The Heartbeat of the Cruel Elves

Li Yin twisted his body, raised his head and looked back. The huge body of Priest Kuigo, as big as a house, strode forward. At the same time, his strong arms raised the stone stick high again and smashed it towards Li Yin's head again.

Li Yin didn't have time to look around, but based on the way Priest Quigo locked onto him and chopped him vertically this time, he judged that the previous attack had cleared away all obstacles around Priest Quigo except himself.

The huge stone club came down with a strong wind. Li Yin's initial plan was to retreat, but the length of the club doubled under the giant transformation and the speed of the Quigo priest swinging it made this plan unrealistic. On the contrary, according to the principle of leverage, blindly retreating would only make him closer to the best point of the club. Realizing this, Li Yin hastily tilted his body, exerted force on his legs to one side, and jumped to the side.

This action saved him from being smashed into a pulp, but it did not keep him out of the attack range of the Quigo priest. The huge stone club hit the ground, making a deafening noise. The broken rocks flew in all directions. Li Yin was unable to dodge and was cut on the cheek by one of the pieces. Just as the pain on the wound began to arise, the Quigo priest had already picked up the stone club. Instead of standing up to gather strength, he bent his body and swept towards him horizontally.

The diameter of the huge stone stick was almost half of his height, and the edge of the stone stick was flush with his waistline. This time, if he was just an ordinary human, he would be dead no matter how flexible and good at dodging he was, because he had no way to avoid it.

But fortunately, he is still a zombie, a zombie with amazing jumping ability!

He jumped high, and the speeding stone stick rolled past his feet like a landslide, shockingly.

As soon as he landed on the ground, Li Yin lowered his knees slightly and immediately rushed towards the Kuige priest.

He changed his mind. When he was in mid-air just now, he hurriedly looked back and found that the dark elves were indeed a strong race that was good at fighting and killing. In a short period of time, their front line that had been broken up by the "burning elves" had stabilized and moved forward again. Even if he retreated forcefully, there was not much room for him to retreat.

In addition, the short close-range fight made him realize a flaw of the Quigo priest: the giant transformation technique did give it unparalleled ferocious strength, but at the same time, its agility and reaction were also reduced due to its sudden huge body. The speed of the Quigo barbarians at their normal size was originally far inferior to his, so facing the Quigo priest whose speed was further reduced, his body could dodge more easily.

On the contrary, if he did adopt an evasive strategy and briefly escaped the attack range of the Quiggo priest's stone club, but was unable to completely move away in time due to the obstruction of the dark elves behind him, then the Quiggo priest who could not attack in close combat would most likely not pursue him immediately, but instead release spells, which would make him defenseless.

Therefore, Li Yin made a prompt decision and used his agility to engage it in close combat and not let it be distracted from casting spells!

A streak of sword light flashed in the darkness, as bright as silver. The Kuige priest, who was as tall as a house, suddenly let out a wail, and a splash of blood fell from his waist.

Li Yin stood behind it.

This was the first time that he used the ghoul's amazing jumping ability to attack rather than escape. It turned out that this amazing speed and explosive power could be very useful once combined with sword moves!

The pain did not slow down the Quigo priest's actions. On the contrary, like other Quigo barbarians, it aroused its ferocity. After the howl, there was a roar of anger. Without even looking, the Quigo priest twisted his body and arms, and the huge stone club swept directly behind him.

Li Yin crawled on the ground and dodged hastily. Then, he supported himself with his hands, but did not stand up completely. Under the pressure of the tense and dangerous battle, his body almost instinctively made a more appropriate reaction. He held the sword in his backhand and crawled on the ground like an animal. At the same time, he used his strength, skipped the action of standing up, and pounced directly at the Kuige priest again.

As soon as his body left the ground, he turned his wrist and slashed out with the sword again at the critical moment.

He landed behind Priest Quigo again, and the sharp and fierce roar of Priest Quigo was heard again from behind.

