Chapter 741: New Knight of Order!

Chapter 741: The New Knight of Order!

The wooden staff at Daliwenluo's feet levitated, and the moment he reached out and gripped it, the quicksand beneath him transformed into a lush green, bursting with vitality.

The manifestations and lingering traces of life could take many forms, but the most direct... was that exuberant, surging vitality.

Thus, this time Karen did not deliberately delay to arrange any formations, nor did he temporarily apply any defensive spells to his own body.

Sometimes, having more cards in your hand is not necessarily better; in fact, a surplus of options can become a burden, leaving you helpless at a critical juncture.

Sorcerers of Mr. Hoffen's or Mentor Pilo's caliber could construct a temporary high-level formation with a wave of their hand, but the current Karen was still incapable of that.

As for the defensive armor spells of the Order system, at this moment, they would not actually provide any effective protection.

Because experience told Karen that the existence before him, who claimed to be a bastard, would not grant him the luxury of time or any margin for error in his fighting style.

The reality unfolded precisely as Karen had deduced.

Daliwenluo moved, his speed immense, devoid of any superfluity—a straight line, facing Karen directly, swinging the wooden staff with one hand to bring it straight down.

Instinctively, Karen retreated, widening the distance between them.

"Boom!"

Where he had stood, the wooden staff smashed open a massive crater, within which grass seeds instantly sprouted.

The power of this single strike could be described as utterly terrifying, and it inflicted blunt-force trauma; meaning that even if you wore armor or deployed defensive spells, upon receiving this blow, your armor might remain intact, but your actual body would be vibrated into a bloody pulp.

Having missed with the strike, Daliwenluo showed not the slightest discouragement or disappointment; he even smiled, looking at Karen.

The envious contrast formed by his own experiences against the other's, the proximity brought about by their past exchanges as "pen pals," and now standing on opposite sides of a lethal struggle, each serving a different master;

He greatly savored this feeling—clashing with Karen and displaying himself before him brought him a sense of immense satisfaction and joy.

Of course, if he knew his pen pal was a man named Richard—no, a bug acting as a ghostwriter—his mood would certainly not be so beautiful.

Gently twisting his neck, Daliwenluo launched an attack once more, identical to the previous one, but even faster.

Karen still chose not to meet it head-on; holding the sword with his right hand to shield his front, he waved his left hand forward, casting the instantaneous spell [Order—Shadow Tracking]. Beneath Karen's feet, a mass of dark shadow appeared, granting him a boost in speed.

"Boom!"

Daliwenluo struck out another immense crater, which similarly teemed with life.

Meanwhile, in the previous crater, the green color had already vanished.

"Whew... whew... whew..."

A rhythmic breathing pattern, akin to a warm-up; Karen could continue to evade, while Daliwenluo was compounding and storing his power.

His speed and strength would continuously welcome increments.

In the end, either Karen could suppress him with absolute power, or Karen would have no choice but to flee.

But Daliwenluo felt Karen would not choose the latter, because it was he who had stood still, and Karen had actively sought him out.

Daliwenluo believed that anyone who liked to behave decently in all matters must, deep within their heart, be proud and self-assured.

"They won't come to help, rest assured," Daliwenluo said with a smile. "That fellow from the Samsara Religion carrying twin blades, named Lango, is not a hot-blooded youth who acts on impulse."

Karen replied, "Inside his body resides a soul that emerged from the Gate of Samsara."

Daliwenluo was struck by realization: "Oh, so that's how it is. No wonder his body is so young, yet his soul gives me a sense of decay. I dislike this method of forced continuation; it insults the true essence of life."

"What kind of essence?"

"To grow like a flower, to bloom like a flower, to wither like a flower."

Daliwenluo raised the wooden staff in his hand once more.

"Accept its beginning, accept its development, accept its end, accept its... completeness."

"I agree," Karen nodded, "but sometimes, grafting is also another way for life to continue."

"I know you have a point, but I don't like it, so I don't recognize it." Greenish lines began to gradually appear on the wooden staff in Daliwenluo's hand. "You may dodge one more strike."

With that, Daliwenluo's figure vanished from the spot, appearing directly above Karen, a blow crashing down furiously!

