Forced Kill

"Impressive... In the world where I lived before, young people of the same age could never have reached this level.

Such fluid attack techniques—an ordinary enemy would have died at Cas's hands long ago."

This was Han Dong's first time witnessing the strength of a Knight-Errant.

Beyond his shock, Han Dong yearned even more for such power of destiny.

Cas had invested 3 Destiny Points into his Crusader specialization talent.

The physical strength he displayed, combined with his combat skills, far exceeded the limits of ordinary people his age. He sent the ghoul, which was a head taller and possessed far more developed muscles, flying with a charge, then followed up perfectly with a chain of slashes.

However...

Clang!

The crisp sound of metal colliding echoed through the basement.

The instant Cross Slash tore open the ghoul's chest, Cas immediately thrust forward, aiming straight for its heart.

Unexpectedly, the tip of his sharp silver sword was blocked by the Black Substance covering the heart.

"A fully mature ghoul had formed bony armor around its weak point?"

At the same time, Han Dong moved from behind.

A stream of plague energy shot precisely toward the bony armor on its chest... Visible to the naked eye, the plague slowly corroded the black layer wrapped around its chest.

Cas smiled and prepared to deliver a second thrust.

Who would have thought...

The ghoul, which had fallen and had its chest torn open, ignored its injuries and suddenly sprang up with explosive force from its waist and abdomen.

Its sharp claws scraped sparks across Cas's armor, and the tremendous force sent Cas flying.

Bang! (A dull impact)

Cas slammed heavily into the wall, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Five claw marks were left across the armor on his chest.

The middle one had completely torn through the armor and sliced open the skin on his chest... Within seconds, the wound had turned green and begun to ooze pus.

Moreover, due to making Eye Contact with the ghoul during the fight.

The black lines around Cas's eyes deepened in color. His thoughts had begun to deteriorate, and terrifying hallucinations occasionally appeared before him... His combat ability would be greatly affected.

Han Dong frowned. The situation had become unfavorable for their side.

This Knight Cas was an upright man without much guile.

When he had sensed danger in the secret passage earlier, he had told Han Dong to remain in the middle while he explored ahead alone... That alone showed Cas's character.

"Cas, don't move! Moving will speed up your blood flow and carry the fungus to other parts of your body. If possible, try cauterizing the wound with fire to eliminate the fungus."

"But you can't handle this thing at all! I have to..."

"Don't move!! I have a way!"

Han Dong's shout startled Cas. He had never expected such a weak Mysticism Apprentice to let out such a forceful roar.

Han Dong stared fixedly at the ghoul—more precisely, at its chest... The plague attack had already taken effect. The bony armor protecting its heart had been severely weakened.

Han Dong's shout had once again drawn the ghoul's attention.

The battle had to be settled here.

Otherwise, if they abandoned Cas, he would surely be devoured whole.

"Aku..." Strange words came from the ghoul's mouth.

The ghoul crawled toward them rapidly, its claws easily cutting through the concrete floor.

Han Dong remained calm and steadied his mind.

He pointed the dagger in his hand at the ghoul's eyes.

As a portion of the energy in his brain was drained away, a ray of plague energy struck the ghoul's eyeball with perfect accuracy.

Its vision was lost.

This caused the attacking ghoul's strike to veer off course.

Han Dong dodged in one direction and narrowly avoided it.

Having missed its target, the ghoul slammed into a pile of clutter in the basement from sheer momentum, its body buried beneath the debris.

"Good chance!" Seeing this, Cas tried to get up and help, but an intense tearing pain came from his chest wound. He could only brace himself against the ground with one hand and gasp loudly... He could not exert any strength at all.

At that moment.

Cas, whose vision had already begun to double, saw a terrifying sight.

A Woman in Red Robe had appeared beside Han Dong at some point.

A thick, liquid-like aura of evil resentment enveloped her body, and the cleaver in her hand gave Cas an immediate sense of deadly threat.

"What is this... A terrifying hallucination I'm seeing? Or Andeva's summon?"

While Cas was still puzzled... the Woman in Red Robe moved.

She was incredibly fast.

Before the ghoul could crawl out of the pile of debris, the cleaver in her hand came crashing down.

How should one put it... Chen Li, wielding that cleaver, gave off the feeling of a berserker.

From afar, before the afterimage of the first slash had even faded, the second slash fell in rapid succession.

Even Han Dong was greatly surprised.

Chen Li had not possessed such skill in Destiny Space at all...

"Was this the boost in ability brought by the Holy Grail? Just changing 'combat ability' from E+ to D- brought such an enormous improvement!?"

In a short time.

The cleaver severed all four of the ghoul's limbs.

At the same time, a chain found in the basement was tightly cinched around the ghoul's neck, preventing the sharp teeth in its mouth from posing any threat.

The final blow would be delivered by Han Dong.

The bony layer around the heart in its chest had been completely corroded.

He aimed his short blade at the heart and stabbed it in with precision.

"Aah!!!~"

The strange cry echoed through the basement and was even heard by the security officers stationed around the building.

After its body twitched a few times, the ghoul stopped moving.

Han Dong quickly produced a syringe. In a blind spot where Cas could not see, he extracted the Cellular Essence of this mature ghoul... Then he quietly transferred one of the ghoul's arms into his brain space.

Cas, whose vision was blurred from pain, did not see any of this clearly.

At the same time, he was immersed in his astonishment at Han Dong killing a mature ghoul and did not notice Han Dong's subsequent little actions at all.

"Andeva! You... you're amazing!"

"Didn't I tell you not to move... Hm? The infection stopped?"

When Han Dong looked over at Cas after finishing everything, the infected wound on his chest had already been completely disinfected.

As for the disinfecting tool, it was a holy water bomb.

The holy water inside had a powerful suppressive effect on the sinister fungus brought out from the graveyard, working even better than cauterization with fire.

However, Cas still appeared somewhat weak. He only gradually recovered after resting for quite a while.

"This is your summon!?

I'd only heard that Those Guys who specialized in control could command evil spirits, summon beasts, or establish connections with beings from the void. I never thought mysticism could do the same?"

"Just an unexpected gain."

Since Cas put it that way, Han Dong could only go along with his assumption and conceal the truth.

"No wonder your body is so weak, yet you allocated 2 Destiny Points to mysticism. It seemed you used them all to strengthen your summon... Impressive!"

While they spoke.

Chen Li seemed somewhat shy around strangers. After obtaining Han Dong's permission, she quietly returned to the prison.

Cas had seen plenty of similar scenes of summoned beasts disappearing, so he was not surprised.

"Let's go! We must report the ghoul nest as soon as possible... Otherwise, this Slums district will be in serious trouble."

Cas hurriedly took out a burlap sack and collected the ghoul's severed limbs, using them as proof for completing the Bounty Mission.

"Huh... Why is one hand missing?"

"It was probably corroded by the 'plague energy.'" Han Dong spoke softly.

"That made sense. This is your Destiny Weapon, after all."

Cas did not suspect a thing. Carrying the sack, he left the basement together with Han Dong.

Before long, professional knights arrived and completely destroyed the small ghoul nest in a short time.

Because he had discovered and reported the ghoul nest, Cas's Bounty Mission also received an additional 50% bonus.