Li Yin turned around, but the second injury also failed to stop Priest Quigo's actions. The huge stone stick came towards him again with a strong wind. He flipped over, jumped high, and passed over the stone stick.

When he was in mid-air, he looked down and saw the empty surroundings, and instantly realized another thing.

To be honest, he had to thank the Quig Priest for his huge stature and terrifying weapon. Because of his overwhelming attack, neither the Quig Barbarians nor the Dark Elves dared to approach him. There was nothing around them except the fallen corpses, so Li Yin could move around so easily.

However, although the two consecutive attacks caused wounds, they actually had no effect - Priest Quigo was full of energy and there was nothing unusual about him. Instead, he became even more ferocious due to the violence caused by the injury, which inevitably made him anxious.

He didn't know how to deal with this "rage" that could make people ignore pain and injuries and fight to the death. If he was still a mage, it would be easy to say, a zero-ring trick "Touch of Fatigue" could easily drain the vitality of creatures, causing their momentum to weaken and exit the "rage" state.

However, he is not a mage now. To be precise, although he still has the "Touch of Fatigue" which is a simple trick that does not require advance memory preparation, he cannot perform it in public.

"Ordinary 'Underground Bears' should be captured alive if possible, but their priests must be killed."

He had not forgotten the order that Cassia had reiterated before the battle began. As for why Priest Quigo had to die... Li Yin had also pretended to ask the question, and then received a clear answer:

"Because it is a dangerous spellcaster, and a very dangerous psychic spellcaster!"

Come to think of it, don't we also have a spellcaster? This thought flashed through Li Yin's mind.

With this thought in mind, he hurriedly looked up in the air, but he could not see the figure of Cassia who had been standing in the air before. However, at the same time, he noticed another thing. Whether near or far, the flames of the "burning elves" that had been running wildly before had all disappeared. And behind the position, under the heavy obstruction of the figures of the dark elf warriors, a magical light flashed from time to time in a certain position.

He immediately understood.

Cassia did take action, but she did not attack the Quiggo priest. Instead, she extinguished the flames on the elves that were ignited by the "hot metal" and was probably still treating them at this moment.

"This doesn't quite fit with my understanding of dark elf priestesses." He smacked his lips and thought to himself.

In his opinion, the dark elf priestesses should be creatures that are more interested in using magic power to kill enemies than healing their teammates.

However, despite his doubts, he now realized that he could only rely on himself and Cassia could not be counted on for the time being.

He stood firm and stared at Priest Quigo, and as the other party swung the boulder club again, he lowered his knees slightly, held the sharp blade in his hand, and shot out again.

This time, he no longer aimed at the enemy's waist and abdomen. Since the damage to the internal organs and bleeding could not stop the opponent's actions, he decided to change to a more direct and brutal method - directly removing the opponent's action conditions. He lowered his body, adjusted the angle of his forward thrust, and swung his sword at the legs of the Quigo priest.

"Puchi!" The sharp sword blade cut through the fur and flesh again, but then there was a dull "bang" sound, and Li Yin's men fell beside the legs of Priest Quigo instead of behind him.

After a brief moment of shock, he stretched out his hands to try to pull out the curved sword, but the blade was stuck in the leg bones of the Quigo priest, which had doubled in thickness due to the giant transformation technique, and he could not move at all. At the same time, the Quigo priest let out an extremely shrill roar, raised a big hand, and grabbed his head with his claws fiercely.

In a hurry, Li Yin had to loosen his hands, let go of the curved sword, and bounced backwards.

The priest of Quig turned around, and despite the pain, he did not slow down at all. He did not even care about the blade stuck in his leg, and rushed towards Li Yin with it.

Li Yin lost his weapon and didn't dare to fight it head-on. He bent his legs and jumped away again. After landing, he hurriedly picked up a weapon from the ground - fortunately, the priest Quigo had killed many dark elves with a stick before, and now there was no shortage of corpses or weapons nearby. Moreover, it was a fine gold and secret silver blade that was far better than his original iron sword.

