No Room for Mercy

"Y-you..."

Pointing at Axe Man Ye Man, who had just killed Dean with a clean, decisive axe strike, Xuan Ye wore an expression of utter disbelief.

He had severely wounded Aide and forced him to teleport away, then killed Dean like a rabid dog!

Even in front of the wolf pack, their numbers had fallen this quickly!

What the hell, just because of such a ridiculous reason? Temo, you're not just a moron anymore. You're insane! Are you schizophrenic or something?!

However, before Xuan Ye could finish speaking, Luo Luoji raised a hand and stopped him, his expression grave.

"Can't you tell yet? The guy in front of us is most likely the culprit who lured these things here, and he's working with that Necromancer hiding in the shadows."

Hearing Luo Luoji's solemn warning, Xuan Ye immediately lost his composure. The culprit is this moron? This moron actually created all of this?

Who the hell is the moron here?! And I even thought he was the most agreeable one at first! In the end, he even schemed against someone as experienced as Luo Luoji, dragging everyone into his trap.

Clap, clap, clap~

Ye Man still wore that wretched, smiling expression as he applauded and said, seemingly in praise, "Ah, don't put it so bluntly. The Young Lady might get angry if she hears you. And she's terrifying when she's angry. The greatest talent and the greatest Bloodline Power... I'm no match for her..."

'Zzz~'

The moment Ye Man finished speaking, a sharp sonic boom rang through the air. A pure, holy figure appeared above his head in an instant, like a Valkyrie descending from the heavens. It was practically teleportation!

Wrapped in Holy Light, a massive sword descended from above. The air currents along its path exploded outward, as if this single strike intended to obliterate all the world's evil!

Paladin Professional Skill: Sword of Divine Punishment!

"Just kidding~"

Faced with this super attack, powerful enough to kill him in a single blow despite the difference in ranks, Ye Man's lips curved into a mocking smile. He spread open his palm, and a black, spiral-shaped diamond crystal floated above it.

'Zzz~'

Just as the Paladin girl had appeared out of thin air, the floating black crystal vanished as well. But disappearing along with the crystal was the terrifying attack that was about to descend upon Ye Man's head—and the holy figure herself!

'Boom!'

The air above seemed to twist and explode from some violent collision. A wild gale sent the sand surging into a frenzy, whipping their clothes and hair about.

'Thud, thud, thud~'

The Paladin girl reappeared in midair dozens of meters away. She then fell rapidly, bouncing across the sand several times before finally stopping. The giant shield in her hand spun away and plunged into the sand even farther off.

As for her, she could only remain hunched over with both hands gripping her sword, which was stabbed into the ground. All signs of life had vanished from her body. Such was the might of a single strike!

From Ye Man cleaving Aide away and beheading Dean, to Aitiya's sudden appearance and subsequent fall, the changes had come one after another in the blink of an eye. No one had even had time to react.

By the time the others recovered, their final savior had already become a lifeless figure propped up by her sword.

This attack had completely exceeded their understanding. Although the Paladin girl had shaved her head bald, they still felt an indescribable sorrow when they saw her die because of Ye Man's schemes while trying to save them.

"Heh, one Crystal of God in exchange for her life. That's already a pretty good deal. If it weren't for her extraordinary talent and the fact that her complete corpse would make excellent material in the hands of the High Priest, they probably wouldn't have given me such a precious item to carry. Tsk, tsk~"

Ye Man gazed toward the place where Aitiya had fallen, then turned and spoke to Xuan Ye and the others with an ambiguous smile.

"Shadow of Feralas!"

Luo Luoji glared fixedly at Ye Man, his face wary and his voice low with gritted teeth.

"Oh? You actually know about the Holy Church. You're not bad yourself. How about it? Would you like to join us and have your soul redeemed and liberated?"

A trace of surprise appeared on Ye Man's face. He seemed somewhat startled that Luo Luoji had seen through his identity.

"You haven't concealed your strength. Otherwise, you wouldn't have dealt with that Paladin like this. Clearly, the Professional Rank Necromancer didn't notice us. Why, then, did these Azure Wolves attack us?!"

Luo Luoji did not answer him directly. Instead, he spoke with apparent reluctance. Clearly, he did not believe that Ye Man possessed the strength to control so many Azure Wolves.

"Ah-ha, you're worried that I have other companions hidden nearby to back me up, leaving you without even the slimmest chance, aren't you? Do you really think the few of you still have the ability to resist me?"

A teasing, mocking expression appeared on Ye Man's face, causing Luo Luoji's expression to change slightly.

"But I'll let you die knowing the truth. Ta-da-da-da~ Take a look at this."

Ye Man reached into his clothes and pulled out what looked like a small dog's corpse. Upon closer inspection, it was a small Azure Wolf that had been dead for quite some time. It did not appear to be even two months old.

No wonder!

No wonder this group of Azure Wolves had followed them even at the cost of total annihilation. No wonder they had been able to lock onto their position. The source had been carried along within their own group all this time!

