Back at the dunes again, the scarlet knight emerged from between the dunes just like last time.
Luo Ya took a deep breath.
Even though she knew she wouldn’t really die, her body still trembled uncontrollably.
She sidestepped the greatsword’s vertical slash, and the ice spear she conjured smashed straight into the knight.
But it only made the knight sway a little; it didn’t cause any damage.
“Damn it, what kind of monster is this?!”
“This is the strength of an Extreme Knight. If you calculate by rank, he’s on the same level as your teacher,” Zhi Zi’s voice came from beside her ear.
“Try not to clash head-on. Just exhaust his stamina and it’ll be easier to deal with.”
“I don’t want to clash head-on either! But he can catch up to me so easily! I can’t run at all!”
Luo Ya tried to use the high-level spell: Judgment Thunder.
But before she could finish casting, the knight pounced and cut off her head with one sword stroke.
Looking at Luo Ya, who had returned to reality and was clutching her neck and trembling, Zhi Zi tilted her little head.
“Beheaded this time?”
“Want to keep going?”
Luo Ya gritted her teeth.
“…Again!”
Back at the dunes again.
This time, before the knight even emerged from between the dunes, Luo Ya preemptively cast the super long cast-time super-tier magic: Meteor Destruction.
But even though she finished preparing the spell, she couldn’t hit him.
Luo Ya was cut in half at the waist by the charging knight with one sword stroke.
“Again!”
Luo Ya summoned dozens of Stone Golems in advance, trying to gang up on the knight.
Then Luo Ya experienced what “the beauty of numbers” meant.
The golems were chopped up by the knight like vegetables, carving a bloody path straight to Luo Ya.
Luo Ya was smashed to pieces, couldn’t even be put back together.
“Again!”
***
A nightmare-like experience began.
After being horizontally sliced, vertically sliced, stabbed through the heart, skull crushed, chest smashed by a heavy punch, interrupted while casting and killed by her own magic, and many, many other ways of being tortured to death…
Watching Luo Ya, who, instead of being discouraged, grew braver with each fight, Zhi Zi couldn’t help but click her tongue in amazement.
‘What’s up with this girl?’
By the seventh round, Luo Ya was no longer being unilaterally slaughtered; she could even fight back once or twice.
By over twenty rounds, Luo Ya could continuously exchange attacks and defense for over fifty exchanges.
‘My god, this adaptation speed is way too fast?’
‘This terrifying learning ability…’
“How many rounds is this?”
Luo Ya returned to reality again, exhausted.
“Forty-nine,” Zhi Zi said.
“The Grimoire’s magic power is almost depleted. There’s only one chance left, but actually no need to rush. I didn’t plan on getting it done in one go…”
“No… I think I’ve got it.”
Luo Ya shook her head.
Zhi Zi suddenly suspected she had misheard.
“What do you mean… got it?”
“Next time, I should be able to kill him.”
Zhi Zi looked at Luo Ya’s bloodshot eyes.
Those eyes were so calm, like a cold hunter.
Yet within the calmness, flames seemed to burn—Luo Ya was calmly fanatical.
‘What… is she up to?’
Zhi Zi felt that the little girl beside her had suddenly become so unfamiliar.
In death after death, Luo Ya seemed to have grasped something.
During the escape, watching her parents and childhood friends die miserably at the hands of the sweeping soldiers, all she could do was run, run faster, so that their sacrifices wouldn’t be wasted.
In Deep Blue’s territory, she was bullied by several tall children.
She could only curl up and silently endure, praying they would quickly lose interest in her.
She was like duckweed, drifting in this world.
Couldn’t grasp anything, couldn’t leave anything behind.
To the weak, this world is an absurd joke.
Until…
Placing her hand on the page, Luo Ya returned to that dune again.
Until that day when Xia An dragged Luo Ya out of the shed.
Luo Ya felt that her life had truly started flowing from that moment.
The knight emerged from between the dunes again.
Death after death, though very painful, this pain was different from all the pain before.