He clenched his weapon with both hands, ready to attack Priest Quigo again. However, at this moment, he suddenly felt a piercing, burning pain in the palm of his hand.

He let out a wail and let go of the weapon, which he had just picked up, and fell again on the hard rock on the ground with a "ping pong" sound.

Damn it... He actually forgot that not all the weapons underground were left by the "corpses". The "burning elves" had also thrown down their weapons in panic and pain. Although the weapons affected by the "scorching metal" cooled rapidly in the cold air and on the ground, losing their crimson glow and becoming the same as other swords in appearance, in fact, their heat had not completely dissipated!

What Li Yin just picked up was such a hot and scorching sword blade.

There was no time to complain or curse. He rolled over, dodging another attack from the Quigo priest, leaned over again, and picked up another curved sword from the ground.

This time, he was very careful. Although the process of picking up the curved sword happened in a flash, he still carefully used his fingertips to detect the temperature of the hilt in the gap between the flashes, and then quickly hooked it into his palm.

With the sharp blade in hand, Li Yin's confidence increased greatly. He turned around and faced the Quigo priest again. At this time, the Quigo priest had just retracted his giant stone club and raised it above his head, ready for the next full-scale attack. Its towering figure and the giant stone club as high as its body combined with its power were terrifying, like a towering giant stone tower that was about to collapse in this direction, smashing everything along the way into rubble with unparalleled power.

However, faced with such terrifying power, Li Yin had no intention of dodging at all. He separated his legs slightly, stood in a bow stance, leaned forward, and tensed his muscles.

The next moment, Priest Quigo shouted loudly, and the huge stone club smashed down from the sky. At the same time, a bright silver blade light suddenly rose from the ground. Although it was slender, its bright glow was enough to eclipse everything else on the battlefield at that moment.

Li Yin stood behind Priest Quigo. Behind him came a series of puffing and crackling sounds like a rainstorm, followed by the muffled sound of a body hitting the ground. From the heaviness of the sound, one could imagine the size of the body. Finally, there was a deafening "bang" sound and the subsequent ping-pong sound of hard objects jumping and rolling continuously on the hard rock surface.

Chapter 69: Reverberation

Li Yin turned around and saw that Priest Quigo's figure had become shorter and was still getting shorter as it pounced forward.

He did not hesitate, and leaped forward before Priest Quigo fell completely. The dark elf swung the sharp blade forged with incredible special craftsmanship again, and it went through like a piece of cake, without any hindrance, and easily cut off the other leg of Priest Quigo who was half-kneeling on the ground.

Finally, when the remaining upper body of the opponent was wailing and struggling on the ground, trying to support itself with its hands, he stepped on its back and moved up step by step. Just as it straightened its chest and raised its head, he swung the sword for the third time and cut off its head with one blow.

………………

After the death of the priest, the subsequent battle became monotonous and boring. The dark elves quickly regained the upper hand. It didn't take long before all the Quigo barbarians were injured or killed.

Some of the dark elves were busy checking the living and useful Quiggo barbarians, tying them up, and killing those who survived but were too injured to be used as slaves. Other dark elves were patrolling and searching the Quiggo barbarians' camp, looking for any valuable spoils.

Li Yin carried the head of Priest Quigo in one hand, walked through the chaotic camp and came to the rear of the troops.

“Your Highness,” he knelt on one knee and presented the head, which had returned to normal size after the spell’s effects dissipated after death, to Cassia. “According to your order, I offer you the head of the barbarian priest.”

Cassia's bright, godly eyes gazed at the human slave in front of her. The corners of her rosy lips curled up slightly, and a smile appeared on her snow-white cheeks.

She reached out her hand and rubbed the top of his head lovingly and approvingly:

"You have done well, my good man."

"Get up."

Li Yin stood up as he was told, with a shy smile on his face.

"As a symbol of your first military achievement, perhaps I should keep this head?" She held her chin with her right thumb, staring at the head of Priest Quig, and said thoughtfully, "Shave off the flesh and leave the skull. Maybe I can inlay it with some gold or silver or install a few gems or something."