A square matrix appeared beneath Karen's feet, and as the matrix sank downward, Karen's body sank along with it, entering beneath the sandy surface.

"Boom!"

A massive roar rang out as an even larger crater appeared, containing not only green grass but also fresh flowers within its hollow, while the wooden staff in Daliwenluo's hand was actively sprouting roots and branches.

Right now, he looked more like he was fighting with a sapling in hand.

"Buzz!"

Karen's figure emerged from the sandy surface not far away; he did not deliberately conceal it, his expression revealing a hint of discomfort.

Though he had escaped the strike zone in time, the tremors had still transmitted to his body; at this moment, a sensation of numbness pervaded his entire form.

This fellow's strength, as well as his mastery and application of that strength, could both be called terrifying.

He was different from Muri; due to his family inheritance, Muri walked a path that balanced both offense and defense, making him a natural guard and bodyguard. Daliwenluo was different—every one of his attacks pressed forward indomitably, completely disregarding his own defense.

During the previous three attacks, Karen could indeed have launched a counterattack and would certainly have been able to injure him, but Karen had not done so.

Because Neo also greatly favored this style of fighting—opening up completely to fight you, deliberately exposing a plethora of flaws to entice your attack, and he would even purposely wait for you to pierce his heart with a weapon to play dead, before finally delivering a massive surprise.

Exuberant vitality... often implied a terrifying capacity for bodily self-healing and an extremely formidable resilience against blows.

You could attack him, and he was willing to let you attack, but he only needed to seize a single opportunity to resolve the battle.

"Are you going to keep dodging?" Daliwenluo asked. "Next, it will become harder and harder for you to dodge."

Karen shook his head, holding the hilt seriously with both hands; simultaneously, over a dozen chains of Order appeared, encircling him with his body as the center.

Fortunately, freakish opponents who caused such headaches like Neo were, after all, a minority among minorities—not only powerful in close combat, but also capable of balancing the use of spells, and even more prone to playing with their prey like a seasoned old hound.

The one before him, compared to Neo, appeared somewhat simple and unadorned instead.

Daliwenluo tilted his neck slightly and asked, "Are you sure?"

Clearly, after witnessing his three attacks, that Karen actually still dared to strike a pose of direct confrontation left him quite surprised.

Karen responded, "We can give it a try."

"Very well."

Daliwenluo moved.

Karen found that within his vision as he looked toward Daliwenluo, a distortion appeared, and immediately following that, the staff came down.

By now, this accumulated speed had already approached an absurd level.

As for anything higher than absurd, Karen had actually seen it before; back when Rasma had kicked Lord Ogie, that Frost Giant Dragon, like a ball right in front of him, what was displayed was near the supreme pinnacle of speed and power that a human could endure.

Having witnessed more powerful methods and more troublesome opponents allowed one to avoid unnecessary panic when facing other situations.

Examine the problem first, then seek the breakthrough to solve it; Karen always believed that fighting required the use of one's brain.

Now, he had finally figured out the line of reasoning to solve the problem.

The four chains of Order beneath Karen's feet plunged fiercely into the ground, pinning themselves there like driving nails.

The four chains of Order on either side of his body extended outward; though there were clearly no attachments, it felt like a void binding, maintaining stability and force.

The four chains of Order above were the same; though there was clearly no support overhead, it was as if they were embedded into the air.

A total of twelve Chains of Order manifested, binding Cullen securely to the earth.

Cullen hoisted his greatsword, and for the first time, struck back in a direct, frontal clash!

"Hummm!!!"

The wooden club and the greatsword collided violently.

The twelve Chains of Order began to snap, yet the instant a link fractured, a new, flawless segment immediately forged itself anew; amid this dynamic destruction, the dozen chains remained perpetually whole.

So long as these twelve bonds endured, the monstrous force delivered by Daliwenluo was utterly dissipated into the surrounding terrain, as if Cullen had taken the very environment hostage to shoulder the burden with him.

"Thud!"

A final, terrifyingly dull reverberation echoed outward, unleashing a concussive shockwave that instantly leveled the surrounding dunes into a perfectly smooth expanse.

Daliwenluo, whose momentum had just been unstoppable, was sent flying backward, his boots carving deep furrows into the sand as he plunged his club into the ground to anchor himself, sliding a considerable distance before halting.

