"AHHHHH—"
"EEEEK—"
"Huh? YOOOOOO—"
The three welcomed Blaze’s arrival with incredibly enthusiastic screams. The Precept Monk had already started rolling on the ground. The Nun, however, only raised her hands and let out a happy shriek after dazedly looking back and forth at her two screaming companions.
Clearly, the Nun was a complete newbie who had never fallen victim to the previous Black Beast Knight Blaze, to the point where she didn’t even recognize him.
Blaze clenched his fists, somewhat moved. He desperately wanted to be welcomed by the Foreigners. In the past, they would simply ignore him, but now their very first reaction upon seeing him was to scream in terror. He resolved that reversing the Black Beast Knight’s reputation would start with protecting the Foreigners.
Unfortunately, he was currently unable to speak and could only express himself through actions. The first step was to wipe out the pack of lions before him—leveling up and farming goodwill at the same time.
[Nemean Lioness Level 20]
[A pitiful lioness that has lost its normal reproductive capabilities due to the erosion of the Evil God’s Blood. It is doomed to spend its entire life repeatedly hunting and giving birth to more deformed Monsters.]
[Skills: Stealth E / Blood Poison Fang F / Evil God Curse (Power) F / Muscle Enhancement F / Three-dimensional Maneuvering E / Super Thinking F]
[Hunter Hidden Skill: When facing enemies with the Wild Beast affix, perform Identification on the target’s skill panel.]
Blaze summoned the Twisted Giant Sword, using its massive blade to block the cruel gazes of the Nemean Lionesses.
There were ten Nemean Lionesses in total. Although they lacked a commander and acted independently, they still coordinated with one another. Danger Perception warned him that the one in the middle was getting restless, while Forest Blessing made his footsteps light.
Blaze charged at the pack. A sweeping slash of his Twisted Giant Sword caught all the lionesses in its attack range at once, the collision between their fur and his blade once again striking up countless blinding sparks.
"The Nemean Lionesses have a Skill called Curse of the Evil God that can nullify Slashing or Piercing damage! Your Great Sword won’t be able to hurt them!" the Spear Knight shouted, instinctively warning Blaze.
Blaze turned back and gave the Spear Knight a nod. Releasing the Twisted Giant Sword, he slammed his fist into a Nemean Lioness that was lunging for his neck. Wrapped in Heavy Armor, his fist hit like a heavy artillery shell, sending the lioness staggering back with a yelp.
"What’s going on right now?" the Precept Monk asked, rubbing his hands together uneasily. It felt incredibly strange to have the Monster that once scared him half to death suddenly acting as his teammate.
"Hey!" The Nun raised her hands and smacked both the Spear Knight and the Precept Monk on their foreheads, though the blows dealt no damage.
She gestured wildly with her hands. Seeing the Precept Monk’s utterly confused expression, the Spear Knight made faces at her before suddenly realizing what she meant. He immediately started rattling off an explanation like a machine gun.
"Aren’t we immune to friendly fire in a party state in Gedelock? He must be one of those Knight NPCs who wander randomly across the Map and drop from the sky when players are in danger!"
"Isn’t your sister a famous virtual Songstress? How does she not even know about a notorious guy like the Black Knight?" the Precept Monk muttered quietly to the Spear Knight.
"What Songstress? She’s just a socially anxious introvert who only uploads singing videos," the Spear Knight replied, unbothered as he raised his voice. "Her only daily joy is reading positive comments from fans on X. I brought her along to play just so she could at least learn to have normal conversations with NPCs."
"Hmph!" The Nun let out a meaningless squeak and stomped her foot in embarrassment and frustration.
Seeing that the Nun was about to pounce on him, the Spear Knight immediately grabbed his weapon and charged at the Nemean Lionesses.
"Oh no! Blaze is in danger! I’m going in to help!"
"MURU MURU!" the Nun grumbled, puffing up her cheeks and making odd chewing sounds. The Precept Monk, unfazed by her antics, simply started recording and rushed in after his friend.
Blaze’s first party battle with the Foreigners had officially begun.
The Nun pressed her hands together, wrapping them around a Church-blessed Cross as she murmured and hummed the loving kindness of the Holy Mother. Adorable Illusionary Angels descended, bearing halos in their hands. The Precept Monk conveyed God’s judgment, but unlike the Nun’s benevolence, he glared fiercely, loudly condemning the Monsters for their sin of desecrating the forest. Lightning and hurricanes swept forth simultaneously.
