"Afterwards, Adelina saved my soul with her life, pulling my withered heart out of the mire. Her sacrifice taught me a lesson: tragedy and misfortune cannot be an excuse for the unfortunate to wallow in self-pity; they should be a warning to me, a warning to save those with the same fate from misfortune!"
Alfonso touched the "Umbrella" badge on his chest and said softly, "My life no longer belongs to myself. The will of my wife, children, and close friends is what keeps me going."
Tears welled in Leslie's eyes: "My lord, if this is the destiny you have chosen, then let me follow you to the very end."
Alfonso was about to speak again when the shouts of the guards drew his attention away.
"enemy!"
A black figure rose from the 'blood carpet,' pointed at the guards, and let out a low growl.
The next second, thousands of blood-red worms launched an attack from all directions and jumped into the crowd.
The two closest inheritor guards only managed to cut down a few insects before being overwhelmed by the swarm and devoured until only their skeletons remained.
Alfonso shouted the order: "Light the fire!"
The guards, realizing what was happening, took the kerosene and other fuels from their waists and, instead of pouring them into the swarm of insects, poured them onto their own armor and weapons.
The sparks from the flint ignited the fuel, and the intense flames enveloped the Inheritor Guards, forming fiery barriers around them. Meanwhile, the dragon bones' ability to insulate and absorb the heat protected the armored figures.
As the 'Flaming Longsword' swept across, the burning worms turned to charcoal; wherever the 'Flaming Armor' passed, the man-eating monsters had nowhere to hide.
Alfonso seized the opportunity, charged forward, and slashed at the figure with his two-handed sword, cutting the latter's body in two at the waist, which then burst into flames like firewood.
"We've defeated the enemy!" Guards cheered, raising their weapons and shields.
Leslie rushed forward, shouting, "No! It's just a corpse controlled by insects! The attack isn't over yet!"
As soon as he finished speaking, taking advantage of the moment when the flames were dying down, a swarm of worms attacked the guards again, causing another death.
Then, a dozen or so corpses stood up from the 'blood blanket', spitting out countless newly hatched worms from their mouths.
Alfonso brandished his greatsword and shouted, "Where is the controller of these insects?!"
Leslie picked up his slingshot, loaded it with explosive ammunition, and fired a shot directly into the corpse's chest. He replied, "Go forward! Follow this path for another fifteen meters!"
Fifteen meters.
This distance, which normally takes no more than ten seconds to walk, took the heirs of the Muxi Kingdom a full ten minutes.
Kerosene, torches, explosives... the guards used every means of attack, paying the price of dozens of lives and killing countless insects, until they finally reached a gap in the sewer wall.
The stone wall was carved out by tremendous force, creating a hole that connects to a natural underground cave.
After walking a few more meters along the cave, the group finally saw a huge cocoon in mid-air, with countless corpses hanging around it, their bodies covered with countless insect eggs.
Covered in wounds, Alfonso grabbed a worm that had crawled into a gap in his armor and slammed it against the stone wall, killing it instantly.
Looking at the cocoon in mid-air, he led a group of guards, picked up the last oil canister, poured it on himself, lit it, and rushed forward.
Countless insects crawled out of the corpses hanging in mid-air. They received the command to protect the mother body and became no longer afraid of the flames. They rushed forward and covered the 'flame armor' one after another, extinguishing the flames on the intruders by isolating them from the air.
Without the protection of flames, the ensuing battle turned into a one-sided massacre.
Roars and screams echoed through the cave.
After an unknown amount of time, Alfonso's body was completely exhausted. Of all the guards who had entered the cave, he was the only one left. The sword in the knight's hand was just moving mechanically, and every organ in his body was emitting a desperate wail.
Is it over?
The knight knelt down, his greatsword falling from his hands. His crimson eyes no longer held any desire for survival, and worms swarmed towards him like a tide.
boom!
A raging fire erupted in the cave, the temperature reaching thousands of degrees Celsius, scorching everything inside. In the cramped space, there was nothing but crimson flames and intense light.
Worms, corpses, blood webs, cocoons, are like snowflakes meeting the sun, melting and ultimately returning to nothingness.
Alfonso shielded his eyes with his right hand; the intense heat was blocked by the 'dragon bone,' but the bright light made him dizzy.
In the light, Alfonso could vaguely see a figure through the gaps between his fingers. Flames shot out from his body, like fireworks from heaven, dispelling all the gloom in the darkness.
The figure slowly turned around, revealing a smiling face streaked with tears, which gradually faded away in the flames.
"My lord, farewell..."
It was a spring afternoon when the greatsword severed the chains of the prison cart, and the knight and his squire met for the first time.
"You are free now, leave this place."
"..."
"I told you you're free!"
"..."
"Don't you have any family?! Stop following me!"
"..."
"How long are you planning to follow me?!"
"Until death."
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