Once he finally steadied himself, he lifted his gaze to look at Cullen standing before him:

"My God, such a technique is truly possible?"

"As you can see."

Cullen had felt little strain from the exchange, and now, gripping his sword, he began his advance, actively hunting for a second clash.

The roles of hunter and prey had inverted.

A low growl tore from Daliwenluo’s throat, and the wooden club in his grasp swelled, lengthening as lush, verdant leaves sprouted thick upon its bark; when he leapt into the air, it was as if he had uprooted a colossal tree from the very desert.

His eyes burned a stark, crimson red, his physical faculties surging to a desperate apex, forcing the great tree in his hands to bloom and bear fruit mid-air.

Finally, this club—or rather, this entire tree—came crashing down!

Yet, when their weapons met once more, the crimson fury in Daliwenluo's eyes cracked, giving way to a sudden, creeping horror.

For in that fleeting instant, he saw the twelve Chains of Order around Cullen multiply—tripling, in fact—until a dense, claustrophobic thicket of thirty-six chains lashed out, enveloping Cullen entirely.

Daliwenluo felt precisely like a relentless moth that had plunged headlong into a spider's web.

"Boom!"

The weapons clashed a second time.

The thirty-six Chains of Order fractured rapidly, the speed of their repair visibly lagging behind the onslaught, but regardless, over twenty chains remained unshaken, while the others constantly shattered and reformed in a seamless cycle.

After a breathless stalemate... "Thud!"

Another terrible, heavy boom resounded, and the resulting shockwave scooped a hollow out of the desert, sinking the surrounding sands nearly a full meter deep.

"Sizzle..."

Blood began to seep continuously from every pore of Daliwenluo’s body, not only staining his flesh but erupting into an exaggerated crimson mist that almost entirely shrouded the battlefield.

Beholding this spectacle, Cullen could not help but marvel inwardly: Ah, what terrifying hematopoiesis.

The volume of blood from ten oxen could scarcely match this, yet Daliwenluo continued to hemorrhage relentlessly.

Daliwenluo was thrown back, crashing heavily onto the sand, the tree collapsing beside him, its once-fresh, vibrant canopy stripped completely bare of its leaves.

This massive loss of blood signaled that his physical constitution had passed its absolute breaking point.

If lifting the club had forced his body to its absolute zenith, then in facing an adversary far more unyielding than himself, the moment Cullen withstood the blow, Daliwenluo was instantly subjected to a recoil of several times—if not dozens of times—the terrifying pressure.

Striking a bale of cotton and striking a solid wall with one's fist are entirely different experiences.

"Hoo..."

Cullen exhaled heavily, his lips slightly parched, fine beads of sweat forming on his brow.

The high-intensity deployment of spells and the massive, rapid expenditure of spiritual energy left even him feeling fatigued.

Fortunately, he had no cause to worry about his spiritual reserves; though that small puddle had rippled and surged in frantic waves moments before, the water had not run dry, and a vast abundance remained.

Why had he prepared so thoroughly during his second purification into a divine servant, why had he risked his very life to achieve his ambitions? It was precisely for a moment like this!

This was the foundation... the bedrock of his return to this path.

By steering complex problems toward his greatest areas of strength, the difficulties naturally dissolved.

With the Eye of Order open for him, the laws of Order swirling about him, and the sacred artifact providing a boundless sea of divine aura... such an advantage was effectively a blockade, shutting off the path for anyone standing behind him.

Unless one’s realm, methods, and armaments utterly defied the standard when measured against Cullen, then no matter what brilliant inspirations or flashy tricks one deployed in battle, they would only taste despair in his presence.

Because Cullen was simply too steady.

So steady that he could reduce what should have been a magnificent, breathtaking duel into a tedious, perfunctory routine.

"Cough, cough... cough, cough..."

Daliwenluo propped his hands against the sand, dragging himself up with immense difficulty as he spat out large mouthfuls of crimson, visceral fragments.

He raised his head once more to look at Cullen, who was closing the distance step by step, and smiled again, despite a mouth slick with blood:

"It hurts so much, so suffocating, so painful..."

