Chapter 044: An Unexpected Ending
The black knight charged forward fearlessly. Its powerful momentum ignored the first wave of interception, only slowing down slightly. Then, the second and third iron chains appeared in front of the fiery warhorse. No matter how strong the warhorse’s charge was, it couldn’t withstand such continuous consumption. It was finally stopped at the fourth interception, and the black knight on its back was thrown off by the inertia.
After falling to the ground, the black knight was much easier to deal with without its powerful mobility. Several fire bombs made from fire-element crystal stones were thrown at the black knight, exploding in brilliant sparks. The powerful impact of the explosions sent it flying into a stone pillar of the hall, and it bounced off and fell heavily to the ground, unable to get up for a moment. Then, a blade-array cart, pushed by the guards, was pushed forward. The sharp blades slammed into the black knight’s body, pinning it against the solid wall. The sound of sharp metal scraping and sparks flying from the armor could be heard.
The black knight finally cried out in pain, but the sound was not human, more like the roar of some wild beast. Chen Ran did not let up. At his command, several guards with four- to five-meter-long spears simultaneously stabbed at the black knight’s side, but they were unexpectedly repelled by the black armor. The spearheads were corroded by the surging black flames, and they couldn’t pierce its not-so-low-defense battle armor.
The black knight struggled in the grip of the blade-array cart. Its immense strength was too much for the dozen or so guards, who had been enhanced with various support buffs, to handle. The originally sturdy blade-array cart began to crack, and the sound of it breaking could be heard. The men were about to lose their grip. Chen Ran ordered them to pour the prepared boiling oil. Several guards lifted the barrels of oil and poured them over the black knight.
“Light the fire! Prepare to retreat!” Chen Ran ordered.
A torch fell beside the black knight, igniting the oil. A burst of flames suddenly erupted. Chen Ran had everyone retreat first, watching the black knight struggle in the fire.
This scene made everyone cheer. The black knight rolled on the ground, wailing in pain, trying to extinguish the flames. Striking while the iron was hot, Chen Ran began to implement his final plan.
Several sturdy chains flew out, binding the black knight’s feet and hands, automatically tightening and locking. The other ends of the chains were tied to horses, and the black knight, in its fiery form, was dragged out of the hall.
After leaving the hall, the other chains were successively tied to other horses. What was prepared was none other than the most brutal execution of ancient times: being torn apart by five horses. But now, using this method on a non-human monster was exceptionally satisfying. Driven by several large horses enhanced by Chen Ran’s support power, the black knight’s limbs and head were gradually pulled apart. As the critical point was reached and the five horses accelerated simultaneously, the black knight’s body instantly tore into five parts, dismembered on the spot.
Faced with this scene, everyone present couldn’t help but cheer. The mayor, who had narrowly escaped death, let out a long sigh of relief, glad that he didn’t have to die.
But Chen Ran felt that something was wrong.
Apart from the initial excitement, Chen Ran was not as optimistic as the others, because he hadn’t felt the black knight’s death at all. At least, he hadn’t received the blood essence he wanted. And here, every part of the black knight’s body lay scattered, with the oil still burning quietly on them.
Several guards went forward to inspect the black knight’s body.
However, just then, an evil red light flashed in the eyes of the black knight’s fallen helmet. A scorching black flame extinguished the oil fire on its body. The head actually flew up on its own and hovered in mid-air, a very strange scene.
The scattered parts of the black knight simultaneously turned into a pile of black flames and quickly converged. All the black flames gathered together and began to reassemble. A few seconds later, the powerful black knight from before appeared before everyone, completely intact.
“It’s regeneration!” Chen Ran was instantly furious.
Creatures that could be rated as elite often had their own special skills or were extremely powerful. Chen Ran had never thought that the black knight’s hidden ability would be the most troublesome regeneration ability of the undead. This ability meant that as long as the main body was not hit by a devastating blow, the creature could survive indefinitely by regenerating, a super-cockroach-like skill. To kill it, one had to use the most restraining holy-type magic tools to destroy it, or use the most thorough magic of mages to turn it to ash, or have a spiritual power strong enough to directly shatter its soul fire.
Obviously, Chen Ran and the others met none of these conditions.
Because of the previous attack, even the puppet-like undead black knight was a little embarrassed and angry. The black flames on its body surged even more violently, and it raised the sword in its hand high…
When the black knight made this move, the starting posture made the experienced Chen Ran feel that something was wrong. Time was too tight. He could only instinctively make an emergency evasion, dodging to the side…
The shining sword light was like a meteor, flying swiftly in a mirror-wheel pattern, so fast that the mayor beside Chen Ran couldn’t react at all. In the mayor’s gradually widening, incredulous eyes, his head was instantly sent flying by the passing sword light, and a gushing pillar of blood rose…
The mayor’s body gradually knelt down, then fell to the ground, just like all the others who had died before.
Chen Ran coldly watched the black knight, who had successfully killed again in front of him. Its fiery horse had also escaped at some point and was now galloping toward the spot where the longsword had fallen. It lowered its head, bit the hilt, and brought it to the black knight.
At this moment, Chen Ran noticed another detail. After losing the magic sword, the black knight’s power rapidly declined, dropping to only the strength of a Tier 4 elite. And after the fiery horse returned the magic sword, its power was restored, gradually rising back to the strength of a Tier 7 elite. In other words, the true source of the black knight’s power was the black crystal magic sword in its hand.
With no way to restrain the black knight, it nimbly mounted its fiery horse, rode toward the mayor’s body, casually skewered the mayor’s head along the way, and rode off in front of everyone.
“Damn it!”
Chen Ran angrily slammed his fist on the hard ground, his teeth clenched. He had never thought that such a meticulous plan to kill it would be brought to naught by the black knight’s regeneration ability.
From joy to sorrow, no one could accept this gap in reality, and the disappointment on their faces was hard to hide.
“Clean up the mayor’s body,” this time, it was the guard who was more composed. He was more accustomed to this kind of scene than Chen Ran. He walked over, patted Chen Ran’s shoulder with a comforting expression, and then directed everyone to disperse.
Everyone was very tired tonight.
Outside, in the silence, only Chen Ran sat alone on the cold ground. He sat quietly for a long time, still not having recovered from the failure.
Dawn was about to break. A sudden string of footsteps broke the dead silence of the night. Chen Ran looked up and saw a figure he least wanted to face at this moment…
