You are all my wings!

The research documents on the Holy Blood School that he had obtained previously only contained research information and did not discuss specific magic. However, judging from the details, some of the magical imagery used in the experiments originated from the underworld god in mythology.

Therefore, this is the alchemy of life!

The hidden entity is performing remote life alchemy on the Water-Swallowing Ape!

So what should we do next?

Will it count?

Or should we try to interrupt it?

He had an idea.

"Your Holiness!"

At this moment, Leon shouted, "The Water-Swallowing Ape is dead. Your trial should be over now. Please treat Karl and Mark as soon as possible."

Britta, who had been standing silently in the corner, slowly stepped out.

"Don't worry, I cast a mid-level holy healing spell on them the moment the water apes stopped moving."

Lyon knew, of course, that Britta had quietly intervened to save his two critically ill teammates.

He also realized that the Water-Swallowing Ape was not completely dead, but its movements were suppressed by the methods that the hidden master had laid in advance.

The reason for this is probably that being in a semi-crippled state is most suitable for the opponent to activate the life alchemy.

Milo and Bovary fought fiercely, and Milo was injured and almost exhausted. Unable to use his ultimate move to finish off the opponent, he could only strike at vital points one after another.

But this was undoubtedly too inefficient. Without combat skills or stamina, they could hardly inflict any damage on the Water Swallowing Ape even with hard attacks.

Lyon decided to do it himself.

So he said to the two who finished him off:

"That's enough. Rest and recover your strength and mana as soon as possible. Go stand next to Karl and Mark to avoid being attacked by other monsters."

The two were indeed almost exhausted. They took out food and walked silently toward their teammates.

Lyon quickly approached Britta, while simultaneously casting a water healing spell on Milo and Bovary.

He said:

"Holy Maiden, please cast a healing spell on me as well. I think I was injured just now."

In the distance, Iris paused for a moment.

Did Lyon get injured when he fought in close combat?

Why didn't she cast a healing spell on me, who was right next to her, but instead went to Britta, who was far away?

No, he just cast healing spells on Milo and Bovary, so why is he going to find Britta?

Could it be because...?

Meanwhile, as Leon spoke, he quickly moved closer to Britta, winked at her, and whispered:

"Holy Maiden, the reason you haven't made a move, besides training Karl and the others, is it because you know someone is waiting for you to run out of magic? And this time you're training your troops to lure out these remnants of the Holy Blood School who want to deal with you?"

At this stage, apart from the extreme schools of the Astalia Cult, there are really no other candidates who can skillfully use life alchemy.

Britta was taken aback for a moment, then laughed.

[Character Britta's affection level +2, current affection level 43%]

She approached Leon, patted his shoulder as if to help check his injury.

In reality, Leon used Shadow Leap to dodge accurately several times, so he wasn't injured at all.

Britta whispered in Lyon's ear:

"As expected of the person I've chosen, they noticed it so quickly."

Her voice was soft and natural, and as she lowered her head, a strand of her hair brushed against Leon's earlobe.

"But you don't need to panic."

"So, are we just going to wait for him to cast Life Alchemy remotely on the Water-Swallowing Ape?"

Lyon and Britta looked at each other.

It's fortunate that the Life Alchemy spell is difficult to cast, time-consuming, and requires various assistance; otherwise, Leon wouldn't have had the time to discuss things with Britta, and would have already run away with his men.

Britta was surprised again.

She hadn't expected that Leon could even discern the alchemy of life.

"You only learned about the alchemy of life because of Iris?"

Lyon didn't answer, but instead asked, "Your Holiness, can you interrupt his spellcasting?"

Now is not the time to dwell on the source of the information.

Britta shook her head:

“The remote casting of the Life Alchemy spell requires a catalyst. If we can find it, we can interrupt the spell. But as it stands, this catalyst is hidden very deep inside the Water-Swallowing Ape.”

"So, does the Holy Maiden intend to just wait like this? Judging from the incantation, in another four or five minutes, our spoils will be transformed by the life alchemy and turned against us."

As Lyon asked, a thought suddenly struck him, and he said:

"I understand. That person is very strong, and ordinary methods won't work. The Holy Maiden plans to take advantage of the moment when the opponent relaxes his guard after completing the life transformation, and when his magic power is at its greatest, to seize the opportunity to kill the hidden one?"

Britta paused for a moment, her eyes flickering slightly, seemingly surprised that Lyon had guessed her plan so quickly.

However, she didn't speak, but put her index finger to her lips and shook her head slightly at Lyon.

[Character Britta's affection level increased by 2%, current affection level 45%]

Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Route to Conquer Britta

Lyon now understood that the method to win over Britta was different from that for Iris.

In the early stages of his pursuit of Iris, after changing her first impression, he often only needed to increase the frequency of close interactions to naturally increase her favorability.

Only in the later stages is it necessary to deepen the connection and build rapport.

Conquering Britta now seems to require showcasing one's intelligence, including insight, judgment, command, and adaptability.

