Lin Gui did not know the terror Gorn faced after he left.
After Theia poured down a torrential barrage of over two hundred arrows, all empowered by that strange demon power,
the Legendary archer Gorn was still alive, despite his arms being completely ruined and his body drenched in blood.
A Legendary expert's vitality was terrifyingly resilient.
He had managed to survive and did not die on the spot.
At the final moment, right before Theia's arrows could completely end Gorn's life,
she overexerted her violent demon power and exhausted all her physical strength.
Her vision went dark, and she blacked out completely, falling from midair.
Lin Gui caught her limp body without any hesitation.
【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】 enveloped them instantly. Carrying Theia, he quietly retreated from the ruined battlefield as if melting into the shadows.
To perfectly conceal the massive, demon-power-infused energy fluctuations of Theia's attack,
his own mana consumption had also been immense.
Moreover, the few High Rank offensive spells he knew were not particularly powerful.
At this moment, even though Gorn was on the verge of death with shattered arms,
Lin Gui lacked the strength to deliver the final blow.
What was more, the main force of the Holy Knights led by John was likely still inside that massive square tomb.
If they noticed the commotion and swarmed them...
with his current remaining mana,
it would be absolutely impossible to maintain concealment for long and safely escape with the unconscious Theia and the wounded.
Carrying the unconscious Theia on his back, Lin Gui channeled his last remaining strength and quickly returned to their hiding spot on the ceiling.
Without a moment's pause, he immediately controlled the raft to carry everyone.
Elvia, the still-unconscious Rona, Linno, and the fast-asleep catgirl Luo Youyou.
They sped toward the entrance they had come from at full speed.
The raft traveled upward along the complex network of mine tunnels.
However, when they finally reached the original entrance,
Lin Gui was shocked to find that the entrance tunnel leading to the Whispering Forest had been completely blocked!
Giant boulders and collapsed rock layers sealed off the exit.
And right next to the blocked entrance,
a brand-new, deep tunnel that did not exist before had appeared on the rock wall, leading to who knows where!
Elvia, who was resting against a wooden crate, also saw this bizarre sight and struggled to stand up.
“Rest first. I need to recover my mana,” Lin Gui said, canceling his magic as he landed on the raft, his face pale.
“We can't!” Elvia said anxiously. “What if Gorn or the knights catch up to us?”
“They won't,” Lin Gui replied calmly. “That guy was crippled by Theia.”
Elvia was stunned.
From above, she had indeed faintly heard the sounds of intense battle and Gorn's roars coming from below.
She had assumed some other unexpected event had occurred.
After Lin Gui's brief explanation, when she heard that Gorn's arms were ruined and he was on the brink of death...
Elvia fell into a long silence.
Only after a long while did she mutter in disbelief,
“That half-demon... defeated Gorn?! That Legendary archer?”
“Yes,” Lin Gui nodded. “So, he won't be chasing us.”
As Lin Gui and Elvia spoke in low voices,
Lin Gui suddenly raised his hand, cutting off his own words.
His sharp gaze swept toward the abruptly appearing new tunnel.
He slightly raised the staff in his right hand, and mana began to circulate.
“Cough, um... please don't rush to hide. We mean no harm.”
A gentle male voice echoed from the shadows of the tunnel.
“I only want to lead you out.”
With those words, three figures slowly emerged from the darkness of the tunnel.
They all wore black cloaks, and judging by their builds and faint facial contours, they seemed to be humans.
Leading them was a gentle-looking young man who was the first to stop, giving Lin Gui a slight nod.
“Hello, powerful mage. My name is Carl, and I am a guardian living in these underground ruins.”
He stepped aside to gesture toward the two behind him.
“These two are my guard, Isaac, and my family member, Jesse.”
“We mean no harm. We only wish to guide you safely out of these dangerous ruins.”
“Did you blow up the entrance tunnel?”
Lin Gui sat on the raft, his gaze locked tightly onto the young man named Carl.
Carl smiled helplessly.
“No, it was blown up by a woman named Catherine.”
“We wanted to stop her, but... it was too late.”
Lin Gui and Elvia exchanged a look.
“Then we won't trouble you to guide us,” Lin Gui said flatly.
“With Elvia's help, it won't take us long to reopen this tunnel.”
Behind Carl, the exceptionally tall and burly guard, Isaac,
frowned with dissatisfaction upon hearing this and took half a step forward.
But Carl immediately raised his right hand, stopping him.
To Lin Gui's surprise, even after being rejected, Carl still maintained a warm smile on his face.
“Since that is the case...” He looked at Lin Gui with a smile.
“Why don't we help you clear away these blocking rocks?”
He gestured to Isaac.
Although reluctance was written all over Isaac's face, he still stepped forward as ordered and walked up to the pile of rubble blocking the entrance.
Lin Gui controlled the raft to float backward slowly.
While making room, he warily watched these three uninvited guests.
“Roar—!”
Isaac let out a low growl.
The muscles all over his body suddenly swelled and bulged like solid rock!
His fists, like heavy hammers carrying a howling, vicious wind, slammed fiercely into the blocking boulders one after another!
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Debris flew and dust filled the air.
The hard rocks that would have required Elvia to expend her energy to slice open
were as fragile as tofu under Isaac's fists!
At the same time, the girl named Jesse began to chant a spell in a low voice.
She extended her slender fingers, guiding her mana.
