Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Two: Trace of Light

Outside the Ruins of the “High Court.”

A flaming figure crashed heavily into this place like a comet, rolling continuously and toppling numerous already precarious structures along the way.

This was none other than “Tebidad,” which had just been struck head-on by an explosion.

At this moment, its body was engulfed in flames, its surface charred black, with flesh writhing and swelling as if regenerating and recovering.

If left unmolested by enemies, such injuries alone would take only ten minutes to heal it back to roughly the ninth level of strength.

Not even ten seconds had passed when patches of the blackened, smoking, sparking skin began to peel away inch by inch, revealing tender, writhing new flesh beneath...

“Tebidad” planted its limbs firmly on the ground, shaking off the “water” like a canine creature, its flames extinguished in the process.

Then, it rose on its hind legs, seemingly about to stand upright, and let out a roar filled with rage...

But just as it opened its massive jaws, before a sound could emerge, its enormous body trembled violently.

All subsequent movements were abruptly halted.

A black longsword had somehow pierced its lower back, the blade passing through its waist and abdomen, the tip protruding from its front belly.

It was a very long greatsword, entirely black, as wide as four fingers, nearly 1.9 meters in length, entwined with the thorns of suffering.

Its length was enough to pierce through Tebidad’s entire body.

Yet, compared to Tebidad’s colossal frame, the greatsword still seemed somewhat insignificant, liable at any moment to be crushed and broken by the terrifying muscular strength of a lord-tier aberration.

Strangely, none of this happened. The longsword possessed a bizarre power that continuously eroded Tebidad’s vitality, forcing it to tremble in place, unable to move.

“How pitiful, can’t sleep again, huh...”

“Don’t resist, you know only I can put you to sleep...”

“Sorry, this might hurt a little...”

“Sorry...”

In whispered murmurs, the area grew increasingly dark, with indescribable transparent shapes flickering around...

The flesh on Tebidad’s body rapidly began to rot, emitting an unbearable stench, gradually festering and dripping with pus-yellow fluid...

Suddenly, chunks of foul, decaying flesh fell from its skeleton.

Clatter, clatter, clatter...

In just a few seconds, the antlered giant beast was reduced to a bare, pale white skeleton, standing like a dinosaur fossil in a natural history museum.

The blood-streaked bones trembled, seemingly not entirely dead yet, but moments later, all traces of blood vaporized, leaving only stark white bones which began to crumble and fall apart.

Curiously, as the bones fell to the ground, they passed straight through it, as if falling into water and sinking to the bottom, disappearing completely...

At the same time...

[“Sleepless Tebidad” mission completed!]

“...Well, that’s something.”

Colin stood in the “Duel Arena,” staring at the parchment task list in his hand, unable to tell whether he felt surprise or joy.

The entire ordeal ended in less than three minutes.

It was almost certain that whatever killed it wasn’t them...

According to the plan, if Tebidad had come straight through, they would have needed to suffer some losses after the initial blast to lure it into a bomb pit prepared further back.

If it had teleported with Russell and used skills, they could probably avoid sacrifices and detonate the explosives while it was running.

By then, its powerful mental interference would weaken, allowing Colin to toss the manhole cover and release Number One for fire suppression coverage...

But now...

It just suddenly died.

[You know that “Tebidad” has already died.]

And then there was nothing else.

All just the usual vague nonsense...

This meant its death involved something unknown...

Colin didn’t think more on it. He promptly completed the task but chose not to check the items just yet.

At that moment, the sound signaling the start of the duel echoed in their minds.

He didn’t immediately order Russell to surrender but used the prompts to check if the outside was safe.

[Aside from some heat, the outside is currently safe.]

Frowning, Colin checked several more times, making sure they wouldn’t suddenly drop dead upon stepping outside before dispelling the “Knight’s Just Shield” effect.

The instant they returned to this space, the ground vanished beneath their feet, and they felt themselves falling.

Before panic could take root, the fall abruptly stopped...

The cause was that the bomb’s terrifying blast had reshaped the terrain, creating a half-meter-deep crater of explosive dispersion.

Parts of the soil within had melted, sparking and emanating faint wisps of heat...

Colin immediately looked back to confirm that Shana and the others’ follow-up plans had not been carried out...

Which proved that Tebidad’s death truly had nothing to do with them.

“Really... what a nightmare!”

Colin took a deep breath, quickly surveyed the surroundings to gather information, and said, “Let’s retreat first...”

With that, while the “Hunting Moment” effect still lingered, he took off like the wind, quickly racing back to the hillside.

Shana and the others gathered around at his call.

“That monster was just blown up?” Shana asked curiously as she approached.

Colin shook his head. “Not sure now. I confirmed it died outside the ruins of the ‘High Court,’ but I don’t know exactly how...”

That wasn’t the main point...

The key was...

The prompt actually said the “High Court Ruins” outskirts were safe?

Could that really be trusted?

After voicing this “guess,” everyone fell silent, unsure how to react...

Even Colin wondered if the prompt had broken from overuse.

At that moment, Li Chou, who had been silently pondering, said something that immediately set everyone on edge.

“Could the monster that struck from inside the ‘High Court Ruins’ have already come out and be approaching, which is why it says it’s safe?”

Hearing this, everyone was alarmed and quickly became vigilant.

Colin once again used the prompt to gather information about their surroundings to confirm if they were truly safe.

Soon...

The answer was yes, this place was safe as well.

Colin pondered briefly and said simply, “We’ll check again later.”

Relying solely on prompts to find clues wasn’t always reliable.

But in his heart...

Colin trusted it quite a lot.

Of course, for now, that trust was tentative.

After over ten minutes of uneventful safety, the group relaxed slightly. Colin opened his backpack to examine the items they had just gained:

“Let’s see how to improve now. We’ve finally got the ‘Trace of Light,’ and Shana’s promotion materials as well...”