Chapter 019: A Shocking Scene

The moonlight flowed like water, gently spreading across the lake’s surface, creating ripples that formed a fragmented beauty. In a rather dark corner by the lake, there seemed to be a figure swaying softly.
The sound of water from earlier came from that place. Du Fan guessed what was going on. He shook his sleeve, drew out a magic scroll, and tapped it against himself. After a faint magical ripple, his entire presence was concealed. Then, Du Fan carefully made his way in that direction.
The water plants along the shore were about knee-high, but Du Fan, moving stealthily, was able to hide his figure.
He channeled his Light Combat Qi and crawled on the ground for a while before suddenly seeing something that made him feel his efforts had been worthwhile.
There, under the moonlight, was a figure with graceful curves slowly wandering around. Du Fan recognized her at once—it was Tasia.
At this moment, Tasia wasn’t wearing the magic robe Du Fan had given her but instead a simple priest’s robe. Under the moonlight, the robe accentuated her enchanting face and mesmerizing figure, making her extremely attractive.
Yet, what should have been an extremely seductive scene now appeared utterly sacred. Tasia, wandering back and forth, resembled a moon spirit.
Seeing her hesitant behavior, Du Fan immediately understood that Sister Tasia must have seen everyone else go to rest and couldn’t resist sneaking out to take a bath. But wasn’t she a magician? Even if she wanted to bathe, she should have prepared better—she was really careless.
While scolding Tasia in his mind, Du Fan whispered under his breath, “Take it off! Take it off! Hurry up!”
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Tasia seemed to sigh a few times, but refused to take off her priest’s robe. Frustrated, Du Fan thought that if he hadn’t considered himself no match for her, he would have rushed out to help her take off her clothes.
At this thought, he once again resented his own weakness. In anger, he couldn’t help slapping the ground.
With a soft “thump,” Du Fan froze. He almost slapped himself—he still wasn’t calm enough. Wouldn’t such an action reveal someone’s presence here?
Moreover, with Tasia’s soul sensitivity, she would definitely detect someone spying on her.

At this thought, Du Fan truly felt his heart ache deeply; he longed to shed a few tears to express the resentment in his heart. After hesitating for a long time, Tasia, who was about to take off her clothes to bathe, heard this noise and couldn’t help but frown. Her cold face turned icy as she snorted and said, “Who’s there? Come out right now!” Du Fan, having cast a magic spell to conceal his presence, held his breath, pretending not to hear her. Tasia sneered. Without uttering any spells, she simply waved her hand, and hailstones began to rain down on the water plants around them. Fortunately, Du Fan had already activated his Light Combat Qi, so the hailstones felt like mere tickles on his body. What puzzled him, however, was that despite not speaking, screams kept emerging from him. After a while, several Temple Knights emerged from the water plants, looking disheveled. Since they hadn’t cast any spells to conceal their presence like Du Fan, they couldn’t use their Combat Qi either, so they were caught off guard and ended up with swollen noses and faces. Tasia stared at them coldly for a moment before asking, “Temple Knights, what exactly do you want?” The knights, who had originally intended to eavesdrop, were now extremely embarrassed. They didn’t know whether to explain or not, remaining frozen in place. Watching this from afar, Du Fan patted his chest, secretly relieved that he was lucky—someone else had stepped in to take the blame at such a critical moment. Otherwise, he really wouldn’t know how to handle the situation. Tasia’s expression grew even darker. She waved her hand again, and this time, gusts of snowstorm began to blow inexplicably over the once sunny lakeshore. The Temple Knights’ faces turned pale as they realized that angering Tasia would surely lead to terrible consequences. One of them quickly bowed and said, “N-no… it’s not what you think… Lady Tasia… we just… we merely…” Before he could finish speaking, the knight suddenly let out a scream and was pulled into the lake in an instant. At that moment, the lake, which should have been crystal clear, turned completely black, as if it were a giant pool of ink.

Du Fan had seen it clearly among the water plants just now. Suddenly, a black object emerged from the lake and wrapped around that Templar knight, pulling him underwater in one swift motion. That Templar knight, who was at level six, didn’t even have the strength to resist and was simply dragged down. For a moment, Du Fan felt extremely cold—if that thing had wrapped around him, he would surely be unable to resist as well. At the thought of this, Du Fan didn’t dare move at all, praying that the magic bestowed upon him would have some effect against this sudden threat. Including Tasia, none of the people present could react in time; without even giving them a chance to prepare, that black shadow shot up from the lake again, this time precisely wrapping around another Templar knight. The knight only managed to let out a scream, but it was cut off halfway, though his hoarse cry still echoed across the lake surface. This time, everyone present finally reacted. Tasia, unable to afford to get angry, waved her hand, and several ice crystals shot out from her fingertips. Upon touching the water’s surface, the surface water instantly froze into ice. But fearing it might not be enough, she pulled out a wand about the length of a palm from her sleeve, waved it for a while, and cast a few more spells before urgently saying, “You all, hurry back to the camp and report! I can sense a tremendous pressure in this lake. You must get Lord Nicholas here as soon as possible—otherwise, we’re all doomed!” Tasia spoke seriously, and the Templar knights didn’t dare delay. They immediately rushed toward the camp. The rest drew their knightly swords, ignited their combat energy, and stood in front of Tasia in perfect unison. Just then, the frozen lake surface suddenly cracked with a loud noise. This time, several black shadows shot out at once. Du Fan saw a blur—the Templar knight who had gone to seek help was now wrapped around the waist. But this time, the knight was prepared. As he was wrapped, his radiant combat energy surged, and he swung his sword, charged with energy, at the black shadow beside him.

With a “pfft” sound, the Temple Knight’s sword pierced into the shadow, and dark green blood sprayed out. Under the blazing light of his Divine Combat Energy, Du Fan and the others could clearly see that the shadow was actually something resembling tentacles. But this situation didn’t last long. With a thunderous roar, the tentacle exerted force, causing the trapped Temple Knight to emit a series of cracking sounds. The Knight struggled to use his Divine Combat Energy to keep his body from being torn apart. At the same time, he slowly turned his head and gasped, “You… you… run away…” Before he could finish speaking, his voice cut off abruptly. Du Fan glanced over and saw that his seven orifices were bleeding, and flesh had spilled from his mouth. When the last glimmer of life left his eyes, his body snapped in half with a loud crack, filling the air with blood and turning everything red. Several Temple Knights witnessed this and roared in anger. One of them rushed forward immediately, but he forgot that his strength was not much different from that of the Knight who had sacrificed himself earlier. Seeing that the tentacle was about to retract, he recklessly charged toward the lake. Unfortunately, his bravery brought him no luck. This time, the tentacle seemed to have learned its lesson. It emerged from the bottom of the lake again, moving as fast as a phantom. But instead of wrapping around him, it pierced straight through the Knight’s chest. In front of it, the Knight’s blazing Divine Combat Energy seemed to vanish entirely. In just a few minutes, four out of the six Temple Knights present had died. The remaining two stood in front of Tassia, their faces pale. Everything that had happened happened in the blink of an eye, too fast for anyone to react. Moreover, under such circumstances, they still had to protect Tassia behind them, as mages had extremely weak close-combat skills. If they left now, Tassia would likely be the first to die. Du Fan, hiding among the water plants, was also terrified. Although he wanted to go out and save them, he was well aware of his own strength. If he rushed out now, he would surely die.