Chapter 138: The Knight of Suffering

"The first stage of 'The Homesick Witch' is practically done. Next, I need to see if there is any way to find information about the 'Witch's Forest'. I am quite interested in those quest rewards."

Colin took a deep breath, walked forward, and picked up the witch's head.

After tossing it into his backpack, Colin glanced toward the direction of another blurred area, aided by the faint external light.

The next second, his figure dissolved into a streak of light once more.

Before long, outside the saltpeter mine, a streak of light flashed in from the distance.

Starting from the tips of his toes, Colin's figure transitioned from transparent to solid, stepping out of the void.

Then, he planted his feet on the slightly damp earth, right above a thick, viscous "puddle".

The puddle was filled with a mixture of blood, fragments of internal organs, and other unmentionable remains.

At the same time, a slight wave of heat washed over his face, carrying an unpleasant medley of scorched flesh, rotting meat, and pungent gunpowder smoke.

"This..."

Colin paid no attention to the ground beneath his feet nor the stench, his gaze fixing ahead in a momentary daze.

A "city wall" of flesh and blood, piled high with various corpses, stood over four meters tall. Like a dam, it barricaded the outer perimeter of the saltpeter mine.

Moreover, the place was eerily silent. Behind a defensive line composed of several battered chariots, there was almost no sound at all...

Aside from the annoying howls of the aberrants.

It seemed this place had fallen. Having failed to wait for the "Gifting", no one had survived.

Not far from the silent battlefield, Colin also spotted the mutilated limbs of a Lord-grade aberrant...

Nearby, scattered flames flickered and billowed black smoke. A few shattered carriage lanterns lay around, alongside massive amounts of human tissue fragments scattered across the surroundings like exploded watermelons.

One could only imagine the heavy price paid by those stationed here to hold back these two Lord-grade aberrants.

Most importantly, the deserted scene before his eyes filled Colin with a trace of panic.

Fighting a positional war at the saltpeter mine meant abandoning the mobility of the chariots and the sturdy walls of high-level territories, making combat exceptionally difficult.

During that late-night conversation, Colin and the others had discussed a contingency plan: once the territory was breached, they would use the chariots to move rapidly, ensuring they could stay alive.

As for this outpost at the saltpeter mine, not too much thought had been put into holding it in the initial plan.

Because defending this place meant transitioning directly from an advantageous combat posture to a disadvantageous one.

However, to guarantee the supply of ammunition, they had held out until the very end.

Furthermore, Colin noticed that shards of countless aberrant corpses had been bound and bundled together with "Thorns of Misery", piling up into heaps two to three meters high to prevent them from regenerating and causing further harm.

This measure had clearly been effective.

However...

Looking at those dozens, perhaps hundreds, of corpse piles, Colin couldn't help feeling dazed, wondering what kind of battles they had endured to achieve all this.

Yet, after sensing his surroundings slightly, a wave of relief washed over him. Not too far away from here, he sensed a large group of people moving rapidly, engaging in combat with a tailing horde of aberrants.

Simultaneously, a prompt inadvertently triggered in his mind.

[Through various traces, you realize that after the Lord-grade aberrants truly intervened on the battlefield, a portion of them chose to flee underground, blocking the cave entrance with their chariots.]

[Another portion chose to drive undamaged chariots, abandoning the positional defense, and left this place through continuous movement.]

"That's good..."

Colin let out a sigh of relief. He spotted a mine entrance completely blocked off by chariots, alongside extensive traces of movement leading outward.

This meant a considerable number of personnel were still alive.

As long as they were alive.

No matter the means, he no longer cared; he only wanted to see more people survive.

"The escape must have happened after the Gifting. Many of them should have survived, and perhaps they will even return here soon."

Colin offered a silent blessing in his heart.

"There is a Lord-grade aberrant here, but where is it?"

Colin looked around. Suddenly, from amidst a pile of corpses, an aberrant wearing a pointed hat and wielding a longsword struggled and crawled out.

[Aberrant—People of Misery—Misery Knight.]

[You realize its life state is extremely peculiar. It seems to have received a certain blessing, making it very difficult for truly dying.]

"The blessing of the Seventh Miracle, 'The Pain Bearer'."

Colin narrowed his eyes. In the "Dream", he had vaguely sensed the presence of this "Grand Miracle".

And on this pointed-hat figure, he felt that exact aura, knowing this was a true "Undying One".

Then, the prompt continued to surface.

[When they are killed down to a single individual, they will fuse into a Lord-grade aberrant, but after a period of time, it will split apart once again.]

[Perhaps, when they aggregate into the final independent individual, severing their connection to the unknown and destroying them with more violent means can cause them to truly perish.]

"More violent means..."

Colin muttered to himself.

Compared to the so-called "resurrection" of ordinary aberrants, these were living beings revived in the truest sense, and the number of such "Undying Ones" was likely not small.

Because Russell's generation had once encountered a similar "punitive expedition", Colin hadn't expected to find one right in his vicinity, and they had nearly crossed paths...

At this moment, the moment this pointed-hat Misery Church knight crawled out, it cast its glowing red, violently frenzied eyes toward him.

Yet the next second, several chains of light piercing out from the void directly impaled its brain, bringing about its absolute demise.

Guided by the prompts, Colin swiftly executed several other pointed-hat figures that appeared to have been suppressed beneath chariots and corpse piles.

Soon, accompanied by the eruption of a powerful aura, a chariot buried beneath numerous corpse heaps was suddenly blasted into the air.

A torrent of blood and severed limbs splattered everywhere. The next instant, a figure charged toward Colin with a sonic boom, swinging its blade to strike.

Yet just as it leaped into the air, chopping down toward him in a slight bounding motion, its broken sword less than three meters from Colin's forehead...

Everything froze.

Before anyone could notice, dozens of "Chains of Light" extending from the radiance bound it firmly in place, rendering it completely motionless.

Its wrists, joints, knees, neck, and pointed hat were all tightly wrapped, locked, and restrained, making it look remarkably like a statue.

Thanks to Li Chou, Colin had learned a thing or two about the "art" of "binding".

"You Lord-grade aberrants are truly terrifying. Let your guard down for a moment, and you'll trigger a disaster that cannot be ignored."

Colin gazed at it calmly, taking two steps forward to stand right before it.

The chains of light trembled slightly; it seemed to be struggling, emitting low, unsettling growls from deep within its throat.

Colin shifted his gaze, eyeing the longsword stained with blood and flesh that seemed grafted to its hand.

*Whoosh.* A chain of light thrust out from the void, piercing straight through its open mouth to silence the irritating noise.

Ignoring the monster's cannibalistic glare, Colin slowly lifted one foot, leveled his sole, and executed a slow side kick toward its flank.

The movement was not fast, yet this "wide-range" motion caused a dense web of porcelain-like cracks to spread across Colin's body.

As if he could shatter at any given moment.

"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"

As the words fell, Colin suddenly accelerated, all radiance converging into his leg.

Amidst a burst of brilliant, dazzling light...

A new periodic table of elements was born.