With each death, Luo Ya felt she became more skilled, more at ease.
Knowledge and skills were truly surging into her body.
This made Luo Ya feel incredibly excited.
This was a feeling Luo Ya had never experienced before.
That feeling that she could really change something, that—
—the feeling of holding fate in her own hands!
Luo Ya pointed her staff at the knight.
Her golden hair fluttered in the wind.
“You bastard! It’s time for you to die!”
The knight let out a roar and pounced on Luo Ya again.
Luo Ya bent down to dodge the greatsword’s horizontal sweep, used her staff to kick up sand to obscure his vision, and quickly created distance.
[Force Shock]!
The magic, which had no killing power but possessed strong impact, blasted the knight back as he charged out of the dust trying to kill Luo Ya.
The knight rolled several times on the sand but quickly got up, but Luo Ya was faster.
Five stone pillars fell from the sky, forcing him to dodge again.
The knight felt suppressed and let out an angry roar.
The knight pounced again, trying to tear Luo Ya’s body apart with his greatsword, but Luo Ya sidestepped and deployed a circular shield that deflected the force of the greatsword, making the sword’s trajectory deviate.
Luo Ya, ignoring the possibility of blowing herself up, unleashed Explosion Magic at close range to repel the knight.
The knight scrambled up and pounced, swinging the greatsword wildly like a door plank.
Luo Ya nimbly dodged left and right, the greatsword whistling past her cheek.
After forty-nine fierce battles, Luo Ya had completely figured it out.
Even though his strength was still overwhelmingly brutal, the knight who had lost his mind was nothing more than a beast swinging a club!
Luo Ya extended her staff and gathered power.
The magic power at the tip of the staff continuously compressed, as if it had substance.
“Get! Out of my way!”
Luo Ya slammed the staff hard onto the unprepared knight!
The compressed magic exploded at close range on the knight, directly shattering his armor.
The shockwave at close range also sent Luo Ya flying backward.
Panting heavily, Luo Ya struggled to her feet.
“This should be over now.”
The knight’s greatsword broke into two pieces, and his armor was twisted and deformed.
The terrifying aura kept weakening, like a patient on the verge of death.
“Uh…”
As if a final burst of life, at the very end, the knight finally awakened from his beast-like madness.
“You…”
The knight looked around.
“This is… where I died in battle.”
His gaze fell on Luo Ya, and Luo Ya felt an even more terrifying pressure than before.
If before the knight gave off the feeling of a ferocious beast, now he gave off the feeling of a true human butcher who had fought his way out of a pile of corpses.
“My kingdom has fallen,” the knight’s words gradually became clear.
“You, Deep Blue’s little apprentice, seek the experience of battle from me?”
“Deep Blue has already taken everything from my kingdom. Now even my dead, wronged soul must be squeezed dry?”
What is going on?
Luo Ya was dumbfounded.
It… knows that it’s already dead?
“This is impossible! How could a branch of an event awaken on its own for no reason?”
Zhi Zi’s astonished voice also came from beside her ear, clearly the current situation had exceeded her expectations.
“But regardless, young apprentice, you did not participate in the war back then. Even if I don’t think you are fundamentally different from those selfish mages who killed my compatriots for profit.”
“You seek the advancement of martial arts. I will give you this chance.”
The knight picked up the broken sword and rose unsteadily.
Luo Ya braced herself for a formidable enemy.
Threads of blood energy emerged from the knight’s armor, repairing the broken pieces.
The broken greatsword was reforged, incredibly sharp under the reflection of the blood energy.
Cold sweat broke out on Luo Ya’s forehead.
Trouble.
If the previous knight was a tough-skinned beast that only knew how to use brute force, then the current knight, though very weak, had no openings at all.
“Be careful! Luo Ya! This is a true Extreme Knight!”
Zhi Zi’s voice came from beside her ear.
“Even if his strength is less than a tenth, you are now facing an Extreme Knight with complete memories and skills!”