Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

As she watched Ego wield his sledgehammer, smashing many villagers to pieces with a single blow, she pondered what reason she could use to persuade him to join her mission to rescue the saintess after repelling the attack.

While she was distracted, the conquering knight who had just been forced back suddenly pounced on her. Luckily, the Onion Knight reacted quickly and used the Miracle-Force to push her away, otherwise she would probably have been back to the campfire.

“Young friend, being distracted in battle is a major taboo. Although the knights over there are also very strong, we cannot underestimate such a large number of enemies that we cannot communicate with.”

He brandished his greatsword, leaving several scratches on the conquering knights as he earnestly gave Anri advice.

"Uh... I understand, thank you for your help, uncle."

Knowing he was in the wrong, Anri raised his shield again, seized the opportunity, deflected an executioner's guillotine, and executed him.

"Hehe~ It's what I should do."

As they spoke, this equally mutated warrior knight didn't linger with the Onion Knight and pounced on his next target.

Just as Ego used Morn's Wrath to wipe out many villagers and also deflected the spell his mentor threw at him, he felt the sky darken. Without thinking much, he immediately rolled away, narrowly avoiding the direct hit of the beast's straight sword. However, the storm caused by the attack still blew him away, and white frost gradually formed on his body.

"What the hell? You woman who ran off to the battlefield to play the hero, it's fine if you want to die a few more times, but don't drag others down with you!"

Anri didn't respond to him, but silently sparred with another executioner, inwardly cursing this arrogant tsundere.

The expeditionary force would inevitably pass through this road if it wanted to get to the Flame Demon. If he didn't want to get involved, why would he bother guarding the prison where the saintess was imprisoned?

However, the knight who carried on the tradition of mad dogs and charged recklessly was indeed a difficult opponent. Although he was also reducing the number of his teammates, the scattered powerful enemies could still effectively disrupt their operations.

Unfortunately, she hasn't found the mark of a certain Sun Knight yet, otherwise, if that guy had come along, her journey would have been much easier.

Just as I was thinking this, a figure suddenly entered the battlefield, dragging out a long trailing tone.

"Yoho~ The righteous Sun Knight has arrived, Mad Ice Dog Number Two, prepare yourself!"

Xiao Yan donned her longsword after a long absence, and after forming a human ladder to help Zhi jump onto the crowd, she also rushed into the battlefield.

Weaving, trampling over the heads of villagers, executioners, and mentors, quickly approached the rampaging knights.

She suddenly used the momentum from Ego's hammer, causing his attack to deflect, and in doing so, she struck the conquering knight on the head.

The katana slammed down, piercing his helmet as it went, while Zhi gripped the hilt and dragged him violently behind him.

The mad roar brought with it a biting wind, and a line of blood sliced ​​along the back of the conquering knight, mingling with the cold wind and spraying out blood-red ice crystals.

Pushed by the cold wind, she fell off the back of the knight. Seeing Anri right in front of her, she froze in mid-air and cried out for help.

"Hey, hey—knight in front, help me! I'm about to fall!"

Anri certainly saw this impulsive guy, or rather, it would be strange if she hadn't seen such a flamboyant attack. However, this didn't stop her from standing by and watching. Anri even silently took two steps back, making room for Zhi.

As expected, Zhi made a close encounter with the ground. She spat out the dirt in her mouth, and before she could even denounce the uncooperative knight, she found that the guy had immediately moved away from her.

A dark shadow, carrying a chilling aura, enveloped them.

"Oh no, I overdid it, I'm completely frozen solid!" QAQ

Having taken a full-force Frost Nova attack from the Conqueror at close range, she wasn't seriously injured, but she was now completely frozen. Her stiff limbs made it impossible for her to escape the range of the flying pounce.

Anri leisurely retreated to a safe distance, and even had time to wave to her.

