The Paladin in the Abyss

Facing the incoming tentacles, Lancelot raised the trident diagonally over his head, pressing the shaft tightly against his back. In the next second, a tentacle as thick as a tree trunk crashed down, producing a thunderous sound akin to a catapult striking a city wall. Lancelot spat out a mouthful of blood mist but remained standing, though his lower body was completely buried in the ground.

Another tentacle rose up. Lancelot leveraged the trident to swiftly extract himself from the ground and disappeared into the crevice at the edge of the cave before the attack landed. His comrades were not far from the entrance to the passage. Hearing the roar behind them, everyone stopped and turned to look back.

"Lancelot..."

"Don't stop! Cough, cough..." Lancelot made vigorous gestures toward his comrades, "Go quickly!"

A tentacle chased into the passage, lunging at the Human Knight like a giant snake, but its aim was poor, crashing heavily against the wall of the passage with another frightening boom.

More tentacles reached into the passage blindly, making it easy to dodge their attacks as the monster's body seemed too large to fit into the narrow passage. Everyone sprinted for nearly ten minutes in one breath. Lancelot couldn't hold on any longer and vomited a large mouthful of fresh blood, falling to the ground to meditate and adjust his breath.

At this point, there was no sign of tentacles behind them, only the continuous rumbling sound from the distance. Seeing this, everyone stopped and assumed a defensive stance, surrounding Lancelot in the center. They watched tensely at their comrade with closed eyes, blood continuously seeping from his mouth, steam rising from his head, but none dared to speak and disturb him.

Lancelot's originally chaotic breathing gradually became smooth. About a minute later, he opened his eyes again, seeming to have regained his spirit.

"Big brother, are you all right?"

Bruto squatted in front of him with worry, separated by a pool of black polluted blood between them.

"Something's wrong...but I can't die just yet."

Lancelot stood up with a bitter smile, his armor fell to the ground like a shattered ceramic pot, revealing his bare body. His originally smooth skin was covered with cracks, exposed flesh was clearly visible, resembling the dry riverbed of the Stygian River, which was terrifying.

"Uh, this armor was replaced at Raven Castle, right? Its quality isn't very good." Bruto glanced at the armor fragments on the ground with complex emotions, then at Lancelot, who was pulling out a new shirt from his Dimensional Bag and putting it on. "Lancelot, you just..."

"Let me help you." Alamir proposed, "One or two Healing Divine Arts will make you feel a lot better."

"It's nothing, just some superficial wounds." Lancelot shook his head at the Elf Priest, adjusted his shoulders twice to put on the shirt, "Your Divine Arts are too precious, save them for more critical times. We should leave this place quickly..."

Of course, the real situation was more severe than he stated. Although Lancelot managed to deflect the enemy's attack, the residual force shattered his Golden Body, even when he was fully defending. Naturally, calling it a Golden Body was a bit exaggerated, that's something achieved after reaching the Golden Core stage, but he was a Body Cultivation practitioner, and had been in Foundation Establishment High Rank for some time, so it's not wrong to say he had iron bones, yet he almost couldn't withstand even one strike from the monster.

Fortunately, Lancelot knew from the memory of the demon spider that the monster was almost immobile. After a brief adjustment, he had mostly recovered, but had he not escaped in time and taken two more hits, he might have had a rough day today.

Seeing Lancelot really seemed all right, his comrades got up to prepare to leave, but suddenly a puff of smoke emerged from the Dimensional Bag at the Human Knight's waist, quickly forming into the appearance of a vampire girl, who looked exceptionally weary.

"Little Aisha?" Lancelot's eyes widened in surprise, "Why did you come out? Go back and rest, we were just leaving..."

"No, I must come out." The vampire girl shook her head resolutely, "The Lord of the Dead wants to speak with you."

"Who?" Lancelot shook his head, "Cranvo? Why would he now..."

'Hello, my friend.' The voice of the Grim Reaper sounded directly in Lancelot's mind, and he realized the speaker was using the mental link between him and little Aisha to communicate, 'I know this is sudden for you, but I need...'

'Hold on, hold on...how did you know what's happening here? I thought even gods couldn't perceive this place...'

'But things are different if a devout believer is constantly praying to you...listen, I need you to kill the demon spider leader and destroy...'

'Not possible.' Lancelot stubbornly refused, 'That monster almost broke me apart with one blow...'

'Oh, my friend, I'm well aware of your potential, you can do this.' The Lord of the Dead said with his uniquely composed voice, and Lancelot bet he was wearing the mask at that very moment, 'Remember the choices I had you make at the Ancient Temple? My blessing and my sword, you can choose one again...no, I can give you both, if you can help me resolve this issue.'

'Sorry, My Lord, but I still must decline you. Your offer is tempting, but I'm not a greedy person, the risk is simply too high.' Lancelot remained unmoved, 'I suppose you would promise to revive me after death, but for me, even that is an unbearable loss...'

'Sir Lancelot, listen to me, perhaps I shouldn't bribe you with rewards, but you truly must kill that monster.' Cranvo's voice seemed to have removed the mask, 'I'm very sure the demon spider leader holds an Ancient Evil Item called "Soul Eater's Fang," it's a part of an Old God from a distant land, shortly after the Mortal Races were created it caused a terrifying disaster, then mysteriously vanished...what I mean is, this Evil Relic must be destroyed, otherwise it could really create a deity, a devourer-of-all deity, at that point perhaps only Ao could stop it, but even the Supreme Deity would be unable to restore what has been destroyed...or souls.'

'...'

'Sir Lancelot, I know the kind of person you are, surely you wouldn't ignore such a matter, correct?'

'... My Lord, since this matter is of such importance, why don't you solve it yourself?'

'Because I can't.' Lancelot heard a sigh, 'After the Years of Unrest, Ao modified the rules of the Multiverse. As a powerful Divine Power, I can't leave my Divine Kingdom, I can only send out avatars. But the strength of an avatar can't deal with that monster, nor can it destroy the Ancient Evil Item. I wish I were joking, Sir Lancelot, but the fate of the entire Multiverse now rests upon your shoulders.'