“I disagree. We’re only one day away from the village, but traveling through the night is too dangerous. Besides, this area is no longer the beginner zone, and the distribution of magic beasts has become much more unpredictable.”
Ailin argued, her eyes fixed firmly on Li Si.
Just moments ago, Li Si had suddenly claimed that the nearby wilderness would be dangerous and suggested traveling through the night to reach Hot Spring Village earlier.
Such a proposal was practically asking for trouble.
Not to mention the unknown nocturnal magic beasts, but just the rugged mountain roads alone were dangerous enough.
“We… we agree with Lady Li Si’s idea.”
But this time, the clients who had been on her side before all stood with Li Si.
Ailin could have directly voted against it, but now she had to seriously explain the pros and cons to the clients.
“We’ve already left the Beginner Village’s range. I’m not even familiar with some of the advanced magic beasts here. I really don’t advise you to listen to her.”
“Exactly, she’s just being arrogant. She says there’s a dangerous aura, but none of us feel it! Aren’t we, the transferred swordsmen, better than her, a non-transferred warrior?”
“That’s right, there’s no need to travel through the night. I think she just wants to finish the quest faster.”
“Besides, even if there really is danger, there are enough of us to handle it. And what kind of danger is it? She won’t say anything specific, just ‘dangerous aura,’ and expects us to take a nighttime risk? That’s too much!”
The members of Violet Team chimed in to refute.
From the very start of the journey, they had clearly been somewhat hostile toward Li Si.
Now, hearing her unreasonable proposal, they all exploded.
Only Madi, whose money pouch Li Si had helped retrieve that afternoon, remained silent.
“Dangerous aura, huh…”
Li Si pressed the hilt of her sword and looked up at the Kind Mother’s sense growing closer.
The sense coalesced into a pink radiance drifting through the night sky, while black streaks of miasma wove through it like threads.
The pink radiance was the Kind Mother’s sense, drifting from beyond the mountains, while the black miasma was the Strict Father’s premonition of danger.
This premonition split into countless black lines scattered across the nearby valleys.
Some were drawing closer, others fading away.
Such a cheat-like sense—no one would believe it even if she explained.
Li Si scratched her hair and looked at the three from Hot Spring Village.
If they were willing to tell the truth, things would be easier but it seemed there was no time.
Li Si’s eyes sharpened.
In the darkness, a miasma streak was swiftly weaving through the forest ahead.
No, not just one—three.
“Something’s coming!”
Lili Ya pulled Jian and hurried back behind Li Si.
Li Si drew her sword, frowning.
These things should be magic beasts, but oddly, they carried no magic beast aura at all.
They felt more like intelligent races.
Boom!
“Roar!”
A black shadow burst out of the forest and crashed down in front of the camp.
“Minotaur!”
Ailin’s expression changed.
Minotaurs were the most common magic beasts on the road to Soronwell.
Their appearance was usually accompanied by a strong magic beast aura, but this one had none at all.
“Roar!”
The minotaur was pitch black, two meters tall, wielding a whirlwind axe, with a pair of large horns on its head and blood-red bull eyes.
“Intelligent races… kill!”
The minotaur stomped heavily, and two more black shadows followed from the mountain forest—two more minotaurs of the same size, holding whirlwind axes, eyes bloodshot, roaring in fury.
Li Si dragged her sword and moved first.
Three minotaurs, all level 15, with five transferred members present, were not hard to deal with.
But the prerequisite was that those five transferred members could snap out of it.
Seeing Ailin still not reacting, Li Si warned, “The fall of the Holy Court not only restricted resurrection but also caused the magic beasts’ second evolution.”
Ailin’s eyes sharpened and she took a deep breath, quickly pulling herself out of her previous shame and shock of arrogance, and drew her sword.
“Violet Team! Formation!”
“Yes!”
The four Violet Team members immediately drew their swords.
As a team of all transferred swordsmen, they had a very sharp formation system.
Five swordsmen with five longswords rushed to the very front in an instant.
Ailin slashed downward, and the members on her left and right immediately followed with horizontal slashes.
