As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider.

Without the slightest hesitation, the moment Lin Chen emerged from behind the tree, the Orpheus factor within his body surged wildly. Silver-black scales rapidly appeared from his neck and wrists, spreading along his skin to his entire body.

A sharp claw blade, about an inch long, flicked from his fingertip, gleaming with a chilling light. Sharp tiger ears stood up from the top of his head, and his amber pupils narrowed into thin slits. An aura of bestial power belonging to a high-ranking Orphnoch instantly spread from his body.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Chen completed his Orphnoch transformation, his figure becoming a faint shadow in the night, rushing towards the two figures on the open ground with a whistling wind.

His sudden appearance stunned both the cat-shaped Orphnoch and Faiz on the open ground, causing their poised attacks to halt instantly.

The cat-shaped Orphnoch sensed the overwhelming pressure emanating from Lin Chen, far surpassing that of a high-level Orphnoch. A flicker of fear flashed in its vertical pupils, and it instinctively curled up, trying to flee. Faiz, on the other hand, stood frozen in place, clearly not expecting that another Orphnoch, and one of such formidable strength, was hidden in the woods behind the mountain.

Lin Chen gave them no time to react, his target fixed on the cat-shaped Orphnoch. In his eyes, this low-level cat-shaped Orphnoch was nothing more than an ant that he could crush with a flick of his wrist, not worth his effort at all.

His speed was incredibly fast; his agility was on full display at this moment, and he instantly rushed in front of the cat-shaped Orphnoch. The cat-shaped Orphnoch was terrified and frantically swung its claws to block Lin Chen's attack, but its movements were as slow as a snail in front of Lin Chen.

Lin Chen raised his hand, his tiger claw slamming down with tremendous force towards the cat-shaped Orphnoch's head. He held nothing back with this strike, unleashing the full power of his physical attributes; the claw blade sliced ​​through the air with a sharp whistling sound.

The cat-shaped Orphnoch's claws were no match for Lin Chen's attack. The moment they collided, the cat-shaped Orphnoch's claws snapped instantly, and black blood gushed out. Lin Chen's tiger claws did not stop at all, continuing forward and slamming hard onto the cat-shaped Orphnoch's head.

"Bang!"

With a dull thud, accompanied by the sound of bones shattering, the cat-shaped Orphnoch's head was instantly smashed open. Its body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground. It twitched a few times, then lay still. Immediately afterward, its body began to rapidly turn to sand, transforming into a pile of black ash. A gust of night wind blew it away, leaving only a pool of black blood, starkly conspicuous in the open space.

The whole process took only three seconds.

The open space fell into a deathly silence, with only Lin Chen's heavy breathing and the rapid heartbeat coming from under Faiz's armor.

Lin Chen remained frozen in place, his amber eyes wide with bewilderment, his claws still extended. He stared at his tiger claw, then at the pool of black blood and the dissipating ashes on the ground, his mind filled with confusion. He knew he was stronger than this cat-shaped Orphnoch, but he hadn't expected it to be this strong—a single swipe of its claw had reduced it to ashes.

Could it be because the opponent is just a newly awakened low-level species, too weak? Or is it because my Tiger Orphnoch form inherently possesses extremely strong explosive power?

Lin Chen was stunned for a few seconds before slowly coming back to his senses. He withdrew his tiger claws, turned around slowly, and stared intently at Faiz not far away with his amber pupils.

At this moment, Faiz seemed to have panicked. The red light bars on his armor flickered violently, clearly due to extreme fear, even his Knight System had become unstable. He looked at Lin Chen, his body instinctively retreating, wanting to escape. In his view, this suddenly appearing tiger-type Orphnoch was far too powerful; even the cat-type Orphnoch had been reduced to ashes with a single swipe of its claws, and he was no match for it.

Lin Chen approached Faiz step by step, the cold light on his tiger claws flashing in the night, his beastly aura locking onto his opponent. He could clearly feel that the energy fluctuations on Faiz's body were getting weaker and weaker, and the light of his armor was getting dimmer and dimmer. He was obviously at his limit. If he took one more step forward, he could crush his opponent into ashes with one swipe.

This Faiz is truly incredibly weak. Lin Chen thought to himself. He couldn't even defeat a newly awakened low-level cat-type Orphnoch, and was almost defeated by it. With such strength, he was simply not worth mentioning in this perilous world. No wonder he was being chased around by Clover and Kurosawa.

