Wandering Knight

"Are you alright?" Mira Svein asked, jumping to attention the moment she heard Wang Yu's voice.

Experienced as she was, she quickly stood up and lifted Wang Yu up.

"Would you believe me if I said I were?" Wang Yu found it odd how people sometimes asked, "Are you okay?" even when it was clear that the other party wasn't.

It was more out of habit rather than genuine doubt, of course, but it still felt quite strange to him.

As Mira took in the wounded young man before her, she struggled to reconcile his current state with the figure she'd seen confidently shouting at her through the crystal ball, or the one who had burst into her meditative trance through his mindscape.

A moment passed as Avia's mother processed the situation. Meanwhile, Wang Yu frowned.

"Don't just stand there—I still have to head back to help Avia. Cast whatever spells you have that can heal my wounds or relieve my pain, anything you've got."

Hearing her daughter's name snapped Mira out of her daze. Right—now wasn't the time to ask any questions. She wasn't sure what had happened, but she decided to trust him.

"My situation—" Mira began.

"I know. Your magic and wizardry are both under heavy limitations due to some illness. It's fine. Just do what you can,"Wang Yu interrupted, knowing what she was about to say.

"Alright." Mira wasted no time as she began to gather what void energy and mana she could.

Meanwhile, Wang Yu rummaged through the hidden pockets in his leather armor, brushing aside shards of glass until he found two intact vials.

He uncorked one and downed it in a single gulp, then poured the other onto the worst of his injuries along his calf.

Mira saw his leg muscles bulge with the strain and his neck flush red from the intense pain caused by the potion, though his face remained stoic and calm.

Both potions were for emergencies and came with severe side effects, particularly on the nerves.

The pain they caused was so intense that it could leave people unconscious. Many died from shock rather than from their injuries.

The Spinel Heart Stimulant was meant to be ingested. Its special formula included a crystal powder derived from magical beasts that would enter the bloodstream and plug internal injuries.

The crystal powder did no permanent damage to blood vessels, but the fact that he was introducing foreign substances directly into his blood resulted in extreme pain.

The Acid-Infused Regenerative Salve was topical and derived from a specific type of jungle slime. It worked by devouring infected tissue and allowing the slime to transform it into temporary flesh.

The specially treated slime provided excellent sterilization and hemostatic effects, and could even act as a substitute for damaged muscle tissue.

It would even facilitate the subsequent healing of such injuries—though the pain of something devouring Wang Yu's infected tissue could not be overstated.

Even so, with a calm expression, Wang Yu ignored the unbelievable agony as he tore up Mira's bedsheets and wrapped them around his remaining wounds.

Meanwhile, Mira seemed to be preparing a highly complex spell that interwove void energy and mana with the finesse of an experienced mage and grand wizard. Though her powers were greatly diminished by illness, she was able to work around it to some extent with vast knowledge and experience.

Wang Yu's inner eye allowed him to see layers of void runes and mana circuits superimposed in an intricate arrangement.

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The majority of the techniques Mira used were low-level and fundamental, but there were a shocking number of them, which she organized in a complex array.

Mira focused entirely on the orb of light forming in her hand.

As Wang Yu finished dealing with his injuries and stood up, ready to move, Mira pushed the light orb into his chest.

Then, her face went pale as she sank back toward the bed.

She explained briefly, "This hybrid spell combines over a dozen first-tier spells: three Winds of Restoration, four Inspirations, four Energizes, and five Vital Regenerations. I combined them using a special structure, and it should mimic the effect of a third-tier spell..."

Before she could finish, however, Wang Yu had already dashed off. There was no time to waste. He had to rush back into the villa and help Avia out.

The third-tier special hybrid spell that Mira had cast took effect within Wang Yu's body. Mana-derived vitality slowly knitted Wang Yu's damaged body back together.

His heartbeat grew strong once again, and his labored breathing steadied. His fighting spirit stirred once more as he sprinted through the pitch-black night, his path littered with corpses and pools of blood. Tirelessly, he ran through the dark, stormy ocean toward the lone patch of light in this island of darkness: the villa at the heart of the estate.

With a massive crash, a wall in the mansion shattered. Bricks fell in a dusty heap and concealed what lay beyond.

Suddenly, a gust of wind whipped up amidst the dust cloud, revealing Avia as she burst forth. Her once-polished attire was torn and caked in soot.

She ran as quickly as she could, clearly fleeing from a massive figure whose outline could be seen in the smoke.

