Chapter 256: The Thing in the Bag

  To break a piece of paper, you can use a palm or a finger. But while the strength of a finger is more concentrated, the area it breaks is smaller. Ethan's clamping with both hands turned Knight Tamika's strike from a palm that could shatter him into a finger that only pierced him.

  A large spray of blood shot straight out from Ethan's mouth. Even though this parry and retreat had been successful, his chest had been pierced through entirely. This mouthful of blood sprayed directly toward the sword-wielding Knight Tamika ahead.

  The Fangs longsword had already pierced through the opponent's body. With a simple follow-up sweep or a twist, he could completely finish off this opponent. But Knight Tamika could only leap back. The mouthful of blood sprayed toward his head and face was not red, but black as ink, with a stench like the wash water from a fish stall left to sit for over a year. All the curse magic from the previous strike was in this mouthful of blood, mixed with his own Necromancy. Being sprayed in the face with such a mouthful of blood would be worse than being drenched in molten iron. So Knight Tamika had to retreat.

  As Knight Tamika retreated, the figures of the two finally separated. However, one was standing, and the other was kneeling.

  "Good," Knight Tamika spoke first. He didn't move.

  "I never praise people, but I have to praise you. I set a trap like this and even used a full-strength strike, yet you still didn't die, so I have to say, you're not bad. Eschol's death wasn't unjust. At your age, to have such skill and mental judgment, given time, you will surely surpass me and Lancelot. You are the first person I've really wanted to kill, yet am somewhat reluctant to kill."

  Ethan didn't speak; he couldn't. For a person with a fist-sized hole pierced through their lung, not collapsing on the spot was already a miracle. He was now busy coughing up blood incessantly.

  "Now, tell me where that thing that emits the strange aura is. Take me to find it. I won't kill you and will take you back to see His Majesty the Pope," Knight Tamika said, looking at Ethan kneeling on the ground.

  "Didn't you want to kill me?" Ethan used his white magic with all his strength to suppress the injury on his chest that could hardly be called an injury anymore, barely able to speak. With every word, a small mouthful of blood was coughed up.

  "You are defeated now. I can kill you anytime. I have already won completely. Whether I kill you or not is just a formality." Knight Tamika's expression returned to that flat, wooden indifference. The look in his eyes as he watched Ethan was no longer filled with killing intent. Such a strong enemy, who could rouse his will to kill, had finally fallen to his trap and blade. He felt a strange sense of satisfaction, like the relief a man who had been celibate for years suddenly feels after a satisfying affair. He was even talking a bit more.

  Knight Tamika could see that the white light shining from the bloody hole in Ethan's chest was the Archbishop-level Rebirth in Flames. He was slightly surprised by this high-tier Healing Spell. This magic could indeed keep him alive under such a near-fatal injury and even slowly recover. But for an injury this severe, not even His Majesty the Pope's white magic could possibly restore him to a state where he could fight. In Knight Tamika's eyes, this person was no different from a corpse.

  Ethan was still kneeling, but he had stopped coughing up blood. He didn't answer Knight Tamika's question, but asked slowly, "I'm just a bit surprised. You knew all along that kid Yabin would betray you?"

  Knight Tamika shook his head and said lightly, "Not betrayal. He was never my man. I knew he would make a move in that situation, I just didn't know he would sacrifice his arm and his life just to stab me."

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  "So you saw through it all along." Ethan looked at Knight Tamika's wooden-like face and sighed. This opponent's appearance and his scheming were completely disproportionate. His purpose in leaving Yabin was to make himself think there was an opportunity, which led him to act carelessly. If Yabin hadn't risked everything to land that stab, he would never have been able to take the subsequent strike.

  Knight Tamika raised his sword and said coldly, "Don't waste time with nonsense. You know you have no chance. Answer me, where is that thing?"

  Ethan was silent for a moment, then answered, "Fine, I'll give it to you. That thing has actually been on me all along." He slowly stood up and cast another white magic spell on himself. A white, silver light, like water, flowed from his palms into the wound on his chest. Combining with the effect of the previous Rebirth in Flames spell, the massive wound actually began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

  Knight Tamika was slightly surprised again. This was another Archbishop-level white magic, Divine Grace. This startled him, but also slightly reassured him. With two consecutive high-level white magic spells, he believed that even a real Cardinal wouldn't have much magic power left. Besides, this kind of healing only restored some of his mobility; he was still in no position to fight back.