The Priest class advancement, Nun, was strictly limited to female Foreigners and featured the Special Skill [Hail Mary]. This Skill was a song. Singing it to completion, or finishing certain verses, would grant a special Enhancement status. The Enhancement lasted for 15 seconds, but as long as the singing was maintained, the duration could be extended infinitely without consuming additional MP.
The Priest class advancement, Precept Monk, featured the Special Skill [Bible: Mark’s Gospel]. This Skill was a passage of scripture. Each verse produced a different offensive Effect when recited aloud.
[Obtained Hail Mary Enhancement State]
[Power +25% | Agility +20% | Faith -15%]
Blaze suddenly felt his head grow heavy. A naked little boy Angel placed a halo over his head, immediately followed by a massive surge in his physical abilities. With just a light wave of his hands, he easily flung away a Nemean Lioness that was gnawing at his Armor.
The Spear Knight and the Precept Monk quickly stepped up to block the other Nemean Lionesses attempting to flank him.
The spear used by the Spear Knight lacked any Sharpness altogether. The weapon looked more like a long-handled Wolf Fang Club, whistling with formidable power as he swung it. The Precept Monk brandished fists wrapped in bandages covered with mysterious letters, each strike laced with wind and thunder.
Meanwhile, after receiving the Nun’s support buffs, Blaze alone managed to hold off more than half of the Nemean Lionesses, preventing any of them from slipping past to attack the continuously singing Nun behind him.
Fighting Master Skill: [Butterfly Dance]. It was a footwork technique that bordered on purely ornamental. Without incredibly strong fundamentals, using it was simply a waste of stamina. However, once transformed into a Profession Skill, this footwork became a terrifying offensive weapon.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the burly Heavy Armor Knight fluttered like a weightless black butterfly through the highly poisonous fangs and claws. Then, a black streak flashed past. His dark, heavy fist drove into a Nemean Lioness’s chest like a venomous stinger.
Fighting Master Skill: [Bee Sting Fist].
"Holy shit, that move was so slick! Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." The Precept Monk stared in awe. He also had the Fighting Master Profession, so he knew exactly how difficult the Butterfly Dance Skill was to pull off.
Butterfly Dance was a continuous Skill with zero cooldown. But to use it well, one had to grasp the rhythm of the attack. Every pause and every window of opportunity required the player’s own flawless timing.
For players, it was the equivalent of hyper-focusing on exactly when to press and release a single button, making it extremely easy to mess up. But for an NPC, a Profession Skill was like an instinct etched into their very body, allowing them to utilize newly acquired abilities as if they had been tempered thousands of times. As a side note, top-tier players who mained Fighting Master never wasted Skill Points to learn Butterfly Dance—they could simply recreate the footwork themselves.
"By the way, I didn’t know Black Beast Knight Blaze also had the Fighting Master Profession," the Precept Monk noted.
"He never used it before. The guys in the White Beast Knight Order even speculated that his Profession was an Executioner, Assassin, or something along those lines," the Spear Knight added.
[You have defeated the Nemean Lioness. Your affinity with nature has improved.]
All ten Nemean Lionesses were defeated, their corpses gradually turning to dust and vanishing. Blaze noticed that the three Foreigners all wore expressions of pleasant surprise, indicating that the lionesses had dropped quite a few rare items.
Yet, he received nothing. In fact, he started to feel anxious.
His Blessing didn’t display any gained Honor Points, which meant the three Foreigners were not out of danger yet. The faint cries for help echoing in his ears had not vanished; instead, they grew clearer, mixed with the sound of viscous, crashing waves.
It wasn’t over yet.
The Spear Knight and the Precept Monk shoved each other back and forth, clearly still unable to shake off the shadow of fear cast by the Black Beast Knight. The Nun, however, walked straight toward Blaze without the slightest hesitation.
"Um, can you—Mmph!"
Blaze scooped up the Nun and leaped backward abruptly. The ground where the Nemean Lionesses had died split open. Scarlet blood surged forth, accompanied by gale-force winds that sounded like mournful wails. A massive, towering figure emerged, looking as though it had just stepped out from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
[You have encountered a hidden enemy]
[Nemean Lion King Level 30]