Just then, they heard—

'Whoosh~'

A streak of azure flashed past. The corpse of the wolf pup Ye Man had been holding vanished, and twenty meters away, an Azure Wolf appeared. A hideous wound marred its back, while a deep scratch over its left eye had left it clearly blind.

It was the Male Alpha Wolf that had been locked in relentless combat with Aitiya!

Aitiya had clearly noticed the changes behind her and rushed back to help. She had only managed to injure and knock it away with a full-force strike. After recovering its strength, it had used its hunting instincts to sneak closer. The moment it saw its pup, it naturally could not hold back.

"Karma has come back around. With it joining us now, we're not completely without a chance of winning."

This sudden, powerful reinforcement was not exactly on their side, but the enemy of one's enemy was a friend. Xuan Ye felt an almost vengeful thrill. The deaths of several teammates and the desperate situation before him had kept him under immense pressure. If he did not vent now, he felt he would go insane.

What surprised Xuan Ye, however, was that Ye Man—who looked like a foolish, honest idiot but was actually deep and calculating, scheming against everyone along the way—showed no surprise at the Azure Wolf's appearance. His expression remained remarkably calm, inexplicably making the three of them feel that something was wrong.

"Although everything along the way has followed my plans and all the changes have been under my control, you don't really think I could completely calculate every step of a battle between us and an Azure Wolf pack whose overall strength is roughly equal to ours, do you? Well, take you few as an example. Under normal circumstances, you'd have already become wolf droppings by now, while I should currently be facing one Alpha Wolf and several Subordinate Wolves."

Ye Man once again revealed that infuriating, smiling expression and spoke casually, completely ignoring the Male Alpha Wolf circling him with the pup's corpse in its jaws as it searched for an opening.

This made even the most experienced and composed Luo Luoji narrow his eyes. A sense of unease surfaced in his heart once more.

Although this Azure Wolf appeared to be blind in one eye, it was still a Predator Rank Three-Star Alpha Wolf! Its overall strength was even somewhat greater than that of an ordinary Three-Star Professional Rank expert! Even if Ye Man had some trump card, he should not be this careless.

This was completely at odds with how he had schemed against everyone present by himself, even dragging Dream Island into the plot. Or rather, did he have some way to directly deal with the Azure Wolf—

"Not good! Poison!"

Before Luo Luoji could finish the thought, he felt a strange weakness rise from the depths of his heart. After sensing himself carefully, he discovered that the Professional Core within his Qi and Blood Inner Mansion had been covered by a hazy gray stain that was constantly spreading and corroding it!

His connection with his Professional Core was clearly beginning to weaken!

He was a Guardian who had opened his Qi and Blood Inner Mansion, and his resistance to poison was extremely strong. Yet even he had been directly attacked at the Professional Core. Just how overbearing was this poison?!

The poison itself was probably worth more than his life!

"Poison? What poison?"

After Luo Luoji startled him, Xuan Ye also began to grow nervous. Yet aside from seeing that Luo Luoji's complexion looked poor, he did not sense anything wrong with himself. The same was true of the sole remaining Knight Attendant beside him, who only looked puzzled.

"Oh my, you're only realizing it now? It seems your understanding of our Holy Church is still lacking."

Seeing Luo Luoji's changing expression, Ye Man finally opened his eyes, which had been narrowed in a perpetual smile. His foolish, honest image transformed completely, and his gaze became frigid and savage. Yet even now, he still did not choose to attack.

'Awooo~'

Compared to Luo Luoji, who was only swaying slightly for the moment, the Azure Wolf Alpha Wolf that had been waiting for a chance let out a mournful cry and collapsed to the ground. Its strength clearly surpassed Luo Luoji's, and it even possessed a magical beast's physique, yet it had obviously been the first to succumb!

The poison had erupted so violently that it had spread throughout its body in an instant before it even noticed, leaving it countless times worse off than Luo Luoji.

Xuan Ye looked at the young wolf corpse hanging from the Azure Wolf's slack jaws. Its body was stiff, with traces of decay already appearing. A guess surfaced in his heart. That unknown poison had probably been placed on the wolf corpse!

But he did not know why the two weaker Knight Attendants had shown no reaction.

"The 'Shadow' reagent is our exclusive signature product. It's a rare poison specifically designed to target Professional Cores. So, what will it be? Will you burn your Professional Core and fight while you haven't been completely corroded, or will you die with this frustration weighing on you?"

Ye Man began walking, circling nearby like the Azure Wolf had earlier. His mouth maintained that distinctive tone as he kept giving everyone a "kind" explanation.

This made Luo Luoji's expression grow even uglier. He finally understood why the other man had wasted so many words. Ye Man was wary of him burning his core and dragging him into a stalemate!

Indeed.

If the Azure Wolf had just appeared, when neither side had been deeply poisoned, he could have smashed and burned his Professional Core, held Ye Man back, and coordinated with the Azure Wolf. There would have been a very good chance of taking Ye Man down with him. But now...