Chapter 271: Chapter 50: Refining the Flying Sword Again to Increase Strength

In a treacherous region riddled with ravines, about fifty kilometers from Rift Valley Slope.

Knight Armand and his two temporary companions.

Karon, the "Wall of Rock" from Ernst, and Leonard, the "Guardian Knight" of Vilt West, were hiding deep within a narrow crevice, a fissure barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways.

All three were heavily wounded. Knight Armand’s Dark Silver Armor was riddled with deep claw marks and signs of corrosion. The edge of Karon’s Tower Shield was shattered, and Leonard’s Plate Armor had been eaten through by acid, revealing the festering flesh beneath.

They had temporarily escaped the beast tide and found a defensible position. After taking the potions they carried, they prepared to rest before continuing their exploration.

However, they hadn’t rested for long before the tranquility was shattered once more.

Outside the crevice, the once-quiet ravine filled again with a rising and falling chorus of crazed roars, growing closer by the second!

"Damn it!" Karon snatched up his Tower Shield and blocked the entrance to the crevice, his face deathly pale. "Will it ever end!"

Wincing in pain, Leonard pressed his ear to the ground. A few seconds later, he looked up, his eyes wide with horror. "More of them... How many waves is that now!"

He had barely finished speaking when the first large Scorching Beast, driven into a frenzy, detected the faint aura of life at the crevice’s entrance. It began ramming Karon’s Tower Shield wildly!

Then a second, and a third!

"Hold the line!" Armand snarled, his Longsword erupting with pale golden Life Energy as he picked off the monsters trying to squeeze through.

But the monsters were too numerous—relentless and fearless.

The narrow space had been an advantage when the monsters were few, but with so many, it restricted their ability to dodge, forcing them to take the attacks head-on.

Under the constant barrage, Karon’s Tower Shield groaned as if overwhelmed, cracks spreading across its surface.

The few arrows Leonard managed to fire did little damage to the thick-hided monsters.

"It’s no use! I can’t hold on!" Karon roared, the webbing of his hand splitting open and staining the shield’s handle with blood. "We have to break out! We’ll be buried alive if we stay here!"

Armand glanced at the raging tide of monsters outside, a look of resolve flashing in his eyes. "We’ll break through toward the deeper part of the ravine! We’ll keep using the complex terrain to lose them!"

He took the lead, thrusting his sword through a Scorching Beast’s skull. Then, quick as lightning, he burst through the gap Karon opened. Karon and Leonard followed close behind.

The three of them fought back-to-back, like a lone skiff struggling in a furious, dark-red tide, desperately carving a path toward the darker, more rugged depths of the ravine.

...

Elsewhere, deep underground in a place filled with massive, cooled lava tubes.

The representative from the Golden Coast, a Great Knight named Ostun, had long since lost all his elegance and arrogance.

His magnificent crimson velvet robes were now nothing but tattered rags, stained with filth and blood. Half of his impeccably styled beard was singed off, and his left arm was twisted at an unnatural angle, obviously broken.

Of the companions who had been with him, only two remained, both grievously wounded and on the verge of death.

They had stumbled into this region of extremely complex terrain, hoping to use it to evade their pursuers. To their dismay, it was also the nesting ground for countless lurking monsters.

The widespread disturbance from before had thoroughly enraged the monsters in these nests, causing them to swarm out in full force.

Ostun leaned against the wall of a massive lava tube. The light from the Thrusting Sword in his right hand had dimmed, its tip dripping with viscous, dark-red blood.

His gaze was vacant, filled with despair and regret.

’If I had known this assignment was so perilous, I would have rather defied the Church Court’s decree and suffered the consequences of falling from grace!’

"My lord... we’re... not getting out of here..." one of his companions said between coughs of blood. A gaping wound had been torn in his abdomen, his intestines faintly visible.

The other companion was already unconscious, his breathing shallow.

Ostun’s lips trembled. He tried to speak, but no sound came out.

Just then, a shuffling, crawling sound—SHH-SHH—emerged from the shadows of a fork in the path ahead. Several hunters appeared, their carapaces covered in fluorescent patterns. They were predators that specialized in hunting in complex terrain, and their cold, compound eyes locked onto him.

"No... Don’t come any closer... I have lots of money... My father is..." Ostun babbled, stumbling backward until his back was pressed hard against the cold rock wall.

The hunters closed in slowly, their mouthparts opening and closing, dripping a clear, paralyzing venom.

A desperate scream was finally drowned out by the ceaseless sound of chewing from deep within the earth.

...

The Temple Knight squad, however, had managed to weather the initial chaos. Relying on their staunch faith, superior equipment, formidable strength, and tight battle formations, they had stabilized their position and were now steadily advancing toward a location whose Energy signature matched the characteristics of an "anchor point," just as planned.

