Kolya or Ben? Or Dina..."

Orphan children from the slums, in a sense, were the reserve talent for this city's darkness.

The one who adopted and raised Talia back then was an assassin organization; looking back, they were simply black gloves serving certain nobles.

And Class 21 was also the last class of assassins among them; before the organization collapsed, only Talia and the three she mentioned in her mouth remained out of the eight members in the class.

"Kolya, Ben, Dina... truly names that make one nostalgic."

The horned fighter did not respond directly, but the look in Talia's eyes gained a bit of human warmth.

Back then, as the "big sister," Talia indeed took good care of her younger siblings; now being able to blurt them out clearly showed she had always been concerned about them.

At this moment, Talia no longer doubted that this was indeed one of her younger siblings from back then.

But, there was not a trace of humanity under that cloak; how could it have become like this!

"Why? You don't know now, do you? The organization is finished. 'Silver Hand' wiped out the organization. I personally beheaded that noble, which counts as avenging them..." Still unable to distinguish exactly who the other party was, but the words Talia wanted to say made no difference.

"The night we experienced has ended. No matter what you have gone through, you can still turn back..."

Hearing this, the horned fighter now named "Haiya" fell silent and then laughed.

"Hahaha."

She laughed louder and louder, her mouth twisting as if she had heard the greatest joke in the world.

"Turn back? People like us, besides killing, what else can we rely on to support ourselves? Do you know how many people I had to kill to survive until today after the organization was gone?"

Silence was the answer that could not be responded to; Talia, who could walk back into the light, was extremely lucky; under normal circumstances, falling into darkness is endless.

With tiny hands stained with blood, seeing every stranger would instinctively evaluate the difficulty of snapping their necks.

How could a child assassin without a concept of good and evil rebuild the common sense a normal person should have?

Even with the organization gone, assassins would naturally fall into the next darkness, and the sinking would be endless.

Sometimes it had nothing to do with their subjective choices; these "rare resources," which cost so much time and money, would even be fought over by certain gray organizations.

The one opposite clearly did not have Talia's luck; he left one night only to encounter an even darker night.

"I... can help you." Talia could not forgive on behalf of the victims, nor could she make any promises.

Having torn off the face-covering cloth, the only thing she could express was her sincere hope to help the other party escape the quagmire, using a genuine heart.

"Help me? Hehe, sure."

As she spoke, the figure under the cloak became even more massive, and long, withered-branch-like horns extended out.

"Then, bring me three living people every week so I can eat my fill. I promise to leave not even a bone behind; I won't drag you down."

Both sides knew this was a demand Talia could absolutely never accept.

Talia sighed deeply, closed her face veil, and gripped her twin daggers tight.

"Tsk, this won't do, that won't do either, yet you call yourself the big sister? Then, big sister, let me taste you. That surely won't violate your morals. I swear, after eating you, I won't eat humans again."

Before Talia, "Haiya" had completely bestialized.

He lifted half his mask to reveal a blood-filled maw, laughing silently at the female police officer.

A fallen one's oath? Meaningless.

Sacrificing herself? If it were before, Talia might have considered it for a fleeting moment.

But the female police officer at this moment had not the slightest hesitation.

"I will grant you release."

Thus, the former assassin sisters clashed together in near madness.

—

"Knowing she was crazy, I didn't expect her to be crazy to this extent."

Putting down the files, Li En also felt his scalp prickle.

He had repeatedly assessed the lower limit of "humans," but truly encountering such data, he still felt he had been too naive.

"... How can humans play with life so, play with their own kind?"

The "sin" within this could be called a whimsical idea; were they truly unafraid of playing themselves into a corner and directly destroying all living beings?

"... No, they have already played themselves into a corner. Their very existence is the result of past intelligent races playing themselves into a corner."

Unable to understand the Beast Cult's starting point, nor needing to, all Li En had to do was send them to meet their master.

The knight squad with only two members left was still advancing quickly through the cave; the ambushes by small beasts could no longer hinder them.

Li En's wound had improved somewhat; his shoulder still hurt a bit, but it no longer affected his movement.

This was thanks to the "Moderate Injury Healing Potion" inside that bag. Li En had grown too lazy to calculate how much this alchemical potion, requiring a third-rank or higher priest to intervene, cost; anyway, he couldn't afford it.

Miss Shaliman outside clearly had experience, knowing that various medical supplies were what the frontline squad lacked most right now.

Rookie paladins and novice priests, relying on their healing abilities, generally disliked carrying potions and medical kits, but reality always proved their stupidity and shortsightedness.

Holy power is limited and the battlefield changes like clouds; stocking up on healing items can save lives at critical moments. Veteran priests and knights, conversely, generally honestly carry a pile of them, and they get discounts on internal purchases.

Some potions were applied externally, some taken internally; Li En's wound felt sore and numb, a signal that his nerves were recovering.

This healing effect was far better than the "treatment for minor injuries" that did nothing but sting or itch; that thing basically only stopped bleeding and relieved pain.

But these potions and healing divine arts cannot be abused; ultimately, such low-tier healing abilities merely accelerate your body's self-healing; use them too much and you will naturally have a short life.

It was just that now was not the time to consider things too far ahead...

"At least, from these things, I know the origin of her immortality."

Closing the files, Li En could only sigh helplessly; knowing the cause was one thing, solving it was another.

According to the data, given Subject 113's unlimited degree of modification, Maria was far harder to kill than Heck.

His gaze unconsciously turned to a small object, which Miss Shaliman's familiar had also delivered; the simple functional instructions on it might be just what was needed here.

However, no matter how Li En touched or activated it, or even used the traditional method of dripping blood to claim ownership, this pen-length "small knife" remained motionless.

Just as he was about to give up and go directly to trouble Maria...

"Buzz!"

The Hero's Sword he held suddenly emitted a faint orange-red glow.

The next moment, the originally unruly silver small knife floated quietly before Li En, as if waiting for his summons.

"Uh, so they are a matching set?!"

(End of this chapter)