The beast that landed froze the flying dust into ice shards. Before that, a purple line of fire suddenly passed beneath him. Little Flame, who had activated time acceleration and physical enhancement, finally arrived at this moment and pulled Zhi back from the brink of death.

The speed suddenly decreased, and the two men knocked down many villagers before finally coming to a stop.

"Hey, we came here to help, it's not fair to betray our teammates like this, is it?"

After pouring the elemental ash bottle down her throat, Xiao Yan pulled Zhi off her body.

"I'm so sorry, I was startled at first and didn't realize that this young lady was also a companion."

Anri spoke nonchalantly, dodging a mentor's spiked hammer and spear, and then flanked her to deliver a backstab.

"Oh! What a beautiful attack! That little girl over there must be an incredibly skilled samurai, right?"

Onion Knight welcomed them, and he fought the executioner head-on for a few rounds before unleashing the Force with his final blow, killing the man and blowing away several villagers in the process.

"Tsk, it's bad enough to run into one woman on the battlefield, but now there are two of them. It's unbelievable."

Ego became the target of the conquering knights again. At this moment, the beast roared and charged straight at him. He raised his ice sword high and slashed out.

But he had already stepped back, gathered his strength, and raised his hammer, bringing it down heavily the instant the knights approached.

The exceptionally heavy Moen hammer, befitting its status as a super-large weapon, even halted the momentum of the sizable warrior knight with a single blow, his head hammered into the ground.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Picking Up Dropped Items is a Skill

Ego's attack perfectly showcased the violent aesthetics of the Chicken Leg Cult. Having just downed a bottle of elemental essence, Zhi, who was now lively and energetic again, excitedly started shouting after seeing this simple, brutal, yet exceptionally domineering attack.

"Wow! This is true violent aesthetics! Blood splattering is so lame. A real man punches a star to pieces!"

However, you are neither a man nor do you have any capital to show off except for pathetic blood splattering.

Xiaoyan snatched Zhi's katana, activated time acceleration and body enhancement again, and jumped onto the back of the Conqueror Knight as Ego's second hammer fell.

This simple and brutal hammer blow was enhanced with a blood splatter effect. The line of blood that ran across the entire back of the conquering knight was once again slashed twice by the flames that had rewound time, almost cutting his body open.

The unfortunate knight, after taking so many powerful attacks, died before he could even pull his head out of the ground.

"Ah! What a magnificent battle! Now it's time for me to wipe out the last enemy for these warriors."

Zhi wasn't the only one getting fired up; Onion Knight, who had been completely relegated to a bystander, was also working like a man possessed, quickly eliminating the few remaining enemies.

"Tsk..."

Watching Little Flame fall to the ground after the conquering knight turned into light dust, Ego clicked his tongue in annoyance again. He picked up his hammer again, ignored the remaining enemies, walked to the locked cell, and sat down again.

Anri dealt with the last mentor and happened to witness this scene, immediately realizing that her plan to drag Ego down with her had failed.

So she glared at Xiaoyan with displeasure, and although the helmet visor covered her face, her resentment was still clearly conveyed to Xiaoyan, leaving her completely bewildered.

Soon, the army that had been fighting the fire demons was reduced to a field of corpses.

"Haha! Thank you to the two brave young ladies for your help. Otherwise, we would have had a tough fight."

"It's nothing, uncle. Helping those in need is the principle of us Sun Knights. How could we just stand by and watch you get into a tough fight?"

"Oh! So you're a believer in the sun too! What a coincidence! We should grab a drink sometime!"

Ignoring the middle-aged man and young woman who were practically arm in arm, acting as if they had known each other for ages, Xiaoyan and Anli were silently staring at each other on this side.

"Haha...we meet again."

In the end, Anri was defeated by Xiaoyan's expressionless glare and forced a dry laugh to start the conversation.

"Yes, some people even said it would be best if we never saw each other again. What a coincidence."

"You still remember that incident? It was just a slip of the tongue. Look, it's fate that we've met again. How about you do me a favor, since I showed you the way last time?"