Li Yin's heart trembled slightly. "Offering" this head was just a ceremonial and honorary statement. He didn't expect that Cassia really intended to keep this head and keep it for herself.

He had originally planned to keep the head "for himself".

Fortunately, he reacted quickly. After a brief silence, he immediately spoke and took the initiative to say, "In that case, Your Highness, please allow me to clean up the useless filth on it for you."

"Oh?" The female dark elf looked at Li Yin in surprise, "Can you?"

Removing the skin, hair, and flesh from the head without damaging the bones is a very different job from just slashing open a person's head with a sword. It is a very delicate job. In Cassia's eyes, this kind of job should only be done by the dexterous hands of the dark elves.

However, after a brief pause, she decided to trust her servant for once, "That's fine. After all, this is your trophy. It will be more memorable if you are responsible for making it."

Li Yin nodded, his eyes full of gratitude, as if getting this job was a great favor.

Of course, what he was truly grateful for was something entirely different.

A Quiggle priest is a psyker.

The way a psychic's spells are mastered is different from that of a warlock, and is more similar to that of a wizard. They can be learned.

After merging with the mind flayer larva, he gained the ability to obtain the other party's memory by devouring the other party's brain.

In other words, as long as he eats this "bear brain", he will be able to master the psychic spells of the Quigo priests!

Li Yin was quite excited and was about to turn around and walk aside.

At this moment, he suddenly noticed a dark elf standing next to Cassia. Although her hair was messy and uneven in length as if it had been bitten by a dog, and there were some burnt marks on the ends of her silver curly hair, which was completely different from her previous smooth and vertical long hair, Li Yin still recognized her as the dark elf who had insulted him before through her familiar facial features.

Li Yin looked at her flawless face and the large area of ​​white skin exposed except for a sleeveless chainmail shirt, and could not help but marvel at the magic of the priest's magic. The image of the female dark elf burning like a pillar of flame was still vivid in front of him, and in the blink of an eye, this elf who should have been severely burned had recovered with the help of Cassia's magic.

He looked to the other side and saw several officers of the slave camp were organizing the slaves and gathering them together to prevent them from running around and taking the opportunity to escape. But at this moment, he suddenly noticed something unusual.

He looked around with some confusion.

"What are you looking for?" Cassia looked at him and asked with concern.

Li Yin subconsciously asked: "Where is Bishop Myrcella?"

He looked around just now, but did not see her figure. She was not among the officers who gathered the slaves, nor did she appear beside Cassia. When Li Yin crossed the battlefield just now, he did not see her either.

In fact, Li Yin recalled that it seemed that the moment after Priest Quigo appeared, Myrcella, who had fought alongside him, seemed to have disappeared.

Cassia's slightly upturned mouth corners converged, and she slightly turned sideways to make some space.

At this moment, Li Yin faintly heard a wheezing sound coming from behind her.

He looked up and saw a charred human figure lying on the ground behind Cassia. Its head was bald, and its hair had completely disappeared, leaving only a charred and cracked scalp. Its face was also dark, and cracks and ravines showed rotten red flesh, which looked hideous and terrifying. Li Yin could hardly recognize her at all, except for her pair of wide-open scarlet eyes that seemed familiar. Those eyes had lost their former majesty and sharpness, and tears could not stop flowing from the corners of their eyes, looking pitiful.

Myrcella, Li Yin was shocked. She was one of the dark elves hit by the "burning metal" of Priest Quigo before. No wonder he had lost sight of her for a while.

Her slender body twitched from time to time, her mouth was half open and drooling, and she let out a groan of unbearable pain in between her heavy breathing.

"Bishop Myrcella?" Li Yin called out in disbelief.

The female dark elf did not answer, but Li Yin saw that she closed her eyes in pain, and more tears welled up from the corners of her eyes, as if she could not bear to expose her miserable situation in front of the slaves she despised.

Seeing this scene, Li Yin already understood what happened, but...why was it that the dark elf who was also hit by the hot metal had recovered as before, but she hadn't?

