Chapter 6

Neither Lucien, nor Gary, nor Correa heard the sounds of a struggle, a scream, or the sound of someone fleeing.

The tall, strong, taciturn, and highly capable squire Hausen had vanished without a trace?!

A chill rose rapidly from the soles of Lucien's feet, spreading throughout his body, and his breathing became slightly heavy.

Gripping the Sword of Radiance tightly, Lucien quickly turned his head to look behind him.

On the other side of the sewer wall, the green moss flickered with a faint light, but the complete absence of Hausen made them seem very eerie.

Suddenly, a scream echoed, and Lucien, who had just turned his head and was on high alert, instinctively looked over.

A giant rat, as large as a human, had already pinned Correa to the ground. Its sharp claws pierced his shoulder, tearing through the hard chainmail, and blood flowed out, staining the silver-gray armor red. Its eyes, a deep red, seemed to mock him with a hint of malice.

However, its wide-open mouth and the row of terrifying teeth were biting down on the longsword Correa had managed to block in time.

As a high-ranking squire, Correa used the most standard sword technique to save his life in the most dangerous moment, and the shield in his left hand swung fiercely, striking the giant rat's abdomen.

The fear that had already appeared was far less than the unknown. At least for Lucien, a giant red-eyed rat the size of an ordinary human, moving silently, was easier to accept than a "mysterious disappearance."

Taking a deep breath, Lucien did not hesitate and swung the Sword of Radiance at the red-eyed giant rat to rescue Correa.

But at this moment, a low, beast-like roar sounded behind Lucien.

"Is Gary in trouble too?!" As Lucien thought of Gary standing behind him, a sharp knight's longsword struck his back fiercely.

The pale white light of the Holy Shield flickered violently, dimming significantly, and the massive impact force made Lucien lose his balance, staggering forward a few steps.

The knight's longsword followed up with continuous strikes, making it impossible for Lucien to maintain his balance. He could hardly even swing the Sword of Radiance, let alone focus his mind to caress the holy emblem and cast a divine spell.

Lucien dodged in a panic, his mind filled with shock and confusion: "Why is Gary attacking me?!"

The attack from the knight's longsword came from behind again. If it wasn't Gary, then there was only one possibility: Gary was already dead!

The rhythm of the knight's longsword attacks was excellent, giving Lucien no chance to steady himself, forcing him to stumble backward into the secret room.

But after being struck several times, Lucien realized he had not been injured at all. His panic gradually subsided. He had the Holy Shield, so why should he try to regain his balance and engage in a physical fight with him?!

This thought flashed through his mind. When the knight's longsword struck again, Lucien fell to the ground, rolled over, and his left hand, which was already prepared, gripped the holy emblem.

At this moment, Lucien finally saw clearly who was attacking him.

It was indeed Gary, the calm and reserved Gary.

But the muscles on his face were twisted, his eyes glowed red, and he exuded a raw, wild nature.

"Could it be that the toxicity of the red-eyed rats hasn't been completely eliminated, and it can also make people lose their reason, turning them into bloodthirsty beasts?" When Lucien saw Gary's appearance, he thought of this, "But why am I fine, feeling no abnormality at all?!"

Lucien didn't have time to ponder this confusion and strangeness. He focused his mind, touched the cross on the holy emblem, and was about to recite the incantation.

The round shield, wrapped in iron, swung fiercely, striking the Holy Shield, making it wobble.

Although the shield strike did not break the Holy Shield, the transmitted wobble and impact made Lucien's chest constrict, his breathing difficult, and the incantation he had started to recite got stuck in his throat.

The repeated heavy shield strikes disrupted Lucien's breathing rhythm, making it impossible for him to concentrate.

As a squire with the potential to become a true knight, Gary had excellent, formal training in interrupting spellcasting.

Of course, whether it was a priest, a mage, or any other spellcaster, seeing Lucien in this state would shake their heads in sighs. Only someone who hadn't even learned the most basic spell concentration would be interrupted by a squire. Any novice priest or magic apprentice, with a first-tier Holy Emblem and an activated Holy Shield, would have already killed Gary.

In a confrontation with peers, spellcasters always have an absolute advantage!

Lucien was frustrated by his inability to concentrate and cast a divine spell, while Correa was becoming increasingly dangerous, seemingly losing strength. His right hand, holding the longsword, was pressed tightly against his chest, and his wrist showed slight tremors.

Fortunately, the humanoid giant rat he was entangled with seemed to be running out of strength, not as fierce as before.

Unable to recite the incantation, Lucien simply swung the Sword of Radiance upward, no longer fixated on casting a divine spell.

After battling the red-eyed rats, Lucien had a good understanding of the sharpness of this summoned light sword, which far exceeded the knight's longsword in Gary's hand.

Under the heavy strikes from Gary's shield, Lucien's sword seemed to swing wildly, unable to maintain stability or aim at Gary's vital points.

