Winged Misbegotten! Exterminate!

Jingle, jingle!

Jingle, jingle!

Jingle, jingle!

Amid the urgent ringing,

Xia Tong summoned two Godrick Soldiers, one Spirit Jellyfish, and three Stray Wolves in one breath!

A faint wave of dizziness struck his head, and he hurriedly pulled out the Cerulean Tear Flask and took a huge gulp.

The icy liquid slid down his throat, becoming a clear, cold current that surged straight to his head. Only then did the splitting pain slowly subside, and his thoughts became clear again.

Then he rang the bell once more.

Jingle, jingle!

Two Fanged Imps materialized as well!

At this point, Xia Tong's entire Spirit Ashes army had assembled.

Against enemies this agile, heavy weapons were a major liability.

Xia Tong decisively put away the Lordsworn's Greatsword on his back. He instead pulled a brass shield from thin air into his left hand and drew a light Lordsworn's Straight Sword with his right.

These Winged Misbegotten were extremely agile, and they could fly.

The heavy Lordsworn's Greatsword carried too much momentum when swung. If he missed, the momentum would drag his body off balance, exposing a fatal opening.

"Gurgle!"

Xia Tong sent an order to the Spirit Jellyfish through their mental link.

The Spirit Jellyfish's transparent body immediately turned bright red. Its bell billowed back and forth like silk as it gathered strength.

Pfft!

A stream of foul-smelling pink venom sprayed precisely onto the two Winged Misbegotten before them.

"Roar—!"

Burned by the venom, the two Misbegotten immediately let out low growls.

One of them violently beat its wings and flew into the air. Then, using the force of its dive, it lunged downward, swinging the iron cleaver in its hand at Xia Tong.

At the same time, five or six Misbegotten in the distance heard the commotion and rushed over with shrill cries.

"Kill!"

Xia Tong immediately stepped forward, raising his shield and swinging his sword.

Behind him, one of the Godrick Soldiers equipped with a crossbow dropped to one knee and fired a bolt straight at the Winged Misbegotten's head.

Whoosh!

Clearly, the Godrick Soldier Xia Tong had summoned had been an experienced veteran in life.

His shot was precise and vicious.

Though it did not strike the head, it pierced straight through the Misbegotten's windpipe.

The Winged Misbegotten struggled violently in midair, making a wheezing, leaking sound before crashing heavily to the ground without moving again.

Golden Runes flowed into Xia Tong's body.

63 points.

Immediately afterward, the remaining Misbegotten was hacked to death under everyone's combined assault in just a few seconds!

However, the danger had not passed.

At that moment, the group of Misbegotten rushing toward Xia Tong had already drawn close.

The two in the lead charged over first, with the remaining four close behind!

Spirit Ashes possessed intelligence. The more intelligent they had been in life, the better they could coordinate.

Xia Tong's mind raced as he began assigning tactics:

He alone would command all the Spirit Ashes.

The three Stray Wolves would tie down one Misbegotten;

The two Fanged Imps would use their agility to fight one Misbegotten;

The two Godrick Soldiers would work together against one Misbegotten;

And he and the Spirit Jellyfish would handle the remaining three Misbegotten.

He would hold the line at the front and attack, while the Spirit Jellyfish provided poison support from behind!

However, ideals were full and reality was harsh.

The Misbegotten did not follow Xia Tong's script exactly.

One Winged Misbegotten seemed to see through the formation. It directly ignored Xia Tong, who was trying to draw its attention, and ran toward the vulnerable Spirit Jellyfish in the rear with a screech!

Damn it!

But Xia Tong had no time to deal with it.

Because the two Winged Misbegotten before him had already arrived.

These Misbegotten all shared the same attire and appearance. Ugly flesh wings grew from their backs, their bodies were covered in messy feathers and scales, and they held rusty iron cleavers in their hands.

These two Winged Misbegotten possessed extremely violent combat instincts.

They used their wings to hover briefly in the air. Then, borrowing the force of gravity, their two iron cleavers swept in from left and right like a pair of enormous scissors, viciously shearing toward Xia Tong's neck!

Clang!!!

A deafening clash of metal rang out.

The enormous impact traveled through the shield into Xia Tong's arm, jolting his bones with pain and numbing half his body.

Fortunately, the brass shield was exceptionally sturdy among medium shields.

Combined with the combat skills Xia Tong had honed over so many days, he knew to tilt the shield slightly at the moment of impact, deflecting most of the force.

Even so, Xia Tong could not help but stagger backward repeatedly. His feet plowed two deep furrows through the ground before he barely stabilized himself.