An unnatural patchwork of grotesquely oversized muscles had attached to Decaphon's bloated upper body, with legs that seemed almost childlike in comparison.

It was as if an adult's torso had been grafted onto a child's lower half. Were it not for his face, almost contorted out of shape and barely visible beneath slabs of muscle, no one would have recognized the monstrosity as Avia's uncle, Decaphon.

"You won't be able to escape..." the creature rasped. Gone was the voice of a human. This was a monster's growl.

Avia sent a fireball hurtling toward the monster's musclebound body, causing it to let out a fearsome shriek. Blood and flesh burst from its torso, and its skin was charred black all over.

Decaphon's hair and eyebrows had been burnt to a crisp. The heat had turned his eyeballs a sickly gray.

"It's useless!" Decaphon roared again.

Avia watched as his charred skin peeled away to reveal undulating flesh regenerating at an impossibly fast rate, fresh—if abnormal—tissue replacing burned patches, new eyeballs bulging with bloodshot veins as the ones that Avia had burnt popped out of their sockets.

Within no more than a minute, the frightening wounds that Avia had inflicted were completely healed. Decaphon's face, now hairless and as smooth as an egg, looked even more horrifying.

His expression was twisted into a mask of anger and hatred.

"I told you... You won't be able to escape! I'll find you no matter where you are in my domain, you damn A.. Via...!" Decaphon screeched, each word a furious, deranged howl.

Avia glanced back coldly. Her chest heaved as she struggled for breath. Thankfully, she had heeded Wang Yu's advice to train her stamina. Otherwise, she would already have been caught.

She caught her breath before resuming her run, her sore legs burning with each and every step she took.

She had no idea how Decaphon had transformed into his current state.

When the high-pitched whistle had sounded earlier, Decaphon had tried to launch a sneak attack, but Avia's improved Rock's Will had blocked his thrust.

After that, she had retaliated with an Ice Arrow that had pierced Decaphon's chest.

Avia was a kind-hearted and obedient girl, but that didn't mean that she would go easy on her opponents in a fight.

Perhaps she would have hesitated before, but things had changed ever since she had encountered Wang Yu.

If she had had a choice, she would have used Fireball to ensure Decaphon's death, but Ice Arrow was the only skill she could cast instantly at the moment; Avia was still limited by her skill as a magician.

Decaphon, his chest pierced by the Ice Arrow, glanced at her in disbelief as he fell. With a trembling hand, moments before his death, he retrieved the idol of an evil god that he had hidden underneath the table.

"Give me strength, great and eternal god...!"

Avia's second Ice Arrow struck his head and shattered it before Decaphon could complete the invocation, and the idol fell to the ground.

Even so, she was too late. With her incredible affinity to the void, she quickly sensed the disturbance in her surroundings. The density of void energy was rapidly increasing far beyond what natural fluctuations in the void tides could accomplish.

Avia could sense that this was the void domain of some extraordinary existence,one that made it difficult for her to even absorb any energy from the void.

If Wang Yu were here, his poor void affinity wouldn't even have allowed him to regenerate any void energy at all.

That massive, musclebound monster had climbed out of Decaphon's "corpse."

Avia truly believed that she had killed Decaphon, only to belatedly realize her mistake.

The idol that Decaphon worshiped seemed to have transformed him long ago. Even shattering his skull wasn't enough to kill him.

As the void fluctuations grew, Decaphon's corpse began to writhe.

Muscles bulged all over his body, fueled by an endless stream of void energy that supplied power to his ever-growing physique, giving rise to a monstrous hulk. Decaphon's head, hemmed in by huge slabs of muscle, blazed with deep-set rage and brutality.

Avia wasn't afraid. Her destructive potential far exceeded Wang Yu's, and she immediately hurled a Fireball at the monster.

Though the spell blasted away the bulk of the monster's body, the void energy in the air immediately began pouring into it once again. Its frenzied regeneration outpaced even her destructive abilities. She had no choice but to flee.

After such a long time spent running, Avia's stamina, which was better than average, was reaching a critical level. She was panting heavily; if she hadn't trained her body, things would have been even worse.

She remained calm even though the situation was worsening by the second.

The monster seemed to be adapting to her attacks. Her Fireball spell, which had once been able to blow away half its body, seemed to have grown far less effective. The monster's repeated regeneration had enhanced its resistance to fire, and her fireballs were able to deter it only for shorter and shorter periods of time.