  "The thing you want is inside. Its aura is sealed by the runes on the pouch. You'll see it as soon as you undo them." Ethan untied a pouch from his waist and tossed it to Knight Tamika.

  Knight Tamika looked coldly at the bulging pouch on the ground. He didn't reach to pick it up. After a moment of silence, he suddenly kicked the pouch back in front of Ethan and said, "You open it. Take it out."

  "What? You suspect I'm playing a trick?" Ethan was taken aback, then gave a bitter smile.

  "Open it for me. Take it out," Knight Tamika repeated from where he stood, his expression flat. He was unwilling to even approach Ethan.

  Ethan looked at Knight Tamika with a bitter smile, then shook his head slightly. "I'm sorry, but I really can't take it out. At least, I can't take it out right now."

  "What do you mean?"

  Ethan smiled bitterly. "Since you've felt the aura of this thing, you should be able to imagine what its main body is like. I don't have a shred of Battle Qi left. How would I dare to take it out with my bare hands?"

  "I see. So that's how it is." Knight Tamika nodded. After a pause, he spoke again. "Then you undo the pouch and let me see the aura."

  Ethan could only give another bitter smile. He slowly bent down, picked up the pouch, and began to untie the string that secured it.

  Knight Tamika remained standing where he was, just watching Ethan slowly undo the string at the pouch's opening. He wasn't the least bit relaxed; the sword in his hand was still held tightly.

  The opening of the pouch was finally untied in Ethan's hands. Ethan opened the pouch in Knight Tamika's direction. A dark aura, like a tidal wave, surged out.

  It was already dawn. The morning light had made everything in the forest clear and bright, but Knight Tamika still felt an all-encompassing, sky-filling darkness. He could clearly see everything, yet he felt the darkness. He knew that what was in this pouch was indeed the thing he had seen outside the forest.

  "Good, so this is it..." Knight Tamika nodded. But then he discovered that this darkness was suddenly increasing at a thousand-fold speed, approaching, and even taking shape.

  It turned out to be a small, cylindrical object that suddenly shot out of the bag and flew swiftly toward Knight Tamika. But the dark aura emitted by this small object was as vast and unfathomable as an ocean. And this sea of darkness was pressing down with the true momentum of toppling mountains and overturning seas.

  Although he knew it was just momentum, just an aura, and probably had no real destructive power, Knight Tamika still reflexively dodged violently to the side.

  The small object wasn't moving too fast. Knight Tamika dodged it easily, and then it hit a large tree nearby, sinking into it completely as if it had hit soft mud.

  Knight Tamika stood his ground, the astonishment in his heart beyond compare. He wasn't surprised that Ethan had managed to shoot the thing out of the bag with force; he was surprised that he had actually dodged. In that instant, he had completely lost control. A long-dormant instinct had completely taken over his body, making him dodge without even thinking about this thing he had originally wanted.

  Ever since he had personally flayed his own father to death, one slice at a time, during a training session at the age of thirteen, his nerves had become as tough as steel wires. All instincts, emotions, and impulses could be controlled as easily as breathing, like a top-tier puppet. Even his thoughts could be as precise and rational as a metal machine. But just now, facing the momentum emitted by that flying small object, he actually felt a completely uncontrollable impulse surge out from his body. His steel-like nerves instantly melted in the face of this fierce, hot impulse like magma, and his body made the most instinctual reaction: to dodge.

  The essence contained within this aura was the most fundamental. In the face of this aura, all willpower, perseverance, and emotions acquired through training were as fragile and worthless as nothing. Any life form, before it, only had the most primal terror.

  After a brief moment, he snapped out of his shock and realized that Ethan was already taking the opportunity to flee into the distance. Although those two white magic spells couldn't have restored his combat ability, his mobility was mostly intact.

  Without hesitation, without even a glance at the small object embedded in the tree trunk, Knight Tamika gave chase directly. Although he could now confirm that was the thing he wanted, he also saw that without the pouch, which seemed to still be full of water, no one could carry that thing away. He had to get that pouch back first.