The evidence is that each time Leon discovered and pointed out the hidden information about Britta, his favorability rating increased by 2 points.

Whether to cook delicious food for Britta is still undecided, since only the bear paw incident resulted in a price increase.

At the time, it was probably simply because their appetite was being satisfied.

Or perhaps it was his wide range of skills that satisfied Britta.

Because when Leon cooked other monsters, he didn't increase her favorability.

Of course, not all routes that demonstrate wisdom are correct, but at least there are precedents, and we can try to explore in this direction.

Moreover, Lyon vaguely realized why Britta's affection for him was harder to increase than Iris's.

There are probably two main reasons.

First, as the only representative of the gods in the Astalia religion, Britta's faith must have been very strong.

It might even be a top-level belief, something that ordinary emotions would find difficult to transcend.

Secondly, her first impression of Lyon was that he was ultimately her subordinate.

As long as Leon's behavior doesn't break out of the subordinate framework, it's unlikely that she'll develop feelings for him beyond that.

The reason she easily developed a liking for Leon's intelligence was probably because of the kind of emotion that 'the more competent a subordinate is, the more I like him.'

To achieve the same rapid progress in relationships as Iris in just one dungeon exploration, you'll probably need a crucial event that can change your first impression.

These thoughts flashed through Lyon's mind like lightning.

Considering that there was another opponent lying in ambush, he didn't think too much about it.

That was just an instinctive thought.

Right now, the priority is to deal with the carcass of the water-swallowing ape.

Although there is still a difficult-to-detect catalyst on this thing, making its danger level hard to determine and it's impossible to interrupt the other party's spellcasting, it still has to be disintegrated.

Putting everything else aside, if this thing has indeed been alchemized by the hidden one, then being able to take some high-value parts to weaken the opponent's life alchemy would be a good thing.

"Iris, stay away and guard the entrance to the 25th floor for me, so we don't get ambushed."

Iris had just witnessed Lyon and Britta's intimate interaction, and although she had a lot of questions, she suppressed the urge to ask them.

We really can't let our guard down now, because there's a high chance of being ambushed by other monsters or even rogue adventurers right after the fight.

"Ok."

She agreed and walked to the entrance of the passage.

Leon took out a dismantling knife from his package and jumped onto the head of the water-swallowing ape.

The first step is to peel it.

Even though the Water-Swallowing Ape's skin is covered in scars, and even though its strength mainly comes from its muscles, its fourth-tier fur, which possesses both magical and physical resistance, is still quite valuable.

During the operation, Leon reactivated Shadow Breathing and Wind Detection magic to remain vigilant against the person casting the spell a hundred meters away.

As soon as the Hidden One finishes his long incantation, Leon will immediately jump away to avoid being accidentally injured.

tear up.

The dismantling knife is stuck.

Lyon frowned; the feel of it was terrible.

When the dismantling knife tried to cut the skin on the top of the water-swallowing ape's head, it couldn't cut through it directly.

Like cutting tanned, dried cowhide with a dull knife.

Helpless, he could only increase his expenditure of power and magic.

You should know that after a monster dies, its magic cannot be activated on its own, so theoretically all its parts should be easy to cut off.

The fact that this thing is so difficult to cut only proves one thing: the value of the Water-Swallowing Ape's fur is much higher than Leon initially estimated.

In order to cut off the vital parts as quickly as possible before the opponent's life alchemy was completed, Leon put in all his effort this time, eating the last bit of white unicorn jerky while increasing his magical output and moving quickly.

Of course, he didn't forget to pay attention to the hidden man's chant.

As soon as there's any sign of it ending, even if there's still a little work left to do, he won't hesitate to run away immediately.

Iris noticed something was wrong.

She wondered, why is Lyon disintegrating so much faster than usual this time?

Despite her usual composed expression, seeing Leon's current state, she couldn't help but become wary, wondering if something might happen later, something Leon couldn't warn her about for some reason.

Could it be related to the conversation with Britta just now?

Her gaze shifted abruptly to Britta, who seemed to be resting with her eyes closed in the distance, looking thoughtful.

"The secret between them shouldn't be what I initially thought. The atmosphere is also off. Sure enough, Lyon isn't the kind of person who would casually flirt with a saintess from the Papacy. I wasn't wrong about him."

She breathed a sigh of relief and mustered her energy. Her emerald yellow pupils unconsciously shone brightly, and the corners of her pink lips turned up.

At this moment, Lyon noticed the update to the panel information.

[Character Iris's affection level +2%, current affection level 86%]

Ok?

I didn't do anything, and my favorability rating has already increased?

That's strange, really strange.

Even though he hadn't gained any points after saving Hamra, he still hadn't gained any.

Indeed, a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea; it's unfathomable!

Lyon really wanted to ask Iris right now what her thought process had led to the sudden increase in her favorability towards her.

But right now, the priority is still the work at hand.

He sped up again.