But even if he couldn't kill Faiz, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Faiz didn't pose a threat to his safety. If he became bloodthirsty after becoming an Orphnoch, would he still be himself?

Lin Chen slowed his pace, a calculating glint in his amber eyes. He needed to find a suitable opportunity to let Faiz leave, while simultaneously making it appear as if he had tried his best to pursue her but, for various reasons, allowed her to escape by chance. Only in this way could he give an account to Clover and Black Swamp.

Just then, Faiz suddenly did something that surprised Lin Chen.

He didn't turn and run, nor did he raise his hands in a defensive stance. Instead, he staggered back half a step, his breathing inside his helmet suddenly becoming heavy and rapid, carrying a sense of desperation. He trembled as he raised his left hand, his fingertips fumbling haphazardly at the Faiz phone at his waist. Several times he almost lost his grip on the slipping phone, his whole being as panicked as prey cornered on a cliff edge by a wild beast, yet he gritted his teeth, refusing to retreat.

Lin Chen's steps faltered instantly, a hint of surprise flashing in his amber vertical pupils. He hadn't expected that this novice, who couldn't even defeat a low-level Orphnoch, would not only not run away from him, but instead fight to the death, facing a high-level being who could easily crush him. He simply stopped his approaching steps, stood there with his arms crossed, wanting to see what tricks this rookie knight could pull.

On the other side, Faiz finally managed to frantically pry open the instruction memory from the phone, while his other hand frantically ripped off the Faiz cursor from his waist. His fingertips trembled violently, and it took him two tries to finally insert the memory card into the slot. A cold, steady mechanical electronic voice immediately rang out in the silent forest: "Ready."

A piercing electrical crackling instantly shot through his body from his fingertips, making him shudder and nearly fling the cursor out of his hand. Gritting his teeth, relying on the operation procedure he had only seen once, he frantically snapped the cursor onto the armor clip on the outside of his right leg. The crisp metallic click of the metal snapping shut was followed by an almost instinctive press of the Enter key on his phone.

"Exceed Charge!"

A high-pitched electronic sound suddenly exploded, tearing through the thick darkness of the forest! The red photon veins, which had been flickering violently and almost extinguished due to insufficient energy, were instantly illuminated! Scalding high-energy photon blood surged wildly along the crimson veins, sweeping from the core of the belt all the way to the right leg. The entire suit of armor emitted a hum that could not bear the strain. The dazzling red light exploded instantly, and even the surrounding darkness was forced back by this sudden energy.

The energy burst forth so violently and rawly that Faiz himself hadn't anticipated such a powerful impact. He staggered uncontrollably, nearly falling into the mud. He felt as if his right leg had been thrown into a raging furnace, a terrifying, uncontrollable force exploding wildly through his bones. His body didn't obey his brain's commands, moving entirely on the instincts of his armor.

He staggered two steps, kicking two deep holes in the wet mud beneath his feet, and used the momentum to leap into the air. But he couldn't even maintain his balance after the jump; his body wobbled in mid-air, and his right leg, which should have been kicking straight out, wobbled violently. He completely lacked the sharpness of a finishing move, and instead looked like a toddler who had just learned to walk and had lost control and fallen.

Even so, the Faiz cursor mounted on his leg faithfully executed the command, instantly shooting out a scarlet cone-shaped energy pointer that precisely locked onto Lin Chen, who was standing still. A huge red Φ-shaped mark suddenly appeared on the tree trunk behind Lin Chen, dazzlingly red. Immediately afterward, spiraling crimson energy surged out from his right leg, transforming into a constantly spinning scarlet drill, carrying a howling wind pressure, and slammed towards Lin Chen.

This is Kamen Rider Faiz's signature finishing move—the Crimson Drill.

However, the ultimate move that should have been powerful enough to destroy the world appeared crooked and weak in the hands of this novice. Most of the force was lost, and even the energy was extremely unstable. The edge of the drill kept flickering, as if it would collapse at any moment.

As the crimson drill whizzed towards him, Lin Chen's amber vertical pupils showed no sign of flinching, but instead flashed with a knowing, calculating glint. In a flash, he had already devised an even more flawless plan—to take the fatal blow head-on, then feign injury and let his opponent escape. This would give Smart Brain and Clover an impeccable explanation: he hadn't intentionally let him go, but had been severely injured by the knight's ultimate attack, allowing his target to escape by sheer luck.

The moment the thought settled, Lin Chen did not retreat. Instead, he roared and took half a step forward to meet the crimson drill. His tiger claws, covered with silver-black scales, suddenly tightened and grabbed at the spinning crimson energy!

