Chapter 1
When Hao Ren was bombing his way down from the holy mountain, Veronica's expression was dumbfounded.

In fact, not only her, but everyone on the scene was dumbfounded, including the monsters who were being bombarded. The difference was that the latter were dumbfounded by the bombing...

A man wielding bombs and rushing down the mountain—Veronica was deeply impressed by this bizarre scene for many years. Later, she realized how incongruous such a scene was. But now, she was deeply shocked by the earth-shattering explosion and the shocking fact that a living person ran down from the holy mountain.

"Holy Spirit above!" Morian's warhorse swayed uneasily in the firelight of the explosion. The old knight stabilized his mount and whispered in horror, "Has the embodiment of fire and storm descended from the sky?"

"Boom!"

The man rushing down from the mountain pointed at the monsters in the distance. Suddenly, a shimmering crack opened behind him, and a silver-white giant arrow, with light spewing from its rear, flew out of the crack, pierced through the sky, and fell into the chaotic army in the distance in an arc. This time, the explosion was far greater than before, even terrifying—a fireball with a diameter of a hundred meters erupted rapidly, and hundreds of monsters were instantly reduced to ashes. After the fireball died out, a small mushroom cloud gradually rose from the point of explosion.

The point of explosion was actually very far from the knights' line, but Veronica still felt a scorching heat wave that almost knocked her off her horse. She couldn't help but be horrified: what exactly was this thing? I'm afraid not many of the royal mages in the court could create a fireball spell of this scale!

At this time, Hao Ren had run to a place less than a hundred meters in front of the Knights. He had just used a disintegration missile that he had swindled from the Aerym elves, which he felt quite sorry about. He didn't have many of these pollution-free mini-nuclear weapons, but the effect was extremely considerable: the largest wave of pursuers behind the Knights had been destroyed by the nuclear bomb, and the strange black mist seemed much thinner under the tearing of the great explosion. Although they seemed to gather and re-condense into monsters, at least the pressure on the Knights would be reduced in the short term.

"Come on! Run this way!" Hao Ren shouted loudly in front of the Knights, "This is the way up the mountain! There's no fog up there!"

Although he didn't know where these knights came from, nor did he know what those monsters that appeared out of nowhere were all about, the fact that the two groups were about to beat each other's brains out was obvious. He was unfamiliar with the place, and it was not easy to see a group of locals, so naturally, he wanted to save them as much as possible.

Otherwise, who would he ask for directions?

Veronica saw that the powerful "spellcaster" was pointing the way for her soldiers. Of course, she suspected the other party's identity and origin, but in this situation, she could not think about it carefully. In addition, this mysterious man had indeed extended a helping hand, so after a brief hesitation, she raised her long sword: "Knights! Follow the guidance of this hermit!"

Hao Ren was stunned. He didn't know why he was suddenly identified as a hermit, but this didn't affect his skilled business methods—more explosives were thrown to the flanks of the Knights, and then he switched weapons, holding a plasma long spear in one hand and an Inspector's pistol in the other, and began to fight fiercely with the monsters that had rushed nearby.

Veronica fell into greater shock.

She didn't expect that this mysterious "hermit" was not only a powerful mage, but also proficient in hand-to-hand combat. The fighting style of using a long spear for combat while shooting with alchemical weapons was also unheard of. Although the knight princess was the commander for the first time, she was not the first time on the battlefield. She could see at a glance that the other party's strange combat skills were by no means flowery fists and embroidered legs: the long spear was extraordinarily powerful, both offensive and defensive, and the timing of each shot of the short gun was perfect. This was a technique that could only be honed on a cruel battlefield, and could not be mastered without rich experience.

If she knew how many Boss-level monsters Hao Ren had fought and what kind of supermen he usually trained with, she wouldn't be so strange—Hao Ren's close combat skills were practiced with Lily.

In short, with the double opening of various explosives and the knights' brave fighting, a passage was finally torn open in the tide of monsters that had not yet fully gathered. This knight squadron, which was almost in despair, saw the hope of survival and immediately rushed towards the mountain. Hao Ren turned his head and took the lead, running in front of Veronica and the Morian Knight to lead the way. The old knight saw that this mysterious ally could only walk, and immediately shouted on horseback: "Hermit! There are extra warhorses behind!"

