The Paladin in the Abyss

The Dark Weaver was complacently proud of its nimble response. What use was a Human Knight, no matter how strong? As long as there were shadows, no creature from the material plane could catch up to it, and these foolish beings always came bearing numerous liabilities, all excellent targets for attack.

Often, the most formidable foes seemed invincible, but by merely killing their companions, one could drive them to the brink of collapse. They became reckless, impulsive, and lacked patience, appearing as though they wanted to swiftly enact their vengeance, but in reality, they were merely chasing self-destruction to end it all quickly, and Valasti knew these tricks all too well.

As a Dark Weaver, Valasti was always hungry. Shortly after arriving in this realm, a chance encounter allowed it to consume a child of Aira. My, what a delicacy this world held! These upper-plane beings carried a flavor known as kindness and purity, and feeling their flesh turning into pus and being sucked into its belly brought Valasti an incomparable pleasure.

Just now, its Troll servants had caught another Aira child, but it could not eat it because the old woman on the other end of the Spirit Mirror said she would take the prisoner away, driving the Dark Weaver's hunger to almost maddening levels.

But this was the woman's domain, and she possessed the power to kill it easily. So no matter how intense Valasti's hunger was, it could only, and indeed must, strive with all its might to suppress this instinct.

Yet, in its moment of helplessness and despair, someone came to rescue the Aira child, which infuriated it immensely. But soon it spotted an incredible situation: these fools even brought along another delectable Aira! All the beautiful memories of the taste of this creature's flesh could no longer be suppressed, and today it had to experience the sensation of its venomous fangs sinking into an Aira child!

As for the old woman... the old woman had only mentioned taking away the one with red hair. If she knew there were two children, would she demand the other one as well? Valasti did not want to know the answer to this question, so it decided not to ask.
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The Dark Weaver was absolutely confident about its strike. The Succubus was carrying one Aira child on her back and holding another in her arms; she seemed completely unable to escape from the tentacles reaching for her.

It seemed today it might enjoy an additional dessert. As mentioned earlier, Valasti was always very hungry, so of course, it had tasted many of this realm's most common creatures—Demons. The taste of most Demons was repulsive to it, with the Succubus being the sole exception.

When consuming this particular type of Demon, it used its sharp venomous fangs, long tongue, and all its tentacles, burrowing into every possible part of the Succubus's soft, slippery body. This process could last a long time, and besides satisfying its hunger, other instincts were also fulfilled.

Of course, occasionally, one or two experienced Succubi exhausted it before it could begin its feast, thereby saving their lives, but the one before it now did not seem to be of that kind. Surprisingly, she was wearing armor made of metal, and it was a tightly fitted style too!

The Dark Weaver's tentacles had already coiled around its target, and it could even feel a special texture, the transparent wings of the Aira child. It couldn't wait any longer, the next second it would experience the pleasure of its venomous fangs breaking through soft flesh!

However, a golden light suddenly shone forth and pierced the darkness, followed by a terrible, excruciating pain that made it instinctively retract its tentacles.

Now only two-thirds of its tentacles remained.

Elothysia cradled Lilu, who remained unharmed, the child's face showing shock as she looked at the Succubus's right hand that wasn't holding her— the claw that belonged to the demon was clutching a beautiful longsword adorned with angel wings, the golden holy light on the blade had not yet completely faded.

"I'm not seeing things, am I... that was the Evilbane Slash, right..." Lilu muttered unconsciously. In the frontline confrontation between good and evil in the Multiverse, one could always find the presence of Holy Warriors. The children of Androlina, Aira, were not unfamiliar with them, as many powerful Protectors were Holy Warriors.

Even though she had accepted the fact that a 'good' demon had saved her, the shock of the concept of a Succubus Paladin was still too great.

"I told you! Big sister is really awesome!" Dong Quan exclaimed proudly, as if she had been the one to execute that stunning Evilbane Slash.

Elothysia maintained a vigilant expression and stayed on alert, not sparing the time to mind the children's conversation. It seemed that she had achieved impressive results by cutting off a disgusting piece of soft tissue from the Dark Weaver, but she was well aware that this was the result of the enemy underestimating her; the enemy's counterattack would probably be much harder to handle.

As she had anticipated, Valasti was furious; it had already raised all four of its upper body tentacles, ready to crush this detestable Succubus outright. As for those two Aira children? Well, swallowing them whole would indeed lose much of the fun, but the taste wouldn't be too bad, and since they were already dead, they were probably no longer of use to the old crone, right? Could it possibly eat both of them?

But at that moment, another source of light appeared. From the time the Flash Bomb exploded, only a few breaths had passed; it certainly wasn't enough time for a Priest to cast another Daylight Technique, but it was enough for him to grab his Hardhead Hammer.

This Hammer of Dissolution, from the treasury of 'Necrophile' Molo who once enslaved the Elves, could illuminate the surroundings within a twenty-foot radius when held. This level of illumination wasn't very bright, but it was enough to disperse the shadows covering the front of the Dark Weaver.

"Fireball Technique!"

As the Elf lifted his hammer, the Scholar also activated a scroll he had prepared for a long time. Mages cast spells much faster than Priests, not to mention that the Scholar was casting through a scroll, and most of the preparatory work for the stored spells had already been completed. Scholars only needed to channel magic power into the scroll, then activate the spell, a process that could be practiced—as long as you were willing to waste precious scroll-making materials.

Coincidentally, after going on several adventures with Lancelot, Kalalin suddenly discovered he was financially free, at least in terms of materials for practice casting, he no longer had to consider the cost.

The magically created Fireball, though as large as a barrel, flew as fast as a Crossbow Arrow. The Dark Weaver couldn't dodge in time and was solidly hit by this Third Circle spell.

The explosion of the Fireball released a bright light at the moment of impact, creating a dark shadow behind it. The creature from the Shadow Realm launched another Shadow Jump to escape, leaving only the burnt smell of roasted spider lingering in the air.