The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 166 Waiting for an Opportunity

But Eckmond was so small that the skull easily dodged the Giant Bull Demon's charge. In fact, due to his floating nature, even if he had been hit, he would mostly be thrown far away, and wouldn't suffer much damage as long as he avoided the sharp tips of the antlers, which wasn't difficult for Eckmond.

The situation with the Giant Bull Demon momentarily distracted the Six-Armed Serpent Demon, but in that brief instant, Lancelot had already sped forward with a trailing afterimage, ready to unleash a powerful overhead slash on her unguarded back in the next second.

Unfortunately, for safety, their hiding spot behind the little mound was ultimately a bit too far from the battlefield. The Serpent Demon turned around just in time; her four arms crisscrossed, preparing to face this human knight daring to attack her directly.

However, the tremendous force transmitted from the opponent's weapon caused her complexion to drastically change. The Serpent Demon's strength was not outstanding among demons, and this knight, who had suddenly appeared, was even stronger than her previous enemy. Unable to withstand it with her weapon, she could only twist sharply to the left again.

The blade of Frostslash landed on the Serpent Demon's shoulder. The plate armor, already smashed by a hammer, did nothing to hinder the longsword as Lancelot easily cut off the Serpent Demon's upper right arm, blood spurting from the cut like a vigorously shaken champagne bottle just opened. Find exclusive stories on empire

But such a loss was completely within Ashap's tolerance. That arm had already been disabled in a fight against barbarians, and it actually helped her get rid of an encumbrance. The loss of a limb wasn't a fatal injury for her, as the demon's physique could quickly heal the wound.

Once the fight was over and she returned to her lair, she had ways to regenerate the lost limbs.

Lancelot was also not satisfied with this result, but as an experienced warrior, he knew exactly what to do. As he had done thousands of times before, he took a step forward with his right foot and unleashed a swift horizontal slash with his longsword.

The flash of the sword sliced through the air, only stirring the residual afterimage left by the Serpent Demon.

The Human Knight had already witnessed the Serpent Demon's teleportation ability. His spirit perception sensed the magical fluctuations behind him, and his body instinctively rolled forward while flipping the sword back, just evading two longswords swung by the Serpent Demon.

Lancelot quickly rolled back to his feet, facing the enemy head-on. He rested the hand-and-half sword, Frostslash, on his shoulder, crossing his hands – left hand feigning, right hand real, over the hilt, like a cheetah ready to pounce.

This was the initial stance of his family's swordsmanship, slightly lacking in power but greatly advantageous in agility, allowing him to strike quickly like lightning. This technique was only used in one-on-one duels with truly skilled opponents.

Lancelot's element of surprise had been neutralized, and now the real face-to-face confrontation began. The Serpent Demon extended her arms, attacking the Human Knight from both sides simultaneously.

Lancelot did not panic in the face of a flurry of cold lights; he calmly retreated a step to create space, then swiftly swept Frostslash in half circles on either side of his body. A crisp clanging of sword blades clashing rang out as he deflected all four of the Serpent Demon's longswords to the sides.

The opponent had lost two arms—one the lower left and the other the upper right—which slightly desynchronized the Serpent Demon's attacks. Already a master of swordsmanship, Lancelot's vision, reaction, and coordination were further enhanced after becoming a Spiritual Cultivator. This slight lapse, difficult for an ordinary person to exploit, could not escape Lancelot's keen eyes.

After fending off her attack, Frostslash flicked upward as the wide-open Serpent Demon, unable to counter, desperately leaned back. According to her calculations, this should have been enough to dodge the knight's longsword and allow her to heavily counterattack in the following sweep.

But Lancelot had already seen the same trick before. As his opponent moved his gaze away due to leaning back, a green glow suddenly extended from the tip of Frostslash.

The Serpent Demon let out a scream. Its massive tail swept forward fiercely, forcing Lancelot to abandon his follow-up pursuit action and leap to dodge the tail strike, allowing the Serpent Demon to widen the distance between them and the knight.

"Who are you people?"

The six-armed Serpent Demon stared at Lancelot in fury. Her chest appeared as if it had split open, with blood continuously spilling onto the ground, much like a chopped wine barrel.

Though the Abyss had always been hostile to all its residents, things had gotten worse since they had captured the Succubus Paladin. In recent days, the attacks had hardly ceased. The recent group of mercenaries had forced the Serpent Demon to play all her cards, but unexpectedly, an even more troublesome group had emerged.

"Just a knight trying to save the damsel," shrugged Lancelot, taking small steps towards the demon's weaker right side, "You couldn't possibly rely solely on having more arms without ever practicing real swordsmanship, could you?"

As he spoke, the human knight's foot stomped down heavily, and his body charged forward like a crossbow bolt. His longsword transformed into a whirlwind overhead, sweeping towards the Serpent Demon like a storm.

The man and the demon clashed again, and blood occasionally burst forth, heavily splattering on the ground and emitting a sizzling corrosive noise.

Not far from them, Alamir was also engaging with the seductive demon. Although the elf's foe had already exhausted all its magic and was critically injured, this was still a terrifying beast nearly ten feet tall and weighing close to 5,000 pounds. If not for the plate armor carefully crafted by Uncle Barrend, Alamir could not have withstood five strikes from this demon.

But whenever the Priest seized an opening to hammer the demon's arm or claw, the beast would let out a ghastly scream. This was due to the Hammer of Dissolution in his hand, a magic weapon endowed with radiant damage—demons' bane. The flesh around the struck area would 'flow' off the demon's body like melting wax.

Knowing its end was near, the seductive demon furiously waved its half-broken pincers, while its opponent held up a shield emblazoned with Shuni's emblem, standing firm against the fierce attacks.

On the other end of the battlefield, Bruto darted about like an eel among several Berserk Demons. His combat style seemed naturally able to counter these monsters whose height was twice his own. The Berserk Demons found it exceedingly difficult to hit this ball-like guy, and once he slipped beneath them, the next second was followed by the cringe-inducing sound of shattered joints.

Bruto quickly took down one Berserk Demon but didn't rush to end its life; instead, he turned to deal with the next one. No demon was interested in helping its seriously injured kin, and the one with its knees and elbows shattered could do nothing but wail and cry in pain.

There's a saying: you might get a wrong name but never a wrong nickname, Bruto Toadkiller Frostforge, the reliable Berserk Demon bane!

As for the Giant Bull Demon, Eckmond had already pulled it out of sight, but the group could still hear Eckmond's voice coming from afar. The Mimir, with a brain filled with an encyclopedia of swear words didn't stop for a moment, provoking the Giant Bull Demon's anger in various creative ways.