Two Days Later
February 6, 2049
Game Time AM 01:13
Outside Hofur City, Misha County
Ben Foster, who had just been woken up by his companions, was patrolling along the city walls.
He was a young Holy Knight who believed in the Fertility Goddess, and he had just celebrated his nineteenth birthday two days prior.
As one of the youngest Holy Knights in the group, he was not as rigid as his seniors; in fact, he was a bit too lively, often leaving his post to help the commoners in the city with reconstruction work.
Therefore, he was miserably ordered to guard the latter half of the night every day.
“But Mr. Anton really takes care of me~”
Ben grinned, scratched his large nose, and then dimmed the power of the fire element lantern in his hand.
Hugging the lampshade for warmth, he sighed, “No monsters have come here since yesterday.
The senior who came from Mida City to deliver a message was laughing so happily while chatting with Senior Anton, so it must be good news.
Plus, Senior Anton, who worries about me the most, suddenly asked me to guard the latter half of the night, which clearly means ‘it won’t be that dangerous’!”
He had always been a very intelligent young man; otherwise, he wouldn't have passed the Holy Knight selection right after coming of age.
So, even though the Holy Knight named Anton didn’t reveal a single word to him, Ben still accurately guessed that the situation must have improved, and Hofur City was likely much safer than before!
But even so, Ben, who was on night watch, did not slack off in the slightest.
He remained alert, observing his surroundings, and his right hand stayed on the hilt of his cross-shaped sword, ready to deal with any situation at any moment.
Safety was always relative; this was not the comfortable and pleasant Light Capital.
As long as the threat of the Plague and Mutants was not lifted, he would not be negligent for a second…
Ben suddenly grinned, and thinking of the people in the city behind him sleeping soundly under his protection, he genuinely felt grateful that he could become a Holy Knight~
However, in the next second, he, who was foolishly happy, suddenly stopped, then extinguished the lantern in his arms as quickly as possible, and cautiously crouched down.
This young Holy Knight felt a faint but overwhelming aura of evil and death.
【This is definitely not something those monsters called Mutants can emit!】
He swallowed nervously, then concealed his presence as much as possible, and quietly crept forward.
Two minutes later, Ben, who was lying in the grass, covertly raised his head, and a small figure standing still in the moonlight came into view.
It was a girl…
She had two long twin ponytails and wore a specially tailored small priestess robe, quietly sitting there, muttering something softly.
Even though he could only see the girl’s back, Ben recognized her immediately…
【Little Wen Qiu!】
The young Holy Knight’s eyes widened in astonishment.
He instinctively wanted to rush out to protect this little girl who had asked him for candy, then quickly send her back to the chapel and call other Holy Knights to search for that suffocating evil power outside the city.
But in the next second, he forcibly suppressed this impulse.
The reason was simple: the newly activated divine spell—【Detect Evil】—was frantically warning Ben, telling him that the source of that ‘suffocating evil power’… seemed to be this child.
【How is this possible?!】
For a few moments, this low-ranking Holy Knight almost suspected that his divine spell was malfunctioning, because that fair-skinned, innocent, always smiling, always wide-eyed, and lively little girl could not possibly be associated with words like ‘evil’ or ‘death’ in the slightest!
But that muttering, tiny figure indeed emitted an extremely unsettling aura.
Ben didn't know what it was, but his body was trembling slightly, and the impulses to either run away or draw his sword and attack almost drove this kind young man mad.
A strange hostility and anger gradually grew in his heart.
Some inexplicable intuition told him that the child in front of him was not simple; she was an enemy of order and justice, a mad and evil grim reaper, she was…
【An enemy?】
Ben was confused.
He was not affected by any mental magic, nor was he experiencing any hallucinations, but that inexplicable intuition was not accidental, because any normal person would have such a reaction when facing an existence with a sin value exceeding five digits.
If the person who accidentally encountered Wen Qiu here today was not Ben, but just a random commoner, they might have already been scared to the point of collapse by that indescribable aura of sin.
“Hehe, it feels so much better after running out~” The girl, with her back to Ben, smiled and shook her head, playfully toying with a few withered blades of grass by her side, muttering softly, “It was so wise to choose Brother Gareths to take care of me.
He seems very busy in reality; after Sister Wang Yu left, his online time became unpredictable every day… Hmm, is he studying… is he working… or is he also sick like Yujing?”