“Roar!”
The minotaur roared, spinning its whirlwind axe outward, but Ailin’s blocked it with her longsword, and the swords on either side cut into its flesh.
“Roar!”
Crimson blood spilled instantly, steaming into the air as it splattered on the ground.
“Intelligent… races!”
Ailin’s eyes tensed.
“Blood Qi.”
Blood Qi, the minotaur’s innate skill—the more it bleeds, the stronger it becomes.
As a transferred team that grew up in the Beginner Village, Violet Team rarely fought magic beasts outside, but Ailin still stabilized her mind with experience and instinct, retreating to create distance.
“Roar!”
At that moment, the minotaur roared, took a step forward, and swung its axe in a spinning slash.
Ailin frowned, “Sword Skill: Whirlwind Slash.”
She had retreated too late; she’d have to take it head-on.
Just as she prepared to take the blow and counterattack, she suddenly froze.
“Don’t zone out!”
Lili Ya had somehow flashed to the front, bracing an iron shield with both hands.
“Clang!”
The giant axe slammed into the shield, sending a shower of sparks.
Lili Ya’s pastor boots slid back a bit before she quickly steadied herself.
Seeing Ailin still dazed, she quickly reminded, “I’ll tank it! You attack!”
“Ah…”
Ailin couldn’t believe it.
In her life, she never thought she’d hear a useless pastor say something like that to her.
‘Wait, aren’t you a pastor? How are you using a shield better than a staff?’
“Captain! Use that!”
A shout came from the side.
Ailin quickly snapped back to focus.
Now wasn’t the time to be distracted.
She stepped back to create distance and, seeing Lili Ya handling the shield so skillfully, couldn’t help shouting, “30 seconds! I need 30 seconds!”
“Got it! I can do it!”
Lili Ya pressed her shoulder firmly against the iron shield.
After being knocked back ten centimeters by the whirlwind slash, she hadn’t let the minotaur advance a single step.
Li Si had said that a shield was something you had to use with your life on the line, so she absolutely couldn’t retreat!
Lili Ya gritted her teeth, her mind full of Li Si’s teachings over the past few days.
The giant axe struck the shield, each blow sending a soul-shaking impact, but that defensive line never retreated another step.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
Ailin’s gaze turned cold.
She suddenly opened her eyes, and the next moment, thirty sword lights shot through the air.
Ailin’s figure appeared beside Lili Ya, her longsword quickly sliding back into its sheath.
[Sword Skill: Violet Slash]
“Ziiing—”
The minotaur’s giant axe froze in midair.
A sword-light-forged violet flower bloomed around its body.
Countless wounds instantly spread all over, and its already low health bar was drained to zero.
“Done.”
Ailin wanted to check on Lili Ya, but found her expression calm.
She paused, silently withdrew her unnecessary concern, and turned to help the others, only to freeze completely.
“Lili Ya, the angle of your block was off. The shield’s fan-shaped judgment range is directly in front. Blocking attacks within that range gives a chance for 50% damage reduction.”
“Mm, I’ll try my best!”
Ailin was a bit stunned.
She turned to look at her teammates, who all stared wide-eyed as if they’d seen a ghost, not daring to glance at the silver-haired girl again.
Li Si stepped over the corpses of two minotaurs, kicked away Yadana who was trying to scavenge the minotaur carcass, and finally stopped in front of Chief Luolun, pressing her sword.
“Alright, Chief. Time to talk. The secret you’ve been hiding, and the real purpose of this commission.”
Luolun’s hand trembled in the air.
He couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed.
Just a few sword strikes… no, it felt like countless swords… no flashy skills, no superior techniques—just the act of drawing the sword, combined with that girl named Yadana, and two level 15 minotaurs had died in an instant…
“Di… dictator Li… Si… it really is you… thank goodness… the village… is saved!”
Suddenly, Luolun burst into tears and dropped to his knees.
Luola and Suoda behind him knelt simultaneously, speaking in unison, “Lord Dictator, please save our village!!!”