Universe Infinite Canteen

Ma Lu tested the new function of the Chef's Knife, not expecting to succeed on his first attempt.

However, when he retracted the knife and threw it again, his aim was ridiculously off.

He was, after all, not a professional at throwing knives, and the shape of the Chef's Knife wasn't really suitable for that purpose to begin with.

Hitting the target on his first try could only mean that his luck was incredibly good.

So, after two more ineffective attempts, Ma Lu gave up and rushed to help the Hellhound that was surrounded.

This only made Dulce even more astounded; he had never seen such a reckless Knight.

Actually at the front line of battle!

Witches can be summoned anew, but life, once lost, is really gone. Hence, most Knights, as commanders in combat, would usually stand far in the back.

Had this guy's brain truly gone out of order?

While Dulce was shocked, two more Witches on his side fell.

Although Dulce's team had the numerical advantage with eight Knights and Witches combined, outnumbering Ma Lu's team by three, their equipment was clearly inferior to Ma Lu's recently outfitted and inscribed Witches.

Three people were fiercely attacking one Hellhound and had only managed to deplete less than a quarter of its HP after a long time, while some of the attackers had already lost half of their HP.

Plus, the healer who could regenerate health had died at the start of the fight, leaving no means of recovery for the rest and turning the situation quite passive.

Following that, the unexpected entrance of Knight Ma Lu into the fray tilted the balance rapidly in a direction not favorable for Dulce's side.

By the time Dulce realized something was wrong, there were only two Witches still standing on his side.

Seeing the situation was dire, Dulce ordered the remaining two Witches to desperately block the enemy, while he had already turned and was running towards a nearby warhorse.

He might be losing to Ma Lu now, but as long as he could get on the flyer and return to Holy Temple City, to report the incident to the Church, he would be the ultimate winner.

Ma Lu's actions now were no different from betraying the Order of Knights.

The purple-haired girl noticed Dulce's movements and tried to chase him, taking out the Witches blocking her with two slashes, but she was caught off guard when the latter, even after falling, still clung tightly to her legs.

Meanwhile, the last standing archer on the other side was desperately using arrows to obstruct Yun Que and the Ouroboros Serpent's attacks.

The only one unattended was Ma Lu, but since he and Dulce were both wearing Power Armor, turning their power to the maximum, the distance between them remained constant and didn't shorten.

Dulce kept running and looking back, seeing that Ma Lu couldn't catch up, and realizing that he was less than twenty paces from his own flyer, he started feeling smug again, issuing a harsh threat.

"You're done for, Xi Mu! Once I return to Holy Temple City, I will report this attack to the Sacred Order of Knights in full detail. Knights should never engage in fratricide; you and your Witches will be executed."

Ma Lu did not respond. Now that the masks were off, he had no desire to engage in a war of words with the other side, merely calculating the timing in his head.

When Dulce was still one and a half spans from his flyer, Ma Lu decisively activated the skill Savage Charge.

Instantly, an invisible force enveloped Ma Lu, drastically increasing his speed.

In Dulce's horrified and puzzled gaze, Ma Lu charged behind him and slammed into him hard.

Dulce's armor lost 5 points of durability on the spot, but that wasn't the main issue; his body was sent flying and then hit his own warhorse, causing a stun that lasted for 2 seconds.

Taking advantage of the 2-second stun, Ma Lu dragged Dulce back four meters and then positioned himself between Dulce and his warhorse.

Dulce could no longer laugh when he came to, panting heavily.

"Have you, have you thought about the consequences of doing this? The Church will not let you go," he said.

"Don't worry, the Church won't know."

Ma Lu had done the job of killing and silencing people before. Now, it was second nature for him, and he felt no psychological burden whatsoever.

Dulce realized he had encountered a ruthless character today and finally stopped putting on a brave face; his attitude softened as he began to plead.

"I was wrong this time. I shouldn't have threatened you. I apologize. Let's pretend nothing happened, how about that?"

Ma Lu was astonished, "I've already taken care of your witch. How can we pretend nothing happened?"

"I can tell the Church they died at the hands of Energized Plants. The Order of Knights will punish me, but they won't strip me of my knighthood. Afterwards, I can recruit new members through fundraising," Dulce said.

"It's too much trouble. Who knows if you'd keep your promise? Since I've started, I might as well go through with it," Ma Lu shook his head.

"I, I can pay you a large sum of money," Dulce said, "My family is rich. My father runs all the taxi services in Holy Temple City. It was him who paid 300 million Holy Silver Coins to get me my knighthood. If you let me go, I can pay you 60 million, no, one billion Holy Silver Coins."

"Ah, so you have family influence. That's all the more reason not to leave you alive."

Seeing that Ma Lu was unmoved, Dulce completely lost his defenses and cursed loudly.

"Bastard, if you kill me, do you really think the Church won't find out?! When they do, your fate will be even worse than mine! Not just you, your family will suffer because of you. My father will take revenge for me!"

At this time, the girl with purple hair had already walked over, glanced at Dulce on the ground, and grinned, "Need me to do the honors?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"No, I've changed my mind again. Don't kill him for now, just tie him up with iron chains," Ma Lu said.

Thinking that his threat had worked, Dulce shifted from anger to relief, "Right, right, right, don't kill me. I promise I'll pay the ransom."

Ma Lu ignored him and, after the Hellhound tied Dulce up, dragged him to his flying machine.

Seeing a chance at life, Dulce cooperated the whole way, even refraining from struggling as he was bound.

The Ouroboros Serpent came over and spoke in a low voice, "Hey, are you really planning to let this guy go? Once you get to Holy Temple City, he's definitely going to bite back."

"No, who said I'm taking him back to Holy Temple City?" Ma Lu said with surprise, "I'm keeping him to fish for the meteorite shards at the bottom of the lake."

"Ah?" The Ouroboros Serpent was momentarily confused.

Ma Lu patiently explained, "There are lots of Puppet Lotus Roots under the lake. We can't beat them in the water, so I plan to use bait to lure those Puppet Lotus Roots away. That way, I can go down and fetch the meteorite shards."

"The bait you're talking about..."

Ma Lu looked towards Dulce, who was standing aside.

"I see," the Ouroboros Serpent realized.

Meanwhile, Dulce was still completely unaware of what fate awaited him.

It wasn't until Ma Lu piloted the flying machine back to Circle Mirror Lake and opened the hatch about twenty squares away from the area of the meteorite shards indicated on the map.

Then he gave Dulce, who was still cluelessly blank-faced, a kick, sending him plunging down.