Chapter 90: Chapter 77: Taking Control of One’s Own Fate

「Ten days later, at high noon.」

The second-floor window of a two-story villa with a small courtyard suddenly shattered with a BANG.

Amidst the shower of glass shards, two figures leaped out, one after the other, landing in the courtyard almost simultaneously.

The moment he landed, Peng Yan immediately rolled to his feet and charged the heretic before him like a pouncing bear. The greatsword in his hand, as wide as a door panel, came crashing down on him.

The wide blade tore through the air, creating a deafening whistle, and the resulting gale was enough to make one’s chest tighten.

The heretic’s expression changed slightly. He quickly raised his stone-armored arms, crossing them in front of him to block.

A moment later, the blade crashed down on his arms with a BOOM!

CRACK!

Almost instantly, the stone armor on the heretic’s arms shattered, sending fragments of rock flying in all directions like bullets.

The immense force traveling up his arms made the heretic’s face go pale. Before he could recover, Peng Yan viciously kicked him in the stomach. The man let out a wretched cry, spat out a mouthful of blood, and was sent flying backward.

Peng Yan pressed his advantage, swinging the greatsword, which weighed hundreds of pounds, with ferocious power. He beat the heretic so badly that the man was completely overwhelmed and trapped in a state of utter misery.

Just then, Su Ya pushed open the first-floor door and walked out, dragging the corpse of a heretic behind her as if it were a dead dog.

She glanced at the situation in the courtyard and frowned. "Peng Yan, hurry it up. Don’t keep Lord Pei Ze waiting too long."

Peng Yan grunted in acknowledgment, his assault growing even more ferocious.

About seven or eight breaths later, the heretic could no longer hold on. In his terror, Peng Yan lopped off his head with a single swing. Blood gushed from the severed neck like a fountain, dyeing the surrounding flowers and grass red.

Seeing the battle was over, Su Ya dropped the corpse. She hurried to the carriage parked at the villa’s entrance and said respectfully, "My Lord, it’s been taken care of."

"Mm."

A faint voice came from within the carriage.

Immediately after, the carriage door opened. Pei Ze stepped out, his expression calm. He walked unhurriedly into the courtyard, activated his Recording Ring, and began to absorb the Soul Energy.

Su Ya stood behind Pei Ze, watching his tall, slender back, her eyes shimmering.

Over the past ten days, they had swept through nearly their entire assigned area, much faster than they had originally anticipated.

And their results were incredibly fruitful.

So far, they had eliminated over thirty heretics, including five Demon Cultivators.

’The efficiency is beyond my wildest imagination!’

Unlike the simple and honest Peng Yan, Su Ya was more observant. After watching for these past few days, she had long since realized there was something strange about the Demon’s Finger on Pei Ze’s hand.

Not only was its detection range clearly greater than what the City Guard Army had described, but it also seemed capable of precisely detecting the number and power level of the heretics.

Su Ya didn’t know how Pei Ze did it, nor did she intend to pry.

She was just glad she was lucky enough to be by Pei Ze’s side.

In less than half a month, the contribution points she had earned already exceeded what she would get from a whole year of painstakingly completing academy missions.

Among all the Knight Students participating in this encirclement operation, she estimated that no one had gained more than her and Peng Yan.

And it was all thanks to Pei Ze!

At this thought, Su Ya’s gaze toward Pei Ze grew even more feverish.

The more she interacted with him, the more she could sense his power.

Without a doubt, Pei Ze was a genius with limitless potential.

If she could build a connection with him, it would be a huge benefit for both her and her family.

Staring at Pei Ze’s back, Su Ya secretly made up her mind. ’I have to win his favor and become his follower.’

’Or... go even further!’

The young woman’s cheeks flushed slightly.

At that moment, she was suddenly grateful for the quarter of Succubus Bloodline within her.

Pei Ze was unaware of the young woman’s thoughts behind him. After absorbing the Soul Energy, he called for the two of them to leave.

The carriage soon set off again.

Leaning back against his seat, Pei Ze reflected on his gains over the past few days.

’Since the sweep operation began, I’ve earned a total of over two hundred merit points, less than half of what I got on the night of the main encirclement. This was to be expected, however. After all, most of the heretics were wiped out during that night’s operation. Less than a fifth of them likely remain. The only reason I’ve been able to root out more than thirty heretics is that my assigned area happened to be a residential district, a high-risk zone where the remnants were likely to hide. Otherwise, my gains would have been even smaller. From this perspective, I held a slight advantage in my bet with Gu Lin from the very beginning.’

’I wonder how Gu Lin’s sweep is going?’

Pei Ze smiled to himself.

It was worth noting that most of the heretics found these past few days had been left for Su Ya and Peng Yan to handle.

The few times he had acted, he had sent Wuyu out. He himself had barely cast any Magic, using almost all his Spiritual Power to accelerate the Eye of Omniscience.

Thanks to this, Will Rune No. 24 had been successfully constructed.

He had also analyzed most of Will Rune No. 25.

In addition, he had finished improving his Fireball Technique and Magic Missile.

The improved Magic Missile not only had increased power per missile and a reduced casting time, but the number of missiles had also soared to twenty.

When cast, its power was far more ferocious than a spray of machine-gun fire.

As for the Fireball Technique, the improvements were relatively simple: its explosive power and range were increased, and its fixed casting time was reduced.

’With the improved One-Ring Spells, combined with broken-sentence casting, the preparation time for casting has been reduced to less than half a second.’

Pei Ze nodded to himself.

Casting time was one of the decisive factors affecting a Wizard’s combat prowess.