Unwilling

Seeing that Chen Cheng, Fini, and the others' faces were flushed and showing signs of being unable to hold on, Pembez, who was entangled with the large brute, thought about disengaging to provide aid.

However, how could the Alchemist allow him to have his way? The large brute ripped up a towering tree by the roadside and smashed it towards Pembez's back, while with his other hand, he unleashed battle qi, forming fist strikes that hammered towards the back of Pembez's head.

Feeling the chilling coldness from behind, he could only use a few basic, chant-free magic spells on the approaching zombies before turning to face the brute's attack.

Although this monster didn't possess a domain, the power generated by its vital energy and battle qi was already comparable to Platinum Rank. Even Pembez, who had a domain, would not be able to deal with it in a short amount of time.

At this moment, the Alchemist, hidden in the shadows, stared intently at the ordinary Iron Sword at Chen Cheng's waist, for he knew that within this Iron Sword lay the supreme divine artifact.

Although he didn't know why the symbolic divine artifact of the Thornflower Kingdom was on such a lowly slave, the Alchemist considered that the young Emperor taken away by Samlet back then was of a similar age.

However, the next moment, the Alchemist was amused by his own thought. With Samlet's temper and the bloodthirsty nature of the Hops family, they would absolutely not come here to be the slave of a mere baron.

If the people of the Hops family had the courage to become slaves, then the fifteenth Emperor of Thornflower would not have died prematurely with his Empress.

The Alchemist's only guess was that during the pursuit back then, Samlet, in order to escape his pursuers, had abandoned this divine artifact that might be tracked. It should have been found by the slave tribe before him afterward.

Although this speculation was a bit far-fetched, such as why the pursuers from the Kingdom of Komo did not find the Divine Sword and reclaim it, or why Samlet did not return to find it afterward.

However, for a divine artifact, the Alchemist felt these reasons were quite reasonable.

This was because, in the circles of alchemists, research on divine artifacts indicated that they would, in the unseen, leave behind masters who were unworthy of possessing them.

He withdrew his gaze from the Iron Sword, lest his sharp eyes stimulate the Divine Sword. Then, the Alchemist turned his attention to Isabel, who was patiently waiting outside the academy.

He truly hadn't expected this little girl to be so patient, still planning to wait for him to appear and then swoop in like a mantis stalking a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?

The Alchemist had to admire Isabel's courage.

Perhaps it was also because of her courage that she lost her leg.

However, if Isabel were to disregard everything and confront him, although she couldn't win, she could still use her warrior's powerful physique to hold him back.

Then, the Alchemist glanced at the instructors who were returning to reinforce them. He needed a foolproof plan.

Just as Chen Cheng was about to unleash another fireball, the magic runes within his body, which had been flickering, dimmed. He knew his magic power had been depleted.

He then looked around. The little fatty Akasto's chubby face was covered in sweat, and he had plopped down on the ground. Simultaneously, several apprentices of the same grade who had already inscribed magic runes were in the same state.

Fini also swayed precariously and was about to collapse after exhausting her last bit of magic power.

Seeing this, Chen Cheng rushed to Fini's side and helped her up. Fini looked up and saw Chen Cheng. She wanted to say something, but the next moment, she fainted due to the emptiness of her mental energy.

Looking at her somewhat pale, pretty face, Chen Cheng gently put her down. Then, he took out the wooden box that Wilson had given him earlier and placed it beside Fini. Afterward, Chen Cheng, supporting his somewhat weak body, drew the Iron Sword from his waist.

Seeing the zombies less than half a meter away from him, Chen Cheng roared and directly slashed at its head with the sword.

These zombies had ferocious faces and moved like the zombies in Chen Cheng's previous life's movies. Chen Cheng's sword strike was less of a slash and more of a smash; the outer casing of the Iron Sword hadn't even been sharpened in time.

After smashing several zombies to death by relying on his physique, which was stronger than ordinary people due to growing up eating fierce beast meat and drinking fierce beast milk, Chen Cheng finally ran out of stamina. He propped himself up with the Iron Sword and watched the zombies surge towards them.

The young warriors from the Warrior Academy were also surrounded by several living corpses each, with no extra strength to save him.

