Pillar of Yita

He found it hard to forget that scene.

And on this altar, there was also a skeleton, but it was impossible to tell its appearance during life, whether it was male or female, fat or thin.

The bones lay quietly on the stone platform, still holding the posture of looking upwards at the last moment of life, time seemed frozen at this moment. It grasped painfully at the broken sword inserted into its chest, knees bent, legs slightly apart, resembling the posture of a woman giving birth—

Fang Hong suddenly felt a jump in his heart.

He simultaneously felt three forces flowing forward.

The first force was from the Ring of Golden Flame he held, suddenly becoming scorching hot, just like when it shone underground in Fenris.

Then Fang Hong felt a strong will impacting his mind, urging him forward. He immediately realized it was the peculiar existence born in his mental world from the combined powers of Nikopolas, Toragotos, and the Lizardman Deity.

It seemed to have an urgent plea, making him want to approach the stone platform.

Lastly, was the Pale Glory—

Fang Hong felt a slight heat on the back of his hand and instinctively raised it in that direction.

As he raised his hand, the skeleton on the altar showed no response; instead, the broken sword emitted a tremor and suddenly ’zinged’ out of the stone platform by itself, suspended in mid-air.

Only then did Fang Hong find the broken sword to be extremely peculiar.

Its broken blade was as black as ink, almost like a black crystal; the guard was not connected to the hilt but encircled and floated outside the hilt, composed of a long circle of fangs.

The sword was so unique that Fang Hong recognized its identity upon seeing it.

In fact, Gita recognized it too.

”Dragon Slayer Moya—”

”Isn’t it the Holy Sword of the Foremost, crafted by fairies? How could it be here, and why is it broken...” Miss Natural Historian was incredulous, murmuring to herself.

Only Miss Tata, sitting quietly on Fang Hong’s shoulder, seemed unsurprised by this scene, as if she had expected it.

Fang Hong’s heart was also full of shock.

Until he heard Tata calmly remind him in his heart: ”Be careful, Mr. Knight, this sword is polluted.”

”What?”

Fang Hong was approaching the altar when he stopped involuntarily after hearing this. At that moment, a sense of alarm erupted in his heart, and he instinctively looked in a direction.

In the darkness there, a purple light suddenly appeared. Fang Hong heard a couple of hoarse and low spells being uttered, then a ray shot towards him and Gita.

At that moment, Fang Hong didn’t think twice, turned around, and lunged at Gita, rolling to the side with her. The purple ray passed through where they stood moments before and hit the rock wall behind.

There was a crash, and the rock layer there collapsed.

In the thick dust, Fang Hong heard a sigh from the previous direction, followed by a longer and more obscure spell—he knew things weren’t looking good, raised his hand, and shot out Flying Claw.

The spell cut off abruptly.

Yet Fang Hong heard a sound of wind, as if something had struck his Flying Claw, deflecting it aside. Then he heard a peculiar sound, like a horse’s neigh.

He looked up ahead. The dust suddenly rolled away to both sides, revealing a fully armored, high horse-mounted Black Knight riding out from the back, slashing a sword at them.

Miss Natural Historian let out a scream.

”Where did this ghostly thing come from!?” Fang Hong also cried out in his heart—this was a Black Knight, a level 30 undead creature, how did this thing appear in this place?

However, his actions were faster than his thoughts, immediately rolling aside with Gita beneath him.

The Black Knight’s sword slashed down on the ground, the edge almost scraping against their bodies as it passed. Fang Hong broke out in a cold sweat. With the Black Knight’s attack power, had that sword hit solidly, regardless of any shield, evasion, or block, with his level of protection, it would mean instant death.

Including Gita and him needing to report to the Resurrection Temple together.

Though nearby wasn’t the Holy Sanctuary of Roman’s greedy believers, Lady Ameya was extremely cold to outsiders, and the loss of experience and equipment upon resurrection in her Sanctuary was typically the heaviest.

Fang Hong certainly didn’t want to die here. Facing a level 30+ enemy, he cared nothing about the cave and underground environment, flipped out the Fire Giant, and threw it in the direction of the Black Knight.

The ground trembled slightly, bright flames and shock waves swept in, being too close, he and Gita were almost blown away, their shield and life plummeting simultaneously.

However, Fang Hong carefully protected Miss Natural Historian, letting himself hit the altar first with a muffled grunt. He looked up, only to despairingly find—that the explosion of the Fire Giant was quite threatening to level 20 or so creatures, but it was hardly significant to the level 30+ Black Knight.

The sweeping sea of fire only turned its skeletal warhorse into ashes, but it landed on one knee, then straightened up and ripped open the flames, as if pulling off a fiery cloak wrapped around itself, walking straight out from the fire.

And the explosion was merely enough to leave a mark on its cold iron armor.

The Black Knight lifted its head to look at him, cold red light flashing beneath its helmet, then swung its sword, sending a blade of air across seven or eight meters to strike Fang Hong squarely in the chest.

Fang Hong’s final action was only able to push Gita aside.

Then he felt a tearing pain, almost blacking out. He only heard Miss Natural Historian’s sharp scream which seemed to carry a hint of sobbing.

This was it—

Fang Hong thought.

Taking a hit from a level 30 Black Knight head-on, Fang Hong thought he would end up reporting to Lady Ameya for sure. He only regretted not being able to save Gita, and Miss Natural Historian probably would die in this place alongside him.

He also hadn’t anticipated that his second resurrection would happen here.

...