Boom!

After a loud bang, the suspicious figure, Elena, rushed out of her hiding spot and finished off the bandits who had miraculously survived, one by one.

“No, don’t kill me.”

“Go tell it to my straight sword.”

Wielding a flaming straight sword, she took down a bandit with each strike, every blow aimed at the enemy’s head.

In just over a minute, heads were rolling on the ground.

Not a single bandit managed to keep their head.

Chopping off the last head, Elena let out a sigh of relief, the flames on her sword gradually extinguished, and she plopped down onto a bandit’s sleeping bag.

After the slaughter, her delicate face was splattered with flecks of blood, and her sweat-soaked brown hair clung to her face, adding a unique charm to her appearance.

“Phew, although it’s not the first time I’ve killed, it’s still a bit nerve-wracking.”

Despite her words, a hint of excitement flickered across her face, as if she was savoring the recent killing, her eyes completely devoid of the clarity they held seven days ago.

“Time to get back to work. Let me see where the Golden Dragon’s Claw is… Not here?”

She searched the entire camp but couldn't find her quest objective.

Elena froze, a look of confusion on her face. After a moment, she slowly turned her head, looking at the dark entrance to the underground tomb, her mind wavering.

“Could some bandits have taken it inside?”

Staring at the dark entrance passage, she began to have second thoughts.

Without adequate preparation, it is best not to casually enter ruins and underground tombs, a fact also recorded in the “Basic Swordsmanship for Wandering Swordsmen.”

As Elena hesitated, Mo Di was also considering whether to go out and greet her.

‘Only seven days have passed, and her change is so drastic. What caused this?’

After much deliberation, he decided to go out and meet Elena, and at the same time, inquire about what had happened to her recently.

The moment before he took a step, he suddenly paused.

A strange aura entered his sensory range, and the constant spells of various divination schools took effect, the aggregated data telling him one fact.

The newcomer was a Transcendent.

‘But in a small White River Town, so many Transcendent have emerged. Is this a prelude to the grand curtain rising?’

Mo Di stood in the shadows, his gaze fixed on the newcomer, his internal vigilance instantly heightened.

The only ones who could provoke such a reactive response from him were those crazy characters who had appeared in the plot.

Unfortunately, the newcomer was one of them.

A young woman with short hair and a brilliant smile slowly walked out, her emerald eyes fixed on Elena, never straying, never blinking.

“Oh, my dear Elena, you’re here too.” The short-haired girl spoke first, and without waiting for Elena’s reply, she continued to speak to herself:

“It seems we have a deep connection. I didn’t expect us to meet here. Don’t you think this might be a hint from fate?”

Who asked you?

Elena tightened her grip on her straight sword, a hint of disgust inadvertently showing in her wary eyes.

After she and her big brother Mormontis parted ways, less than a day passed before she was entangled by this mysterious girl.

Remembering her big brother's teachings, she naturally tried to get rid of this troublesome woman at the first opportunity.

But this woman was like a persistent plaster, sticking to her relentlessly.

“Last warning, Ettis, get away from me!”

Killing intent flared, and the straight sword gifted by her big brother in Elena’s hand ignited with fire, its blade pointed directly at the short-haired girl.

Ettis took in her emotional changes, her smile growing more delighted, yet she feigned disappointment, saying:

“Alas, my dear Elena, why do you keep rejecting me?”

As she spoke, she paced towards Elena.

“The more you reject me, the more excited I get, you know.”

Yes, yes, that’s the look. The more unyielding she appears now, the more intoxicating she will be after being ravaged.

Ettis could almost smell the fragrance of the brown-haired girl’s blood.

Perhaps, this would be the most delicious virgin blood she had ever tasted.

Watching Ettis walk within ten meters of her, Elena finally lost her patience, stomped her foot, and launched a counter-charge.

At the same time, she didn't forget to throw a cylindrical object with a lit fuse.

“My dear, I saw through your little trick long ago.” Ettis casually flung a throwing knife, intercepting and detonating the cylindrical object in mid-air.

“Boom!”

With another loud bang, smoke dispersed, and Elena temporarily couldn't see the enemy's whereabouts, but she heard a teasing voice from within the smoke.

“My dear, may I interpret this as you trying to amuse me?”

“You lunatic!” she cursed, then her pupils constricted.

The short-haired girl, who should have been ten meters away, instantly appeared before her, a smile on her face that sent a chill down her spine.

“Since my dear has given me such a grand gift, I must return the favor properly. Ah, let’s use this as a return gift.”

As she spoke, Ettis parried her flaming straight sword with just a short dagger.

At the same moment, a strangely shaped short sword also swung towards her pale neck.

Seeing herself about to die on the spot, countless thoughts flashed through Elena’s mind, and countless images seemed to flash before her eyes, finally settling on her big brother’s resolute face.

