The Paladin in the Abyss
Chapter 821 - 832: The Final Challenge

"Nice look," Bruto said while running, turning his head to comment, "Reminds me of some kind of very aggressive poultry... What’s next?"

"Follow me." After catching up with his companions, Lancelot slowed down, and the wings on his back disappeared. "Little Isha said that the witch’s defenses have been thoroughly broken, and the area is teeming with undead armies. However, this encirclement isn’t tight. She’s scouting ahead, and we’re going to slip out while we can..."

As he spoke, the group had re-entered the forest. The ground was full of thick, twisted, malicious roots, making it easy to trip if they weren’t careful, forcing them to slow down. From the shadows of trees, the occasional sound of skeletons moving could be heard, but just as Lancelot said, no enemies appeared in their path. They felt like they were in a bar where a massive brawl was taking place, silently taking the best bottle from behind the counter (and giving the bar owner a kick on the butt), before slipping out under the noses of the fighting parties.

They trekked through the uneven forest for about half an hour. The surroundings became increasingly quiet, and Lancelot’s spirit perception only detected some shivering gray wolves hiding in tree holes. Little Isha rejoined the team just as they were about to leave the forest, remaining in her bat form and skillfully hanging onto Lancelot’s shoulder armor, chattering near the human knight’s ear.

"Anything unusual?"

Being a half-elf who grew up in the countryside, Tanya was at ease in such environments and was the first to notice Lancelot’s serious expression,

"There are a few enemies ahead. We can’t go around them." Lancelot slowly drew his longsword. "But this is the weakest point in the entire encirclement. If we take them down, we’ll be free."

"Enemies?" The word always excited Bruto. "Difficult ones?"

"Two undead knights, plus half a dozen skeleton soldiers with halberds," Lancelot shrugged. "Shouldn’t be too hard."

"Can I have one?" The dwarf looked expectantly at the adventure party’s commander. "From you, I’ve had quite a bit of experience fighting knights..."

"You can have both of them," Lancelot shrugged again. "We’ll take care of the small fry first."

"It’s a deal."

At Lancelot’s signal, the group silently gripped their weapons and lightened their steps to avoid alerting the enemies they were about to engage. They quietly advanced about three hundred feet to the edge of the forest, where the enemies Lancelot mentioned were, unaware of their approaching escapees, less than sixty feet away.

The companions hid behind tree trunks, peeking out to observe their next opponents. The situation was exactly as Little Isha had predicted. There were eight enemies in total. The two leading undead knights wore old but complete full-body armor, equipped with massive heavy shields and hand half swords. From under their visors came the rapid clicking of teeth, seemingly communicating that way; behind them, the six skeleton soldiers’ equipment was severely worn out, with the fabric parts of their armor completely decayed, leaving only some dubious iron rings for protection, and their longswords and shortswords were heavily rusted, as if soaked in some acidic liquid for decades.

Lancelot used hand signals to silently discuss tactics with his companions. The only one who couldn’t participate was the zombie princess Fran, who Lancelot had already instructed not to reveal herself at the start of the fight; she’d become their hidden ace if more enemies appeared. This set of hand signals was highly efficient for communication, as a simple gesture could represent a whole pre-agreed tactic. Within just a few seconds, they finalized their plan and began counting down to action.

Once everyone was ready, Lancelot made the first move. Without revealing himself, his hands formed a Dharma decree, and the ground beneath the enemies suddenly cracked open, from which thick vines shot up. The vines instantly grew to seven or eight feet tall, resembling small trees, and their tendril-like branches tightly bound the enemies; Alamir followed next, using the tree trunk to hide the glow of his divine arts, he had prepared the fourth circle divine guardian. As soon as the vines appeared, he summoned a guardian made of light within the enemy ranks. This guardian’s phantom wielded a longsword and shield, with the red-haired woman’s eyes on the shield emitting a dazzling golden light. The enemies caught in the light’s path let out horrendous screams, as if they were ignited by holy fire.

Following the holy light and vines was the dwarf’s Warhammer. With a grunt, Bruto hurled his Warhammer with all his might, striking an undead knight’s breastplate with a heavy thud—Lancelot, with his rich experience, knew immediately that this blow had severely dented the armor; if it had hit a living person, their lungs would have been punctured by broken ribs. Such injuries might not be fatal to the undead, though.

The sound of the Warhammer hitting armor seemed to signal the start of the charge. The human knight, elf priest, dwarf berserker, and half-elf cursed swordmaster all leaped from behind the tree trunks, brandishing their weapons as they charged at the enemies. Lancelot, naturally the fastest, deliberately ran in an arc, bypassing the two undead knights cutting through the vines, heading straight for the enemy’s rear.

With the momentum of the charge, the human knight unleashed a powerful over-the-shoulder slash, instantly splitting a skeleton soldier and its barely raised halberd in two. As he moved to attack the second enemy, Alamir and Tanya were just reaching their respective opponents, but it was enough time for them to deliver lethal blows to the bound enemies—the elf priest’s Warhammer radiated dazzling golden light. His magic weapon was particularly effective against the undead and fiends, coupled with his holy strike ability as a cleric of the domain of life, the white bones under his hardhead hammer melted like candles, and not only the bodies but the negative energy animating the undead was also dispelled.

In stark contrast to Alamir, Tanya’s weapon was shrouded in a thick shadow, as if the halberd itself was made of shadows. Though lacking the elf priest’s dazzling visual effects, her attacks were equally effective, turning the once hard skeletal remains to brittle wood, easily smashed to pieces by Tanya.

The dwarf, who had taken on the heavier task, did not achieve the expected results. As Lancelot had feared, the undead knight hit by the flying hammer was not incapacitated, and their full-body armor prevented the dwarf from quickly destroying the other enemy. These skeleton knights severed the vines binding them with surprising speed, leaving Bruto suddenly realizing he was being attacked from both sides and the situation had become very precarious.