86: Chapter 86 All for nothing

"Such powerful strength!"

Looking at the pit on the ground left by the tentacles, the Scarface Knight's expression turned grave.

Originally, he could have handled Nie Ning alone, and it wouldn't have been impossible to catch up with the fleeing girl.

But this ghost of a thing that suddenly popped out disrupted his plans.

The Scarface Knight looked at the Flesh Spider, feeling more and more that something was wrong, and then slowly spat out three words: "Corruptor!"

"Not bad insight. It's not too late to surrender now. As long as you tell me who your employer is, I can let you off this time."

Nie Ning chuckled and spoke.

"Hmph! You think you two pieces of trash can make me surrender?"

The Scarface Knight snorted coldly and said with a look of disdain.

But as his eyes darted slightly, the Scarface Knight was already thinking of retreating.

The reason was simple: he was here to capture that girl, not to fight to the death with someone.

After all, this wasn't a game, and he wasn't crazy; there was no need to tangle with this Psionicist who could control a Corruptor.

Thinking of this, the Scarface Knight kicked up dirt with his sword and turned to run while the dirt obstructed their vision.

"Heh."

Nie Ning sneered.

As the magic power within his body circulated, a dirt wall rose from the ground to block the Scarface Knight's path.

At the same time, the Flesh Spider rushed forward, its tentacles attacking the Scarface Knight incessantly.

The Scarface Knight was forced to stop, but he still focused primarily on dodging attacks.

After all, his shoulder was injured, and he didn't want to risk his life fighting a Corruptor.

Because he knew how troublesome Corruptors were; if he were careless, he might even be corrupted himself.

But he had miscalculated in the end.

Following the Flesh Spider's attacks, the surrounding mist closed in once again.

Feeling his emotions becoming increasingly irritable, the Scarface Knight knew he couldn't go on like this, but his several attempts to escape had been blocked by Nie Ning, who was on the sidelines.

The Scarface Knight hardened his heart, infused his longsword with battle aura, instantly severed the tentacle thrusting at him from the Flesh Spider, and closed in on the creature.

The battle aura transformed into a five-meter blade of light, which he slashed down at the Flesh Spider.

Without any suspense, the Flesh Spider was sliced in two by the sword.

After all, the strength of a Great Knight was incredibly formidable; the Flesh Spider, which had only absorbed a few High-Tier Knights, was ultimately lacking.

As the Flesh Spider fell to the ground, the Scarface Knight, with a cold expression, walked toward Nie Ning with his sword raised.

"Now, only you are left."

Hearing this, Nie Ning shrugged noncommittally.

Just then, a tentacle pierced the Scarface Knight's left leg with lightning speed.

The Scarface Knight fell to one knee, looking somewhat stunned at the Flesh Spider that had already recovered.

Although he knew Corruptors were hard to deal with, he hadn't expected the Flesh Spider to recover so quickly.

Suddenly, a violent surge of energy came from somewhere.

Taking advantage of the Scarface Knight's distraction, Nie Ning extended his palm toward him, and immediately, a light sphere with a colorful vortex shot toward the Scarface Knight.

The Scarface Knight's expression turned grave; his battle aura surged wildly within him, and he quickly held his sword in front of him to block.

"Boom!"

A loud explosion rang out.

The entire house was blown apart.

A figure flew backward through the dust, crashing through several houses before finally stopping.

Nie Ning and the Flesh Spider quickly gave chase, eventually finding the Scarface Knight in a pile of ruins.

At this moment, the Scarface Knight was clutching a broken sword, his chest a bloody mess from the explosion.

Although severely injured, his tenacious gaze revealed an unyielding spirit, and he continued to stare fixedly at Nie Ning with a cold and fierce expression.

"Tsk tsk, as expected of a Great Knight. Even this didn't blow you to death."

Nie Ning couldn't help but click his tongue.

He hadn't used this move before because a Great Knight's mobility was too high.

And he had only learned this one sorcery; simple elemental manipulation was simply unable to restrain a Great Knight.

To avoid missing, he had feigned weakness, giving the opponent the illusion that he was nothing special, which was the only way he could have succeeded in a sneak attack.

But fortunately, he hadn't used it before; even taking the blast head-on only left him on the verge of death. If it hadn't succeeded in one go, the guy might have escaped.

"Speak, who sent you?"

Seeing that the Scarface Knight remained silent, Nie Ning spoke again.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved in this matter. Even without me, there would be others. I advise you to stay away from that little girl."

The Scarface Knight remained unmoved and instead began lecturing Nie Ning.

Nie Ning frowned slightly upon hearing this.

He couldn't quite understand what kind of item could possibly require deploying combat power at the level of a Great Knight.

And the Hervis Family was at most a small wealthy family in Ska City; how could they have come into contact with an item of that level?

After all, the Hervis Family seemed to have only one Intermediate Knight.

Moreover, these people's goal was very clear.

Even though Matt was at home, they didn't seem to have any intention of capturing him, yet they targeted only Lilith, which was indeed somewhat puzzling.

"Anyway, you're going to die, why not give me a hint?"

Nie Ning smiled and took a step forward to ask.

The Scarface Knight rolled his eyes, looking at Nie Ning with a deathly pale face, his eyes filled with disdain.

"I'm not... without... without family, cough, cough..."

Seemingly angered by Nie Ning, the Scarface Knight began to cough violently.

"Hey, hey, don't die, don't die."

But before Nie Ning could perform emergency treatment, the Scarface Knight's head lolled to the side, and he ceased to breathe.

Looking at the now-dead Scarface Knight, Nie Ning couldn't help but kick him twice: "All for nothing again."

But at least Lilith was safe.

With the Jerky Bear Head following her, Lilith should be almost back to Hervais Manor by now.

Nie Ning searched him without giving up, but only found a tattered handkerchief, which still had the bird pattern he had seen earlier embroidered on it.

"This is a bit tricky."

Looking at the handkerchief in his hand, Nie Ning scratched his head in annoyance.

Although it looked like a clue, in reality, there were countless families in the entire Wilbes Republic, and many of them used birds for their family crests.

Furthermore, he didn't even know if this was the clue he was looking for; perhaps it was just a mass-produced item sold in some store.

In that case, the search area would be even larger.

As a small fry, searching alone was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"It seems I'll have to catch someone alive after all."

However, although he said that, he wasn't good at interrogating prisoners.

After all, this was the second time he had encountered these people.

The last one preferred taking poison to telling the truth, and this guy in front of him was just as tight-lipped.

They weren't even afraid of death, so he couldn't get any information out of them.

But thinking about it carefully, the person who could cultivate such dead soldiers might allow him to narrow the search range, because ordinary families wouldn't have the capital to let a Great Knight go to their death.

Nie Ning rubbed his aching head and decided to first go back and see if the others in the Hervis Family were okay; perhaps he could still get some clues.

...