Chapter Five Mutation

  I just realized that I'm now ranked 6th on today's bestseller list, thanks to everyone's rewards yesterday, which allowed me to squeeze in with the big shots, thank you.

  ………………………………………

  Facing this eerie and terrifying scene, Lucien really had a feeling of trembling hands and feet, a swelling head, and chaotic thoughts about what to do and what not to do. The reaction on the surface was that Lucien was scared stiff, completely without any response.

  "Holy Symbol, wait, I still have the True Holy Symbol!"

  Lucien, in a panic, thought of his greatest reliance and unconsciously concentrated his mind, wanting to recite the incantation and activate the first ring of divine technique "Holy Light Shield", no matter what, protecting himself was the most important thing.

  "Ah!" At this moment, a thunderous roar sounded in Lucien's ear, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end and his thoughts to come to an abrupt halt.

  "Light spell." Gary's calm voice entered Lucien's ears, the person who had just let out a roar and awakened Lucien, Koria, and Hausen from their stunned daze was indeed Gary.

  Gari's calm and composed attitude infected Lucien, who quickly regained his composure. Without thinking much, he rubbed the holy emblem and muttered in a low voice: "Gaia."

  A sphere of white light appeared before Lucien and others, dispelling the deep darkness.

  Then, Lucien saw a group of black rats, they were normal in size, but their eyes were bright red, gathered on the floor, walls and strange human-shaped plants in a secret room, densely packed, making Lucien's scalp tighten.

  As soon as the white light appeared, these mice seemed to have seen their sworn enemies and squeaked, surging towards Lucien, Garry and others like a tide.

  As the red-eyed mice dispersed, the appearance of the secret room was revealed to Lucien and others. A desk in the corner held three books that flickered with strange dim light. A flat, wide, and strange table stood in the center, adorned with numerous bizarre patterns in red, blue, and green, which bore an inexplicable resemblance to the designs surrounding the "Truth Holy Emblem" cross. On these patterns were placed small stoves, pots, glass bottles, and other objects.

  Neither Lucien nor Gary had time to observe carefully, for those crazy mice, with their foul smell and eerie presence, had already surged forward.

  Hausen the Silent and Correa the Sharp, awakened by Gari's roar, skillfully grasped their long swords and shields, one on each side of Gari, forming a simple battle array.

  Facing mice, rather than other grotesque monsters, Lucien, who was infected with Gary's calmness, became more and more relaxed, but the number of mice was too many, too strange, still making Lucien's heart beat.

  The red-eyed mouse leapt up, pouncing on Lucien with its mouth open, revealing two long and sharp teeth.

  Lucien, gripping the Radiant Sword with one hand, swung the blade condensed with light towards the red-eyed rat.

  The divine technique summoned a lightsaber, its sharpness far surpassing that of an ordinary knight's longsword. However, Lucien swung this sword hastily and misjudged the speed and cunning of the red-eyed rat as it jumped, causing the lightsaber to merely slide past beside it.

  The red-eyed mouse and the light sword rubbed against each other, the black fur quickly carbonized and spread to the flesh. At this time, the red-eyed mouse had already pounced in front of Lucien, its flashing cold light red pupils were clear and distinct, and the stench of rotting flesh could be faintly smelled from its mouth.

  With a sword swing, the red-eyed mouse was right in front of him, and Lucien suddenly became flustered, wanting to swing his sword back and also wanting to stretch out his left hand to block it. In the midst of this conflict, he almost dropped the Glorious Sword on the ground.

  Just as the red-eyed mouse was about to bite its own chest, Lucien was at a loss, with no way out.

  Suddenly, a long sword flashing with cold light stretched out from the side, just cutting off the neck of that red-eyed old mouse, chopping it into two pieces.

  "Don't panic, if you can't block it in time, dodge its vital points, there's a healing spell." Gary's low voice came over.

  "Get back here and stick with us! Are you a rookie trying to get yourself killed standing out there all alone?"

  In this situation, no matter what negative impression Gari, Koreya, Hausen and others have of Lucien, they understand that he is a force not to be underestimated with the holy emblem in hand. Even when other changes occur, it is the key to turning the tide. No one knows what monsters or magical traps will come after the Red-Eyed Mouse.