Anri wisely changed the subject, not wanting to explain her previous rude behavior. Besides, she had come to terms with it; even the Divine Realm was beginning to change, so what was there that couldn't be changed by fate? Since two decent combatants had come knocking on her door, it would be a waste not to make the most of their connection.

"Tell me... if we're going the same way."

Xiaoyan looked the knight up and down, who still gave her a strange sense of familiarity, and finally gave a reply that was very much in the latter style.

"Um... I'll take that as a yes. Cough cough, well, I was just about to go through the sewers to rescue the saintess over there."

Anri didn't care too much, and instead shamelessly stated her request.

Looking in the direction she was pointing, I realized she was referring to the locked cell in that cave.

"Women, don't meddle in other people's business."

As they looked over, one of the arrogant girls even made a vicious threat.

"We also need to go through the sewers. Why don't you help us light the campfire on that side first, and then we'll help you explore further in."

"So you didn't finish lighting the campfire again... Wait, I think I gave you an ember. What a blunder."

However, the two of them completely ignored Ego's threat. Instead, Anri muttered to herself after hearing Homura's request.

"Hmm? Do you accept this condition?"

"Oh? Oh! No problem, I'll go with you to the campfire first."

With the matter settled here, Anri greeted Onion Knight again.

"Mr. Onion, as we discussed before, we hope you can join us on this journey. This time, we'll also be adding these two new friends."

“I am Jack Baldo of Catarina, not Mr. Onion.”

"Okay, Mr. Onion, can we go now?"

"I am... never mind. In return, you will also have to accompany me to negotiate with the demon that ravaged the village. Since we wiped out someone else's punitive force, we must shoulder the corresponding responsibility."

"No problem, let's go then."

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The top layer of the sewer was teeming with giant rats and some skeletal dogs, and these rats seemed to be infected by something, with many gray branches growing from their bodies.

However, a rat is still a rat. No matter how big it gets, it can't possibly stand up to four fully equipped Ashbringers.

They quickly turned into corpses, and Anri happily collected their loot. Soon, they passed through this level and arrived at the campfire at the end of the dilapidated bridge across the sewers.

The moment the campfire was lit, Zhi keenly sensed that Anri and Onion Knight seemed to turn into phantoms, but after Xiaoyan looked at them again, they returned to their original state.

Somewhat puzzled, she quietly activated her magic eye, but found nothing further.

"Alright, now it's time to keep our promise."

After sitting down around the campfire to replenish their supplies, they cleaned up the rats again and came to the middle of the first level of the sewers. Anri took out a key and opened the iron door there.

“I haven’t explored the area below either, and there’s a good chance we’ll encounter some troublesome enemies, so let’s be careful… Oh, there’s a statue over there… Judging by its style, it looks like it’s the goddess of sin.”

The narrow entrance had two forks in the road. One of them led a few steps forward to a statue of a goddess, but that was clearly not their destination. Anri simply noted down this potentially useful information and went ahead first, while Onion Knight observed with great interest for quite a while.

"Hmm, speaking of which, isn't this goddess the faith of that Hammer Knight's country? No wonder there's a saintess locked up here."

He was also muttering some strange words to himself.

Anri's guess was indeed correct; for the next stretch of the journey, they witnessed firsthand the enthusiasm of the "deceased."

The trouble began when Zhi stepped on the first bone with a branch attached. She felt her foot slip, and just as she regained her balance, a skeleton raised a longsword at her.

It was an exceptionally perfect encirclement. They had no idea that the bones beneath their feet were the enemy until they had ventured deep into two tomb chambers, when the skeletons suddenly attacked, giving them a textbook lesson in ambush.

Strictly speaking, the skeletons are just numerous. Even if some of them wield curved swords and are as agile as swallows, and can perform wild dances, their fragile skeletons can't withstand more than a few blows from the ashes.

What really screwed them over was the cramped terrain and the damage from their teammates.