Volume 6, Chapter 49 – Another Clash

The overly complex street layout of Mitters Bayer became a hindrance at this moment.

Although the whistle was very close, it took Evelyn and Yisi a full five minutes to arrive at the scene. The intricate alleys were not only narrow but also had many dead ends. And thanks to the buildings blocking their way, Evelyn’s expression grew more ferocious, to the point where Yisi felt that she might, out of anger, swing her divine staff and smash through a wall at any moment.

Fortunately, the two of them finally arrived at the scene in time.

On a slightly wider ruin, two paladins, covered in cyan-black blood, panting heavily, and with tired faces, were confronting two monsters. Beside them, a small, slender arm lay on the ground, clearly a trace left from the battle just now.

The cyan-black blood and the arm all came from the monsters. Although so much time had passed, the two Inquisition Knights still had the upper hand. Seeing this, Evelyn immediately breathed a sigh of relief and, with a movement that would not disturb the Inquisition Knights’ vigilance, slowly approached them step by step.

“How is it?”

“Hah, hah, Lady Evelyn, these two monsters are very strong. Please be careful.”

Without taking his eyes off the monsters, the Inquisition Knight reminded her in a low voice.

Evelyn raised the Staff of Divine Retribution, which was about the height of a person, and together with the Inquisition Knights, stood guard against the two monsters that could attack at any moment.

“Are these all of them?”

If she remembered correctly, there were a total of six monsters that had escaped.

“Yes, when we were searching—they’re coming!”

As if with human-like precision in timing their attack, the two small, goblin-like monsters suddenly rushed forward, coordinating their attack from both sides. Although they were injured, their speed was still much faster than a human’s.

“Hah!”

The magic-depleted Inquisition Knight swung his sword to block, but the force of the monster’s attack was much greater than it looked. It merely extended its right arm to block the longsword and could even forcefully swing the longsword to the side.

And taking advantage of the opening in the knight’s chest, the small monster used its free other hand to grab at the Inquisition Knight’s chest. Its sharp claws let out a series of ear-piercing screeches on the armor, and sparks even faintly shot out.

Not only were they fast, but their strength was also far greater than that of a trained knight.

Evelyn’s heart sank. The first time she had encountered them, Yisi had been the vanguard, buying time, so she hadn’t felt much. Now, after seeing the state of the Inquisition Knights’ battle, she felt it for the first time. If the Inquisition Knights’ standard-issue armor hadn’t been mixed with orichalcum, that blow just now would have been a fatal wound. The monster’s nails were harder than steel.

And compared to the side Evelyn was paying attention to, the Inquisition Knight on the other side had directly killed the monster with Yisi’s cooperation. The monster on Yisi’s side had already been missing an arm, and had also been hit by a short blade thrown by Yisi. With its body off balance, its head was directly cut off by the Inquisition Knight’s greatsword.

It was better not to just watch anymore.

Raising the Staff of Divine Retribution, Evelyn began to chant a spell.

As if sensing the danger, the monster that had been planning to press its advantage against the Inquisition Knight jumped back. After confirming that its companion was dead, it faced the group and retreated step by step with vigilance.

Reαⅾ οո КαtRеαdіnɡСаfе

“It’s trying to run!”

“Don’t let it escape! Stop it! Create an opportunity for Lady Evelyn!”

The two Inquisition Knights quickly gave chase, but the monster’s speed was clearly much faster than the paladins’. It turned and fled without hesitation. Like a stuntman in a movie, it used its powerful limbs to bounce between the narrow walls and quickly climbed to the roof, looking down at everyone from above with a menacing gaze.

“Damn it, it’s too fast.”

“We’d need a hunter from the Inquisition Hall to catch them.”

Fearing that they would startle the monster and cause it to escape from the roof, the two paladins had no choice but to stop and monitor the monster’s movements from below.

Although the Omniscient Map showed that other paladins were rushing over, and as long as they sealed off this block and gradually tightened the encirclement, they could eventually catch the monster, these monsters had high intelligence and a very keen sense of danger. It would not give the paladins the opportunity to surround it from the beginning.

Even though I beat them half to death, they’re now alive and kicking again… what tenacious regenerative ability.

I should have cast a weakening spell on them before I left.

Sighing quietly, Yisi took out a short blade from her inventory through her pocket. After aiming at the monster, she threw it forcefully.

I can’t let it get away.

The short blade lodged in the monster’s knee.

“Gaaah!”

With a sharp cry of pain, the monster immediately jumped to the roof on the other side. Yisi threw a second short blade while the monster was still in the air. The off-balance monster immediately fell to the ground.

Evelyn, who had her magic ready long ago, swung the Staff of Divine Retribution through the air.

“□□□□—[Holy Suppression]! You two, go and finish it off!”

“Yes!”