She dashed through a corridor and slipped into a room, reaching out toward an open window. However, her hand was blocked by an invisible barrier that seemed to encompass the entire villa. Despite multiple attempts to find a gap in the barrier, she had failed.

Avia was just about to leave and head to a different part of the villa when a loud crashing noise suddenly came from the ceiling.

The ceiling, which had been of rather good quality, broke apart into a pile of bricks, wood, and rubble.

A massive stone table crashed through the ceiling and fell with destructive force.

Avia grimaced. The monster could sense her location within this domain. Several failed attempts to hide had all but confirmed it.

A mud-yellow glow gathered around her Twinned Star glove. Her mana circuits flashed as she cast Rock's Will once more.

This time, however, it wasn't the modified version. A shield of elemental earth formed around her.

The stone table collided with the shield of earth, shattering it instantly even as the stone table split in half and slammed into the floorboards with a powerful thud.

"Ugh!" Avia grunted in pain. The debris from the shattered ceiling fell toward her, a broken beam of wood alongside a pile of rocks.

The beam was sharp and splintered where it had broken off, and it struck Avia's unprotected lower leg.

The girl gritted her teeth. The overwhelming pain almost rendered her unconscious.

"Is this what Wang Yu had to endure? It seems like... this isn't even close to what he suffered."

In her instant of danger, she couldn't help but think of Wang Yu. She was nearly fainting just from this one injury. Just how much agony had he endured considering what he had gone through?

"Aaarghhh!" The young woman couldn't help but cry out in pain as she shook off her hesitation and yanked the sharp end of the wooden beam from her leg. Blood flowed freely from the injury as her muscle fibers tore.

With tears filling her eyes, she activated her latent ability of regeneration. Void and mental energy drained from her as the wound repaired itself swiftly.

She forced herself back up. The fight wasn't over yet.

Just as she had feared, only moments after she moved away from the ceiling, a massive figure dropped down from above.

A hulking, muscular body of impossible weight hit the ground, denting the floorboards and causing a cloud of dust to rise up around it.

Before it could emerge from the dust, a voice echoed—a voice that Avia had never heard before, one that didn't sound like Decaphon's resentful, crazed voice at all.

"An interesting latent ability. I'll gladly accept this sacrifice..." the voice hissed, carrying an eerie power that made Avia's entire body turn cold and caused ripples in her mindscape.

It wasn't an illusion. The void really was trembling at the sound of this voice.

The entity now controlling Decaphon's body wasn't Decaphon himself, but rather the evil god he worshiped—a projection of that evil god onto her current reality.

It really was rather ironic that her latent ability, which had caught the attention of a void entity the first time it was used, had done so again.

The descent of the evil god was a source of immense pressure for Avia. She finally understood why people worshiped them.

These evil gods could grant power so effortlessly. Her uncle Decaphon wasn't even at the level of a knight-in-training, but had become a monster that even an official knight might struggle to take down.

As for the price, however... her despicable uncle might very well be dead.

She took a deep breath. She had no intention of surrendering. Her gaze hardened as she conjured another fireball. She was running low on mana, but she would fight to the last.

The focused fireball smashed into the monster in a shockwave of energy that caused the dust to dissipate, revealing the scene before her.

Avia's eyes widened. The monster seemed perfectly unscathed—no, not quite. There were a few muscles writhing as they healed, but it had happened far too quickly. The damage was minuscule relative to the healing. The monster might as well not have taken any damage at all.

"It's useless. Reality can never truly harm us..." The monster's eerie voice echoed from what was left of Decaphon..

Its muscles writhed, forming long, snaking tendrils that surged toward her. Decaphon's body was far more grotesque and powerful under the control of the evil god than Decaphon himself.

Upon seeing the tendrils of blood and flesh close in on her, Avia didn't hesitate. She cast Wind's Blessing on herself, draining even more of her limited mana, as she began to run.

She sprinted forward at full speed, her breathing labored. Prolonged physical and mental exhaustion left her weary and lethargic.

Even so, the monster chasing after her forced her to remain alert. Giving up wasn't an option.

The monster itself had claimed that only void energy could hurt it.

Determination flashed in Avia's eyes. She pulled a small dagger from her pocket. Perhaps it could withstand the stress of her unfinished spell...

Just then, as Avia ran down a corridor, a deafening explosion suddenly sounded in front of her.

A window, which should have been sealed by the invisible barrier surrounding the villa, burst open along with part of the wall. Something had flown inside. It was... a hammer?