"I have run out of healing spells." Cassia's voice came from the side, and the Spider Queen's priest's voice explained calmly.

"But don't worry," she smiled comfortingly at Li Yin, "I have already given her emergency treatment, her life can be saved."

Li Yin nodded blankly, still immersed in the shock of the tragic scene before him.

After a brief pause, he took one last look at the dark elf female instructor lying on the ground, turned around and walked to the side.

He did feel a little bit of pity, a little bit of empathy based on witnessing the miserable state of the creature, especially since they had once slept in the same bed together and he had carefully felt the vitality and grace of that body. Because of this, when he witnessed it suffering such miserable state and enduring such severe pain, the physiological empathy aroused was even stronger, as if the burning torture and the pain of torn flesh were happening to him himself.

But that was really only a little bit. After all, he had not forgotten how the two parties met and established contact.

After silently expressing sympathy for Myrcella's condition and wishing her to get better, he quickly put her matter out of his mind. Now, what he should consider is how to find a hidden place to deal with the head in his hand.

Maybe I shouldn't be so anxious, he thought.

The original plan was that after Cassia looked at the head and praised him a little, she would throw the head aside and let the soldiers take it to be cremated together with the bodies of other dead people. Then he could use the cover of moving the bodies to do his work unnoticed.

The "Ghoul's Touch" was "digested" very quickly, and Li Yin felt that since the last time he used it on Turner, the energy of this spell he could drive was gradually increasing over time, which meant that the power of the spell was naturally increasing. As a wizard, Li Yin had never experienced the treatment of his spells becoming stronger without doing anything. He could only explain it as a special advantage that warlocks were born with, and his "bloodline" was strengthening, or further awakening. By the way, could it be that ghouls were also creatures with growth potential? Was he moving from a "newborn" ghoul to a ghoul "child"?

In any case, in Li Yin's original plan, he would use the "Ghoul's Touch" to invade the interior of the Quigo Priest's head through wounds or eyes, ears, mouth, nose, etc., devour its brain, and then throw this head, which seemed normal at first glance, into the pile of corpses.

However, now that Cassia needs the head, he can't do that.

Of course, he could still use the "Ghoul's Touch" to corrode the flesh and blood of the head of the Quiggle priest and give Cassia a smooth, round, flawless skull. Because flesh and bones have different resistance to this corrosive energy, he could control the power of the spell within a suitable range, so that the "Ghoul's Touch" would only corrode the flesh and blood without damaging the bones.

But this task cannot be completed now, otherwise, his "weird" and impeccable "knife skills" will most likely arouse suspicion.

"Their priests must be killed."

"Because it is a dangerous spellcaster, and a very dangerous psychic spellcaster!"

The dark elf princess's previous words once again echoed in his ears, and he couldn't help but shudder.

Cassia must not be allowed to find out that he can cast spells, even if she is under the influence of "charm". Because she really regards the fact that the slave can cast spells as a threat to herself!

However, this is understandable, Li Yin thought to himself. From the perspective of the dark elves, this is a fairly common view.

After making up his mind, he found a piece of rag on the battlefield, wrapped the bloody head of Priest Quigo, and tied it around his waist.

Even though this head belonged to a ferocious monster, and even now, its stiff face still maintained a ferocious expression, but when Li Yin packed it, he inevitably touched and stroked the bloody, dead head, and he couldn't help but shiver.

A dark elf female warrior suddenly shouted from about 7 or 8 meters away. Although she did not mention her name explicitly, Li Yin knew that she was calling him. So he hurriedly wrapped the head of the Quigo priest, then trotted to her side. Under her command, he and other slaves began to drag the corpses on the battlefield.

The camp of the Quigo barbarians was littered with corpses, including the corpses of Quigo barbarians and many slaves, but there were no corpses of dark elves - only one dark elf was killed in this battle, but his body would not be the responsibility of the slaves. It would not be thrown here and burned on the spot, but would be transported back to Nevévere for proper burial.