Hao Ren didn't even raise his head: "No need, your horses may not be as fast as me—if I wasn't being careful, you wouldn't be able to catch up with me!"

As he said, he kept running at the same speed as the warhorse, just as he said: if he ran openly, these mortal horses might not be able to catch up with him...

This was all honed by running around to catch Lily and Roll on weekdays. It was not easy to live with monster girls, and it was even more difficult if there were two silly girls in the monster girls who liked to run around.

At this time, Veronica was numb to what was happening in front of her. She no longer doubted whether this mysterious man was friendly, but began to guess the other party's origin—in the depths of this forgotten wilderness, in the extinguished holy mountain temple, a living person suddenly appeared, how should this be explained?

The princess, who had liked to read adventure stories since she was a child, couldn't help but have rich associations. A story gradually took shape in her mind. This story included a sacred battle in the last era, a group of fanatical warriors trapped in the temple, a defense war that was almost completely wiped out, a last surviving veteran, a forgotten temple, and a hermit guarding the defense line in this temple... The knight princess was moved by herself.

Yes, that should be the case. The Casuen Temple was once a famous and great temple in the last generation, but it was eventually swallowed by chaos. Perhaps one of the guardians of the former temple survived, and then became a hermit who guarded the line alone in the dark world.

It is said that the strong in the last generation can live forever.

Veronica shook her head vigorously, it was not a good habit to be distracted on the battlefield.

At this moment, a ray of golden light from her side made the old knight and Veronica shake at the same time:

The tattered battle flag in the hands of the standard-bearer finally completed its charging. Pale golden sparks jumped between the rune threads, and the sparks gathered more and more, eventually converging into a golden light.

The light of the golden battle flag shone on everyone. Although the light was weak, it seemed to have the power of the supreme existence. Where the light shone, darkness and chaos immediately receded.

Those twisted creatures condensed from the darkness screamed and retreated as soon as they came into contact with the light of the golden battle flag. A burst of gray and white smoke rose from their bodies, as if they were burned by the light, and those monsters that had rushed into the Knights' battle formation could not retreat into the darkness in time. They struggled and twisted violently in the light, exuding a pungent burnt odor, and turned into dust almost in the blink of an eye.

The monsters that could still move quickly retreated into the darkness like avoiding natural enemies. Their shapes returned to nothingness in the fog, just like the reverse of their appearance.

The light of the battle flag slowly spread around, and where the light shrouded, the fog became thinner, and the shadows also melted away. Soon, the lingering and depressing atmosphere dissipated, and the surroundings gradually calmed down.

At this time, the team had also rushed over the gentle uphill slope at the foot of Mount Casuen, and ahead was a steeper mountain road.

Hao Ren looked in surprise at a flag that released light and dispelled the seemingly endless monster army that seemed to never be truly killed. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and his eyes fell on the "rag" in the hands of the standard-bearer.

On the light golden cloth, a delicate statue of a goddess was embroidered with blue and silver threads. Although the edges of the flag were tattered, only the statue was still intact.

This was obviously a powerful magical item... Strictly speaking, it should be a religious item.

"Your Highness, the warhorse is dying!"

The call of a guard knight also woke Veronica from her daze—the sudden relief of the crisis made the princess a little relaxed. She looked around and noticed that the warhorses under the knights were beginning to shake one after another. The hair of these loyal mounts was turning gray, white, and curled at a speed visible to the naked eye, losing its luster, and their eyes were gradually covered with bloodshot eyes.

Veronica looked at the steep mountain road ahead and ordered the abandonment of the warhorses.

"You can't ride horses ahead, everyone dismounts and walks."

After a sound of armor collision, more than twenty knights left their mounts and followed Hao Ren up the mountain, and before leaving, they each fed their warhorses some kind of herb.

Hao Ren looked back and saw the warhorses falling silently one after another, and soon they were swallowed by darkness.