Along the way, they fought off several waves of harassing monsters and even successfully ambushed a small, mixed cluster of creatures that tried to outflank them. In doing so, they displayed a level of combat prowess and resilience far exceeding that of ordinary Great Knights.

However, the closer they got to their target area, the stronger the resistance they faced.

While forcing their way through a basin shrouded in a fog of dark-red spores, the Temple Knights came under a coordinated assault from both the ground and the air.

A species of bat-winged monster, capable of short glides, fired continuous blasts of Energy from the air.

Although they managed to repel the enemy once more with their Holy Shields and superb coordination, one young Knight’s Shield was corroded by the spores. He was then struck by several piercing Energy blasts, shattering his Chest Armor. He collapsed, grievously wounded. Though emergency treatment saved his life, he was no longer combat-effective.

This brought the number of seriously wounded in the squad to two.

The Knight Commander, a resolute, middle-aged man named Raymond, frowned deeply beneath his Face Armor.

He knelt beside his injured comrade, examining his wounds. In a low voice, he said, "The forces of evil are becoming more cunning, more organized. This is no natural beast tide."

"Commander, we’ve used more than half of our Holy Radiance Stones and Holy Water," his second-in-command reported quietly. "The mounting number of wounded will slow our advance and compromise the integrity of our formation. Should we... consider a temporary retreat to find a safer path?"

Knight Commander Raymond stood and gazed toward the far end of the basin. There, faintly visible, stood a strange, rugged mountain that resembled a giant cluster of black crystal.

That was their target: the suspected "anchor point."

"Retreat?" Raymond’s voice came through his Face Armor, filled with resolve. "Our mission is to eliminate the anchor point and cut out the root of this evil. The more rampant the darkness, the more it proves we are approaching its heart. The Radiance of Truth does not grant us strength so we can shrink from hardship."

He glanced at the Knights around him. Though all were wounded, their Armor stained with blood, their eyes remained resolute, burning with the fire of their faith.

"The rest of you, check your equipment and take your potions. We rest here for ten minutes," Raymond ordered. "Then, we advance slowly in the Holy Strong Wall Formation. Our target is the base of that black crystal mountain ahead. According to the Holy Artifact’s readings and descriptions in the Church Court’s fragmented scrolls, that is very likely a secondary energy node that is stabilizing the passage."

He paused, his voice growing more solemn. "Remember, we are the Blade of Truth, the Holy Barrier. This journey may be perilous, but with every anchor point we destroy, the barrier protecting the Main World grows stronger, and countless lives are given a greater chance at survival. For the glory of Oriane! For the world behind us that awaits salvation—"

"We go forth, and know no fear!"

The nine Knights growled in unison. Though their voices were weary, they were filled with an unshakeable will.

Ten minutes later, the rested Temple Knight squad was on the move again.

They formed a tighter, circular formation with the grievously wounded at its center, one that integrated both offense and defense.

Knight Commander Raymond stood at the head of the formation, sword in hand, while the other Knights held their shields and gripped their swords, warily scanning in all directions.

They began their steady advance toward the black crystal mountain, which emanated ominous ripples of power.

...

Murphy’s figure sped across the desolate, scorched earth for an unknown length of time.

The few scattered monsters he encountered along the way were all swiftly slain in a flash of Dark Gold Streaming Light, failing to slow him in the slightest.

Eventually, he found a relatively concealed hollow behind a natural barrier formed by several huge, crooked pillars of scorched black stone.

The pillars blocked most lines of sight from the depths of the wilderness.

Here, he could finally catch his breath.

Leaning his back against a cold, rough stone pillar, he slowly sat down. He took out some Dust of Dawn and consumed it, replenishing his stamina and Energy.

Then he turned his attention to the prize in his hands: a thick, bright-red Chest Armor.

Even under the dim, crimson light of the sky, it still emitted a subtle metallic sheen. It felt smooth to the touch, warm with a lingering heat, as if life still pulsed faintly within.

On the carapace’s surface, strange, natural markings—now dimmed—formed a complex and mysterious recessed pattern that seemed to correspond to the flow of some kind of Energy.

’A Scorching Beast’s Chest Armor...’ Murphy mused, recalling how the markings on the carapace had lit up during the battle, instantly materializing that tough Energy Shield.

That Shield’s strength had been enough to briefly withstand a full-power strike from his Flying Sword, an attack charged with his Black Light Mana!

Although he had ultimately pierced it, its defensive power had already surpassed anything that could be considered ’mundane.’

’An Extraordinary Tier Scorching Beast... a being of a higher order than the Giant Scorching Beast from Ximu Town.’

’The Spiritual Material refined from the carapace of the giant beast in Ximu Town was already incredibly effective. What about this one, a creature that had reached the Extraordinary Tier?’

’Could it reach a 7.7 rating?’

’Or even an 8?’

’In this dangerous Alternate Plane, my own strength is the only thing I can ultimately rely on.’