Chapter 1163: Royal Knight

"I'm not entirely sure either. Vanessa's condition hasn't been very good lately, but it's not the kind of visibly severe state."

Miss Lasers' tone was quite worried:

"I want her to inform the Witch Council, but Vanessa doesn't like to always trouble others, thinking it's just a small matter... Mr. Watson, since you also know other Great Witches, please persuade her once we rescue her."

"No problem. Also, my real name is Xia De Hamilton."

Xia De said. Miss Lasers nodded, and then the puppet's head snapped up to look at him:

"Hamilton? The one rumored to be Miss Galina's..."

This rumor had spread even further than Xia De had imagined.

"Act III: The Royal Knight and the Outsider Knight

The outsider knight and the loyal maid intercepted the forest giant, gained the giant's strength, defeated the evil warlock, and seized the warlock's ring. For the princess, they continued their journey, and even though they had developed feelings for each other, they still pressed on for the sake of the imprisoned princess, finally arriving outside the castle gates."

Amidst the comical singing, the two returned to the city crossroads and were once again transported by the shifting terrain to the foot of the castle. This was a typical fairy-tale style castle, surrounded by a moat—a ditch made of wooden troughs—and at this moment, the drawbridge was not lowered.

Movement in puppet form was hindered, and even though both could swim, there was no need to risk swimming across the river. Xia De used Silver Moon Slash to cut the drawbridge ropes, but finding the bridge deck still wouldn't fall, he cast a spell to summon that dilapidated wooden boat, and then crossed the narrow river channel with Miss Lasers.

There was a mechanism on the wall of the castle model; after rotating the dial, the drawbridge was finally lowered, and the entrance to the castle interior was finally opened.

Although the castle model's footprint was far smaller than the "Giant Forest" and "Abandoned Royal Capital" areas, the level of detail inside the castle model could not be compared to the crude scenes outside.

The interiors of the city model's buildings were all hollow, but inside the castle, there were near-realistic rooms, corridors, staircases, and even secret doors. Oil paintings on the walls, kerosene lamps, and decorative red carpets were all present, making one wonder if they had truly arrived in a kingdom of puppets.

And corresponding to the wild wolves in the forest and the thugs in the city, the enemies blocking the way in the castle were sets of knight armor.

These were hollow wooden models, most holding wooden one-handed swords, with astonishing swordsmanship and defensive capabilities. A small number of enemies held shields, and even fewer used two-handed swords or long spears.

They existed in almost every corner of the castle model, and although they only performed melee attacks, once they formed a cluster, it was troublesome for Xia De and Miss Lasers.

They could only fight as quietly as possible, and at this time, Xia De's swordsmanship could be put to use. Although he wouldn't call himself a master swordsman, the swordsmanship he learned from the 【Night Watcher】 was equally astonishing, combined with the three greatswords summoned by the 【Blade of Twisted Time】, Miss Lasers could barely play a role. Each time, she saw Xia De rush forward holding the Moonlight Greatsword, and then defeat the enemy in front of him after a clash of swordsmanship.

To reach the top floor, one only needed to take the stairs, but just as that puppet had said, the gate at the highest point required three items to open. Even Xia De's "Key of Doors" could not forcibly open the door in puppet form; this was, after all, the basic rule of a Sage-level Relic.

By collecting small scraps of paper left behind in the castle, Xia De and Miss Lasers pieced together some information. Helping each other along the way, they finally learned the location of the "controlled Royal Knight" puppet through the fragmented information.

The secret door was located in the second-floor kitchen, leading through a secret passage to the first floor, and then bypassing the bookshelf behind the study to see the stairs leading upward.

That Royal Knight puppet was waiting for the two in the hidden hall at the end of the stairs. Its size was about the same as the armor puppets in the castle, only the surface paint and the style of the helmet were more magnificent.

Holding a half-body-high silver shield in its left hand and drawing a one-handed silver sword inserted into the gap between the carpet and the "floor tiles" with its right hand, it waited for the two's arrival as if standing in a gladiatorial arena.

"Silver Moon Slash!"

Xia De, who pushed open the door, still started with a ranged attack, wanting to test the opponent's defensive strength. Unexpectedly, the knight puppet didn't dodge at all, raising that silver shield to wave it. The brilliant arc-shaped light blade made contact with the silver shield and then returned along the original path as if reflected by a mirror.

If Xia De hadn't pulled Miss Lasers to dodge to the side in time, the two of them would likely have been cut in half.

"What's going on?"

Xia De was greatly surprised; he had never encountered such a situation before. Even if the power of his spells was weakened in puppet form, the essence was still "Moonlight Slash."

"Fireball!"

While pondering, Miss Lasers also raised her right hand. As the red copper ring glowed, a fireball about the size of a puppet's head flew out. The threads above the knight puppet vibrated, the silver shield in its left hand swung again, and the fireball was immediately countered back.

