Chapter 146: Life Track Grafting

Chapter 146: Chapter 146: Life Track Grafting

The instant she finished speaking.

From the forest by the lake, as if on some signal to attack, a cacophony of terrifying cries suddenly erupted, one after another.

The piercing howls of wild wolves.

The sharp, grating shrieks of Goblins.

And the deep roars of many strange creatures Lance had never heard before.

Listening to the dense commotion, the hands supporting Cecilia’s thighs tightened involuntarily.

He knew perfectly well.

What lay ahead would be a high-intensity battle of attrition.

There was absolutely no way he could carry an unconscious person and flexibly dodge and counterattack amidst a Demon Tide.

He quickly scanned his surroundings, his eyes sweeping over the terrain.

Soon, he found a natural position in the shallows at the edge of Jade Star Lake, one perfectly suited for defense.

It was a great white rock that rose about two meters above the water’s surface.

About half of the rock was already submerged in the lake.

It offered an excellent strategic position, surrounded by water on three sides. Only the side facing the forest had a narrow, shallow path for passage.

Such terrain was practically a perfect natural fortress.

He just needed to hold the entrance to that shallow channel.

He could use the terrain to its full advantage, preventing the frenzied Demons from flanking him to attack Cecilia from behind.

Without any hesitation, Lance carried the young woman on his back and strode quickly toward the large white rock.

Elisya’s translucent phantom floated lazily beside Lance.

But her pretty mouth never stopped moving.

"Hey, handsome, hurry and tell me, did the future me become a Legendary Level Caster famous across the continent?"

"And what about that silly boy, Karen? What happened to him?"

"And let me ask you a secret... in the stories passed down in your time, did he and I actually get together in the end?"

All sorts of strange, gossipy questions poured out of her endlessly.

While offering vague answers to the chatty Witch’s endless curiosity, Lance pushed off with his legs and landed steadily on the wide white rock.

He gently set Cecilia down from his back, letting her rest safely against a flat stone ledge.

At that moment, the massive full moon in the sky poured its silvery-white moonlight down without reservation.

The soft light sprinkled across Cecilia’s tranquil face.

Her silver hair fluttered gently in the night breeze. Paired with the serene lake and mountain scenery, the sight of the slumbering Half-Elf Maiden was one of breathtaking beauty.

Lance stood on the white rock, looking down at the shallows below.

A full moon night.

Guarding a comatose companion alone.

An immense, impending Demon Tide.

All these harsh conditions perfectly matched the trial requirements on his Profession panel for the Pale Guard advancement.

As long as he could survive tonight’s trial, he would have one foot in the door of becoming a Professional.

After checking that Cecilia was safe,

Lance gripped the Short Sword in his hand, leaped unhesitatingly off the white rock, and landed steadily at the entrance of the narrow channel.

At the edge of the dark forest in the distance,

A dense, dark horde of Demons had already emerged.

Using his excellent night vision,

Lance spotted several species he was relatively familiar with among the horde of monsters.

There were burly Gnolls and troops of Goblins.

However, he soon discovered that the Demons that had spawned in the Projection Space were clearly a different breed from the country bumpkins on the outskirts of Copper Creek Forest.

The fur of the Gnolls here was a dull, brownish-gray, and their clawed arms seemed longer and more powerful than those of their ordinary counterparts.

The difference among the Goblins was even more obvious.

Within this instance, the green-skinned monsters had even developed clear Profession divisions.

Lance’s sharp eyes spotted a few Goblin Thieves, their bodies hunched as they tried to blend into the shadows, carrying sharp Bone Blades in a reverse grip.

Further back, there was even a Goblin Shaman holding a Skull Staff and muttering incantations.

Although the individual Power of these Professionally Mutated Goblins had not yet reached the true Professional Level threshold,

among groups of ordinary Demons, their nasty Skill combinations already made them extremely troublesome opponents.

In addition, the Demon Tide was mixed with some rare species Lance had never encountered in reality before.

For example, there were Lizardmen dragging thick tails and holding crude spears.

And there were the Kobolds, who were less than half a head taller than the Goblins, gathered together and barking wildly.

Looking at the Kobolds, Lance felt his eyes had been opened.

They were indeed completely different from the ferocious Gnolls.

The skin of these Kobolds wasn’t covered in fur, but rather a layer of fine, dark scales.

They even had two small, fleshy bumps on the tops of their heads.

No wonder that in various Demon Atlases, these weak little creatures were believed to have the noble blood of the Dragon Race flowing through them.

However, the actual status of Kobolds in the Demon Realm

was probably at the bottom tier, barely qualified to sit at the same table as Goblins.

Kobolds’ combat power was truly pathetic.

They were even worse than Goblins.

Because Goblins, with their vast numbers, would often produce some powerful variant individuals.

But Kobolds were not only weaker, their reproduction rate was also slightly slower than that of Goblins.

After confirming the distribution of the monster types ahead,

Lance rolled his shoulders and vigorously shook out his wrists.

He knew a brutal, hard-fought battle was about to begin.

Meanwhile, a completely relaxed Elisya was flitting about above his head, chattering nonstop.

However, the Witch’s rambling did indeed provide Lance with a lot of extremely valuable core information.

"If my analysis of this Technique just now was correct,"

Elisya stopped in front of Lance and analyzed seriously.

"Handsome, in this instance, as long as you can rely on your own Power to withstand a certain number of Demon Tide waves,"

"then the two of you outsiders can leave this place safely."

"This space, forcibly partitioned off, is a projection of a historical echo."

"It uses the real environment as an anchor point to forcibly pull famous, widely-spread Legends from history into reality."

"Even if you suffer a fatal wound here, it won’t lead to true death, so you don’t need to worry too much about the little girl behind you."

Just as Lance finished quietly listening to these rules, he raised his head.

Looking at the tide of monsters already howling and surging toward him, he asked the final question that concerned him most.

"Excuse me, but do you know what the true purpose is for the person behind the scenes who went to all this trouble to create this historical projection?"

"Ha, you’ve definitely asked the right person about that!"

Elisya crossed her arms, a proud expression on her face.

"Back in the day, that idiot Karen and I ran into plenty of similar dangerous historical projections during our adventures."

"But because the core Technique constructed by the Caster is different, the ultimate purpose of the resulting historical projection also varies completely."

Her gaze gradually grew serious as she stared into Lance’s eyes.

"And a Technique like the one you’ve encountered today, one that not only pulls you in but also forces you into assigned roles,"

"this should be a special type of historical projection that falls under the strictly forbidden categories of Fate Taboo or Prophecy."

"If I’m not mistaken,"

Elisya hit the nail on the head, pointing out the truth.

"The person hiding in the shadows who set this all up... what they truly want to do is most likely the extremely rare ’Life Track Grafting’!"