"clang--!!"

A deafening metallic clang erupted through the forest, the sharp sound waves causing the surrounding leaves to rustle and fall. Spiral photon energy frantically tore at Lin Chen's claw blades, sparks exploding like a rainstorm, and blinding red light illuminated the entire clearing as if it were daytime.

This crimson electric drill, unleashed by a novice, ultimately failed to unleash its full power. Its energy was unstable and poorly concentrated; even a head-on collision couldn't penetrate the scales of Lin Chen's high-level tiger-type Orphnoch. Lin Chen only felt a warm impact on his palm, without even a scratch, yet his movements were anything but slow. Using the force of the impact, he deliberately let out a suppressed roar of pain, staggering backward as if struck by a heavy hammer, crashing heavily into a tree trunk behind him.

The massive ancient tree shook violently from the impact, scattering leaves everywhere. Lin Chen slid down the trunk to the ground, deliberately arching his back, one hand bracing against the ground, the other clutching his right claw that had just blocked the fatal blow. Heavy, painful breaths escaped his throat. He had even bitten his tongue beforehand, a mouthful of blood, tinged with the metallic scent of blood, spilling from the corner of his mouth and dripping onto the fallen leaves, making him look wretched and miserable.

He deliberately suppressed the beastly aura emanating from his entire body, even his vertical pupils became slightly unfocused, pretending to be severely injured by this fatal blow and on the verge of losing his Orphnoch form. Only deep in his eyes remained a trace of clear calculation.

Meanwhile, Faiz, who had just unleashed his ultimate attack, crashed heavily to the ground, staggering and leaning against a small tree to barely regain his balance. He had thought that his attack, which had exhausted his last bit of strength, would at most only force his opponent back, and might not even be able to break through his opponent's defenses. But when he saw the scene before him, the person inside the helmet froze instantly, even his heavy breathing paused for a moment.

He... actually managed to injure this terrifying high-level Orphnoch?

The Faiz cursor on his right leg had already automatically popped off, and the red light on his entire suit of armor dimmed rapidly at a visible speed. Even the golden light in his compound eyes began to flicker—this fatal blow had completely drained all the energy left in his body. He now barely had the strength to lift his hand. If his opponent had been unharmed, he would definitely not have been able to leave this forest alive today.

But the scene before him gave him a glimmer of hope.

Lin Chen remained kneeling on the ground, clutching his injured paw. His aura was chaotic, and even the scales on his body showed signs of fading, making him appear to have suffered severe internal injuries. He was unable to pursue the enemy for the time being.

Don't miss out!

Faiz reacted instantly, his heart pounding wildly inside his helmet. He glanced warily at Lin Chen, who was kneeling on the ground, and without daring to linger for a moment, he turned and staggered into the dense forest behind him.

He even used his last bit of strength to keep changing direction under the cover of the trees, and his figure quickly disappeared into the thick darkness, leaving only the soft sound of his armor rubbing against the branches and leaves, growing farther and farther away, and finally completely dissipating in the night wind.

Lin Chen only stopped performing once he was sure that Faiz's presence had completely left the forest.

He concealed the pain on his face, slowly straightened up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and casually flicked his previously "severely injured" right claw, leaving not a scratch. His amber vertical pupils regained their clarity and sharpness, and the high-level pressure he had just restrained spread out again like a tide, showing no trace of his previous disheveled and severely injured appearance.

He looked up in the direction where Faiz had disappeared, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips.

This game was even more perfect than he had expected.

By taking the fatal blow head-on and feigning injury, Faiz gained the most reasonable opportunity to escape, and also gave Clover and Kurosawa an explanation that left them with no room for criticism—he did his best to stop the low-level Orphnoch who was breaking the rules, and then took the Rider's fatal blow head-on and was seriously injured, which allowed the opponent to escape by chance. In terms of both reason and emotion, no one could find fault with him in the slightest.

The night wind swept through the forest, stirring up the remaining black ash on the ground. Lin Chen stood in the ravaged clearing, slowly retracting his Orphnoch form. The silver-black scales faded from his skin, and he returned to his human appearance. He glanced down at the pool of remaining black blood on the ground, then looked up into the depths of the dense forest where Faiz had disappeared, a profound meaning flashing in his eyes.

See you next time. Hopefully, this rookie knight who can't even land a proper finishing move will have improved a bit and not let his "severely injured" performance today go to waste.