The scattered stones shattered by Isaac
seemed to be controlled by an invisible hand, floating up one after another.
Then, as if kneaded by a giant hand, they tightly adhered to the rock walls on both sides of the tunnel,
forming a solid supporting structure.
The Novice Magic 【Levitation】.
And the Mid-tier magic 【Earth Condensation】.
Elvia's face was as dark as water.
She could clearly sense that when Isaac exerted his strength, the aura radiating from his body was as heavy as a mountain.
His strength... was at least at the same level as the Holy Knight John—Legendary!
As for the seemingly young girl, Jesse,
not only was she also proficient in 【Levitation】,
but the mana fluctuations radiating from her had actually reached the terrifying High-tier Transcendent rank!
In just a brief moment, a spacious and sturdy tunnel was reopened,
enough for Lin Gui's raft to pass through easily.
What made Lin Gui and Elvia's gazes narrow even more
was that Isaac and Jesse then dragged down several corpses from above the tunnel and threw them onto the ground.
Among them, one female corpse was none other than Catherine, the Vice Leader of the Dreamweaver party!
The others were the few remnants of the Caran Defense Force who had previously escaped from the Whispering Forest,
including that Transcendent shield warrior.
It seemed that after discovering Luo Youyou was missing, Catherine had found the shield warrior and the others.
They had joined forces to clear the mine tunnel that had previously been collapsed by Elvia's sword qi,
and upon reaching the entrance, they blew up the tunnel.
Catherine knew very well this wouldn't hold them off for long, so she had set an ambush near the entrance.
As a result, they had run into Isaac...
Even the Transcendent shield warrior, who specialized in defense, had his chest pierced by a single punch from Isaac.
Catherine, naturally, could not escape her doom.
Looking at these corpses, Lin Gui's expression turned solemn.
Elvia's face turned even paler, cold sweat drenching her back.
Carl smiled, seemingly wanting to ease the tense atmosphere.
He made a gesture of "after you" toward the tunnel.
“Alright, you may leave now.”
“The tunnel Isaac cleared is very spacious, quite enough for your raft and wooden crates to pass. Please rest assured.”
Elvia quickly leaned in and whispered urgently in Lin Gui's ear, “Could it be a trap?!”
Lin Gui shook his head slightly.
“No.”
“Even if it is, they can't trap me.”
He turned back to Carl, a polite smile appearing on his face.
“Thank you very much for your help, Mr. Carl. I will remember this favor.”
Before his voice could fade, he gently waved his right hand.
In the next instant, the entire raft along with everyone on it
instantly vanished from the sight and perception of Carl's trio!
Isaac's gaze froze, astonishment appearing on his face for the first time.
Jesse's gaze became extremely grave.
Carl lowered his eyes slightly, still wearing that inscrutable smile, his thoughts a mystery.
The three of them stood silently in place for a long time,
seemingly waiting for the other party to leave.
“Well?” Carl asked softly. “Did you see anything?”
Jesse shook her head heavily. “I don't understand it at all. That was absolutely no ordinary invisibility spell. Moreover, his Levitation is far stronger than mine; his chant time was only one second, and that concealment spell was instant-cast.”
“Isaac, can you sense their presence?” Carl asked the burly man.
Isaac had long shed his previous arrogance. He carefully sensed his surroundings, but ultimately shook his head helplessly.
“No, my Lord. It was as if they vanished into thin air, leaving not a single trace of aura behind.”
He hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help but ask, “My Lord, are we really... just letting them go like this?”
Carl's face slowly settled.
“Let us block this tunnel again first.”
He stared in the direction where Lin Gui had vanished, his tone flat yet carrying a hint of deeper meaning.
“It is far better than letting someone who can completely erase his own presence remain here and discover the true secrets of this place...”
Just then, from the distant darkness, the heavy, rhythmic sound of iron boots treading on the ground echoed.
The demon known as "Modo," who had taken control of the entire Holy Knight order,
was slowly approaching, leading the knights who were shrouded in a thick deathly aura.
At their head was none other than the Holy Knight John, his eyes hollow and his face stiff.
He had already become a controlled corpse puppet.
Upon seeing Modo, Carl asked directly, “Modo, how are there so many survivors?”
Modo's pale face pulled into a bizarre smile.
“The god 'ate' that priestess as a sacrifice.”
“This Knight John was quite strong. He resisted the god for five seconds before being turned into a corpse puppet, along with his knight order.”
“As for the other two scouts who were held hostage... they were rescued by that bizarre mage.”
Carl's gaze swept over this lifeless army.
Isaac looked around, interjecting with confusion, “Where is that Legendary archer?”
At the mention of Gorn, the smile on Modo's face froze.
After a long silence, he spoke in a slightly strange tone,
“He... was killed by our 'kin.' His arms were gone, and he had lost most of his combat power, so I... fed him to the 'god.'”
“Kin?” Carl, Isaac, and Jesse were all stunned.
“Yes,” Modo's crimson eyes flashed with a hint of complexity.
“An elven half-demon. She seems to have... just awakened her demon power.”
“How is that possible?!” Jesse cried out in disbelief. “Half-demons have such diluted bloodlines. It is completely impossible for them to awaken pure demon power!”
“Unless...”
Carl took over, his eyes turning incredibly deep as he said slowly,
“unless... what flows within her is the direct bloodline... originating from the Seventy-Two Pillar Demon Kings.”
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