  After dodging the red-eyed mouse's pounce, Lucien, who had become flustered again, let out a silent sigh of relief and calmed down once more. Compared to Gari, a high-ranking knight attendant who had undergone rigorous training and had rich combat experience, he found himself too inexperienced, too green, and too clumsy when faced with danger or sudden changes. Not everyone was born with the talent for battle or the gift of remaining calm in the face of danger.

  Having Gari, a seasoned veteran, by your side to guide and assist you in the first real battle of your life is a great fortune, and it will be valuable experience for facing battles and dangers in the future.

  This time Lucien didn't panic, swinging his lightsaber forward while slowly retreating backwards to join Gari and the others.

  The red-eyed rats that came rushing over were no longer just one or two, but dozens, and behind them was a continuous surge of rats.

  The light sword shone brightly and sharply, leaving a faint glow in its wake. Lucien's slash was guided by Gari's instructions, prioritizing defense to fully utilize the Light Sword's characteristics while avoiding Lucien's fundamental lack of swordsmanship training.

  The radiance brought by this sword seemed to form a pale white barrier in front of Lucien, and the rats that pounced on it were directly struck by the light sword, being split into two halves as easily as mud, with their internal organs and torn skin charred black, heavily falling to the ground without a single drop of blood flowing out.

  Those who were not hit by the light sword, when they passed through the remaining light shadow, their fur began to dry and char, slowing down, either falling in front of Lucien or being slashed by Gari and Koreya on both sides.

  "Hey, kid, not bad at all. That one sword stroke just killed over a dozen of those monster rats." Koria whistled, it was unclear whether he was praising or mocking.

  Lucien himself didn't feel proud of being able to kill so many red-eyed rats with one sword, it was all thanks to the power of the Glorious Sword and Gari's guidance. At this time: "I feel that the power of the Glorious Sword is starting to wane."

  After killing the Red-eyed Mouse, Lucien felt he had somewhat gotten used to this kind of scene.

  Gari coordinated with Lucien's Radiant Sword, swinging and thrusting his longsword nonstop to repel the escaped rats: "Don't worry, the remaining power is enough to kill these demons."

  After a batch of them were killed and retreated, the red-eyed mice flew over again, this time in a dense black mass, seemingly numbering over a hundred.

  Lucien's swings became more and more skilled, although he was slightly afraid in his heart, worried that he couldn't completely block the hundreds of rats, but still fully believed in Garry and Koria, believing they could help him block the rats on both sides.

  The Radiant Sword slashed down from top to bottom, drawing a beautiful light and shadow in mid-air. With a series of loud crashes, countless red-eyed rats collided with the sword, increasing the pressure on Lucien's hands. As an ordinary person without knight training, he almost couldn't hold onto the Radiant Sword.

  There were too many mice, even though the Glorious Sword was like a rain of half-bodies falling down in front of it, yet dozens still broke through Lucien's blockade and passed through the wall of light and shadow drawn by the Glorious Sword.

  "So many mice, Garie and Corea can't intercept them unless they can swing five or six swords in one second!" Lucien's Glorious Sword couldn't strike again, he could only worry inwardly: "Perhaps the high-ranking knight attendants trained by the church have some power similar to divine magic."

  Just as Lucien was daydreaming, what blocked his way from both sides were not two sharp knight swords, but two round small shields wrapped in silver-gray metal skin.

  Two small shields with a fierce aura were swung out violently, and dozens of impact sounds merged into a loud crash. Those red-eyed rats were directly knocked flying, fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and soon died completely.

  Corea smiled: "Good knights, it's not just about long swords, but also being good at using shields."

  Lucien let out a sigh of relief as he continued to wield the Radiant Sword, fending off the attacks of the Red-Eyed Rats.

  After repeated failures, the red-eyed mice seemed to have realized that something was wrong. Some of them stopped flying and came running from the ground, while others climbed up the walls, preparing to attack from above the four men's heads.

  The situation suddenly became precarious.

  "Give me the cross on your head." Suddenly said by the tall and sturdy Hausen who had been silent all along.