Fortunately, the two were prepared this time, and the fireball only hit the wall, piercing through it and flying out of the castle model. It didn't disappear until it hit the wall of the box, making a soft "thud" and emitting a spark.

This sound was not loud; it could even be said to be completely drowned out by the hoarse bass singing in the opera house. The opera outside was currently at the part where the male lead was rejected in his courtship and was sorrowful by the river alone.

"Meow?"

But the little ears of the cat sleeping alone on the sofa in the box next to the one where Xia De was "adventuring" twitched a few times, clearly having heard this abnormal sound.

The very alert cat lazily stood up and looked at the wall that had just made the noise. It shook its tail wearing the 【Ring of Metamorphosis】, jumped from the sofa to the back of the sofa, and looked left and right, not seeing Xia De's figure.

"Meow~"

With its butt back and body stretched, it opened its mouth wide and had a good stretch. The cat nimbly jumped onto the soft carpet and then came to the tightly closed door. It nudged it twice with its little head, confirmed it couldn't open the door, then turned around, backed up, adjusted its position, and rushed toward the door.

Its claws neatly gripped the door panel, and after just two upward leaps, the nimble orange cat had already hooked its claws onto the metal doorknob.

But unfortunately, the cat's weight was not enough to pull the doorknob down. So it wiggled hard a few times, and as the doorknob was pulled down, the door creaked open.

Mia swung a few times before jumping back to the floor, extending her little cat head from the door crack to look around. Then, her pink nose twitched a few times, catching Xia De's scent. So, half of the cat's body squeezed out from the narrow door crack like flowing water, looking at the half-open door next door.

The cat smelled Xia De's scent and was very worried about him, so it trotted over.

Clang!

The Moonlight Greatsword collided with the knight's silver sword, fine silver light dust splattered everywhere. Even though Xia De, wearing that ruby, had increased strength, he still couldn't gain the upper hand in the struggle with the "Royal Knight" puppet.

Since spellcasting would be rebounded, Xia De asked for the ruby and engaged in close-quarters combat with the Royal Knight. The Royal Knight used a sword in one hand and a shield in the other; its attack and defense were so flexible that it didn't seem like a puppet at all, and even its strength was about the same as Xia De's, who was wearing that "Forest Giant Ruby."

But fortunately, it was only one person after all. Using the sword-and-shield combination to fight Xia De meant it couldn't defend against Miss Lasers' fireballs.

Therefore, when Xia De's 【Chain of Sin】 finally successfully bound the Royal Knight's right foot, slowing its movements and forcing it to use its sword and shield to defend against Xia De's four Moonlight Greatswords simultaneously, Miss Lasers' fireball hit its back head-on.

The Royal Knight's own defense was not outstanding. After taking a fireball, although it wasn't destroyed, its body's movements became even more sluggish.

"Good chance!"

Xia De's left-hand yellow "Moonlight Greatsword" stabbed into the gap of the knight's sword and shield, while his right-hand silver "Moonlight Greatsword" pressed against the knight's large shield, not giving it a chance to counterattack. Miss Lasers, enduring the weakness of massive mental energy consumption, used a fireball to sneak attack the knight's back again. After five consecutive fireballs hit the target, the "Royal Knight" finally knocked Xia De in front of it away, turned around, and launched a charge toward Miss Lasers with its shield.

This was not a simple charge. At that moment, Miss Lasers actually felt she was imprisoned in place and unable to move, but the shield-bearing knight had almost turned into a silver chariot rushing over.

"Mr. Hamilton!"

"Don't worry!"

Xia De's puppet figure used "Lagley's Leap" again, appearing between Miss Lasers and the Royal Knight. At this moment, he also felt his body seemed unable to move, but he didn't need to move:

"Heaton Seal!"

A golden light shield emerged from his body, forcibly blocking the charging knight. The light stirred up by the shattering shield also caused the knight to fall to the ground. Under such cooperation, Xia De finally threw out the chain to entangle the knight's long sword, and after the long sword was taken away, the Royal Knight finally stopped moving.

"Are you okay?"

Miss Lasers hurriedly helped Xia De. Although the Heaton Seal was cast successfully just now, the shield was actually shattered, and Xia De suffered a backlash and was a bit unsteady, but the situation was not very serious.

"Temporarily okay."

While speaking, with a "Boom~" sound, the wall on the east side of the battle space was like being hit by a sledgehammer, revealing a cracked hole. After that wall collapsed, it revealed a shortcut to the stairs leading to the top floor, so they didn't have to go around along the secret passage anymore:

"This is convenient..."

"You don't look like you're okay."

Miss Lasers asked worriedly. Xia De's puppet body now had three very obvious slash marks. Those marks were caused by the silver sword he was holding at the time, but compared to the previous two items, this sword was plain and unremarkable, having no other effects besides being sharper.

To be continued. ===== CHAPTER 1164 =====