Chapter 1078 - 513

The massive mouth, lined with razor-sharp teeth, snapped shut, biting off the horse and the lower half of the Knight in one fell swoop.

SPLASH!

Blood splattered several meters away.

The sudden, gruesome sight left everyone’s blood running cold. Fortunately, the horses beneath them took action before their riders could even react. Panicked, the mounts bolted for their lives, fleeing in the opposite direction of the giant beast.

The riders breathed heavily, forcing their minds to regain composure.

"Run this way!"

They forcefully steered their terrified horses, quickly regrouping. But a far more terrifying reality soon dawned on them. During their earlier flight from the wild wolves, they had unknowingly plunged straight into a massive migrating horde of monsters.

Shadowy monstrous figures with glowing eyes surrounded them in all directions, seemingly endless in number. Worse yet, the giant subterranean worm that had just instantly killed their captain was clearly pursuing them rapidly beneath the earth.

Trails of bulging dirt constantly broke the surface right behind them. If they dared to stop, it was entirely foreseeable what awaited them.

WHOOSH!

From the trees nearby, goblins perched high in the branches fired arrows at them. One of the shafts unfortunately sank into the hind thigh of a horse.

NEIGH!

The beast let out an agonizing cry.

Fortunately, a companion noticed the predicament. Right before the injured horse completely lost control, he reached over and hoisted his teammate onto the back of his own mount. The cavalcade pushed forward at breakneck speed.

"It’s no use! There are too many monsters!"

"We’re completely surrounded!"

"We can’t escape!"

They quickly realized that no matter which direction they fled, an endless tide of monsters awaited them.

"Let’s fight them to the death!"

Finally, realizing there was no way out, the group quickly exchanged glances. Taking deep breaths, they resolved to make their last stand. Rather than waiting for their mounts to run out of stamina and getting completely swarmed, it was better to use whatever energy they had left to slaughter those damn monsters. They had already prepared themselves for sacrifice before embarking on this journey anyway.

Of their original eight-man squad, only four remained tonight. Every additional monster they killed from here on out was a victory.

They drew the Longswords from their waists. The tips of the blades gleamed with a chilling light under the pale moon.

SLASH!

A blade sliced through the air, cleanly bisecting a goblin that had leaped from the tall grass to ambush them.

Every single one of them was a Professional Knight. Leveraging the mobility of their mounts, their combat prowess on horseback was often far superior to that of Professionals at the same level. However, this bloody display did not strike fear into the countless monsters lurking in the wilderness. If anything, it only fueled their bloodlust.

More monsters swarmed forward.

SWISH!

The Knight squad fell into a simple battle formation, swiftly dispatching the lunging beasts. Capitalizing on their speed advantage, they executed Precision decapitations or cleaved the monsters in half at the waist. Even the horses themselves proved lethal. A single strike from their solid iron hooves was enough to rupture the internal organs of Ordinary Monsters, kicking them to death on the spot.

Dozens of corpses were quickly left in their wake. Fighting as they rode, they managed to hold their own, looking truly formidable for a time.

"Haha! Exhilarating!"

"Come on!"

One Knight flicked the blood off his blade and burst into roaring laughter. It had been a long time since he had engaged in such a thrilling battle. Tossing all other thoughts aside, he immersed himself entirely in the heat of the slaughter.

CLANG! He casually deflected an arrow shot from the shadows. Chanting a silent incantation, he summoned an invisible veil of wind to sheathe his Sword Artifact.

He swung the Sword Artifact, feeling absolutely zero air resistance. He unleashed three consecutive slashes with the speed of lightning as his horse continued its wild sprint.

Behind him, thin lines of red appeared across the waists of three airborne jackals. Blood erupted from the impossibly smooth cuts.

THUD!

The bisected jackals crashed into the dirt.

"Not enough! This isn’t enough!"

The Knight could feel his blood truly boiling now.

Just as he was about to wheel his mount around and regroup with his teammates, the earth beneath him violently trembled. Sensing the impending danger, he slammed his hand against his horse and threw himself off to the side.

RIP!

Mid-air, his pupils constricted sharply. It was that hauntingly familiar scene again.

However, unlike their captain who had half his body bitten off, he had anticipated the attack and leaped away in time. Unfortunately, the trusty steed that had accompanied him for years was left behind forever.