Just as Chen Cheng was about to be overwhelmed by the group of zombies, Isabel, hidden in the shadows, saw that the reinforcing instructors were not far away.

She ultimately didn't want to see Melinda return and be sad and heartbroken to see Chen Cheng die, so she finally acted.

A stream of fire light flashed across, and the charging zombies with their ferocious faces were instantly split in half from head to toe.

Before the two halves of the corpses even fell, the Alchemist, hiding in the dark, knew that the foolproof moment he had been waiting for had arrived.

Isabel had made the first move, and the reinforcing instructors were still some distance away. This was the best moment for him to deliver a killing blow.

At this moment, Chen Cheng's vision blurred, and a face more terrifying than those of the zombies appeared before him.

Before he could react, he saw the owner of this face extend a hand, and before he could dodge, his sword-holding arm was grabbed.

Then, an unforgettable, bone-piercing pain surged through him. The Alchemist's fingernails dug deep into Chen Cheng's flesh, and the next moment, his arm was about to be torn off.

The Alchemist had been waiting for this moment for a long time. All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

As a Golden Warrior, Isabel's nerve reflexes were certainly not slow. After she swung her sword to decapitate a living corpse, she immediately tried to change her stance to block, but she was still a step too late.

And just as everyone watched in horror, as Chen Cheng's arm was about to be separated from him, the Alchemist closest to Chen Cheng saw Chen Cheng's chest light up.

And the next moment, as he tried to seize the Divine Sword, his body froze, and an unwilling roar erupted in his soul consciousness. He hadn't expected to fail at this final step.

He had only thought it was the Divine Sword's backlash against the malice on his body. He was still thinking that as long as he first abandoned his killing intent towards Chen Cheng, and then used the emotional power from the Magic Crystal to pollute the Divine Sword's spirit, he could still succeed.

However, before he could make any move, a sense of fear arose within him.

The magic runes and corridors within his puppet body instantly dissipated, giving him no chance to resist. His puppet body thus became scrap.

It was only then that he realized this was not the Divine Sword's spirit retaliating at all, because the Divine Sword did not have the ability to erase magic runes. Otherwise, he would have died long ago when he had spied on the Divine Sword through memories.

His curiosity drove him to want to see clearly what was glowing on Chen Cheng's chest. This was a magical item he had never seen before.

However, the speed of the rune collapse exceeded his imagination. In almost an instant, the runes used for his soul consciousness transmission also began to rapidly collapse, and his soul consciousness began to rapidly withdraw from this puppet body.

Although it seemed like a long time had passed, the actual time was less than a second.

Everyone only saw the strange person who appeared grab Chen Cheng, and then, before he could take any further action, Isabel, who had reacted, kicked him flying.

Looking at the Alchemist who was kicked far away, smashing through houses, Isabel's face showed a look of astonishment, because her kick had not had time to build up power.

The timing and speed of this person's appearance were enough to show his extraordinary nature, but why was he kicked away so easily by her?

With lingering doubts, Isabel dared not rush forward. She came to Chen Cheng's side, looked at his bleeding shoulder, and then said in a cold tone:

"Your hand isn't broken, so tend to the wound yourself and don't bleed to death."

Chen Cheng also hadn't expected Isabel to still be so cold towards him. He didn't feel like he had ever done anything wicked or outrageous.

Chen Cheng didn't dare to argue much with Isabel, who had a frosty expression. Besides, he had only just managed to avoid becoming Yang Guo from another world thanks to Isabel's kick just now.

Then, Chen Cheng's thoughts began to wander. He thought about himself and Melinda and suddenly felt that the situation was truly similar to Guo'er's.

Chen Cheng shook the unrealistic thoughts out of his mind. At this moment, the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, and as everyone looked closely.

Everyone saw a small figure sitting on the strange person's body. As the smoke and dust cleared further, everyone finally saw the face of the small figure.

It was actually Coles, who had run out and disappeared long ago.

At this moment, Coles was riding on the Alchemist's body. In his hand, he held a broken wooden stake, one end gripped by him, while the other end was deeply inserted into the Alchemist's heart.