Chapter 60

The underground palace was blown open with a large hole leading directly to the surface. Before Hao Ren and the others could figure out what was happening, they saw a rope being lowered through the hole, and a familiar figure appeared before them.

A tall, slender man, looking sharp and efficient, wearing a white shirt and black trousers, who else could it be but Nan Gong? He still had his black briefcase in hand, a small, exquisite crossbow hanging from his waist, and he was sliding down the rope with one hand, descending gracefully as if from the sky.

Hao Ren immediately guessed what had caused the explosions on the ceiling earlier. The culprit was this... well, this self-proclaimed demon hunter! He suddenly felt an urge to punch the guy, and if the timing were right, he would have grabbed a brick and gone for it!

At the same time, Vivian and Lily temporarily transformed back into human form. Although there were still many skeletal knights around, with their abilities, they could handle the situation in human form for a short while. The important thing now was to figure out why Nan Gong had suddenly appeared. Had he not left with the other paranormal enthusiasts but stayed in the castle?

Nan Gong had now landed safely. He nimbly hopped over the rubble to find a flat spot, then looked around. The first thing he saw was the three familiar faces standing with their mouths agape. His expression became incredibly exaggerated: "Eh... the three of you?! What are you doing here?!"

"How did you end up here?!" Lily almost shouted at the same time.

"I do this for a living," Nan Gong, taken aback, quickly explained. "I was trapped in the tunnel above and wanted to blast a way to the surface. I didn't expect to blow through the floor and find this space below, so I came down to check it out..."

Good grief, how much explosives did he use! Using explosives in the underground palace, this half-baked demon hunter must be looking for a quick death!

"This isn't the time to talk about that!" Hao Ren suddenly shouted. In the few seconds Nan Gong had been speaking, the iron-clad canisters around them had recovered from their brief confusion. Now, hundreds of hollow armors were shuffling toward the center of the hall. The demonic seals etched on their bodies still had some residual effect, so they moved slowly and hesitantly, but the red light behind their visors was growing brighter, indicating they were about to lose control completely—this was no time for idle chatter!

Only then did Nan Gong notice the situation. Seeing the countless "eyes" glowing red, he was taken aback: "Skeletal knights?! What's the scale of this?!"

Hao Ren was trying to figure out how to explain in two sentences why the three "ordinary people" were in the underground palace, but Nan Gong had already taken action. He quickly drew his small crossbow from his waist, threw his briefcase to the ground, and opened it with one hand. He pulled out a small vial from a compartment inside and smashed it toward a skeletal knight that was approaching. At the same time, he aimed his crossbow at another direction, and with a twang, a silver arrow shot out.

The vial shattered on the first knight, releasing a cloud of white, silver-glowing powder. The powder seemed to have some magical properties, as it didn't disperse but instead quickly covered the knight's body and began to seep into the armor's seams. The silver arrow hit the second knight's visor, exploding and turning into a silver light that vanished into the helmet.

"Quick, hide behind these stone slabs!" Nan Gong quickly reloaded his crossbow with a second arrow, aiming at a third enemy while shouting, "I'll hold them off. These things move slowly, so you find a chance to run! Don't worry about me!"

Hao Ren had been thinking about how to beat up this troublemaking "demon hunter" to vent his anger, but now he was taken aback: despite his incompetence, Nan Gong seemed to have a decent character? He didn't seem like the kind of demon hunter Vivian had mentioned, who treated human lives as expendable.

In the meantime, Nan Gong had used the same method to attack two more knights, retreating step by step to a large stone slab. Thanks to the rocks that had fallen from the hole he had created, a natural defensive position had formed in the center of the hall. Hao Ren, Vivian, and Lily followed Nan Gong's instructions and hid behind another large stone slab. Now that the underground palace was breached, the slow-moving knights couldn't trap the flying vampire or the wall-scaling werewolf, but they didn't want to reveal their abilities in front of Nan Gong just yet, because... this half-baked demon hunter had genuine equipment! Even though he was just a mortal, his access to such gear raised some concerning questions.

Hao Ren decided to observe the situation. If things didn't improve, he would have Vivian and Lily take action. Exposing their identities was better than getting hurt, but if Nan Gong proved capable, it would be easier to let him handle it.

After a series of attacks, Nan Gong caught his breath and pulled out a piece of hard paper from his briefcase. The paper was inscribed with complex symbols in red ink. Hao Ren glanced at it and was shocked to recognize it as a Leta rune.

While ordinary people could use Leta runes, there were requirements. Only demon hunters and those with strong mental fortitude, like ascetic monks, could withstand the mental impact of the runes. What was Nan Gong's background?

"Don't show yourselves. These mindless things attack the most active targets," Nan Gong glanced at Hao Ren's position. "I'll deal with these things. Don't worry, I'm an expert in demon extermination—Evil Spirit Purge!"

The expert's incantation caused the rune-inscribed paper to spontaneously ignite, but Nan Gong seemed to have held it upside down—the end he was holding caught fire.

"Ouch, damn it..." Nan Gong jumped up, the rune card falling to the ground and extinguishing. He frantically picked it up, blew off the dirt, and shouted again: "Evil Spirit Purge! Evil Spirit Purge! Evil... damn it, the fire rune burned out."

Hao Ren had been expecting to see the demon hunter in action, but instead, he saw Nan Gong fumbling for a lighter, relighting the rune card, and shouting: "This will still work—go!"

The rune card was thrown at the knights, bursting into a bright red light, and then... nothing happened.

Vivian finally couldn't help but remind him: "Hey, demon hunter—don't you check your results after casting?"

Nan Gong looked up and saw that the four knights he had attacked with his crossbow and demon-repelling powder had already wobbled back to their feet. The magical powder and silver arrows had only dazed them for a few seconds, causing no real damage.

Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat: This demon hunter had been jumping around, shooting, and using magic and martial arts, looking impressive and heroic, but it turned out he was all show...

"What's going on..." Nan Gong took a few steps back, looking at his equipment. "This shouldn't happen. This stuff usually works... Don't panic, I have a backup plan!"

He bent down and pulled out a bunch of miscellaneous items from his briefcase, assembling them into a large, strange-looking crossbow with a faint silver glow, seemingly reflecting the moonlight from the ceiling. Hao Ren's twitching eye finally calmed down: this half-baked hunter had finally produced something that looked powerful.

"Hmph, this thing isn't to be trifled with," Nan Gong smiled, raising the large crossbow and aiming at the enemies. "Let you see the demon hunter's silver explosive arrows... Damn, I forgot the arrows!"

Vivian slapped her forehead: "Big Dog, get ready. This guy is no help."

"Wait!" Hao Ren called out as Vivian and Lily were about to transform. He still felt this guy was a problem, even if he was half-baked, he was still a problem.

Hao Ren looked around, finding the rubble either too small or too large to be useful. But he soon felt a hard object in his pocket and couldn't help but smile.

Hao Ren carefully ran behind Nan Gong, holding the hard object, and smashed it over the back of his head!

At the same time, a sharp voice echoed in his mind: "This machine thinks you definitely haven't read the manual! Your usage is definitely wrong!"

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