He hit the ground hard, skidding several meters across the dirt. The colossal subterranean beast didn’t burrow back underground immediately; instead, it violently writhed on the surface, swallowing the mangled horse corpse down its gullet.

HISS! HISS! HISS!

The giant beast let out a contented noise. It was clearly very satisfied with the fresh horse meat.

However, it hadn’t forgotten the human Knight sprawled just a short distance away. The vast majority of monsters harbored an intense, deep-seated hatred for humans. It was a malice that flowed right in their blood. Even if a monster had never encountered a human before, the very first time they laid eyes on one, an instinctual, primal urge to kill would awaken within them.

"Come on!"

The Knight picked up his Longsword and scrambled to his feet.

"Run towards me!"

In the distance, his companion charged forward on horseback, hacking down monsters along the way. Yet, he acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

The giant beast burrowed back beneath the earth. The Knight took a deep breath. A split second later, he executed a swift sliding step, shifting several paces away from his spot.

BOOM!

The massive worm exploded out of the ground right where he had just been standing.

"HAAH!"

Gripping his sword with both hands, he channeled every ounce of his strength and viciously brought the blade down, aiming straight for the vulnerable joints between the worm’s carapace segments.

CLANG!

Sparks flew the instant the blade made contact!

But he immediately felt as though he had struck solid granite. A tearing agony shot through the webbing of his hands. His body jerked to the side as the violent recoil ripped the Longsword from his grasp, sending it flying backward.

His strike had been absolutely flawless, but the beast’s armor was simply too tough. In other words, even giving it his all, he didn’t possess the strength to breach the creature’s weakest point.

He looked down at his violently trembling hands. Blood poured steadily from his torn skin. A look of bitter resignation and helplessness washed over his face.

The gap in strength was just too immense! If it hadn’t been for the beast’s sluggish movement speed, it could have effortlessly crushed their entire squad the moment they crossed paths.

Perhaps out of some sick sense of amusement, the giant worm didn’t kill him immediately. Instead, it used the exposed portion of its massive body to coil tightly around the Knight.

"Blais!"

His companion, still rushing toward him, let out a desperate, piercing scream.

Suspended in the air, Blais felt the crushing pressure around his waist steadily increasing. Yet, he made no attempt to struggle. He simply shook his head slowly at his companion, giving him a final, meaningful look.

The difference in power was insurmountable; this was an enemy they simply couldn’t face. Besides, he had slaughtered enough monsters tonight to make his inevitable death more than worth it.

Just as he closed his eyes, bracing himself for the fleeting, blinding agony of death...

THUD!

He suddenly felt the crushing weight around his waist vanish. A moment later, both he and the severed worm crashed heavily into the dirt.

The impact left him seeing stars. Fighting through the intense wave of dizziness, he forced himself to look up.

SPLASH!

By the faint light of the moon, he saw the cleanly severed remains of the worm gushing with foul, putrid blood.

He shifted his gaze slightly and spotted a slender figure standing just a short distance away. It looked like a human. However, through his blurred vision, he could make out a magnificent pair of wings sprouting from the figure’s back—wings that were vastly disproportionate to its body. And those wings were currently dripping with blood.

It was clear that this being had severed the giant worm in a single, instantaneous strike, rescuing him from its jaws. But before Blais could get a better look at his savior’s face, darkness swallowed his vision. Extreme fatigue and the violent impact of his fall finally dragged him into unconsciousness.

"AAHH!"

The Knight violently bolted upright in bed, his back drenched in a cold sweat. He frantically swung his empty hands through the air, wildly hacking at phantom enemies.

"Calm down!"

A middle-aged man dressed in simple linen garments walked into the room, carefully carrying a bowl of medicinal broth.

"You’re safe now."

"I am?" the Knight asked, his chest still heaving with heavy breaths.

The harrowing events of the previous night left sharp, stabbing pains pulsing through his head, as if a needle were mercilessly stirring his brain. He only remembered that he and his companions had been completely surrounded.

"Where am I?"

"This is Warren Castle. Last night, Lord Gauss rescued you and your companions from the wilderness," the middle-aged man—who appeared to be a doctor—explained softly.