Advancing steadily, Cullen spoke: "You have the option to flee now. You should possess some secret art capable of restoring your state for a short duration."

He could indeed run; his physical resilience and self-healing capabilities ensured that pursuing him would be a hazardous endeavor.

Moreover, Cullen was currently being hunted himself; he could not afford to chase him across the wastes for days on end just to wear him down.

"Yes, I do," Daliwenluo nodded, "but I don’t intend to use it for flight. Haha, those two exchanges just now were a rare, exhilarating delight."

"Mm."

Cullen had no desire for idle chatter; he was habitually taciturn when holding an absolute advantage.

He raised his sword, and the Chains of Order around him tensed and coiled with renewed force.

"Did you know? I once believed my Lord was the most supreme entity in existence, until a rare opportunity allowed me to glimpse certain records within the Church of Principles. It turned out that the legendary tale of my Lord and the God of Order drinking and conversing in harmony was nothing but a lie.

It is a fabrication just like the stories of my birth currently circulating within the Church—both heavily romanticized.

My Lord—no, both of my Lords—failed to defeat your God of Order.

Are you surprised?"

Cullen shook his head, offering a counter-question: "Is that not entirely normal?"

Believers of Order had long grown accustomed to the supreme might of their God of Order in divine lore; He was the universally acknowledged hegemon of the late era of the previous epoch.

A hegemon... meaning He had crushed every rebellious force until even the master gods dared not openly defy His will.

Even Cullen, looking through sporadic fragments of memory and listening to the descriptions offered by his golden retriever, had to admit that his predecessor had truly been invincible back then.

Hearing this, Daliwenluo’s expression stifled slightly. After coughing up another mouthful of ruined flesh, he remarked helplessly:

"You people of Order, this trait of yours is truly the most insufferable."

"That is not our flaw, but yours," Cullen consoled him. "How have you not grown accustomed to it yet?"

"Haha."

Daliwenluo laughed again. This man, who had rarely known a smile since childhood and had remained entirely unmoved while strangling his own mother, smiled more in Cullen's presence than he had in the past ten years.

"I truly envy you, Cullen."

"I can tell."

"Yet I do not believe that the failure of my two Goddesses to defeat your God of Order means the laws of life are inferior to those of order. I believe that the very moment my two Goddesses hid within the Tree of Life to escape your God of Order...

they abandoned the true meaning of life itself!

What I find most intolerable is that the two deities I have revered since childhood could actually fear the cessation of life.

They, who hold the ultimate authority over life's definition at its very boundary, could not face its end with serenity, nor could they appreciate the beauty of its final withering.

So, in the end, am I mistaken, or are they?

I often find myself wondering..."

Kallen pursed his lips and replied, "Your thoughts are dangerous."

"Heheheh... are you frightened too? Even when I question the very Gods of Life I believe in, you feel that same fear, because someone actually dares to challenge the status of the divine?"

Kallen nodded and answered, "I am scared to death."

"I do not know whether the error lies with me or with them, but I am willing to bear the burden of the life I hold in my heart. To lose after giving everything against a formidable foe is only natural.

But before you, I refuse to flee. I refuse to hide within the Tree of Life as my two Goddesses did to escape the God of Order."

"Is that because, in your eyes, I am not powerful enough?"

Daliwenluo shook his head. "It is because I feel that fleeing from you in wretched panic would be terribly unseemly."

"What kind of foolish logic is that?"

"Foolish?"

"If you are trying to emulate me, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I would flee."

"Then why did you willingly venture into that corrupted cavern earlier?"

"That was different."

"No, it is the same. You did it to fulfill the order in your heart, and I do it to fulfill the life in mine."

Daliwenluo reached out and grasped the massive tree beside him. The leaves that had completely fallen away sprouted anew, only to wither in an instant as the tree itself began to rot.

Decaying right along with it was Daliwenluo’s own body; his scalp wrinkled, and lines began to carve themselves across his face.

"Kallen, prepare yourself to take my final blow. I shall show you the end of life."

Kallen nodded with great solemnity and said, "I look forward to it."

Daliwenluo stood up, raising the withered wood as he advanced toward Kallen. His steps were slow, yet they carried a hidden, terrifying cadence.

