Chapter 706

Chapter 61: Corruption – Thirteen

Zizz.

At the critical moment, lightning surged around Carlos’s body, his figure flickering at an astonishing speed and appearing instantly more than ten meters away, on top of a tilted wooden stake amidst the ruins of a collapsed shack.

On the other side, the old woman’s hammer, swung with almost all her might, missed its target. She slammed the handle heavily onto the ground with a loud clang and laughed loudly, “Haha! You little rascal sure knows how to dodge!”

“Hey, you’re not playing around?” The man looked at her, his face showing signs of shock and uncertainty.

“Since I can’t hit you anyway—”

A dull sound echoed in the field, yellow dust flying high. The old woman’s right leg was injured, but she used only her left leg to leap from the dust, lifting the heavy hammer above her head with one hand, her face filled with a wild and unrestrained smile. She charged fiercely towards Carlos with a menacing pursuit.

“Tsk, at least treat your wounds first…”

The wind pressure from the giant hammer swept toward Carlos. He frowned slightly, his mouth mumbling as his body transformed into a bolt of lightning, dodging backward and causing the old woman’s second strike to miss again. However, this time the situation was different.

The giant hammer struck where he had previously stood, causing a deafening roar, accompanied by Apfel’s fierce shout, “Shut up! I said it’s just a minor injury—” The rubble and dust exploded upward, water gushing out from the center like a fountain. Countless water columns erupted in a fan shape, spreading forward, with waves crashing from below!

In mid-air, Carlos’s eyes widened, but he had no place to grab onto. After quickly gathering the electricity around him, he twisted his body to avoid a direct stream of water. As he began to fall, he suddenly threw his sword far away with a “thud,” embedding it into the wall of a partially collapsed courtyard thirty meters away. Then, his fingers curled into claws, summoning several lightning arcs that twisted around the rising water column ahead, attaching themselves to the blade and pulling Carlos’s body forward.

“Lit-tle… slippery—!”

As he passed through the water curtain, a roar of curses came from behind, “I hate slippery guys like you the most! Show me if you can handle this next move—”

Carlos felt a sudden tightening in his heart.

“Damn fat lady, she’s actually serious…”

After breaking free from the water column, he grabbed his sword again and leaped onto the courtyard wall. He pulled the sword out from between the soil cracks, quickly looking up. Through the cascading water still in the air, he searched for the old woman’s bulky figure to anticipate her next fierce attack.

Where…

was she?

Carlos did not find Apfel’s shadow over there.

One second, two seconds, three seconds passed. After the old woman shouted “receive this move,” the expected assault did not come. The man realized he had lost track of her and listened carefully.

Moments later, he seemed to realize something, his face changing as he suddenly looked toward the direction of the spherical object in the sky.

Bang—

A dull thud.

In his sight, the old woman held the heavy hammer, wrapped in swirling water, leaping from the ruins beneath the sphere. With scorching hot air currents and a shocking wind force, she charged upwards in a brutal manner!

“Youngster, you fell for it! Ahahaha—”

The hearty laughter echoed like a bell, sounding somewhat insane, mixed with a bit of hatred and satisfaction, spreading from the center of the town.

“Hey—”

In the next moment, lightning around the man blazed brighter than ever before. He transformed his body into a streak of current and struck towards the direction the old woman had leapt.

…………

Outside the town.

Voices were chaotic, hooves clattered.

Within the formation composed of eight hundred elite soldiers from the First Knight Order, the flag bearer began riding through the crowd, conveying orders to various squads. The strict formation became increasingly tense.

Even as they began to disperse and regroup, two or three squads of nearly a hundred heavily armored lancers quickly broke away from the main formation, converging with thirty Faith Order members on the right side towards the front line.

Above the sky, the terrifying monster that suddenly appeared from the town was rapidly moving westward over the desert, leaving a trail of raging flames. The aftermath of the battle could still be felt clearly here. They knew that it was the Sword Saint fighting against it. Although the commotion had already moved away, the completely destroyed town center, with black smoke rising everywhere and flames spewing forth, still echoed with faint rumbling sounds.

Dark clouds raged, pressing down on everyone’s heads.

The intense fiery beam shooting straight into the clouds stirred up dark red thunder amidst the gloom, “rumbling” across the sky, briefly illuminating the barren yellow earth once more.

A tense and deadly atmosphere gradually spread through the ranks of the golden-armored flood.

In front of the formation, Bishop Aresta sat atop a robust unicorn, gazing at the burning ruins of the town. After a moment, he reached into his robe and pulled out a small, charred bone fragment that glowed with an eerie blood-red color, trembling slightly in his palm as if sensing something.

The young bishop smiled faintly, a smile that others might not notice.

[This is a small piece of demon bone found after the great battle in Woodward Forest. It took me a lot of effort to get it from the choir. Hold onto it. If you notice any abnormalities when you reach there, be careful; you’re close to what you’re looking for…]

[Aresta, my dear brother. Remember, never rely on that stubborn old hero to achieve your goals.]

What his brother said to him the night before he left was deeply ingrained in Aresta’s mind.

“Knights, comrades of the Faith Order, listen—”

He put the bone fragment back into his robe, straightened his posture, and the unicorn beneath him raised its front hooves with a loud neigh.

Behind Aresta, the over a hundred sharp vanguard had just completed their formation. Everyone was ready, waiting for orders.

Rumbling…

Blood-red thunder flashed across the sky, surging powerfully.

In the next moment, the young bishop gently waved his hand forward.

“Follow me to attack.”

He spurred the beast beneath him, and the giant creature charged toward the town. The hundred cavalrymen behind him galloped forward with a deafening sound, the elite warriors breaking through the sand, rushing toward the blazing smoke.

…..

“Apfel!!!”

At the center of the town, Swordsman Carlos, like a bolt of lightning, dragged a long arc of electricity from the ruins, aiming for the fat old woman who had leaped into the air, holding a heavy hammer high above her head.

However…

It was a bit too late.

Even though he pushed his speed to the limit, the old woman seemed to have anticipated this. The moment the lightning flashed from the ruins, the water swirling around her instantly transformed into arrows, “whooshing” towards Carlos. The speed was so fast that it even created a whistling sound as they sliced through the air.

Forced to stop mid-air, the man twisted his body to avoid the water arrows. Even so, one of them struck him, the arrow made of clear water piercing his chest armor with a “clang,” deforming the metal plate. Carlos groaned in pain, losing balance in mid-air, and fell to the ground, crashing into a pile of hot debris.

On the other side, Apfel’s charging figure was less than ten meters away from the orb.

“Damn it… Stop!!!”

The man clutched his chest in the ruins, his expression painful, shouting out.

But in the next instant, his pupils shrank sharply.

“Watch out—”

BOOM!!!!!

With a deafening explosion, a crimson, blazing light suddenly bloomed from the orb in the sky.