Crusader Remnants

Even after leaving the temple for over an hour,

Li Ye still felt as if he were floating through a dream.

Holy shit, this is the Holy Grail!

Li Ye shouted inwardly. If not for the sandstorm around him and Nitocris's presence, he would have burst into laughter.

After receiving the Holy Grail from King Ozymandias, Ozymandias seemed to lose interest in Li Ye and casually gave an order:

"There seems to be an anomaly within my domain. Go investigate it with Nitocris. I am weary."

Before Li Ye could say anything, he was directly driven out.

After helplessly scrounging up some clothes and supplies from the Holy City's residents, Li Ye returned to the desert.

Because of Ozymandias's order, Nitocris accompanied him all the way.

Li Ye also had a rough idea of the anomaly Ozymandias had mentioned.

At present, the only entity in the desert outside Ozymandias's control was likely the Atlas Institute.

That made Li Ye's destination very clear—

The so-called center of the desert.

Li Ye had originally had no idea where to begin with the two trials King Hassan had mentioned, but now he had at least some clues.

The king symbolizing the land of the dead was probably Nitocris, but Li Ye still did not know what the trial itself involved and could only take things slowly.

However, the location of the Atlas Institute, which King Hassan had called a treasury of knowledge, was far too vague.

But now that he had the Holy Grail, Li Ye had a very bold idea.

"Miss Nitocris, how do I use this Holy Grail?" Li Ye asked with a serious expression.

To be honest, Li Ye had no idea how to use the Holy Grail. More than an hour had passed since he got it, and he had been constantly trying to figure it out.

But he had achieved nothing. He had tried blood, incantations, and everything else he could think of, yet the Holy Grail had not reacted at all.

It made Li Ye doubt himself. Even after repeatedly recalling what Ozymandias had done when he took out the Holy Grail, Li Ye could not glean anything from it.

As a result, he had spent the entire journey merely carrying the Holy Grail around without doing anything with it.

To Li Ye, that was like squatting in an outhouse without taking a shit—a complete waste!

"What?"

As if she had heard an unbelievable question, Nitocris's rabbit-ear-like ornaments stood straight up. "You've been carrying the Holy Grail around because you don't know how to use it?"

Hearing Nitocris's utterly innocent question, Li Ye forced a smile she could not see. "Ah, yes. I just don't really understand it. How do you use this?"

Even with Nitocris's temperament, she could not help feeling shocked at that moment.

Then Nitocris gave Li Ye a comprehensive explanation of magecraft-related knowledge and how to use the Holy Grail.

"Oh—"

Li Ye nodded in sudden realization. He did not dare tell Nitocris that he had barely understood any of it. Casually tucking the Holy Grail back into his clothes, he silently tried to communicate with it as Nitocris had instructed.

Time flew by, and Li Ye and Nitocris seemed as though they were about to lose themselves in the sandstorm.

The surrounding sandstorm grew increasingly violent. The atmosphere howled and roared as if it would tear Li Ye's eardrums apart completely!

"So, Miss Nitocris, can't this sandstorm be turned off for now?" Li Ye shouted against the storm.

"The sandstorm is King Ozymandias's decree. It cannot be stopped!"

Nitocris's answer was unsurprising.

Li Ye had no choice but to keep moving through the storm.

Yellow sand stretched endlessly in every direction.

Li Ye did not know how vast this desert truly was, but he was certain that not a single blade of grass grew here.

Not even an oasis had appeared.

It was as if only the Holy City permitted life to exist in the entire desert.

After a long while, Li Ye could sense that the sandstorm around them had noticeably weakened.

Before he could ask Nitocris what was happening, Li Ye noticed an unusual presence atop the dunes—

"Refugees?" Li Ye did not sense any obvious magical fluctuations from those figures. They were undoubtedly ordinary people.

What surprised Li Ye was that someone had actually survived that hellish sandstorm without encountering any Sphinxes.

And these ordinary people gave Li Ye a frenzied, murderous feeling.

"Heretics! Fresh meat and water!!"

Now that the sandstorm had weakened, Li Ye could clearly hear what those figures were muttering. It was a craving for food, an anticipation of destroying life.

Heretics? Where was the food?

Li Ye did not think much of it. His cold gaze swept over the dozen or so figures, and their exposed skin revealed the terrible state of their bodies.

Every one of them was skin and bones, yet they possessed unexpected toughness.

What caught Li Ye's attention most was that their eyes were filled with a craving similar to that of the Refugees he had encountered in the barren mountains.

But far more ferocious!

Like hunting hounds on the chase, their savage gazes locked firmly onto Li Ye.

"Let's talk this out—" Honoring his deal with the Hassans, Li Ye raised both hands and shouted, intending to speak with them first.

If he knocked them unconscious in this sandstorm, Li Ye had no idea who he could ask to clean up the aftermath.

But Li Ye did not receive the response he wanted. Instead, their roars were followed by a charge!

Have they completely lost their minds—

Li Ye clicked his tongue instinctively.

The situation no longer allowed for communication. Only after suppressing them by force would there be room to talk.

"Can't you just speak properly?!" Li Ye strode forward, meeting those frenzied Refugees in the blink of an eye!

Bang!

Several dull thuds rang out in succession as Li Ye mercilessly drove his fists into the Refugees' abdomens!

The instant he made contact, Li Ye's eyes shifted slightly. Strange feeling.

These Refugees' bodies were not as frail as they appeared. On the contrary, they were exceptionally tough!

But before Li Ye as he was now, it made no difference.

Before long, the Refugees collapsed onto the ground, left to be buried by wind and sand.

But Li Ye did not simply watch them get buried. After dragging them together one by one, he called out, "Miss Nitocris, please!"

Nitocris, who had seemed like a mere spectator from a distance, waved the Staff of Vance. Magecraft flowed through the surroundings like water, driving away every trace of the sandstorm within a five-meter radius.

"Can we talk properly now?" Li Ye asked with a slight frown, gripping one Refugee by the neck.

He discovered that these people seemed to have undergone high-intensity training, and even possessed magical reinforcement. He had not noticed it before, but now they gave him a familiar feeling.

They were practically—Crusaders.

Crusaders?

Li Ye's eyes turned cold. Over the past three days, aside from Lancelot, who had been training him, Gawain and Agravain had been stationed in Camelot, while Mordred and Tristan had been outside exterminating the remnants of the Crusaders.

Who would have thought they would flee into Ozymandias's domain and pose as Refugees?

And why were these Crusaders not as crazed?

They had discarded their Crusader armor, put on these tattered clothes, and disguised themselves as Refugees. More importantly, this behavior was nothing like the Crusaders Li Ye knew.

Is someone capable guiding them from behind the scenes?

Li Ye punched the man in the abdomen again. The tremendous force made the Crusader vomit bitter fluid wildly, as if he were about to throw up the last drop of water in his body.

"Speak. Where did you come from?" Li Ye swept his gaze over the other motionless Crusaders. Scarlet arcs of electricity danced at his fingertips, and a stray bolt that fell casually left a tiny crater in the yellow sand!