【Reality? Online time? And who is Yujing?】
Ben thought confusedly, unwilling to believe that Wen Qiu might be some terrifying existence.
He wanted to listen carefully to what she was saying, but he completely failed to understand the words the girl was using, which he had never heard before.
“The Land of God’s Favor is also very uncomfortable; even when I’m being good, it doesn’t feel right.
Ugh, why did that flat-chested Holy Maiden create something like that? Is it to punish little Yujing? But little Yujing isn’t a bad child!” The girl lowered her head sadly, her fair, tender little hands clenching gently, then slowly loosening: “Eek, I suddenly feel bored.
This place is no fun at all, and Brother Black Vatican is also running around everywhere.
Really, he doesn’t cherish lolis enough!
Don’t they all say lolis are a rare resource? If they’re rare, you should kiss, hug, and lift them high before they grow up!
Ugh, on second thought, maybe no kissing…”
Wen Qiu suddenly threw a tantrum without warning.
She threw herself onto the ground and started rolling around, flailing her limbs.
Yes, just rolling around.
【What is all this… nonsense? What’s a loli?】
Ben was completely bewildered, but he gradually began to relax, because Wen Qiu's obvious and pure little girl behavior simply couldn't be linked to evil in any way.
“So annoying! I want to leave! Although I’m a little reluctant to leave here, Yujing still wants to see more things and can’t stay cooped up in this place forever~” The girl seemed to have tired of rolling, so she lay on her back and softly mumbled to the Crescent Moon in the sky, “Because Yujing might not have much time left, and my body is getting worse, I increasingly don’t want to go back to reality.
Hmmph, what a delicate bad child…”
【She wants to sneak away!?】
The young Holy Knight was immediately startled.
He sorted out his thoughts and felt that if this girl just snuck away like this, she would definitely die no matter what.
Not to mention the aura he had just felt, even those Mutants could easily end her tender life!
No!
Ben took a deep breath, then prepared to get up and take Wen Qiu back to Hofur City.
He felt he couldn't delay any longer.
But the girl’s next sentence made him freeze in place.
“And I can’t possibly follow Brother Black Vatican to that Light Capital.
I heard it’s full of very powerful Theocrats there, so I might get discovered~” Wen Qiu sighed in distress, her slightly childish voice still clear and sweet, but her words sent a chill down Ben’s spine nearby: “After all, I accidentally killed tens of thousands of people, so if I’m discovered, it’ll be trouble.
Even apologizing and acting cute might not necessarily get me easily forgiven~”
【Killed… tens of thousands of people… Who… Wen Qiu…?！】
Ben felt his brain was about to crash.
The girl continued to mumble, shaking her head: “Anyway, everyone doesn’t feel how uncomfortable Yujing is, and those Plagues are only painful and itchy to a certain extent, so it’s fair, right?
Yujing has always been very uncomfortable, but no one can experience it.
Everyone died, but Yujing has never died.
Hmm, very fair, very fair!”
【She… she is…】
Ben swallowed, silently casting two divine spells on himself, then tremblingly reached for the hilt of his sword.
“But everyone is complaining~ Complaining and complaining, it’s really noisy enough to kill someone.
It’s much quieter if they die!
Anyway, everyone has to die sooner or later, Yujing also has to die, so whether I die myself, or get killed, or kill others, there’s no difference at all.
Everyone is so strange~”
【She is the real culprit! She is the instigator of everything! She…】
Ben gripped his cross-shaped sword, gritting his teeth tightly, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the small figure nearby, and then…
“Don’t you agree?”
Wen Qiu suddenly turned her head, flashed Ben a sweet smile: “Brother Foster~”
Swish!!
A bright flash of sword light slashed towards the girl, enveloped in a thin but heavy layer of divine power.
Ben, who had no idea when he had been exposed, had only one thought at this moment: to kill this adorable girl in front of him, save the innocent suffering people, and avenge those who had died inexplicably!
But when faced with her innocent and bright little face, Ben’s sword inevitably hesitated for half a second.
The sword light struggled in mid-air, changing its trajectory from a direct chop to a diagonal strike.
【She doesn’t know what she’s doing, she… she’s just a child, I…】
A thought subconsciously flashed through Ben’s mind, and then he began to consider whether it would be better to take Wen Qiu back after seriously injuring her with this sword.