  Lucien swung the radiant sword from top to bottom, blocking the mice in mid-air and on the ground, asking: "Do you want to use 'Holy Light Shield'?"

  Gary shook his head: "Wait a little longer."

  Four people were like a small boat in the midst of raging waves, swaying and staggering amidst the red-eyed rats that fell from the sky, pounced from mid-air, and surged from the ground, as if they would be overwhelmed at any moment.

  Suddenly, Hausen's blockage had a gap, and a red-eyed rat fell on Correa's shoulder. Correa's long sword and shield were facing forward, unable to defend in time, and was bitten directly on the neck, letting out a painful hum, his shoulder shook, shaking off the red-eyed rat.

  Corey said with a scowl: "The wound is numb and it seems to be poisonous."

  "Alright, I'll activate Therapeutic Magic." Lucien said as he began to rub the holy emblem with his empty left hand.

  Gari stopped him, saying, "Not yet, Koreya can still hold on. It seems that it's impossible to completely stop them, so let's wait for a few more bites and then activate the treatment spell." The mice were just too many, and the treatment spell had to be used sparingly.

  Before he had finished speaking, he also let out a muffled grunt, having been bitten by a red-eyed mouse between his boot and knee pad.

  With this experience, Gari, Koria and Hausen all changed their fighting style a bit. Although the mouse could bite people, its teeth were not sharp enough to pierce armor, so they relaxed a little in places with locked gauntlets and knee pads, and focused on defending other areas, and the situation suddenly improved.

  Only Lucien, wearing a linen short-sleeved shirt and matching long pants with no protection whatsoever, was immediately bitten on the ankle by a red-eyed rat.

  A tingling sensation rose from his ankles and quickly spread upwards, causing Lucien to almost lose his balance. At the same time, he felt extremely thirsty with a dry mouth.

  "Your constitution is much worse than ours, first use Holy Light Shield and then use Healing Spell." Gary discerned the situation, at this time, nearly half of the Red-eyed Rats had died.

  As for himself, Lucien didn't hesitate, his mind focused, he rubbed the holy emblem:

  "Shamen."

  A strange and mysterious incantation echoed out, a pale white light shield appearing on Lucien's body.

  Lucien unleashed a divine spell and his mind couldn't focus, so he took a step forward, using the Holy Light Shield and Radiant Sword to block all the red-eyed rats in front of him.

  The mice who dodged the Glorious Sword attacked the Holy Light Shield one after another, but in the flash of light, the Holy Light Shield did not shake at all, giving Gari and Koreya the opportunity to kill and knock down the mice.

  After two or three seconds, Lucien's spirit recovered, and he rubbed the holy emblem again, reciting the awkward incantation: "Gurdi."

  A beam of white light shot out from the holy emblem on the cross and landed on Lucien's foot, and the itching sensation immediately disappeared.

  With Lucien's holy shield of light in front, although Correa and Garry occasionally dodged and were bitten, the situation gradually turned around, as the red-eyed rats became fewer and fewer, the danger slowly dissipated.

  Lucien took a moment to activate the holy symbol, healing the wounds on Koreya and Gari.

  Not long after, Correa killed a red-eyed rat with one sword, letting its blood splatter everywhere. He then let out a soft sigh: "Finally got rid of it."

  The ground was already filled with a dense layer of red-eyed mouse corpses and a pool of dark red blood that had accumulated drop by drop.

  Lucien stared at these in a daze, hardly daring to believe that he had done this himself. Gary nodded: "Lucien, you've done well."

  Lucien snapped back to reality, ready to thank Gary.

  Garry took a deep breath and ordered: "Hausen, you go with Lucien to the secret room and take a look."

  Lucien has a holy light shield, Hausen is always standing behind and hasn't been bitten by the mouse. At this time, Gary naturally wants to bring out everyone's abilities.

  Behind him was a quiet piece of land, and the usually taciturn Hausen did not respond.

  Corey looked back strangely and then he was filled with astonishment and panic, stuttering: "Hausen, Hausen is gone."

  Just a moment ago, he had repelled the red-eyed old mouse and was steadily guarding behind the three people. How could Hausen be gone?!

  Lucien had a creepy feeling again.