Under [Holy Suppression], the monster was pressed firmly to the ground, unable to move. The Inquisition Knights took this opportunity to swing their swords at the monster.

The monster was quickly dispatched.

As if exhausted, the two blood-soaked Inquisition Knights collapsed to the ground, even dropping their weapons to the side, panting heavily with their heads tilted back and covered in sweat.

“Ha, ha, it’s finally over. Damn it, what on earth is this thing?”

Rеaԁ оn КαtReαԁiոɡСаfe

“It looks like a goblin, but its strength is like that of a bear.”

“And its speed is also ridiculously fast. When I was ambushed at the beginning, I almost thought my neck would be bitten off.”

Without listening to the paladins’ post-mortem reflections, Evelyn, having learned from the last time’s ‘resurrection’, walked straight to the monster’s corpse. She carefully picked up a wooden stick and poked at the corpse, confirming whether they were truly dead.

Only after burning the monster to ashes with holy fire did Evelyn finally feel at ease. She walked up to the two Inquisition Knights who were sitting on the ground.

“You two, are you injured?”

“No. These two monsters were already seriously injured before they met us. If it weren’t for that, we would have died when we were ambushed.”

The other Inquisition Knight patted his armor. Underneath the cyan-black bruises, countless claw marks were exposed. The overturned metal marks looked as if they had been torn open by the sharp claws of an eagle or a wolf.

“Now we can go back and apply to the Inquisitor General for a new set of armor. Maybe the Inquisitor General will even give us a promotion. I’m sure of it. These two monsters are at least Mithril-grade, monsters above level twenty.”

“That’s right. If they were in perfect condition, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to beat even one of them.” With a look of relief, the Inquisition Knight clutched his chest. “I don’t want to encounter them a second time. Also, I have to thank this young lady here. If it weren’t for her help, the monster would have escaped.”

The two Inquisition Knights cast grateful looks at Yisi, and Evelyn also nodded in approval.

“Mm, I really have to thank Yisi. She helped me twice against the same opponent.” Evelyn turned to the paladins sitting on the ground. “Where did you encounter them? Were there only these two?”

“Ah, we searched this area all morning with no results. Since the slums were further ahead, the captain ordered us to split up and investigate, to confine the monsters to the slums, and then to request more manpower from the Inquisition Hall. We had already finished our search and were preparing to leave, but this guy, Arus, suddenly said we should check the sewers. So we followed the sewers and really found this group of monsters in there.”

“It should be that they found us.” The other Inquisition Knight took over, gesturing with his hands to describe the scene. “They jumped down from the ceiling, preparing to snatch the holy seals and weapons from us. But they were dripping blood. We felt liquid falling on our heads, so we quickly drew our longswords and just managed to block them. Then we used the holy seals as a deterrent and retreated while fighting, all the way here.”

As he spoke, the paladin showed a palm-sized golden badge. The golden badge at first glance looked very similar to the Crest of Holy Revelation in Yisi’s hand, but upon closer inspection, one could see that the two were very different in both workmanship and the amount of magic power they contained.

“They wanted to snatch your holy seals and weapons…”

Paladins with strength would be promoted to either Templar Knights or Inquisition Knights. Templar Knights focused on defense and healing, while Inquisition Knights focused on offense.

Besides the blue patterns on their armor, one of the important characteristics of the Inquisition Knights was that they held holy seals. As long as magic power was injected into a holy seal, the brilliance it emitted could calm people’s hearts and dispel evil, which was very effective against vampires.

If it were a human who wanted to snatch the holy seal, Evelyn could completely understand. Holy seals were items that looked very valuable, and there were cases of holy seals being stolen. But for the monsters just now, Evelyn couldn’t understand at all.

“Why would they want to snatch the holy seals and weapons…”

“Maybe for the magic power?”

“Magic power?” Yisi’s groundless words made Evelyn turn her head. “Why do you say that?”

As if she hadn’t expected Evelyn to suddenly ask that, a ‘oops’ look flashed across Yisi’s face, and then her gaze began to wander in the air.

Reаԁ оn КαtReaԁiոgCаfе

“Uh, this… aren’t the holy seals and weapons all things that have magic power? You’ve seen what this group of monsters looked like when they were just born. When they first crawled out of the ball of flesh, their movements were sluggish, and their speed wasn’t this fast. But just now, it was as if they had suddenly grown a lot, and their speed and strength had become much stronger.”

“Are you trying to say they’ve grown up, Yisi? What does that have to do with magic power?”

“Well… did they eat their own kind yesterday to fight for their companions’ magic power? They are not yet in their complete form, so they need a lot of things with magic power to help them grow. Just like powerful creatures always like to inhabit areas rich in magical ley lines. Because they lack magic power, they spontaneously pursue things with magic power?”

How suspicious.

Evelyn wrote her inner thoughts on her face.

