Strengths, have a bite

The knight swayed as he walked, seemingly in a weakened state.

An opportunity.

After exchanging a glance with Mithra, Nie Hong formed the Ki pattern and activated Immobilize.

The red energy quickly enveloped the knight. Mithra, as before, charged forward with the stone hammer, preparing to strike the knight's head.

"Damn it! I can't hold him!" Nie Hong suddenly shouted.

Under Immobilize, the knight's movements were stiff and slow. While there was still some restriction, he couldn't be completely stopped.

The knight raised his sword, aiming at the charging Mithra.

But Mithra didn't hesitate. As she approached, she nimbly dodged the slow sword swing. The stone hammer still landed on the knight's head.

Crack!

With a crisp sound, the knight was sent flying backward and fell to the ground.

The already cracked helmet shattered completely, revealing a distorted face.

The face was no different from the pale cursed creatures, the abnormally cracked mouth and fangs clearly revealing a non-human identity. The only difference from the cursed creatures was that this one still had eyes.

The eyes were a strange purple, as if something resided within them.

Mithra immediately pursued, not giving the creature a chance to stand.

The knight grabbed his fallen sword. A blue light immediately flickered on it.

Mithra: ?!

She quickly changed her action. Instead of swinging the hammer down, she kicked out at the knight's sword hand.

The knight's sword was knocked aside. Mithra stomped on his hand, and the hammer continued its trajectory toward his head.

After several heavy blows, the knight's body stopped moving.

Mithra stared at what remained of the knight's head and activated Stabilize.

Then she struck again, severing the head completely, only then letting go.

Nie Hong used Control Object to retrieve the sword that Mithra had kicked away, holding it in his hand. After seeing Mithra calm down, he handed her the sword.

Mithra took the sword and confirmed that the description was identical to the previous Night Worship Sword.

"He seemed like he was about to use the miracle on the sword," Nie Hong said uncertainly.

Mithra nodded. "He probably was, but he didn't use an eye as an offering this time."

She looked at the mangled corpse.

[Night Hunter Knight (Cursed Creature): Once a knight hunting Night Eyes, he died under a powerful curse, becoming a servant of the god. Most of his skills were lost, but he gained more refined power over the eye's power.]

[—Perhaps this is a blessing?]

"For us, it's a curse," Mithra replied.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Nie Hong asked, hearing Mithra suddenly speak.

Mithra stabbed the other Night Worship Sword into her body. "They don't need eyes as offerings to activate that weird miracle. By the time you see the blue light, it's your last chance to react."

The need to crush an eye and apply it as an offering had provided ample reaction time, but with this particular cursed creature, there was no such luxury.

She hoped this type of creature was rare in the tunnels.

But why had a Night Hunter knight died deep within this tunnel?

Had the Night Hunters church in town been in the tunnels?

Mithra hadn't seen any signs of those people entering the tunnels before. They had at most been moving corpses around in the pile.

She had asked Safin, but he had said they seemed to fear the tunnels.

But now, the presence of a Night Hunter knight suggested that things might not be as she and Safin had thought.

The Night Hunters church had explored the tunnels at some point.

With questions in mind, Mithra led Nie Hong deeper into the tunnels.

The wooden walkway continued downwards along the cliff face. Although the long-abandoned walkway looked dangerous, Mithra and Nie Hong proceeded carefully and didn't encounter any problems.

Hiss—

Mithra suddenly turned.

"What is it?" Nie Hong asked.

Mithra looked around with the torch. "I feel like we're being watched."

Nie Hong looked around as well, but he was confused. "Do you?"

Mithra turned back. A ladder was before them, leading down. It was a long, wooden ladder, and it looked rather precarious.

Handing the torch to Nie Hong and storing the stone hammer inside her body, Mithra climbed down first.

Halfway down...

Hiss—

Mithra suddenly stopped and used the magma miracle, "Accumulate Dust."

After forming a small stone in her hand, she used Control Object to launch the pebble.

The pebble flew into the darkness and didn't fall silently.

"Screech—" A sudden roar echoed. It was similar to the normal cursed creatures, but much louder and deeper.

A massive dark shape lunged from the shadows, crashing into Mithra on the ladder.

Before Mithra could see what it was, she was struck and knocked into the cliff face. Luckily, she didn't fall.

"Ugh..." Mithra quickly activated Stabilize. She looked at her chest. A sharp rock was protruding from her back, piercing through her chest.

Fortunately, this rock was holding her up, or she would have fallen.

"Mithra! Are you okay?!" Nie Hong shouted from above, hearing the commotion.

Mithra looked up and saw the massive dark shape had reached Nie Hong.

In the torchlight, Mithra could see part of the creature.

It was another spider monster, but compared to the small spider monster they had encountered before, this one was incredibly large, the size of a truck.

And it had eyes! A grotesque number of bulging eyes were clustered on its body. They made a "hissing" sound as they moved.

Perhaps because it was so close this time, even Nie Hong sensed something was wrong and suddenly looked up.

Seeing the giant spider monster, his face darkened, and the monster roared and lunged at him.

Without hesitation, Nie Hong quickly ran and jumped. The wooden walkway shattered as he leaped away. A red glow surrounded him as he used Control Object to manipulate his clothes, adjusting his position mid-air before landing on a relatively stable part of the cliff face.

The giant spider monster was incredibly agile, scaling the cliff face as it chased after him.

Nie Hong continued to use Control Object to control his body, performing agile climbing movements before reaching Mithra's side.

"Damn, are you okay?!" Seeing Mithra impaled by the rock, Nie Hong winced.

Mithra didn't say much, but simply replied, "I can't move easily right now."

Nie Hong was still confused when he saw Mithra lift her clothing, revealing a sword hilt embedded in her abdomen.

"The terrain is unfavorable. Let's use the trump card. Use it to cut off my left arm," Mithra said, pulling up her sleeve to reveal her healthy left arm.

"Huh?"

As soon as he uttered the word, Nie Hong saw Mithra, clearly not wanting to waste time arguing, reach for the sword herself. But her current position made it difficult to exert force.

Nie Hong gritted his teeth, grabbed the hilt, and forced a smile. "I doubt I'll ever encounter such a bizarre situation again."

With that, he pulled.

The creepy straight sword was drawn. He aimed it at Mithra's left arm.

Mithra pointed. "Cut here. The reinforcement is weakest here, it'll be easy to sever."

"Stop talking, this is too weird!" Nie Hong shouted, aiming and then swinging down hard.

Unfortunately, Nie Hong had no experience with swords. Panicked, he hesitated slightly and didn't completely sever the arm. Some bone and tendons were still connected.

The giant spider monster was rapidly approaching; it was almost upon them!

Mithra kicked Nie Hong aside, creating space. She grabbed her left arm with her right hand and pulled hard.

Cold sweat dripped from her forehead, but a twisted smile appeared on her lips.

Rip!

She tore off the partially severed arm.

[Price: You have lost your left arm...]

Black liquid gushed out, forming frenzied tentacles that surged towards the approaching spider monster.

The tentacles swiftly severed the giant spider monster's limbs, crushed its bulging eyes, then ripped it apart and tossed it into the abyss.

In less than half a minute, the threat was eliminated.

But the tentacles didn't seem satisfied. Mithra had difficulty retracting them.

She thought for a moment, then picked up the severed left arm and threw it to the black tentacles.

Mithra vaguely sensed satisfaction and praise from them. They obediently retreated and started devouring her left arm.

[Your left arm has regenerated...]

The black substance quickly disappeared. Mithra original left arm had vanished without a trace, completely consumed.