Even if the sins committed by this child in front of him were enough for her to die ten thousand times, the young and kind knight still lacked the courage to deliver a fatal blow.
Of course, even if he had it, it would be useless…
Clang!
Three pale bone spears, shimmering with a chilling Han Guang, appeared out of thin air beside Wen Qiu, firmly blocking Ben’s sword light, whose force had already been greatly reduced.
“This is…”
Ben quickly retreated a few steps, holding his cross-shaped sword horizontally across his chest, his face ashen, looking at the smiling girl in front of him and the three bone spears emanating a strong aura of death: “Necromancy!!”
“Huh? What’s necromancy?” The girl blinked blankly, touching her lower lip with her small hand: “Brother Foster, what are you talking about? Wen Qiu doesn’t know anything~”
Ben stared at her intently, gritting his teeth, “Come back with me, little Wen Qiu, otherwise I can only…”
A shrill whistle suddenly sounded, and the three bone spears neatly circled in mid-air, then abruptly shot towards the Holy Knight in front of them!
【How ruthless!】
Ben instinctively tilted his head back to dodge the bone spear aimed at his glabella, then swiftly swung two sword lights to cut down the remaining two aimed at his throat and heart, a bead of cold sweat slowly trickling down his forehead.
“Where did you learn such a terrifying spell?!” he roared, then silently chanted the Fertility Goddess’s name and quickly cast two low-level divine spells that enhanced physical attributes, staring into Wen Qiu’s pure, bright eyes as he asked in a deep voice, “Do you know what you’re doing?!”
The girl tilted her head, frowned her small brows, thought for a long while, then playfully stuck out her tongue: “I don’t know~ Ah, Brother Foster, watch out behind you!”
A tall skeleton warrior appeared like a ghost behind Ben.
It wore rusty light armor and an old, time-worn helmet, holding half a small round shield in one hand and a long saber in the other.
Blue flames burned in its eye sockets, and its exposed bone stumps were covered in dirt and blood, exuding a strong aura of death.
Ben’s reaction, however, was not slow at all.
The moment the skeleton warrior appeared behind him, he ducked and dodged the powerful blow, then reached out his left hand and pressed it onto the skeleton warrior’s skull, shouting, “Repel Evil!”
An orange-yellow light illuminated in his hand, then quickly devoured the two soul flames in the skeleton warrior’s eye sockets.
This was a common divine spell for all followers of ‘good’ aligned deities, possessing full lethality against any enemy containing negative energy and death attributes.
“I’ll say it again!” Ben swung his sword, turning the already ‘dead’ skeleton warrior into a shower of bone fragments, then turned back and whispered to Wen Qiu, “Come back with me, or you’ll only die here!”
“Uh… Although dying here doesn’t really matter, but… Oh, right!”
Wen Qiu smiled, a little troubled, then suddenly clapped her hands, hopping: “Let’s make a deal, Brother Foster!”
Ben cautiously approached the girl, gritting his teeth as he asked, “What deal?”
Wen Qiu chuckled: “Let’s go back to the city together, and you pretend you didn’t see anything, and I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything, okay?”
“Of course…”
Ben’s steps paused slightly, then he suddenly charged towards Wen Qiu, shouting, “Not at all!”
At this moment, the distance between them was less than five meters, and Ben was confident that he could definitely catch Wen Qiu before she could cast any strange magic!
Then he crashed headfirst into at least a dozen bone spears hanging down to the ground!
“Oh, is that so.”
Wen Qiu’s slightly helpless voice came from in front of him.
She kicked the dirt in front of her with her small foot, seemingly a little dejected: “That’s truly a pity.”
Ben, who was blocked half a meter away, widened his eyes: “Wh-…”
Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump!
The next moment, hundreds of cold, pale bone spears rained down.
Five seconds later, a still twitching arm hung limply, drops of crimson blood soaking the scarred earth.
Not far away, a small figure was hopping towards the city gate.
“If you’re too willful, you can only be killed, right… Ah, I still have to clean up the scene!”
A crisp clap suddenly sounded, and countless clusters of ‘eyes’ burning with blue flames lit up in the darkness.
Crack… crack… crack crack…
Chapter 239: The End