Yisi’s explanation was really too far-fetched. There were many assumptions in it, and it even went against the image of a meticulous thinker that Yisi had in her heart. It was precisely because Yisi did not seem like the type of person to draw conclusions without any basis that the current conclusion seemed so suspicious.

If Evelyn had to say it, this strange feeling was as if Yisi clearly knew the correct deductive process but only told her the answer, fooling her with a process that had omitted many, many elements.

In fact, Evelyn found that Yisi did not dare to look her in the eye.

…But Yisi is a very reliable person. Maybe I’m overthinking it. I tentatively see her as someone worth confiding in, besides Andrea. I shouldn’t be so quick to doubt her.

Evelyn shook her head gently, dispelling the various speculations in her mind.

“Let’s just say it’s for the magic power. You just said that before you met these two monsters, they were already seriously injured?”

“Yes. They looked drunk. When they were chasing us, they kept falling into the channels of the sewer. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to get out of the sewer.”

“I think they should have been beaten with a blunt weapon, or pushed against a wall by a large monster. Their bones were deformed in many places, especially their legs and arms.”

“A blunt weapon and a large monster…?” Evelyn raised her eyebrows, her deep green eyes seeming to say whether the Inquisition Knights’ brains were broken. “How could there be a large monster in the sewers of Mitters Bayer? A beating with a blunt weapon is possible. Maybe other paladins encountered them, and then they escaped.”

The two rested Inquisition Knights patted the dust off their bodies, stood up, and looked troubled.

“Lady Evelyn, with all due respect, there is no one above level twenty among the Inquisition Knights and Templar Knights dispatched this time. I am sure that any one of these monsters has the strength of a Mithril-grade. If our men were to encounter them, they would definitely have blown the whistle at the first moment.”

The monster grades were divided according to difficulty. For example, Mithril-grade referred to a monster that a challenger had to be at least level twenty to attempt. Above that were Orichalcum-grade and Scarlet-Gold-grade, representing level thirty and above and level forty and above, respectively.

“Then who injured them?”

“Ahem, maybe they were fighting among themselves. After all, they have done things like cannibalism. Let’s not waste time on these issues. Don’t you still have to test the magic medicine, Evelyn?”

Evelyn narrowed her eyes and reached out to touch Yisi’s forehead—although sweating was a normal phenomenon, it was winter now, and Yisi had not engaged in any strenuous exercise just now. Such a degree of sweat could not be said to be normal.

Evelyn asked inconspicuously.

“What are you nervous about, Yisi?”

Rеаd oո KαtRеαԁіnɡCαfe

“Ahaha… the monster just now was too dangerous. I thought it would attack me. I was a little nervous.”

She’s lying.

Although she hadn’t shown any sign of retreat when facing ten such monsters before, now she was sweating over one monster. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t make sense.

It was just that Evelyn couldn’t understand why Yisi was nervous.

Combining the previous conversation, was the person who had seriously injured the monster Yisi? How was that possible?

Evelyn clicked her tongue in her heart. She had been waiting at the inn door since she left, and had not seen Yisi come out in the middle of it. Moreover, her waiting time was less than an hour. To run from the inn to the sewers of the block, and then to accurately find the monsters in the intricate sewers… even in the myths and epics she had seen, Evelyn could not find anyone with such strength, unless the Goddess herself was present.

It seemed she should go and relax a bit. She couldn’t push herself too hard. To actually have such a strange association in her mind.

Evelyn let out a long breath and waved her hand at the two exhausted Inquisition Knights.

“There are a total of six monsters that have escaped. Considering that they may grow, the search must continue, and more manpower must be invested. I will relay your matter to the other paladins. For now, return to the temple.”

“Thank you, Lady Evelyn.”

After bidding farewell to the paladins, Evelyn turned her head to look at Yisi, a strange light flashing in her long, narrow deep-green eyes.

“I thought it was a coincidence yesterday. I didn’t expect you to have a knack for using weapons. To be able to hit a target from so far away, and a moving target at that.”

“I’ve trained since I was young.”

Yisi pretended to be embarrassed and scratched her head, glossing it over inconspicuously.

“Is that so? I think just with your ability to use weapons, you could become a good hand among the Inquisition Knights. If you wish to become a member of the church, you could become an upper-level member of the Inquisition Hall in just a few years.”

“I’m a Fallen, you know. If I enter the church, I will surely be arrested and tortured by Lady Evelyn.”

“It’s best not to let others hear such a joke.” The dark humor made Evelyn take a step forward. “Let’s go down and take a look. The matter of experimenting with the magic medicine cannot be abandoned halfway. I also hope to catch all the monsters as soon as possible. After all, they are things I released. I will feel uneasy if I don’t deal with them.”

Glancing at the Omniscient Map, Yisi thought for a moment and nodded slightly.

“Mm.”

…

As a result, the two of them could not find the monsters until it was dark.