Extraordinary Voyage

"Knights, leave this guy to us!" The City Guard Captain behind them bowed slightly and said.

The strongest "Rampagers" they had encountered before were only at the Apprentice Level. Even ordinary City Guards were confident they could take down these beings with formidable physical endurance but no combat experience, through mutual cooperation.

Before Aiven could respond, the words of the City Guard first provoked Lemon, whose mental state was already extremely unstable.

"How dare you look down on me?!"

Unlike others, Lemon's object of resentment had two targets.

Firstly, he resented Teresa's privileged background, the superiority and bossiness she displayed when they were together, which made him feel deeply inferior; Secondly, he resented Aiven's strength, especially after that night when all he could do was sneak away in shame while Aiven basked in glory before everyone!

After escaping Teresa's house and facing the threat of death, the "simple-minded" Lemon believed Teresa was protected by her father, rendering him unable to touch her for the time being. However, Aiven was just a young man with a military rank much lower than that old man's, presumably his strength should be similarly inferior.

Guided by his mutated soul, dealing with this young man should be a piece of cake first!

It must be said that Lemon, originally an ordinary person, did not understand the Navy's rank system at all, which was not directly tied to strength, nor did he know that there were distinctions of high and low even within the Extraordinary level.

While martial arts faction officers must be Official Knights before being promoted to School Officer, after that, the strength requirements are not as strict. After all, how many in the entire Kingdom can become Senior Knights, Peak Knights, or even Great Knights?

If rank were entirely based on strength, the structure of the Kingdom Navy might not be able to hold itself up.

But if you are a formidable Great Knight, seeking rank reversely is another story. Even with no sailing experience or command abilities, you would at least be a Brigadier General. If you have the corresponding abilities to captain a warship independently on missions, a Major General rank is not out of the question!

Of course, these ideas are too distant for an ordinary person; he was merely overly confident after abruptly acquiring power, resenting heaven and earth without seeing the truth of his inflated self.

At this time, the uncaring attitude of the City Guard Captain and Aiven struck another heavy blow to his already fragile self-esteem, and he could no longer maintain even his bizarre sing-song speech.

"Ah! Let me show you my prowess, die!"

Lemon moved like the wind, surrounded by almost visible faint red fog, quickly rushed forward and threw a full-strength punch at Aiven's head. Although unskilled, it was brimming with force!

Bang—

Without even unsheathing his longsword, Aiven simply ducked slightly and punched his floating rib (commonly known as the "soft rib"). This area, when struck, can also harm the heart-lung nerves, leading to instantaneous heart-lung function disorder.

This time was no exception; the seemingly imposing Lemon was KO'd by Aiven's simple punch and swiftly lost consciousness.

It was previously mentioned that dealing with him might take a minute, but now it seems only... well, one second.

"Let's go!"

Aiving said, turning to leave.

"Aiven, watch out!"

Rip—

The sound of tearing flesh came from behind.

Aiven turned to witness a nightmare-inducing scene for an ordinary person.

Lemon, with closed eyes and clearly having lost consciousness, had his neck flesh torn, with two blood-red claws extending from his body, tearing the bloody flesh on both sides forcefully.

From Lemon's body, which had apparently become some kind of "mutant creature" cocoon, emerged a hideous skinless red monster.

Inside the creature's body remained some human organs, while the dense blood-red fog rooted in these colorful organs formed a stooped external body. Strangely, its face had no facial features, only three dark holes.

A terrifying gaze like that from behind the Door of Hell fixed on Aiven.

Hiss... hiss... hiss...

As its form transformed, the monster also seemed to lose the ability of wisdom and language, only able to make beast-like hissing sounds.

Plop—

The bloodstained, deformed "foot" just stepped on the ground and impatiently launched an assault.

Swoosh!

"So fast!" someone in the City Guard exclaimed.

The monster sped forward like a red blood mist, appearing to teleport in their eyes, crossing just a step to arrive in front of Aiven.

Crackle...

Its claws, like beastly talons with only three fingers, flashed with an evil energy capable of corroding even air, fiercely clawing at Aiven's face.

However, fast and slow are relative. To ordinary people, its speed was already the fastest, nearly equating to the level of an Official Knight, yet it was still insufficient in Aiven's eyes.

[White Sail Swordsmanship: Sword Style: Jumping Wave!]

Now without needing any preparatory moves, Aiven's body flickered, creating four afterimages to encircle the monster.

Slash—

Plop!

The sword light in his hand swept across, easily tearing the monster's body with the blade soaked in Holy Water. The blood-red mist vanished instantly, leaving behind already-decaying human organs crashing to the ground, leaving a large patch of red-black bloodstains.

This move was first used by Aiven when dealing with the Hammer Following Mad Demon. Yet back then, he could only forcefully create three afterimages with all his might, but just after a week, today, he could effortlessly create four.

It must be said, for an Extraordinary person on the Knight Path, intense and fierce battles are the fastest way to progress rapidly. Of course, the premise of all this is... not dying.

The battle on Aiven's side ended quickly, almost instantly determining the outcome.

However, others did not share his relaxed mindset, "clang, clang, clang..." drew their swords pointing at several other "Rampagers" bound on the ground and also unconscious.

Delis stuck her tongue out, somewhat incredulously said, "This is too exaggerated, granting a simple person power close to that of an Official Knight casually. How can this 'Killing Ghost' power be so unreasonable?"

Aiven, equally puzzled, activated his Data Visualization, performed detailed checks on the several "Rampagers" lying on the ground with Activated Spiritual Power, and speculated:

"This ability seems to elicit extreme negative emotions within 'Rampagers,' using their deformed Spirit Body as the core, then erupting all remaining life force within their bodies in merely several tens of seconds, possibly achieving such incredible effects.

I had once encountered humans controlled by some 'Parasite' through Lower Interface by evil spellcasters, and this is somewhat similar. Even if you leave it be, they will naturally perish shortly afterward.

Moreover, I don't think every 'Rampager' can reach this level, it should relate to the extremity of their negative emotions. Only when negative emotions are intense enough can it trigger such transformations."

"There's no time to wait, if we do not eliminate the 'Killing Ghost' causing all this, perhaps even without the Evil God descending, our city will be destroyed by these 'Rampagers'!

There's no need for many, as long as even one percent of people turn into such ghostly things, the city's order will completely collapse, even if the Evil God's descent is stopped, it'd be too late!"

Upon hearing Aiven's analysis, Anthony said with a solemn expression.

Even as they spoke, a few "roars" continually sounded from the distant buildings, clearly more "Rampagers" mutated, escalating the chaos in the city to another level!

"Quick! Let's get to the port!"

Before the words fell, the four people turned into afterimages, vanishing at the end of the road after several leaps.