The two Misbegotten's massive iron cleavers had struck Xia Tong's brass shield together. The force was simply overwhelming.

If he had not put points into Strength during his earlier level-up and improved his body's toughness,

that combined strike would have broken his guard and left him wide open.

"Phew... Good thing I held on!"

Xia Tong gritted his teeth and gasped heavily.

But his arms had gone weak and sore from that heavy blow, and it felt as if all the air had been squeezed from his lungs.

At that moment, he had no strength to counterattack by borrowing force at the instant of a block.

If he forced himself to swing his sword, his movements would only become slow and weak, exposing an opening instead.

Xia Tong's gaze hardened.

Since he could not counterattack immediately after blocking, then he would take the initiative and attack!

Without hesitation, he adjusted his breathing and stepped forward.

Taking advantage of the brief stiffness after the two Misbegotten's attacks landed, when their old force had faded and new force had yet to rise, the straight sword in his hand shot out like a venomous snake!

The instinct born from memories of his past life, combined with the reflexes Xia Tong had forged through days of battle, made this strike swift and vicious. It drove straight into one Misbegotten's throat.

This was the most vulnerable part of a living creature!

Though a Misbegotten's skin was far tougher than a human's, they wore no armor.

Thus, the blade met only slight resistance before plunging straight in.

Squelch!

Blood immediately sprayed out, splattering Xia Tong's face.

Before he could pull out his sword, the other Misbegotten swung its cleaver at him.

Xia Tong had no choice but to temporarily abandon the Lordsworn's Straight Sword stuck between the Misbegotten's bones and roll backward.

In the same motion, he drew the throwing knives strapped to his leg and fired three of them at the other Misbegotten.

While it dodged, Xia Tong immediately picked up the massive iron cleaver dropped by the dead Misbegotten and hacked at the remaining one.

It had to be said that the Misbegotten's iron cleaver was extremely heavy.

But Xia Tong's repeated enhancements to his strength had also greatly strengthened his arms. With both hands, he could barely wield it with ease.

Most importantly,

as slaves, the Misbegotten had no systematic combat skills. They relied entirely on bodily instinct and brute force, swinging wildly.

But Xia Tong's combat skill far surpassed that of the Misbegotten.

That was why he had been able to thrust the Lordsworn's Straight Sword into one Misbegotten's throat from such a tricky angle during the gap between their attacks.

Even with the traits of the Aspects of the Crucible, this Misbegotten was still on the verge of death after its neck had been pierced.

Now that he was facing only one Misbegotten, things were much easier.

Xia Tong nimbly dodged and swung his cleaver when the opportunity arose.

In just three to five minutes, the Misbegotten was beheaded beneath his blade.

He discarded the massive iron cleaver, pulled his Lordsworn's Straight Sword from the other Misbegotten's corpse, then gave it another hard stab to make sure it was completely dead.

Another stream of Runes entered his body.

Phew!

Xia Tong let out a long breath, then dropped onto the ground on his backside and panted heavily.

As for the Spirit Ashes, their battles were also nearing their end. Xia Tong's earlier allocation had left each small squad almost completely suppressing its Misbegotten.

Of course, the downside was that the pressure on his side had been especially great.

"Lord Xia Tong... are you all right?"

The noble lady Irina had remained in a safe area in the distance as Melina instructed, not causing Xia Tong any trouble.

But years of blindness had made her hearing exceptionally sharp. She could clearly sense how brutal and intense the battle had been.

At the same time, she felt guilty and pained by her own helplessness.

"I'm sorry, Lord Xia Tong. I'm so useless. I couldn't help you at all."

The frail and humble Irina stirred Xia Tong's pity.

He did not blame her.

Supporting himself with one hand, Xia Tong slowly sat up. Then he reached out and gently stroked Irina's hair.

Her hair was a little disheveled from the journey, but it was still soft to the touch.

"Protecting yourself properly is already the greatest help you can give me. Besides, we still need to meet the castle lord, don't we?"

Xia Tong comforted her gently.

Then his tone turned serious:

"And do you know what matters most?"

"What is it?"

Irina looked somewhat confused. Her eyes remained closed as she faced Xia Tong's direction uncertainly.

"When we reach Castle Morne, I'll be an outsider who doesn't know the place at all."

"I'll be completely lost inside the castle."

"But even though you can't see, you grew up there and know the castle's layout like the back of your hand. That will be an enormous help to me!"

Xia Tong looked at her and said firmly:

"So, you're someone very useful. Never say you're useless."

"Mm... mm!"

Irina nodded vigorously. A little light returned to her previously dim face, and she became much more confident.