Kallen's thoughts ground to a halt in that instant, and by the time he snapped awake, the dead wood was already sweeping down before him.

Kallen raised his greatsword immediately to parry the strike.

"Snap!"

It was no longer a dull thud, but a crisp, sharp crack as the bark on the dead wood began to peel away in large sheets.

Shattering along with it were the chains of order surrounding Kallen, bursting apart simultaneously in a single instant!

This meant Kallen had lost all his defensive measures in a flash, left completely exposed to the threat of the oncoming staff.

The greatsword was deflected outright, and the withered wood came crashing down toward Kallen's chest.

Throughout this descent, the dead wood was rapidly disintegrating.

Kallen hastily conjured defensive spells around himself, finally putting to use what he had previously deemed a futile effort.

It was a fleeting instant, yet it felt agonizingly prolonged, for in this moment, Kallen truly felt the touch of death.

However, the wood dissolved too quickly, its force steadily diminishing until, just as it was about to strike him, Kallen let out a long sigh of relief.

The terrifying momentum had mostly spent itself. Even if the blow landed now, it would cause heavy injuries at most, but it would not threaten his life.

Seeing this, Daliwenluo offered a sigh of lament: "Alas, life is simply too fleeting after all."

Kallen opened his palm, and the Sword of Diamans, which had been knocked away, flew back into his grasp, piercing Daliwenluo's back from behind until the blade erupted from his chest.

Trading a personal injury to secure his opponent's demise was a worthy bargain.

Yet Kallen, braced for the impact that would send him flying, never felt the blow arrive. Daliwenluo, despite having sustained a fatal wound, actually redirected the staff, which had dissolved down to a mere wooden splinter.

Then, that final splinter vanished into nothingness.

"Cough..."

Daliwenluo leaned forward, the greatsword skewering his body propped against the ground to keep him upright.

Kallen asked, "Why?"

Why hold back? I have dealt you a mortal blow, yet you forfeited your final chance to harm me.

Daliwenluo shook his head. "The remaining strength wouldn't have killed you anyway."

"Why?" Kallen asked once more.

Daliwenluo smiled with a touch of embarrassment, finally speaking the truth of his heart:

"Since it couldn't kill you, I didn't want to pierce your skin. It would be a pity to ruin such a handsome vessel."

The reasoning sounded absurd, but Daliwenluo had never come for a headhunt; what he treasured was Kallen's decent, proper facade.

"If you had used this final move from the very beginning, you might truly have killed me."

Daliwenluo shook his head. "Impossible. Just as a young child playing in a garden cannot comprehend an old man watching the sunset from a bench;

before I lost, I could not conceive of the final end. By the time I understood that final end... I was already decayed, broken, wounded, and old, with the will but without the strength.

What a shame, what a regret, but I suppose that is life.

Therefore, I could never have truly killed you, Kallen. I admit, I cannot defeat you."

Looking at Daliwenluo, whose life force was ebbing away on the brink of death, Kallen hesitated before asking:

"What if you were given the chance at a second life?"

"What, do you intend to awaken me using that spell from your Church of Order? What kind of second life is that? Merely scrambling about for three days, nothing more than tossing gnawed bones back into the pot to boil another soup, squeezing out the last drops of dregs."

"I mean a genuine, complete second life."

"I am dying, can you not speak of something more elevated or heartwarming instead of playing this joke on me? You know, I wrote with my own hand in that letter that I rather admire you."

"I am not joking with you. You find it tedious? I am the one who finds it tedious. Why must you be bald? I cannot even find any hair to tie your head with."

Daliwenluo smiled and asked, "So, there really is a chance at a second life?"

"Yes."

"Then who could grant it to me? Which grand figure? It could not possibly be you, could it?"

"It is me."

Daliwenluo still considered it a jest, but since Kallen wanted to play along, he would accommodate him. He said:

"Very well. As you know, I have no father, and I have no surname, though I do not view that as a regret."

"I know."

"So, if you can give me the chance at a second life..."

"What would you do?"

"Hahaha!"

Daliwenluo summoned the very last of his strength to let out a final laugh, and then, as the last embers of his life completely burned out, his arms and head slumped downward as he murmured his parting words:

"Heh... then I shall take your name."