Chapter 0535: Black Knight
Li Luo sped across the expanse of the city like a streak of lightning.
Behind him, the place rocked with gigantic exchanges of energy, and he could feel the prickle on the back of his neck.
The First Princess against the four-limbed demon-eye serpent.
From the intensity, it seemed like the pair were evenly matched. The First Princess could not defeat her opponent in a short time, and Others were generally strong in survival. It was hard to say who had the advantage in a long battle.
To close things, Jiang Qing'e would have to go help the First Princess.
But whether she was free to help would depend on him...
Li Luo poured on the speed, occasionally passing Earthly Disaster-class snake creatures that were caught up in rings of light.
Nearer to Jiang Qing'e, the World of Light had wiped out the lower level Others, making his journey smooth as could be.
He reached the first designated spot in no time.
Taking out a drop of cleansing dew, he charged it with his resonant power and placed it at the top of a building.
Job done, he moved on to the next location without even looking back.
He had to make full use of the time that the First Princess and Jiang Qing'e were buying him.
In the next 10 minutes, Li Luo ran to various points to place drops of cleansing dew.
The city began to light up at many points, and the barrier was close to forming.
But the further he got from Jiang Qing'e's location, the weaker the effect of World of Light. Soon, he began to encounter Eroding-class Others that slowed down his progress.
Sometimes he would dodge them, but at other times he was forced to stop and take care of business first.
Luckily, he was much stronger now. As a Third Changing, he did not fear Eroding-class Others at all. His Onyx-Elephant Blade made quick work of them, and he charged on.
More and more cleansing dew drops were placed.
The city grew ever brighter, and he could see success on the horizon.
"Three more..." he thought to himself. Three more, and the cleansing barrier would be complete.
Things were going smoothly.
But Li Luo did not let his guard down, instead becoming even more cautious. He had no interest in screwing things up now.
Another efficient slaughter through the Other masses.
Two more cleansing dew drops were placed.
The last one now.
Li Luo was headed for a stone tower that was his final stop. This was already at the edge of World of Light, but thankfully, there were no snake creatures around.
Li Luo proceeded with caution and reached the stone tower soon enough. He held a drop of cleansing dew on his palm, activating it. He prepared to fire it out at the position.
But of course, something just had to happen before he completed his task.
Boom!
A powerful presence burst out of a shop window on Li Luo's right, heating the air around him with an explosion.
Behind it, the shop itself crumbled, imploding from the vacuum of energy within.
A deadly and sudden attack.
Li Luo had just been about to place the final drop of cleansing dew.
Even as cautious as he was, still he had let his guard down a little.
But not completely.
Li Luo reacted quickly, abandoning the cleansing dew to pull out an eight-sided shield.
His white-eye treasured artifact.
Boom!
Even a defensive white-eye treasured artifact only blocked the attack for a few moments before it was completely wrecked beyond repair.
Still, it had bought Li Luo some time.
He moved backwards, channeling his resonant power through the Onyx-Elephant Blade.
"Tiger-general resonance art, Thousand Watery Knives art!"
The powerful blades of water and light flashed out.
Bang!
It was one of his stronger moves, and yet the rain of blades were completely vaporized by the attack, winking out into points of light.
Li Luo had already made it out of the area of attack at this point, and before him was a deep ditch, the mark of the attack.
Li Luo stared at the shop before him, which had completely crumpled inwards like a paper house. This was power beyond a Resonant Master, nor did the power seem to have come from an Other...
"Who are you? Why are you attacking me?" Li Luo called out hoarsely.
A pile of earth was moved away from the collapsed shop, and a figure clad in black battle armor stood up. He could see a pair of cold eyes gleaming out from under the visor.
Not an Other!
A jolt of shock ran through him. There were other humans in Riverguard City?
And this person was clearly human. Why would he stop Li Luo from cleansing the area?
"Friend, our job here is to cleanse the Others. What good can come from stopping us?" Li Luo called out clearly. This black knight was incredibly strong, probably an Earth Fiend. Li Luo could not win here.
Which frustrated him. He was on the verge of success. Was this black knight going to ruin everything?
The knight showed no indication of having even heard Li Luo's question. He drew a heavy, black lance and stepped forward. With an earth-shattering thump, he charged forward, lance leveled as though he were part of a cavalry charge.
He thundered through the street at Li Luo with such ferocious power that he shattered the windows of the shops on both sides.
Frightfully strong.
Li Luo's mind raced. The black knight had laid in ambush for some time now, choosing a perfect location just outside of Jiang Qing'e's World of Light so she would detect nothing.
His mission: to stop the cleansing barrier from being erected.
Why? Wasn't eliminating Others the common goal of all humankind?
Did this person not share that goal?
Li Luo's eyes narrowed.
Just as the Academic Federation elder had said... perhaps the Blackwind Empire's Other Disaster was man-made.
Was this one of those unknown enemies?