However, facing this sword that resembled sunlight, Gary did not act like a mindless beast but instead hurriedly blocked with his knight's longsword.

He seemed unwilling to dodge, as once he distanced himself from Lucien, facing a first-level divine spell would be very dangerous, even for a formal knight who had activated his bloodline power. A single mistake could result in severe injury or even death.

The Sword of Radiance struck the knight's longsword, but there was no crisp sound of metal clashing.

Silently, the knight's longsword, like a piece of wood, broke into two halves. However, Gary had already pulled his round shield back in front of him.

The round shield had deep scratches, almost splitting in two.

Lucien was about to counterattack, but the Sword of Radiance, which had already dimmed significantly, suddenly shattered, with pieces of light scattering.

The Sword of Radiance, which had been losing power since it cut through the magically trapped wall, finally exhausted all its strength and could no longer be maintained.

Lucien was stunned for a moment, and Gary seized this opportunity, swinging the round shield heavily, striking the Holy Shield, which had also become thin and dim.

Shield fragments flew everywhere, and the Holy Shield flickered and then disappeared.

Lucien's greatest reliance, the Holy Shield, shattered after withstanding continuous attacks.

Without time to reflect on his mistakes due to lack of combat experience or insufficient calmness, Lucien caressed the cross on the holy emblem, focusing his mind to recite the incantation.

"Si... cough, cough."

The short syllable was only half-spoken when Gary's well-prepared punch struck Lucien's abdomen, making him curl up like a shrimp, with a strong sense of nausea in his throat.

Interrupting Lucien's incantation, Gary's other hand recovered and grabbed Lucien's neck, squeezing it tightly.

Lucien's right hand clung to Gary's fingers, but as a high-ranking squire, Gary, despite the significant physical and mental exhaustion from the prolonged battle, still had a significant advantage in strength over Lucien, an ordinary person.

Breathing became increasingly difficult, and Lucien's neck was in excruciating pain. His vision blurred, and his left hand, holding the holy emblem, was pinned to his chest by Gary's other hand, which also pressed his entire body firmly.

The beast-like breathing in Lucien's ear and the cold sensation of the iron glove on his skin made Lucien, whose consciousness was becoming increasingly blurred, suddenly regain some clarity.

His soul floated, giving him a strange sense of being an observer. Lucien's desire to survive erupted, and his mind, like breaking through a boundary, spread out like the sea.

At this moment, Gary's right hand, which was holding Lucien's neck, suddenly lost much of its strength, just like Correa and the humanoid giant rat, who were exhausted from their mutual beating, biting, and slashing. This gave Lucien a precious opportunity to breathe.

Strange as Gary's sudden loss of strength was, and as it continued to diminish, Lucien, having learned from the previous valuable lesson, did not hesitate, stare, or be surprised. The spreading mind focused and reached out to touch the Holy Emblem.

As soon as he made contact, Lucien's mind was suddenly jolted, as if he had entered a sea of holy light. The strange patterns composed of lines, circles, triangles, squares, and crosses appeared magnified in Lucien's senses, seemingly filled with deep mysteries.

Upon closer inspection, Lucien found that the cross emitted a scent of Benjamin, a scent he couldn't describe.

Curiously, Lucien touched the cross, which suddenly became violent, as if it had been violated. One of the strange patterns around it suddenly lit up, the light condensed, and it became overwhelmingly powerful.

Startled, Lucien quickly withdrew his mental sense, but it was slightly too late. A beam of pure white light shot out from the holy emblem, grazing the edge of Lucien's mind, making him feel nauseous, with a headache as if his head would split, and two streams of cool, blood-tainted, rusty liquid suddenly flowed from his nostrils.

After the beam of light shot out, it drew power from the surroundings, growing larger. Gary, sensing the great danger, hurriedly tried to dodge to the side, but at such close range, no matter how fast he reacted, he couldn't avoid it. The pure white beam of light vaporized his right hand and part of his shoulder, leaving a charred wound with no blood flowing out.

"Can divine spells be cast without incantations and caressing?" This was Lucien's first thought, and then he hurriedly rolled to the side, fearing that Gary, after this blow, might still have some fighting power.

As he rolled, Lucien realized that his own limbs were also weak and powerless. He rolled while looking at Gary.

"What?!" Lucien exclaimed in surprise, as the scene he saw was completely unexpected.

Gary lay on the ground, his eyes half-open, nearly dead, but the twisted expression and red eyes had disappeared.

In the surroundings, the pools of strange red blood left by the dead red-eyed rats had, at some point, evaporated into a faint red mist, which spread throughout the secret room and the nearby sewers.

In the secret room, the strange, humanoid plant stretched its branches and leaves in the pale red mist, looking very comfortable.

On the other side, the battle had undergone an unimaginable change. The one fighting Correa to the death was not a giant rat but Hausen, the taciturn Hausen.

Their knight's swords were embedded in each other's bodies.