Countless thoughts finally converged into one sentence:

‘Big brother, save me!’

“Lunatic, stop it!”

At this moment, Mo Di, as if sensing her thoughts, arrived just in time.

A bloody ice spear flew from his hand, faster than Ettis’s sword swing, about to pin her to the spot.

In the nick of time, Ettis’s hairs stood on end, and she forcefully withdrew her sword and retreated, turning into a shadow and darting to the side.

Less than half a second later, the blood spear had already reached her original position, plunging into the ground, its tip only half a body length away from Elena.

Ettis transformed back into human form, looking at the blood spear on the ground with lingering fear, subconsciously swallowing hard.

If a mere blood spear created by magic was so terrifying, what kind of master was the newcomer?

“As expected of the Darkscale Hermit Order’s ace, not bad, not bad.”

His voice arrived before he did.

Ettis looked around and found that a tall dark figure had appeared not far from her, she didn't know when.

Beneath the black robe was full body armor, and a helmet covered his head, obscuring his face.

And on his right shoulder, a Wendigo skull was bound by chains, radiating a wanton, violent aura.

Mo Di drew his greatsword, walked slowly to Elena’s side, pulled out the blood spear from the ground, and nodded slightly to her.

Elena hid behind him, leaning on her straight sword, her gaze fixed on him.

The man’s dependable back was reflected in her pupils, and a sense of security washed over her like a wave.

A strange glint appeared in her eyes, and her body unconsciously relaxed.

“Who are you? How do you know my identity?”

The panic subsided, and Ettis’s face once again wore a smile.

“But none of that matters. What matters is that I’m playing a game with my dear Elena. Could I trouble you to step aside for a moment?”

“Or, my dear, is it because of this man that you’ve been rejecting me all this time?”

Before the last word could leave her mouth, she transformed into a serpentine shadow and lunged fiercely at Mo Di.

‘Shadow Transformation?’ Mo Di was not flustered, even as the serpentine shadow that Ettis had become was almost upon him.

He simply stood his ground, and when the serpentine shadow advanced within a meter of him, he activated his Aura of Fear at full power.

In an instant, the serpentine shadow froze in place, unable to move.

Ettis was forced to cancel her Shadow Transformation, her petite body gradually rising from the shadow.

Before she could fully emerge from her shadow form, an ice claw burning with cursed fire covered her face.

Mo Di pulled hard, and Ettis, in her half-human, half-shadow form, was lifted off the ground, her shadowy serpent tail still struggling and swaying.

“The Darkscale Hermit Order’s unique Shadow Symbiosis surgery. I guess the one you’re in symbiosis with must be a Shadow Viper, right?”

A slightly hoarse voice came from the man’s mouth. Ettis ignored his words, struggling violently, but she still couldn’t pry open the hand covering her face.

Enraged, she directly stabbed the man with her knives.

A short dagger and a short sword simultaneously extended, like the venomous fangs of a viper biting at its prey’s neck.

Ettis’s plan was clear: if he wanted to block both weapons, the man in front of her would have to let go of her.

If he remained indifferent, then one of her enchanted weapons would surely tear through his armor, securing her victory.

However, what she didn’t expect was that Mo Di chose another option.

A layer of blood ice grew from the surface of his armor, adding a thick icy plating to it.

The moment the blades pierced, the cursed magic within the blood ice surged forward, corrupting the enchantment of both weapons, causing them to get stuck in the blood ice layer, unable to advance further.

Ettis’s smile shifted to Mo Di’s face, “It seems your weapons are not of very good quality.”

Ettis, in his hand, however, was oblivious, her eyes hollow as she stared at the two weapons that had lost their enchanted glow, clearly on the verge of turning dark.

“How dare you destroy them? Those were tokens she gave me!”

Suddenly, she roared like a madwoman, countless shadow spikes erupting from her shadowy lower body, but they were blocked by constant protective spells like magic defense and blood flame barrier.

Mo Di knew that he had hit a raw nerve.

Ettis, this Darkscale Assassin who enjoyed toying with women’s emotions and would torture them to death once she grew bored, actually harbored a secret crush deep within her heart.

Her two weapons were tokens given to her by her crush, and they were also crucial to her redemption in her personal storyline.

But Mo Di didn’t want her to be redeemed; he just wanted to eliminate her.

Before his transmigration, he would specifically kill her in the game after she had been redeemed, let alone now that she had delivered herself to him after his transmigration.

How could he resist not slaughtering her?

Mo Di had no intention of coddling her just because of her gender or appearance; he could even be ruthless with his own teacher, let alone a lunatic who was inferior to Elena.

Grabbing Ettis’s head, he mercilessly slammed it into the ground.

Her head collided with the ground, making muffled thudding sounds.

Elena, watching from the side, was both terrified and a little excited.

Though this method of execution was brutal, it was incredibly satisfying, and she wanted to learn it too!